American History Hit

This is the story of America's longest held prisoner of war. John 'Jack' Downey, an American CIA operative, was imprisoned by the Chinese for 21 years during the Cold War. Don speaks to Barry Wirth, a...

In 1933, The Pittsburgh Courier published an editorial entitled 'Hitler Learns from America'. So how and why was fascism on the rise in the United States from the Great Depression to the Second World ...

With the US election happening, we wanted to take a look back at the presidents from the past what we know about their sex lives. Which president was well-endowed and supposedly presented it to staff ...

Invisible ink, delayed flights and political meddling - elections are a symbol of democracy, so how can they become the opposite? Don is joined for this episode by Brian Klaas, co-author of 'How to Ri...

The unclaimed dead of New York City's streets and rivers were brought to the New York Morgue in the second half of the nineteenth century. This history is full of dark, sad stories and buried secrets....

What causes a person to lose the Presidential election? Henry Clay ran for the Presidency 3 times, and for nomination by his party 5 times, but never made it to the Oval Office as the Commander in Chi...

If somebody asked you to go on a dangerous mission, no other details, would you volunteer? Well, in 1942, that's exactly what 120 crewmen of the US Army Air Force did. In this episode, find out how it...

4,322 days. That's how long Franklin Delano Roosevelt was in office. Whilst no other US president has served more than two terms, FDR was elected four times! Was this because of his charisma, his oppo...

On July 21, 1861, Confederate and Union forces met for the first time in full-scale battle at Bull Run Creek, near Manassas, Virginia. By the end of the day nearly 900 men were dead, and it was clear ...

We have a constitutional right to vote in the United States ... don't we? Find out in this first episode of American History Hit's series, Elections Explained. Having correctly predicted every electio...