You won't see it on the ballot, but it's always the winner in American elections. That's right, we're talking about big tech. From Facebook to Google and AI, technology not only has the power to affect the outcomes of our elections ... it's already doing it! 

Who could have seen this coming? Well, we're glad you asked, because Roger McNamee has been ringing alarm bells since you were playing Snake on your Nokia. 

Roger joins Bob to talk about the evolution of technology in politics, from the rise of data-driven campaigning in the 1970s to Facebook’s influence on the 2016 election and the new threat of AI.

Let's just say our future is beginning to look a lot like an episode of Black Mirror. 

GUEST: Roger McNamee, author of  Zucked: Waking Up to the Facebook Catastrophe

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In 1897, a Swedish engineer set out to reach the North Pole ... by balloon. With two companions, a crate of champagne, and the faith of a nation, he rose into the Arctic fog — and vanished. Decades later, their frozen journals and undeveloped film emerged from the ice, revealing the haunting truth behind one of exploration’s great mysteries.

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On the Very Special Episodes podcast, we tell one incredible story each week. Follow us down a different rabbit hole every Wednesday. 

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How did America’s presidents really make—and manage—their money? Bob Crawford sits down with financial expert and author Megan Gorman to explore the personal finances of presidents from George Washington to Donald Trump. Drawing from her new book, All the Presidents’ Money: How the Men Who Governed America Governed Their Money, Gorman reveals who thrived, who failed, and what their choices say about leadership, power, and legacy.

Discover why Thomas Jefferson died in debt, how Abraham Lincoln overcame his impoverished childhood, why FDR’s polio treatment transformed presidential fundraising, and how modern presidents like Obama, Clinton, and Trump built post-White House fortunes. 

Also, do you have to be wealthy to become president? Or has the oligarchy already began? 

GUEST: Megan Gorman: All the Presidents’ Money: How the Men Who Governed America Governed Their Money

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Which witch is which? You probably heard a lot of lawyers saying that in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. That was the year of America's largest witch hunt ever. But what sparked this mass hysteria that led to false accusations, sham justice and wrongful executions? Teenagers, of course. 

Bob is joined by historian Emerson Baker (A Storm of Witchcraft) to explore how religion, politics, and panic fueled the Salem Witch Trials. A time when no one was above suspicion! 

Guest: Emerson Baker, author of A Storm of Witchcraft: The Salem Trials and the American Experience

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In the 1960s, there were 36,000 Americans living in the Canal Zone. They had Friday night high school football games, sock hops, and Hollywood movies at the local theater. It looked like a mid-century American town had been dropped into the Panamanian jungle — because that’s exactly what it was. But many Panamanians weren’t happy with this “country-in-a-country” arrangement. What would it take to get the Americans to leave? The answer, it turns out, was a bunch of teenagers.

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Check out Marixa Lasso's Erased: The Untold Story of the Panama Canal and Wendy Tribaldos' books about the history of Panama and the Canal Zone.

Hosted by Dana Schwartz, Zaron Burnett, and Jason English
Written by Dave Roos
Senior Producer is Josh Fisher
Editing and Sound Design by Chris Childs
Mixing and Mastering by Baheed Frazier
Additional Editing by Mary Dooe
Original Music by Elise McCoy
Research and Fact-Checking by Dave Roos and Austin Thompson
Special thanks to our voice actors Chris Childs and Josh Fisher
Show Logo by Lucy Quintanilla
Executive Producer is Jason English

 

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A complicated man in complicated times? A genocidal enslaving maniac? Or something in between? Bob voyages back in time with biographer Matthew Restall (The Nine Lives of Christopher Columbus) to learn about the REAL Christopher Columbus. Together, they separate the flesh-and-blood navigator from the larger-than-life symbol of European conquest, examining Columbus’s ambitions, his treatment of Indigenous peoples, and how his image has been used for centuries to celebrate—and condemn— colonization. 

GUEST: Matthew Restall, author of The Nine Lives of Christopher Columbus  

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Did Ozzy bite the head off a bat? Is there a political message in Sweet Home Alabama? Bob Crawford sits down with music critic and author Mark Kemp to dissect some rock legends and myths.

We'll dive into Lynyrd Skynyrd’s iconic Sweet Home Alabama, unpack the band’s response to Neil Young’s critiques of the South and talk about Ozzy Osbourne's propensity for biting the head off winged creatures.

Mark Kemp also helps us understand the intersection of Southern rock and American politics of the1970s, including Lynyrd Skynyrd's references to controversial figures like George Wallace, the Confederate flag and the Watergate scandal. 

Discover the real stories behind the music (and some fake ones). RIP Ozzy and Ronnie Van Zant. 

GUEST: Mark Kemp, award-winning music journalist, former Rolling Stone editor, former vice president of music editorial at MTV, and author of the book: Dixie Lullaby: A Story of Music, Race and New Beginnings in a New South. 

Correction: In this episode we say that Black Sabbath's first album was Paranoid. In fact, their first album was the self-titled Black Sabbath, which came out in February of 1970. Paranoid came out later that fall. 

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This episode demands satisfaction! Why did Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr meet on the dueling ground—and how common were duels in early America? Historian Lindsay Chervinsky joins Bob Crawford on American History Hotline to explore the surprising history of dueling in the United States.

From European traditions to the honor culture of the American South, duels shaped politics, reputation, and even presidential legacies. Learn why Andrew Jackson fought so many duels, how Abraham Lincoln nearly crossed swords, and why Burr’s fatal shot at Hamilton changed his career forever.

We also dive into the laws that eventually outlawed dueling, what rap battles and playground fights have in common with “affairs of honor,” and whether challenging someone to a duel today could still land you in jail.

We get into all these questions about dueling so grab your second, take 10 paces and hit play.  

GUEST: Lindsay Chervinsky, presidential historian and the Executive Director of the George Washington Presidential Library. She is the author of the award-winning book, The Cabinet: George Washington and the Creation of an American Institution, co-editor of Mourning the Presidents: Loss and Legacy in American Culture, and the forthcoming book, Making the Presidency: John Adams and the Precedents That Forged the Republic

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Buffalo Soldier, dreadlock Rasta
There was a Buffalo Soldier
In the heart of America
Stolen from Africa, brought to America
Fighting on arrival, fighting for survival

Most people know the phrase Buffalo Soldier from Bob Marley’s famous reggae song—but what’s the real history behind it?

On this episode of American History Hotline, host Bob Crawford talks with Cale E. Carter II to uncover the true story of the Buffalo Soldiers.

Discover who these Black regiments were, how they earned their name, and the crucial role they played on the Western frontier, in the Spanish-American War, and beyond. We explore their battles, their struggles with racism during the Jim Crow era, and the lasting legacy they passed on through World War I, World War II, and even into American culture today.

Along the way, we connect the history to Bob Marley’s lyrics, ask what the song got right, and learn how music and memory continue to shape the story of the Buffalo Soldiers.

GUEST: Cale E. Carter II, Director of Exhibitions and Military Historian at the Buffalo Soldiers National Museum in Houston, Texas. 

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Spoilers ahead! No, not those type of spoilers. We're talking about third party presidential candidates and the reasons third parties can't get a footing in American politics. So, why do third parties fail? And could the current toxicity of both major American political parties create an opening for a centrist third party? 

GUEST: Michael Cullinane, professor of U.S. History and the Lowman Walton Chair of Theodore Roosevelt Studies at Dickinson State University in North Dakota. He’s also author of the soon-to-be released book: Theodore Roosevelt and the Tennis Cabinet.

 

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