On July 4, 1852, Frederick Douglass delivered remarks of enduring significance and American eloquence to an audience of abolitionists. He mixed condemnation of the nation's tolerance of slavery with hope and uplift. He embraced the founding fathers and defended the Constitution while attacking his fellow citizens for hypocrisy and inaction. "What, To The Slave, Is The Fourth Of July?" was quintessential Frederick Douglass. Historian James Oakes discusses the ideas behind Douglass' rhetorical tour de force, his relationship with Abraham Lincoln, and the critical importance of antislavery politics in bringing about the destruction of slavery.

As the fiftieth anniversary of the Watergate break-in crossed our calendars, the congressional committee investigating ex-President Trump's 'Stop the Steal' scheme revealed new and damaging findings. Past and present are intersecting again: the Jan. 6 hearings are painting a picture of a rogue executive willing to try almost anything to remain in power, including manipulating the Justice Department to interfere in an election. In this episode, journalist and historian Garrett Graff, the author or 'Watergate: A New History,' discusses the parallels between Nixon's crimes and Trump's effort to steal an election.

What is Vladimir Putin? Russia's dictator has been called a gangster, an autocrat, a Marxist-Leninist, an ultra-nationalist, or a fascist by different historians, political scientists, and editorialists over the past several weeks. There seems to be little agreement over what ideas and ideologies motivate the man in his crusade against the West. Fascism remains a slippery term, often used as a slur to denigrate one's political opponents. In this episode, Oxford's Roger Griffin, a leading scholar on fascism, talks about why it is mistaken to label Putin a fascist, despite some similarities to the fascist regimes of the twentieth century.

President Biden's upcoming trip to Saudi Arabia is an example of reality imposing itself on a situation Mr. Biden vowed to change. In November 2019, Democratic candidate Biden said the kingdom should be punished and treated as a pariah, because its de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, had been implicated in the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. But as Middle East expert Bob Vitalis explains in this episode, the Americans and Saudis still need each other, thereby maintaining a decades-long relationship shaped by oil, war, terrorism, and political expediency.

This conversation with Catholic University historian Michael Kimmage was featured on C-SPAN's 'American History TV.' Kimmage discusses U.S.-Russia relations since the end of the Cold War, the rise of Putin, and events leading to the war in Ukraine.

It may surprise you to learn how much we have in common with Americans of the 1790s: extreme political polarization, crazy conspiracy theories, partisan news media, foreign interference, and fears of violence and disintegration. As the Jan. 6 Committee hearings refocus our attention on the day Donald Trump's effort to overturn the election reached its violent nadir, historian Joseph Ellis joins the podcast to explain why he believes the fate of the republic -- res publica, the public interest -- is in danger.

There is a pattern in U.S. history of a nation seeking redemption through war, attempting to restore its global standing and credibility after a humiliating defeat. By backing Ukraine's effort to repel the Russian invasion, some American intellectuals say the U.S. is also fighting for the fate of democracy and the world order it has led since 1945. In this reasoning, a victory by Ukraine over Russia helps erase the humiliating U.S. retreat from Afghanistan in 2021, which brought the curtain down on the failed post-9/11 project to spread democracy and U.S. hegemony. In this episode, historian and Quincy Institute president Andrew Bacevich deconstructs arguments elevating the Russia-Ukraine war to one of "cosmic importance" for the United States.

In February Russia chose war with Ukraine. In response, the U.S. chose to dramatically increase aid and arms shipments to Kyiv. But now that a frozen war is descending on the eastern Donbas region, one that is likely to drag on for months, certain questions about the U.S. commitment can no longer be ignored. How long can the U.S. support Ukraine? Can the U.S. control any escalation caused by a Russian reaction to its support? What if no amount of material or intelligence support is enough to thwart Vladimir Putin's ambitions? In this episode, historians Jeremi Suri and Jeffrey Engel discuss the potential consequences of an open-ended U.S. commitment to Ukraine's independence.

On this 78th anniversary of the D-Day invasion of Nazi-occupied France, military historian Cathal Nolan discusses the chaos and confusion that prevailed over the early hours of the largest amphibious assault in history. Yet despite mishaps and setbacks that are unavoidable in major combat, the Allied forces captured the five beaches along the Normandy coast by the end of June 6, 1944. The Germans missed their chance to repel the invaders, but was it a decisive battle on the road to victory in the Second World War? Nolan argues decisive battles are almost always a mirage.

With the midterm elections approaching and Democrats expecting to be drubbed, it's time to ask whether the party has made any progress fixing its white working-class voter problem. But something that took decades to develop, caused in part by massive structural changes in the global economy, cannot be undone in a few short years. In this episode, Georgetown University historian Michael Kazin, author of "What It Took To Win: A History of the Democratic Party," discusses the rise and fall of the Democrats' working-class dominance from the triumphs of the New Deal to emergence of Trumpism.