In this lecture, Dr. Totten argues white Americans were drunk on their own success following the Second World War and entered two decades of affluence that expanded consumer culture in the country. Americans bought more luxury items, ate at fast food restaurants, and took new vacations. While consumerism reigned, a culture of conformity took hold, which dissuaded dissent and uniqueness. Gender norms stagnated and women were pressured to be "good" housewives and mothers. Popular magazines emphasized the submissiveness and obedience of women to male authority, while many women were forced out of the work place. At the same time, religious sentiment increased in this era, in order to contrast against theoretical communist atheism and the fear of nuclear holocaust. The 1950s also saw large population changes, as white Americans left the cities and countryside and moved into the ever expanding suburbs along the Sunbelt. As a result, city services decreased with this white flight. This era also saw a massive increase in the birth rate, as 50 million people were born over two decades. American culture changed as well, with the advent of Rock & Roll. While this cultural flourishing influenced a host of musical productions to this day, upper-class Americans worried that it made their children disobedient communists, while the Soviets worried rock made their children capitalists. Americans also embraced atomic culture, which was an obsession with everything atomic bomb related. People bought atomic trinkets, took atomic vacations, and watched movies that glorified or feared the bomb. Despite the affluence of the decade, Americans also worried about the substantial amount of poverty in the country, as well as reports of growing infidelity among married couples. As such, the decade can be seen as an Age of Anxiety. Lastly, Eisenhower's administration embraced a "New Look" foreign policy, which emphasized massive retaliation and covert operations, that led to numerous coups and assassinations across the globe. This is exemplified in the Iranian Coup, which directly led to the Iranian Revolution and the American Embassy hostage crisis two decades later.

Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/history-of-the-american-people-since-1877/donations

In this lecture, Dr. Totten argues that flashpoints across the globe confirmed the perspective of Americans that there was a global monolithic communist threat to the free world. Americans confronted the Soviets in Berlin and the North Koreans in the Korean War. Despite the Korean War resulting in a stalemate, it confirmed that war could occur without the usage of atomic weapons.

Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/history-of-the-american-people-since-1877/donations

In this lecture, Dr. Totten argues the Cold War was an ideological conflict between two rival economic systems that led both the United States and the Soviet Union to misunderstand each others intentions and led to world wide misery. With the end of the Second World War, the United States was left as the sole superpower on the world stage. Despite this dominance, Americans were deeply worried about perceived Soviet aggression in Eastern Europe and the Middle East. Policy analysts like George Kennan attempted to explain Soviet behavior as traditional Russian paranoia and a desire to legitimize repressive rule at home. In reality, it was simply a desire for security after the massive bloodletting from the Nazi invasion. Americans viewed Soviet aggression through the prism of the Munich Conference and adopted a policy of containment, which led to numerous confrontations. The Truman administration, in an attempt to prevent further countries from falling to communism, gave billions of dollars of aid to European countries, which allowed them to rebuild and guaranteed American hegemony on the continent. As Anti-communism spread throughout the United States, it led to numerous witch hunts inside the country that ruined many peoples lives.

Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/history-of-the-american-people-since-1877/donations

In this lecture, Dr. Totten argues the Holocaust was the result of centuries of anti-Semitism, which led to the horrific industrial-scale, state-sponsored murder of eleven million human beings. From Ancient Assyria to the Pale of Settlement and Dreyfus Affair, Hebrews and Jews suffered persecuted throughout history. This was increased with the rise of nation-states, which were based on linguistic, ethnic, racial, and religious standards. The result was increased Pogroms and repression of Jews from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

With the end of the First World War, many Germans suffered economic privations and social disorder. This led many to embrace the "Stabbed in the Back Theory" and align with the Nazi Party, who promised to avenge Germany and make it racially pure. The Nazis began with propaganda, then informal boycotts, before outright intimidation and violence was used. Dissenters were sent to concentration camps, and sterilization programs stopped tens of thousands from procreating. The Nazis finally enacted the "Final Solution to the Jewish Question," outright extermination.

The Einsatzgruppen and foreign auxiliaries conducted numerous open air executions, were over a million Jews were shot. Locals were key to identifying and aiding the Nazi extermination of "undesirables." Open air shootings was too inefficient, as was Gas Vans. The Nazis also employed the "Hunger Plan" to systematically starve occupied countries in order to feed Germany. The result was millions of peoples from the Soviet Union to Greece and the Netherlands, who starved to death as a result. But still, this was too inefficient, so the Nazis implemented the Death Camp. Where millions of "undesirables" were gassed and cremated.

Jews and other peoples were not all passive victims, many fought back. Assassinations of Nazi officials were carried out, Jews rebelled in death camps, and many joined partisan units to fight against Nazi oppression.

In total, six million Jewish and five million other peoples were systemically murdered by the Nazi regime. Some Jews who survived the camps, faced renewed repression by a paranoid Stalin, while others were attacked by Christians who had occupied Jewish homes and businesses in Eastern Europe.

After the war, the Allies were appalled by what they found. It was obvious that many German civilians lied about their knowledge of the genocide, as all the evidence suggested their complicity. Numerous Nazis were tried as war criminals at the Nuremburg and subsequent trials, but many Nazis escaped prosecution. Many Nazi hunters found such individuals and brought them to justice, but countless others escaped. In our era, historians debate if we could have stopped the Holocaust, though many at the time were unwilling to accept it was real and frankly lacked the capacity to directly stop it.

The point, is hate and ethnic nationalism are dangerous things. We must never allow such tragedies to happen again. We must fight against intolerance and ignorance with love and acceptance.

Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/history-of-the-american-people-since-1877/donations

In this lecture, Professor Totten describes the combat of the Second World War from North Africa to the Pacific theater. The Grand Alliance between the Soviets, Great Britain, and the United States was merely a marriage of convenience. Stalin kept pushing for a second front in Europe and was disappointed by delays to the invasion of France. With victories in North Africa and Sicily, the Allies invaded Italy, but progress was slow and costly. As the Allies prepared for D-Day, a massive disinformation campaign ensued in an attempt to divert German strength away from the Allies intended target, Normandy. D-Day was a massive amphibious invasion that cost thousands of lives, but it successfully established a beach head that the Allies used to plunge deep into France. The last German counter offensive in the West, occurred at the Battle of the Bulge and despite high casualties, the Allies hung on and recaptured all lost territory. Finally, the Red Army besieged Berlin and the fall of the city brought about V-E Day.

In the pacific, the Americans fought a holding action against Japanese forces, and embarked on an "island hopping campaign" where they seized some strategic islands, while bypassing others. Fighting was brutal and costly, which led to intense racism from both belligerents. At Guadalcanal, Saipan, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, and elsewhere, fanatical Japanese fighting convinced the civil-military leadership to use an Atomic Bomb to bring the Japanese to heel. Thus, two Atomic Bombs were dropped on Japan, which finally brought about their surrender, though these remain controversial to this day.

The Second World War was the costliest war in human history. It changed the map of Europe, it led to the occupation of Germany and Japan by the Allies, and Eastern Europe by the Soviets. Racial and gender issues came to the forefront in the United States, which helped catapult later protest movements. Lastly, the war led to a wave of decolonization across the globe, as oppressed peoples through off European Imperialism. However, these efforts were often misunderstood by Americans, which led directly to the Vietnam War.

Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/history-of-the-american-people-since-1877/donations

In this lecture, Dr. Totten argues Americans fought a two-year undeclared war in the Battle of the Atlantic against Nazi Germany, as the U.S. attempted to ship supplies to the allies. With the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the U.S. entered the conflict, becoming the "arsenal of democracy." As with most wars, women were critical to the war effort, and over 350,000 served in various branches of the armed forces. LGBQT individuals also volunteered in great numbers, serving honorably, despite horrific repression from the civil-military leadership. The Second World War provided African Americans with the opportunity to serve in defense industries, which greatly increased their wealth, though they were still discriminated against and placed into the most menial jobs. Many whites and blacks learned to get along, though race riots did erupt throughout the country in regards to housing and public facilities. African Americans, Japanese-Americans, and Native Americans served honorably in the war, despite the repression they faced at home. Blacks emphasized the "Double V" campaign to beat fascism abroad and racism at home. As a result, the Civil Rights Movement was further bolstered, directly leading to the protest movements of the 1950s. While poor whites and blacks served, Mexicans were encouraged to come to the United States to work on American farms until, though many were later sent back in the 1950s. Lastly, the U.S. embarked on one final piece of New Deal legislation, the G.I. Bill, which gave white veterans low interest loans, technical or college education, and other benefits that built the suburbs and white middle class. However, these benefits were denied to non-white veterans, and when combined with the absence of social security, helps explain the wealth gap between communities to this day.

Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/history-of-the-american-people-since-1877/donations

In this lecture, Dr. Totten argues German blitzkrieg out-maneuvered and out-fought the Allies in the early days of the war. While British forces managed to evacuate at Dunkirk, much of western Europe fell within a few months in the face of the Nazi onslaught. However, in the Battle of Britain, the Royal Air Force, aided by a few thousand radio operators and ground crews, held off the Nazis as they battled in the skies above the British Isles. Winston Churchill was right when he said this was Britain's finest hour, and showcases the power of people who come together and sacrifice for the common defense. After this failure, Hitler turned his attention East and launched Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union. This would be his greatest miscalculation of the war. Army Group North soon surrounded Leningrad, modern day St. Petersburg, and fought the longest and most destructive siege in human history. Army Group Center moved towards Moscow, but the Russian winter ground the offensive to a halt, before Soviet forces counter attacked and saved the capital of Holy Mother Russia. Finally, Army Group South attacked Stalingrad, which soon became bogged down in the ruins of the city. After a counter-offensive, German forces were surrounded and forced to surrender against Hitler's orders, marking this as the single most important turning point of the Second World War.

Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/history-of-the-american-people-since-1877/donations

In this lecture, Dr. Totten argues Hitler's ambition dragged the the world into another global war. Hitler legally came to power, due to the miscalculations of conservatives and businessmen who worried about the growth of the communist party in Germany. After being appointed Chancellor, Hitler used a manufactured crisis to consolidate power, using censorship, intimidation, and the abolishment of rival political powers. The Nazis perverted German culture, where Hitler was depicted as a genius, regardless of facts or evidence to the contrary. Dissenters who fought back, were sent to concentration camps, as everyone informed on each other to save themselves. The Nazis also embarked on a rearmament program that led other countries to respond in kind. While the United States reaffirmed its commitment to isolationism, Nazi power grew. The Spanish Civil War broke out in the mid-1930s, which became a proxy war for German and Soviet forces to hone their skills, which would be used to deadly effect in the Second World War. Hitler then moved to unify Austria and Germany in the Anschluss before demanding the Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia. At the Munich Conference, Great Britain and France approved this measure, hoping to establish "peace in our time." It failed and Hitler demanded the Polish Corridor the next year, as France and Great Britain searched for allies. When British diplomats snubbed the Soviet Union, the USSR signed the Soviet-Nazi Non-Aggression Pact, which enabled Hitler to invade Poland. As a result, Great Britain and France declared war, plunging the European continent into another great war.

Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/history-of-the-american-people-since-1877/donations

In this lecture, Dr. Totten argues the Treaty of Versailles and the world-wide economic collapse created an environment for communist and fascist dictatorships to rise from the ashes. After a brutal Civil War, the Communist Party took control of Russia and created the Soviet Union, later led by Joseph Stalin. In Italy, the fascist brute, Benito Mussolini, rose to power and embarked on consolidating power through censorship and intimidation. Corporatist and militarist Japan embarked on their a campaign of expansion in Manchuria, that led to the murder of tens of thousands of people, during the Rape of Nanking. Lastly, the inability of the Weimar Republic to bring prosperity to the German people, enabled the rise of a young Austrian born lance Corporal, Adolf Hitler, which had devastating consequences.

Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/history-of-the-american-people-since-1877/donations

In this lecture, Dr. Totten argues the New Deal fundamentally changed the relationship between the federal government and private citizens. Roosevelt's second wave of legislation aimed at providing workers with guarantees to organize and a social safety net for America's most vulnerable citizens. While these programs were very successful, they were also hampered by white southern politicians, who would not extend their benefits to African Americans and other minority groups. After FDR's landslide reelection in 1936, he attempted to remove the Supreme Court as an obstacle to his plans, which culminated in the Court Packing Plan, which greatly hurt him politically. In the aftermath, few new programs would be created and FDR had to keep spending high, as any reduction, led to further recessions. In the end, the New Deal saved America as a liberal capitalist democracy in an era of communism, fascism, and monarchies.

Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/history-of-the-american-people-since-1877/donations