History That Doesn't Suck

“‘What is that?' I asked. The Englishman answered calmly: 'It was my best enemy.’”

This is the story of the little books that went to war, and the Frenchman whose ghosts we'll read by their light.

In 1943, a consortium of American publishers began slipping pocket-sized paperbacks into the hands of GIs bound overseas: the Armed Services Editions. More than 120 million of these ASEs were printed by the war’s end, and they turned up everywhere: foxholes, troopships, field hospitals, and more. In fact, we’ll meet one colonel who fondly remembers a soldier reading aloud to their gun crew while German 88s whistled in. The Germans tried to kill them as they laughed and enjoyed good writing. 

And among the 1,300-odd titles the program carried to the front were the works of a certain French master of the macabre: Guy de Maupassant. The Armed Services Edition gave GIs Maupassant the realist … but we’ll encounter two tales that reflect the Frenchman’s more ghoulish side.

Happy Halloween.

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Following the Challenger and Columbia Space Shuttle disasters, the government had to rethink space exploration. In 2006, NASA launched the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services program, allocating $500 million to encourage American entrepreneurs to develop cost-effective cargo and crew transport for the ISS. Today, private enterprises like SpaceX, Starlink, Blue Origin, and Rocket Lab are ubiquitous. Yet none of this progress would be possible without substantial government assistance.

Joining us is Casey Dreier, Chief of Space Policy at The Planetary Society and one of the world's foremost experts on NASA's budget and the political economy of space exploration. His data-driven analysis has been cited by The New York Times, POLITICO, The Washington Post, and NPR, and in 2025 he received a SpaceNews Icon Award for his work. Casey joins us to unpack what the data actually shows about the tradeoffs of commercial spaceflight — and what's at stake if the government cedes too much control.

The government gets a bad rap. But the roads under your feet, the forecast on your phone, and the letter in your mailbox are all government too. Hosted by Professors Greg Jackson and Lindsey Cormack, Government That Doesn't Suck is a seriously researched, fact-driven podcast examining the dreams, machinery, and real-world impact behind American government, one episode at a time.

"Wing Ding, you're either crazy as hell or you've got balls."

This is the story of the European Theater in 1943.

As Allied bombers learn the brutal cost of daylight precision raids over Ploesti and Schweinfurt, Allied armies fight their way onto the Italian mainland at Salerno, and the citizens of Naples rise to liberate themselves. Meanwhile, the U-boat is finally beaten back in the Atlantic, American Lend-Lease reaches a bleeding Soviet Union, and the tide turns in the East. And in occupied France, a fractured Resistance begins to cohere—thanks to the sacrifice of a hero named Jean Moulin—as Charles de Gaulle claims his place at the head of a nation not yet free.

We'll meet a tail gunner who flew into hell without his parachute, a colonel who took his burning bomber over the target rather than break his word, a thirteen-year-old who took on a German tank, and an American spy hiding behind a wooden leg and a wheel of cheese. Each is doing their part as the whole Allied world bends toward one looming date on the horizon.

Call it the pre-pre-D-Day episode. This is the European Theater, 1943.

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“What even is the Virginia Plan but democracy checked by democracy, or pork with a little change of the sauce?” 

This is the story of 55 men from 12 of the 13 sovereign states gathered at the Pennsylvania State House during the miserably hot Philadelphian summer of 1787. They are here to discuss the failing Articles of Confederation. Foreign debts are past due. Rebellions are rising. The states are fighting. Can they fix all of this? Or will the disagreeing, arguing, threatening, theorizing, brainstorming, (mostly) sober-speech making, and compromising all be for naught?

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Professor Greg Jackson and co-host Riley Neubauer are joined by returning guest Captain Mac Caldwell, a Marine veteran, to dive deeper into the Pacific Theater of early World War II. The conversation reaps key wartime conferences, unpacks the strategic tensions between MacArthur and Nimitz, analyzes the evolution of amphibious warfare, and extolls the legacy of Carlon’s Marine Raiders. The episode also highlights the unique unity and sacrifice of Americans during WWII and answers listener questions about the Pacific campaign.

Mac Caldwell served as an Infantry Officer in the USMC from 2016-2023. Though he's no longer on Active Duty, once a Marine, always a Marine. He currently lives in Atlanta with his wife and their three children where he works for a management consulting firm. Prior to moving to Atlanta, he used the GI Bill to get an MBA from the Darden School at the University of Virginia, where he got to walk in Thomas Jefferson's footsteps. Of particular relevance to today's episode, though, during his time in service, he was second in command of an Amphibious Company, specializing in amphibious landings from Navy ships and actually deploying to the Pacific to conduct a number of peacetime amphibious exercises with partner nations throughout the region.

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“If we ever lose Saipan, repeated air attacks on Tokyo will follow. No matter what it takes, we have to hold there.”

As Operation Cartwheel neutralizes Japanese forces on Rabaul, American and British leaders meet with “Forgotten Allies” in Cairo—namely China’s nationalist leader Chiang Kai Shek and his diplomat wife Soong Mei-ling. The relentless pressure on Japan continues as heroes like “Merrill’s Marauders" hack through Burma’s jungles, securing vital supply lines and isolating the Japanese. Desperation leads to more bonsai attacks and even civilian suicides. More islands fall. 

The conflict reaches a boiling point at the "Marianas Turkey Shoot," and the brutal battle for Saipan, both of which aim to place Tokyo within bombing range and clear the path for Doug to return to the Philippines.

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“The ultimate defeat of Japan [will] be accomplished by blockade, bombing, and assault.”

This is the story of American island hopping—or should we say leapfrogging?—through Pacific waters. 

By 1943, the Japanese are settled in for the long haul, no matter what it may cost. America sees some successes like new skip bombing techniques at the Battle of the Bismarck sea, but a change of strategy is needed for real gains. American leaders General Douglas MacArthur and Admiral William "Bull" Halsey launch Operation Cartwheel, a strategic campaign of amphibious landings designed to neutralize Japanese strongholds like Rabaul, Papua New Guinea without attacking head-on. 

Meanwhile, even though the Solomon Islands are still an active war zone, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt undertakes a morale-boosting tour, visiting every wounded soldier she possibly can. Just a few short months later, Americans win the brutal Battle of Tarawa at great cost, a decisive victory that exposes the devastating realities of island warfare to those back home. Is each tiny island in the Pacific worth this much death? Or can another path be found? 

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“Guadalcanal is not the name of an island. It is the name of the graveyard of the Japanese army.”

This is the story of America's first major offensive in the Pacific since Midway.

Amid hard fighting among the frozen peaks of Attu at the tail end of Alaska's Aleutian Islands, the Americans are gaining ground. But the cost is steep. Carrying out banzai charges, Japanese soldiers are prepared to fight to the last man. This is the case in the Solomon Islands as well, where US Marines—or "Uncle Sam's Miserable Children," as they call themselves—are storming the beaches of Guadalcanal. The island is only barely held, largely thanks to the almost unbelievable bravery of Medal of Honor recipient Sergeant John Basilone.

Meanwhile, American codebreakers have obtained Admiral Yamamoto Isoroku's flight plans. The man who surprised America at Pearl Harbor is about to get a surprise of his own.

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Episode 1: We The Founders (The Constitution) | Introducing Government That Doesn’t Suck

Follow GTDS on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you listen.

What if the Constitution isn't a dusty relic, but a living document built to be argued over, amended, and improved by every generation? In this debut episode, hosts Greg Jackson (creator of History That Doesn't Suck) and Professor Lindsay Cormack (author of Been There, Done That and How to Raise a Citizen) introduce their new podcast with a simple mission to understand the history and structure of the US government so that we can all work to make our union more perfect.

Learn more at: HTDSpodcast.com

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen United States of America, as read by Professor Greg Jackson and fellow citizens: Lindsey Cormack co-host of Government That Doesn’t Suck, Ben Sawyer and Bob Crawford of The Road to Now, Colleen Shogan of In Pursuit, Lindsay Graham host of History Daily. Watch Prof. Jackson's PBS special here: The Unlikely Union: A Storytelling Symphony of America or visit htdspodcast.com/pbs.