Last week the Trump Administration announced it would be cutting more than a thousand grants to the National Endowment for the Humanities, including grants for every state humanities council. In a letter the administration stated that the NEH would be “repurposing its funding allocations in a new direction in furtherance of President Trump’s agenda.”

One major organization suffering from these cuts is National History Day, a brilliant program that has inspired young Americans for decades. To remind folks what we stand to lose, we’re sharing our 2024 conversation on National History Day with Executive Director Cathy Gorman and podcaster Don Wildman, along with a new introduction in which Ben gives an overview of the cuts and the widespread consequences they’ll have across the country.

 

Can learning the skills required to do good history serve as an antidote to conspiracy theory? Cathy Gorn & Don Wildman think so, and in this episode they join us to discuss their work to teach those skills in the 6th-12th grade classroom through National History Day, a program that reaches more than half a million students and tens of thousands of teachers each year. We agree with them and think National History Day is an American treasure, so we hope you enjoy this conversation about what goes into creating good history, how we can better teach that to the public, and how your kids can get involved in National History Day.

 

Click here to learn more about National History Day programs for students & teachers.

 

Dr. Cathy Gorn has spent more than four decades working with National History Day and currently serves as NHD’s Executive Director.

 

Don Wildman is a podcast & documentary host whose projects include Mysteries at the Museum (Travel Channel) & the podcast American History Hit. He currently serves as Co-Chair of National History Day’s Development Committee.

 

Sources:

 

“Cuts to NEH and Humanities Councils: What Southern States Will Lose,” statehumanities.org, Federation of State Humanities Councils, April 3, 2025.

 

Mia Maldonado, “Trump administration’s latest federal cuts hit humanities funding in Idaho,” Idaho Capital Sun, April 4, 2025.

 

Jennifer Schuessler, “Trump Administration Moves to Cut Humanities Endowment,” New York Times, April 3, 2025.

 

Sarah D. White, “States Scramble after Trump’s ‘devastating’ cuts to humanities grants,” USA Today, April 5, 2025.

 

 

 

 

This is a rebroadcast of #330 which originally aired on April 22, 2024, along with a new introduction. The original episode was edited by Gary Fletcher. This rebroadcast was edited by Ben Sawyer.