This episode covers Dwight's early years at home, his time at West point, his early career in the military and his training under Douglas MacArthur leading up to World War II.

In this episode, discussion ensues about John Q Adam's famous family, childhood, precociousness in learning, personal character, the 1824 election and its implications for the country, as well as his career post presidency and his legacy as an early abolitionist.

This episode we touch on Colonial Mecklenburg county, Polk's upbrining, his move to Tennessee, the Tenn KY area excitement, Polk as protege of Jackson, his intense religiosity - and how his thinking was dominated by jurisprudence.

Further, how Polk and his legacy are dominated by manifest destiny (he helped develop it), and the Mexican-American war and how the 1840s tech made US competent soldiers/engineers while Mexico remained more ossified

(Note: corrections are to be made Polk is the 11th president, and the first of 10 children. His religion is Presbyterian, not Methodist)

In this episode we cover: Nixon takes over the presidency, the 1968 election, his plan going into Vietnam, how successful/unsuccessful his strategy was, Nixon as president, Nixon on foreign affairs, lessons from Vietnam.

The end of our series on LBJ and his handling of Vietnam. Continues into the beginning of the story of Nixon and his attitudes towards the presidency and Vietnam.

The spread of communism post WWII, the doctrine of containment, the perceived inevitability of socialism's conquering of communism, how LBJ perceived the war going in, his strategic error and lack of understanding of the situation in Vietnam

LBJ's time in Texas, Entry into politics, rise in the Senate, and promotion to the presidency in the midst of the tumult of JFK's assassination.

How USA got into Vietnam, the buildup to the war, the First Indochina War, what the major figures of the time thought of it (Nixon, LBJ, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy)

Grant battles against Lee; Grant and the union win the Civil War; Lincoln's death; the beginning of reconstruction and Grant's post military career.

A podcast on US Grant: his move back to midwest pre-Civil War, beginnings of Civil War and context, Grant's regimen, the conditions of battle, Shiloh, Vicksburg, and Chattanooga.