Shaking America

Shaking America

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Shaking America episodes

  • The Yamato: The Greatest Battleship Ever Built

    The Yamato was the heaviest and most powerfully armed battleship ever constructed.   She carried the most formidable array of naval firepower in history, including three turrets with 69.4 foot long gun barrels — the largest guns ever mounted at sea.  The Yamato departed from the dockyards at Hiroshima in 1942 with the objective of defeating the United States in the Pacific.

    13 min
  • The Approach of the Black Ships

    For over two hundred and fifty years the isolated island nation of Japan was closed to all foreigners.  American Commodore Matthew Perry changed all of that when he arrived in the bay outside of modern day Tokyo and demanded at gunpoint that the Japanese open their ports.

    Less than fifteen years later the feudal system in Japan had completely collapsed -- and the empire that would emerge from the chaos became a world power.

    14 min
  • The Oddfather Vincent Gigante, the Crazy Mafia Don
    New York gangster Vincent Gigante feigned insanity for decades in an attempt to avoid prosecution, wandering the streets in a bathrobe and slippers.

    His lawyer claimed he was not mentally fit for trial, but in reality Gigante was the most powerful Mafia boss in the country for years.

    13 min
  • The Cold War Bomber Gap
      During the Cold War the Soviet Union tricked the American military into believing that the US had less long-range bomber jets than the Soviets.  This resulted in a massive increase in defense spending to combat a threat that didn't exist -- the so-called "Bomber Gap". 

    9 min
  • The Ace of Aces: America's Deadliest Fighter Pilot

    Within the ranks of the United States Military the term “Ace” is given to pilots who manage to shoot down five enemy planes.  The level of skill and ability necessary to achieve this dangerous accomplishment was and is incredibly rare.  

    During World War II a farm boy from Wisconsin named Richard Bong became the top flying ace of the US, downing forty Japanese aircraft throughout the conflict.  He would be named the “Ace of Aces”, the deadliest fighter pilot in American history.

    10 min

About Shaking America

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A podcast about stories in history that shook up the United States.