The Preamble

By Sharon McMahonEducation

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The Preamble episodes

May 19, 2023 White Squares Off Against the KKK
In its fight for a dry, anti-alcohol nation, the Anti-Saloon League recruited the Ku Klux Klan to join its mission to make Prohibition the law of the land. Klan members themselves weren’t specifically pro-Temperance, but they were happy to use dry laws as a way to target and perpetrate violence against Black Americans, immigrants, Jews, and Catholics. But the power of the Klan was beginning to fade…

Hosted by: Sharon McMahon
Executive Producer: Heather Jackson
Audio Producer: Jenny Snyder
Written and researched by: Heather Jackson, Valerie Hoback, Amy Watkin, and Mandy Reid

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
32 min
May 17, 2023 A Movie and a Man Who Revived the Klan
How did one of the most popular movies in the country–a blockbuster of epic proportions–fuel the rebirth of the Ku Klux Klan? And how, in just a few short years, did the Klan grow from small pockets of state chapters into a national social organization with a membership in the millions? The KKK and the prohibitionists of the 1920s worked hand-in-hand to turn America into a dry, white, Protestant-ruled nation. As booze dried up in towns across the nation, white supremacy began to rise.

Hosted by: Sharon McMahon
Executive Producer: Heather Jackson
Audio Producer: Jenny Snyder
Written and researched by: Heather Jackson, Valerie Hoback, Amy Watkin, and Mandy Reid

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
38 min
May 15, 2023 A Cocktail Toast to the Mob
On today’s episode of our series on Prohibition, we talk about two things that go hand in hand with the enforcement of dry laws: crime and cocktails. The spread of both was a direct consequence of the 18th amendment as mobsters ruled the violent industry of bootlegging and the rough liquor they sold was made more palatable with mixers.

Hosted by: Sharon McMahon
Executive Producer: Heather Jackson
Audio Producer: Jenny Snyder
Written and researched by: Heather Jackson, Valerie Hoback, Amy Watkin, and Mandy Reid

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
41 min
May 12, 2023 The Suckers and Celebrities of the NYC Speakeasy Scene
Today on Here’s Where It Gets Interesting, it’s a battle between the lawman and the barkeep; we’re going to explore the New York jazz and speakeasy scene. Along the way, we’ll meet a few people who embodied that old adage: sometimes appearances can be deceiving. And, of course, if there’s anywhere in time and place to reinvent yourself, it’s New York City in the 1920s.

Hosted by: Sharon McMahon
Executive Producer: Heather Jackson
Audio Producer: Jenny Snyder
Written and researched by: Heather Jackson, Valerie Hoback, Amy Watkin, and Mandy Reid

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
33 min
May 10, 2023 A Physician, a Rabbi, and a Bootlegger Walk into a Pharmacy
By 1920, America was officially a dry country. In theory. In practice, the law came with enough loopholes that opportunists found plenty of ways to make, trade, sell, and guzzle vast quantities of alcohol. Some turned to religion and some walked into a pharmacy with a doctor’s note. Still others knew how to rig the system so well that they made their fortunes and even got away with murder.

Hosted by: Sharon McMahon
Executive Producer: Heather Jackson
Audio Producer: Jenny Snyder
Written and researched by: Heather Jackson, Valerie Hoback, Amy Watkin, and Mandy Reid

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
41 min
May 08, 2023 The Whiskey-Guzzling Womanizer in the White House
As the country went dry at the start of 1920, Americans were ready for a new leader. A stand-up guy, they thought, someone who reflects our morals–a man of the people. The elected Warren Harding, a handsome Ohioan who prided himself on his all-American principles. But behind closed doors, Warren Harding, 29th President of the United States, hid a plethora of dark secrets.

Hosted by: Sharon McMahon
Executive Producer: Heather Jackson
Audio Producer: Jenny Snyder
Written and researched by: Heather Jackson, Valerie Hoback, Amy Watkin, and Mandy Reid

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
42 min
May 05, 2023 If Mabel Had Worn Trousers
Today, we’re going to meet the most powerful woman in America during the Prohibition era. Mabel Walker Willebrandt was the Assistant Attorney General and it was her job to enforce the 18th amendment and prosecute those who flouted the new laws of Prohibition. With a boss that didn’t think she’d succeed and a lazy department who didn’t want to work for a woman, Mabel went after some of the most notorious names in bootlegging… and won.

Hosted by: Sharon McMahon
Executive Producer: Heather Jackson
Audio Producer: Jenny Snyder
Written and researched by: Heather Jackson, Valerie Hoback, Amy Watkin, and Mandy Reid

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
34 min
May 03, 2023 How to Train Kids in the Practice of Temperance
Today in our series about Prohibition, we learn more about the crusade to turn America into a dry nation. It may surprise you to learn that it wasn’t spearheaded by only white Christian women who disapproved of saloons and whiskey. Leaders in the growing civil rights movement also pushed for temperance, and one woman convinced the government that the path to prohibition was best paved through the public school system.

Hosted by: Sharon McMahon
Executive Producer: Heather Jackson
Audio Producer: Jenny Snyder
Written and researched by: Heather Jackson, Valerie Hoback, Amy Watkin, and Mandy Reid

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
40 min
May 01, 2023 Carrying a Nation into Prohibition
Welcome to the first episode in our new series, From Hatchets to Hoods: The Mayhem of a Dry America! We’re going to begin our series a number of years before the iconic 18th Amendment went into effect, with a growing movement born of domestic and religious fervor, and the women who were gutsy enough to face social problems head on… a hatchet in hand.

Hosted by: Sharon McMahon
Give to the Winds Thy Fears sung by Brianne Flanagin
Executive Producer: Heather Jackson
Audio Producer: Jenny Snyder
Written and researched by: Heather Jackson, Valerie Hoback, Amy Watkin, and Mandy Reid

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
37 min
April 28, 2023 The First Lady of World War II with Shannon McKenna Schmidt
Today on the show, Shannon McKenna Schmidt joins Sharon to talk about the trifecta of listener-favorite subjects: an American First Lady, World War II, and a secret adventure. Shannon’s new book, The First Lady of World War II: Eleanor Roosevelt's Daring Journey to the Frontlines and Back, chronicles Eleanor Roosevelt’s journey to the Pacific theater during wartime. The five week trip took her through the South Pacific, and began as a secret when she hitched a ride on a transport airplane next to sacks of mail. Tune in to hear what happened when she touched down in Australia.

Hosted by: Sharon McMahon
Guest: Shannon McKenna Schmidt

Executive Producer: Heather Jackson
Audio Producer: Jenny Snyder
Researcher: Valerie Hoback

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
37 min

About The Preamble

From the publisher's feed

The world feels complicated. The Preamble is where it starts to make sense. Hosted by Sharon McMahon — known for making sense of complex issues — she and her guests dive deep into the…