History’s Trainwrecks

Valley Forge — Almost A Trainwreck — Conclusion

Valley Forge — Almost A Trainwreck — Part III

“The men must be fed,” a Continental general wrote to George Washington in December 1777, “or they cannot be commanded.”

Washington knew all this already. His men also needed shelter from the elements, proper clothing and…

Valley Forge — Almost A Trainwreck — Part I

We won the war against our mean old British overlords, so…

Dare To Think Differently About Politics

The way Americans think about politics is the root cause of America’s political problems:

I’ll Trade You A General, Part Two

On our last episode, we left things in this precarious situation:

American second in command General Charles Lee had been captured by the British at the end of 1776 while he was holed up in a New Jersey tavern, loosely plotting to replace…

I’ll Trade You A General, Part One

American Major General Charles Lee had picked a great place to hide.

Like big-city mobsters two centuries later, George Washington’s second in command had discovered that New Jersey was a great place to lay low if someone was after you.

Remember the Ladies

Abigail Adams ran a farm, inoculated her children for smallpox, and was something of a real estate magnate, all while the British army and navy were besieging her town.

Martha Washington spent the winter at Valley Forge right alongside her husband and their freezing…

Governor Huey Long For Senate

There was a very real possibility that Franklin Delano Roosevelt would be a one-term president.

He had won the White House in 1932, elected in a landslide by an angry and desolate American citizenry that was quickly becoming jobless, homeless, and…

George Washington — Indispensable Man? (Part I)

“The idea that any one man alone can save us is too silly for any body to harbor for a moment,” John Adams wrote in 1778. I hate to disagree with one of my favorite historical curmudgeons, but it was an idea that John himself harbored when he…