A history podcast about the people and events shaping the United States in the 20th Century. Communists, Capitalists, Populists, Feminists, Imperialists, Isolationists, Anarchists, Atheists and Fundamentalists welcome 🇺🇸
On April 25, 1970 The New York Times runs a story with the headline "Graft Paid to Police Here Said to Run Into Millions." One of the sources for the story was Detective Frank Serpico. For years, he had been trying to get the NYPD to take his claims of police corruption seriously. The bad press leads to the formation of the Knapp Commission, certainly not the first commission tasked with looking into New York Police corruption. In 1894, the Lexow Committee had exposed the rampant ...
2 Sept 2026
Arnold Rothstein | Ep 13
What does the Black Sox Scandal and the Becker-Rosenthal case have in common? Arnold Rothstein. His career in New York City's world of vice would span the 1890s to the 1920s, adjusting during periods of reform and always staying steps removed from scandal. If we're talking about That American Century, we should mention Arnold Rothstein. Music from Epidemic Sound. Sources for this episode include: Rothstein by David PietruszaSatan's Circus by Mike DashThe Society for American...
20 Aug 2026
The Becker-Rosenthal Case | Ep 12
It was called "The Trial of the Century." In July 1912, a New York City Bookmaker is assassinated in front of the Hotel Metropole. Four gunmen and one NYPD Lieutenant are implicated in the crime. Lieutenant Charles Becker was no stranger to the graft that had ruled New York City for decades, but his teaming up with Herman Rosenthal would prove to be his undoing. He would face a trial, a retrial, and, ultimately, an execution. Music from Epidemic Sound. Sources for this episo...
25 Jul 2026
Sinclair v. Rockefeller | Ep 11
Arnold Schwarzenegger, Ronald Reagan, and Upton Sinclair. All three were celebrities first then California gubernatorial candidates second. Reagan and Sinclair have something else in common - they were both players during crucial moments in American labor history. Reagan v. PATCO and Sinclair v. Rockefeller after the Ludlow Massacre. Music from Epidemic Sound. Sources for this episode include: The Autobiography of Upton SinclairSchwarzenegger CA acceptance speech 2003Schwarzenegger swor...
12 Jul 2026
May Day 1914 | Ep 10
Veracruz, the Ludlow Massacre, Bill Haywood, the IWW, and Rockefeller. All are "In the News" May 2, 1914. After the Ludlow Massacre in April 1914, Picketers head down to Standard Oil headquarters at 26 Broadway to protest the Rockefellers. One of these protestors is famous novelist, Upton Sinclair. Also protesting are Anarchists who, on May 1, 1914, get caught up in the stampede and chaos at the May Day rally in Union Square. Music from Epidemic Sound. Sources for this episode include: ...
29 Jun 2026
Remember Ludlow! Part 2 | Ep 9
Remember Ludlow! Part 2 | In April 1914, two weeks before the Ludlow Massacre, John D. Rockefeller Jr. testifies before Congress about the ongoing Coal Miner's strike in Southern Colorado. Jr. has a controlling interest in the company that owns the mines, the Colorado Fuel & Iron Co. Rockefeller Jr. claims the striking mineworkers are being forced to strike. They are being pressured by the United Mineworkers of America and have received threatening letters from "The Black Hand." Roc...
10 Jun 2026
Remember Ludlow! Part 1 | Ep 8
The Ludlow Massacre | The conflict between striking mineworkers and the Colorado Fuel & Iron Company comes to a deadly climax on April 20, 1914. Two women and 11 children will suffocate to death in a cellar dug underneath a tent in the colony where striking mineworkers and their families had been living for over six months. When details of the Battle at Ludlow and the disregard for the lives of the women and children at the worker's camp come to light, the nation reacts with horror and ou...
18 May 2026
The Mountain Meadows Massacre | Ep 7
The Mountain Meadows Massacre | “This is the right place” declared Brigham Young as he entered the Salt Lake Valley on July 24, 1847. Persecuted and harassed in every place they had tried to make a home, the Latter-Day Saints, the Mormons, establish Zion in the Great Salt Lake Valley. Ten years later, however, in 1857, rumors abound that President James Buchanan is sending someone new to replace Brigham Young as Governor of the Utah Territory. The Mormons refuse to be persecuted any lon...
22 Apr 2026
Los Niños Héroes | The Invasion of Veracruz Part 2 | Ep 6
The Invasion of Veracruz Part 2 | On the anniversary of the Battle of Chapultepec (September 13, 1847), the President of Mexico recites the names of eight Los Niños Héroes (boy heroes) during the annual ceremony commemorating the young boy's ultimate act of patriotism and sacrifice. Six of the eight Los Niños Héroes die during the Battle of Chapultepec (1847), and two die during the American Invasion of Veracruz in 1914. Prior to the American landing in 1914, President Huerta orders Fed...
8 Apr 2026
War is a Racket | The Invasion of Veracruz Part 1 | Ep 5
The Invasion of Veracruz Part 1 | The President of the United States has refused to recognize the leader of a sovereign nation, US oil interests are in danger, and the use of military force has been authorized. It’s April 1914, and Woodrow Wilson has sent battleships to the port of Veracruz, Mexico. The invasion plan is set. Smedley D. Butler will lead his marines ashore, take the Customs House, then take the city. Smedley D. Butler received 16 medals during his distinguished career in ...
30 Mar 2026
Durand v. Hollins | Ep 4
The Bombardment of Greytown, Durand v. Hollins, and Executive military power | The power of the President has expanded over the last 200 years. Is the President allowed to declare war? No. The President is allowed to use the military and authorize force but under what circumstances? In 1854, the murder of Antonio Palladino, a Nicaraguan fisherman, would lead to a court case whose ruling would state that the President is allowed to use military force in order to protect American citizens or to...
18 Mar 2026
Colonel Edward House | Ep 3
Colonel Edward House: The Man Behind Woodrow Wilson's Throne | In April 1914, Woodrow Wilson calls on his most trusted advisor, Colonel Edward House after luncheon. He is seeking counsel on what he should do about the "Mexican Situation." President Huerta has refused to give the American Flag a 21-gun salute after the Tampico Incident, and Wilson feels the U.S. cannot bear this insult. Should he authorize invasion? A savvy Politico from Texas, Colonel Edward House (who isn't reall...
7 Mar 2026
The Incident at Tampico | Ep 2
Mexico's Oil and the Incident at Tampico | Two months before Franz Ferdinand is shot and three months before the Great War begins, an incident in the port city of Tampico causes Woodrow Wilson to seriously consider “intervention” in Mexico. The Mexican Revolution has been underway since 1910, and the Wilson Administration has refused to recognize to its new leader - Victoriano Huerta. An American intervention could make Tampico safe for the Americans living and doing business in Mexico,...
25 Feb 2026
A Day That Shook the World | Ep 1
The Assassination of Franz Ferdinand | On what day did the 20th century begin? Franz Ferdinand is shot in Sarajevo on June 28, 1914 by South Slav nationalist Gavrilo Princip, and the world changes forever. Americans read the shocking details the following morning, June 29, and wonder if there will be another war in the Balkans. Could an even greater conflict erupt in Europe? When the Great War begins in August 1914, President Wilson declares the U.S. neutral, however, the Allied p...
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