Part 2: The Lottery Czar

American Experience Presents stops by to share the fascinating story of Joseph McCarthy. From humble beginnings on a Wisconsin farm, to leveraging his military service after World War II to launch a successful Senate bid, McCarthy's story is one of ambition and opportunity. As Co ... Show More

The team from Antiques Roadshow Detours stops by to share a historical fact that they just can’t seem to get right. This is one for the architecture and urban design enthusiasts. You can find all episodes of Antiques Roadshow Detours wherever you listen. 

Last week, we heard about a movement to challenge the authority of government agencies and push power down to the people. This week, the story of a central figure in that movement: Ralph Nader. This episode comes from NPR’s Throughline, co-hosted by Rund Abdelfatah and Ramtin Ara ... Show More

Joseph McCarthy's infamous crusade in the 1950s whipped up a frenzy of anti-communist sentiment across America – and wrecked the reputations of scores of people accused of harbouring sympathies for the Soviet Union. So what motived the Wisconsin senator, and why did McCarthyism p ... Show More

Who was Joe McCarthy? How did this Republican Senator come to lead a nationwide campaign against communism? And how did he bring about his own downfall? For this episode, Don is joined by the authors of ‘Witch Hunt: The Cold War, Joe McCarthy, and the Red Scare’, Dr. Andrea Balis ... Show More

For nearly half a century, the United States and Russia stood as adversaries, entrenched in a tense geopolitical rivalry known as the Cold War. Yet this period represents only a brief chapter in the broader, more complex history of their relationship...In this episode, Professor ... Show More

June 9, 1954. Senator Joseph McCarthy has accused the United States Army of having communists within its midst. After rising to power during a time of great fear in America, McCarthy's name has become synonymous with anti-communism – and with baseless, life-ruining accusations. B ... Show More

Few spies have motives as hard to decipher as those of Oleg Penkovsky. Was he a hero, an egotist or a madman? The Spy Who's Tristan Donovan sits down with Jack Basu-Mellish, host of the LSE Cold War Podcast, to discuss Penkovsky’s actions, plus the lessons to learn from the event ... Show More

Who was the Russian spy working under Oppenheimer to build the atomic bomb? Why was it so dangerous to be a communist in Nazi Germany? And how did a young science prodigy become one of the most notorious spies in history? Klaus Fuchs was born into a left-wing family at the beginn ... Show More

First published in 1848, the The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels presents communism as a 'spectre' haunting Europe. During the century that followed, this revolutionary ideology swept the world and left an indelible mark on the geopolitical dynamics of the m ... Show More

Would the Cold War have happened if the nuclear bomb was never created? How did Gorbachev, Reagan and Thatcher reduce tensions between the East and West? And, according to one of the Russian authorities' most wanted journalists, how are echoes of the Cold War felt today? 'Turning ... Show More

Eliot and Eric welcome Jacob Heilbrunn, editor of The National Interest, non-resident fellow at the Atlantic Council's Eurasia Center, and author of America Last: The Right's Century Long Romance with Foreign Dictators. They discuss the origin story of "America First" during the ... Show More