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- The Cold War, Prohibition, the Gold Rush, the Space Race. Every part of your life -the words you speak, the ideas you share- can be traced to our history, but how well do you really know the stories that made America?
- Scandals have shaped America since its founding. American Scandal takes you deep into the heart of America's dark side to look at what drives someone to break the rules and what happens when they're caught.
- Every weekday beginning November 1st, Host Lindsay Graham (American Scandal, American History Tellers) takes you back in time to explore a momentous moment that happened 'on this day' in history.
- A college dropout with no background in science turns himself into an expert on performance enhancing drugs. Soon he attracts some of the world's best athletes-along with the attention of a determined federal agent.
- Track star Marion Jones gets caught in the middle of an Olympic steroid scandal and turns to Victor Conte for help. In baseball, Barry Bonds is fed up watching other players beat records and garner fame. He teams up with a trainer who sets him on a path that will have unexpected results.
- A syringe with a mysterious substance sets off a race to save the Olympics from a doping scandal. Backstabbing, recriminations and a dedicated team of investigators threaten to destroy everything Victor Conte has created. And agent Novitzky plants an undercover agent to try to bring down Barry Bonds.
- The raid on BALCO succeeds beyond Agent Novitzky's wildest dreams. He gets all the evidence he needs to prove that some of the top athletes in the world have cheated their way to records and medals. But Barry Bonds isn't going down without a fight and neither is Marion Jones. And when confidential testimony gets leaked to the press, all hell breaks loose.
- Victor Conte loses his battle when he's sentenced to prison. Marion Jones' carefully crafted defense threatens to collapse because of a bitter divorce. And agent Novitzky's case hits some snags as Barry Bonds fights for his reputation. After investigating for eleven years at a cost of a hundred million dollars, can agent Novitzky claim victory? Or has Victor Conte won the war?
- 2018– 36mPodcast EpisodeHost Lindsay Graham talks with the journalists who broke the BALCO scandal and almost went to jail. Mark Fainaru Wada and Lance Williams are the authors of "Game of Shadows: Barry Bonds, BALCO and the Steroids Scandal that Rocked Professional Sports."
- 2017– 39mPodcast EpisodeFor nearly 50 years, the United States and Soviet Union waged a global war of ideas fueled by politics, intrigue, and nuclear weapons.
- Forget trenches, infantry and tanks. The United States and Soviet Union fought the Cold War with ideas and information. The United States adapted those techniques for their own purposes, broadcasting an image of the nation as a beacon of hope and freedom through covert ops and jazz concerts alike even if those at home were hurting or oppressed.
- What is the United States to do when direct conflict with the Soviet Union promises almost certain annihilation? They turned to proxy wars and psychological warfare with the threat of nuclear weapons keeping both countries in check.
- 2017– 38mPodcast EpisodeAmericans were desperate to find hope in the shadow of the bomb. Miracle cures, cheap energy, and even brand new atomic gardens: the wonders of the atom to discover. Right? Eager to explore nuclear explosions for peaceful purposes, Americans instead found the resulting radioactive fallout too dangerous.
- America sent a man to the moon in 1969, and with Neil Armstrong's first steps, the United States projected to the world an image of American power, wealth and achievement. But it was hardly just for bragging rights. The space race started under Kennedy to compete with the Soviets on a global stage, but it was under Johnson that its goals became domestic. NASA, Head Start, Medicaid and even the war in Vietnam were domestic social programs, used at least in part to alleviate poverty, provide jobs and desegregate the country.
- In the early 1970s, while trying to wind down the war in Vietnam, President Richard Nixon made overtures to Moscow and Beijing that would usher in a new era of the Cold War: Detente. But the thaw in relations didn't last long the Iran Hostage Crisis and Soviet invasion of Afghanistan set the old adversaries against each other once again. Throughout the Eighties, President Reagan took a hard line against the "Evil Empire," ramping up military spending and rhetoric, and Americans were once again tense with nuclear anxiety.
- 2017– 44mPodcast EpisodeTalking with Audra Wolfe, the author of Competing with the Soviets: Science, Technology, and the State in Cold War America and Patrick Wyman, host of the hit podcasts Fall of Rome and Tides of History. Investigate how the Cold War standoff between the United States and the Soviet Union compares to another much earlier rivalry between ancient Rome and the Sassanid Persians.
- On January 17, 1920, the United States passed the 18th Amendment to the US Constitution, ushering in a 13-year dry spell known as Prohibition. But how did a country that loved to drink turn its back on alcohol? How did two-thirds of both the House and Senate and three-fourths of State legislatures all agree that going dry was the way to get the country going forward? It had always been a long, uphill battle for the temperance movement, but towards the end of the nineteenth century, certain forces aligned: fears of industrialization, urbanization and immigration.
- When a German U-boat torpedoed the RMS Lusitania on Friday, May 7th, 1915, Americans found two new enemies: Germany and the beer it was so associated with. Anti-German sentiment grew, and with it hostility to the breweries founded in the 19th century by German immigrants. Soon, the war effort and the temperance movement were linked: it was patriotic to abstain, and Prohibition became law.
- While Prohibition was successful in closing the saloon, it didn't quench America's thirst. Enterprising bootleggers found more ways to provide more alcohol to parched Americans so much that there was finally enough supply to meet demand. New drinking establishments popped up across the nation: speakeasies.
- The rise of the speakeasy was one of many unintended consequences of Prohibition and others were much deadlier. Not coincidentally, at the same time Prohibition was taking effect, the Klu Klux Klan rose to power. They combined Prohibition's anti-immigrant rhetoric with violence.
- Closing Time by Daniel Francis provides a good account of the border wars and smuggling across the northern border. Robert Rockaway's article "The Notorious Purple Gang" details the gang's origin as well as the Cleaners and Dyers War.
- The people had spoken: They wanted beer, and they wanted it now, but not just for drinking. Protestors wanted the jobs that came with breweries, and the country was desperate from the money that could come from alcohol taxes. As quickly as temperance organizations sprang up in the decade before, anti-Prohibition organizations appeared in every city. But, a constitutional amendment had never been repealed before. The anti-Prohibition leagues realized they needed someone bigger than a governor or mayor to repeal this. They went after the Presidency.
- 2017– 32mPodcast EpisodeThe record for the longest ratification period of any constitutional amendment? Lillian Cunningham did. She's an editor with the Washington Post, host of two outstanding American History podcasts, Presidential and Constitutional, and she's guest today to talk about amendments, those presidents you can never remember.
- 2017– 35mPodcast EpisodeIn August 1814, the White House burned. A fire that would eventually consume the entire nation in Civil War was already burning. This is Antebellum America. This is the adolescence of the United States, when the country grew at tremendous speed, and when fundamental questions about the kind of place it would be were being asked.
- 2017– 32mPodcast EpisodeIn the summer of 1817, President James Monroe toured the country in an effort to unite the ever growing United States, torn between bitter political battles that overshadowed national conflict. To Monroe, the nation seemed ready "to get back into the great family of the union." And based on reactions to his speech, he was right. A Federalist newspaper hailed Monroe's visit, and his message of togetherness, as a success.
- From the beginning, Jackson's administration was riddled with controversy. Citizens mobbed the White House on inauguration day, breaking furniture and fine china. They were only lured out with alcohol. And then there was the "Petticoat Affair." His Secretary of War, John Henry Eaton, was the ideal candidate for Secretary of State, but there was one small problem - the most beautiful woman in Washington. John was having an affair with a sailor's wife which started rumors around town, that was nothing compared to the firestorm of gossip around town after he married her just after her husband's tragic death at sea. There was widespread chaos and controversy and Jackson's term was just getting started.
- 2017– 36mPodcast EpisodeDuring his political rise, Jackson distinguished himself with his ability to exact ruthless military victories over indigenous people. As President Native Americans felt the brunt of this power. Whatever his achievements during his lifetime, his legacy is forever "Indian removal" from lands they'd originally inhabited to make way for white settlers.
- 2017– 35mPodcast EpisodeDuring the last years of Jackson's presidency, the economy flourished. The national debt was paid in full, industry and agriculture boomed. But when Martin Van Buren assumed the presidency, he inherited an economic disaster. The divide between rich and poor was growing and people were starting to lose their patience. The country was so on edge that the threat of increase in the price of flour caused riots in Manhattan.
- 2017– 40mPodcast Episode"Manifest Destiny" is a uniquely American idea. The phrase captured the sense of inevitability and entitlement many citizens still feel. But in the 19th century this idea consumed American's thought and identity. In the minds of white settlers moving westward, expansion was key to protecting American democracy.
- In 2006 Eliot Spitzer is elected governor on a promise to tackle corruption in the most dysfunctional state capital in the country--Albany, NY. He is quickly challenged by one of the most powerful men in the state. Will the governor change Albany or will Albany change him?
- Troopergate explodes. Governor Spitzer finds himself embroiled in a scandal. Senator Bruno is investigated by the FBI.
- Governor Cuomo tries to stamp out corruption with an independent commission who deals with interference from unexpected places. Attorney Preet Bharara lasers in on the committee's findings.
- 2018– 40mPodcast EpisodePreet Bharara investigates Sheldon Silver and Dean Skelos - the explosive trials and the aftermath.
- 2018– 42mPodcast EpisodeHost Lindsay Graham talks with Alex Gibney, director of "Client 9," a documentary that examines the rise and fall of Eliot Spitzer.
- In July of 1985, the National Security Advisor to President Reagan, Robert "Bud" McFarlane puts a plan in motion that could change the course of history and turn the Reagan administration upside down.
- Two of Reagan's top priorities are in jeopardy: American hostages are still in the hands of terrorists in Iran, and the Contras are losing their fight against the Sandinistas in Nicaragua. In early 1986, the two operations merge. In the middle of it all is Lieutenant Colonel Ollie North.
- When the story breaks that senior US government officials secretly traded arms for hostages, Congress and the American people demand answers. Chief of Staff Don Regan and Attorney General Ed Meese begin building a wall around the President.
- Independent Counsel Lawrence Walsh is called to D.C. to investigate Iran-Contra and bring those responsible to justice. But what he discovers will shake his political allegiances, and drive a wedge through the heart of the country.
- Independent Counsel Lawrence Walsh sets his sights on the White House and tries to answer the question everyone has been asking: Exactly how much did President Reagan know and when did he know it?
- How does the Iran Contra investigation compare to the Russia investigation today? They go behind the scenes with Michael Bromwich, a lawyer who worked on the Iran Contra case. He tells what it's like to delve into the dealings of America's most powerful players.
- A supertanker carrying 53 million gallons of crude oil runs aground in Prince William Sound sparking the worst man-made ecological catastrophe in the country's history at the time. As Exxon struggles to get the cleanup underway, fishermen worry that this is the end of life as they know it.
- The fishermen find that damage from the spill is even worse than expected, while a winter storm destroys Exxon's plans for a quick cleanup. Captain Hazelwood disappears.
- After Captain Hazelwood's arrest, Exxon tries to clean up its public image. President Bush tells Exxon to pick up the pace on the cleanup. Fisherman Riki Ott takes on Big Oil in the Alaska State Legislature.
- The fishermen run a blockade. Alyeska Pipeline goes to extremes to root out a mole. Exxon and the fishermen face off in court.
- It's been 30 years since the Exxon Valdez struck a reef in Port William Sound, but the disaster still reverberates. A conversation with marine conservation professor and Alaska fisherman Rick Steiner about the state of things today. Plus, journalist and author Antonia Juhasz on how Exxon Valdez compares to the 2010 BP oil spill.
- 2018– 40mPodcast EpisodeAn elderly swami from India captures the zeitgeist of 1960s counterculture in America with his message of peace and love. But his western disciples are hungry for power, and one of his most trusted devotees betrays him.
- 2018– 40mPodcast EpisodeWhen devotees at the NYC temple confront Keith Ham, he decides to found a commune of his own in West Virginia. Krishnas in temples across the country come up with illegal ways to raise money for the group, including drug dealing and money scams.
- 2018– 43mPodcast EpisodeWhen the Swami dies, eleven senior disciples declare themselves gurus and take control of the movement. In Berkeley, Hansadutta becomes paranoid and starts amassing an arsenal of weapons. In West Virginia, Keith Ham finishes constructing his palace of gold. But when new devotees with records for violent crime join the commune, Deputy Westfall grows alarmed. A drug smuggling operation at the Krishna Temple in Laguna Beach ends in murder when temple leaders pair up with ex-mafia informants.
- 2018– 37mPodcast EpisodeWhen a devotee in West Virginia goes missing, his wife suspects murder. Deputy Westfall is thwarted by the DA when he tries to take action. Keith flexes his muscles and expands his power over New Vrindaban.
- Steve Bryant is forced out of the commune at gunpoint and heads to California where he finds evidence that the Gurus are frauds. Berkeley Temple Leader Hansadutta has a meltdown that lands him in jail. An attempt to start a Guru Reform movement divides the movement and leads to death threats. A devotee attacks Keith Ham.