Emerging victorious from an electoral quagmire in 1876, Rutherford B. Hayes became the 19th President of the United States.

Professor Mark Zachary Taylor joins Don to explore the first great depression and how Hayes navigated the US towards recovery from it.

From strike and unrest to growth and stability, how did Hayes lay the groundwork for economic prosperity?

Produced by Freddy Chick. Edited by Sophie Gee. Senior Producer was Charlotte Long.

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An iconic signature on the Declaration of Independence - that is what John Hancock is best known for. But how did he come to be the first signatory? What was his role in the American Revolution?

Brooke Barbier joins Don in this episode to take us through the life and works of John Hancock, and to explain how he got the nickname, 'King Hancock'.

Brooke is the author of ‘Boston in the American Revolution’ and ‘King Hancock: The Radical Influence of a Moderate Founding Father’. She also founded 'Ye Old Tavern Tours', a private tour company in Boston.

Produced by Sophie Gee. Edited by Aidan Lonergan. Senior Producer was Charlotte Long.

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During the spring of 1921, eleven bodies were found in in rural Georgia. These men were victims of horrific murders, and also of a more widespread crime - peonage.

Whilst enslavement had legally ended with the surrender at Appomattox and the 13th Amendment, black people across the south were still being entrapped into debt slavery half a century later, in the Twentieth Century.

To find out more about this, and about what drove these men's murderer to his crimes, Don speaks to Earl Swift, author of 'Hell Put to Shame: The 1921 Murder Farm Massacre and the Horror of America's Second Slavery.'

Produced by Sophie Gee. Edited by Aidan Lonergan. Senior Producer was Charlotte Long.

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How does a heroic general of the Civil War become one of the lowest rated Presidents (at least until recently)?

To discuss Grant's commitment to reconstruction, civil rights, and the crushing of the Ku Klux Klan, Don is joined by Professor Anne Marshall. Anne is a historian of the Nineteenth century U.S. South and the Civil War in historical memory at Mississippi State University.

Produced by Freddy Chick. Edited by Sophie Gee. Senior Producer was Charlotte Long.

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Strategic brilliance? Relentless determination? Unbeatable leadership and cooperation with Lincoln? How did Ulysses S. Grant distinguish himself in the Civil War?

Don speaks to Cecily Zander, a historian specializing in the Civil War era and the American West. Together, they discuss Grant's rise to General, his role in the war and why he has been known as 'the Butcher'.

Produced by Freddy Chick and Charlotte Long. Edited by Aidan Lonergan. Senior Producer was Charlotte Long.

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Al Capone is one of the most notorious gangsters in US history. His story of rags to riches, set against the backdrop of the prohibition era, is worthy of the many movies that it has inspired.

Violent mobster, genius businessman or semi-professional baseball player, who was the real Al Capone? To find out, Don speaks to Claire White, Director of Education at the Mob Museum in Las Vegas.

Produced and edited by Sophie Gee. Senior Producer was Charlotte Long.

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It comprises more than half of the world's defence spending, but what is the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation? How has the United States influenced it from its inception to today? And how, during its 75 years, has it impacted the United States in return?

Don is joined by Peter Apps, journalist and Reuters global defence commentator. From the signing of the treaty by the first 12 members on 4th April 1949, through tensions, failures and the addition of member states, how might NATO be 'the world's most successful military alliance'?

Produced by Sophie Gee. Edited by Ella Blaxill. Senior Producer was Charlotte Long.

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A wealthy man in his early 30s. An army man. A German immigrant. A bootlegger. A lover. Who was Jay Gatsby? And if he was based on a real person, what do we know about them?

To delve into one of the most famous fictional characters of the 20th century (from one of Don's favourite authors, F Scott Fitzgerald) Don speaks to Joe Nocera. Joe is the host of a new eight-part investigation that delves into the shrouded mystery behind the person who claims to have inspired The Great Gatsby.

American Dreamer: Who Was Jay Gatsby? An Audible Original podcast, is out now.

Produced and edited by Sophie Gee. Senior Producer was Charlotte Long.

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Three quarters of a million people dead in the Civil War. A country separated in to two. How do you join it back together? Do you punish the secessionists? How do you grapple with the question of enslavement? And who do you choose to be at the controls?

When Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in 1865, his Vice President, Andrew Johnson, became President. Johnson was a Southerner who had sided with the Union during the war. To hear how his standpoint impacted on his policy in the aftermath of the war, Don speaks to Erik B Alexander.

Erik is an Associate Professor of American History at Souther Illinois University.

Produced by Sophie Gee. Edited by Aidan Lonergan. Senior Producer was Charlotte Long.

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More than 200 accused, 20 executed and a village plagued with hysteria. Were the Salem Witch Trials of 1692 and 1693 the work of superstition, a power struggle, fungus or actual witchcraft? What makes them stand out in the history of witch trials?

In this episode, Don speaks to Jessica Parr from Northeastern University about the alleged crimes, persecution and lasting memory of the so-called Salem witches.

Jessica is a historian of the Early Modern Atlantic and author of 'Inventing George Whitefield: Race, Revivalism, and the Making of a Religious Icon.'

Produced by Sophie Gee. Edited by Tean Stewart-Murray. Senior Producer was Charlotte Long.

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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 Point: The Bomb and the Cold War' is a new, 9-part Netflix documentary which answers these questions and more. In this episode of American History Hit, Don speaks to the series' director and two contributors to get some insight.

First, he speaks to Brian Knappenberger, the documentary filmmaker behind this series, Turning Point: 9/11 and the War on Terror and others.

Then, he is joined by Archie Brown, Emeritus Professor at the University of Oxford and author of 'The Human Factor. Gorbachev, Reagan, and Thatcher, and the End of the Cold War'.

Finally, he speaks with Andrei Soldatov, Russian investigative journalist and co-founder and editor of Agentura.ru, a watchdog of the activities of the Russian secret service.

Produced and edited by Sophie Gee. Senior Producer was Charlotte Long.

Enjoy unlimited access to award-winning original documentaries that are released weekly and AD-FREE podcasts. Get a subscription for $1 per month for 3 months with code AMERICANHISTORY sign up at https://historyhit/subscription/ 

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