HTDS is a bi-weekly podcast, delivering a legit, seriously researched, hard-hitting survey of American history through entertaining stories. To keep up with History That Doesn’t Suck news, check us out htdspodcast.com or follow on Facebook and Instagram: @historythatdoesntsuck. Become a premium member to support our work, receive ad-free episodes and bonus episodes.Pre-order Prof. Jackson's new book Been There Done That: How Our History Shows What We Can Overcome
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Sep 28, 2026 · 1:18:25
Following the Challenger and Columbia Space Shuttle disasters, the government had to rethink space exploration. In 2006, NASA launched the Commercial Orbital Transportation…
Sep 21, 2026 · 1:01:53
"Wing Ding, you're either crazy as hell or you've got balls." This is the story of the European Theater in 1943. As Allied bombers learn the brutal cost of daylight precision…
Sep 7, 2026 · 1:07:31
“What even is the Virginia Plan but democracy checked by democracy, or pork with a little change of the sauce?” This is the story of 55 men from 12 of the 13 sovereign states…
Aug 24, 2026 · 54:43
Professor Greg Jackson and co-host Riley Neubauer are joined by returning guest Captain Mac Caldwell, a Marine veteran, to dive deeper into the Pacific Theater of early World War…
Aug 10, 2026 · 58:34
“If we ever lose Saipan, repeated air attacks on Tokyo will follow. No matter what it takes, we have to hold there.” As Operation Cartwheel neutralizes Japanese forces on Rabaul,…
Jul 27, 2026 · 57:06
“The ultimate defeat of Japan [will] be accomplished by blockade, bombing, and assault.” This is the story of American island hopping—or should we say leapfrogging?—through…
Jul 13, 2026 · 59:07
“Guadalcanal is not the name of an island. It is the name of the graveyard of the Japanese army.” This is the story of America's first major offensive in the Pacific since…
Jul 6, 2026 · 48:26
Episode 1: We The Founders (The Constitution) | Introducing Government That Doesn’t Suck Follow GTDS on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , YouTube or wherever you listen. What if the…
Jul 2, 2026 · 11:06
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen United States of America, as read by Professor Greg Jackson and fellow citizens: Lindsey Cormack co-host of Government That Doesn’t Suck…
Jun 22, 2026 · 1:02:13
In celebration of America’s 250th, we’d like to officially invite you to enjoy this special episode telling the tale of that audacious, terrifying, and formative step taken by…
Jun 15, 2026 · 1:00:51
Professor Greg Jackson is interviewed by Professor Ben Sawyer on The Road to Now podcast to discuss Jackson’s new book, Been There, Done That: What Our History Shows What We Can…
Jun 8, 2026 · 1:06:08
"What I vividly recall is after getting to Tanforan and walking into this horse stable, and Mom… putting down her suitcase and just crying.” This is the story of Japanese…
May 22, 2026 · 1:03:02
“Will young, freewheeling American boys take the iron discipline of wartime? … In my judgment the answer is Yes! ... if the answers they get are worth fighting and dying for.”…
May 11, 2026 · 58:33
“I suggest that while we keep defense and victory in the forefront, that we don't lose sight of our fight for true democracy at home.” This is the story of life on the American…
May 4, 2026 · 34:37
Been There, Done That: How Our History Shows What We Can Overcome, Prof. Jackson’s new book publishing June 16th, takes us on a chronological journey—from the very start of the…
Apr 27, 2026 · 1:02:34
“Everybody’s dead. Don’t ask me about anybody. Everybody’s dead.” This is the story of the Final Solution. From Anne Frank’s annex to countless ghettos, Jews who have thus far…
Apr 13, 2026 · 1:04:22
“The procedure is a pretty barbaric one and not to be described here more definitively. Not much will remain of the Jews.” —Joseph Goebbels This is the story of how the Holocaust…
Mar 30, 2026 · 44:21
After turning our attention back to Europe in the last few episodes, it’s time to finally examine the Holocaust. Back in episode 185, we covered a broad history of antisemitism…
Mar 16, 2026 · 54:53
"My dear Duce, it’s no longer any good… At this moment you are the most hated man in Italy.” This is the story of Operations Underworld, Mincemeat, and Husky. On the heels of the…
Mar 2, 2026 · 1:01:00
“This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is perhaps the end of the beginning.” This is the story of the Allied campaign in North Africa. Long under…
Feb 16, 2026 · 58:49
“When do we get a whack at those Germans?” This is the story of America’s entry into the European Theater. After Pearl Harbor, American foot soldiers and generals alike are eager…
Feb 2, 2026 · 59:08
“It was almost unbelievable, but I was seeing it. Almost simultaneously, three [Japanese] carriers were wiped out. I knew what it meant. By golly, we did it!” This is the story…
Jan 19, 2026 · 1:00:02
“We had been promised relief but none was coming, and all of us in Bataan shared a sense of betrayal.” This is the story of the United State’s earliest—and most disastrous—days…
Jan 5, 2026 · 55:50
With the December 1941 surprise attack on the US naval base Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, our story has officially come to the United States’ entry into the Second World War. Professor…
Dec 22, 2025 · 34:25
“This year very few Hanukkah candles were lit.” / “This is a strange Christmas Eve.” This is the story of 1941’s wartime holiday season. It’s difficult to conjure up a more…
Dec 7, 2025 · 59:23
“Man your battle stations! This is no sh*t!” This is the story of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. It’s 7:55 on Sunday morning, December 7, 1941. 183 Japanese aircraft…
Nov 24, 2025 · 59:38
“To be perfectly frank, the ways you and I look at the Chinese are fundamentally different. You seem to think of them as human, but I see them as pigs.” This is the origin story…
Nov 10, 2025 · 53:46
Professor Greg Jackson sits down with legendary documentary filmmaker Ken Burns and his co-producer Sarah Botstein to discuss their newest film series, The American Revolution…
Nov 3, 2025 · 5:34
Today Professor Jackson tells the story of Eleanor Roosevelt’s “Over Our Coffee Cups” weekly radio show. Starting in the fall of 1941, the First Lady took to the airwaves with…
Oct 20, 2025 · 38:50
“No more defenses. Our army is wiped out—artillery, air force, everything wiped out.” This is the story of the invasion of New Jersey. “The War of the Worlds” is a 1938 radio…
Oct 13, 2025 · 1:06:00
Professor Jackson takes a step back to review themes from episodes 187 through 189 (War in Europe and America’s Response), specifically the slow turn from isolationism to aid via…
Oct 6, 2025 · 1:02:16
"At long last, Mr. President.”—Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill This is the story of the second year of WWII and the United States’ response. As the war enters its second…
Sep 29, 2025 · 10:23
Professor Greg Jackson shares a personal message about our politically divided times and announces more tour dates for his live show: The Unlikely Union . This show is not…
Sep 22, 2025 · 1:04:05
“I have said not once but many times that I have seen war and that I hate war. … I hope the United States will keep out of this war. I believe that it will.” This is the story of…
Sep 8, 2025 · 1:04:46
“A great war can hardly be avoided any longer.” This is the story of Nazi Germany’s aggressive territorial expansion and the start of WWII. The Treaty of Versailles has long been…
Aug 25, 2025 · 1:02:39
“Comrade Stalin, now that he is general secretary, has concentrated immense power in his hands, and I am not sure whether he will always be capable of exercising this power with…
Aug 11, 2025 · 1:04:59
“Being a Jew is not a crime, I am not a dog.” This is the story of the start of the Holocaust. Serving as the scapegoat for everything from a disappearing child to the Black…
Aug 7, 2025 · 7:53
Professor Greg Jackson is touring the country with a live version of the podcast telling the story of The Unlikely Union of American states. Starting Sep 19, 2025 through July 4,…
Jul 28, 2025 · 1:03:14
“There will be no more mercy now; anyone who stands in our way will be butchered.” This is the story of Adolf Hitler and the collapse of the Weimar Republic. A dropout. A failed…
Jul 14, 2025 · 1:06:40
“Italy, Gentlemen, wants peace, wants quiet, wants work, wants calm; we will give it with love, if that be possible, or with strength, if that be necessary.” This is the story of…
Jun 30, 2025 · 41:50
This is the story of interwar preparation–not that the United States realized it was preparing for World War II, new technologies, innovation, and a constant pushing of the…
Jun 16, 2025 · 1:00:22
“If he is lost it will be the most universally regretted single loss we ever had. But that kid ain’t going to fail.” This is the story of the high-fliers in early…
Jun 2, 2025 · 57:19
“If this is to be a skyscraper… why not make it scrape the sky.” This is the story of the race for the tallest building in New York City—in the world. Erstwhile…
May 19, 2025 · 1:00:26
“Everybody says it can’t be done.” This is the story of San Francisco’s two great bridges. The bustling cities of Oakland and San Francisco are separated by less than ten miles…
May 5, 2025 · 1:02:54
“I felt no distress whatever…I was perspiring freely and was as limber and helpless as a wet rag. It was an exhilarating experience.... It was then and there that I first…
Apr 21, 2025 · 55:28
This is a conversation to kick off the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution. Retired U.S. Army Major General and history buff, Bill Rapp, drops some knowledge on how the…
Apr 7, 2025 · 46:46
A discussion of the recent HTDS narrative episodes on FDR and the New Deal. Think of it as a book club for additional insights into these latest chapters of the HTDS…
Mar 24, 2025 · 1:03:33
“No matter how great and good a man may be, executive aggrandizement is not safe for democracy.” This is the story of Franklin’s second term and his battle with the Supreme…
Mar 10, 2025 · 1:03:43
“I saw and approached the hungry and desperate mother, as if drawn by a magnet.” This is the story of FDR’s first term after facing down the initial emergency. 100 days down,…
Feb 24, 2025 · 59:20
“[We] had forgotten to be Republicans or Democrats. We were just a bunch of men trying to save the banking system.” This is the story of FDR’s first 100 days in office. In early…
Feb 10, 2025 · 1:03:39
“First of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself-–nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to…
Dec 16, 2024 · 1:00:40
"Too much praise cannot be given to the President for the prompt and resolute and skillful way in which he has set about reassuring the country after the financial collapse.”…
Dec 2, 2024 · 28:10
“There is a million dollars here for the asking!” This is the story of Christmas in the 1920s. Yeah, the whole decade—why not? One hundred years ago, people were just beginning…
Nov 18, 2024 · 1:00:14
“A wise man never sells out at the first sign of trouble. That’s for the pikers.” This is the story of the 1929 Wall Street Crash. On October 24, or “Black Thursday,” stock…
Nov 4, 2024 · 38:36
Our last few episodes have reveled in stories of the popularization of movies, music and sports during the Roaring 1920s. In this epilogue episode, Professor Jackson steps out of…
Oct 21, 2024 · 34:17
“His Lordship from Transylvania would like to purchase a nice house in our small town . . . it will take a bit of effort . . . a bit of sweat and perhaps . . . a bit of blood . .…
Oct 7, 2024 · 53:43
“We have a basket and a ball, and it seems to me that would be a good name for it.” This is the story of America’s varied athletic endeavors (besides baseball). Though each sport…
Sep 30, 2024 · 47:58
As a follow up to episode 165 America’s Favorite Pastime: Baseball, we’re proud to share an interview with Bob Kendrick, the President of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in…
Sep 23, 2024 · 56:35
"As I hit the ball, every muscle in my system, every sense I had, told me that I had never hit a better one . . . I didn't have to look. But I did. That ball . . . hit . . .…
Sep 9, 2024 · 58:33
“Harlem is the queen of the black belts, drawing Aframericans together in a vast humming hive . . . from the different states, from the islands of the Caribbean, and from Africa…
Aug 26, 2024 · 55:46
“Miller, Lyles, and I were standing near the exit door . . . Blake stuck out there in front, leading the orchestra—his bald head would get the brunt of the tomatoes and rotten…
Aug 12, 2024 · 58:06
“Wait a minute, wait a minute, you ain’t heard nothing yet!” This is the story of the silver screen. In the late nineteenth century, technology is advancing rapidly. Eadweard…
Jul 29, 2024 · 35:11
Cheers to Professor Jackson’s post Prohibition conversation with distinguished author Daniel Okrent! Dan is the the author of Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition , winner…
Jul 15, 2024 · 59:35
“Only Capone kills like that.” This is the story of the rise and fall of Al Capone, and the last gasps of Prohibition. No other gangster compares to Scarface. He’s remained…
Jul 1, 2024 · 55:51
“Don’t ask me nothin’! You hear me? Don’t ask! And don’t bring anybody in here for me to identify. I won’t identify them even if I know they did it!” This is the story of the…
Jun 17, 2024 · 52:25
“You’re Bill McCoy.” “Never heard of him.” This is the story of a crazy decade-plus when America outlawed booze…but the liquor kept flowing. The Prohibition era marks a partial…
Jun 3, 2024 · 56:31
Episode Description: “Farewell, you good-for-nothing, God-forsaken, iniquitous, bleary-eyed, bloated-faced old imp of perdition, farewell!” This is the story of the path to…
May 20, 2024 · 57:03
“I believe I can swing it.” This is the story of the Coolidge Administration. Calvin Coolidge isn’t the most talkative guy–he’s painfully shy, to be frank–but “Silent Cal” does…
May 6, 2024 · 1:03:11
“If you knew of a great scandal in our administration, would you for the good of the country and the party expose it publicly or would you bury it?” This is the story of a…
Apr 22, 2024 · 57:35
The Prof. sits down with fellow Prof. Ben Sawyer of the Road to Now Podcast and Middle Tennessee State University to chat through the last volume episodes. Russia, the Red Scare,…
Apr 8, 2024 · 58:36
“I want to say make no settlement until they sign up that every bloody murderer of a guard has got to go.” This is the story of the largest uprising in the United States since…
Mar 25, 2024 · 58:49
“Every official except one elected yesterday at the first municipal election of this borough had been endorsed by the Ku Klux Klan.” This is the story of the Second Ku Klux Klan.…
Mar 11, 2024 · 58:52
“Palmer, do not let this country see red.” This is the story of America’s First Red Scare. On June 2, 1919, Attorney General Mitchell Palmer is just going to bed when the first…
Feb 26, 2024 · 1:00:01
“I keep wondering if the Unknown Soldier is one of my men.” This is the story of the United States coping with and facing the aftermath of World War I. The American Expeditionary…
Jan 1, 2024 · 46:49
The Episode to end all … World War I episodes. Professor Jackson sits down with Kelsi Dynes to talk through all the things that didn’t make it into the final Great War episodes…
Dec 4, 2023 · 36:12
“The circumstances under which we are spending this particular Christmas are unusual.” This is the story of the Christmases of World War I. Germans and British troops, singing…
Nov 20, 2023 · 1:03:04
“A Peace which cannot be defended in the name of justice before the whole world would continually call forth fresh resistance” This is the story of peacemaking in 1919–a fraught…
Nov 6, 2023 · 1:01:47
“The German delegation has come to receive the proposals of the Allied Powers looking to an armistice.” This is the story of guns falling silent across war-ravaged fronts–the…
Oct 23, 2023 · 45:10
“If I can but reach that bridge,” thought Ichabod, “I am safe.” This is the story of schoolmaster Ichabod Crane and his ride home after an evening spent trying to woo Katrina Van…
Oct 9, 2023 · 31:38
Professor Greg Jackson sits down with legendary documentary filmmaker Ken Burns about his latest film The American Buffalo which has a two-part premiere in the US on PBS…
Sep 25, 2023 · 55:32
“All right, General. We’ll take it, or my name will head the list.” This is the story of Meuse-Argonne and the Americans’ continued struggles to take the Kriemhilde Line.…
Sep 11, 2023 · 52:48
“Our own artillery is dropping a barrage directly on us. For heaven’s sake, stop it.” This is the story of the Meuse-Argonne Offensive’s beginnings. “ Tout le monde à la bataille…
Aug 28, 2023 · 1:05:48
Time to review! Greg and Kelsi talk through the main takeaways of the American story in World War I to date, from causes to new inventions and social changes. We get a little…
Aug 14, 2023 · 52:51
“Something has happened to one of the boys.” This is the story of the Great War’s flyboys – particularly, Americans taking to the skies to fight for France. Long before the…
Jul 31, 2023 · 55:44
“Is there any regulation which specifies that a Navy yeoman be a man?” This is the story of the United States in the Great War and the role of women in that changing world. Women…
Jul 17, 2023 · 58:50
“My men never retire. They go forward, or they die!” This is the story of the 15th New York, a.k.a, the 369th, or the Harlem Hellfighters. James “Big Jim” Europe is one of the…
Jul 3, 2023 · 56:50
“Marshal Foch, you have no authority as Allied Commander-in-Chief to call upon me to yield up my command of the American Army and have it scattered among the Allied Forces where…
Jun 19, 2023 · 52:28
“Every time I have felt annoyed since then at France, this picture comes to mind and my anger softens.” This is the story of the Great War’s turning point. After a fourth and…
Jun 5, 2023 · 1:03:12
The impact of the 1918 Battle of Belleau Wood on the US Marine Corps is hard to overstate. Though in existence since 1775, the Corps was reborn in those woods. Not only did it…
May 22, 2023 · 54:14
This is the story of the first real battles of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) in World War I. Carrying out his third operation of the German Spring Offensive, General…
May 8, 2023 · 56:53
“ Lafayette, nous sommes ici! ” (Lafayette, we are here!) This is the story of a nation building an army from nothing. After years of trying to avoid entanglements with and war…
Apr 24, 2023 · 54:11
“I still think I see the struggling of poor passengers in the water.” This is the story of the United States’ path into the Great War. The United States wishes to stay out of the…
Apr 10, 2023 · 1:04:15
Starting the Great War (World War I) and covering this massive conflict up to 1917 has been a pretty big task unto itself. So, before we go in close on America's role, Greg and…
Mar 27, 2023 · 1:13:52
To say Russia had a difficult go of it during World War I would be a gross understatement. Millions of dead, lost territory, soldiers charging into battle without guns,…
Mar 13, 2023 · 57:12
“In Flanders’ fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row.” This is the story of the first two and a half years of the Great War, particularly, of the Western Front.…
Feb 27, 2023 · 1:04:37
“Sopherl, Sopherl! Don’t die on me. Live for our children.” This is the 99-year story of Europe’s descent into total war. The Napoleonic Wars devastated Europe. The continent’s…
Feb 13, 2023 · 56:50
“It would be the irony of fate if my administration had to deal chiefly with foreign affairs.” This is the story of the lesser-known aspects of Woodrow Wilson’s presidency–the…
Dec 19, 2022 · 25:18
“Now, how would you like to be a reporter, if you have got nothing better to do?” This is the story of a reporter–a muckraker–answering a boy who wants to know if Santa Clause…
Dec 5, 2022 · 1:08:26
So much to say–it’s been a while! Kelsi and Greg share stories that they wish made it into some episodes, but alas, just couldn’t (looking at you, Ellis Island). Greg expresses…
Nov 21, 2022 · 58:12
“It’s true. But it takes more than that to kill a bull moose.” This is the story of one of the most unique, bitter, impactful, and noteworthy elections in US history: the…
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