Historians

Historian Deborah Lipstadt Takes on Holocaust Deniers

Bill Thompson

For the better part of four decades historian Deborah Lipstadt has been combating Holocaust denial.

She has found that there is a sizeable share of people, both in the United States and elsewhere, who are convinced the Holocaust never happened

Some have even offered so-called “proof” it Was a hoax.

Get your copy of Deborah Lipstadt’s book

In 1993 Lipstadt put her findings in a book she called Denying The Holocaust. That’s when she and I talked about it.

So here no0w, from 1993, Deborah Lipstadt .

Deborah Lipstadt is 77 now. For the last two years she has served as a special U.S. envoy against anti-Semitism

In 2023 Time magazine named Lipstadt one of the 100 most influential people in the world.

Historian Allan Lichtman on Why Presidential Campaigns Don’t Matter

Bill Thompson

Kamala Harris is going to be our next president. So says the historian who has correctly predicted every presidential election except one since 1984.

American University professor Allan Lichtman,along with a noted expert in earthquake prediction, came up with a method of forecasting elections that Lichtman calls “the 13 keys.”

He explained them in his 1990 book Thirteen Keys to the Presidency. I talked with him when that book was first published.

Get your copy of Allan Lichtman’s book

As you listen to this interview, you have to put yourself back in 1990, less than halfway through George H.W. Bush’s term. And listen as Lichtman hints that Bush may already be set up to lose in ;92 – an election two and a half years in the future.

Sol here now, from 1990, Allan Lichtman.

By the way, the only election Lichtman got wrong in the last 40 years was the 2000 Bush v. Gore contest. Lichtman did correctly predicted that Al Gore would win the popular vote.

Allan Lichtman is 77 now. He has taught at American University.since 1973.

50 Years Later: The Legacy of the Nixon Resignation

Bill Thompson
Photo by Jim Wallace (Smithsonian Institution)

Today is August 9th — and it was 50 years ago today that Richard Milhous Nixon made U.S. hisory by becoming the first, and so far only, president to resign from office.

He was done in by his involvement in covering up a botched burglary at Democratic p[arty headquarters in Washington’s Watergate office and hotel complex in 1972.

After a long political career filled with Incredible comebacks, this was the one Nixon could not come back from.

The evening of August 8th Nixon addressed the nation with his stunning announcement. And at noon on that Friday, August 9th, Gerald Ford was indeed sown in as president. He told the nation that evening that “our long national nightmare is over.”

Get your copy of Stephen Ambrose’s book

Thirteen years later, acclaimed biographer Stephen Ambrose published the first of what would become a three-volume biography of Richard Nixon. What made his trilogy extraordinary was his admission that he had always disliked Nixon, but grew to like and admire him.

The third and final volume of Ambrose’s biography was published in 1991, and by then Nixon had come a long way toward rebuilding his public image.

So here now, from 1991, Stephen Ambrose.

\Richard Nixon died in 1994 at age 81.

Stephen Ambrose died from cancer in 2002. He was 66.

Defining Freedom: Insights From Historian Eric Foner

Bill Thompson

The United States was founded on a bedrock of freedom.

But what, exactly,y, is “freedom?” Does it depend on who you ask? Or when you ask?

Get your copy of Eric Foner’s book

Renowned historian Eric Foner sought an answer. What, indeed, is freedom?

His 1998 book was called The Story of American Freedom. But while you may assume that the story begins on July 4th, 1776, Foner found far deeper roots – and far broader branches to the definite of freedom.

So here now, from 1998, Eric Foner.

The Book That Proved Lee Harvey Oswald Acted Alone

Bill Thompson
Photo by Posnerwiki

It has now been 60 years since the assassination of President John F Kennedy in Dallas.

And yet his death remains the subject of widespread conspiracy theories.

But 30 years ago, there was a definitive book written that reached the same conclusion that the Warren Commission did in the 1960s. That conclusion: Lee Harvey Oswald killed the president, and acted alone.

The author of that book, called Case Closed, was investigative journalist Gerald Posner. Using technology completely unheard of in the 1960s, Posner reached the same conclusion.

So here now from 1993 Gerald Posner.

Gerald Posner is 69. HHs most recent book was a 2020 volume about big pharma.

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Ghosts, Zombies, and Vampires — Why We Love ‘Em

Bill Thompson

Do you like being scared? That Is, do you enjoy horror movies, scary books, thriller TV shows?

What is it about the thrill of fear that we enjoy?

A few years ago, an English professor named Walter Kendrick decided to investigate. He wanted to know why, over the last couple of centuries, our taste in entertainment had taken a dark turn

The result was his 1991 book called The Thrill of Fear. And if you are a fan of ghosts, ghouls, zombies, and vampires, stick with us.

I spoke with him a couple of days before Halloween in 1991. So here now, from 1991, Walter Kendrick.

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Paul Dickson

Bill Thompson

Tomorrow night is major league baseball’s All-Star game.

Did you ever consider how many words and phrases in our everyday language have their origins in baseball?

We all know what it means, for example, to be giving a big presentation and be a big success at it- they say you hit a home run.

Or if it fell flat, you struck out.

Those are just two of the thousands of baseball terms and slang that writer Paul Dickson found when he put together his definitive book called The Dickson Baseball Dictionary.

It’s been out for over 30 years, but it’s still the definitive book on the subject.

Paul and I go way back, and when we talked in 1989 about The Dickson Baseball Dctionary it was one of our several interviews over the years.

So here now, from 1989, Paul Dickson.

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Ron Luciano
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Simon Winchester

Bill Thompson
Photo by Wes Washington

On Independence Day, the Fourth of July, most of the attention is paid to the men who founded the United States of America, and rightfully so.

The actual process of uniting the states didn’t end with the Declaration of Independence. Indeed, it was just beginning.

Actually creating a single nation out of multiple independent states required an infrastructure in addition to a political statement. And that has taken more than two centuries.

In his 2013 book The Men Who United the States, journalists Simon Winchester took a deeper dive into the stories of innovations as diverse as the telegraph, the interstate highway system, and the internet.

And perhaps the irony Is that Winchester was born in the very nation from whom we declared our independence.

So here now, from 2013, Simon Winchester.

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Richard Shenkman
Doris Kearns Goodwin

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Louise Meriwether

Bill Thompson

American history is a trove of compelling yet largely forgotten stories of courage and ingenuity and principle. Among them is the story of one African American slave who, during the Civil War, showed his true courage.

And in 1994, historian and writer Louise Meriwether used that story as the basis for a novel called Fragments of the Ark , a work of fiction meant to add flesh and blood the the dry bones of history.

With the political tied turning the way it is now in many places in America, it’s more important than ever. That stories like this be preserved.

So here now, from 1994, Louise Meriwether.

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James Cameron
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Doris Kearns Goodwin

Bill Thompson

Happy Presidents Day.

Now, if you’re old enough, as I am, you may remember that this day was traditionally celebrated as Lincoln’s birthday. It was transformed into President’s Day in 1971, as part of the move toward more Monday holidays.

In 2005, noted presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, whose best selling books included volumes about Lyndon Johnson and John F Kennedy, took on a new subject: Abraham Lincoln.

Struck by the political acumen displayed by this simple country lawyer, Goodman titled her book
Team of Rivals.

So here now, from 2005, Doris Kearns Goodwin: