History As It Happens

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This is the sixth episode in a series marking the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, America's semiquincentennial.
The American Revolution was deeply rooted in Enlightenment philosophy and inspired by the principle of natural rights. Even before the fighting broke out at Lexington and Concord, some Americans were calling attention to the terrible contradiction of slavery. These few would grow in number and form the first organized antislavery movement in history. In this episode, Sean Wilentz discusses this long-neglected aspect of the American Revolution.
Recommended reading:
No Property in Man by Sean Wilentz
Further listening (America250 series):
Episode 1 w/ Lindsay Chervinsky
Episode 2 w/ Kate Carté
Episode 3 w/ Alan Taylor
Episode 4 w/ Lindsay Chervinsky
Episode 5 w/ Jim Oakes

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The national mood was dour. Political scandals and a lost war cast long shadows. The economy was mired in stagflation. Americans were losing confidence in the future. It was the summer of '76 — 1976! Yet despite the tough times, millions celebrated the nation's bicentennial, which was both patriotic and a bit schlocky. Historians Jeremi Suri and Jeffrey Engel reflect on that strange summer as many Americans today shrug their shoulders at the coming semiquincentennial.
Jeremi Suri teaches history at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin. He writes the Democracy of Hope newsletter.
Jeffrey Engel is the founding director of the Center for Presidential History at Southern Methodist University.
Further reading:
On the Country's 250th Anniversary, the American People Are in a Sour Mood by Pew Research

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On June 7, 2026, the historian Gordon Wood died at 92. He was one of the greatest scholars of the American Revolution and early Republic, who did "as much as anyone to deepen understanding and change perceptions of the forces and events that led to the birth of the United States," according to The New York Times.
In this episode, three historians talk about why Gordon Wood's scholarship was so influential, and why his vision of the American founding remains valuable as the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence approaches.
Daniel Gullotta teaches American religious history, with a focus on Christianity in Early America, at Ohio State University.
Michael Hattem is a historian of the American Revolution specializing in historical memory, political culture, and intellectual history at Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute.
Craig Bruce Smith is a professor of history at National Defense University in Norfolk, Va. (The views he expresses here are his and his alone.)

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Chuck Todd is our special guest in this episode. He explains how changes in mass media and the journalism business led to the Trump presidency, and how Trump himself exploited the new media landscape to achieve power.
Chuck Todd hosts The Chuck ToddCast on YouTube. He is the former NBC News political director and moderator of "Meet the Press."
Further reading:
The 24/7 Presidency (The Miller Center at the University of Virginia)

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Our memories of D-Day usually center on the courage and grit of the infantrymen who stormed the Normandy beaches under German fire. We don't talk much about the weatherman. But without Group Captain James Stagg's forecast, there would have been few heroes to remember from June 6, 1944. In this episode, historian William Hitchcock discusses the riveting new film "Pressure," about the excruciating hours before General Eisenhower greenlit Operation Overlord.
Audio excerpts of "Pressure" are from Focus Features.
Recommended reading:
The Bitter Road to Freedom: A New History of the Liberation of Europe by William Hitchcock