From Boomers to Millennials: A Modern US History Podcast
40 episodes - English - Latest episode: 4 months ago - ★★★★★ - 20 ratingsA modern U.S. history podcast about the events that spanned the Baby Boomer generation’s lifespan & that are still relevant to people today, especially to Millennials. Unlike some history podcasts, this podcast follows the national story in a chronological manner, starting in 1946. Most episodes are around a half-hour to 45 minutes in length. Each episode covers one year, possibly going all the way up to the present. You can e-mail the show here, we would love your feedback!: boomertomillennial @t outlook.com
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Episodes
Episode 18C - Big Jim Folsom: 10 Minute Profile
January 04, 2024 05:00 - 15 minutes - 10.4 MBAlthough the majority of white Southerners were staunchly opposed to racial integration during the 1950 & 60s, there were a few mavericks who held a different point of view. One of these was Big Jim Folsom, who successfully ran for Governor of Alabama in 1946, and again in 1954. Gov. Folsom gained popularity by challenging the corruption and selfishness of the wealthy elites who dominated state politics. He became known for building roads & schools, and he created old-age pensions & worke...
Ep. 18B - The Kennedys as Boomer Icons, Part IV: Ascendancy, 1953 - 1959
October 31, 2023 13:00 - 42 minutes - 28.9 MBIn the long-awaited next episode in our Kennedys series, we explore how JFK went from a relatively obscure rookie senator to a viable presidential candidate. We document his imperfect but glamorous marriage to Jacqueline Bouvier, his controversial refusal to censure Joe McCarthy, and his continued battle with health problems. We also explore how the publication of Jack's award-winning book "Profiles in Courage," and his attempt to win the vice-presidential nomination in 1956, helped to raise...
Episode 18A - Hannah Arendt: 10-Minute Profile
March 02, 2023 07:00 - 14 minutes - 10.1 MBThis episode examines the first 10-minute profile subject who was born outside of the United States. Hannah Arendt was born to a secular Jewish middle-class family in Germany, and as a young woman she was an academic prodigy. She entered university to study philosophy, and engaged in an affair with a famous professor, Martin Heidegger. By the late 20s, Arendt broke up with Heidegger and completed her academic studies. During the early 30s, the Nazis came to power in Germany, and Prof. Heideg...
Episode 18 - 1961 Part II: Pay Any Price
January 30, 2023 12:00 - 48 minutes - 33.2 MBIn 1961, an multiracial group of intrepid "Freedom Riders" attempted to desegregate bus stations in some of the most militantly segregationist parts of the Deep South. These courageous civil rights activists, including John Lewis, Diane Nash, Jim Zwerg, and James Peck, encountered shocking violence in the State of Alabama. A bus they were taking was burned down, and several Riders were bloodied & beaten by organized vigilantes who opposed racial integration. Once photographic images & film f...
Episode 17D - Reinhold Niebuhr: 10-Minute Profile
December 12, 2022 10:00 - 12 minutes - 8.44 MBIn our latest profile episode, we provide an overview of the life of pastor & public intellectual Reinhold Niebuhr, who was something we rarely see today - a clergyman who became an important figure on the political Left. Niebuhr led a Protestant church in Detroit, Michigan during the 1910s & 1920s. From his pulpit, he spoke out against the Ku Klux Klan and in favor of organized labor. During the 1940s & 1950s, Niebuhr moved away from pacifism & socialism and became a more mainstream Cold Wa...
Episode 17C - Bayard Rustin: 10-Minute Profile
October 04, 2022 09:00 - 11 minutes - 7.71 MBIn this profile, we shift gears to examine the life of someone who was an outsider to mainstream America during the mid-20th Century, but who nevertheless found a way to make a major impact as an activist and organizer. Bayard Rustin was born to an African-American family of Quakers in Pennsylvania who were heavily involved in the NAACP. After being kicked out of college, Rustin pursued a singing career in New York City during the 1930s. While living in the Big Apple, he became involved wit...
Episode 17B - Henry Cabot Lodge Jr.: 10-Minute Profile
September 07, 2022 13:00 - 14 minutes - 9.8 MBThis episode debuts a new format of very brief profiles of interesting historical figures that we haven't given sufficient attention to in regular episodes. Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. is a prime example of the Northeastern elites who had a disproportionate (albeit declining) amount of power in mid-20th Century America. Both of Lodge Junior's parents were descended from Republican Senators, so you could say politics was in their blood. Lodge launched a successful political career during the 1930s....
Ep. 17A - The Kennedys as Boomer Icons, Part III: Young Bobby
July 24, 2022 14:00 - 35 minutes - 24.6 MBSeason 3 of our podcast begins with the next chapter of the Kennedy saga, as Rep. John F. Kennedy manages to knock off powerful incumbent Republican Senator Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. in the 1952 Massachusetts U.S. Senate race. The secret ingredient in that victory was JFK's tenacious & combative younger brother, Robert F. Kennedy (often known as "RFK" or "Bobby"), who served as his campaign manager. RFK had grown up younger & shorter than his charismatic brothers Joe Junior & Jack, and he had ...
Episode 17 - 1961 Part I: Bear Any Burden?
February 22, 2022 09:00 - 32 minutes - 22.5 MBIn January 1961, new President John F. Kennedy said in his Inaugural Address that the American people were ready to "bear any burden" and "pay any price" in order to fight for global freedom, which he argued was being threatened by the Communist bloc. That price soon turned out to include a new taxpayer-funded military buildup when Congress approved increased government spending upon nuclear missile production. It also included the cost of a new federal investment in diplomatic initiatives s...
Ep. 16B - The Kennedys as Boomer Icons, Part II: Origins
December 30, 2021 09:00 - 37 minutes - 25.7 MBThis episode examines the origins of John F. Kennedy's political career, considering his youthful health problems & his sibling rivalry with his older brother Joe Junior. JFK was a charming, irreverent, & popular young man, although he struggled with chronic pain & health difficulties that prevented him from matching the accomplishments of his older brother, who was a standout student & athlete. Both brothers graduated from Harvard & then enlisted in the US military at the outbreak of World ...
Episode 16A - The Kennedys as Boomer Icons, Part I: Introduction
November 25, 2021 13:00 - 36 minutes - 24.9 MBThis supplemental series examines the continued obsessions many Americans have with the Kennedy political dynasty, ranging from Oliver Stone's 1991 hit movie "JFK" to the current QAnon conspiracy theorists' preoccupation with the idea that certain Kennedys faked their deaths. This episode provides background to the rise of Kennedy political family by focusing on the controversial career of Joseph P. Kennedy, Senior (the father of President John F. Kennedy). It examines Joe Kennedy's rise to ...
Ep. 16 - 1960 Part II: New Trajectories for American Politics & Society
September 29, 2021 13:00 - 53 minutes - 36.6 MBA new wave of civil rights activism during the year 1960 indicated that social activist movements would be more aggressive during the Sixties than they had been during the previous decade. A sit-in at a lunch counter by four black college students in Greensboro, North Carolina gained national attention, & the nonviolent protest tactic spread around the country in the months that followed, successfully pushing many private businesses to desegregate their facilities. Many African-American grou...
Ep. 15 - 1960 Part I: Military-Industrial Complexities & The Last Days of the Eisenhower Era
August 13, 2021 11:00 - 45 minutes - 31.2 MBIn May 1960, the USSR shot down a US spy plane trespassing in their airspace, & the Soviets captured its American pilot, Francis Gary Powers. This international incident increased tensions between the superpowers, & it spoiled peace negotiations between President Dwight Eisenhower & Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev. However, the Americans did eventually succeed in negotiations to get the Soviets to release the imprisoned Powers, by agreeing to return a Russian spy in US custody. By the early...
Episode 14B – 1959: A Rock ‘N Roll Tragedy & A Podcast Update
July 08, 2021 14:00 - 33 minutes - 23.2 MBThis episode begins with a few stray observations exploring topics mentioned in recent episodes, including the Cuban Revolution, neoliberalism, the Capitol Riot, & the popularity of conspiracy theories. The main narrative of the program explores the early history of rock 'n roll. We discuss how rock music became big business by the late 50s, despite accusations from conservative forces that the new sound was an immoral & subversive racket that corrupted American teenagers. One of the rising ...
Episode 14A - Recapping Our Show So Far
May 31, 2021 16:00 - 48 minutes - 33.6 MBThis show summarizes all of our past episodes so far, providing our listeners with a refresher course on life in the USA during the Truman & Eisenhower Administrations (from 1946 to 1959). This episode will be a good resource for anyone who just wants a "Cliff Notes" or "Spark Notes" version of this mid-century era of Modern US History. By listening to this episode, you will get all the general backstory & historical context you need in order to prepare for our upcoming episodes about the wi...
Episode 14 - 1959: Coping with Cuba
April 30, 2021 15:00 - 37 minutes - 25.8 MBThis episode first examines the Great Leap Forward in China, an instance of bad Maoist policies creating mass starvation. We then discuss diplomatic exchanges between the superpowers in 1959, including the Kitchen Debate between Khrushchev & Nixon, as well as the Soviet Premier's cordial visit to the USA later that same year. But the main portion of our program explores the causes, consequences, & legacy of a dramatic political revolution in the Caribbean island nation of Cuba. The January 1...
Episode 13A - Special: Defining Liberalism
April 01, 2021 16:00 - 36 minutes - 25.1 MBAfter spending our last episode discussing the rise of Cold War Liberalism, we take time out from our historical narrative during this special supplemental episode to explain the origins of the "liberal" political label, to identify why it became widely popular during the mid-20th-Century US, & to track how the term became so stigmatized by the American Right (& also the Far Left) that it has declined in popularity by the 21st Century. This episode briefly takes us back to the American & Fre...
Episode 13 - 1958: The Rise of Cold War Liberalism
March 02, 2021 09:00 - 55 minutes - 38.1 MBIn 1958, Pres. Eisenhower grew fearful that Middle Eastern revolutions were posing a threat to America's military & economic interests, so he flexed US muscles by sending troops to Lebanon in what turned out to be an uneventful beachside deployment. Vice-President Nixon received a menacing reception while on tour in South America. In domestic politics, the big story of the late 50s was the rise of Cold War Era Liberalism, which became possible once the fears of McCarthyism subsided & America...
Episode 12 - 1957: The Blessings of the Cold War?
January 16, 2021 08:00 - 46 minutes - 32.1 MBAfter a brief reflection on troubling recent events in the USA, this episode looks back at a seemingly simpler time - Dwight D. Eisenhower's second term as President. By the late 1950s, Cold War pressures led the US government to build major defense & infrastructure projects, to invest heavily in education & scientific research, & to undertake modest steps in the direction of greater racial equality. The Interstate Highway Act of 1956 was a public works program that created jobs & democrati...
Episode 11 - 1956: Trouble in the Promised Land
November 30, 2020 06:00 - 45 minutes - 31.2 MBThe key events of 1956 include a civil rights milestone, a presidential election, & an international crisis. The 1955 lynching of black teenager Emmett Till in Mississippi was just one manifestation of Southern resistance to the challenge to white supremacy posed by desegregation. More organized defenses of Jim Crow also formed, ranging from the plebeian (Ku Klux Klan) to the patrician (White Citizens' Councils; US Senate Southern Manifesto) social sphere. Nevertheless, during 1956, African-...
Episode 10A - Special: An Anti-Conspiratorial Podcast Update
October 31, 2020 14:00 - 30 minutes - 21.3 MBOn Halloween 2020, our show returns from hiatus to preview Season 2 of the podcast, & to discuss the frightening topic of conspiracy theories in world history. We recount the dark history of pandemic-stricken societies seeking to blame alleged conspirators & scapegoats. Far-fetched conspiracy theories have had a wide appeal during troubled times throughout history, despite the fact that they often paint a bleak picture of a world controlled by shadowy elites. Factors such as declining trust ...
Episode 10 - 1955: Daily Life for a Boomer Kid
July 21, 2020 10:00 - 49 minutes - 34 MBThe year 1955 was chock-full of events of economic, social, medical, & cultural importance. Perhaps the year's biggest story was Dr. Jonas Salk's development of a successful vaccine to prevent the terrifying childhood disease known as polio. The economy remained strong, overcoming a scare from Pres. Eisenhower's heart attack. The AFL-CIO merger marked a landmark in labor history. Commercial enterprises like McDonald's debuted that took advantage of the growing car culture. The Baby Boom crea...
Episode 9C - Special: Living Through History
June 26, 2020 15:00 - 33 minutes - 23.4 MBTo help listeners understand the origins of the social unrest of May & June 2020, we created this special supplemental episode that provides historical background & context for turbulent current events. The large turnout & enthusiasm for the current Black Lives Matter protests occurred because of social developments that have been festering for decades: growing police militarization, continuing racial inequities, failing US health care preparation for a pandemic, escalating economic inequali...
Episode 9B - Special: Reform in a Time of Cold War
May 24, 2020 12:00 - 36 minutes - 24.9 MBThis week’s episode considers the fate of social reform movements during the Cold War Era, giving an overview of long-term cultural trajectories. The Red Scare of the early Cold War years cast reformers who challenged existing institutions as potential subversives. After World War II, US society valued traditional gender roles; the “happy American housewife” was regarded as freer than the Soviet woman who was required to work. Southern politicians attacked black civil rights activists as Com...
Episode 9 - 1954: Pulling Strings Around the World
May 07, 2020 11:00 - 45 minutes - 31.4 MBThis wide-ranging & globe-trotting episode begins with a brief look at the successful 1953 expedition to summit Mount Everest, then pivots to some less inspiring international intrigue, as Cold War fears led the USA to meddle in the internal politics of Iran, Guatemala, & Vietnam, among other nations. John Foster Dulles's leadership of the State Department & his brother Allen Dulles's direction of the Central Intelligence Agency pushed forward a newly aggressive approach in US foreign policy...
Episode 9A - 1954: The Defeat & Legacy of the Bricker Amendment
April 15, 2020 01:00 - 42 minutes - 29.3 MBThroughout US history, many Americans have been reluctant to get involved in international affairs, hoping to avoid the wars & problems of the Old World. After the Pearl Harbor attacks brought the USA into World War II, the isolationist mentality quickly changed, & the Americans co-founded & joined the United Nations to preserve world peace after the war. But isolationist sentiments soon re-emerged in the form of suspicion of the UN, particularly among Midwestern politicians like Ohio Republ...
Episode 8 - 1953: Chipping Away at Jim Crow
March 31, 2020 18:00 - 43 minutes - 30.2 MBIn '53, the new US President, Dwight D. Eisenhower, managed to reach his goal of resolving the Korean War, thanks in part to a leadership change in the Soviet Union. However, with both superpowers successfully testing massively destructive hydrogen bombs, the Cold War still presented serious dangers. Meanwhile, Ike's own Republican Party was soon creating headaches for him in Congress. Sen. Joseph McCarthy insisted on continuing his accusations against federal employees in the Eisenhower Adm...
Episode 8A - 1953: Exit Stalin, Enter Khrushchev
February 29, 2020 22:00 - 35 minutes - 24.2 MBIn March 1953, Soviet dictator Josef Stalin died of a stroke after several decades as the dominant figure in the USSR. American leaders, who had struggled to negotiate with the paranoid & merciless Stalin, responded by becoming hopeful but apprehensive, given the now-uncertain future of their chief Cold War opponent. Stalin's demise led rival high-ranking officials within the communist state to engage in a competition for leadership of the Soviet government. These figures included the bland ...
Episode 7 - 1952: The End of the Truman Show & the Rise of Eisenhower
February 08, 2020 16:00 - 49 minutes - 34 MBPresident Harry Truman couldn't seem to catch a break during his final year in office. His attempts to bring an end to the Korean War were going nowhere, and his government was embarrassed by corruption scandals that hurt his administration's image. Truman didn't improve matters when he took drastic measures to break up a steel strike that threatened the war effort. He took the constitutionally dubious approach of having the federal government temporarily take over the steel factories. A cou...
Episode 4A - 1949: Sayyid Qutb's Bad Trip
January 18, 2020 18:00 - 28 minutes - 19.6 MBIn the late 1940s, a middle-aged Egyptian writer & civil servant named Sayyid Qutb went to study in the United States. He had recently established himself as a critic of the Egyptian government, & was traveling abroad in part to escape a potential crackdown on political dissidents by Egypt's monarchy. However, Qutb soon found that he loathed American society even more than he disliked the Egyptian status quo. He found New York, Washington DC, & California to be dens of iniquity. He even rega...
Episode 6 - 1951: Firing a Caesar
January 03, 2020 18:00 - 41 minutes - 28.6 MBThe Korean War reached a key turning point when President Harry Truman removed General Douglas MacArthur as the conflict's top strategic commander. MacArthur provoked the decision with his statements and actions that undermined the Truman Administration's military policies. Nevertheless, the American public was outraged that an unpopular small-town politician like Truman could end the career of a revered war hero like MacArthur. Congress considered impeachment for a time, but it backed down ...
Episode 5A - Special: Thoughts on "OK Boomer" & the Late 1940s
December 14, 2019 09:00 - 40 minutes - 27.8 MBThis episode investigates the intergenerational argument over the phrase "OK Boomer" that has been spreading on social media during late 2019. Is it a well-justified Millennial pushback against bossy, out-of-touch Boomers? Or is it just an excuse for younger generations to be dismissive of older people? We examine the evidence & reach a nuanced verdict. Then, we map out a whirlwind overview of the period between 1946 & 1950, including such topics as: the rise of the imperial presidency; the ...
Episode 5 - 1950: Plunging Back Into War
November 16, 2019 17:00 - 38 minutes - 26.8 MBCold War tensions finally boiled over into a heated military conflict during the Summer of 1950, when Soviet-allied North Korea invaded US-allied South Korea. In response, President Truman called General Douglas MacArthur away from his role administering the American occupation of Japan in order to fight the Communists on the Korean Peninsula. MacArthur's bold military strategies allowed the Americans to recapture South Korea for capitalism, but the general underestimated the danger of occup...
Episode 1A - 1946: The Nuremberg War Crimes Trials
October 20, 2019 23:00 - 38 minutes - 26.4 MBThis supplemental episode examines the post-World War II trials in Nuremberg, Germany, during 1946, where US Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson led the prosecution against prominent Nazi leaders such as Hermann Goering & Albert Speer. Some of the USA’s WWII allies had recommended executing or imprisoning these infamous figures without trial, but the Americans believed that it was important for them to get a fair trial that would publicly prove their guilt & expose their crimes. Dozens o...
Episode 4 – 1949: The Curse of the Cold War
October 01, 2019 23:00 - 43 minutes - 29.7 MBIn 1949, a re-elected Pres. Harry Truman attempted to push through a Fair Deal of domestic reforms, but with little success. Instead, the US government’s attention fixated upon the “Red” threat after a Communist victory in the Chinese Civil War & the Soviet acquisition of the atomic bomb. As a charter member of the new NATO military alliance, the United States committed itself to counter these red gains by crushing Communist influences, both at home & abroad. This show profiles some of the i...
Episode 3A - Special: Suburbanization Supplemental & Podcast Update
September 13, 2019 16:00 - 31 minutes - 21.5 MBThe late 1940s witnessed the birth of modern suburbia, as economic prosperity & declining inequality combined with newly-generous lending policies allowing millions of Americans to own their own homes for the first time in their lives. American families in an ascendant middle class could now afford cars, which began to transform the residential & commercial landscape of the nation. So-called "white ethnic" immigrant groups experienced more acceptance & assimilation in the suburbs, but suburb...
Episode 3 - 1948: From Accidental President to True Man of the People
August 31, 2019 12:00 - 45 minutes - 31.4 MBIn this overview of the key events of 1948, we take a closer look at the unlikely presidency of Harry S Truman. Presidential challengers Republican Thomas Dewey, Progressive Henry Wallace, & Dixiecrat Strom Thurmond collectively wanted to know, "do we defeat Truman?" in the '48 presidential election. Meanwhile, Americans successfully faced down the most serious challenge of the Cold War so far, overcoming a Soviet blockade of Western forces with a massive airlift of supplies into West Berlin...
Episode 2 - 1947: Scaring the Hell Out of the American People
August 08, 2019 16:00 - 49 minutes - 33.7 MBTensions between the US & USSR had been building even during their awkward wartime alliance, but it was in 1947 that the Cold War became a staple feature of the post-WWII American political & diplomatic scene. This episode indulges in a very brief & oversimplified history of the Soviet Union, and then explores what caused the souring of US-Soviet relations and describes the governmental maneuvers that followed (including the founding of the CIA & NSC, passage of the Truman Doctrine's anti-Co...
Episode 1 - 1946: Understanding the Baby Boomers' Parents
July 13, 2019 01:00 - 41 minutes - 28.7 MBTo understand the Baby Boomer generation, one first needs to understand the forces that shaped their parents & their childhoods. This episode examines the generation that experienced the Great Depression & World War II before giving birth to the Boomers. The program describes the impact of U.S. postwar prosperity, suburbanization, the G.I. Bill, and the departure of women from the wartime workforce. The year 1946 also contained often-forgotten tensions and conflicts, including clashes over l...
Episode 0 - Introductory Episode: Justifying Our Existence
July 10, 2019 20:00 - 8 minutes - 6 MBThis introduction describes the vision behind this podcast and why we’re doing things the way we are. The purpose of the From Boomers To Millennials Podcast is not to bash or glorify Boomers, Gen-X, or Millennials, but to understand these generations by examining their history. You can make your own judgments about the individuals, movements, and generations described here. We hope to tell this story in a way that both entertains and educates. If you better understand what caused the feature...