Podcasts by Cam & Rays Cold War Podcast

#208 – School’s In from 2022-02-11T04:07:46

We were recently invited by Paul Giordano, a listener of this show, to give a lecture to the kids studying the Cold War at EF Academy in NY where Paul is the Humanities Department Chair. We spoke f...

#207 – Taiwan Part 1 from 2022-02-11T04:00:30

In 1949, the Kuomintang retreated from mainland China to the island of Formosa, now known as Taiwan. Ownership of Taiwan would become a major issue during the Cold War, and continues to be a cause ...

Where are the rest of the episodes? from 2021-12-01T04:38

We have made the first few years of episodes free, but if you want to listen to the rest of the episodes, mostly those made in the last year, you’ll need to sign up to become a member of our site. ...

#187 – KNEEL SUCK CRACK from 2021-04-24T22:24:06

Beetle Smith’s last act as CIA director is to come up with the idea of a CIA “Murder Board”. After Eisenhower is elected POTUS, the new CIA director is Allen Dulles, brother of the new Sec of State...

#184 – Abortive Missions from 2021-03-04T04:09:49

The CIA’s first attempt to train foreign agents and parachute them into Soviet territory ended in disaster. So did their second attempt. And their third. And so on. But they did it anyway. Then the...

#183 – CIA Hearts Nazis from 2021-02-20T03:49:36

The CIA wanted to secretly funnel American cash to European politicians, criminals and businesses that would do their bidding. They also wanted to influence public opinion about capitalism, communi...

#182 – CIA Front Groups from 2021-02-03T23:32:39

The CIA wanted to secretly funnel American cash to European politicians, criminals and businesses that would do their bidding. They also wanted to influence public opinion about capitalism, communi...

#181 – Plausible Deniability from 2021-01-22T20:28:42

On September 1, 1948, Frank Wisner took charge of the CIA’s covert operations. Known as the OPC - The Office of Policy Co-ordination. Although the CIA was a publicly known entity, the OPC was top s...

#180 – Ret. U.S. Major Danny Sjursen from 2020-12-22T05:21

Taking a short break from our CIA series this week to talk to retired U.S. Major Danny Sjursen. Danny was a U.S. Army strategist and history instructor at West Point. He served tours with reconnais...

#179 – Covert Psychological Operations from 2020-12-16T00:11

Even the CIA’s original legal counsel warned them that covert missions were illegal - but they did them anyway. On December 14, 1947, they were ordered to execute “covert psychological operations d...

#144 – The 1929 Riots from 2019-12-25T13:08:50

In the early 1920s, violence between Muslims and the Jews continued to escalate. Because they didn't trust the British to defend their interests, the newly formed (and illegal) Jewish self-defense ...

#143 – Fascist Jews from 2019-12-20T22:54:27

In the early 1920s, violence between Muslims and the Jews continued to escalate. Because they didn't trust the British to defend their interests, the newly formed (and illegal) Jewish self-defense ...

#142 – The Unjust Policy from 2019-12-12T10:11

In the early 1920s, violence between Muslims and the Jews continued to escalate. Because they didn't trust the British to defend their interests, the newly formed (and illegal) Jewish self-defense ...

#141 – Dirty Idle Wasters from 2019-12-06T23:12:15

When the British finally captured the Middle East from the Ottomans in October 1918, under the command of General Edmund Allenby, with the support of TE Lawrence and his Sharifians, Hussein and Fai...

#140 – The Rothschilds And Zionism from 2019-11-30T04:56:26

The Rothschilds And Zionism - The Balfour Declaration took the form of a letter, dated November 2, 1917, from the foreign secretary to Lord Lionel Walter Rothschild, a British banker and zoologist,...

#139 – The Balfour Declaration from 2019-11-20T22:09:22

Things in Palestine really started to heat up in 1908 - the year of The Young Turk Revolution. It was around this time that the violence between the Jews and the Arabs started to escalate beyond wh...

#138 – Intervening In Foreign Elections from 2019-11-12T00:49:09

Americans were SHOCKED to discover that Russia had interfered in their 2016 Presidential elections. How dare they interfere with the democratic process of a sovereign nation! Of course, those same ...

#137 – The Ultimate Goal from 2019-11-08T06:51:46

Quite soon after the first Zionist emigration to Palestine, tensions between the Jews and the Muslims started to erupt in small scale violence. Zionist settler Ahad Ha’Am wrote that the other Zioni...

#136 – British Interests from 2019-10-31T23:53:51

One fascinating witness of early zionism is Sir Ronald Storrs, who, in 1917 became, in his own words "the first military governor of Jerusalem since Pontius Pilate”. In 1940 he wrote a terrific lit...

#135 – Baksheesh from 2019-10-21T01:44:26

By 1881, on the eve of the start of the Zionist Jewish influx, Palestine’s population was 457,000—about 400,000 of them Muslims, 13,000–20,000 Jews, and 42,000 Christians (mostly Greek Orthodox). I...

#134 – Zionism from 2019-10-10T05:53:57

The idea of Jews returning to Palestine had been around since they were evicted by the Romans, but in a modern sense it really started to take shape in the late 19th century after the pogroms in Ru...

#133 – The Creation Of Israel from 2019-10-04T22:41:42

Although you may not think of Israel as part of the Cold War paradigm, it’s played such a huge role in American foreign policy, and we have to cover it. It’s also played, and continues to play, a h...

#132 – A LAND WAR IN ASIA from 2019-09-20T13:57:34

Kim's "invasion" of the South gave the US the pretext they needed to ramp up military spending via NSC-68 and to support Rhee directly and indirectly by committing one of the classic blunders: neve...

#131 – THE UN v NORTH KOREA from 2019-09-11T23:00:52

WWII had created a strong US economy, mostly for military spending coming out of the public treasury.

Lots of industrialists made a fortune during that period.

And it was going ...

#130 – The China Lobby from 2019-09-09T00:19:48

Americans were told that the invasion by North Korea was a total surprise. It was positioned as another Pearl Harbour. But this isn’t exactly true. They must have known it was coming and when it wa...

#129 – Who Started The War? from 2019-08-23T22:39:27

  In the South, despite claims of “freedom”, the US administration shut down the KPR, the ‘Korean People’s Republic’, a popular political party lead by Yo Un-hyung, and closed down the most promine...

#128 – Kim Il Sung from 2019-08-14T22:31:41

  Meanwhile in the North, the Soviets chose Kim Il Sung to be their hand-picked President. Unlike Rhee, who had spent most of the last 35 years of Japanese occupation chilling in Hawaii, Kim had sp...

#127 – Syngman Rhee from 2019-08-10T13:31:20

#126 – The Berlin Airlift from 2019-07-26T05:00:14

#125 – The Berlin Blockade from 2019-07-20T04:37:28

The fault of the Berlin Blockade is often laid at the feet of Stalin. But the truth is a little more complicated. By 1948, the situation in Germany was still messy. The Four Powers (USA, USSR, UK, ...

#124 – Freedom Under God from 2019-07-12T00:45:28

In 1951, the American Congregational minister James Fifield and his team of geniuses came up with a brilliant idea. To mark the 175th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, ...

#123 – The Apostle to Millionaires from 2019-06-29T08:06:19

After Father Coughlin was shut down, another anti-Communist Christian leader rose in his place – James Fifield aka “The Apostle to Millionaires”, aka “St. Paul of the Prosperous” aka “the Thirteent...

#122 – Father Charles Coughlin from 2019-06-21T04:01:21

Today we talk more about Christians who opposed the New Deal. In the 30s there was a guy called Father Charles Coughlin, a Canadian-American Roman Catholic priest based near Detroit. Commonly known...

#121 – Truman’s Hysteria from 2019-06-14T23:43:38

In 1950 Harry Truman complained about a “great wave of hysteria” sweeping the nation – the Red Scare. He should know. He was really largely responsible for creating it. Between the launching of his...

#120 – The Trials Of Harry Bridges from 2019-05-31T01:35:17

In his “New Deal”, FDR brought back the ideals of the “Social Gospel“, a 19th century Christian reform movement, to justify the creation of the modern welfare state. For a while, at least, some Ame...

#119 – Red Scare Part 5 from 2019-05-22T03:43:48

Manufacturers and the media also used the Dies Committee to silence their critics. Any attempt to criticise the behaviour of industrialists was called “socialism”. Along with communist witch hunts,...

#118 – Red Scare Part 4 from 2019-05-17T22:03:52

The Red Scare continues. In 1939, Martin Dies Jr claimed that the Justice Department was investigating 2,850 known communists in government and that FDR had ordered a purge of all those named. But ...

#117 – Red Scare Part 3 from 2019-05-02T04:32:08

As Red Fever grew in the United States in the 1930s, Herbert Hoover asked J. Edgar Hoover to help him blame the Bonus March of 1932 on the Communists.  In August 1936, FDR invited JEH to the White ...

#116 – Red Scare Part 2 from 2019-04-26T03:16:22

In April 1919, US authorities discovered a plot for mailing 36 bombs to prominent members of the U.S. political and economic establishment. One of those was Attorney General Alexander Mitchell Palm...

#115 – Red Scare Part 1 from 2019-04-19T21:47:29

The House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) was created in 1938 to investigate alleged disloyalty and subversive activities on the part of private citizens, public employees, and those organi...

#114 Operation Lea from 2019-04-05T04:42:35

Finally, on Oct 7, 1947, the French made their offensive into the Viet Bac region: Operation Léa – aka Princess Leia. So-called because it was a smart, feisty, brave diplomat and warrior of a plan....

#113 Toxic Nuts from 2019-03-28T22:53:06

Ho wonders aloud to a journalist why the Vietnamese were not being given the same opportunity as the Philippines, who had just been given their independence from the US, or India, which had just wo...

#112 Keyser HO-ze from 2019-03-23T02:39:46

Ho and his team disappear into the jungle north of Hanoi. The French think they have won. George Marshall dithers. HOW TO LISTEN If you’re already a subscriber, you can listen to the full show in t...

#111 – The War Begins from 2019-03-07T03:18:43

After the Haiphong incident, Ho started preparing Hanoi for an attack.  First, he made a public speech appealing to the French to withdraw their troops. They ignored him. “If those gooks want a fig...

#110 – Domino Theory from 2019-03-01T04:12:19

Vietnam. 1947. The U.S. Consul in Saigon, Charles Reed, is the first American official to use the term “domino theory”. He’s talking about what will happen in Cambodia and Laos if Cochin China fall...

#109 – The Haiphong Incident from 2019-02-22T23:14:36

Vietnam. Late 1946. The gears of war are turning. One President commits suicide. Another continues to fight for a peaceful settlement. A new government is formed. Then the French army in Indochina ...

#107 – The First Indochina War (Part IV) from 2019-01-25T22:18:03

Ho Chi Minh agrees to go to Paris for a second round of talks with the French about the independence of Vietnam. But just before he is due to leave, the French High Commissioner in Vietnam screws h...

#106 – Andrew Roberts, Churchill from 2019-01-08T05:23:20

Andrew Roberts has a huge new biography out on England’s favourite son, Winston Churchill, and he was nice enough to come on the show to answer a few of our questions about the man. You may remembe...

#105 – The First Indochina War (Part III) from 2019-01-02T22:00:41

In Hanoi, a new provisional coalition government was established on January 1, 1946. Ho Chi Minh was to be named president and Nguyen Hai Than from the nationalist VNQDD party as vice president. Th...

#104 – The First Indochina War (Part II) from 2018-12-27T22:56:36

Peter Dewey was the first of nearly 60,000 Americans to be killed in Vietnam. Truman sells out the Vietnamese to keep De Gaulle happy. And the French arrive back in their old colony. Here’s a pictu...

#103 – The First Indochina War (Part I) from 2018-12-22T00:37:18

After Ho Chi Minh declared the independence of Vietnam in September 1945, the British and Chinese troops arrived in Saigon and Hanoi to disarm the Japanese and prepare the return of the French – an...

#102 – Ho Chi Minh VI from 2018-12-07T03:39:52

* As they grew stronger, Giáp’s forces took more territory and captured more towns* And then on 15 August they heard that the Japanese Emperor had declared his country’s unconditional surrender to ...

#101 – Ho Chi Minh V from 2018-11-30T02:37:49

* Ho believed the army’s job was largely going to be propaganda until the conditions were right for war.* But he also decided that for propaganda purposes, they had to win a military victory within...

#100 – Ho Chi Minh IV from 2018-11-24T09:16:59

* Welcome to #100!* And we are still talking about 1944!* When we finished last time, Ho Chi Minh was making his way to the Red River Delta.* The Japanese have chased the French out of Vietnam and ...

#99 – Ho Chi Minh III from 2018-11-09T22:28:32

* On December 7 1941, Japan’s main carrier force, seeking to destroy the American fleet and thereby purchase time to complete its southward expansion, struck Pearl Harbour.* And the world celebrate...

#98 – Ho Chi Minh II from 2018-10-31T23:21:53

* Ho’s speech to the French socialist congress in 1920 was 12 minutes long and delivered without notes.* It got some applause but that was about it.* He realised that French socialists were more wo...

#97 – Ho Chi Minh I from 2018-10-26T23:00:25

In 1919 a 29 year old Vietnamese man wrote a list of demands for political rights for his people to present to U.S. President Woodrow Wilson at the Paris Peace Conference. Nobody paid him any atten...

#96 – Marshall Plan III from 2018-10-12T04:07:23

* America’s approach to providing financial aid wasn’t popular with some of their allies either.* Ernest Bevin, the British Foreign Secretary, resented American dollar diplomacy, in particular the ...

#95 – Marshall Plan II from 2018-10-04T23:05:36

* Something that Marshall mentions only briefly in his speech is the effect that would have on the US economy. (around the 7’20? mark)* Europe’s economy might have been destroyed after the war, but...

#94 – Marshall Plan I from 2018-09-28T21:51:54

* One of the greatest pieces of mythology to ever be produced in America is the “Marshall Plan”.* It’s right up there with the idea of glorifying the “Founding Fathers”, who were actually just tax ...

#93 – The X Article from 2018-09-14T01:22:16

* The X Article.* George Kennan, the Soviet expert who wrote the Long Telegram, wrote another piece, but this time published publicly and anonymously, in July 1947, just after Truman’s “Truman Doct...

#92 – The Truman Doctrine from 2018-09-06T23:00:18

* And so on March 12, 1947, before a joint session of Congress, President Truman articulated, for the first time, a comprehensive American foreign policy for the postwar world.* He did not mention ...

#91 – The Baruch Plan from 2018-09-03T09:34:05

* So here we are in 1946.* The Truman administration has decided on a “containment” policy.* But who is going to contain the containers?* According to the Novikov telegram, the Soviets felt like th...

#90 – The Novikov Telegram. from 2018-08-17T04:09:07

* The last, and certainly most conspicuous, of the four events that transformed the political culture of Washington in 1946 was a speech given in early March by Winston Churchill at Westminster Col...

#89 – The “Long Telegram” from 2018-08-07T22:55:39

* Stalin’s speech in February 1946 wasn’t a declaration of war.* It wasn’t anything that couldn’t have been said in the past.* He issued no direct threats toward the United States, and emphasized a...

#88 – Mine All Mine from 2018-07-29T23:06:48

* In October 1945, Navy Day 1945 in New York City, at the Commissioning of the aircraft carrier USS Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman gave a speech.* Here’s a clip.* https://youtu.be/BjUz4BPWwbc?...

#87 – The Aftermath Part 2 from 2018-07-06T01:01:23

* The military had long declared that radiation dissipated quickly in the atomic cities and posed little threat to the soldiers.* A 1980 Defense Nuclear Agency report concluded, “Medical science be...

#86 – The Aftermath Part 1 from 2018-06-29T05:58:57

* TRUMAN ANNOUNCES THE BOMB https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FN_UJJ9ObDs* On August 6, 1945, the United States dropped an atomic bomb over the center of Hiroshima, killing at least 70,000 civilians ...

#85 – The Decision Part 3 from 2018-06-22T04:37

* Truman met often with Byrnes in the first few months of his Presidency.* But there are almost no records or notes of what they discussed.* And that was apparently Byrnes’ preference.* He was know...

#84 – The Decision Part 2 from 2018-06-14T21:49:27

* By June 18 events had progressed to the point where Admiral Leahy was able to note privately in his personal diary:* It is my opinion that at the present time a surrender of Japan can be arranged...

#83 – The Decision Part 1 from 2018-06-08T22:16:19

* On 15 August 1945, about a week after the bombing of Nagasaki, Truman tasked the U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey to conduct a study on the effectiveness of the aerial attacks on Japan, both convent...

#82 – Alex Wellerstein from 2018-05-29T01:50:43

Our guest today is Alex Wellerstein, a self-described “historian of science, secrecy, and nuclear weapons”. He’s a Professor of Science and Technology Studies at the Stevens Institute of Technology...

#81 – GROUND ZERO from 2018-05-18T03:53:16

Kistiakowsky and his team armed the device shortly after 5am and retreated to the control bunker. Their final task was to switch on a string of lights on the ground that would serve as an ‘aiming p...

#80 – The Plug & The Hole from 2018-05-11T22:14:53

Back to Alamogordo. The army leased a ranch in the middle of the Jornada del Muerto site and converted it into a military police station and field laboratory. They thoroughly vacuumed it to make a ...

#79 – Jeffrey Hogue from 2018-04-27T04:16:45

Today we have a special guest – Jeff Hogue from the “History of the Cold War” podcast. We invited Jeff on to chat about his thoughts on the bombing of Japan. HOW TO LISTEN If you’re already a subsc...

#78 – Alamogordo from 2018-04-19T04:50:01

On 6 June, Stimson again briefed Truman on S-1. * The briefing summarized the consensus of the Interim Committee, set up as an advisory group on atomic research.* It’s job was the advise on the pro...

#77 – Bombing Japan from 2018-04-13T23:29:01

* Which brings us to April 1945.* Only weeks before Germany surrendered on May 7, FDR dies.* And Truman takes over as POTUS.* He knew nothing of the Manhattan Project or the atomic bomb.* He was br...

#76 – Operation Alsos from 2018-03-28T21:57:02

Of course, while the bomb was being designed, they had to figure out how they were going to deliver it. And WHO was going to deliver it. Way back in March 1944, the US Army Air Force, with William ...

#75 – The Beer Can Experiment from 2018-03-23T03:48:12

* President Roosevelt authorized the Manhattan Project to go full steam 26 days after Fermi’s success, on 28 December 1942* The U.S. would end up spending $2 billion on it. (about $22 billion in 20...

#74 – Benn Steil & The Marshall Plan from 2018-03-18T01:54:19

Benn Steil is an American economist, author of a great new book on “The Marshall Plan”, and senior fellow and director of international economics at the Council on Foreign Relations. HOW TO LISTEN ...

#73 – k from 2018-03-02T02:27:02

* Fission involved breaking apart the nuclei of heavy elements like uranium or plutonium.* Fusion involves forcing the nuclei of lighter elements, like hydrogen or deuterium, together.* And deuteri...

#72 – The Manhattan Project from 2018-02-23T21:56:56

* President Roosevelt responded to Einstein’s letter by setting up the Advisory Committee on Uranium under Lyman J. Briggs, director of the National Bureau of Standards.* Side note: his daughter Is...

#71 – The World Set Free from 2018-02-18T21:36:13

* In 1913, H. G. Wells wrote a book called The World Set Free* The novel begins: “The history of mankind is the history of the attainment of external power. Man is the tool-using, fire-making anima...

#70 – No Military Justification from 2018-02-18T21:26:32

* The Potsdam declaration on Japan was tricky.* It was drafted while Churchill was still PM.* In fact it was probably one of the last things he did as PM.* But it was signed by Attlee.* Stalin had ...

#69 – The Atomic Bomb from 2018-01-12T08:23

* Episode 69.* Ray’s favourite number.* Have you actually had one yet, Ray?* Sister in law?* Truman had given his final approval to the plan to invade Kyushu, the southern most island of Japan, jus...

#68 – Two And A Half Men from 2018-01-07T09:43:52

Well the election result shocked everyone.  And the rest of the contingent at Potsdam weren’t very happy about it either.  We might think that the Soviets would be please to be dealing with a Briti...

#67 Clement Atlee from 2017-12-24T04:49:46

Attlee was Churchill’s lame duck deputy PM.  In fact he was the first Deputy PM the UK ever had.  I didn’t realise this, but in the UK the role of the Deputy PM isn’t like you’d expect, like it is ...

#66 – Potsdam Begins from 2017-12-15T09:19:35

Stalin arrived in Potsdam a day late. Claimed he had a small heart attack. Might have been a ruse. It gave the others a day to take a tour of Berlin on July 16 and see the destruction first hand. D...

#65 – Michael Neiberg from 2017-12-08T06:18:56

Prof Michael Neiberg is Chair of War Studies and Professor of History, Department of National Security and Strategy, US Army War College. He has also written a number of excellent books on the Firs...

#64 – Towards Potsdam from 2017-11-17T06:44:31

After a string of fuckups, Truman starts listening to other people, like Joseph Davies, the US Ambassador to the Soviet Union in 1937-38, one of the guys he had ignored before his first meeting wit...

#63 – The Old One-Two from 2017-11-10T08:33:32

Truman listens to certain people who tell him he should get tough with the Russians. At his first meeting with Molotov, the Soviet Foreign Minister said “I have never been talked to like that in my...

#62 – Truman from 2017-10-27T06:40:55

Harry S. Truman. Farmer. Soldier. Failed businessman. Given his political career by a mobbed-up bootlegger. Became President through fate. Adopted John Wayne persona to try to look tough. HOW TO LI...

#61 – FDR Dead from 2017-10-20T07:08:56

Then, on April 12, 1945, FDR died, aged only 63. HOW TO LISTEN If you’re already a subscriber, you can listen to the full show in the player below or subscribe through iTunes or any podcast player....

#60 – In Like Flynn from 2017-10-13T06:31:46

FDR sends one of his inner circle, Edward Flynn, a staunch Catholic, to meet the Pope to try to keep the peace between him and Stalin. Stalin meanwhile revived caesaropapism, the old tradition dati...

#59 – Stalin Versus The Pope from 2017-10-06T06:08:45

Stalin crushes the Ukrainian Catholic Church, partly because socialists believe religion is the opium of the masses, and partly because the Pope, Pius XII, had done a deal with Hitler and was a vir...

#58 – Operation Sunrise from 2017-09-28T22:35:32

March 8, 1945. Allen Dulles, the Bern station chief of the U.S. Office of Strategic Services (a forerunner of the CIA), met in secret with Obergruppenführer Karl Wolff, the former head of Heinrich ...

#57 – Alger Hiss from 2017-09-15T08:33:33

On February 13, 1945, U.S. Secretary of State Stettinius and his staff were invited to a reception hosted by Vyshinsky in the commissariat’s guesthouse in Moscow. Little did the Americans know that...

#56 – Dracula from 2017-09-08T07:30:57

What does Dracula have to do with the Cold War? The next issue to drive a wedge between the Big Three was the government of Romania. HOW TO LISTEN If you’re already a subscriber, you can listen to ...

#55 – Cold As Ice from 2017-08-25T09:02:33

Our first post-Yalta episode! Churchill and Roosevelt go home and give big speeches about how well Yalta went and how the Big Three really get each other. And then it all fell apart. HOW TO LISTEN ...

#54 – Nyet from 2017-08-18T05:46:35

The last day of Yalta! We’re out, baby! Churchill fell asleep in the middle of an important debate and then woke up ranting about the wrong things. Iran wants everyone to leave their oil alone but ...

#53 – Declaration of Liberated Europe from 2017-08-04T06:09:52

Just when I thought I was out… they pulled me back in! To Yalta! Before the Big Three left Yalta, they signed a document that promised to allow the people of Europe “to create democratic institutio...

#52 – German Reparations Part II from 2017-07-21T08:57:56

As the Yalta conference comes to a close, the question of German reparations is settled on, but it’s obvious that Stalin still doesn’t trust the other two. And the feeling is mutual. HOW TO LISTEN ...

#51 – German Reparations from 2017-07-07T07:13:46

Stalin goes hard on the issue of German reparations but meets with pushback from Churchill, while Roosevelt can’t seem to make up his mind. HOW TO LISTEN If you’re already a subscriber, you can lis...

#50 – Summary Execution from 2017-06-23T06:15:35

So after they agreed on Poland, the rest of the February 9 plenary session is spent talking about Germany.  Specifically – what to do with the Nazi big dogs.  Previously secret British War Cabinet ...

#49 – Prof. Serhii Plokhii, Harvard from 2017-06-15T09:35:54

We have a very special guest. Professor Serhii Plokhii is the Mykhailo Hrushevsky professor of Ukrainian history at Harvard University, where he also serves as the director of the Ukrainian Researc...

#48 – Settling The Polish Question from 2017-06-08T09:02:04

Day 9 at Yalta! The official, famous photographs are taken, and someone worries that he’s going to be sent to the Gulag as a result. And the Polish question is finally settled to everyone’s relief....

#47 – The Rapist from 2017-05-26T06:38:55

Someone else was at the dinner on February 8, Day 4, at Koreiz villa – Lavrentii Beria the head of the dreaded People’s Commissariat of Internal Affairs – a known womanizer and rapist. HOW TO LISTE...

#46 – The Big Threesome from 2017-05-18T06:47:31

At the end of a long day full of hard bargaining, The Big Three could still relax in one another’s company. In this episode we discuss the most important dinner of the conference. HOW TO LISTEN If ...

#45 – Stalin Agrees On Japan from 2017-05-12T11:53:48

A deal was struck between FDR and Stalin: the Soviets will join the war with Japan in exchange for territorial acquisitions at Japan’s expense and the creation of a Soviet sphere of influence in no...

#44 – The Bombing Of Dresden from 2017-04-27T22:52:34

The city of Dresden was the primary victim of the “zone of limitation” agreement reached at Yalta—one of the few direct outcomes of the military consultations held there. In early 1945 Dresden was ...

#43 – The Battle of Balaclava from 2017-04-20T12:30:58

On Feb 7, the British Chiefs of Staff decided to take the day off to visit the site of the Battle of Balaclava, infamous for the “Charge of the Light Brigade” in 1854. Meanwhile, the Americans and ...

#42 – Poland’s Borders from 2017-04-06T23:11:03

  Conversation at Yalta turns to Poland’s borders. Stalin had a new proposal that would mean moving the southern part of the Polish-German border 200 kilometers west – into Germany, right up to the...

#41 – Frank Makes Shit Up from 2017-03-31T07:05:17

On Feb 8, when Stalin arrived for his lunch date with Roosevelt, FDR told him that the Foreign Ministers had met that morning and agreed to accept the two extra countries for the Soviet’s in the UN...

#40 – Stalin Plays With Pooh from 2017-03-23T23:32:50

At Yalta, Feb 7 and 8 – days 4 and 5 – are going to be about trying to get agreement on the Polish issues and the issue of the Soviets entering the war with Japan. Winnie The Pooh is getting played...

#39 – Stalin Drops The Mic from 2017-03-09T08:26:37

  Back to the question of Poland. Roosevelt suggests changing the Polish-Russian border – in the favour of the Poles. Why? It’d really help him out in the upcoming U.S. election. Churchill agreed w...

#38 – Warm Water Ports from 2017-03-03T05:26:06

Despite their attempts to get the U.K. and U.S.S.R. to give up on the concept of spheres of influence, the Monroe Doctrine remained the dominant way that America built its economic empire after WWI...

#37 – Poland from 2017-02-24T09:13:51

#36 – That Little Rat Leo Pasvolsky from 2017-02-17T05:15:59

#35 – The United Nations from 2017-02-10T09:35:32

During the rest of Day Two of Yalta they discuss how much Germany should pay in reparations and how many Germans should go to Russia as slave labour. On Day Three, the talk turns to FDR’s passion p...

#34 – Charles de Gaulle from 2017-02-03T05:33:10

As the Yalta conference now turns to whether or not France should have a role in the occupation of Germany, the Allied Control Commission and the UN Security Council, we thought it was a good time ...

#33 – Dismemberment from 2017-01-27T05:59:06

We’re finally back! Sorry about the long wait. On day two of the Yalta Conference Franky wanted to discuss the role of France in the German occupation. Joey hijacked the agenda to demand agreement ...

#32 – Fidel Castro Part 4 from 2016-12-21T05:17:11

Part four (!!!) of our “quick” biography on Fidel Castro, using the New York Times’ obituary, breaking it down, line by line, to uncover the propaganda. And we’re making these Castro episodes free ...

#31 – Fidel Castro Part 3 from 2016-12-16T09:48:03

Part three (!!!) of our “quick” biography on Fidel Castro, using the New York Times’ obituary, breaking it down, line by line, to uncover the propaganda. And we’re making these Castro episodes free...

#30 – Fidel Castro Part 2 from 2016-12-09T07:25:17

Part two of our “quick” biography on Fidel Castro, using the New York Times’ obituary, breaking it down, line by line, to uncover the propaganda. And we’re making these Castro episodes free to gues...

#29 – Fidel Castro from 2016-12-01T11:07:10

With the recent death of Fidel Castro, we decided to take a quick detour from our linear narrative to jump ahead in time and talk about one of the major figures, not only of the Cold War, but of th...

#28 – Yalta: Let The Small Birds Sing from 2016-11-25T01:08:20

Like he had before Tehran, FDR refused the idea of an Anglo-American bloc when he and Churchill met briefly in Malta before the conference.He’s trying hard to avoid putting Stalin on the defensive....

#27 – Yalta: Day One from 2016-11-18T05:48:47

We FINALLY start talking about day one of the Yalta conference, explaining the key cast of characters – and a lemon tree.   HOW TO LISTEN If you’re already a subscriber, you can listen to the full ...

#26 – Prof Fredrik Logevall from 2016-11-11T10:02:54

Today we have another special guest – Pulitzer Prize-winning author, the Laurence D. Belfer Professor of International Affairs at the John F. Kennedy School of Government and Professor of History i...

#25 – Maclean from 2016-11-04T04:41:33

  This is the third and final of our episodes about the Cambridge Five! This week – Donald Maclean. After being recruited at Cambridge, he started working for the Foreign Office assigned to the div...

#24 – Burgess from 2016-10-21T07:58:50

  This is the second of our episodes about the Cambridge Five! This week – Guy Burgess. Where the others were highly self-controlled and shunned public scrutiny, he was wildly flamboyant, openly ho...

#23 – Philby from 2016-10-14T07:07:16

This is the first of two episodes about the Cambridge Five! This week – Kim Philby, arguably the most effective spy in the history of spying. The man running British operations against the Russians...

#22 – Yalta (part 1) from 2016-10-06T22:00:28

By the time the Big Three finally met again after Tehran, it was February 1945, the US had re-taken the Phillipines. But the they were still a long way from Japan. And in Europe, they were all faci...

#21 – The First Vietnam from 2016-09-23T06:37:57

Today we go back to 1898 and discuss The Philippine–American War, sometimes referred to as “The First Vietnam”. Trust us – it’s relevant to our story. Why did the United States invade the Philippin...

#20 – Campbell Craig from 2016-09-15T07:30:15

  Professor Campbell Craig is the Professor of International Relations at Cardiff University. He has held senior fellowships at Yale University, the Norwegian Nobel Institute, the European Universi...

#19 – Bretton Woods from 2016-09-08T21:00:05

  – A month after the opening of the second front, the Roosevelt administration organized a conference on postwar economic planning in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, at which American officials set ...

#18 – Tehran from 2016-09-02T05:54:54

  Roosevelt and Churchill had their first war summit meeting in Casablanca in January 1943.The first Big Three conference was held in Tehran, Iran in November 1943. It turned out to be the most imp...

#17 – Disgustingly Ugly from 2016-08-25T21:00:56

  We start in August 1942. Churchill is still in Moscow, getting down with Uncle Joe. Stalin accuses the British of being a bunch of pussies, too scared to fight the big bad Nazis.To try to break u...

#16 – Dr Peter Ellyard from 2016-08-19T07:48:47

  Our guest today is Dr Peter Ellyard, a futurist, strategist, speaker and author living in Melbourne, Australia. He is known for his unique perspectives on global trends and emerging global market...

#15 – The Grand Alliance from 2016-08-04T23:00:19

  In June 1941, the UK, USA and USSR slowly started to come together to defeat Germany and Japan. The Grand Alliance is often called the “Strange Alliance” because it united the world’s greatest ca...

#14 – Ribbentrop, Molotov, Barbarossa from 2016-07-28T23:00:43

In this episode we talk about the non-aggression pact signed between Nazi Germany and the USSR in 1939, known as the Ribbentrop – Molotov Pact, and then how Hitler decided to terminate it in 1941 w...

#13 – The Great Terror from 2016-07-22T05:13:14

Today’s episode starts off with part 4 of our series on economics, where we look at the role of the media, and then launches into Stalin’s “Great Terror”. And we finish answering a question from a ...

#12 – Doug La Follette from 2016-07-17T11:06:02

Our first guest on the Cold War series is Doug La Follette, Secretary of State of Wisconsin! Here’s some background. – Doug is the Secretary of State of Wisconsin a position to which he was first e...

#11 – Economics & War Pt 3 from 2016-06-30T15:00:22

Part 3 of our three-part series on economics and war, where we drill down into the various ways companies profiteer from war and how it stimulates the economy via “Military Keynesianism”. On the su...

#10 – Economics & War Pt 2 from 2016-06-23T19:51:44

  Part 2 of our three-part series on economics and war. Still talking about trade and access to foreign markets. We look at the CIA’s overthrow of the Iranian government in 1953, the Marshall Plan ...

#8 – Mansplaining Capitalism from 2016-06-01T22:59:18

Okay so we’re still talking about IDEOLOGY. On our last episode we didn’t get time to get into talking about CAPITALISM, so that’s what we’re doing on this episode. We talk a little about the histo...

#7 – Socialism from 2016-05-26T22:13:49

Welcome Premium Subscribers! Thanks for your love and support and the occasional reach-around. We want to tickle you in all the right places. On this episode, our first premium episode, we continue...

#6 – The First Red Scare from 2016-05-20T18:34:42

This is part one of a few episodes that will explain the military, ideological and economic conflicts and tensions between the US, UK and USSR before the Cold War. In this episode, we look at the “...

#5 – FDR Part Two from 2016-05-04T01:04:54

#4 – FDR Part One from 2016-04-23T03:01:06

  Part One of our mini-biography of everyone’s favorite wheelchair pilot, FDR. His family background (opium traders), his rise, his polio, his affairs, his reforms, his ballsy attitude, his assassi...

#3 – The Man Of Steel from 2016-04-09T18:49:11

#2 – Enter Churchill from 2016-03-31T19:04:41

Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill was a fascinating character. His reputation as a “great man”, as the brave British wartime leader who defeated the Nazis, hides his reputation before and after WWI...

#1 – Let’s Get Cold from 2016-03-24T18:08:37