History That Doesn't Suck

“The only men on this beach are the dead and those that are going to die––now let’s get the hell out of here!”

This is the story of D-Day, June 6, 1944.

In the early hours of the morning, airborne troops land behind enemy lines in Normandy, France, fighting to secure towns, bridges, and other major roadways. Sunrise brings H-Hour, 06:00, when the largest amphibious assault in military history begins. Allied troops land on beaches along the 50-mile stretch from Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword.

From an accidental arrival spot on Utah Beach to scaling cliffs at Pointe-du-Hoc to intense resistance at Omaha Beach, June 6 is a long, trying day for the courageous American GIs landing in France. By the end of the day, will they be able to link up with the airborne troops? The fate of the liberation of Western Europe lies alongside many of Uncle Sam’s brave boys on the sandy shores of Normandy.

____

Connect with us on http://HTDSpodcast.com and

• go deep into episode bibliographies and book recommendations
• join discussions in our Facebook community
• get news and discounts from The HTDS Gazette
• come see a live show
• get HTDS merch
• or become an HTDS premium member for bonus episodes and other perks.

HTDS is part ofAudacy media network.

Interested in advertising on the History That Doesn't Suck? Contacthttps://audacyinc.com/contacthttp://Audacyinc.com

“Soldiers, Sailors, and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force! You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade.”

This is the story of the preparations for D-Day.

In November, 1943 the “Big Three”–that is, Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin–meet in person for the first time to discuss launching an Operation “Overlord,” a cross-channel invasion of Nazi-held France. With the leaders’ go-ahead, the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF) led by General Dwight D. Eisenhower doubles down. As fighting continues in the Mediterranean theater, Ike works to gather sufficient men, supplies, and landing equipment, but it’s no easy feat.

As 1943 turns into 1944, more than 1.4 million American troops arrive in Great Britain for training. The men face extreme weather conditions, equipment malfunction, and maybe even friendly fire during training? Yeah, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows on the southern coast of Merry England, especially as the weather forecast for the planned attack of France looks atrocious. Will Ike and his men be able to pull off what’s gearing up to be the largest amphibious invasion in history?

____

Connect with us on http://HTDSpodcast.com and

• go deep into episode bibliographies and book recommendations
• join discussions in our Facebook community
• come see a live show
• get HTDS merch
• or become an HTDS premium member for bonus episodes and other perks.

HTDS is part ofAudacy media network.

Interested in advertising on the History That Doesn't Suck? Contacthttps://audacyinc.com/contacthttp://Audacyinc.com

“‘What is that?' I asked. The Englishman answered calmly: 'It was my best enemy.’”

This is the story of the little books that went to war, and the Frenchman whose ghosts we'll read by their light.

In 1943, a consortium of American publishers began slipping pocket-sized paperbacks into the hands of GIs bound overseas: the Armed Services Editions. More than 120 million of these ASEs were printed by the war’s end, and they turned up everywhere: foxholes, troopships, field hospitals, and more. In fact, we’ll meet one colonel who fondly remembers a soldier reading aloud to their gun crew while German 88s whistled in. The Germans tried to kill them as they laughed and enjoyed good writing.

And among the 1,300-odd titles the program carried to the front were the works of a certain French master of the macabre: Guy de Maupassant. The Armed Services Edition gave GIs Maupassant the realist … but we’ll encounter two tales that reflect the Frenchman’s more ghoulish side.

Happy Halloween.

Connect with us on http://HTDSpodcast.com and

• go deep into episode bibliographies and book recommendations
• join discussions in our Facebook community
• get news and discounts from The HTDS Gazette
• come see a live show
• get HTDS merch
• or become an HTDS premium member for bonus episodes and other perks.

HTDS is part ofAudacy media network.

Interested in advertising on the History That Doesn't Suck? Contacthttps://audacyinc.com/contacthttp://Audacyinc.com

Following the Challenger and Columbia Space Shuttle disasters, the government had to rethink space exploration. In 2006, NASA launched the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services program, allocating $500 million to encourage American entrepreneurs to develop cost-effective cargo and crew transport for the ISS. Today, private enterprises like SpaceX, Starlink, Blue Origin, and Rocket Lab are ubiquitous. Yet none of this progress would be possible without substantial government assistance.

Joining us is Casey Dreier, Chief of Space Policy at The Planetary Society and one of the world's foremost experts on NASA's budget and the political economy of space exploration. His data-driven analysis has been cited by The New York Times, POLITICO, The Washington Post, and NPR, and in 2025 he received a SpaceNews Icon Award for his work. Casey joins us to unpack what the data actually shows about the tradeoffs of commercial spaceflight — and what's at stake if the government cedes too much control.

The government gets a bad rap. But the roads under your feet, the forecast on your phone, and the letter in your mailbox are all government too. Hosted by Professors Greg Jackson and Lindsey Cormack, Government That Doesn't Suck is a seriously researched, fact-driven podcast examining the dreams, machinery, and real-world impact behind American government, one episode at a time.

"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 raids over Ploesti and Schweinfurt, Allied armies fight their way onto the Italian mainland at Salerno, and the citizens of Naples rise to liberate themselves. Meanwhile, the U-boat is finally beaten back in the Atlantic, American Lend-Lease reaches a bleeding Soviet Union, and the tide turns in the East. And in occupied France, a fractured Resistance begins to cohere—thanks to the sacrifice of a hero named Jean Moulin—as Charles de Gaulle claims his place at the head of a nation not yet free.

We'll meet a tail gunner who flew into hell without his parachute, a colonel who took his burning bomber over the target rather than break his word, a thirteen-year-old who took on a German tank, and an American spy hiding behind a wooden leg and a wheel of cheese. Each is doing their part as the whole Allied world bends toward one looming date on the horizon.

Call it the pre-pre-D-Day episode. This is the European Theater, 1943.

Connect with us on http://HTDSpodcast.com and

• go deep into episode bibliographies and book recommendations
• join discussions in our Facebook community
• get news and discounts from The HTDS Gazette
• come see a live show
• get HTDS merch
• or become an HTDS premium member for bonus episodes and other perks.

HTDS is part ofAudacy media network.

Interested in advertising on the History That Doesn't Suck? Contacthttps://audacyinc.com/contacthttp://Audacyinc.com

“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 gathered at the Pennsylvania State House during the miserably hot Philadelphian summer of 1787. They are here to discuss the failing Articles of Confederation. Foreign debts are past due. Rebellions are rising. The states are fighting. Can they fix all of this? Or will the disagreeing, arguing, threatening, theorizing, brainstorming, (mostly) sober-speech making, and compromising all be for naught?

Connect with us on http://HTDSpodcast.com and

• preorder Prof. Jackson’s new book
• go deep into episode bibliographies and book recommendations
• join discussions in our Facebook community
• get news and discounts from The HTDS Gazette
• come see a live show
• get HTDS merch
• or become an HTDS premium member for bonus episodes and other perks.

HTDS is part ofAudacy media network.

Interested in advertising on the History That Doesn't Suck? Contacthttps://audacyinc.com/contacthttp://Audacyinc.com

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 II. The conversation reaps key wartime conferences, unpacks the strategic tensions between MacArthur and Nimitz, analyzes the evolution of amphibious warfare, and extolls the legacy of Carlon’s Marine Raiders. The episode also highlights the unique unity and sacrifice of Americans during WWII and answers listener questions about the Pacific campaign.

Mac Caldwell served as an Infantry Officer in the USMC from 2016-2023. Though he's no longer on Active Duty, once a Marine, always a Marine. He currently lives in Atlanta with his wife and their three children where he works for a management consulting firm. Prior to moving to Atlanta, he used the GI Bill to get an MBA from the Darden School at the University of Virginia, where he got to walk in Thomas Jefferson's footsteps. Of particular relevance to today's episode, though, during his time in service, he was second in command of an Amphibious Company, specializing in amphibious landings from Navy ships and actually deploying to the Pacific to conduct a number of peacetime amphibious exercises with partner nations throughout the region.

Connect with us on http://HTDSpodcast.com and

• go deep into episode bibliographies and book recommendations
• join discussions in our Facebook community
• get news and discounts from The HTDS Gazette
• come see a live show
• get HTDS merch
• or become an HTDS premium member for bonus episodes and other perks.

HTDS is part ofAudacy media network.

Interested in advertising on the History That Doesn't Suck? Contacthttps://audacyinc.com/contacthttp://Audacyinc.com

“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, American and British leaders meet with “Forgotten Allies” in Cairo—namely China’s nationalist leader Chiang Kai Shek and his diplomat wife Soong Mei-ling. The relentless pressure on Japan continues as heroes like “Merrill’s Marauders" hack through Burma’s jungles, securing vital supply lines and isolating the Japanese. Desperation leads to more bonsai attacks and even civilian suicides. More islands fall.

The conflict reaches a boiling point at the "Marianas Turkey Shoot," and the brutal battle for Saipan, both of which aim to place Tokyo within bombing range and clear the path for Doug to return to the Philippines.

____

Connect with us on http://HTDSpodcast.com and

• go deep into episode bibliographies and book recommendations
• join discussions in our Facebook community
• get news and discounts from The HTDS Gazette
• come see a live show
• get HTDS merch
• or become an HTDS premium member for episodes and other perks.

HTDS is part ofAudacy media network.Interested in advertising on the History That Doesn't Suck? Contacthttps://audacyinc.com/contactAudacyinc.com.

“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 Pacific waters.

By 1943, the Japanese are settled in for the long haul, no matter what it may cost. America sees some successes like new skip bombing techniques at the Battle of the Bismarck sea, but a change of strategy is needed for real gains. American leaders General Douglas MacArthur and Admiral William "Bull" Halsey launch Operation Cartwheel, a strategic campaign of amphibious landings designed to neutralize Japanese strongholds like Rabaul, Papua New Guinea without attacking head-on.

Meanwhile, even though the Solomon Islands are still an active war zone, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt undertakes a morale-boosting tour, visiting every wounded soldier she possibly can. Just a few short months later, Americans win the brutal Battle of Tarawa at great cost, a decisive victory that exposes the devastating realities of island warfare to those back home. Is each tiny island in the Pacific worth this much death? Or can another path be found?

____

Connect with us on http://HTDSpodcast.com and

• go deep into episode bibliographies and book recommendations
• join discussions in our Facebook community
• get news and discounts from The HTDS Gazette
• come see a live show
• get HTDS merch
• or become an HTDS premium member for bonus episodes and other perks.

HTDS is part ofAudacy media network. IInterested in advertising on the History That Doesn't Suck? Contacthttps://audacyinc.com/contacthttp://Audacyinc.com.

“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 Midway.

Amid hard fighting among the frozen peaks of Attu at the tail end of Alaska's Aleutian Islands, the Americans are gaining ground. But the cost is steep. Carrying out banzai charges, Japanese soldiers are prepared to fight to the last man. This is the case in the Solomon Islands as well, where US Marines—or "Uncle Sam's Miserable Children," as they call themselves—are storming the beaches of Guadalcanal. The island is only barely held, largely thanks to the almost unbelievable bravery of Medal of Honor recipient Sergeant John Basilone.

Meanwhile, American codebreakers have obtained Admiral Yamamoto Isoroku's flight plans. The man who surprised America at Pearl Harbor is about to get a surprise of his own.

____

Connect with us on http://HTDSpodcast.com and

• order Prof. Jackson’s book
• go deep into episode bibliographies and book recommendations
• join discussions in our Facebook community
• get news and discounts from The HTDS Gazette
• come see a live show
• get HTDS merch
• or become an HTDS premium member for bonus episodes and other perks.

HTDS is part ofAudacy media network. Interested in advertising on the History That Doesn't Suck? Contacthttps://audacyinc.com/contacthttp://Audacyinc.com.

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 Constitution isn't a dusty relic, but a living document built to be argued over, amended, and improved by every generation? In this debut episode, hosts Greg Jackson (creator of History That Doesn't Suck) and Professor Lindsay Cormack (author of Been There, Done That and How to Raise a Citizen) introduce their new podcast with a simple mission to understand the history and structure of the US government so that we can all work to make our union more perfect.

Learn more at: https://www.htdspodcast.com/

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, Ben Sawyer and Bob Crawford of The Road to Now, Colleen Shogan of In Pursuit, Lindsay Graham host of History Daily. Watch Prof. Jackson's PBS special here: The Unlikely Union: A Storytelling Symphony of America or visit http://htdspodcast.com/pbs.

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 the Second Continental Congress to declare Independence in the summer of 1776. Fought over bitterly on July 1st, voted on affirmatively on the 2nd, with the exact wording finalized on the 4th—I mean, how could we not resurface episode #8’s account of this story for this week?

If you’re new here, you may not have listened to it—here’s your chance. And if you’ve been listening for a while, take a step back with me and remember why we revere this document.

This is the story of independence and crushed hope.

Congress is finally declaring independence but it isn’t a straightforward process. Delegates have different perspectives; John Adams and John Dickinson are taking the floor to argue passionately for and against it. The vote will come down to the wire.

It’s also time to bring the "$10" Founding Father into the story. That’s right. We’ll meet Alexander Hamilton, get the backstory of his rough childhood in the Caribbean, and see how he ends up in the Big Apple.

Speaking of NYC, George Washington has chased Lord William Howe from Boston to Manhattan, but this is a very different battlefield. He’s going to have a harder go here than he did in New England. Much harder.

Connect with us on http://HTDSpodcast.com and

• order Prof. Jackson’s new book
• go deep into episode bibliographies and book recommendations
• join discussions in our Facebook community
• get news and discounts from The HTDS Gazette
• come see a live show
• get HTDS merch

HTDS is part ofAudacy media network. Interested in advertising on the History That Doesn't Suck? Contacthttps://audacyinc.com/contacthttp://Audacyinc.com.

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 Overcome. As we approach the 250th anniversary of the United States, the conversation centers on the resilience of the American experiment. Rather than viewing the current political climate with despondency, Jackson argues that American history provides a proven blueprint for endurance. The conversation was recorded live at sea on The History Cruise That Doesn’t Suck!

• Order Prof. Jackson’s book now
• Listen to all episodes of The Road to Now

"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 American incarceration.

In February 1942, shortly after the United States enters the war, FDR signs Executive Order 9066, beginning the forced removal of Japanese Americans from their West Coast homes and lives. Some 120,000 civilians—many of them American citizens, none of them charged with a crime—are sent to camps across the American West and South. Their constitutional rights are denied in the name of national security.

Even as families struggle to carry on inside the barbed wire, legal challenges arise. Three Japanese Americans fight their way to the Supreme Court, forcing the nation’s highest court to confront a question it would rather avoid: can the Constitution be suspended for an entire ethnic group in wartime? And when the court finally rules—does the answer change anything at all?

____

Connect with us on http://HTDSpodcast.com and

• preorder Prof. Jackson’s new book
• go deep into episode bibliographies and book recommendations
• join discussions in our Facebook community
• get news and discounts from The HTDS Gazette
• come see a live show
• get HTDS merch
• or become an HTDS premium member for bonus episodes and other perks.

HTDS is part ofAudacy media network.Interested in advertising on the History That Doesn't Suck? Contacthttps://audacyinc.com/contactAudacyinc.com.

“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.”

This is the story of propaganda on the home front.

The word “propaganda” has some messy connotations, but it’s fundamentally about pushing a narrative, which can be good or evil. Leaders on all sides of the war thought about how to spur the populace to join in the war effort, and in America, it fell to entertainers and artists to really rally the nation to war.

They utilized every form imaginable: films, comics, cartoons, posters, anything. Movie and comedy stars put on road shows for soldiers. Animation studios enlisted beloved cartoon figures like Donald Duck and Bugs Bunny to sell war bonds, and even invented the hilariously inept Private Snafu to teach soldiers what NOT to do. Captain America, on the other hand, was born ready to punch Hitler’s lights out. We’ll also cover that unassailable masterpiece, Casablanca, as well as some propaganda aimed at US soldiers from the other side: the siren known as “Tokyo Rose.”

____

Connect with us on https://www.htdspodcast.com/ and

•

preorder Prof. Jackson’s new book

•

go deep into episode bibliographies and book recommendations

•

join discussions in our Facebook community

•

get news and discounts from The HTDS Gazette

•

come see a live show

•

get HTDS merch

•

or become an HTDS premium member for bonus episodes and other perks.

HTDS is part ofAudacy media network.Interested in advertising on the History That Doesn't Suck? ContactAudacyinc.com.

“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 home front.

While millions of brave men and women are sacrificing life and limb “over there,” those left behind are making sacrifices of their own—heeding the call to grow gardens in their backyards or on community lots, combing their homes for spare scrap metal and rubber, rationing so there’s enough to go ‘round, and buying up war bonds.

The economy changes drastically; for one thing, the Great Depression is definitely over. Unemployment drops to just about nil as millions join the military or the workforce. Small towns swell with floods of people following industrial government contracts, and women and teenagers take on new roles to fill critical gaps.

And yet, though every American is asked to make these sacrifices to win the war, not even close to every American receives the same protections and benefits from wartime contracts and legislation. Black Americans, still stifled by Jim Crow, fight for a Double Victory—against the Axis powers, and against prejudice back home. The “Good War” is not an evenly distributed burden by any means, but all in all, the home front is pulling its weight in this war.

____

Connect with us on https://www.htdspodcast.com/ and

•

preorder Prof. Jackson’s new book

•

go deep into episode bibliographies and book recommendations

•

join discussions in our Facebook community

•

get news and discounts from The HTDS Gazette

•

come see a live show

•

get HTDS merch

or become an HTDS premium member for bonus episodes and other perks.

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 republic in 1789, through the end of the nineteenth century—while telling stories not heard in the podcast, tales that engage such topics as political violence, fake news, and contested elections.

Pre-order a copy ⁠HERE⁠ or come see him on ON TOUR.

“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 avoided the concentration camps are increasingly being funneled there. Jewish leaders like Chaim Rumkowski face impossible dilemmas—who should be sent to the camps? On the other hand, some Warsaw Ghetto inhabitants choose to fight back, their last ditch efforts to resist and escape living on in the words of only a few survivors.

Even as the ghettos and their inhabitants are liquidated, Dr. Josef Mengele and others at Auschwitz continue their own work of death. We’ll witness, in order, how people go from cramped cattle car to crematoria; and keep in mind, Auschwitz is but one of many. All together, these accounts from survivors will hopefully provide as complete an overview of the Holocaust’s extermination camps as one episode can.

____

Connect with us on https://www.htdspodcast.com/ and

•

preorder Prof. Jackson’s new book

•

go deep into episode bibliographies and book recommendations

•

join discussions in our Facebook community

•

get news and discounts from The HTDS Gazette

•

come see a live show

•

get HTDS merch

•

or become an HTDS premium member for bonus episodes and other perks.

HTDS is part ofAudacy media network. Interested in advertising on the History That Doesn't Suck? ContactAudacyinc.com

“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 becomes industrialized.

In January 1942, Nazi leaders discuss what will become the “Final Solution”: their plan to murder millions. As more and more Jews are stripped of everything and forced into ghettos, and terrified parents bid a tearful (and often final) farewell to their children, German leaders decide how to deal with the fact that the new territory they’ve acquired is full of Jews and other “undesirables.”

As the Nazis march through Europe, they’ll “evacuate” the continent’s Jews sending them to overcrowded disease-ridden ghettos, then to concentration camps. Initially, mobile killing units, or Einsatzgruppen, simply shoot Jews where they stand. This practice will give way to extermination camps, as one camp in particular—Auschwitz—is figuring out how to use gas to kill on a truly industrial level.

After years of building, the Holocaust is in full swing.

____

Connect with us on https://www.htdspodcast.com/ and

•

preorder Prof. Jackson’s new book

•

go deep into episode bibliographies and book recommendations

•

join discussions in our Facebook community

•

get news and discounts from The HTDS Gazette

•

come see a live show

•

get HTDS merch

•

or become an HTDS premium member for bonus episodes and other perks.

HTDS is part ofAudacy media network.Interested in advertising on the History That Doesn't Suck? Contacthttps://audacyinc.com/contacthttp://audacyinc.com