More of the story - Boiler room bohemians, the coup before the coup, Soviet "Easterns" Cowboy Movies, cassette tapes of Vladimir Vysotsky, how to save money, USSR style, faking out the KGB and more. What we left behind in the notebooks from the six-part FALL OF USSR series.
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FALL OF USSR: Bonus "Bloknot" (Notebook) Episode

A country is removed from the map in a week. There's more too than that, but it's not far from the most truthful description. The final episode of our series on the fall of the Soviet Union finds a rescued Gorbachev quickly realizing that he might be in yet another seizure of power. But this one happening quietly over a few tiring days. And with the support of the Russian people.
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FALL OF USSR: Part 6 - Two Bears in a Cave

The first blood is spilled. We look at the right-wing of Soviet Society which triggered the putsch. And the rebellious elements that also existed. Jeans, rock and roll, religion, revisionism and weakness.
Music by Lee Rosevere and Theme Song by Chris Novembrino
We are part of Airwave Media Network - check out Ben Franklin's World, Tea Time History, Redacted History, the History of China, The Explorers Podcast, The Age of Napoleon www.airwavemedia.com
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FALL OF USSR: Part 5 - I Cannot Forsake Principles!

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As barricades are built and citizens turn to a protective barrier, the Soviet culture they come from might be the very thing that keeps them going.
Music by Lee Rosevere and Theme by Chris Novembrino
We are part of Airwave Media Network
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FALL OF USSR: Part 4 - Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears

Two institutions, the press and the military, may well determine the fate of the USSR on the night of August 19th, 1991. The Emergency Committee decides, it's time to explain themselves on TV. A reporter makes a fateful decision. So does another. A motley crowd is fashioned into an instant militia.


Music by Lee Rosevere (Music for Podcasts) and Theme Song by Chris Novembrino
We are part of Airwave Media Network - check out Ben Franklin's World, Tea Time History, Redacted History, the History of China, The Explorers Podcast, The Age of Napoleon www.airwavemedia.com
Want to Advertise on My History Can Beat Up Your Politics? sales@advertisecast.com
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FALL OF USSR: Part 3 - Athens vs. Sparta

Yeltzin has stood on a tank, but few have seen it. Crowds shift from the traditional protest places to a new one. They bring heavy metal. What on Zemlya is happening?
It all starts in a steam bath. Sort of.
In order to understand the events of August 19th, 1991, it's necessary to look back. Particularly at 1989, when the most orderly country on earth became the most unpredictable.
Music by Lee Rosevere and Theme Song by Chris Novembrino
We are part of Airwave Media Network - check out Ben Franklin's World, Tea Time History, Redacted History, the History of China, The Explorers Podcast, The Age of Napoleon www.airwavemedia.com
Want to Advertise on My History Can Beat Up Your Politics? sales@advertisecast.com
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FALL OF USSR: Part 2 - The Steam Bath of History

Soviet citizens wake up to tanks outside their windows in 1991. Media is censored. The President is detained. Another president escapes, maybe just escapes... A third President is powerless. Is this the end of everything?
Music by Lee Rosevere and Theme Song by Chris Novembrino
We are part of Airwave Media Network - check out Ben Franklin's World, Tea Time History, Redacted History, the History of China, The Explorers Podcast, The Age of Napoleon  www.airwavemedia.com
Want to Advertise on My History Can Beat Up Your Politics?  sales@advertisecast.com
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FALL OF USSR: Part 1: Wake Up, Cassandra!

Get ready for the FALL OF USSR podcast which launches Feb 6th. If you can't wait for all of the episodes, you can get 5 now at Patreon - http://www.patreon.com/mhcbuyp
Also a whole bunch about classified documents.
We are part of Airwave Media Network. Some great shows - Age of Napoleon, TeaTime History, History of The Second World War, Infamous America and Ben Franklin's World. www.airwavemedia.com
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About Classified Documents and Politics, and our upcoming USSR cast

We look at Woodrow Wilson's Vice President Thomas Riley Marshall and his unique wit and approach to government. Some felt he should have become President given Wilson's condition. Outward indications are, he didn't want the place. The Hoosier lawyer turned national player's story, and about the relationship between VP and POTUS in the past compared to now.
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A Sense of Humor as a Weapon - Vice President Thomas Marshall

The Democratic Party had a problem in the nineteen teens and twenties. What to do with a candidate that could stir up crowds but not enough electoral votes? Though pleased to nominate him in 1896 and introduce a new kind of politics to their party, some Democrats grew tired of William Jennings Bryan especially in his later years as his fundamentalism turned to alcohol, evolution and an arguable Southern favoritism.  
Also a brief look at his daughter, Ruth Bryan Owen
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"Wrong Forever on the Throne!" - William Jennings Bryan and the Democratic Party in His Later Years

We talk a bit about Nathaniel Banks, the Speaker of The House of Representatives that (still) took the most ballots to be elected. Kevin McCarthy joins the ranks of Speakers that needed multiple ballots - we discuss the implications. A brief look at Frederick Gillett, the last Speaker to even need two ballots in 1923, and then a look at why Congress starts on January 3rd.  
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Speaker Election of 1855, 20th Amendment and a Show Update

The 72nd Congress of 1931 was, as elected, a very narrow Republican House 218 R - 217 D. Close, but for President Hoover, good enough. That is until, 14 Congressmen-elect died. Not all at once - that would be weird - over 13 months, for all kinds of reasons but heart attacks and pneumonias leading the list. When special elections were held, it went 218 D and 216 R. 1 Farm Laborer supported the Democrats so 219-216.
We talk about this curious case. We also talk about the 14 Congressmen-elect who had some interesting biographies. And we talk Herbert Hoover and the spin he (tried to) put on The Great Depression.
We are part of Airwave Media Podcast Network. www.airwavemedia.com
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We Need to Talk.  About the 72nd Congress.

Valley Forge Myth and Reality - Interview with Bob Drury and Tom Clavin, Authors of Valley Forge
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Valley Forge Myth and Reality - Interview with Bob Drury and Tom Clavin, Authors of Valley Forge

When President Kennedy inspired the nation to put a man on the Moon, he did so at a time when the word "inflation" was not on the mind of most Americans. Why should it have been, the rate was a paltry 1.1%. And we needed to beat the Soviets to the Moon. Once we did, and as the cost of goods, materials and rocket fuel rose over time, The United State's space dreams were limited.
Inflation didn't kill space, but it sure changed what the goals of going to space became. We look at the trends of inflation and space exploration on this episode.
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Inflation vs. Space: How The Cost of Things Limited the Space Program

One three-second period changed the life of an East German soldier. Stories of freedom and oppression feature heavily on this hodge-podcast episode, the Berlin Wall, the Uruguay dictatorship of the 70's and 80's, a bit about Grover Cleveland and a bit about Charles III.
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Leap to Freedom: Hans Konrad Schumann's Story

From his bamboo shaker to his views on prohibition, all about Franklin Roosevelt and drinking.
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Drinking With FDR

A few 'leftover' stories from the previous episode on the World Cup in Argentina, 1978.  One story about the black bands that were on the goalposts has been challenged by Argentine newspapers, Reddit threads and other sources.  Although there is a story that it was there to remind people of the victims, we probably have to write this one off to urban legend, as the original source could not be found to verify it.
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The Mystery of the Black Bands on the Goalposts?  and Other Stories

As the world attention focuses on a soccer game, behind the surface is a disturbingly hidden suppression of a previously strong democracy.  
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Soccer and Repression: The 1978 World Cup in Argentina

The average difference between the two major parties in the House of Representatives at any time in American history is sixty. That being said, there are a few times where one, two or nine seats separated the two major parties in Congress. Sometimes it was Democrats and Republicans. Sometimes it was Whigs and Democrats. You want to be speaker, you scramble. You make a deal with a Socialist, or a Know-Nothing. You find a guy who nobody hates and make him Speaker, hoping that person will listen to. Or you hold out for as long as you can ballot after ballot until people get tired. The record is the 65th Congress in 1917, where one seat separated the two. With a close house arriving in 2023, We look at American history for these times.
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My History Can Beat Up Your Politics

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