From Boomers to Millennials: A Modern US History Podcast
A 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
Episodes
42 episodes
Ep. 19A - Interview Special: Behind the Scenes of "From Boomers to Millennials"
In this episode, producer Erin Rogers interviews FBTM's host & writer, Logan, about the past and future of the podcast. Topics discussed include: what inspired Logan to start a history podcast; book recommendations for US history fans; how ...
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Season 3
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57:18
Episode 19 - 1962 Part I: Massive Resistance
We begin this episode with a look at popular culture of the early 60s, as Hollywood began making more technicolor epics such as "Lawrence of Arabia," and also increasingly addressed social issues in films like "To Kill a Mockingbird" and "Judgm...
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Season 3
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Episode 2
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29:47
Episode 18C - Big Jim Folsom: 10 Minute Profile
Although 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 Go...
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Season 3
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15:04
Ep. 18B - The Kennedys as Boomer Icons, Part IV: Ascendancy, 1953 - 1959
In 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 controvers...
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Season 3
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42:00
Episode 18A - Hannah Arendt: 10-Minute Profile
This 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 univer...
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Season 3
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14:35
Episode 18 - 1961 Part II: Pay Any Price
In 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, J...
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Season 3
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Episode 1
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48:12
Episode 17D - Reinhold Niebuhr: 10-Minute Profile
In 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 Prot...
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Season 3
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12:10
Episode 17C - Bayard Rustin: 10-Minute Profile
In 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 t...
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Season 3
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11:06
Episode 17B - Henry Cabot Lodge Jr.: 10-Minute Profile
This 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 dispropor...
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Season 3
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14:09
Ep. 17A - The Kennedys as Boomer Icons, Part III: Young Bobby
Season 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...
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Season 3
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35:42
Episode 17 - 1961 Part I: Bear Any Burden?
In 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 Communis...
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Season 2
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Episode 7
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32:35
Ep. 16B - The Kennedys as Boomer Icons, Part II: Origins
This 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 ...
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Season 2
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37:16
Episode 16A - The Kennedys as Boomer Icons, Part I: Introduction
This 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 cert...
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Season 2
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36:05
Ep. 16 - 1960 Part II: New Trajectories for American Politics & Society
A 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 stude...
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Season 2
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Episode 6
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53:14
Ep. 15 - 1960 Part I: Military-Industrial Complexities & The Last Days of the Eisenhower Era
In 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 neg...
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Season 2
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Episode 5
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45:18
Episode 14B – 1959: A Rock ‘N Roll Tragedy & A Podcast Update
This 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 exp...
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Season 2
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33:38
Episode 14A - Recapping Our Show So Far
This 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...
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Season 2
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48:46
Episode 14 - 1959: Coping with Cuba
This 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 &...
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Season 2
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Episode 4
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37:27
Episode 13A - Special: Defining Liberalism
After 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 beca...
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Season 2
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36:23
Episode 13 - 1958: The Rise of Cold War Liberalism
In 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 de...
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Season 2
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Episode 3
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55:24
Episode 12 - 1957: The Blessings of the Cold War?
After 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 de...
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Season 2
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Episode 2
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46:37
Episode 11 - 1956: Trouble in the Promised Land
The 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 t...
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Season 2
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Episode 1
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45:20
Episode 10A - Special: An Anti-Conspiratorial Podcast Update
On 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 alle...
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Season 2
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30:51
Episode 10 - 1955: Daily Life for a Boomer Kid
The 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...
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Season 1
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Episode 10
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49:20