I wonder if you begin to appreciate the value of history as you put in a few years and begin to have a little history yourself. I don’t remember much from my exposure to the history that is required as part of my high school education. It was probably one of those subject areas to which I was indifferent and did what I had to in preparation for examinations. I purposefully avoided history courses in college and favored other areas of social science to meet requirements. Sociology and psychology seemed more practical and I eventually pursued graduate degrees in psychology.
The notion that history repeats itself is frequently offered as a rationale for the universal study of history. I guess this is valid, but how does anyone decide which parts of history are relevant? The cumulative nature of history means that the options are pretty much endless and happening on useful examples seem rather random. I now dabble reading a few things here and there that others recommend.
After that lengthy intro, this post is a recommendation for a podcast offered by television personality Rachael Maddow. Rachael’s capabilities as a researcher and storyteller make the time investment both enlightening and entertaining. The podcast, Ultra, describes the history of an attempt by the ultra right to install an authoritarian government in the United States during World War II. With the assistance of Germain Nazi agents, politicians and at least one religious leader with a large radio audience supported and encouraged multiple extremists groups (America First, The Christian Front) that organized, secured significant stock piles of weapons, and engaged in sabotage of several munition plants. Politicians were using the franking privileges provided as a benefit of their office to distribute propaganda developed by German operatives in an effort to undermine the war effort and overthrow the U.S. government. The Justice Department found it difficult to investigate and Senators were able to remove DOJ personnel working on prosecutions. Scary stuff and a lesson to those in present time assuming the U.S. political system is immune to the efforts of bad actors. Substitute the Internet for mass mailing and popular radio personalities, different actors within a hesitant DOJ, other radical organizations as substitutes for America First and The Christian Front, Russia rather than Germany, and different politicians seeking power and wealth and the circumstances of the 1940s could be our present environment.
The true story is as engaging as popular political thrillers and spy novels I admit to having consumed. Presently the most popular podcast in the country, there are presently eight episodes each of which is approximately one-half hour in length. The link I provide above takes you to a website that provides links to the episodes and provides additional images and documents associated with each episode.