European recipients of the Marshall Plan funds were quite clear to the USA that they needed help keeping the socialists down and out of their countries. And the USA recognized that its own economic welfare rested on the revival of Europe. Fundi

The Creation of NATO

Oct 30th, 2022 47m 4s

We want to take a break from Korea to talk about the creation of NATO. Obviously relevant with the whole Ukraine situation. And it took on a new kind of mission during the Korean War. But let’s go back and look at where it came from.

The Double Life of Katharine Clark

May 11th, 2022 31m 32s

Today we're talking to Katharine Gregorio, author of "The Double Life of Katharine Clark, The Untold Story of the American Journalist Who Brought the Truth about Communism to the West". Clark was her great-aunt, a foreign correspondent who, whi

Taiwan Part 4

Mar 26th, 2022 36m 29s

This is part four of our recent chat about the history of China and Taiwan with James Shone, a teacher who has lived and worked in Taiwan for over a decade. He’s recently started a podcast about the history of Taiwan - https://taiwanthroughtime

Fugitives by Danny Orbach

Mar 11th, 2022 1h 30m

Dr. Danny Orbach is an Associate professor in general history and East Asian studies, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His new book, Fugitives, is a history of Nazi mercenaries during the Cold War

Taiwan Part 3

Mar 10th, 2022 36m 29s

This is part three of our recent chat about the history of China and Taiwan with James Shone, a teacher who has lived and worked in Taiwan for over a decade. He’s recently started a podcast about the history of Taiwan - https://taiwanthroughtim

Taiwan Part 2

Feb 24th, 2022 31m 57s

Part two of our recent chat with James Shone about Taiwan. Don't forget to check out this new podcast about the history of Taiwan - https://taiwanthroughtime.com/.

School's In

Feb 11th, 2022 1h 4m

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 for about 40 minutes then did some Q&A with the

Taiwan Part 1

Feb 11th, 2022 31m 57s

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 of regional tensions, as well as China-US tensi

KNEEL SUCK CRACK

Apr 24th, 2021 1h 24m

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, John Foster Dulles.

Abortive Missions

Mar 4th, 2021 54m 35s

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 Korean War happened and Bedell Smith became th

CIA Hearts Nazis

Feb 20th, 2021 51m 30s

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, communism, but without appearing to. To accomplish thi

CIA Front Groups

Feb 3rd, 2021 1h

Plausible Deniability

Jan 22nd, 2021 1h 5m

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 secret. One of the first things he did was estab

Ret. U.S. Major Danny Sjursen

Dec 22nd, 2020 1h 34m

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 reconnaissance units in both Iraq and Afghanistan. He ha

Covert Psychological Operations

Dec 16th, 2020 1h

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 designed to counter Soviet and Soviet-inspired a

#159 – Raging Mad

May 15th, 2020 58m 47s

In 1941, after the creation of the NDH, Ante Pavelić, the leader of the Catholic fascist Ustasha, went to Rome to receive the blessing of Pope Pius XII – while his administration was publicly saying they were going to kill a third of the Croati

#157 – Operation Punishment

Apr 24th, 2020 1h

As caretaker secretary of the Yugoslav Party from 1937 to 1940, Tito first moved the Central Committee from Paris to Zagreb, then built up a new, young leadership loyal to him. These guys would be his inner circle for decades to come. When, in

#156 – The Old Wet Baby Trick

Apr 18th, 2020 1h 13m

Back to Tito and Yugoslavia. In 1934, the Croat Catholics rose up against the Serb King Alexander, leading to his assassination by a Ustasha agent while visiting France. Meanwhile Stalin purged the leadership of the Yugoslav Communist Party, op

#155 – The Human Factor

Apr 9th, 2020 54m 7s

My guest today is Archie Brown, emeritus professor of politics at the University of Oxford and an emeritus fellow of St Antony’s College, Oxford, where he served as a professor of politics and director of St Antony’s Russian and East European C

#154 – Tito (III)

Apr 3rd, 2020 1h 22m

By the time Tito got back to his home country in 1920, the Austro-Hungarian, Russian, German and Ottoman empires had all been broken up.In their place were the independent states of Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Austria, Hung

#153 – Tito (II)

Mar 24th, 2020 1h 30m

In order to understand the career of Josip Broz Tito, we need to understand the religious and political history of the Balkans. As historian Richard West says: anyone who approaches the Yugoslavs without some knowledge of their religious histor

#152 – Tito (I)

Mar 20th, 2020 1h 16m

Josip Broz Tito grew up in poverty on a small farm in Croatia. He dropped out of school at 13, and apprenticed as a locksmith and mechanic. In 1913 he was conscripted into the Austro-Hungarian Army and ended up in WWI, where he was injured and

#151 – First Lightning

Mar 6th, 2020 1h 18m

After the bombing of Hiroshima, the Soviets work their asses off to get their own nuclear weapons as quickly as possible, despite the enormous financial commitment it required and the other, more pressing social and economic problems the countr

#150 – The Red Napoleon

Feb 28th, 2020 1h 4m

When Stalin and Molotov heard what Truman had said at Potsdam about the USA having a new bomb ready, they saw it as a direct threat to the Soviet Union and increased their support for Soviet scientists. They might have been further advanced if