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[Abridged] Presidential Histories - 33.D) The blinding of Sgt. Isaac Woodard and the awakening of Harry S. Truman, an interview with Judge Richard Gergel
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33.D) The blinding of Sgt. Isaac Woodard and the awakening of Harry S. Truman, an interview with Judge Richard Gergel

[Abridged] Presidential Histories

08/21/23

36m

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As millions of Americans demobilized after World War II, some were welcomed home as heroes, but others were attacked by their neighbors. When a white South Carolina sheriff attacked a black sergeant, still in uniform, on his way home from the war, the resulting outrage inspired Harry Truman to risk his presidency for the cause of Civil Rights. Judge Richard Gergel, author of Unexampled Courage: The Blinding of Sgt. Isaac Woodard and the Awakening of President Harry S. Truman and Judge J. Waties Waring, discusses the attack and its impact on a nation and its conscience.

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Previous Episode

Before he was president, and before he formed the Truman Committee, Harry Truman was known primarily for one thing: his connection to an infamous Kansas City political machine - the Pendergast Machine. But what was the Pendergast Machine? How did it work? What was it into? Historian Jon Taylor discusses Truman's connection to the infamous operation, and who was helping who in the relationship.

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undefined - 34.) Dwight Eisenhower 1953-1961
34.) Dwight Eisenhower 1953-1961

September 4, 2023

61m

"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed." - Dwight Eisenhower, April 16, 1953
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Dwight Eisenhower was born to poverty, but rose to be the savior of Europe and preside over the perilous early years of the Cold War. Follow along as Ike punches a ticket to education and upward mobility at West Point, leads the allied armies of Europe to victory during World War II, and faces off with Soviets abroad and racists at home from the White House.
Bibliography
1. Eisenhower in War and Peace – Jean Edward Smith
2. Truman – David McCullough
3. FDR – Jean Edward Smith
4. Richard Nixon: The Life – John Farrell
5. An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy, 1917–1963 – Robert Dallek
6. Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream – Doris Kearns Goodwin


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