Best Dan R Morris 20th Century Historian Podcasts (2025)

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Episode 68: Hello Darkness My New Friend - The Story of The Family Who Created Sonar and Braille 29:26

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1M ago29:26

29:26

In this episode we explore Simon & Garfunkel, Louis Braille, Charles Barbier, Valentin Haüy and René-Jus Haüy, Marvel Comics, Popular Science Magazine, Plato and even George Washington. How the world has fought Darkness has been pretty amazing . . . and crazily it's all because of one family

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Episode 67: How a Coffee Shop Changed the World: The Origin Story of Lloyds of London 28:21

2M ago28:21

28:21

This is the story of Edward Lloyd and his London Coffee Shop . . . and how they were able to change the world. Amazingly this story touches on the New York Stock Exchange, Bruce Springsteen, George Lucas, Lorenzo de Tonti, the Origin of the Tontine, Robert Louis Stevenson, Lloyds of London and Rosa Parks. Be prepared to be amazed.…

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Episode 66: The America of Tarzan and Buck vs Bell 36:03

3M ago36:03

36:03

The 1890 closing of the Frontier by the US Census Bureau is a major milestone in the history of the United States. The outcome of that change affected the mindset of the Americans. . . and from that comes some of our most loved fiction. But on the flip side, also the darkest stain on the United States. In this episode we cross paths with Thomas Jef…

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Episode 65: When Osama Bin Laden Wrinkled FDR's Plans: The 100 Year Fight Against Polio 35:28

4M ago35:28

35:28

This is the story of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Henrietta Lacks, Jonas Salk, the March of Dimes, the Tuskegee Institute and their collective effort to eradicate polio from the earth. But the story also touches on Booker T. Washington, George Washington Carver, Lewis Adams, the Hampton School, Basil O'Connor, Elvis Presley, Eddie Cantor, Paul Alexan…

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Episode 64: How did Bob Hope's USO become a thing? And who performed? 37:25

5M ago37:25

37:25

In today's episode we look at all the people and plans it took to create the United Service Organization (USO). While there was enormous planning and smart people, it wouldn't be what it is without a trumpet player from Chicago. We cross paths with General Pershing, Glenn Miller, m&ms, Thomas Dewey, Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, and little guy from En…

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Episode 63: Classified: How the Library Built the FBI and How did J. Edgar Hoover Get Involved? 38:18

6M ago38:18

38:18

It all started in the 1500s with Sir Francis Bacon, and then in the 1700s with Carl Linnaeus. And along the way we run into Thomas Jefferson, President McKinley, Melvil Dewey, Elihu Root, Napoleon Bonaparte, Al Capone, Teddy Roosevelt, the Library of Congress, Ainsworth Rand Spofford and J. Edgar Hoover. All of them to birth the FBI.…

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Episode 62: The Cheesy Results of WW II: Plus the Story of How Nachos Came to Be 33:02

7M ago33:02

33:02

One of the greatest products of World War II was "cheesy". And it's all Wisconsin's fault. In fact it's possible that without WW2 three of the greatest things in your daily life just wouldn't be there. In today's episode we cross paths with FDR, Ricos Nachos, Jean Nicolet, Cheetos, Fritos, Kraft, and would you believe . . . Care Packages.…

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Episode 61: Every Episode Has 4 31:52

8M ago31:52

31:52

This is episode 61, the end of the first era and beginning of the second. In fielding your hundreds of ideas for shows, we decided to go over the 4 actual requirement that every story must have before becoming an episode of Tracing The Path. We look at old episodes and how they meet the requirements. We go over some unbelievable stories that haven'…

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Episode 60: Roald Dahl: A Real Chocolate Spy (and Children's Book Author) 32:11

9M ago32:11

32:11

The fact that our most beloved children's author was a spy for the British isn't the twist. The twist comes when his greatest enemy becomes an important advisor. Along the way we run into Ian Fleming, FDR, Cadbury, Quaker Oats, Winston Churchill, Ernest Hemingway, Beatrix Potter, the Sopwith Camel Ace Flyer and C.S. Forrester…

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Episode 59: The True Story of Candy Canes and How They Became a Christmas Tradition 34:40

10M ago34:40

34:40

Did you know that if it weren't for the Mexicans and the Swedes, our Christmas would look substantially different? Yep, today we trace the world of Peppermint back to Santa Anna, Bob, Amalia Erickson, William Wrigley, the American Chicle Company, the Erie Canal, some French cellophane and maybe even Elvis…

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Episode 58: The Cultural Impact of Don McLean's "American Pie" (and the part Roberta Flack played) 32:12

11M ago32:12

32:12

The "American Dream" was first coined in 1931. In 1971 two things happened on exactly the same day . . . the world's biggest song was released lamenting the end of the American Dream. And the world's biggest dreamer opened the most amazing American institution. In today's episode we cross paths with Apple Pie, James Truslow Adams, Buddy Holly, Bill…

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Episode 57: 1848: The Year Halloween Began and How it Started 33:25

12M ago33:25

33:25

Have you ever heard the origin of Halloween? Perhaps you've heard about the Irish holiday Samhain, but there's more. And all of it converges on one year, 1848. In this episode learn about Mary Shelley, Lord Byron, Washington Irving, Edgar Allen Poe, Thomas Paine, Mary Wollstonecraft, the most powerful volcano ever recorded, Yellow Fever, premature …

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Episode 56: The Amazing Story of Van Diemen's Land and the U.S. Presidential Resolute Desk 23:38

1y ago23:38

23:38

The Resolute Desk was a gift to the President as the movie National Treasure says. But did you know it involved Tasmania, Van Diemen's Land, Explorer John Franklin, Maritime Salvage Laws, Senator Lawrence S Foster, Abel Tasman, Anthony Van Diemen, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, the HMS Resolute, Sweden's 300,000 oak trees, Rutherford B Hayes and…

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Episode 55: The Story of Grant Wood's American Gothic and How Crayola Was the Inspiration 28:32

1y ago28:32

28:32

When the Industrial Revolution came to town, it inspired an opposite movement that may have changed the world. It certainly inspired a construction style and a whole bunch more. Today we rub elbow's with Teddy Roosevelt, David Sedaris, Grant Wood, Thomas Hart Benton, Georgia O'Keefe, the Carnegies, Crayola Crayons, Edgar Allen Poe, Chicago Academy …

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Episode 54: America's Westward Expansion and CBS TV's Rural Purge 35:12

1+ y ago35:12

35:12

The Louisiana Purchase kicked off Westward Expansion in the United States. Then came the transcontinental railroad, Homesteading and factory towns. Even the Industrial Revolution aided rural communities with new farming technology and access to bigger markets. But one day in 1971, Rural America was cancelled. In today's episode we cross paths with …

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Episode 53: Robert Smalls & the Death of Lincoln: A Civil War Story 29:28

1+ y ago29:28

29:28

Robert Smalls was the defiant slave who decided freedom was a better choice. That is when his and President Abraham Lincoln's lives would be intertwined, from the Civil War all the way through death. In this episode we discover Lydia Polite, Harriet Buss, Henry Ward Beecher, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Harriet Tubman, the Freedsman Bureau, Parris Island…

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Episode 52: The History of Maritime Law and How The Chinese Spy Balloon Used it 26:52

1+ y ago26:52

26:52

Did you know the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, the Chinese Spy Balloon and the International Space Station all have one thing in common? A law written in Roman Times. Let us tell you about NASA and Captain Skip Strong, the Stamp Act, H.G. Wells, Edward Bulwer Lytton, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, Antarctica and the 1967…

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Episode 51: The NBA?? Origin of the Bloody Mary & Moscow Mule 32:34

1+ y ago32:34

32:34

French Lick, Indiana was once the top resort town in the U.S. Famous people like Bing Crosby, Al Capone and Ronald Reagan all went there. But it's known for much more than that and what starts in there, changes the world. This week's episode features Tod Sloan, FDR, West Baden Springs Hotel, Sun Rayed Tomato Juice, Smirnoff Vodka, Cock & Bull and t…

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Episode 50: How Many Times Has Coca-Cola Changed Their Secret Recipe? 41:16

1+ y ago41:16

41:16

Everyone knows they changed it in 1985 to New Coke. But how many know of the other four times? And one of those might be considered a public duping. To get the answer today's story covers Thomas Edison, Cocaine, Kola Nut, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Robert Gozuieta, Fanta, Tab, Diet Rite, Robert Woodruff, Atlanta's Jewish Community, Royal Crown C…

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Episode 49: The 20th Century Trivia Window: Jeopardy & Trivial Pursuit 33:59

1+ y ago33:59

33:59

The 20th Century presented the perfect moment for the rise is Trivia, and the games that go with it. Maybe that window is beginning to close. In today's episode we explore the Han Dynasty, WW2, Merv Griffin, Charles Van Doren, NBC, College Bowl, Trivial Pursuit, Jeopardy, Alex Trebek, Radio Quiz Bowls, Information Please, the $64K Question, Columbi…

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Episode 48: The Whole It's A Wonderful Life Movie Story 35:07

2y ago35:07

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Did you know "It's A Wonderful Life" started out as a dream? And then as a Christmas card? How did it beat the odds to become an American classic? The story starts back in 1876 and involves Amadeo Giannini, Philip Van Doren Stern, Frank Capra, Jimmy Stewart, World War II, the Council on Books in Wartime, Jimmy the Raven, Cary Grant, Republic Pictur…

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Episode 47: Was Dickens the World's First Influencer? 31:59

2y ago31:59

31:59

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, an influencer is someone who made it big online. We disagree. Could there have been an influencer before the internet? Charles Dickens did have millions of fans, he did influence people, companies, governments and society. He was much more than an author and perhaps the world's first influencer.…

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Episode 46: How East Texas Wildcatters Won World War II 30:35

2y ago30:35

30:35

Winston Churchill said it best "whomever controls the oil will win the war". Luckily, the United States had Wilcatters with true tenacity who would find oil no matter where it hid. In today's episode we explore the Big Inch and Little Big Inch piplines, Columbus Joiner, Spindletop, Cushing Oklahoma, Tom Slick, Texaco, the Rule of Capture, origin of…

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Episode 45: How the Chinese Exclusion Act Created Bing Cherries and General Tso Chicken 30:22

2y ago30:22

30:22

The Chinese Exclusion Act is one of our most undiscussed tragedies. Despite the bad, Chinese immigrants pushed through to help shapes these United States. Today's episode crosses paths with Bruce Lee, Teddy Roosevelt, Chester A. Arthur, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the Bing Cherry, the Valencia Orange, the Citizenship Clause and Equal Protection Clau…

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Episode 44: The Complex History of Popcorn in the 20th Century Culture 28:59

2y ago28:59

28:59

To get a button on the microwave for popcorn, it first had to touch the hands of Winston Churchill, Cracker Jacks, the 1893 World's Fair, Major League Baseball, a #1 hit song, Superman, Betty Boop, Raytheon, McCann Erickson, and popcorn balls at the North Pole. Sit back and hear a tale you've not heard before.…

Dan R Morris 20th Century Historian Podcasts

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Tracing The Path: The Connected 20th Century

Dan R. Morris - 20th Century Historian

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Episode 68: Hello Darkness My New Friend - The Story of The Family Who Created Sonar and Braille 29:26

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Episode 67: How a Coffee Shop Changed the World: The Origin Story of Lloyds of London 28:21

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Episode 66: The America of Tarzan and Buck vs Bell 36:03

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Episode 65: When Osama Bin Laden Wrinkled FDR's Plans: The 100 Year Fight Against Polio 35:28

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Episode 64: How did Bob Hope's USO become a thing? And who performed? 37:25

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Episode 63: Classified: How the Library Built the FBI and How did J. Edgar Hoover Get Involved? 38:18

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Episode 62: The Cheesy Results of WW II: Plus the Story of How Nachos Came to Be 33:02

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Episode 61: Every Episode Has 4 31:52

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Episode 60: Roald Dahl: A Real Chocolate Spy (and Children's Book Author) 32:11

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Episode 59: The True Story of Candy Canes and How They Became a Christmas Tradition 34:40

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Episode 58: The Cultural Impact of Don McLean's "American Pie" (and the part Roberta Flack played) 32:12

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Episode 57: 1848: The Year Halloween Began and How it Started 33:25

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Episode 56: The Amazing Story of Van Diemen's Land and the U.S. Presidential Resolute Desk 23:38

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Episode 55: The Story of Grant Wood's American Gothic and How Crayola Was the Inspiration 28:32

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Episode 54: America's Westward Expansion and CBS TV's Rural Purge 35:12

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Episode 53: Robert Smalls & the Death of Lincoln: A Civil War Story 29:28

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Episode 52: The History of Maritime Law and How The Chinese Spy Balloon Used it 26:52

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Episode 51: The NBA?? Origin of the Bloody Mary & Moscow Mule 32:34

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Episode 50: How Many Times Has Coca-Cola Changed Their Secret Recipe? 41:16

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Episode 49: The 20th Century Trivia Window: Jeopardy & Trivial Pursuit 33:59

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Episode 48: The Whole It's A Wonderful Life Movie Story 35:07

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Episode 47: Was Dickens the World's First Influencer? 31:59

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Episode 46: How East Texas Wildcatters Won World War II 30:35

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Episode 45: How the Chinese Exclusion Act Created Bing Cherries and General Tso Chicken 30:22

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Episode 44: The Complex History of Popcorn in the 20th Century Culture 28:59