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Strange Fruit was the first popular song that reached a mainstream audience which addressed the question of violence against black people in America and it made Billie Holiday, its original singer, a star. The song lived far beyond her death in 1959 and shaped protest music America throughout the 20th Century.Explaining History is funded through advertising and donations. For more content, journalism and ideas, visit the Explaining History Patreon page here: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=763386
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Years of inconsistency in America’s foreign and defence policy throughout the 1930s had left deep confusion at the highest levels of government about what kind of war might be fought against Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan and what kind of war machine was needed. It was only in early 1941 that these questions began to be answered and American mass production began in earnest.Explaining History is funded through advertising and donations. For more content, journalism and ideas, visit the Explaini
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Rising living standards, new scientific innovation and a faith in progress were prevalent in America in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War. However, social progress was segregated and enjoyed mainly by white Americans, creating the conditions of future conflict in the 1950s and 1960s.Explaining History is funded through advertising and donations. For more content, journalism and ideas, visit the Explaining History Patreon page here: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=763386 Explaining H
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An interventionist state, the capture of global markets and the destruction of economic opponents (Germany and Japan) and the loss of Britain’s economic world power saw America emerge as the wealthiest nation in world history from 1945 onwards. This prosperity would shape the hopes and ambitions of an entire generation.Explaining History is funded through advertising and donations. For more content, journalism and ideas, visit the Explaining History Patreon page here: https://www.patreon.com/use
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In the half decade after the Second World War, the fortunes of America’s trade union movement declined and communist led trade unions were ostracised by the AFL and CIO. This was consistent with the broader shift towards the political right happening in America in the late 1940s.Explaining History is funded through advertising and donations. For more content, journalism and ideas, visit the Explaining History Patreon page here: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=763386 Explaining History helps you u
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A war of historically unprecedented size and ferocity needed the industrial productivity all belligerent powers. However, American productive capacity dwarfed its European neighbours, as did America’s ability to raise finances to pay for the conflict. Explaining History helps you understand the 20th Century through critical conversations and expert interviews. We connect the past to the present. If you enjoy the show, please subscribe and share.▸ Support the Show & Get Exclusive ContentBecome a
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How did the decline of Richard Nixon and the humiliations heaped upon America in the 1970s lead to the rise in popularity of a once marginal Republican figure, Ronald Reagan? This podcast explores the transition between the two figures in the Republican Party. Explaining History helps you understand the 20th Century through critical conversations and expert interviews. We connect the past to the present. If you enjoy the show, please subscribe and share.▸ Support the Show & Get Exclusive Content
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Following Roosevelt’s election victory in November 1940, the news that Britain faced certain bankruptcy in dollar terms presented the president with the first major challenge of his new term. The lend lease agreement, signed in March 1941 was the solution. Explaining History helps you understand the 20th Century through critical conversations and expert interviews. We connect the past to the present. If you enjoy the show, please subscribe and share.▸ Support the Show & Get Exclusive ContentBeco
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When US volunteers from the International Brigade returned to America after two years of bloodshed and slaughter in Spain, they received a frosty welcome from a suspicious FBI and police. Much of the American public knew very little about the war and understood nothing of what was at stake. Explaining History helps you understand the 20th Century through critical conversations and expert interviews. We connect the past to the present. If you enjoy the show, please subscribe and share.▸ Support t
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In the last years of the 1970s a fringe economic ideology captured the centre ground in Britain, America and China, transforming the world economy and shifting the balance of power from labour to capital for a generation. Explaining History helps you understand the 20th Century through critical conversations and expert interviews. We connect the past to the present. If you enjoy the show, please subscribe and share.▸ Support the Show & Get Exclusive ContentBecome a Patron: patreon.com/explaining