Best Martin Di Caro Podcasts (2024)

1
The Sorrow of Sudan 56:14

38m ago56:14

56:14

In our world of conflicts, a civil war in Africa is going mostly unnoticed in the United States, at least compared to the attention given to the wars in Ukraine and Israel. For the third time in its post-independence history (from 1956), Sudan is embroiled in a horrendous civil war full of massacres, the displacement of millions, and the potential …

1
A Peace Plan For Ukraine, Revisited 42:08

44m ago42:08

42:08

Russia invaded Ukraine in an act of naked aggression more than 900 days ago. Both sides have lost at least tens of thousands of their soldiers, yet the 750-mile front has not moved much in the past two years. Neither side appears close to military victory, but they also appear far apart on a possible negotiated settlement. As Ukrainian forces invad…

1
HAIH On Location! Lindsay Chervinsky on "Making the Presidency" 36:11

8d ago36:11

36:11

This is the second conversation in a two-part series recorded inside the George Washington Presidential Library at Mount Vernon. John Adams' one-term presidency was sandwiched between towering figures of the American past. He succeeded the living legend George Washington and was succeeded by Thomas Jefferson, and Adams' time in office was marked by…

1
HAIH On Location! Inside the George Washington Presidential Library at Mount Vernon 32:02

2d ago32:02

32:02

This is the first conversation of a two-part series recorded at the George Washington Presidential Library at Mount Vernon. Hundreds of thousands of Americans visit Mount Vernon annually. Relatively few people see the inside of the George Washington Library. Its new executive director is historian Lindsay Chervinsky, and she wants to make the libra…

1
Bombs Away! Nixon's Lawless Legacy and the Imperial Presidency 1:07:01

2h ago1:07:01

1:07:01

This month marked 50 years since Richard Nixon resigned the presidency for the crimes of Watergate. The endless fascination with the break-in and the cover-up has obscured what may be more important in Nixon’s legacy as Americans demand a more restrained foreign policy today: his contribution to the imperial presidency and the crimes he got away wi…

1
No One Votes For Vice President 52:27

9d ago52:27

52:27

The selections of Republican JD Vance and Democrat Tim Walz as vice presidential running mates received non-stop media attention this summer, but will either choice really matter come November? Does anyone vote for vice president? John Adams once called the vice presidency "the most insignificant office that ever the invention of man contrived or h…

1
Election of 1800 56:57

5d ago56:57

56:57

This is the sixth episode in an occasional series examining influential elections in U.S. history. The most recent episode, Election of 2000, was published on July 11. If you believe American society has never been as politically polarized as it is now, you may not be familiar with the late 1790s. Federalists and Republicans viciously attacked each…

1
Humanizing Hitler 56:00

15d ago56:00

56:00

With democracy in global decline amid the rise of autocrats and ongoing armed conflict, many politicians and pundits invoke the emergency of fascism a century ago in an attempt to make sense of our current dilemmas. Such comparisons are fraught with problems, not least the unique nature of Nazism’s ambitions for global conquest and genocide. In thi…

1
Hezbollah 52:44

5d ago52:44

52:44

What is Hezbollah, a name that translates to Army of God? These militant Shia led by the cleric Hassan Nasrallah are expected to retaliate for Israel's assassination of one of their military commanders in Beirut. Hezbollah, considered a terrorist organization by Western governments, is the strongest military force in Lebanon and holds seats in the …

1
Middle East on the Brink 50:38

7d ago50:38

50:38

Annelle Sheline resigned her position at the U.S. Department of State in protest of President Biden's unconditional support of Israel as it waged a war of immense destruction in Gaza. An expert on the Middle East at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, Sheline says Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is attempting to pull the Unit…

1
Supreme Court vs. Founders 34:04

1M ago34:04

34:04

By granting former President Donald Trump absolute immunity from criminal prosecution "for official acts" as Trump fights charges stemming from his attempt to overthrow the 2020 election results, the Supreme Court "descended to a level of shame reserved until now for the Roger B. Taney Court that decided the case of Dred Scott v. Sandford in 1857,"…

1
What's Economic Nationalism? 56:29

1M ago56:29

56:29

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and running mate J.D. Vance say they will lead America into the future with an economic platform that resembles something from the past. High tariffs were once the mainstay of U.S. economic policy, accounting for the large part of government revenues in the era before the personal income tax. The tariffs…

1
Aficionado of Exits 36:38

1M ago36:38

36:38

Both Donald Trump and Joseph Biden claimed they were indispensable to their party's electoral prospects, which both men attached to the very fate of our republic. "I alone can fix it," Trump once thundered. Up until Biden finally bowed out of the race on July 21, he insisted he was the best candidate to defeat Trump, despite his poor approval ratin…

1
Open Convention 44:37

2M ago44:37

44:37

With President Joe Biden out of the race, prominent Democrats and donors are coalescing around Vice President Kamala Harris as his successor, making it unlikely there will be a truly open nominating convention in Chicago next month. For most of American history, open conventions were the norm. Some ended in chaos, with the party and its chosen nomi…

1
Traditions of Violence 43:51

2M ago43:51

43:51

This is the second of two podcast episodes this week dealing with the aftermath of the attempted assassination of Donald J. Trump and the causes and effects of political violence in America. Political violence comes in different forms. A political movement might have a paramilitary force that engages in extrajudicial mayhem. A lone assassin may or …

1
The Madness of Political Violence 44:49

2M ago44:49

44:49

This is the first of two podcast episodes this week dealing with the aftermath of the attempted assassination of Donald J. Trump and the causes and effects of political violence in America. Historian Jeremi Suri says violence has been a part of our national story from the beginning. In a Time op-ed, Suri argues, "We have inherited a very violent cu…

1
Election of 2000 52:43

2M ago52:43

52:43

This is the fifth episode in an occasional series examining influential elections in U.S. history. The most recent episode, The Election of 1932, was published on June 17. George W. Bush's historically narrow victory over Al Gore is remembered for how it was decided: the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 to end a Florida court-ordered recount of dispute…

1
Europe's Turbulent Politics 38:43

2M ago38:43

38:43

Far-right political movements achieved power in Europe a century ago, wrecking parliamentary democracies and instigating wars of conquest and genocide. Today’s far-right populists are not the same as yesteryear’s fascists, but their growing popularity on a prosperous, mostly peaceful continent has caught many observers by surprise. In the elections…

1
What If? The British Won the Revolutionary War? 57:54

2M ago57:54

57:54

This is the third episode in an occasional series examining major counterfactual scenarios in history. The most recent installment (Nov. 30, 2023) examined what would have happened to slavery in America without the Civil War. The rebellious colonists' victory in the Revolutionary War and the high ideals of the Declaration of Independence are so int…

1
The Chennault Affair 1:08:45

2M ago1:08:45

1:08:45

The last time an incumbent president withdrew from a reelection campaign was 1968. On March 31, under immense stress from the failure of his Vietnam War policy, President Lyndon Johnson told a national TV audience that he would neither seek nor accept the nomination of the Democratic Party for another four years in the White House. Vice President H…

1
What the Commies Really Wanted 1:07:48

2M ago1:07:48

1:07:48

During the Cold War it was taken for granted that Soviet foreign policy was driven by the tenets of Marxism-Leninism toward imperial expansion and subversion. Stalin, Khrushchev, Brezhnev, and even Gorbachev were viewed as ideologues bent on leading their Third World clients to resist U.S. hegemony. In this episode, historians Sergey Radchenko and …

1
Palestinians and the "Rules-Based Order" 45:33

3M ago45:33

45:33

Why are Palestinians stateless more than 75 years after the founding of a Jewish state in the same land? Why have international law and the rules-based order established after 1945 failed the Palestinian people? Why hasn’t the U.N. with its security council designed to prevent conflict, stopped the Israel-Palestinian conflict? In Nov. 1947 the Unit…

1
Myanmar on the Brink 48:44

3M ago48:44

48:44

Since achieving its independence in 1948, Burma – now Myanmar – has spent decades under military rule, its people joining ethnic armies at war with the state. With the current war now in its fourth year, pro-democracy activists are being jailed, tortured and murdered. The junta toppled a democratically-elected government in 2021, yet the war doesn’…

1
Election of 1932 35:52

3M ago35:52

35:52

This is the fourth episode in an occasional series examining influential elections in U.S. history. The most recent episode, The Elections of 1860 and 1864, was published on May 7. When Franklin Delano Roosevelt took the oath of office in March 1933, the American people faced a paralyzing national emergency of historic proportions. The unemployment…

1
Do Not Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor 45:58

3M ago45:58

45:58

American public opinion is increasingly intolerant of migrants, given the record numbers who have illegally crossed the southern border over the past several years. The U.S. immigration system is broken, as harsher enforcement in the name of deterrence has not magically fixed the root causes of human migration from Central and South America. Under …

1
Trumpism After the Conviction 41:47

3M ago41:47

41:47

Future historians who write about the 2024 campaign might puzzle over how the Republican nominee, four years earlier, egged on a mob to attack Congress, the futile culmination of a months-long scheme to steal the 2020 election. But rather than end his political career, he would survive to champion the rioters as victims of the same nefarious forces…

1
Memories of the Liberation (D-Day at 80) 1:06:23

3M ago1:06:23

1:06:23

Today marks the 80th anniversary of the Allied invasion of Normandy, a massive military campaign to begin liberating Western Europe from Nazi occupation on the way to victory in the Second World War. American memories are filled with heroism and sacrifice, as D-Day remains a touchstone in the U.S. self-image as a global superpower and defender of f…

1
Saddam And His American Friends 1:06:49

3M ago1:06:49

1:06:49

Before U.S. leaders would compare Saddam Hussein to Hitler, they cynically helped him in his war against Iran. Before the U.S. would wage a decades-long war on Iraq in the form of sanctions and a pre-emptive invasion, multiple White House administrations sought better relations between Washington and Baghdad. During periods of cooperation and confl…

1
Last Gasp of the Lost Cause 38:20

3M ago38:20

38:20

Collective memory -- what our society chooses to remember, honor, or erase from our past -- is perpetually mediated. For generations Confederate statues and monuments stood in public squares until a new racial reckoning compelled cities and towns to remove them. But that wasn't the end of the story -- at least not in Shenandoah County, Virginia. It…

1
Death of Raisi / Future of Iran 43:21

3M ago43:21

43:21

The death of Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi has left a power vacuum to be filled in snap elections in less than 50 days. The death of the man once called the "butcher of Tehran" comes at low point in U.S.-Iran relations, and as the theocratic regime's legitimacy at home is under severe stress. In this episode, historians Gregory Brew of Eurasia Gr…

1
Defeating Democracy, Searching For Fascism 41:47

4M ago41:47

41:47

In the United States and in capitals across the world, liberal democracy is under pressure. We are told that fascism is on the rise. Commentators rummage through the past on the hunt for analogies to explain our current predicament. How does democracy die? What does creeping fascism really look like? Maybe there are solid analogies to examine, if o…

1
The British Mandate 43:52

4M ago43:52

43:52

In an essay for Foreign Affairs, the Israeli historian Tom Segev argues that a peaceful resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is impossible. As early as 1919, the future prime minister David Ben-Gurion observed that both nations' competing claims to the land created an unbridgeable abyss. In this episode, Segev traces the origins of today'…

1
Special Relationship: Why the U.S. Chose Israel 1:01:59

4M ago1:01:59

1:01:59

President Joseph Biden's decision to pause bomb shipments to Israel over its planned invasion of Rafah provoked a curious charge from Republican legislators. They accused Biden of "abandoning" Israel despite his steadfast support of the Jewish state not only for much of the past seven months (since the 10/7 Hamas attack) but also for most of his de…

1
Recovering Kennan 1:01:23

4M ago1:01:23

1:01:23

The American diplomat George Kennan was the architect of the Cold War "containment" policy toward the Soviet Union. Writing in the late 1940s, Kennan viewed the USSR as a hostile expansionist enemy, but one that would be willing to compromise if checked by the United States. Containment did not mean the U.S. could or should militarily crush the Sov…

1
What Is Intifada? 1:02:18

4M ago1:02:18

1:02:18

Campus antiwar protests are disturbing some Jewish students, administrators, and politicians by chanting an Arabic word meaning uprising, intifada. Since Israel began its military occupation of Palestinian territories in 1967, Palestinians have waged two uprisings: in 1987 and 2000. Both were crushed by the IDF. In this episode, Khaled Elgindy of t…

1
Elections of 1860 and 1864 1:05:32

4M ago1:05:32

1:05:32

This is the third episode in an occasional series examining influential elections in U.S. history. The most recent episode, The Election of 1992, was published on April 4. Audio excerpts of "Civil War" are courtesy A24 Films. Democracy and the Constitution are on the ballot. The fate of the republican is at stake. The potential for violence festers…

1
The Fascism Distraction 40:22

4M ago40:22

40:22

Is fascism what's ailing the American body politic today? Are Donald Trump and the Republican Party fascists or has fascism been around much longer, going back to the Ku Klux Klan and Jim Crow? In this episode, historian Daniel Bessner, the co-host of American Prestige, discusses what has been a preoccupation among public intellectuals and commenta…

1
What Is Zionism? 1:02:34

4M ago1:02:34

1:02:34

Zionism was a national liberation movement developed by European Jews in the late nineteenth century. Their early vision of a national homeland was fulfilled about half a century later with the creation of the independent state of Israel, which turned a majority Arab land into a Jewish state. Today, pro-Palestinian protesters on college campuses ro…

1
An Ally in the South China Sea 48:51

5M ago48:51

48:51

The Philippines' oldest ally is the United States. Bound by a mutual defense treaty more than 70 years old, the two nations are aligning against China's aggressive behavior in the vitally important South China Sea. If the presidency of Rodrigo Duterte marked a low point in relations, new president Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is renewing the alliance with …

1
When Reagan Pressured Israel 1:04:23

5M ago1:04:23

1:04:23

After Israel invaded Lebanon in June 1982, President Ronald Reagan grew infuriated by Israel's siege of Beirut because of thousands of civilian casualties. His administration cut off some arms shipments to Israel, and Reagan himself tore into Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin to convince him to withdraw. Today, President Joseph Biden is being c…

1
Trump Against the Founders 1:09:54

5M ago1:09:54

1:09:54

Former President Donald Trump claims he is absolutely immune from criminal charges as he tries to stop Special Counsel Jack Smith from prosecuting him. Trump is to stand trial for attempting to overturn the 2020 election, an effort that culminated in the Jan. 6 riot attack on the U.S. Capitol. The Supreme Court will hear arguments in Trump's immuni…

1
Origins of Our Border Crisis 1:10:22

5M ago1:10:22

1:10:22

By focusing our attention on only what's happening at the U.S.-Mexico border, we cannot hope to understand the causes of migration or its full consequences. U.S. authorities are encountering record-shattering numbers of migrants crossing into the United States because their home countries continue to lack political and economic stability. The origi…

1
Who's ISIS-K? 36:34

5M ago36:34

36:34

The Islamic State-Khorasan is forging a reputation for ferocious terrorist violence. Its gunmen massacred 137 people at a Moscow concert hall in March. In January, the group's jihadists slaughtered dozens at a memorial service in Iran. In August 2021, ISIS-K was behind the suicide bombing at the Kabul airport that killed 13 U.S. soldiers and 170 Af…

1
Still Bombing Baghdad 41:17

5M ago41:17

41:17

The U.S. invaded Iraq and toppled Saddam Hussein more than 21 years ago, yet the U.S. is still at war there. Why? Against whom? Will American forces ever leave the country U.S. leaders claimed was liberated way back in mid-2003? In this episode, Chatham House analyst Renad Mansour talks about the armed groups that have attacked U.S. bases in Iraq a…

1
Election of 1992 1:10:54

5M ago1:10:54

1:10:54

This is the second episode in an occasional series examining influential elections in U.S. history. The first installment, The Election of 1980, was published on March 4. A Republican incumbent faced a Democratic challenger trying to end 12 years of GOP control of the White House. A right-wing insurgent and a Texas businessman tried to upend the st…

1
After Arafat 1:07:34

5M ago1:07:34

1:07:34

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat died 20 years ago. A generation later, his people appear no closer to achieving their national aspirations than they did during his lifetime. Arafat was reviled by some for PLO terrorism; others celebrated him as a freedom fighter. For years he tried violent resistance; in the 1990s he signed the Oslo Accords. Neith…

1
Too Old (Or Young) To Be President 44:17

6M ago44:17

44:17

How old is too old to run the country? Donald Trump will turn 78 in June. The incumbent Joseph Biden will turn 82 shortly after the November election. Biden is already the oldest president in U.S. history, succeeding Trump who had been the oldest (70) at inauguration in 2017. Rarely have age and mental fitness been such prominent issues in a presid…

1
Securing Ukraine / Negotiating With Putin? 43:07

6M ago43:07

43:07

As military aid remains stalled in Congress, Ukraine is facing shortages of weapons and ammo as its military forces fight a war of attrition against the Russian invaders. Moscow now has more than 400,000 troops in Ukraine which also faces a manpower shortage. In this episode, Anatol Lieven of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft argues t…

1
Debs (Running For President From Prison) 41:57

6M ago41:57

41:57

At a campaign rally in Ohio, Donald Trump said some things that, depending on your perspective, were either appalling or patriotic. He defended the Jan. 6 rioters as "hostages," called some migrants crossing the southern border "animals," and warned there would be a "bloodbath" if he isn't elected in November -- although his defenders pointed out h…

1
Anarchy in Haiti 48:16

6M ago48:16

48:16

Haiti is collapsing under gang-fueled lawlessness. The central government has lost control of most of the capital, Port-au-Prince. The de facto prime minister Ariel Henry has agreed to resign under pressure. Ordinary citizens are being kidnapped by gangs and held for ransom. They have been gunned down in wild shootouts, and are desperate for basic …

Podcasts Worth a Listen

Martin Di Caro Podcasts

Podcasts Worth a Listen

Quick Reference Guide