250 Most Impactful Moments in American History
History isn't just what we read in textbooks - it's the story of us, the United States. As America celebrates its 250th birthday, Bill Hemmer brings listeners compelling interviews with historians, experts, and eyewitnesses who detail the triumphs, trials, and breakthroughs that defined our nation. In order to understand where the country's heading, it's important to know where we've been. New episodes available every Wednesday.
Episodes
June 24, 2026 • 43 mins
130: The 18th Amendment authorizing Prohibition is passed. Prohibition would be repealed in 1933 with the passage of the 21st Amendment
129: Gangland: A shootout between policemen led by Texas Ranger Frank Hamer and Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow end in the deaths of the bank robbers. Gangster and Public Enemy No. 1 John Dillinger is killed by FBI agents outside the Biograph Theater in Chicago. Bank robber Charles Arthur "...
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June 17, 2026 • 44 mins
135: The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is dedicated at Arlington National Cemetery
134: Four Black students in Greensboro, NC begin a sit in at a segregated Woolworth's lunch counter
133: America's fourth largest bank Lehman Brothers files for Chapter 11, kicking off a month of possible worldwide economic collapse ft Former US Attorney, Senior Partner at Jenner & Block, & Court-Appointed Bankruptcy Examiner ...
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June 10, 2026 • 38 mins
140: Jesse James and his gang commit the first train robbery in the American West in Adair, Iowa. In 1876 Lawman Wyatt Earp begins work as a peace officer in Dodge City, KS. The same year outlaw Wild Bill Hickok is shot dead during a poker game in Deadwood, Dakota. In 1881 Tombstone, AZ is sight of the gunfight at the OK Corral. And in 1882 the legendary Jesse James is killed by fellow outlaw Robert Ford in his home in St. Joseph, ...
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June 3, 2026 • 39 mins
145: Vietnam War: The U.S. involvement in the Vietnam war ends
144: President Eisenhower sends federal troops to Arkansas to escort Black students into a newly integrated Little Rock Central High School. Three years later in 1960 Ruby Bridges becomes the first Black child to attend an all white elementary school. ft. Distinguished Professor of History at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and author of Bey...
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May 27, 2026 • 40 mins
150: Whiskey Rebellion - President Washington mobilizes a federal army to put down an insurrection in western Pennsylvania ft. Historian, Lecturer at Robert Morris University, Associate Editor of the Journal of the American Revolution, and author of The Whiskey Rebellion: A Distilled History of an American Crisis, Brady J. Crytzer
149: Truck bombs kill 241 American servicemen in Beirut, Lebanon - Terro...
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May 20, 2026 • 38 mins
155: US Airways Flight 1549 loses both of its engines after striking a flock of birds. Pilot Chesley Sullenberger successfully lands the plane in the Hudson River saving all 155 passengers. ft. Resilience Partners Group’s Chief Strategy Officer, Best-selling author, & Last Passenger off US Airways Flight 1549, Dave Sanderson.
154: U.S. Supreme Court finds Standard Oil to be a monopoly and orders it to ...
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May 13, 2026 • 40 mins
160: Black Monday - DJIA falls 508 points - 22.6%, its largest single day percentage drop in history
159: The Land Act of 1820 lowers prices in the Missouri and Northwest territories with the goal of encouraging western movement ft. Director of The Papers of Andrew Jackson, Professor Emeritus of History, & Author of The Public Lands in Jacksonian Politics, Dr. Daniel Feller.
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May 6, 2026 • 42 mins
165: The first televised presidential debate takes place between Democrat John F. Kennedy and Republican Richard Nixon ft. Author of Presidential Debates: Risky Business on the Campaign Trail, Alan Schroeder
164: Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman murdered in Los Angeles. The prime suspect former running back O.J. Simpson evades capture by leading police on a low-speed chase before his eventual arres...
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April 29, 2026 • 40 mins
170: Al Qaeda suicide bombers crash a small craft into the USS Cole killing 17 sailors ft. Former USS Cole Commander Kirk Lippold
169: The last draft lottery for the US military is held
168: Charles Goodyear receives a patent for vulcanization - a process to strengthen rubber
167: In a crime that outraged the nation, Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb murder 14 year old Bobby Franks ft Professor of Histo...
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April 22, 2026 • 38 mins
175: Bleeding Kansas escalates as anti and pro slavery forces take up arms in the Wakarusa War
174: Amelia Earhart disappears after taking off from New Guinea
173: The FBI raids a compound in Waco, Texas led by cult leader David Koresh. A fire breaks out during the raid killing 76 Branch Davidian members including at least 20 children ft Retired FBI Special Agent and former HRT Operator, Charlie Rasner
17...
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April 15, 2026 • 40 mins
180: President Eisenhower in his farewell address warns against the power of a "military industrial complex" ft. Founding Director of the Eisenhower Institute and Author of How Ike Led, Susan Eisenhower
179: The Donner Party becomes snowbound
178: Riots break out in Los Angeles following the not guilty verdict in the Rodney King case. 63 people were killed 12k people arrested and $1B worth of damage. ft. Form...
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April 8, 2026 • 39 mins
185: Samuel Colt receives a patent for his revolver
184: The Missouri Compromise becomes law: admitting Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state
183: 2000 Presidential Election ends in controversy with numerous lawsuits in the state of Florida and ending with a 5-4 Supreme Court decision. George Bush defeats Al Gore for the Presidency ft. FOX News Contributor and former White House Deputy Chief of ...
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April 1, 2026 • 38 mins
190: Apple CEO Steve Jobs announces the first iPhone ft. former Senior Vice President of Apple Computer, & author of best-selling books The Steve Jobs Way, & Leading Apple with Steve Jobs, Jay Elliot
189: Simultaneous bombings at US Embassies in Nairobi, Kenya and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania kill 224 and injure 4,500. The bombings are attributed to the al Qaeda terror network led by Osama bin Laden
188: Phar...
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March 25, 2026 • 39 mins
195: Sally Ride becomes the first American woman in space, aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger
194: George Eastman founds the Eastman Kodak Company
193:The Empire State Building is completed displacing the Chrysler Building as the world's tallest ft. Architectural Historian & Author, Anthony W. Robins
192: Radical abolitionist John Brown leads a raid on the Harper's Ferry Armory. The r...
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March 18, 2026 • 40 mins
Featured Moments:
200: Entrepreneur Ray Kroc opens his first McDonald's in Des Plaines, Illinois, ft. biographer and author of Ray & Joan: The Man Who Made the McDonald's Fortune and the Woman Who Gave it all Away, Lisa Napoli
199: An American U2 spy plane is shot down over the Soviet Union. Pilot Gary Powers successfully ejects and is captured.
198: Hurricane Katrina...
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March 11, 2026 • 37 mins
Featured moments:
205: Somali rebels shoot down two US Black Hawk helicopters. The ensuing firefight sees 18 US soldiers dead
204:Twenty children aged 6 and 7 and six teachers are killed in a school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT ft. Molly Line, Fox News Correspondent and onsite reporter during the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting
203: NASA announces its Mercury Se...
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March 4, 2026 • 37 mins
Featured moments:
210: 46 year old George Floyd is killed by police during an arrest in Minneapolis, MN - the bystander video sparks nationwide outrage resulting in the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement resulting in social justice protests, but also riots, looting and deaths
209: January 6th: Supporters of President Trump storm Capitol Hill while Congress was attempting to certify the 2020 Presidential Elect...
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February 25, 2026 • 40 mins
Featured moments:
235: The Coors Brewing Company begins producing beer in Golden, CO. Three years later Anheuser-Busch brewery in St. Louis, MO markets their pale lager for the first time.
234: President Trump becomes the first sitting US president to set foot on North Korean soil during a meeting at the DMZ
233: Former Beatle John Lennon is murdered in front of his New York City apartment by Mark David C...
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February 18, 2026 • 41 mins
Featured moments:
220: FBI agent Robert Hanssen is arrested and charged with spying for Russia ft. Eric O'Neill, lawyer, cybersecurity expert, former FBI counter-terrorism and counter-intelligence operative
219: US National Hockey Team defeats the Soviet Union in the "Miracle on Ice". Americans would go on to win Gold in the event ft. Mike Eurzione, former Captain of the USA Olympic Hockey Team, Director...
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February 11, 2026 • 37 mins
Featured moments:
225: Oil tanker Exxon Valdez spills roughly 240k barrels of oil after running aground in Alaska's Prince William Sound ft. Climate journalist and author, Charles Wohlforth
224: A bomb explodes at Northwestern University injuring a security guard. This would be the first Unabomber attack by Ted Kaczynski
223: The Democratic National Convention in Chicago turns violent as police clash with ...
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