250 Most Impactful Moments in American History

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 History & Political Science at John Jay College & author of For the Thrill of It: Leopold, Loeb, and the Murder That Shocked Jazz Age Chicago, Simon Baatz 166: The Supreme Court rules that Africans aboard the ship Amistad were taken into slavery illegally Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 172: The US fails in its Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba resulting in the expansion of power of the Castro regime ft. Author of The Brilliant Disaster: JFK, Castro, and America's Doomed Invasion of Cuba's Bay of Pigs, Jim Rasenberger 171: Spanish-American War: Theodore Roosevelt leads his Rough Riders in a cavalry charge up San Juan Hill Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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. Former Attorney General and Founding Partner at Torridon Law PLLC, Bill Barr 177: President Truman implements the Truman Doctrine, pledging US support to democracies against authoritarianism. 176: Sandra Day O'Connor is confirmed as the first female justice of the Supreme Court Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 Staff, Karl Rove 182: President Grant signs the Ku Klux Klan Act empowering forces to combat the group 181: Thomas Edison announces the invention of the phonograph which he later demonstrates ft. Research Professor; Director and General Editor of the Thomas A. Edison Papers at Rutgers, Paul Israel Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

190: Apple CEO Steve Jobs announces the first iPhone ft. former Senior Vice President of Apple Computer, reporting directly to Steve Jobs & author of best selling book “The Steve Jobs Way," 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: Pharmacist Dr. John Stith Pemberton invents and begins advertising a beverage that will be known as Coca-Cola 187: The Freedom Riders begin bus rides into the South to test the 1960 Boynton decision, a bus is later firebombed and another has all riders arrested for disturbing the peace ft. Author and Photographer of Breach of Peace: Portraits of the 1961 Mississippi Freedom Riders. 186: A fire breaks out in the Apollo 1 spacecraft during a launch pad test killing astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 raid is ended by troops led by General Robert E. Lee. ft. Distinguished Professor of American Studies at the CUNY Graduate Center, David S. Reynolds 191: The U.S. enters the United Nations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 slams into the Gulf Coast states, killing more than 1,500 and causing $108B in damage ft. distinguished scholar, Tulane University Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, John M. Barry 197: Edison's kinetoscope premiered at his New Jersey lab. 196: Two high school students open fire on their teachers and classmates at Columbine High School in Littleton, CO in a pre-planned attack, murdering 13. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 Seven, the first US astronauts 202: A shooter opens fire on a music festival from a hotel room in the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, NV killing 59 and injuring 869. It is the deadliest mass shooting in American history 201: Mount Rushmore National Memorial is dedicated in South Dakota ft. Interior Secretary & former two-term Governor of North Dakota, Doug Burgum Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 Election. Congress would evacuate and reconvene later that night to certify the results. President Trump would concede the election the next day but would be impeached by the House of Representatives and later acquitted by the Senate. 208: The Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions establish an eight hour workday 207: Microsoft Co. releases its first version of Windows ft. FOX Business Host Stuart Varney 206: Pan Am flight 103 explodes over Lockerbie, Scotland it is later determined to be a terror attack linked to Libya ft. Dick Marquise, Retired FBI Special Agent and Lead Investigator of Pan Am Flight 103 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 Chapman 232: African American track star Jesse Owens wins four gold medals in front of Adolf Hitler at the Berlin Summer Olympics ft. Dr. Kevin Jones, Dean of the School of Education at Cedarville University and co-author of Jesse Owens: A Life In American History 231: Financier Bernie Madoff is arrested and charged with securities fraud. It is revealed to be the largest Ponzi scheme in history ft. FOX Business Anchor David Asman Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 of Special Outreach for Boston University Athletics 218: Nat Turner sentenced to death for his role in inciting a slave uprising 217: The 1906 San Francisco earthquake destroys the majority of the city killing over 3,000 and causing over $350M in damages 216: Enron the largest bankruptcy in US history takes place after the energy company files for Chapter 11 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 anti-war protesters 222: Congressman Preston Brooks beats Senator Charles Sumner with a cane in a Senate hallway after Senator Sumner makes an anti-slavery speech ft. FOX News Chief Congressional Correspondent Chad Pergram 221: Internet bookstore Amazon is founded by Jeff Bezos Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Featured moments: 230: Against protests in the South, President Theodore Roosevelt invites Booker T. Washington to the White House ft. Brian Kilmeade, Co-host of Fox & Friends, Host of The Brian Kilmeade Show, Author of Teddy and Booker T. 229: Western Union is founded 228: Activist Malcolm X is assassinated in New York by members of the Nation of Islam 227: Two deadly explosions at the finish line of the Boston Marathon Ed Davis, former Police Commissioner of the Boston Police Department and CEO of the Edward Davis Company 226: The Woodstock music festival takes place over three days in upstate New York Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Featured moments: 235: The Alien and Sedition Acts become U.S. law making it a crime to transmit malicious statements against the government 234: Google Inc is founded in Menlo Park, CA by Larry Page and Sergey Brin 233: Space Shuttle Columbia explodes upon reentry over Texas killing all on board ft. Former Shuttle Launch Director at NASA's John F. Kennedy Space Center, Michael Leinbach 232: In a largely party line vote the House of Representatives votes to impeach President Trump on charges of Abuse of Power and Obstruction of Congress 231: Gangster rivals of Al Capone are murdered in Chicago in the Saint Valentine's Day Massacre. Two years later Capone would be imprisoned on tax evasion charges ft. Chicago-based historian and entertainer, Clarence Goodman Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Featured moments: 240: Iraq War: President Obama announces an end to combat operations as the last combat troops leave Iraq 239: America Online or AOL becomes the world's most dominant online service with over 34 million subscribers ft. Chairman and CEO of Revolution and Co-Founder of AOL, Steve Case 238: Charles Dow publishes the first version of The Dow Jones Industrial Average 237: Teamsters president Jimmy Hoffa is reported missing. He is never found ft. FOX News Senior Correspondent and Anchor, Eric Shawn 236: Protests at Kent State University lead to shooting deaths of four students by the Ohio National Guard Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Featured moments: 245: Elvis Presley appears on The Ed Sullivan Show for the first time 244: Anne Sullivan begins teaching Helen Keller 243: The Liberty Bell is cracked while being rung on George Washington's birthday 242: ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is killed in a US Special Forces raid ft. Former CENTCOM Commander, General Frank McKenzie 241: Beatlemania begins, "I Want To Hold Your Hand" hits the top of the charts as The Beatles arrive in the U.S. and appear on The Ed Sullivan Show ft. John Ondrasik of Five for Fighting Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Featured moments: 250: Less than a month after his concerning debate with former President Trump, President Biden drops out of the 2024 presidential race and endorses Vice President Kamala Harris ft. Anchor of The Story and Host of The Untold Story podcast, Martha MacCallum 249: The final episode of M*A*S*H becomes the most watched television broadcast in American history 248: The Boston Subway opens becoming the first underground transit system in North America 247: One World Trade Center nicknamed The Freedom Tower rises over downtown Manhattan becoming the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere 246: Air Force pilot Chuck Yeager is the first human to break the sound barrier ft. Curator at the Smithsonian Aeronautics Department, Bob van der Linden Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices