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PODCAST

Tracing The Path: The Connected 20th Century

Dan R. Morris - 20th Century Historian

Tracing The Path is a 20th Century history podcast dedicated to exploring the connections between the defining stories of the twentieth century. Each episode follows surprising connections across time—linking world wars, political movements, cultural revolutions, iconic companies, unforgettable products and groundbreaking inventions. We uncover the forgotten figures behind history’s turning points, reveal how technology and popular culture reshaped society, and highlight the stories that

history

All Episodes

31:23

Episode 70: Who Knows The Truth? Does A.I.?

Tracing The Path: The Connected 20th Century ·

2025/10/24

Somewhere along the way, we lost the truth. The questions we ask about the truth haven't been the same since Orson Welles' War of the World's Broadcast in 1938, but that doesn't mean we haven't stopped trying. In this episode we cross paths with William Moulton Marston, Alice Guy-Blache, Frye Vs The United States, John Houseman, Alan Turing, The Shadow, Wonder Woman, Artificial Intelligence, FDR, IBM and Orson Welles.

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1:19

Episode 69: Status Symbol for Rent

Tracing The Path: The Connected 20th Century ·

2025/09/29

Coming soon!

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29:26

Episode 68: Hello Darkness My New Friend - The Story...

Tracing The Path: The Connected 20th Century ·

2025/08/22

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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28:21

Episode 67: How a Coffee Shop Changed the World

Tracing The Path: The Connected 20th Century ·

2025/07/28

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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36:03

Episode 66: The America of Tarzan and Buck vs Bell

Tracing The Path: The Connected 20th Century ·

2025/06/27

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 Jefferson, Johnny Weissmuller, Edgar Rice Burroughs, H.G. Wells, Frank Munsey, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., the Great Chicago Fire, and Davy

en

35:28

Episode 65: When Osama Bin Laden Wrinkled FDR's Plans

Tracing The Path: The Connected 20th Century ·

2025/05/27

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 Alexander and Osama Bin Laden.

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37:25

Episode 64: Civil War Sutler's to Bob Hope's USO

Tracing The Path: The Connected 20th Century ·

2025/04/25

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 England named Lesley Townes Hope.

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38:18

Episode 63: Classified: How the Library Built the FBI

Tracing The Path: The Connected 20th Century ·

2025/03/25

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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33:02

Episode 62: The Cheesy Results of WW II

Tracing The Path: The Connected 20th Century ·

2025/02/26

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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31:52

Episode 61: Every Episode Has 4

Tracing The Path: The Connected 20th Century ·

2025/01/21

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't quite made it yet and preview what's in the works. Stay tuned.

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32:11

Episode 60: Roald: The Real Chocolate Spy

Tracing The Path: The Connected 20th Century ·

2024/12/18

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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34:40

Episode 59: Bob's Swedish Candy Canes: 1.76 Billion Sold

Tracing The Path: The Connected 20th Century ·

2024/11/22

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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32:12

Episode 58: Who Killed the American Dream?

Tracing The Path: The Connected 20th Century ·

2024/10/23

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, Billy McGuigan, Pat Hazell, Don McLean, Richard Valenzuela, Johnny Appleseed and Walt Disney among others.

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33:25

Episode 57: 1848: The Year Halloween Began

Tracing The Path: The Connected 20th Century ·

2024/09/26

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 burial, Galvanism, John William Polidori and vampires. You're about to hear the true origin of Halloween.

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23:38

Episode 56: Criminals, Oak Trees and the Resolute Desk

Tracing The Path: The Connected 20th Century ·

2024/08/24

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 Harry Truman.

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28:33

Episode 55: Is Crayola Responsible for American Gothic?

Tracing The Path: The Connected 20th Century ·

2024/07/28

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 of Design and the Veterans Memorial in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

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35:12

Episode 54: When Rural America was Cancelled

Tracing The Path: The Connected 20th Century ·

2024/06/21

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 Arthur Nielsen, UNIVAC Computer, General Douglas MacArthur, punch cards, the US Census Bureau, Remington Rand, IBM, CBS, Fred Silverman, Eckert

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29:28

Episode 53: Robert Smalls & the Death of Lincoln: A...

Tracing The Path: The Connected 20th Century ·

2024/05/04

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, Andrew Johnson, Joe Louis and the Harlem Globetrotters.

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26:52

Episode 52: Chinese Spy Balloon, Baltimore Bridge &...

Tracing The Path: The Connected 20th Century ·

2024/04/11

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 Space Treaty.

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32:34

Episode 51: What Happens in French Lick, Indiana...

Tracing The Path: The Connected 20th Century ·

2024/03/10

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 the Russian Revolution.

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