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PODCAST

The United States of Amnesia

Marshall Newman, Blake Henke, and Mike Mendenhall

Welcome to The United States of Amnesia, a podcast exploring the lessons we’ve forgotten, misunderstood, or never learned. As the saying goes, history repeats itself. Mark Twain allegedly refined this: “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it rhymes.” Yet over time, history, politics, and religion have been distorted by bias, oversimplification, and myth. Check out our website to learn more: www.usofamnesia.com. Misunderstanding the past means misreading the present and misstepping into the future

history politics

All Episodes

64:29

209: Tea, Drugs, and Jesus - White Paper to Red Scare

The United States of Amnesia ·

2026/04/15

Marshall, Blake, and Mike engage in a wide-ranging discussion of American policy disputes over what to do about China after World War II. President Truman, Secretaries of State George C. Marshall and Dean Acheson, Madame Chiang and her family, General Claire Chennault, Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong, the CIA, the domino theory, the American idea of monolithic “international communism,” and anti-colonial nationalist movements in Southeast Asia all play roles as Marshall lays out three options U.S

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57:32

208: Tea, Drugs, and Jesus - Cash My Check

The United States of Amnesia ·

2026/04/01

Mike walks us through the complex situation in China in the aftermath of World War II, with armed Japanese operating in the country, Soviet forces occupying Manchuria, and the Nationalist and Communist Chinese resuming their civil war with one another. The decisive phase of the civil war ensues, culminating in the Communist takeover of mainland China and the Nationalist retreat to Taiwan. Marshall then leads our discussion of the efforts of American leaders, including President Truman and

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61:28

207: Tea, Drugs, and Jesus - Flying Tigers and...

The United States of Amnesia ·

2026/03/18

Mike again leads us in our narrative of how America continued to fall short of its goals for China in World War II during the second half of the war. We meet General Claire Chennault of 'Flying Tigers' fame, whose ideas for how to fight in China contradict those of his bitter rival, General Joseph Stilwell, but gain favor with Chiang Kai-shek and Madame Chiang and, for a while, with Franklin Roosevelt. Ultimately, the war in China ends in frustration for America, and Mike, Marshall, and Blake

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60:46

206: Tea, Drugs, and Jesus - Vinegar Joe and the...

The United States of Amnesia ·

2026/03/04

Mike leads our discussion of the American experience in China during World War II. Chiang Kai-shek, Franklin Roosevelt, and General “Vinegar Joe” Stilwell are the central figures in this episode, which explores many aspects of the war's often-overlooked China-Burma-India Theater and introduces us to the Flying Tigers, the Burma Road, Merrill’s Marauders, and the “Over the Hump” cargo flights from India to China. Roosevelt’s postwar goals for China, differing advice FDR gets as to how to handle

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78:57

205: Tea, Drugs, and Jesus - The Soong Dynasty

The United States of Amnesia ·

2026/02/18

Marshall, Blake, and Mike discuss America’s view of China from the 1920s through the early 1940s and the strong influence Americans raised by missionaries in China, notably Henry Luce and Pearl Buck, had on that view. Chiang Kai-shek emerges as the leader of the Republic of China, and Americans contribute money to Chiang and his in-laws, the Soongs – who have become China's new "dynasty" – in the belief that they will use it to modernize China. But Chinese corruption, Chiang’s inability to gain

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56:19

204: Tea, Drugs, and Jesus - The Harmonious Fists

The United States of Amnesia ·

2026/02/04

Mike walks us through the events of the Boxer Rebellion, a conflict in which Chinese rebels attempted to slaughter all foreigners and Chinese Christians in China. Marshall then explains how this drove missionaries into isolated compounds, from which they could look out on the Chinese — and judge them — without gaining any real knowledge of the Chinese people or their culture. Marshall also introduces us to Henry Luce, a child of American missionaries who used his innovative approaches to journalism

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85:52

203: Tea, Drugs, and Jesus - Rebellion Follows Faith

The United States of Amnesia ·

2026/01/21

As the Manchu dynasty weakens during the 19th century, U.S. missionaries arrive. Christian evangelization leads to the outbreak of the long, bloody, brutal, and genocidal Taiping Rebellion, whose leader claims to be the younger brother of Jesus, and (not for the last time) an American official gets fired for assessing accurately what it all means. Americans fear the “Yellow Peril” as Chinese immigration to the United States rises with the California Gold Rush and the construction of the

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81:12

202: Tea, Drugs, and Jesus - Conflict Follows Trade

The United States of Amnesia ·

2026/01/07

Where trade goes, conflict follows! While Britain and the East India Company focus on the opium trade with China, Americans of the first half of the 19th century try to break into the Chinese market with...well...opium, but also with ginseng, sandalwood, furs, and even sea cucumbers. After the British crush the Chinese in the First Opium War, few Americans (other than John Quincy Adams) approve of British aggression. But the war’s results open up China to the West like never before, and Americans

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55:59

201: Tea, Drugs and Jesus - The Flag Follows Trade

The United States of Amnesia ·

2025/12/24

Ben Franklin got China wrong, and America still does today! Marshall again will lead our discussion in a new series, “Tea, Drugs, and Jesus,” looking at how the United States keeps misunderstanding China, in no small part because American political leaders often refuse to listen to experts on Chinese affairs. In the first episode, we set the stage for what is to come by exploring the environment in which the United States became involved in the China trade in the 19th century. We discuss China’s

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69:56

Episode 106: America First - Part 6 (Conclusion)

The United States of Amnesia ·

2025/12/10

Marshall, Blake, and Mike wrap up the America First series by dissecting the America First principles of non-involvement in World War II, then discussing the effect on America of the shockingly rapid 1940 fall of France, American support to Britain through Lend-Lease, Charles Lindbergh’s ascent to the leadership of the America First movement, the postwar lack of a reckoning for America Firsters, and the staying power of “America First” views. We conclude by sharing some final thoughts on how

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52:10

Episode 105: America First - Part 5

The United States of Amnesia ·

2025/11/26

Marshall leads our discussion of the disorganized and dispersed nature of mid-1930s America First opposition to FDR, the 1936 presidential election, Republican opposition to New Deal reforms and help to Americans during the Great Depression, Nazi Germany's penetration of German-American cultural groups and influence over some American politicians, and Roosevelt’s moves to prepare America for war. We conclude with the appearance of the final pre-war incarnation of America First as an isolationist

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62:03

Episode 104: America First - Part 4

The United States of Amnesia ·

2025/11/12

Marshall, Blake, and Mike discuss the America First movement in the 1930s, including its relation to racial policies and lynchings. Marshall describes how World War I cast its long shadow over 1930s America and how new America First leaders and organizations arose to lead their followers in opposition to the New Deal. We also resume our narrative of the career of Charles Lindbergh, whose celebrity gave him a reputation for expertise in a wide variety of subjects and laid the foundation for his

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52:30

Episode 103: America First - Part 3

The United States of Amnesia ·

2025/10/29

After a failed attempt at a Swedish accent, Marshall leads our discussion of the America First movement as it related to the 1928 election, the onset of the Great Depression, the Smoot-Hawley tariffs, the Dust Bowl, FDR and the New Deal, the end of Prohibition, and the 1930's decline of the Ku Klux Klan.

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51:12

Episode 102: America First - Part 2

The United States of Amnesia ·

2025/10/15

Marshall, Blake, and Mike discuss how "America First" supporters influenced – and were influenced by – the Russian Revolution, the 1920 Wall Street bombing, anarchists and the Palmer Raids, the aftermath of World War I, The Great Gatsby, the elections of 1920 and 1924, Prohibition, the growth of cities, restrictions on immigration, and the Ku Klux Klan’s rise to national prominence in the 1920s. Charles Lindbergh enters the story – as does Fred Trump!

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65:20

America First - Part 1 (1880-1916)

The United States of Amnesia ·

2025/09/30

Episode 101: In our premiere episode, Marshall, Blake, and Mike begin a series on the America First movement. Marshall takes us through the movement’s development from the earliest use of the term “America First” in the 1880s, when it advocated the protection of economic and business interests, to a growing emphasis on deeper issues of American identity, notions of American cultural and ethnic purity and a yearning for a return to an earlier, more rural time in the face of increasing immigration,

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