Viewpoints Radio
Award-winning reporting on current issues featuring America's leading experts.
Women have served in the US military dating all the way back to the Revolutionary War. Back then, they had to lie about their sex and their names in order to get enlist, but some did. Now, combat positions are open to women. We discuss the vital role women have played in America’s military might.
Christmas 1941 came just weeks after the devastating attack on Pearl Harbor dragged America into World War II. We talk to historian Stanley Weintraub about how America was getting ready for war while trying to celebrate the holiday season.
We know so much about the men of the Civil War, but the women from the war are all but forgotten in our history. Historian Karen Abbott decided to change that. She tells the story of several women who helped their sides during the Civil War.
There’s a long history of soldiers processing their experiences through poetry. We talk to Adam Gilbert, a war historian and author of A Shadow on Our Hearts: Soldier-poetry, morality, and the American war in Vietnam about the history and future of these soldier poets.
It’s a topic that has been in the news lately: how our government detains groups of people. We look back at history to see what really happened in World War II Japanese internment camps, and how we can avoid similar shame now and in the future.
The Vietnam War was an unpopular war. As such, soldiers would come home to a society that didn’t approve of what they did…even if they themselves were drafted into the war. We talk to a former Vietnam War protester about what we can do now to honor and remember those who served in Vietnam.
In 1947, India was split into two countries: India and Pakistan. Author Veera Hiranandani talks about the history of the partition and how it is still tragically relevant in 2018.
Author Susan Meissner discusses with us the Spanish Flu of 1918, how it interacted with World War I, the immense cost of the sickness, and how her novel explores the time in history.
In the last year, two movies including Christopher Nolan’s latest blockbuster have introduced the story of Dunkirk to American audiences. We talk to Michael Korda, a historian and author, who explains some of the real history, including why Hitler and Churchill acted the way they did throughout the ordeal.
Photo historian Richard Cahan talks about the history of the Japanese internment camps, and why we should look at them as a cautionary tale not as precedent.
Stanley Weintraub talks about one Christmas, in 1944, when American soldiers spent a freezing holiday fighting for their lives against during the Battle of the Bulge.
We delve into how Jimmy Stewart’s war service affected the actor and his choice of roles and acting style for the rest of his life.
A Holocaust survivor discusses the need for young people to learn about the Holocaust and the reasons why it happened.
Two former Navy Seals talk about the march they created to honor those who served and raise money to help vets, their families and first responders around the country.
In school we learn that the American Revolution began with the battles of Lexington and Concord. But did it? We talk to a historian and author about the events that preceded those battles that effectively threw out British rule in Massachusetts and set the stage for the other colonies to revolt and fight for freedom from England.
Seventy-four years ago this month, the U.S. was attacked by Japan at Pearl Harbor, drawing the country into World War II. We talk to an author and historian about how FDR, Churchill, MacArthur and others planned for the war during those few weeks before the Christmas and New Year’s holidays.
Subscribe to get the latest from Viewpoints Radio directly in your inbox.
