How did a President who was so reluctant to ramp up America's presence in Vietnam become the one who increased it more than any other? When Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in as President, he had big plans for his domestic agenda... but it would be his foreign policy decisions that eventually brought him down.

Our guest today is Pierre Asselin, professor of American Foreign Relations at San Diego State University. He is a leading authority on the Vietnam War and is the author of A Bitter Peace: Washington, Hanoi, and the Making of the Paris Agreement and Hanoi’s Road to the Vietnam War, 1954-1965.

Produced by Tomos Delargy. Edited by Tim Arstall. Senior Producer was Freddy Chick.

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All music from Epidemic Sounds.

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What drew the Latter Day Saints to Utah? Was anyone living there before the arrival of Brigham Young? And how did the city develop?

Max Perry Mueller joins Don today to discuss Salt Lake City. Max is an associate professor of Religious Studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He writes more about this topic in 'Wakara’s America: The Life and Legacy of a Native Founder of the American West'.

Produced by Sophie Gee. Edited by Aidan Lonergan. Senior Producer was Freddy Chick.

Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.

All music from Epidemic Sounds.

American History Hit is a History Hit podcast.

History Hit is part of Little Dot Studios, a Certified B Corp™

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Thomas Jefferson has had no issue being remembered in American History. Ask anyone, this man was fundamental to Independence. But did he fight in the Revolutionary war itself?

Don is joined by Michael Hattem, author of 'The Memory of ’76: The Revolution in American History'; 'Past and Prologue: Politics and Memory in the American Revolution'; and 'The Declaration of Independence: A Concise History', which will be published in November 2026.

Produced by Sophie Gee. Edited by Tim Arstall. Senior Producer was Freddy Chick.

Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.

All music from Epidemic Sounds.

American History Hit is a History Hit podcast.

History Hit is part of Little Dot Studios, a Certified B Corp™

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.