1919: The Year of the Crack-Up

At the end of World War I, colonial powers carved up the Ottoman Empire and the reverberations are still being felt today. Historian Ted Widmer discusses the circumstances that led to this fateful episode and why Woodrow Wilson wasn't able to extend his principle of "self-determination" to the Middle East. How should we think about the Trump-Netanyahu peace plan in the context of what happened in Palestine in 1919?

In 1919, a young Army officer named Dwight Eisenhower, along with a "Mad Max"-style military convoy, set out on a cross-country road trip to examine the nascent state of America's roads. Penn State Altoona's Professor Brian C. Black explains how this trip influenced Eisenhower's decisions decades later, both as general and president, and laid the groundwork for the rise of petroleum-based engines and the interstate highway system.

From financing mechanisms to labor policy to the rise of the suburbs, General Motors had a huge effect on the development of the United States in the 20th century. In this wide-ranging talk with historian Ted Widmer, Detroit-based journalist Anna Clark explains how 1919 was a turning point for the automobile manufacturer and why 2019 could be another pivotal year.

The massacre in rural Elaine, Arkansas was one of the most violent episodes of 1919's Red Summer of racist confrontations, but it also remains one of the least-known. In this talk with historian Ted Widmer, Penn State's Professor Nan Woodruff explains the causes and how it fits in to the post-World War I context. Why are people still reluctant to speak about this massacre? How should we remember this dark chapter in American history?

During the "Red Summer" of 1919 dozens of race riots flared up across the U.S., but the anti-African American violence in Chicago stood out because of scale and social and political significance. University of Chicago's Professor Adam Green details the causes, the tragic events, and the aftermath in this riveting discussion. How did the riot affect the city's development for decades to come? How does it tie into questions about democracy and the end of World War I?

Hamilton College's Maurice Isserman and historian Ted Widmer discuss American socialism in the early 1900s and the influence of Eugene Debs, a politician and trade unionist who received nearly a million votes for president in 1912. How did this movement influence Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Movement? What's the difference between Debs and Democratic Socialists like Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez?

Washington State's Matthew Avery Sutton tells the story of a Minneapolis pastor named William Belly Riley and the rise of Christian fundamentalism in the post-World War I years. From concerns about FDR and the New Deal to the Trump administration's anti-Obamacare rhetoric--and a consistently "apocalyptic worldview"--Sutton and historian Ted Widmer trace the influence of this movement over the past century.

China expert Jeffrey Wasserstrom discusses the rich history of Chinese student protests. From the May Fourth movement in 1919 to Tiananmen Square in 1989 to today's mass demonstrations in Hong Kong, what are the threads that tie these moments together? Don't miss this fascinating talk, which also touches on Woodrow Wilson, the Russian Revolution, and a young Mao Zedong.

Princeton's Gyan Prakash tells the tragic story of the Amritsar Massacre in 1919, in which a British general ordered his soldiers to shoot at thousands of unarmed civilians, and its galvanizing effect on the Indian independence movement. Was this violence an "exceptional" moment in Britain's colonial history? And how did it change Gandhi's thinking in relation to his strategies to resist colonialism?

In this episode of the Crack-Up series on 1919, Andrew Roberts, author of "Churchill: Walking with Destiny," examines how Churchill dealt with the complicated problems facing Great Britain at the end of World War I, including how to treat the Germans in defeat, his changing views on Russia--but always in pursuit of British national interests--his stance on a homeland for the Jews, and his determination to hold on to British India.

For about 18 months after World War I there was what historian Erez Manela calls the "Wilsonian moment"--a brief period when President Woodrow Wilson led people around the world to believe that he would champion a new world order of self-determination and rights for small nations. How did this actually play out, particularly in the case of Egypt, which was a British Protectorate at the time?

Could the shared historical memory of March 1 ever be a source of unity between North Koreans and South Koreans? In this fascinating episode of The Crack-Up series that explores how 1919 shaped the modern world, Professor Kyung Moon Hwang discusses the complex birth of Korean nationhood and explains how both North and South Korea owe their origins and their national history narratives to the events swirling around March 1, 1919.

In this fascinating podcast, Ted Widmer talks to jazz historian David Sager about his "New York Times" essay on the genre's breakthrough in 1919, its popularity in France during World War I, and the tragic story of legendary African American bandleader James Reese Europe.

In this episode of The Crack-Up series, which explores how 1919 shaped the modern world, film historian David Bordwell discusses two big changes in the American film industry in 1919: the revolt of film stars against the powerful studio system, and Paramount's response, which was to try and control the "product" from creation to point of consumption. He goes on to look at how these creative and commercial tensions still play out today.

In the third podcast in The Crack-Up series, which looks at how 1919 shaped the modern world, Ted Widmer discusses the story of the Irish Declaration of Independence with fellow historian Christopher Pastore. Although the declaration was signed in 1919, Ireland's quest for self-determination would last for decades. How did America influence these developments? What did the Irish leaders think about nationalism so soon after World War I?

In the second podcast in The Crack-Up series, which looks at how 1919 shaped the modern world, historian Ted Widmer talks to Harvard's Professor Lisa McGirr about Prohibition's roots in anti-immigrant sentiment and its enforcement, in some cases, by the Ku Klux Klan. Plus, they discuss the Eighteenth Amendment's connections to World War I and the rise of the modern American state.

Historian Ted Widmer discusses his new podcast series "The Crack-Up" and how 1919 has shaped the 20th century and the modern world. He and host Alex Woodson speak about parallels to 2019, Woodrow Wilson and the League of Nations, Babe Ruth, the early days of Hollywood, and populism in Europe in the aftermath of World War I. 

This podcast is part of "The Crack-Up," a special series about the events of 1919, a year that in many ways shaped the 20th century and the modern world. In this episode, host Ted Widmer speaks with fellow historian Patty O'Toole about her "New York Times" article on Teddy Roosevelt, who died 100 years ago this week. Why was health care reform so important to him? What did he think about nationalism? How would TR fit in with the modern GOP?