A cargo hold, just 5 feet tall and divided up with canvas - this is what served as the living quarters for the 102 passengers of the Mayflower on their 66 day crossing to North America.

Don is joined by guest Anna Scott, a researcher from the University of Lincoln, to find out what this journey was really like. From the failures of the Speedwell to the tensions between passengers on arrival in the wrong place, how has this group of colonists become so intrinsic to the American story?

Produced and edited by Sophie Gee. Senior Producer was Charlotte Long.

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All music from Epidemic Sounds/All3 Media.

American History Hit is a History Hit podcast.

More than 30 million people can trace their ancestry to the 102 passengers and 30 crew aboard the Mayflower when it landed in Plymouth Bay, Massachusetts in the harsh winter of 1620. On board were men, women and children from different walks of life across England and the city of Leiden in Holland. But why did the Pilgrims leave their old lives behind in the first place, chancing it all to cross the treacherous Atlantic and settle a strange alien land?

In today's episode Don is joined by Dr Anna Scott, heritage consultant and public historian at the University of Lincoln in the UK, to learn more about this 400-year-old tale of religious persecution, financial opportunity and a Puritanical fight for freedom that helped sow the seeds of a fledgling nation.

Produced by Sophie Gee. Edited by Aidan Lonergan. Senior Producer was Charlotte Long.

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.

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All music from Epidemic Sounds/All3 Media.

American History Hit is a History Hit podcast.

Despite dying as one of the most popular presidents in history, the 29th Commander-in-Chief has been consistently ranked one of the worst of the American Presidents.

What caused this fall from grace? From the Teapot Dome Scandal to the Veterans Bureau Scandal, to the several extramarital affairs that Harding had, much has muddied Harding's name. But what of women's, civil and worker's rights?

Don is joined by Jason Roberts, Professor of History at Quincy College in Massachusetts. Jason is an expert in politics of the 1920s and is currently working on the foreign policies of Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge, in particular their handling of Lenin’s Russia.

Produced by Freddy Chick. Edited by Sophie Gee. Senior Producer was Charlotte Long.

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.

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All music from Epidemic Sounds/All3 Media.

American History Hit is a History Hit podcast.

In April 1898 the United States declared war on Spain. By the end of the war that December, the Spanish had lost their centuries-old colonial empire and the US had emerged as a power in the Pacific.

Join Don as he speaks to Christopher McKnight Nichols, Professor of History and Wayne Woodrow Hayes Chair in National Security Studies, The Ohio State University. Nichols' latest book, co-edited with David Milne, is ‘Ideology in U.S. Foreign Relations: New Histories’.

Produced by Freddy Chick. Edited by Aidan Lonergan. Senior Producer was Charlotte Long.

American History Hit is a History Hit podcast.

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.

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All music from Epidemic Sounds/All3 Media.

This is the story of America's longest held prisoner of war. John 'Jack' Downey, an American CIA operative, was imprisoned by the Chinese for 21 years during the Cold War.

Don speaks to Barry Wirth, author of 'Prisoner of Lies: Jack Downey's Cold War.' They explore why the CIA were in Asia in the 1950s, Downey's capture and imprisonment, and why it took so long for him to be released.

Produced by Sophie Gee. Edited by Aidan Lonergan. Senior Producer was Charlotte Long.

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In 1933, The Pittsburgh Courier published an editorial entitled 'Hitler Learns from America'. So how and why was fascism on the rise in the United States from the Great Depression to the Second World War?

In this episode, Don speaks with Rachel Maddow, host of 'The Rachel Maddow Show' on MSNBC. Together, they explore the influence of propaganda, key figures of American Fascism, and the Great Sedition Trial of 1944.

Rachel's latest book is 'Prequel: An American Fight Against Fascism.'

Produced by Sophie Gee. Edited by Aidan Lonergan. Senior Producer was Charlotte Long.

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With the US election happening, we wanted to take a look back at the presidents from the past what we know about their sex lives.

Which president was well-endowed and supposedly presented it to staff in the Oval Office? Which president had an affair on his honeymoon? And which had an affair with his wife's secretary?

And no, they're not all JFK.

Joining Kate on Betwixt the Sheets to help us find out is Eleanor Herman, author of Sex with Presidents: The Ins and Outs of Love and Lust in the White House.

This podcast was edited by Freddy Chick. The producer was Stuart Beckwith. The senior producer was Charlotte Long.

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Invisible ink, delayed flights and political meddling - elections are a symbol of democracy, so how can they become the opposite?

Don is joined for this episode by Brian Klaas, co-author of 'How to Rig an Election' to find out. What makes a free and fair election? What techniques have authoritarians used to have themselves elected? And how widespread has this been throughout history?

Brian is a political scientist, a contributing writer at The Atlantic, and an associate professor in global politics at University College London.

Produced by Sophie Gee. Edited by Aidan Lonergan. Senior Producer was Charlotte Long.

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American History Hit is a History Hit podcast.