History That Doesn't Suck

“The only men on this beach are the dead and those that are going to die––now let’s get the hell out of here!”

This is the story of D-Day, June 6, 1944. 

In the early hours of the morning, airborne troops land behind enemy lines in Normandy, France, fighting to secure towns, bridges, and other major roadways. Sunrise brings H-Hour, 06:00, when the largest amphibious assault in military history begins. Allied troops land on beaches along the 50-mile stretch from Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword.  

From an accidental arrival spot on Utah Beach to scaling cliffs at Pointe-du-Hoc to intense resistance at Omaha Beach, June 6 is a long, trying day for the courageous American GIs landing in France. By the end of the day, will they be able to link up with the airborne troops? The fate of the liberation of Western Europe lies alongside many of Uncle Sam’s brave boys on the sandy shores of Normandy. 

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“Soldiers, Sailors, and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force! You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade.”

This is the story of the preparations for D-Day. 

In November, 1943 the “Big Three”–that is, Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin–meet in person for the first time to discuss launching an Operation “Overlord,” a cross-channel invasion of Nazi-held France. With the leaders’ go-ahead, the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF) led by General Dwight D. Eisenhower doubles down. As fighting continues in the Mediterranean theater, Ike works to gather sufficient men, supplies, and landing equipment, but it’s no easy feat. 

As 1943 turns into 1944, more than 1.4 million American troops arrive in Great Britain for training. The men face extreme weather conditions, equipment malfunction, and maybe even friendly fire during training? Yeah, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows on the southern coast of Merry England, especially as the weather forecast for the planned attack of France looks atrocious. Will Ike and his men be able to pull off what’s gearing up to be the largest amphibious invasion in history?

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“‘What is that?' I asked. The Englishman answered calmly: 'It was my best enemy.’”

This is the story of the little books that went to war, and the Frenchman whose ghosts we'll read by their light.

In 1943, a consortium of American publishers began slipping pocket-sized paperbacks into the hands of GIs bound overseas: the Armed Services Editions. More than 120 million of these ASEs were printed by the war’s end, and they turned up everywhere: foxholes, troopships, field hospitals, and more. In fact, we’ll meet one colonel who fondly remembers a soldier reading aloud to their gun crew while German 88s whistled in. The Germans tried to kill them as they laughed and enjoyed good writing. 

And among the 1,300-odd titles the program carried to the front were the works of a certain French master of the macabre: Guy de Maupassant. The Armed Services Edition gave GIs Maupassant the realist … but we’ll encounter two tales that reflect the Frenchman’s more ghoulish side.

Happy Halloween.

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Following the Challenger and Columbia Space Shuttle disasters, the government had to rethink space exploration. In 2006, NASA launched the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services program, allocating $500 million to encourage American entrepreneurs to develop cost-effective cargo and crew transport for the ISS. Today, private enterprises like SpaceX, Starlink, Blue Origin, and Rocket Lab are ubiquitous. Yet none of this progress would be possible without substantial government assistance.

Joining us is Casey Dreier, Chief of Space Policy at The Planetary Society and one of the world's foremost experts on NASA's budget and the political economy of space exploration. His data-driven analysis has been cited by The New York Times, POLITICO, The Washington Post, and NPR, and in 2025 he received a SpaceNews Icon Award for his work. Casey joins us to unpack what the data actually shows about the tradeoffs of commercial spaceflight — and what's at stake if the government cedes too much control.

The government gets a bad rap. But the roads under your feet, the forecast on your phone, and the letter in your mailbox are all government too. Hosted by Professors Greg Jackson and Lindsey Cormack, Government That Doesn't Suck is a seriously researched, fact-driven podcast examining the dreams, machinery, and real-world impact behind American government, one episode at a time.

"Wing Ding, you're either crazy as hell or you've got balls."

This is the story of the European Theater in 1943.

As Allied bombers learn the brutal cost of daylight precision raids over Ploesti and Schweinfurt, Allied armies fight their way onto the Italian mainland at Salerno, and the citizens of Naples rise to liberate themselves. Meanwhile, the U-boat is finally beaten back in the Atlantic, American Lend-Lease reaches a bleeding Soviet Union, and the tide turns in the East. And in occupied France, a fractured Resistance begins to cohere—thanks to the sacrifice of a hero named Jean Moulin—as Charles de Gaulle claims his place at the head of a nation not yet free.

We'll meet a tail gunner who flew into hell without his parachute, a colonel who took his burning bomber over the target rather than break his word, a thirteen-year-old who took on a German tank, and an American spy hiding behind a wooden leg and a wheel of cheese. Each is doing their part as the whole Allied world bends toward one looming date on the horizon.

Call it the pre-pre-D-Day episode. This is the European Theater, 1943.

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