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Following the death of Lenin, most observers saw Leon Trotsky as his most likely successor. But inside the Communist Party, the quarrelsome Trotsky had ruffled a lot of feathers, including Lenin’s. That was why Lenin nominated Joseph Stalin, and not Trotsky, to become General Secretary of the Communist Party.

After Lenin’s death, Trotsky’s opponents sided with Stalin and Trotsky became marginalized. Meanwhile, the Party wrestled with the question of exactly how one builds a socialist economy. Lenin’s New Economic Plan had helped Russia get back on its feet, but is was too capitalism-friendly to be a long-term policy. In 1928, Stalin proposed the first Five-Year Plan, an ambitious, centrally organized program to rapidly increase the USSR’s industrial sector.

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Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening Theme

“Chant Hindou” from Sadko
Composed in 1898 by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. Public domain.
Violinist: Vasa Prihoda. Performed in 1929. Public domain recording. Source.

Closing Theme 

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Sun Yat-sen died in early 1925, just as the Nationalists were poised to regain military control over China. His death left a power vacuum. Many looked to the left-leaning Wang Jingwei as Sun’s most likely successor.

But the Nationalist Party’s senior military commander, Chiang Kai-shek, had other ideas. Previously seen as an apolitical centrist, Chiang used an incident with the Communists as an excuse to seize power. Once a successful offensive subdued the warlords, Chiang began attacking the Communists, while securing his own position as the new Party leader and the President of the Republic of China.

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Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening Theme

《平沙落鴈》 (“Pingsha Luoyan” [“Wild Geese Descending on the Sandbank”])
Composed in 1868 by 蕉庵琴譜 (Jiao’an Qinpu). Public domain.
Performed by Charles R. Tsua, and used pursuant to a Creative Commons CC BY 2.5 license. Source.

Closing Theme 

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Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.

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The Allies collectively owed $12 billion to the United States. The UK was the biggest debtor, owing $5 billion. The US was adamant that these debts be paid in full, earning the US the title “Uncle Shylock” in Europe.

In Westminster, the accumulation of multiple domestic and foreign policy crises led to the fall of David Lloyd George’s government and a general election. The new Tory government, led by PM Andrew Bonar Law was faced with the task of attempting to renegotiate the UK’s debts to the US.

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Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening Theme

Music for the Royal Fireworks
Composed in 1749 by Georg Friederich Händel. Public domain.
Performed by the Leeds Chamber Orchestra. Public domain recording. Source.

Closing Theme 

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When Prohibition finally arrived, it was a shock to many Americans.

The law was widely flouted. People held cocktail parties in their homes or went out to speakeasies, which ranged from drab basements to upscale nightclubs. For the first time, as many women as men were drinking at bars.

Prohibition was lucrative for the criminal element, most notably Chicago ganster Al Capone, who perpetrated the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre on February 14, 1929.

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Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening Theme

“Drink to Me Only with Thine Eyes”
Composed ca. 1790 by John Wall Callcott. Public domain.

Closing Theme 

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Human beings have been drinking fermented alcoholic beverages since prehistoric times.

By the 18^th century, potent distilled liquor was cheap and readily available, and white, male North American colonists were among the heaviest drinkers the world had ever seen.

After US independence, religious and civic groups began to campaign for temperance, meaning more moderate use of alcohol. By the beginning of the twentieth century, the push was on for full Prohibition.

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Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening Theme

“What Shall We Do with the Drunken Sailor?”
Traditional. Public domain.

Closing Theme 

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Less than four years had passed from the moment that Governor Calvin Coolidge of Massachusetts first won national attention with this tart telegram to AFL chief Samuel Gompers and his taking the oath of office as the 30^th President of the United States.

“Silent Cal,” as he was known, did not have the style of a conventional politician, yet he led a reasonably popular and accomplished administration.

You can listen to “Charisma” from How to Steal an Election on Spotify here.

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Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening Theme

“At the Jazz Band Ball”
Composed in 1917 by Nick LaRocca and Larry Shields. Public domain.
Performed by the US Coast Guard Band. Public domain recording. Source.

Closing Theme 

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Following the Veterans’ Bureau scandals, the Senate investigation into the Teapot Dome drilling leases reveals blatant corruption in the Interior Department.

The Black Sox baseball scandal broke at about the same time. This series of revelations made a generation of young Americans cynical and skeptical of their elders.

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Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening Theme

“I’m Just Wild About Harry”
Composed in 1921 by Eubie Blake and Noble Sissle. Public domain.

Closing Theme 

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Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.

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The Harding Administration got off to a good start, but by early 1923 signs of corruption became hard to ignore.

The President never publicly acknowledged the problem, but he fretted in private. His anxieties may have contributed to his death in August, probably the result of a heart attack.

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Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening Theme

Symphony No. 3 in E♭ Major
Composed in 1804 by Ludwig van Beethoven. Public domain.
Performed by The Czech National Symphony Orchestra. Public domain recording. Source.

“Yes! We Have No Bananas”
Composed in 1923 by Frank Silver and Irving Cohn. Public domain.

Closing Theme 

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Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.