Around 8:30 AM on April 16, 1947, a large column of smoke started billowing from a ship at the port in Texas City, Texas. Forty minutes later, the ship exploded. In the hours that followed, the scale of the disaster became clear - what is generally considered to be the worst industrial disaster in American history.
Three classic episodes of The History Guy about how the Christmas season survives even tragedy.
The “Great Sedition Trial” uncovered shocking connections at the time with the German reich that we were fighting, and challenged the idea that the nation was of a single mind during the war. It also challenged exactly how far the national commitment to freedom of speech and opinion reached, especially in extraordinary times.