Eyewitness History

Benjamin Sledge is a wounded combat veteran with tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, serving most of his time under Special Operations (Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command). He is the recipient of the Bronze Star, Purple Heart, and two Army Commendation Medals for his actions overseas. Upon returning home from war, he began work in mental health and addiction recovery. A prolific communicator, Benjamin has authored several viral articles in addition to being the author of two books. His work ranges from fiction, self-help, and investigative journalism to Christianity and the military. He lives in Colorado Springs, Colorado, with his wife, daughter, and son.Find out more about him at https://benjaminsledge.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jim DeFede joined CBS4 News in January 2006 and serves as an investigative reporter for the station, as well as host of its Sunday morning public affairs program "Facing South Florida."Between 2002 and 2005, DeFede was a metro columnist for The Miami Herald.His first book, "The Day The World Came To Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland," was published in 2002 by HarperCollins and was recognized with a 2003 Christopher Award for its ability to "affirm the highest values of the human spirit."DeFede has won five regional Emmy Awards for his work on CBS4 News.Source: https://www.cbsnews.com/miami/personality/jim-defede/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dallas native Jenyce Gush was only 14 years old when President John F. Kennedy was killed. Although she was too young to vote, she was nonetheless an admirer of the handsome, young president and his glamorous, socialite wife. On the morning of the presidential entourage's arrival, Gush and a friend were so determined to see JFK and Jackie, they skipped school. Positioning themselves along the parade route, the excited friends scarcely had time to finish their daily beauty routines before the president's arrival. "It was such an impulsive thing," Gush told ABC News, "We both had pink rollers the size of orange juice cans in our hair. We had no makeup and were right there on the curb as the motorcade came by."Source: https://www.grunge.com/258808/what-it-was-really-like-witnessing-jfks-assassination/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mr. Paoletta served for a decade as Chief Counsel for Oversight and Investigations for the Committee on Energy and Commerce in the U.S. House of Representatives. During his tenure, Mr. Paoletta managed nearly 200 investigative hearings, many of which involved high-profile issues and investigating some of the largest U.S. corporations. Many of those investigations led to substantial revisions to federal law, regulations and public awareness on significant issues of the day.Mr. Paoletta most recently served as General Counsel for the Office of Management & Budget in the Executive Office of the President during the Trump Administration. As General Counsel to what many consider the most powerful agency in Washington, D.C., Mr. Paoletta worked daily with agencies across the federal government to ensure programs were implemented consistent with the President's policies. Mr. Paoletta also worked closely with the other component offices within OMB, such as the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), which reviews and signs off on every regulation issued by federal agencies. Mr. Paoletta also served as Counsel to Vice President Pence during the first year of the Trump Administration.During his time in the Trump Administration, Mr. Paoletta helped prepare many nominees for confirmation hearings, including Cabinet nominees, several Court of Appeals nominees, and two Supreme Court nominees. Mr. Paoletta also served in the White House as Assistant Counsel to President George H.W. Bush. In that position, he played a key role in the successful confirmation effort of United States Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.Source: https://www.schaerr-jaffe.com/mark-r-paolettaSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the crush of chaos after two planes hit the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, Michael O’Connell raced from his home on Long Island in New York to his firehouse in Queens, where he was training as a probationary fireman for the FDNY.From there the then 25-year-old joined a busload of firefighters to the burning buildings. During the trip, their chief announced that the World Trade Center’s twin towers had collapsed.Despite what has since been confirmed as a widespread, deadly health hazard from work there amid the dust and fumes — and despite his own health struggles, years later — everyone O’Connell knows would go back and do the same work without a second thought, he says.Currently, he serves as Team Lead of Feal Good foundation in the fight of the Zadroga bill passing for 90 years.Info: https://fealgoodfoundation.com/ Source: People - https://people.com/politics/911-responder-michael-o-connell-contracts-rare-disease/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Thorne Dreyer, a political activist and progressive journalist most of his life, was a pioneer of the ‘60s-70s underground press. He was a founding editor of The Rag in Austin and Space City! in Houston, two of the most influential of the era’s underground newspapers. Dreyer is a director of the New Journalism Project, is editor of The Rag Blog, and has hosted Rag Radio on KOOP 91.7-FM in Austin for the last 13 years. He is the author of Making Waves: The Rag Radio Interviews, published in 2022 by the Briscoe Center for American History and distributed by the University of Texas Press, and an editor of Celebrating The Rag: Austin’s Iconic Underground. Newspaper (2016), and Exploring Space City!: Houston’s Historic Underground Newspaper (2021). In Austin, Dreyer joined the Students for a Democratic Society where he was active in civil rights and the movement against the War in Vietnam. Dreyer grew up in Houston where his mother was a prominent artist and his father was a writer and editor at the Houston Chronicle. Their Dreyer Galleries was the center of a large community of artists, intellectuals, and political activists, and was often under fire from the Ku Klux Klan because of the family’s support for human rights. He worked as a political consultant in Houston, as a correspondent for Texas Monthly, managed KPFT, the Pacifica radio station, ran a public relations business, and worked as an actor and music producer. He currently lives in Austin with his dog Picasso.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Many people learn about history as a collection of names, dates, and places. History is so much more interesting than that. It is the stories of the men and women who made those places and events matter. It is the story of the private soldier as much as it is the story of the great general. It is the story of the farmer in the field as much as it is the story of the man in the Oval office. Join our newest Parthenon Podcast Network member, Chris Mowery, as he leads you on a dive deeper into the forgotten stories of our past, and into the details of the stories we thought we already knew.Website: https://www.spreaker.com/show/vlogging-through-historyWe are doing a giveaway of 5 three-month subscriptions to the Great Courses for everyone who leaves a review on VTH's Apple Podcast page.To enter, go to vloggingthroughhistory.com for instructions. You must enter by Friday, July 8.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mr. Scruggs is a United States Army veteran who served in the Vietnam War and later founded the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, which built the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., in the United States. Scruggs was the President of the foundation until 2015 when he retired.Scruggs continues to monitor the societal, spiritual, and other impacts of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington DC. He is Chairman of the Selective Service National Appeals Board and a Member of the District of Columbia Bar Association. He recently launched an updated website and is planning several events this year to mark this historic event anniversary. The next event will take place in November, the official 40th anniversary of the dedication of the memorial. "In Vietnam, I was wounded in combat at 19 years old. I could not have imagined ten years later at the age of 29, I would come up with the idea to build a memorial to my fellow Vietnam Veterans. It would include every name of every soldier who gave their life for my country, America." - Jan C. ScruggsTo find out more, go to Jan Scruggs’ website: https://www.founderofthewall.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Spike Edney has numerous links to Queen, to the extent that he was often described as the fifth member. Born on 11 December 1951, he has worked with Ben E King, Edwin Starr, The Boomtown Rats, Dexy's Midnight Runners, Duran Duran, Bon Jovi, Eric Clapton, The Rolling Stones, Ian Hunter, Manic Street Preachers, Beautiful South, Gary Barlow, Peter Green, Joe Cocker, 10CC, and countless more.Spike's connections with Queen began in 1984, when he appeared on the European leg of 'The Works' tour, providing additional guitar and keyboards. From then onwards he appeared at almost every show until Queen stopped touring in 1986, appearing on the 'Live In Rio', 'Live In Budapest' and 'Live At Wembley' videos, as well as the 'Live At Wembley 1986' and 'Live Magic' albums. He also appeared on Queen's 1986 studio album, 'A Kind Of Magic'.Spike can be seen playing keyboards Queen's historic 1985 Live Aid performance at Wembley StadiumSpike performed with Queen at Freddie's tribute concert, held at Wembley Stadium in April 1992, and also appears on the video and DVD of the concert. Later in 1992, Spike joined Brian in The Brian May Band, to perform extensively throughout Europe, North America, South America, Asia and Australasia. The Brian May Band released a live album and video in 1994 of a concert at The Brixton Academy in 1993.In 1994, Spike formed the SAS Band (Spike's All-Star Band), with Cozy Powell, Neil Murray, Jamie Moses and Chris Thompson, although the band has evolved over time to include a wide range of musicians. The SAS Band released their debut album in 1997 and played many concerts, many for charity, with a large variety of guest vocalists, including Paul Young, Leo Sayer, Arthur Brown, Tony Hadley, Roy Wood, Fish, Kiki Dee, Bob Geldof, Marti Pellow, Roger Taylor and Brian May.In 1997, Spike appeared with Queen and Elton John in Paris, whilst in 1998, he returned to The Brian May Band for an extensive tour of Europe, Japan, and Australasia. After that, Spike worked with numerous other artists and arranged other concerts for the SAS Band, including a live album and video called 'The Show', in 2000.Spike has continued working with Queen on numerous projects, including the 'We Will Rock You' musical in London, and has performed with Queen at virtually every show since 1984.Find out more about Spike at https://www.sasband.com/index.phpSource: http://www.ultimatequeen.co.uk/index.htm?/miscellaneous/biography/spike-edney.htmSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I am very happy to present a special roundtable discussion I had with fellow members of the Parthenon podcast network.We discuss what event from history we would delete or remove and it was pretty fascinating.We find out what would have happened if we didn’t have the shot fired at Fort Sumter, as well as what would happen if we prevented the Bronze Age collapse. We're also going to stop Saddam Hussein from taking power and prevent multiple wars, including the Iran-Iraq War and both Gulf Wars, we're going to prevent the huge amount of conspiracy theories that grew out of the Kennedy assassination in the United States in the latter half of the 20th century. So, we hope enjoy this discussion with James Early from Key Battles of American History. Scott Rank from History Unplugged, Steve Guerra from the History of the Papacy and Beyond The Big Screen, Richard Lim, from This American President, and yours truly, from Eyewitness History. And now I give you, the Parthenon podcast roundtable discussion.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.