250 Most Impactful Moments in American History

40: The Compromise of 1790 begins the establishment of Washington, D.C., as the new nation's capital and allows the federal government to assume states' debts. 39: RMS Titanic sinks after hitting an iceberg killing roughly 1,500 people. ft. Dr. Steven Biel, Executive Director of the Mahindra Humanities Center, Senior Lecturer on History and Literature at Harvard University, and author of Down with the Old Canoe: A Cultural History of the Titanic. 38: President Garfield is shot by Charles J. Guiteau in Washington, D.C. He suffers for two months before dying of the wound and subsequent infection.   37: The Compromise of 1877 gives the Presidency to Rutherford B. Hayes in exchange to the end of Reconstruction in the South ft. Joshua Dubbert, historian at the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Library & Museums, and Birchard M. Taylor, great-great-grandson of President Rutherford B. Hayes and trustee of both the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Library & Museums and the Society of Presidential Descendants.   36: The March on Washington takes place, with a crowd of 250,000 watching Martin Luther King Jr. deliver his "I Have a Dream" speech. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

45: Dust storms in the Midwest destroy agriculture and ecology kicking off the start of The Dust Bowl ft. Professor Emeritus of History at Purdue University & author and editor of over 20 books including The Dust Bowl: An Agricultural and Social History,  R. Douglas Hurt.  44: The Supreme Court establishes the "separate but equal" doctrine in Plessy v. Ferguson.  43: The Berlin Wall falls. Two years later, in 1991, The Cold War officially ends after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.  42: War of 1812 - British forces enter Washington, D.C., burning the White House and the U.S. Capitol building ft. Retired History Professor from Wayne State College, considered the dean of 1812 historians and author of The War of 1812: A Forgotten Conflict, Dr. Donald R. Hickey.   41: Anarchist Leon Czolgosz assassinates President William McKinley at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

50: President Eisenhower signs the Federal Aid Highway Act establishing the Interstate Highway System. 49: The Cuban Missile Crisis: Americans live in a state of fear as Soviet nuclear weapons are installed in Cuba. President Kennedy & Soviet leader Khrushchev agree to a deal avoiding the conflict ft. Douglas Dillion professor at Harvard Kennedy School professor and author of Essence of Decision: Explaining the Cuban Missile Crisis, Dr. Graham Allison.  48: Ellis Island begins receiving immigrants ft. Professor of History at UMass Boston and author of American Passage: The History of Ellis Island, Dr. Vincent J. Cannato. 47: George Washington signs the Neutrality Proclamation, beginning America's first new foreign policy.46: Astronaut John Glenn becomes the first American to orbit the Earth. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

55: Harriet Tubman emancipates herself and begins freeing slaves via the Underground Railroad. 54: President Franklin D. Roosevelt dies of a brain hemorrhage; Vice President Harry S. Truman assumes the presidency.  53: At the Brandenburg Gate in West Berlin, President Reagan challenges Soviet leader Gorbachev to "Tear down this wall." ft. speechwriter for Ronald Reagan, Murdoch Distinguished Policy Fellow at the Hoover Institution, host of the podcast Common Knowledge, and author of How Ronald Reagan Changed My Life, Peter M. Robinson.    52: Eli Whitney's patent for the cotton gin is granted ft. curator at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History, Dr. Abeer Saha. 51: Congress passes the Indian Removal Act. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

60: The Galveston Hurricane makes landfall, killing anywhere from 6,000 to 12,000 people. It remains the deadliest natural disaster in American history. 59: Thomas Edison demonstrates incandescent lighting for the first time in Menlo Park, New Jersey. 58: War of 1812: Americans defending the key city of Baltimore mark a turning point in the war, inspiring Francis Scott Key to pen "The Star-Spangled Banner." 57: Vice President Aaron Burr kills former Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton in a duel (featuring trial and appellate lawyer David O. Stewart, author of American Emperor: Aaron Burr's Challenge to Jefferson's America). 56: The CIA locates 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan, where he is later killed by Navy SEAL Team Six in a pre-dawn raid on his compound (featuring former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, Leon Panetta). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices