002 - Temper, Temper

05/26/21 • 15 min

Can a temper tantrum change history?

Mary Todd Lincoln and her husband were off to Ulysses S. Grant's headquarters a few weeks before the end of the Civil War. It was clear the war would soon be over.

This trip would be a welcome escape from Washington, and an opportunity for the First Couple to spend some quality time together.

What could go wrong?

Thanks for listening, and for your support.

Click here to support the History's Trainwrecks podcast!

Sources for this episode:

Goodwin, Doris Kearns. “Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln.” Simon & Schuster, 2006.

Grant, Ulysses. “Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant.” 2014

Lyman, Theodore, 1833-1897, and George R. (George Russell) Agassiz. “With Grant And Meade From the Wilderness to Appomattox.” Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1994.

PillartoPost.org Daily Online Magazine. “Retro Files/Lincoln Endures the Uncivil Wars” 2016.

Largent, Kimberly. “The Life of Mary Todd Lincoln.” The Ohio State University.

Subscribe to History's Trainwrecks

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/historys-trainwrecks.

Help keep trainwrecks on the tracks. Become a supporter at https://plus.acast.com/s/historys-trainwrecks.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Can a temper tantrum change history?

Mary Todd Lincoln and her husband were off to Ulysses S. Grant's headquarters a few weeks before the end of the Civil War. It was clear the war would soon be over.

This trip would be a welcome escape from Washington, and an opportunity for the First Couple to spend some quality time together.

What could go wrong?

Thanks for listening, and for your support.

Click here to support the History's Trainwrecks podcast!

Sources for this episode:

Goodwin, Doris Kearns. “Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln.” Simon & Schuster, 2006.

Grant, Ulysses. “Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant.” 2014

Lyman, Theodore, 1833-1897, and George R. (George Russell) Agassiz. “With Grant And Meade From the Wilderness to Appomattox.” Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1994.

PillartoPost.org Daily Online Magazine. “Retro Files/Lincoln Endures the Uncivil Wars” 2016.

Largent, Kimberly. “The Life of Mary Todd Lincoln.” The Ohio State University.

Subscribe to History's Trainwrecks

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/historys-trainwrecks.

Help keep trainwrecks on the tracks. Become a supporter at https://plus.acast.com/s/historys-trainwrecks.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Previous Episode

001 - Trainwreck Defined

The first episode of the History's Trainwrecks Podcast defines a historical trainwreck and their roles in history.

Don't be mad because I call them trainwrecks. These people were at the top of their game, and failed within sight of their goals.

Were it not for some quality they had, they might have gotten everything they wanted. Instead they ended up in relative obscurity.

I give a few examples of history's trainwrecks, and how I define the word for the podcast.

This is the stuff we never learned in school.

Thanks for listening, and for your support.

Click here to support the History's Trainwrecks podcast!

Subscribe to History's Trainwrecks

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/historys-trainwrecks.

Help keep trainwrecks on the tracks. Become a supporter at https://plus.acast.com/s/historys-trainwrecks.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Next Episode

003 - Keep Your Pants On

One privilege of rank is getting to keep your pants on.

In the early days of World War II, American Major General Mark Clark was on a top-secret mission in German-occupied Algiers to persuade the French commander not to resist the planned Allied invasion of North Africa, codenamed Operation Torch.

On his way back to the submarine, the general worried that his wet pants (and the two thousand dollars in gold he had in his belt) might drag him down. He turned to the next lowest ranking officer and ordered him to surrender his trousers.

It's good to be in charge.

Thanks for listening to the History's Trainwrecks Podcast, and for your support.

Click here to support the History's Trainwrecks podcast!

Sources for this episode:

“Flawed, but Essential: Mark W. Clark and the Italian Campaign in World War II” Mikolashek, Jon, Florida State University, 2007

“Mark W. Clark” Wikipedia

“George C. Marshall” Wikipedia

“Operation Flagpole” Wikipedia

“Top Secret: Gen. Mark Clark’s Daring Operation Flagpole” Schultz, Duane, Warfare History Magazine, 2019

“Spain during World War II” Wikipedia

“Operation Torch” Wikipedia

Subscribe to History's Trainwrecks