You're listening to an Airwave Media podcast.

That's the German-American Bund, which was an American Nazi group, but it was led by German immigrants.

So they hold this event, February 20th, 1939, Washington's birthday, at Madison Square Garden in New York City, and 15,000 people turn out to what they called a pro-American rally.

And the stage had this backdrop of 30-foot image of George Washington, and on both sides, he's flanked by 1776 flags and swastikas.

You get a real sense of how far across the political spectrum the memory of the revolution has been used.

Yeah. across the political spectrum. The memory of the revolution has been used. Hello and welcome to episode 408 of Ben Franklin's World, the podcast dedicated to helping

you learn more about how the people and events of our early American past have shaped the present day world we live in.

And I'm your host, Liz Covart.

The American Revolution was more than just a series of events that unfolded between 1763 and 1783.

The American Revolution is our national origin story, when we've passed down,

shaped and reshaped for the last 250 years. But what do we really mean when we talk about

the revolution? Whose revolution are we remembering? And how has the meaning of 1776 shifted

from generation to generation? This month, April 2025 marks the

250th anniversary of the start of the American War for Independence. And before we start commemorating

these big milestones in the history of the revolution, I thought we should consider our memories

of the revolution and how these memories have shifted and changed over time.

Michael Haddam, a scholar of the American Revolution and historical memory,

joins us once again to discuss the American Revolution and its memory.

You may remember Michael from episode 307,

where we discussed his first book, Past and Prologue. In this episode, we'll join

Michael to investigate the history of our memories of the revolution by drawing on details

from his new book, The Memory of 76, The Revolution in American History. Now, during our investigation,

...