War has played a key role in the history of the United States, from the nation's founding right down to the present.

Wars made the United States independent, kept it together, increased its size, and established it as a global superpower.

Hi, I'm James Early, host of the Key Battles of American History podcast.

In each episode I discuss American history through the lens of the most important battles of America's Wars.

To start listening now, go to pathanonpodcast.com or search Key Battles of American History on your favorite podcast and platform.

The history of North America podcast is a sweeping historical saga of the United States, Canada, and Mexico, from their deep origins to our present epoch.

Join me, Mark Vinet, on this exciting, fascinating epic journey through time,

focusing on the compelling, wonderful, and tragic stories of North America's inhabitants, heroes, villains, leaders, environment, and geography.

I invite you to come along for the ride.

Welcome to the History Unplugged Podcast.

The unscripted show that celebrates unsung heroes,

Mythbusts Historical Lies, and rediscoveres the forgotten stories that changed our world.

I'm your host, Scott Rank.

Greetings, everyone. Welcome to today's show.

We've got some dark places in this podcast.

We've looked at the religious beliefs of Adolf Hitler, the life of Nathan Bedford Forest, the founder of the Ku Klux Klan.

We're going to go to somewhere very dark today in this podcast episode, and that is Kansas City.

You might think, okay, Kansas City, come on, it has the royals, barbecue, not much else.

Well, I live in Kansas City, and I thought that that's a little bit strange.

We're going to learn about the dark underbell of Kansas City in the early 20th century during the time of prohibition.

At this time, Kansas City was ruled by the Pendergast Machine.

Tom Pendergast ruled Kansas City basically with an iron fist. He controlled local government

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