War has played a key role in the history of the United States, from the nation's

founding right down to the present. War made the U.S. independent, kept it together, increased

its size, and established it as a global superpower. Understanding America's wars is essential for understanding American history.

Welcome to Key Battles of American History,

a podcast in which we discuss American history through the lens of the most important battles of America's wars.

Here is your host, James Early.

Thank you. host, James Early. Hello everybody.

Before we get started with today's episode, I thought I would tell you a few things about it.

Sean and I have done it again, folks.

We sat down to discuss the 2023 movie Oppenheimer, thinking we would finish it in about an hour, maybe a little bit more.

And I know you'll be shocked to hear this, but Sean and I went a little bit long.

We sometimes tend to do that, especially with movies.

And the final product was about two hours long. And rather than try to just

trim it down to an hour, I thought, I'll just make it a two-parter. So, because really, honestly,

I like the way it turned out. And I think the whole thing is pretty decent. So I think you'll

want to hear the whole thing, especially if you like that movie, and if you're

interested in the history of the atomic bomb and the life of Robert Oppenheimer.

So what you're about to hear is part one of our discussion of the Oppenheimer film.

We'll talk about the background, the history behind the movie itself.

We'll talk about the wards at one, the cast, things like that.

And then we'll get

you almost halfway through the movie. And then what I'm going to do is release part two this

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