The Preamble

Latest Episodes:

Introducing Family Lore May 20, 2026

Show notes

Family Lore is a weekly narrative podcast that celebrates and investigates ancestral mystique. Each episode begins with a guest sharing a fascinating family legend, followed by a historical deep-dive to uncover the truth and meaning behind the tale. Available now.

https://link.pscrb.fm/f0281/FLFD

Mayhem: The 1970s You Never Knew, Episode 7 May 18, 2026

Show notes

Draft dodging. When did the draft lottery begin for the war in Vietnam, and who among America’s youth was hit the hardest? It was an unwinnable war, and thousands of high school graduates and college students refused to comply. What sparked these explosive protests nationwide? What role was marijuana and heroin playing back in Vietnam? And how did two decades of the costly, divisive conflict finally come to an end?

Mayhem: The 1970s You Never Knew, Episode 6 May 11, 2026

Show notes

A cover up that cost Nixon's presidency, a pardon that cost Gerald R. Ford his election, and a friendship dating back to the 1940s. It was the first time a President had been impeached, and the only time in U.S. history that a President resigned from office. The betrayal of the public’s trust reverberated well beyond Nixon’s presidency in a time of economic turmoil, but what happened following Nixon’s departure from office? How did the new Ford administration attempt to gain control over the rising unemployment and double-digit inflation? Join us as we learn about how this confluence of events created economic instability, unhappiness, and impacted the mood of the country in 1974.

Mayhem: The 1970s You Never Knew, Episode 5 May 04, 2026

Show notes

The right to privacy, a 22-year-old who went by the pseudonym “Jane Roe,” and one of the most famous court cases in United States history. Join us as we learn what happened leading up to Roe v. Wade, the fate of Norma McCorvey following the Supreme Court’s ruling, and how this piece of history echoes in the present day. That is not the only ghost of 1973 history that is still relevant, though. If you’re curious about how an oil embargo in the 70s impacts today’s gas prices and oil reserves, and you’d like to better understand a piece of Israel's history and how it ties into present-day events, you’re in the right place.

Mayhem: The 1970s You Never Knew, Episode 4 Apr 27, 2026

Show notes

Deep Throat, Operation Gemstone, two valiant reporters, and a secret 30 years in the making. Watergate was not a single scandal, but rather an avalanche of events and co-conspirators, all engaged in corruption to keep President Nixon in office. The stakes were so high that Nixon’s Special Security Advisor, G. Gordon Liddy, lived under fear of being assassinated, and the wife of Nixon’s Campaign Director & Attorney General was drugged and held captive in a hotel room to keep her silent. What was the “smoking gun” that led to the toppling of this enterprise? Was it the tapes Nixon secretly recorded, and the 18-minute gap, that ultimately pushed Nixon to be the first and only President to resign?

Mayhem: The 1970s You Never Knew, Episode 3 Apr 20, 2026

Show notes

"The week that changed the world.” Was it a chance encounter at the World Tennis Championship in 1971, “Panda diplomacy” between the U.S. and Communist China, or a break-in at the Democratic National Headquarters by a team of 5 burglars, that drastically altered the trajectory of world history? It was around this time that the Women’s Equity Action League also filed one of the farthest-reaching Class Action lawsuits, leading to President Nixon signing the Education Act into law. Join us as we talk about the origins of the Watergate scandal, the landslide victory that kept Nixon in office, and the establishment of Title IX.

Mayhem: The 1970s You Never Knew, Episode 2 Apr 13, 2026

Show notes

Secret Police, CIA operatives, The Pentagon Papers, and The Most Dangerous Man in America. There was a time in the not-so-distant past, when the nightly news changed the game in how Americans felt about the war in Vietnam, the first “television war.” What was more of a shock to some though, was the realization that the American public had been lied to for decades by the U.S. government, spanning four presidential administrations. How did this influence the Watergate scandal? And how did the lavish “gathering of the Century” in Iran, attended by Vice President Agnew, tie into future allegations of broad political corruption

Mayhem: The 1970s You Never Knew, Episode 1 Apr 06, 2026

Show notes

As the decade devolved into war at home and abroad, Apollo 13 flew high above Earth with the hope of landing safely on the surface of the moon. But then, disaster struck, and time was on no one’s side. Meanwhile, thousands of miles below the Apollo 13 spacecraft, a nationwide uprising among college students ended in disaster at Kent State and Jackson State Universities. With special guest Apollo 13 astronaut Fred Haise.

Thank you to the Kent State Shootings Oral History Project. Kent State University Libraries. Special Collections and Archives.

Growing Hope: What Depression-Era Gardens and Rainn Wilson Teach Us About Hard Times Mar 30, 2026

Show notes

During the Great Depression, Detroit officials carved up vacant lots and handed exhausted families seeds and tools. It wasn't a hobby — it was survival. And a lesson for today: hope isn't just a feeling, it's a habit you practice.

Then Rainn Wilson — yes, Dwight Schrute — joins Sharon to talk about the loneliness epidemic, the rise of cynicism, and why posting about something isn't the same as changing it.

Be sure to read our newsletter at ThePreamble.com – it’s free! Join hundreds of thousands of readers who still believe understanding is an act of hope.

Credits:

Host and Executive Producer: Sharon McMahon

Supervising Producer: Melanie Buck Parks

Audio Producer: Craig Thompson

(00:00:00) A story on how to practice hope

(00:07:50) The loneliness epidemic

(00:22:41) Rainn Wilson’s on his faith

America at 250: Staying Hopeful, plus Saying No in a World That Demands Yes Mar 23, 2026

Show notes

Are we heading toward a second civil war? No, but what might happen could still be unsettling. Sharon has an honest conversation with YouTube civics creator Mr. Beat about radicalization, propaganda, and why there’s a difference between optimism and hope.

Plus, in a culture that rewards compliance and punishes pushback, Dr. Sunita Sah tells us why saying no can be courageous and the most effective thing you can do.

And be sure to read our newsletter at ThePreamble.com – it’s free! Join hundreds of thousands of readers who still believe understanding is an act of hope.

Credits:

Host and Executive Producer: Sharon McMahon

Supervising Producer: Melanie Buck Parks

Audio Producer: Craig Thompson

(00:00:00) Could the US have another civil war?

(00:12:13) Optimism vs hope

(00:20:58) Saying no in a world that demands yes