SNAFUBAR
SNAFUBAR
Podcast Description
SNAFUBAR explores American military mistakes from the beginning of the country’s founding to the present day. Environmental Historian Jeff Crane and Professor of Religious Studies Sara Hart bring an honest and candid look and analysis at costly errors, victory culture and the fetishization of the military in the United States.
Presented by Cal Poly Humboldt's College of Art Humanities & Social Sciences.
Podcast Insights
Content Themes
The podcast covers themes of military history, societal reflections on war, and critiques of the American military culture. Specific episodes explore George Washington's military decisions, such as his leading role at the Battle of Jumonville Glen and the implications of military failures, while addressing the tradition of romanticizing military actions and the support issues faced by veterans.
SNAFUBAR is a show about strategic and moral military errors and mishaps, and the myths that both lead to and then justify them. The histories they look at will make clear the degree to which the U.S. is a warful nation, contrary to the myth of a peaceful nation regularly compelled, against its will, to go to war. Through every episodes, the show uncovers how we romanticize and fetishize the military while not always providing the support it needs to carry out its intended (or stated) goals, or to meet veterans’ needs when they return from combat.
Welcome back to SNAFUBAR. This week, we are diving into the topic of military lingo, a way of speaking that is embedded into everyday life for former and current military personnel as well as for civilians.
In today’s episode, we’re going to focus our attention on President Harry Truman: we’re going to look a little bit at his pre-presidential life of military service, and then we’re going to turn to his presidency, highlighting the moral urgency that he brought to questions of global responsibility and interventionism. We’ll introduce the Truman Doctrine and then we’ll spend some time digging into his State of the Union addresses. We'll also look at the work of American Theologian Reinhold Niebuhr and how his philosophy provides alternative approaches and ways of thinking to Truman's own thoughts on America's role in the world.
Today's episode is co-hosted by Sara and our writer/researcher Roman Sotomayor, an alum of Cal Poly Humboldt who has worked closely with Sara on different research projects and on engaging with the local veterans community here in Humboldt.
SNAFUBAR is regularly hosted by Sara Hart, who teaches Religious Studies at Cal Poly Humboldt, and Jeff Crane who is an Environmental Historian and Dean of the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at Cal Poly Humboldt.
Research and writing for the show is done by Liam Salcuni and Roman Sotomayor (who also hosted today's episode)
SNAFUBAR is produced by Abigail Smithson and brought to you by the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at Cal Poly Humboldt.
Works Cited:
National Parks Service, Harry S Truman and the Influences of his Service in World War I
National Archives, Truman Doctrine (1947)
Allierten Museum, “Cold War” – The (Pre)History of a Term
Linen for Project Gutenberg, State of the Union Addresses of Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman Library & Museum, President Truman’s Remarks, Syracuse, NY
The American Presidency Project, Harry S. Truman Public Approval
Daily News, Daily News from New York 217
Reinhold Niebuhr, The Irony of American History
Reinhold Niebuhr, The Children of Light and the Children of Darkness
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