September 5 through September 11, 1952. A week we call Peak - If this Ain’t Peak, you don’t know Peak.

This was the Great Times people want to go back to…The Good Old Days, if this is not the great time, then there is no great time.

The late summer of 1952 saw the US at the peak of its powers, the undisputed kings of the post-war world. The economy was roaring, we were fighting a huge war in Korea to stop the Communists but it barely registered with the American public.

At the same time there was a US presidential election - General Dwight Eisenhower against Adlai Stevenson that dominated the news.

Meanwhile popular culture was shifting under their feet. The era of Hemingway was coming to its apex with his Pulitzer Prize this year with "Old Man and the Sea", while this week Kurt Vonnegut’s first book, "Player Piano", debuted, signalling a shift in the tone of American literature.

The Bush political dynasty got its start, a Donald Trump mentor becomes big news… This was the Peak year of the Good ‘ole USA…

Join us at the Raspberry Podcast.

The 70s were crazy. And they still aren’t over.

We are in this episode looking at August 29 - September 4, 1973. This week was the culture war kickoff. The Vietnam War was still raging despite the US combat troops all leaving in March 1973.

The biggest war was now being fought in Washington DC - Watergate. On one side was good old Tricky Dick “I am not a crook” Nixon who was holding out from Judge Sirica’s slap down to cough up the White House tapes. Dick said no way.

His vice president, Spiro Agnew, announced he would never resign because of the accusations he was taking bribes - cash in paper bags - but he did finally quit that October, the first big victim of the culture war. In August he was still taking bribe…it’s a good bet..

American culture was splitting apart, never to come together again. Not yet. The pro-Vietnam War supporters versus the anti-war counter-culture, about to be enshrined in mass media by the amazing artists of the era, from movies to arts to books and then politics.

The battle over Watergate was front and center….a bellwether for the decades to come.

August 22-August 28, 1947. Two years after the US and its allies, Britain, France, Canada and Australia had won the war. Peace and prosperity has arrived, or so everyone had hoped. The US had dropped 2 atomic bombs on Japan to win the war. The country and the world celebrated the end.

But the reality of winning the war was proving to be quite different than imagined. In 1947 the real result wasn’t peace, just a big gigantic mess. The Big Mess.

A worldwide mess.

1947, Peak mess!

The peace dividend was nowhere to be found.

And it was much worse overseas. The world was in chaos as everyone rolled from a full-out fight against the Axis powers into a cold war against endless Soviet assaults and aggression.

The Cold War was the major issue. But not to be outdone, our English allies decided within the space of 3 months to give independence to its prize jewel, India. Unexpectedly, this triggered the great transfer of millions of people between India and Pakistan following independence and partition. The Muslims and Hindus clashed. Millions died. This was called the partition of India, one of the largest, but from the US perspective, less known crisis of the 20th century.