Podbit · The Rest Is History
By 1789, when Washington became the first US president, he had exactly one working tooth. His decay had started in 1760. By 1784 he was buying nine teeth from unknown Black Americans for transplantation. His dentures were held together with crude wire mesh. George III called him the greatest man in the world — but he could barely smile.
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At 1:09:10 · chapter starts 1:07:50
In mid-June 1778, Washington receives the intelligence coup of the campaign: the British in Philadelphia have asked for their laundry back from the local washerwomen — a clear sign of imminent departure. The Continental Army marches in pursuit. By 22 June the whole force has crossed the Delaware into New Jersey, and on 28 June, in almost unbearable 40-degree heat that kills several soldiers by sunstroke, they meet the British at Monmouth Courthouse. The result is a draw, with around 350 casualties on each side, but even British observers note the transformation: Washington's men are professional, disciplined, and formidable — von Steuben's work made visible. Ten days later, the French fleet sails into Delaware Bay with 10 ships of the line, 4 frigates, and 4,000 soldiers, converting a colonial rebellion into a global war. American independence, while not yet inevitable, is now probably more likely than not. Monmouth Courthouse is also, fittingly, the last major battle Washington fights in the northern theatre.
In 1784 Washington purchased nine teeth from unknown African Americans to be transplanted into his own gums as dentures.
Factories that replaced coal engines with electric ones in the early 1900s got only 6% efficiency gains. Those that redesigned their entire factory around electricity got a 3x productivity improvement. Swapping AI tools into your existing structure will give you 6%. Rebuilding around AI will give you 10x.
Lebanese terrorists backed by Iran were holding American hostages throughout the Reagan presidency. Reagan had loudly campaigned against negotiating with terrorists — putting him in an impossible position that his team quietly decided to ignore.
During the Iran-Iraq War, the US openly supplied Iraq with weapons, training, and intelligence. At the same time, Oliver North was secretly funneling missiles to Iran. The US was playing both sides of a shooting war.
Oliver North traveled to Iran under the alias 'William P. Goode' with a fake passport. CIA Director William Casey allegedly gave him cyanide pills so he could kill himself rather than be tortured if captured. He returned safely and the deal moved forward.
The Pentagon sold missiles to the CIA for $3,700 each. The CIA sold them to Richard Secord at cost. Secord sold them to Iranian middleman Ghorbanifar for $10,000 each. Ghorbanifar charged Iran even more. The profit — including $3 million in interest in one Swiss account — was diverted directly to fund the Nicaraguan Contras.
America secretly transferred 2,000 missiles and missile parts to Iran in 8 shipments over more than a year. Only 3 of 7 hostages were released. Three more were taken. The net result was zero freed hostages and a full-blown constitutional scandal.
On October 5, 1986, a CIA Contra supply plane flew a weapons drop at 2,500 feet in broad daylight. A Sandinista soldier shot it down. The only survivor, Eugene Hasenfuss, had borrowed a parachute from his skydiving brother. He was captured, paraded in front of cameras, and told the Sandinistas everything he knew.
The CIA supply operation used a front company called Southern Air Transport, widely known to be a CIA cover. Crew members of the downed plane carried their Southern Air Transport employee IDs in their wallets. One also had a business card directly linking him to Oliver North's office in Washington.
When the scandal broke, Oliver North and his secretary Fawn Hall conducted what became known as a 'shredding party,' destroying a day's worth of documents. The full truth of Iran-Contra may never be known because of what was fed through that shredder.
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