Programming Notice 6
January has not been kind for the podcast schedule - and now it’s taken out my voice so I couldn’t release this week’s episode on time.
Feb 02, 2026•1 min
AZ: The History of Arizona podcast
A podcast tracing the history, events, people and places that made the Grand Canyon State.
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Episodes
Episode 244: The Home Front
As World War II erupted halfway across the world, back in Arizona, thousands were asking the same question - what can I do? From rationing to finding people to pick cotton, it turns out they could do a lot.
Jan 26, 2026•29 min•Ep. 244
Episode 243: Leaving the Camps
Even as the camps for Japanese Americans were going up, plans were in the works to have them move permanently away from the West Coast. By early 1945, thousands had left for opportunities in education, the workforce, and even the armed services while the slow-moving legal system finally decided that there was no good reason to lock up loyal U.S. citizens.
Jan 12, 2026•30 min•Ep. 243
Episode 242: Shikata Ga Nai
Life in a concentration camp, even an American one, was never going to be pleasant. But the tens of thousands of imprisoned Japanese Americans found ways to get through the day, embracing the philosophy that the situation just couldn’t be helped.
Dec 22, 2025•31 min•Ep. 242
Episode 241: Roasten, Toasten, Dustin
Starting in March 1942, 120,000 Japanese Americans were removed from the West Coast and sent to 10 camps where they would ride out the majority of the war. Two of those camps were located in Arizona, introducing tens of thousands of people to the rigors of living in the desert … without the option for leaving.
Dec 15, 2025•31 min•Ep. 241
Episode 240: The Salt River War
Even in the decades before the 1942 executive order to remove them all from the West Coast of America, life for Japanese Americans in Arizona wasn’t easy. And it only got worse when literal bombs started flying.
Dec 08, 2025•31 min•Ep. 240
Episode 239: The Great Papago Escape, Part II: The Crazy Boatmen
After their daring breakout on the evening of December 23, 1944, the 25 escaping German POWs tried various methods to get to freedom. They would be hampered by things like rain, cold, patrols, wary citizens, cactus and a dry river bed, ultimately resulting in all 25 being back in custody just over a month after breaking out.
Nov 17, 2025•35 min•Ep. 239
Episode 238: The Great Papago Escape, Part 1: The Tunnel
Starting in 1943, 3,000 German prisoners of war, mostly naval men, would be held in a POW camp at Papago Park. In 1944, 28 of those deemed to be troublemakers discovered a blindspot in their compound and set upon an audacious plan to break out and make a run for Mexico.
Nov 10, 2025•31 min•Ep. 238
Episode 237: Prisoners of War
Starting in 1943, thousands of German and Italian POWs were shipped to Arizona. They would leave a mostly honorable legacy while the Sonoran Desert and the mountains of Flagstaff would leave a lasting impression on them.
Nov 03, 2025•32 min•Ep. 237
Episode 236: The Thanksgiving Day Riot
World War II had the effect of making Fort Huachuca into a a central gathering place for Black men and women serving in the U.S. Army. Their experience ran parallel with their white counterparts, except for a notable undercurrent of segregation, prejudice, and racism. And those same undercurrents would result in a minor war breaking out on the streets of Phoenix on Thanksgiving Day 1942.
Oct 20, 2025•30 min•Ep. 236
Episode 235: Like Dandelions on a Green Lawn
After Pearl Harbor, the military turned Arizona into one giant training ground. And many of the soldiers who funnel through the state chose to stay in the desert, chaining the course of Arizona history for decades to come.
Oct 13, 2025•31 min•Ep. 235
Episode 234: I Held History in My Hand
Most people connect Pearl Harbor to the USS Arizona that sunk beneath the waves on December 7, 1941. But in the months following the surprise attack, Arizona would have a surprising connection to those who had help plan that most infamous of dates.
Oct 06, 2025•32 min•Ep. 234
Episode 233: The Machita Incident
Though it was probably not on his mind at all, Adolph Hitler changed the course of Arizona’s history when he invaded Poland on September 1, 1939. One ramification that would unfold a year and a half later was one of the last great instances of Amerindian resistance to the U.S. government.
Sep 30, 2025•36 min•Ep. 233
Episode 232: Admiral of the Arizona Navy
In 1934, Arizona’s hostility toward California and its water demands reached it zenith, culminating in the governor sending troops and a “navy,” to stop that most heinous of things - a dam across the Colorado River.
Sep 22, 2025•31 min•Ep. 232
Episode 231: Everyone and Their Dog
The Hoover Dam would be finished two years early, but that feat took a lot of planning, coordination, and sacrifice - and a heavy toll on the men building the project.
Sep 15, 2025•30 min•Ep. 231
Episode 230: Ragtown
It’s time to talk about water once again. In this case, we discuss all the preparation that went into one of the biggest public works projects of the 1930s that just so happens to sit between Arizona and Nevada.
Sep 08, 2025•32 min•Ep. 230
Episode 229: To You We Will Our Fighting Hearts
The U.S. Army started to reorganize and consolidate in the 1920s. At Fort Huachuca this meant an end to its time hosting not only the 10th Cavalry and 25th Infantry Buffalo Soldiers, but the last remaining Apache scouts as well.
Aug 25, 2025•32 min•Ep. 229
Episode 228: This Uniform Means the Same Thing a White Man’s Does
When they weren’t patrolling the border or invading Mexico, the Buffalo Soldiers had lives filled with Army drills, band concerts, baseball games, dances with eligible women and, oh yeah, all kinds of discrimination.
Aug 18, 2025•33 min•Ep. 228
Episode 227: The Tenth Is In Mexico
We continue our deep look into the service of the Buffalo Soldiers with one of the main highlights of their time in Arizona - protesting the border and invading Mexico.
Aug 11, 2025•32 min•Ep. 227
Episode 226: Camp Naco
The Buffalo Soldiers left quite a legacy, both in general and in Arizona. Along the border town of Naco, part of that legacy is still standing - and some folks want to keep it that way.
Aug 04, 2025•29 min•Ep. 226
Episode 225: The Cantonese Paymaster
This is the story of how one Chinese man became a legend at Fort Huachuca.
Jul 28, 2025•31 min•Ep. 225
Episode 224: Camp Huachuca
Before it became the very model of a modern Army installation, Fort Huachuca started out as the temporary Camp Huachuca, a remote, frontier outpost that was simply struggling to hold on.
Jul 21, 2025•32 min•Ep. 224
Episode 223: Pluto
In 1930, a young man from Kansas working in Flagstaff noted an object move 3.5 millimeters between two photographic plates. And our understanding of the Solar System has never been the same.
Jun 23, 2025•39 min•Ep. 223
Episode 222: Planet X
While you can’t talk about Percival Lowell without mentioning his views on Mars, you also have to discuss his other great obsession - finding the hypothetical ninth planet hiding on the fringes of the solar system.
Jun 16, 2025•31 min•Ep. 222
Episode 221: Science and Speculation
During the first two decades of its existence, Lowell Observatory furthered both one of the great astronomical misconceptions and breakthroughs of the 20th century.
Jun 09, 2025•32 min•Ep. 221
Episode 220: Mars Hill
In May 1894, a rich, globetrotting, and brilliant mathematician from Boston came to Flagstaff for a special purpose - finding evidence of life on Mars.
Jun 02, 2025•31 min•Ep. 220
Episode 219: Odds and Ends
The Great Depression is a historical period best told through on-the-ground stories. Here is just a smattering of what it looked like in Arizona.
May 26, 2025•32 min•Ep. 219
Episode 218: A New Deal for Arizona
In 1932, FDR pledged to bring his “New Deal” to the American people. You can debate its effectiveness, but in Arizona in general and Phoenix in particular you can see remnants and effects of the New Deal programs to this very day.
May 19, 2025•31 min•Ep. 218
Programing Notice 5
Delays in the present, but plans for the future!
May 12, 2025•2 min
Episode 217: The Okies
During the 1930s, millions of migrant workers and their families fled from the Dust Bowl. Tens of thousands of them drifted into Arizona, lured by the promise of plenty of work in the cotton fields. These workers would find themselves taking the place of displaced Mexican workers, both economically and socially.
May 05, 2025•32 min•Ep. 217
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