RACHEL MADDOW PRESENTS: BURN ORDER
Rachel Maddow tells the story of one of the most shocking decisions in American history in her new podcast, “Rachel Maddow Presents: Burn Order.” This six-part series reveals how an executive order authorizing the roundup of innocent Americans came to be – and a bombshell discovery in the unlikeliest of places that would ultimately expose it all.
All six episodes are now available!
Transcript – Episode 1: Safecracker
The bombshell discovery of a report that U.S. government officials had ordered burned has the potential to expose the truth about one of the most radical policy decisions in all of American history. A policy that one young Naval intelligence officer desperately tried to warn his superiors was unwarranted and unnecessary.
From the archives: Episode 1
Archival materials to further illustrate Episode One of “Rachel Maddow presents: Burn Order,” Safecracker
Transcript – Episode 2: The Jitters
In the wake of the Pearl Harbor attack, the man in charge of defending the American west coast has a serious case of the jitters… and a bright, young aide who is busy drawing up plans to target a racial group in America en masse. With the clock running out, lawyers inside the Justice Department mount a furious effort to stop the policy from going into effect.
From the archives: Episode 2
Archival materials to further illustrate Episode Two of “Rachel Maddow presents: Burn Order,” The Jitters
Transcript – Episode 3: One Drop
The U.S. military is deployed on the streets of America, tasked with carrying out the mass round-up of innocent immigrants and American citizens labeled by the government as the “enemy” within. Tens of thousands of American families are forced to live in hastily constructed prison camps — enduring inhumane conditions — while government officials scramble to figure out what to do with them all.
From the archives: Episode 3
Archival materials to further illustrate Episode Three of “Rachel Maddow presents: Burn Order,” One Drop
Transcript – Episode 4: ‘Like An Ordinary American’
A principled politician puts his career on the line to stand up against the authoritarian actions of an emboldened federal government. While Americans largely sit by and watch their fellow Americans rounded up and stripped of their rights, a small group of brave resisters sets out to challenge the aggressive actions of the U.S. government and bring an end to them for good.
From the archives: Episode 4
Archival materials to further illustrate Episode Four of “Rachel Maddow presents: Burn Order,” “Like an Ordinary American”
Transcript – Episode 5: Sheep and Goats
As the cases of the four Japanese Americans challenging the U.S. government’s mass incarceration policy arrive at the Supreme Court, a crisis suddenly erupts inside the Justice Department and the War Department as the true motivations behind the policy are now at risk of being revealed. A fierce battle is waged inside the government over whether to disclose the information to the courts, or cover it up.
From the archives: Episode 5
Archival materials to further illustrate Episode Five of “Rachel Maddow presents: Burn Order,” Sheep and Goats
Transcript – Episode 6: A Reckoning
An incarceree-turned researcher and a federal inmate-turned Harvard educated lawyer comb through the archives and begin to peel back all of the layers of the government’s program to mass incarcerate Japanese Americans. With their startling findings in hand, they and the Japanese American community set out to force the U.S. government to directly confront its actions.
From the archives: Episode 6
Archival materials to further illustrate Episode Six of “Rachel Maddow presents: Burn Order,” A Reckoning
Rachel Maddow presents: Burn Order – A visual bibliography
A visual tour of books used in researching Japanese-American internment for the podcast
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