A documentary history podcast
From the File
History from the documents. Every claim traced to a declassified file.
Get a free PDF of eight declassified Bay of Pigs documents. “Every effort shall be made to hide the fact that such action has occurred.” — Joint Chiefs telegram, 17 April 1961 (FRUS X Doc 115, heard in Episode 4). The PDF covers eight other documents that open Season 1, with record numbers and source links.
Each episode is built from contemporaneous records, later Agency histories, and the investigations that followed — and from what is still blacked out or missing. No invented scenes. No dramatization. The hook is the paper.
AI-assisted documentary. Hosts Elliot and Nora are AI-voiced. Every historical claim traced to a cited declassified file. Editorial judgment is human. No invented scenes.
Season 1 audio stays free. See Access.
Season 1: The Bay of Pigs
One documentary in about ten chapters — not a loose podcast feed. What the program was authorized to do, what the Agency built instead, and what the files still will not settle.
Get the documents Listen to Episode 1
Or open the full season on the Season 1 hub.
New here? Start with one of these three files
Document-led doors into Season 1 — listen, then get the cited bundles by email.
-
FRUS 1958–60 Vol. VI Doc 481
Authorization — March 1960 paper
Small teams and a resistance that never materialized — the founding paper authorized no invasion.
-
FRUS Supp. Doc 261
Cancelled strike — dawn D-day air cover
The night Washington cancelled the dawn strikes while pilots sat in cockpits at Puerto Cabezas.
-
IG copies · casualty fog
What the files don’t settle
Destroyed survey copies, disagreeing casualty figures, and the questions Season 1 leaves open.
Preview all eight starter citations: The Bay of Pigs file.
Get the documents by email
Cited document bundles for each episode: the cables, the memos, the record numbers. Facts first, no hype.
Featured episodes
-
The Inheritance
Eisenhower’s March 1960 authorization for small teams and a resistance that never materialized — handed to a new president who was never asked, on the record we have, whether he wanted an invasion at all.
-
The Secret Army
Guatemala camps, the November pivot to amphibious assault, and five contradictory answers to what the exiles were promised about American backing.
-
The Cover Story
The staged defector flight, Stevenson at the UN, and a denial written in Washington before the ambassador who would speak it was told what it covered.
Five more episodes on the Season 1 hub →
How to listen
Now on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, plus self-hosted audio and a public RSS feed. Start on the Season 1 hub to play through the season; each episode page has the sourced essay, citations, and a player. Questions: [email protected].