Alexander Graham Bell grew up obsessed with the human voice—his family taught elocution and speech to the deaf. That obsession led him, on March 10, 1876, to transmit the first intelligible words over a wire: "Mr. Watson, come here." Newt traces Bell's race against rival Elisha Gray, the birth of what became AT&T, and the telephone's explosive spread from 21 subscribers to millions within decades. More than a faster telegraph, the telephone rewired human expectations, making instant connection across distance the new normal—a standard every communication technology since has been measured against.

Alexander Graham Bell grew up obsessed with the human voice&mdash;his family taught elocution and speech to the deaf. That obsession led him, on March 10, 1876, to transmit the first intelligible words over a wire: "Mr. Watson, come here." Newt traces Bell's race against rival Elisha Gray, the birth of what became AT&amp;T, and the telephone's explosive spread from 21 subscribers to millions within decades. More than a faster telegraph, the telephone rewired human expectations, making instant connection across distance the new normal&mdash;a standard every communication technology since has been measured against.

Join Newt Gingrich, former U.S. Speaker of the House and Ph.D. historian, for the most diverse, informative, and entertaining podcast available. Every episode is an education.

Join Newt Gingrich, former U.S. Speaker of the House and Ph.D. historian, for the most diverse, informative, and entertaining podcast available. Every episode is an education.

Newt's World

Episode 1016: Greatest American Inventions — The Telephone

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/5496afe4-f051-4ee7-928d-b4940135bf9b/transcript

The Pentagon ranks biological warfare as a greater threat than nuclear war — and investigative journalist Annie Jacobsen spent years finding out why. The Pulitzer Prize finalist and New York Times bestselling author of Nuclear War joins Newt Gingrich to discuss her new book, Biological War: A Scenario, which charts the terrifying hours and days following a lab leak at Russia's Vector Institute. Jacobsen reveals how a Soviet-era "super plague" engineered with a euphoria gene could spread across six continents in days, why 3,500 BSL-3 labs worldwide represent a ticking clock, and what COVID failed to teach us about preparedness. Most chillingly, she exposes the classified U.S. government "Devolution Plan" — a secret continuity program designed to preserve the government underground while society collapses above. Her reporting is a warning — and a call to action before the next lab leak makes the scenario real.

The Pentagon ranks biological warfare as a greater threat than nuclear war &mdash; and investigative journalist Annie Jacobsen spent years finding out why. The Pulitzer Prize finalist and New York Times bestselling author of Nuclear War joins Newt Gingrich to discuss her new book, Biological War: A Scenario, which charts the terrifying hours and days following a lab leak at Russia's Vector Institute. Jacobsen reveals how a Soviet-era "super plague" engineered with a euphoria gene could spread across six continents in days, why 3,500 BSL-3 labs worldwide represent a ticking clock, and what COVID failed to teach us about preparedness. Most chillingly, she exposes the classified U.S. government "Devolution Plan" &mdash; a secret continuity program designed to preserve the government underground while society collapses above. Her reporting is a warning &mdash; and a call to action before the next lab leak makes the scenario real.

Episode 1031: Biological War — Annie Jacobsen on the Threat That Scares the Pentagon More Than Nuclear War

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/861ddaa4-e499-4cc9-a25b-b4a8002e8902/transcript

Marine combat veteran, former Assistant Secretary of Defense, and military historian Bing West has spent six decades on battlefields from Vietnam to Afghanistan — and he's angry. In his new book, Cat 5: The 2033 War, West argues that America's leaders won every battle in three wars but lost every war, driven by what he calls the "Jupiter Complex" — the dangerous belief that America is so powerful it doesn't need to fight with full resolve. Now, he warns, that same hubris is converging with a crushing national debt and Xi Jinping's determination to seize Taiwan to create a Category 5 catastrophe by 2033. West joins Newt for a blunt, unsparing conversation about an emaciated military still buying legacy weapons, a debt spiral that leaves no room for defense spending, and what the next president must do to hold the line.

Marine combat veteran, former Assistant Secretary of Defense, and military historian Bing West has spent six decades on battlefields from Vietnam to Afghanistan &mdash; and he's angry. In his new book, Cat 5: The 2033 War, West argues that America's leaders won every battle in three wars but lost every war, driven by what he calls the "Jupiter Complex" &mdash; the dangerous belief that America is so powerful it doesn't need to fight with full resolve. Now, he warns, that same hubris is converging with a crushing national debt and Xi Jinping's determination to seize Taiwan to create a Category 5 catastrophe by 2033. West joins Newt for a blunt, unsparing conversation about an emaciated military still buying legacy weapons, a debt spiral that leaves no room for defense spending, and what the next president must do to hold the line.

Episode 1030: Cat 5: The 2033 War — America's Debt, Military, and China on a Collision Course

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/ab8caf77-d6ed-4f01-a6c7-b4a5017f6bde/transcript

On January 9, 2007, Steve Jobs walked onstage and declared three "revolutionary" products were actually one: the iPhone. Newt closes his 15-part series with the invention that fused the telephone, the transistor, the internet, GPS, and the camera into a single device now carried by six billion people—three-quarters of humanity. From the App Store's trillion-dollar economy to the industries it upended outright, the smartphone is where every earlier episode converges. Newt closes the series by reflecting on 250 years of American inventors who were told it couldn't be done—and built it anyway.

On January 9, 2007, Steve Jobs walked onstage and declared three "revolutionary" products were actually one: the iPhone. Newt closes his 15-part series with the invention that fused the telephone, the transistor, the internet, GPS, and the camera into a single device now carried by six billion people&mdash;three-quarters of humanity. From the App Store's trillion-dollar economy to the industries it upended outright, the smartphone is where every earlier episode converges. Newt closes the series by reflecting on 250 years of American inventors who were told it couldn't be done&mdash;and built it anyway.

Episode 1029: Greatest American Inventions — The Smartphone

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/4e86aa0c-d381-4dc4-8a7d-b49f01505e10/transcript

Episode 1016: Greatest American Inventions — The Telephone

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