Mike walks us through the events of the Boxer Rebellion, a conflict in which Chinese rebels attempted to slaughter all foreigners and Chinese Christians in China. Marshall then explains how this drove missionaries into isolated compounds, from which they could look out on the Chinese — and judge them — without gaining any real knowledge of the Chinese people or their culture. Marshall also introduces us to Henry Luce, a child of American missionaries who used his innovative approaches to journalism in the 1920s to give America a narrative of China reflective more of his own views than of Chinese reality.

As the Manchu dynasty weakens during the 19th century, U.S. missionaries arrive. Christian evangelization leads to the outbreak of the long, bloody, brutal, and genocidal Taiping Rebellion, whose leader claims to be the younger brother of Jesus, and (not for the last time) an American official gets fired for assessing accurately what it all means. Americans fear the “Yellow Peril” as Chinese immigration to the United States rises with the California Gold Rush and the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad, and in China the Boxer Rebellion breaks out with a goal of killing all foreigners. Meanwhile, the U.S. missionary influence on the revolutionaries Charlie Soong and Sun Yat-sen fosters the rise of a new Chinese elite which will impose upon the United States a view of China and East Asia that has a lot more to do with American wishful thinking than with reality.

Where trade goes, conflict follows! While Britain and the East India Company focus on the opium trade with China, Americans of the first half of the 19th century try to break into the Chinese market with...well...opium, but also with ginseng, sandalwood, furs, and even sea cucumbers. After the British crush the Chinese in the First Opium War, few Americans (other than John Quincy Adams) approve of British aggression. But the war’s results open up China to the West like never before, and Americans respond by increasing trade, and by sending Christian missionaries to China to spread the Gospel. (Listen until the end for a behind-the-scenes segment.)

Ben Franklin got China wrong, and America still does today! Marshall again will lead our discussion in a new series, “Tea, Drugs, and Jesus,” looking at how the United States keeps misunderstanding China, in no small part because American political leaders often refuse to listen to experts on Chinese affairs. In the first episode, we set the stage for what is to come by exploring the environment in which the United States became involved in the China trade in the 19th century. We discuss China’s isolationism and stagnation, Britain and the East India Company, tea and silver, silk and porcelain – and opium.

Marshall, Blake, and Mike wrap up the America First series by dissecting the America First principles of non-involvement in World War II, then discussing the effect on America of the shockingly rapid 1940 fall of France, American support to Britain through Lend-Lease, Charles Lindbergh’s ascent to the leadership of the America First movement, the postwar lack of a reckoning for America Firsters, and the staying power of “America First” views. We conclude by sharing some final thoughts on how “America First” has never been what it might seem to be.

Marshall leads our discussion of the disorganized and dispersed nature of mid-1930s America First opposition to FDR, the 1936 presidential election, Republican opposition to New Deal reforms and help to Americans during the Great Depression, Nazi Germany's penetration of German-American cultural groups and influence over some American politicians, and Roosevelt’s moves to prepare America for war. We conclude with the appearance of the final pre-war incarnation of America First as an isolationist movement opposed to involvement in World War II.

Marshall, Blake, and Mike discuss the America First movement in the 1930s, including its relation to racial policies and lynchings. Marshall describes how World War I cast its long shadow over 1930s America and how new America First leaders and organizations arose to lead their followers in opposition to the New Deal. We also resume our narrative of the career of Charles Lindbergh, whose celebrity gave him a reputation for expertise in a wide variety of subjects and laid the foundation for his prominence in the America First movement.

After a failed attempt at a Swedish accent, Marshall leads our discussion of the America First movement as it related to the 1928 election, the onset of the Great Depression, the Smoot-Hawley tariffs, the Dust Bowl, FDR and the New Deal, the end of Prohibition, and the 1930's decline of the Ku Klux Klan.