Randall Woods Contributes to New History Channel Podcast on JFK Assassination

University of Arkansas

Randall B. Woods, Distinguished Professor of history

Randall Woods, Distinguished Professor in the Department of History, recently lent his expertise to the latest season of 24 Hours After, a podcast produced by the History Channel and hosted by Steve Gillon, professor of history at the University of Oklahoma. This season's episodes focus on 24 Hours After: The JFK Assassination.

The first of eight episodes premiered on Nov. 22, which marked the 59th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Texas, with new episodes appearing every Tuesday through Jan. 17, 2023. Professor Woods appears in interviews in three episodes of the series, including Episode 2, "The Vice President," which premiered on Nov. 29, and in Episode 6, "The Advisors," and Episode 8, "The Aftermath," which will premiere in January 2023. 

In an interview with People magazine, Gillon described the impact of the current season's focus on JFK. "What's unique is most of the podcast deals with what happens after the shots were fired," he said. "For nearly six decades, there has been a fascination with the assassination and who shot JFK, but we are looking at what happened in the critical 24 hours after, focusing on the human response to the horrible events of that day."

The individual episodes accomplish this by following the acts of key individuals, including Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, first lady Jacqueline Kennedy and the president's assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald. 

Woods was brought into the series for his expertise on American politics and foreign affairs in the decades after the Second World War. In Episode 2, he speaks about the actions of Vice President Johnson in the immediate aftermath of the assassination. Woods sets the stage by explaining aspects of Johnson's rise to power before discussing his role in the Kennedy Administration and his reaction to the events of Nov. 22. Johnson had been at the rear of the motorcade in Dallas, and, as Woods will explain in future episodes, he had to overcome his own sense of fear and confusion to face the challenges of ascertaining the scope and purpose of the attack while responding to the needs of a nation in shock and mourning. 

Woods has been a member of the faculty at the U of A since 1971, and he is the author of more than a dozen volumes on U.S. history. His books include Prisoners of Hope: Lyndon B. Johnson, The Great Society, and The Limits of Liberalism; LBJ: Architect of American Ambition; Quest for Identity: America since 1945; and Vietnam and the American Political Tradition: The Politics of Dissent. His most recent book is Shadow Warrior: William Egan Colby and the CIA, and he is completing a new manuscript on the life and politics of President John Quincy Adams. 

24 Hours After: The JFK Assassination is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and other podcast platforms.