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PODCAST

This Day

Jody Avirgan & Radiotopia

To mark our 250th birthday, “This Day” presents "50 Weeks That Shaped America," a series of deep dives into the stories that brought us to this moment. "This Day" takes you beyond the head-spinning headlines of today and into the unexpected historical moments that have shaped American politics and culture. Hosted by Jody Avirgan (538), and historians Nicole Hemmer (Vanderbilt), and Kellie Carter Jackson (Wellesley), each episode explores a moment from that day in U.S. political history to

history

All Episodes

13:32

The Penny Is Dead [Some Sunday Context]

This Day ·

2025/11/16

Welcome to our Sunday Context series, where we try and bring you new conversations and episodes from the archives to give a little context for the news of the day. Today, a look at the very first one-cent coins, as the US minted the very last new penny......It’s April 20th. This day in 1787, Congress authorized the production of the country’s first coin.Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss the “Fugio cent,” designed — some say over-designed — by Ben Franklin, and what it meant for a new country

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26:27

Sesame Street Premieres (1969)

This Day ·

2025/11/13

We continue with part two of our look at the birth of Sesame Street. Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss the show's premier, how it was received -- and what the program has meant to them over the years.Sign up for our America250 Watch newsletter, where you'll also get links and lots more historical tidbits.https://thisdaypod.substack.com/Find out more about the show at thisdaypod.comThis Day In Esoteric Political History is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX.Your support helps foster

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24:54

The Birth of Sesame Street (1969)

This Day ·

2025/11/11

It's November 11th. This day in 1969, a new show for children is on the airwaves -- Sesame Street.Jody, Niki, and Kellie dive into a two-part look at the birth of this new show, from the big ideas about television and children's psychology, to the set design and use of puppets.Sign up for our America250 Watch newsletter, where you'll also get links and lots more historical tidbits.https://thisdaypod.substack.com/Find out more about the show at thisdaypod.comThis Day In Esoteric Political

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24:49

The Sewer Socialist Mayor (1916)

This Day ·

2025/11/04

It's Election Day in many parts of the country, including in New York City, which may elect a Democratic Socialist mayor. 100 years ago, many cities in the US had socialist mayors, who came to be known as "sewer socialists" for their relentless focus on city services.Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss Milwaukee's history of electing socialist mayors, how they found a foothold in day-to-day issues -- and what Zohran Mamdani's rise says about the revival of this brand of socialism.Sign up for our

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24:13

Dizzy Gillespie For President (1964)

This Day ·

2025/10/28

It's October 28th. This day in 1964, the presidential election is in the home stretch, with candidates like Lyndon B Johnson, Barry Goldwater -- and Dizzy Gillespie?Jody, NIki, and Kellie discuss the only-half-joking candidacy of the legendary jazz trumpeter, and the intersection of entertainment and politics in that era. Plus: the power of great merch.Sign up for our America250 Watch newsletter, where you'll also get links and lots more historical

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11:21

The Memory Palace: This Weekend's Teach-In

This Day ·

2025/10/24

This Sunday, we are convening a teach-in in Washington DC with our friend Nate DiMeo of The Memory Palace. Here is Nate's latest episode, where he discusses the path to this event and the need to defend the work of history and museums.Find out more information about the teach in here.Sign up for our America250 Watch newsletter, where you'll also get links and lots more historical tidbits.https://thisdaypod.substack.com/Find out more about the show at thisdaypod.comThis Day In Esoteric

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24:17

The (Actual) Tree Of Liberty

This Day ·

2025/10/23

It's October 22nd. This day in 1999, in Annapolis, MD, the last of the so-called "Liberty Trees" was cut down.Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss the original liberty trees that served as gathering spots for political ideas to be shared -- and political violence to play out -- during the American revolution. And they make the case for bringing back gatherings-under-trees as a political act.Sign up for our America250 Watch newsletter, where you'll also get links and lots more historical

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25:15

A Toxic Town Fights Back (1982)

This Day ·

2025/10/21

It's October 21st. This day in 1982, residents of Warren County, NC are fighting back against plans to dump tons of PCB-laden dirt in their local landfill.Jody, NIki, and Kellie discuss how Warren County came to be a target of this environmental disaster, how residents banded together, and the legacy of "environmental racism."Sign up for our America250 Watch newsletter, where you'll also get links and lots more historical tidbits.https://thisdaypod.substack.com/Find out more about the show

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31:11

Teddy Roosevelt's "Race Suicide" Fears (1903) w/...

This Day ·

2025/10/16

It's 1903. This day, Teddy Roosevelt is visiting Ellis Island amid a fierce conversation about American immigration policy.Jody, Niki, and Kellie are joined by Andrew Porwancher of Arizona State to discuss how Roosevelt's views on immigration were always shifting, from a humanitarian instinct to electoral concerns to scientific ideas about racial superiority. They also discuss the blunt language used around race and immigration at the time, including Roosevelt's fears that the "right" kind

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24:27

The Elaine Massacre (1919)

This Day ·

2025/09/30

It's September 30th. This day in 1919, a bloody racial conflict is breaking out in the Arkansas Delta.Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss how a push to organize sharecroppers, combined with rumors and a frenzied media led to possibly hundreds of Black residents being killed by white mobs.Sign up for our America250 Watch newsletter, where you'll also get links and lots more historical tidbits.https://thisdaypod.substack.com/Find out more about the show at thisdaypod.comThis Day In Esoteric

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17:28

The Great Crush Train Crash (1896)

This Day ·

2025/09/16

It's September 16th. This day in 1896, a railroad executive named William Crush (really) has a brilliant idea: take two trains and hurtle them towards each other in the middle of the Texas prairie.Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss why Crush had this idea, the incredible hype around the event -- and how it went exactly the way you'd expect.Don't forget to sign up for our America250 Watch newsletter, where you'll also get links and lots more historical

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22:40

The Irish-Americans Fighting For Mexico (1847)

This Day ·

2025/09/11

It's 1847. This day, a battalion of Irish immigrants are hung by the U.S. Army for deserting to the Mexican side in the Mexican-American War.Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss how the "San Patricios Battallion" was formed, why Irish immigrants might feel more allegiance to Mexico than the United States, and how this group became martyrs in both Mexico and Ireland.Don't forget to sign up for our America250 Watch newsletter, where you'll also get links and lots more historical

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19:21

The Hummer Takes Over (2001)

This Day ·

2025/09/09

It's September 9th. This day in 2001, a nationwide advertising campaign is underway for The Hummer truck, which has recently been taken over by GM and is poised to be everywhere.Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss how the Hummer moved from the Gulf War to US streets, was all over hip-hop videos, and how it came to define a form of agressive American masculinity that is resurging today.Don't forget to sign up for our America250 Watch newsletter, where you'll also get links and lots more

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23:04

Fred Tuttle Goes From Mockumentary to Senate...

This Day ·

2025/09/04

It's September 4th. This day in 1998, an elderly Vermont farmer by the name of Fred Tuttle has all of a sudden found himself as the Republican Senate candidate, after initially entering the race as a joke.Jody, Niki, and Kelllie discuss how Tuttle first came to attention by staring in a mockumentary, why Vermonters started to actually support him, and how his unlikely candidacy presaged an era of populist-celebrity politics.Don't forget to sign up for our America250 Watch newsletter, where

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18:31

Alaska vs. Ohio: Mt McKinley To Denali And Back Again...

This Day ·

2025/09/02

We're back with new episodes! Today, it's September 2nd, 2015. The Obama administration has just signed paperwork to re-name North America's tallest mountain from Mt McKinley to Denali, its traditional Alaskan name.Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss why the Alaskan mountain was named for an Ohio politician to begin with, the sketchy political maneuvering that protected that name for decades -- and the back and forth over the last decade around renaming the summit.Don't forget to sign up for our

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19:40

Jefferson Gets An Anti-Slavery Appeal (1791) [Archive...

This Day ·

2025/08/17

It’s August 19th. This day in 1791, Benjamin Banneker sent an advance copy of his almanac to Thomas Jefferson. Along with the almanac, he included a letter pleading with Jefferson to recognize slavery as a moral wrong.Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss Banneker’s enlightenment-era appeal, Jefferson’s reaction, and how the correspondence between the two helped galvanize the abolitionist movement.Don't forget to sign up for our America250 Watch newsletter, where you'll also get links and lots

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20:35

Moral Panics, D&D, Steam Tunnels and More (1979)...

This Day ·

2025/08/14

It’s August 17th. This day in 1979, a young college student by the name of James Dallas Egber III disappeared into a steam tunnel below his university, intending to commit suicide. But the story of his disappearance became a media - and moral - panic because of his affinity for the fantasy role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons.Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss what we know and don’t know about Egber’s troubled life, and why the D&D narrative was so pervasive.Don't forget to sign up for

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28:22

Trump On Charlottesville: "Very Fine People" (2017)...

This Day ·

2025/08/12

It's August 15th. This day in 2017, President Donald Trump gave a press conference in which he offered remarks about the violence that took place in Charlottesville, VA a couple days before.Jody, NIki, and Kellie discuss the roots of the white supremacist rallies and violence in Charlottesville, as well as Trump's comments that there were "very fine people on both sides." Those comments have since been contested and decontextualized by his supporters.If you want a deeper dive on the Unite

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16:25

The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail (1846) [Archive...

This Day ·

2025/08/10

It's August 13th. This day in 1846, Henry David Thoreau is thrown in jail -- for one night -- for refusing to pay his back taxes.Jody, NIki, and Kellie discuss why Thoreau objected to the poll tax, and how his political stances intersected with the more personal work that emerged from his two years living on Walden Pond.Don't forget to sign up for our America250 Watch newsletter, where you'll also get links and lots more historical tidbits.https://thisdaypod.substack.com/Find out more about

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32:36

Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and The Brutal Calculus of WWII...

This Day ·

2025/08/07

It's August 7th. This day in 1945, the US has bombed the Japanese city of Hiroshima, and two days later would drop a nuclear weapon on Nagasaki.Jody, Niki, and Kellie are joined by author and journalist Garrett Graff to discuss the 80th anniversary of the bombings, how they played into the final months of WWII -- and what perspectives we are losing as the memories of WWII slip away.Garrett has a new oral history of the making of the atomic bomb called "The Devil Reached Toward The Sky" --

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142 results

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