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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

18:47

John Dillinger Is Killed, The FBI Is Born (1934)

This Day ·

2025/07/22

It's July 22nd. This day in 1934, gangster John Dillinger is killed by federal agents while walking out of a movie theater in Chicago.Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss the media environment that helped turn Dillinger into a star, and how J Edgar Hoover used the showdown with him and other gangsters to build the FBI as we know it.Help out with America 250 Watch! Subscribe to our newsletter for our ongoing coverage and commentary on how America 250 is playing

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14:42

The Great Grain Robbery (1972)

This Day ·

2025/07/15

It's July 14th. This day in 1972, Russian agricultural officials are in New York City cutting deals with American farmers for surplus U.S. wheat. Before the U.S. government could realize what was happening, the U.S.S.R. had snapped up almost a quarter of the American crop.Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss why the Russians were so desperate for grain, why the U.S. was caught off guard -- and how the ripple effects of this purchase changed everything from price controls to satellite

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20:09

The Mormon King Of Beaver Island (1850)

This Day ·

2025/07/08

It's July 7th. This day in 1850, a man by the name of James Strang has proclaimed himself the true inheritor of the Mormon church -- and set up a colony on Beaver Island in Michigan.Jody, NIki, and Kellie discuss a time of religious awakening in America, how Strang convinced his followers that he was their leader, and how he ruled over his flock of 2500 acolytes. Also: buried treasure.Help out with America 250 Watch! Subscribe to our newsletter for our ongoing coverage and commentary on how

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31:01

Wikipedia, The Last Good Place On The Internet (2003)...

This Day ·

2025/06/24

It's June 24th. In 2003, Jimmy Wales, the owner of Wikipedia, made the decision to put the site under the ownership of a non-profit company.Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss why this decision made a huge difference for the site, and reflected a lot of the ways that the Internet has worked, and not worked, in the decades since. They are joined by journalist Garrett Graff, host of a new series called "Long Shadow: Breaking The Internet." The first episode of Long Shadow is out now!Find out more

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18:06

The Forgotten Resistance To Indian Removal (1830)

This Day ·

2025/05/29

It's May 28th. This day in 1830, President Andrew Jackson has signed the Indian Removal Act into law, leading to the forcible removal of Native Americans in Georgia and elsewhere, culminating in the Trail of Tears a couple years later. But despite Jackson getting his way, there was widespread resistance at the political, legal, cultural and moral spheres to the action.Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss the way in which Native Americans and others fought Indian removal -- and how these fights

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27:32

Hippies vs. Hard Hats (1970)

This Day ·

2025/05/27

It's May 26th. This day in 1970, Richard Nixon is hosting a group of labor leaders at the White House, where they present him with a hard hat. A few weeks earlier, in New York City, construction workers had attacked tens of thousands of anti-war protesters in lower Manhattan, cheered on by Wall Street workers.Jody, NIki, and Kellie discuss how the events of that Spring realigned the cultural and political coalitions in American politics, with labor drifting towards Republican politics,

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25:07

The 100-Year Butter Battle (1904)

This Day ·

2025/05/22

It's May 21st. This day in 1904, a fight over taxing margarine reaches the Supreme Court. It's a key moment in the long fight between traditional butter and its margarine subsitute.Jody, NIki, and Kellie discuss why the fight has been so contentious, and some of the more absurd ways in which Big Butter has tried to stop the spread of margarine.Sign up for our newsletter! Get your hands on This Day merch!Find out more at thisdaypod.comThis Day In Esoteric Political History is a proud member

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25:58

The MeckDec - North Carolina's Favorite Myth (1775)...

This Day ·

2025/05/20

It's May 20th. This day in 1775, the town of Mecklenburg, North Carolina went ahead and declared independence from Britain, before anywhere else in the country had formally done so. Or, at least, that's the story that North Carolina likes to tell about itself.Jody, Niki, and Kellie are joined by Jeremy Markovich to discuss the Mecklenburg Declaration, what we really know about its origins -- and why North Carolina loves to be first.Be sure to check out Jeremy's excellent newsletter "North

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20:05

Malcolm X Turns 100 (Some Sunday Context)

This Day ·

2025/05/18

Monday, May 19th would have been Malcolm X's 100th birthday. Today, as part of our "Some Sunday Context" series, we bring you an episode we did last year about his assasination. There are a number of new books and lots of coverage about X's 100th birthday -- the story and context around his death tells us a lot about his life and legacy. We'll be back with a new episode on Tuesday!Sign up for our newsletter! Get your hands on This Day merch!Find out more at thisdaypod.comThis Day In

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24:32

SINNERS And The Deep History Of The Mississippi Delta...

This Day ·

2025/05/11

SINNERS is the hit movie of the year so far, and Ryan Coogler's epic has a lot of people looking into the history of the Mississippi Delta in the first decades of the 20th century. There aren't real vampires, but from the music to the cultural mix, the region's history deserves a deeper look.Today, as part of our "Some Sunday Context" series, we're bringing you an episode from a few years ago about the 1927 Mississppi Flood. Almost 80 years before Katrina, the "great flood" reshaped the

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17:07

The Woman Who Invented -- And Disowned -- Mother's...

This Day ·

2025/05/08

Happy Mother's Day! The holiday was invented and popularized in the first decade of the 20th century, often credited to a woman named Anna Jarvis, who had a very interesting relationship with her own mother.Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss where the idea came from, why Jarvis was so focused on it being about honoring her mother, specifically -- and how she came to regret the commercialization and popularization of the holiday.Find out more at thisdaypod.comThis Day In Esoteric Political

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42:38

The First 100 Days (Some Sunday Context)

This Day ·

2025/04/27

We're reaching the 100 day mark of Donald Trump's second term in office. 100 days has traditionally been a benchmark for assessing how productive and impactful a presidency is.Today, Jody Niki and Kellie get together for a "Some Sunday Context" conversation to look back at where the idea of "first 100 days" came from, and run through some of the more eventful starts to American presidencies -- from FDR to Lincoln to poor William Henry Harrison.Then, we discuss what from Trump's first 100

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21:27

John Paul Jones' Half-Baked Raid On British Soil (1778)

This Day ·

2025/04/24

It's April 23rd. This day in 1778, John Paul Jones leads the only American raid on British soil in the Revolutionary War.Jody, Niki and Kellie discuss Jones's spotty past, and what brought him to the port of Whitehaven, where he launched a scheme to raid the town. It did not go well, but the day wasn't a total failure, as he later stumbled into one of America's great naval victories...Sign up for our newsletter! Find out more at thisdaypod.comThis Day In Esoteric Political History is a

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21:15

Betty Ford Enters Rehab (1978)

This Day ·

2025/04/22

It's April 22nd. This Day in 1978, former First Lady Betty Ford is in the Long Beach Naval Hospital, being treated for addiction to pain killers and alcohol. Outside, a spokesperson shares the news with the country.Jody, Niki, and Kellie look at the life of Betty Ford, from dancer to First Lady -- and why it was so significant that she shared her addiction and hospitalization with the American public.Sign up for our newsletter! Find out more at thisdaypod.comThis Day In Esoteric Political

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25:53

Prisons, Photos, CECOT, Abu Ghraib, and What Shocks...

This Day ·

2025/04/20

The eyes of the world are on the images coming from a prison in El Salvador. The photos are being used as propoganda for U.S. deportation efforts; and are shocking those who care about abuse and the judicial process. For some, they are reminiscint of the photos that emerged during the Iraq War from the Abu Ghraib prison. Niki shares her thoughts as part of our "Some Sunday Context" series -- and then we return to our episode from 2023 about the Abu Ghraib photos that shocked America.This

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15:38

The Battles Of Lexington and Concord -- and Menotomy?...

This Day ·

2025/04/17

It's April 1775. This day in 1775, the Revolutionary War is sparked when British troops enter the towns of Lexington and Concord. But later that same day there's a third battle in a third town that is often forgotten.Jody, NIki, and Kellie discuss what happened in the town of Menotomy, how the fighting there was much more brutal than in Lexington and Concord -- and why it has been written out of the tidy story of the Revolution.Sign up for our newsletter! Find out more at thisdaypod.comThis

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15:19

The First Girl Scouts Cookies (1917)

This Day ·

2025/04/08

It's April 8th. And it's Girl Scouts Cookies season. This day in 1917, a troop in Muskogee, Oklahoma is baking cookies to raise funds in support of the WWI efforts. Within a decades, a full-blown cookie empire would be born.Jody, NIki, and Kellie discuss the role the cookie sales play in the larger project of the Girl Scouts, how the First Lady has always been the main booster -- and of course, which cookie flavors are the best.Sign up for our newsletter! Find out more at thisdaypod.comThis

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20:38

Booker, Thurmond, Super-Long Floor Speeches, And...

This Day ·

2025/04/06

How will this week be remembered in the history books? Will it be the week that Trump's tarrifs changed everything, or the week in which Democrats found some new energy? Jody shares his thoughts as part of our "Some Sunday Context" series -- and then we take a listen to our archive episode about Strom Thurmond's fillibuster. This was, of course, the week that New Jersey Senator Cory Booker broker Thurmond's record.Sign up for our newsletter! Find out more at thisdaypod.comThis Day In

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18:44

The Church Sancturary Showdown (1980)

This Day ·

2025/03/25

It's March 25th. This day in 1980, a church in Tucson announces that it will provide sanctuary to immigrants -- in open defiance of US law.Jody, NIki, and Kellie discuss the roots of the church sanctuary movement, the conviction of eight leaders including Reverand John Fife, and the ongoing role of religious progressivism.Sign up for our newsletter! Find out more at thisdaypod.comAnd don’t forget about Oprahdemics, hosted by Kellie, coming soon from Radiotopia.This Day In Esoteric Political

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26:37

The First State-Run Lotto (1963) w/ Ian Coss

This Day ·

2025/03/18

It's March 17th. Today (actually, March 12th) in New Hampshire kicked off its first lotto system, ushering in a new era of state-sanctioned and state-run gambling that continues to grow today.Jody, Niki, and Kellie are joined by Ian Coss, host and produer of the new series "Scratch & Win" from GBH. They discuss what the lotto was like in those early days, how it's evolved -- and whether they actually provide a fiscal solution for the states that run them.Be sure to check out Ian's full

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142 results

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