This Day (An America 250 History Show)

For the thirty-eighth installment of “50 Weeks That Shaped America” we go to October of 1859, and abolitionist John Brown's raid on the munitions depot in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. First, we trace Brown's upbringing and anti-slavery activism -- and try to place him in the larger context of the abolitionist movement throughout the country. Join our America250 newsletter community ! Subscribe fo...

Today we present a show we think you'll love: "The Speaker" from KQED Radio. Before her historic Speakership, even before she got to the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi worked for years outside the spotlight as an official in the California Democratic party while she raised her family in San Francisco. That was until 1987, when tragic circumstances led her to do something she hadn’t conside...

Our conversation about FDR and polio continues with a look at how his public image obscured the fact that he was in a wheelchair -- while the story of his battle with polio also him serve as a champion of the downtrodden. Plus: Will we ever see an "openly" disabled president in our lifetime? Join our America250 newsletter community ! Subscribe for free to get the latest news and analysis of how Am...

For the thirty-seventh installment of “50 Weeks That Shaped America” we go to the 1920s and the moment Franklin Delano Roosevelt contracted polio. We look at how the disease terrified the American public, how FDR contracted it, and how it shaped his public and private life throughout his three terms as president. Join our America250 newsletter community ! Subscribe for free to get the latest news...

Every Sunday during our month-long collaboration with the Charles F. Kettering Foundation, Jody Avirgan chats with Alex Lovit, host of the Kettering podcast "The Context." The story of Citizens United continues with a look at the state of money in our current elections. Jody and Alex discuss the staggering amounts of dark money guiding our elections, and some of the efforts to reform. Plus, reflec...

All this month, we're partnering with the Charles F. Kettering Foundation for a series called "Democracy Under Construction." You can find out more about their work at kettering.org and listen to their podcast "The Context" at kettering.org/thecontext The Citizens United story continues with the case itself — a 90-minute anti-Hillary documentary that became the pretext for one of the most sweeping...

All this month, we're partnering with the Charles F. Kettering Foundation for a series called "Democracy Under Construction." You can find out more about their work at kettering.org and listen to their podcast "The Context" at kettering.org/thecontext For the thirty-sixth installment of "50 Weeks That Shaped America" we go to 2010 and the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision — which enshrined...

Every Sunday during our month-long collaboration with the Charles F. Kettering Foundation, Jody Avirgan chats with Alex Lovit, host of the Kettering podcast "The Context." Today, they follow up on the conversation about the Southern realignment in the 1960s, as White voters shifted to the Republican party -- and the party embraced a strategy to woo them. Jody and Alex discuss the mix of cultural a...

All this month, we're partnering with the Charles F. Kettering Foundation for a series called "Democracy Under Construction." You can find out more about their work at kettering.org and listen to their podcast "The Context" at kettering.org/thecontext The story of Southern realignment continues with the Southern Strategy itself -- how Nixon looked at the 1964 and 1968 electoral maps and saw an ope...

All this month, we're partnering with the Charles F. Kettering Foundation for a series called "Democracy Under Construction." You can find out more about their work at kettering.org and listen to their podcast "The Context" at kettering.org/thecontext For the thirty-fifth installment of "50 Weeks That Shaped America" we go to 1964, and a moment when the two major parties in this country, in a sens...

Every Sunday during our month-long collaboration with the Charles F. Kettering Foundation, Jody Avirgan chats with Alex Lovit, host of the Kettering podcast "The Context." Today, they follow up on the conversation about Seneca Falls by looking at how the movement for women's rights fractured after the Civil War -- and what it says about the long, winding road to progress. Be sure to check out “The...

All this month, we're partnering with the Charles F. Kettering Foundation for a series called "Democracy Under Construction." You can find out more about their work at kettering.org and listen to their podcast "The Context" at kettering.org/thecontext Our conversation about Seneca Falls continues with a look at what happened after the convention -- and how the story of the women's rights movement...

All this month, we're partnering with the Charles F. Kettering Foundation for a series called "Democracy Under Construction." You can find out more about their work at kettering.org and listen to their podcast "The Context" at kettering.org/thecontext For the thirty-fourth installment of "50 Weeks That Shaped America" we go to western New York in the summer of 1848. Jody, Niki, and Kellie are join...

Every Sunday during our month-long collaboration with the Charles F. Kettering Foundation, Jody Avirgan chats with Alex Lovit, host of the Kettering podcast "The Context." Today, they follow up on what the battle over the Bill of Rights was really about, and whether the US is forever locked into the two-party system that the Founders fell in to. Be sure to check out “The Context” at kettering.org/...

All this month, we’re partnering with the Charles F. Kettering Foundation for a series called “Democracy Under Construction.” You can find out more about their work at kettering.org and listen to their podcast “The Context” at kettering.org/thecontext   Our conversation about the Bill of Rights continues with a look at how the fight over the document led to the first hard-line parties in the Unite...

All this month, we’re partnering with the Charles F. Kettering Foundation for a series called “Democracy Under Construction.” You can find out more about their work at kettering.org and listen to their podcast “The Context” at kettering.org/thecontext For the thirty-third installment of “50 Weeks That Shaped America” we go to 1789. The founders spent months that summer hammering out a Constitution...

This past week we talked about Woodstock and the mix of culture, politics, and nostalgia wrapped up in the most famous music festival in U.S. history. Today, Jody chats with Craig Finn, lead singer of The Hold Steady, about what it's like to play music festivals, why they seem to be coming back, and how he mixes his politics into his songs. You can watch his recent re-working of "Constructive Summ...

Our conversation about Woodstock continues with a look at the instant nostalgia for the event, how it captures the mix of culture and politics in the Baby Boomer generation... and how the myth of the event has been re-shaped over the years. Join our America250 newsletter community ! Subscribe for free to get the latest news and analysis of how America250 is playing out. Paying subscribers get acce...

For the thirty-second installment of "50 Weeks That Shaped America," we go pehaps the most iconic cultural event in US history -- the Woodstock "Aquarian Exposition" concert in Bethel, New York. Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss the larger context of culture and politics in Summer 1969, how the idea for the concert came together, and who ended up on the bill. Join our America250 newsletter community...

This past week, we did a two-parter on the 2008 financial crisis. In it, we discussed how This American Life's " Giant Pool of Money " episode helped explain the economic collapse to a lot of listerners, our crew included. Today, a bonus conversation between Jody and Alex Blumberg, who co-reported the piece with Adam Davidson -- the two of them went on to start Planet Money. Jody and Alex discuss...

Our conversation about the 2008 financial crisis continues with a look at the decision to bail out the banks, the response by the Obama and McCain campaigns, and how the seeds for our era of economic populism got planted. Join our America250 newsletter community ! Subscribe for free to get the latest news and analysis of how America250 is playing out. Paying subscribers get access to early, ad-fre...

For the thirty-first installment of "50 Weeks That Shaped America," we go to fairly recent history -- the spring and summer of 2008, when the US banking industry began to collapse on the back of instability in the housing market. Jody, Niki, and Kellie revisit the world of Credit Default Swaps, Subprime mortgages, and a steady collapse of financial institutions. All while the Bush administration w...

This past week we did a two-parter on the Scopes "monkey trial" in 1925 -- today we bring you an episode from the archives about the repeal of the Butler Act in 1967, and the way that evolution worked its way into curriculums across the country. Join our America250 newsletter community ! Subscribe for free to get the latest news and analysis of how America250 is playing out. Paying subscribers get...

Our conversation about the so-called "Monkey Trial" continues with a showdown between Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan. Jody, Niki, and Kellie then discuss how the verdict in the trial didn't capture the impact it would have, and how the story of the trial has resonated through other eras -- including through the play and film "Inherit The Wind." Join our America250 newsletter community...

For the thirtieth installment of "50 Weeks That Shaped America," we go to 1925 and a small courthouse in the town of Dayton, Tennessee, and a trial over the teaching of evolution in public schools. Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss why it took 50 years since the theory of evolution was first proposed for it to come to a head in a trial like this; the flamboyant lawyers at the heart of the case; and t...