Retropod

The history of subpoenas, and the fiery congressional hearings that have captivated Americans for centuries began with a Founding Father raising his hand to say, “Investigate me!”

Sexual harassment has been existed in showbiz as long as there have been bright lights.

In the 19th century, publications both reputable and scandalous routinely blackmailed society figures caught in compromising circumstances.

Some 50 million people are projected to fill out a March Madness bracket this year. As you finish filling out yours, you might want to tip your pencil and say thanks to the late and loud Staten Island bar owner Jody Haggerty.

Harper Lee's classic novel has been causing controversy for as long as its been in print. Here's a look at the history of banning "To Kill a Mockingbird."

North Korea has long been a superpower when it comes verbal attacks.

There’s one thing that you can’t have delivered anymore that was totally normal to send by mail in the early 1900s.

Thurgood Marshall, the first African American member of the Supreme Court, took the constitutional oath of office from Hugo Black, a white associate justice who had once been a member of the Ku Klux Klan.

In 1978, Marilyn Loden gave new meaning to an image women have fought for decades.

Edythe Eyde, also known by her pen name Lisa Ben, was a visionary who fought to make lesbians visible in pop culture decades before most others had the guts to do the same.

The deadliest wildfire in U.S. history wasn’t in California.

President Abraham Lincoln had to worry about the first lady being a leaker, and it was quite a scandal.

If the order for a nuclear attack is issued, the soldiers operating the launch machine have no choice but to fire. Or do they?

In 1926, the United States received a birthday card signed by 5.5 million Polish people.

Buildings that stand as symbols of American democracy - the White House, Mount Vernon and Monticello, to name a few - were erected with the labor of those who were not free.

A dog and a cadaver deserve credit for their contributions to the invention of the telephone.

Jesse James, the most famous outlaw in history, was eventually foiled by a picture hanging crooked on a wall.

President Trump made history when he nominated a woman to become director of the Central Intelligence Agency. But while a woman leading the CIA was once unthinkable, female spies have made enormous, overlooked contributions in espionage.

Oscars night is probably the one moment around the world when people become really interested in envelopes.

The history of social media began in 1844, when Samuel F.B. Morse sent a message from Washington to Baltimore. It said, "What hath God wrought?"

Sonja Henie won three Olympic gold medals and 10 world championships, and turned her star power into as career as one of Hollywood's biggest movie stars. Meet figure skating's first megastar.

To understand the gruesome history of the death penalty, it is essential to comprehend how badly Thomas Edison wanted to zap George Westinghouse.

Whether you believe in this stuff or not, the many accounts that have spilled out of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue over two centuries give ghosts an undeniable place in the country’s history.

Historians and national security analysts have been re-examining one particular forgotten moment in the history of U.S. and North Korea conflict.

The Kinneys married in Washington, D.C., in 1874. Then, they were arrested back home in Virginia for violating the state’s laws. They fought the ruling in higher and higher courts but never won the right to stay married in their home state.