This Day (An America 250 History Show)

It's November 6th. This day in 1868, Martha Hughes Cannon becomes the first female state senator in US history, when she beats her husband in a Utah election. Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss Cannon's career as a doctor, her move into women's rights and then politics -- and how the question of polygamy hovered over the entire political landscape of Utah in that era. Sign up for our America250 Watch...

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 --...

It's October 30th. This day (technically November 2nd) in 1982, a Honda Accord rolls off the assembly line at a new plant in Marysville, Ohio -- the first Japanese car made by American workers. Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss the rise of Japanese auto manufacturing throuhgout the 1970s, the arguments over protectionism and American manufacturing that arose as a result -- and the compomise during th...

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...

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. http...

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 fo...

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 lin...

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...

It's October 13th. This day in 2013, the healthcare.gov website is a total fiasco. It had launched a couple weeks earlier and was immediately unusable, with only six people being able to enroll in the Obamacare exchanges on the first day. Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss why the website was so broken, the blame game that ensued, and the lessons about implementation found in the website's sordid tale...

It's October 9th. Today, we look back at the first "teach-ins" at the University of Michigan in 1965, and discuss the power of gathering together to learn and teach. Plus, we announce our very own teach-in, taking place in Washington DC on October 26th! Jody, NIki, and Kellie are joined by Nate DiMeo, host of our fellow Radiotopia show "The Memory Palace," who is co-organizing the upcoming teach-i...

Today, we look back an episode we did about October 2013, when the United States government shut down after the Congress was unable to agree to a new budget proposal, that had been saddled with provisions that would have defunded Obamacare. Jody and Niki are joined by NBC/MSNBC correspondent Steve Kornacki to discuss the shutdown, how Ted Cruz used it to increase his profile, and why we may be suf...

On Sundays, we try to bring you new conversations and episodes from the archives that provide a little context for the news of 2025. Today: a look back at the very first government shutdown, and how shutdowns have wrapped up budget fights and larger ideological battles before. Sign up for our America250 Watch newsletter, where you'll also get links and lots more historical tidbits. https://thisday...

It's October 2nd. This day in 1989, Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start The Fire," which name-checks a ton of events that took place from the 50s through the 80s, is rocketing up the charts. Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss why Joel felt compelled to write the song, some of the more obscure references in the song -- and whether they are buying Joel's historical argument presented in the song. Sign up for...

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:/...

This week, we're bringing you two episodes that highlight periods in American history where political speech was being policied, repressed, and persecuted -- much like it is today. Today: A look back at the way speech was policed in the wake of the 9-11 attacks. Bill Maher lost his job, professors were fired, Clear Channel removed songs that mentioned airplane crashes... and the Bush White House t...

It's September 22nd. This week, we're bringing you two episodes that highlight periods in American history where political speech was being policied, repressed, and persecuted -- much like it is today. Today: A look back at "Red Channels," an anti-Communist newsletter that started to create lists, mostly in the entertainment industry, of suspected Communist sympathizers. Jody, Niki, and Kellie dis...

It's Sunday, and on Sundays we like to bring you new conversations and conversations from the archives that help provide a little context for the stories playing out today. Today, as we see a chilling effect on free speech around the country, we revisit part of our conversation on the history of universities and government funding, and how a lot of pressure was applied during the Cold War era for...

It's September 17th. This day in 1793, President Washington visits a site where construction is beginning on what would be the Capitol. Jody, NIki, and Kellie discuss how the ceremony around the laying of the cornerstone was shot through with Masonic symbolism and pageantry --- and some of the many conspiracy theories that surround the cornerstone. Don't forget to sign up for our America250 Watch...

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,...

On Sundays, we try to bring you fresh conversations and stories from the archives that give you a little context on the news playing out in front of us. Today, Jody and Niki discuss the very dish-y news that Oliver North secretly married Fawn Hall, 40 years after they worked together and testified during the Iran-Contra scandal. Then, we rerun our episode from 2021 about North running for Senate i...

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 Amer...

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...

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...

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 th...

It’s August 1st. This day in 1996, a judge ruled that Bernie Goetz still owed his victims millions of dollars in damages as a result of the “Subway Vigilante” incident some twelve years earlier. Jody, Niki, and Kellie are joined by Leon Neyfakh to discuss the subway shooting, the media frenzy surrounding Goetz, and the long legal fallout that resulted from the incident. Don't forget to sign up for...