This Day (An America 250 History Show)

*** The Radiotopia fundraiser is happening right now! Support this show by becoming a member today: https://on.prx.org/3Ehr3B6 *** It’s December 25th. Merry Christmas! In 1988, rumors began to swirl about Nancy Reagan using astrology to make decisions within the White House. The Reagans downplayed the story, but soon reporters began to dig into their longstanding use of star charts and numbers, da...

*** The Radiotopia fundraiser is happening right now! Support this show by becoming a member today: https://on.prx.org/3Ehr3B6 *** It’s December 22nd. In 2008, Dan Connell, a technology consultant, died in a small plane crash in Ohio. Connell had been a longtime consultant for GOP campaigns, and his death set off all sorts of rumors and conspiracies reaching back to questions about the 2004 presid...

*** The Radiotopia fundraiser is happening right now! Support this show by becoming a member today: https://on.prx.org/3Ehr3B6 *** It’s December 20th. In 1983, ex-President Gerald Ford appeared on the hit soap opera “Dynasty,” playing himself and delivering a six-word line — which most TV critics still went out of their way to pan. Jody, NIki, and Kellie discuss the appearance and the history of p...

*** The Radiotopia fundraiser is happening right now! Support this show by becoming a member today: https://on.prx.org/3Ehr3B6 *** It’s December 15th. In 1960, a New Hampshire man lined his car with dynamite and planned to ram in to the limousine in which President-Elect John F Kennedy was riding. He ditched his plan at the last second, and was arrested shortly after. Jody, Niki, and Kellie discus...

*** The Radiotopia fundraiser is happening right now! Support this show by becoming a member today: https://on.prx.org/3Ehr3B6 *** It’s December 13th. In 2008, FBI agents knock on the door of financier Bernie Madoff and arrest him for running a decades-long Ponzi scheme. Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss how Madoff was able to get away with it for so long, why it all collapsed — and the man people wh...

*** The Radiotopia fundraiser is happening right now! Support this show by becoming a member today: https://on.prx.org/3Ehr3B6 *** On December 14th, 2012, the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School killed 28 people. Almost immediately conspiracy theories about the tragedy began to spread, promulgated in large part by people like Alex Jones. On the 10th anniversary of the event, Jody, Niki, and K...

*** The Radiotopia fundraiser is happening right now! Support this show by becoming a member today: https://on.prx.org/3Ehr3B6 *** It’s December 8th. In 1993, Senator Joe Lieberman announces hearings to air concerns about violence in video games. Jody, Niki and Kellie discuss how the moral panic about video game violence came to be, and how there will always be something for parents to freak out a...

*** The Radiotopia fundraiser is happening right now! Support this show by becoming a member today: https://on.prx.org/3Ehr3B6 *** It’s December 6th. In 1832, South Carolina threatens to ignore a number of US tariff laws, and begins to threaten succession. Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss the “nullification crisis” and whether the country could have erupted into Civil War 30 years earlier than it ev...

*** The Radiotopia fundraiser is happening right now! Support this show by becoming a member today: https://on.prx.org/3Ehr3B6 *** It’s December 4th. Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss the Colored Conventions movement, which provided and intellectual and political space for Black leaders in the years before, during, and after the Civil War. Check out the Colored Conventions database at coloredconventi...

*** The Radiotopia fundraiser is happening right now! Support this show by becoming a member today: https://on.prx.org/3Ehr3B6 *** It’s December 1st. In late 1971, a man by the name of Ray Tomlinson sends what is generally considered to be the first email message. He has virtually zero memory of what it actually was. Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss why the history of this innovation is so murky, an...

*** The Radiotopia fundraiser is happening right now! Support this show by becoming a member today: https://on.prx.org/3Ehr3B6 *** It’s November 29th. In 1938, weeks after Kristallnacht, a plan emerges to accept Jewish refugees from Europe and settle them in Alaska. This was an attempt to skirt strict U.S. immigration quotas. Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss the plan and the larger context of anti-s...

*** The Radiotopia fundraiser is happening right now! Support this show by becoming a member today: https://on.prx.org/3Ehr3B6 *** It’s November 27th. We continue our chat with our producer, Jacob Feldman, about how the show comes together and some of the lessons he’s learned along the way of helping make 400 episodes. Thanks to all of you who have been there along for the ride. Sign up for our ne...

*** The Radiotopia fundraiser is happening right now! Support this show by becoming a member today: https://on.prx.org/3Ehr3B6 *** It’s November 24th. And this is our 400th episode! We chat with our producer, Jacob Feldman, about how the show comes together and some of the lessons he’s learned along the way of helping make 400 episodes. Thanks to all of you who have been there along for the ride....

*** The Radiotopia fundraiser is happening right now! Support this show by becoming a member today: https://on.prx.org/3Ehr3B6 *** It’s November 22nd. In 1910, a group of the most powerful bankers in the country were invited to the secluded Jekyll Island, off the coast of Georgia, to develop a plan for what would eventually become the Federal Reserve. Jody, Niki, and Kellie are joined by Jacob Gol...

*** The Radiotopia fundraiser is happening right now! Support this show by becoming a member today: https://on.prx.org/3Ehr3B6 *** It’s November 20th. In 1923, in Cincinnati, a referendum to limit the speed of cars fails after massive lobbying on the part of the auto industry. The referendum came up for a vote after tens of thousands of people signed a petition asking to limit the damage cars coul...

*** The Radiotopia fundraiser is happening right now! Support this show by becoming a member today: https://on.prx.org/3Ehr3B6 *** It’s November 17th. In 1914, activist William Monroe Trotter confronted President Wilson, in the Oval Office, over the treatment and degradation of Black Americans. Wilson became enraged at the conversation and threw Trotter out of the White House. Jody, Niki, and Kell...

*** The Radiotopia fundraiser is happening right now! Support this show by becoming a member today: https://on.prx.org/3Ehr3B6 *** It’s November 15th. This day in 1972, citizens of Colorado rejected a proposal that would have funded the 1976 Olympics Games. Denver had been awarded the games two years earlier, but now local residents and officials were starting to question the economic and environm...

*** The Radiotopia fundraiser is happening right now! Support this show by becoming a member today: https://on.prx.org/3Ehr3B6 *** It’s November 12th. This day in 2012, the GOP is licking its wounds after an underwhelming election result. It begins a process of self-reflection that would result in the “Growth and Opportunity Report,” a blueprint for a party that turns off fewer voters and embraces...

*** The Radiotopia fundraiser is happening right now! Support this show by becoming a member today: https://on.prx.org/3Ehr3B6 *** It’s December 3rd. Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss the Colored Conventions movement, and how Black leaders found a space for agency and progress before, during, and in the aftermath of the Civil War. Sign up for our newsletter! Find out more at thisdaypod.com And don’t...

It’s election day here in the United States. We hope you’ve already voted, or maybe are reading this while you’re standing in line. Today, we bring you an episode we originally did on election day in 2020 — a look at the history of how election results get conveyed, and the tension between speed and accuracy. Our guest is Jad Abumrad, former host of Radiolab. Enjoy, and happy voting! Sign up for o...

In the run-up to the November election, we’re doing a number of episodes that may help you track and process the current news. This week, it’s Mid-Terms week, looking at a few of our favorite mid-term elections that planted historical seeds for this year’s contest. Today, we look at an incident in 1981, where GOP-backed forces intimidated Black and Latino voters on Election Day as part of a ‘ballo...

In the run-up to the November election, we’re doing a number of episodes that may help you track and process the current news. This week, it’s Mid-Terms week, looking at a few of our favorite mid-term elections that planted historical seeds for this year’s contest. Today, we look at the 1826 mid-term elections, where voters rebuked President John Quincy Adams after feeling that he’d been illegitim...

In the run-up to the November election, we’re doing a number of episodes that may help you track and process the current news. This week, it’s Mid-Terms week, looking at a few of our favorite mid-term elections that planted historical seeds for this year’s contest. Today, we look at the 1946 mid-term elections, where Republicans scored a sweeping victory and America offered a rebuke of the FDR era...

In the run-up to the November election, we’re doing a number of episodes that may help you track and process the current news. This week, it’s Mid-Terms week, looking at a few of our favorite mid-term elections that planted historical seeds for this year’s contest. Today, we look at the 2010 Delaware senate race, where Christine O’Donnell faced accusations and rumors that she was a witch in high s...

In the run-up to the November election, we’re doing a number of episodes that may help you track and process the current news. This week, it’s Polling Week, looking at some interesting polling-related stories with our friend Harry Enten of CNN. Today, a look at the fundamental forces that underlie midterm elections, and ways to measure them, such as the generic ballot. Be sure to catch Harry on CN...