This Day (An America 250 History Show)

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 considered before: run for Congress. ...

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?

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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.

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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, reflections on our month-long partnership ...

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 rulings in Supreme Court hist...

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 corporate spending as protecte...

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 and racial issues that lead to voting...

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 opening, how coded language replaced ov...

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 sense, switched. Jody, Niki, and Kellie ...

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 Context” at kettering.or...

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 got written, rewritten, and conteste...

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 joined by Deva Woodly, Kettering Fellow ...

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/thecontext

Join our Americ...

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 United States...

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 Consti...

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 Summer" on YouTube.

And be sure to check...

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.

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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.

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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 what it was like to report on the col...