This Day

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-in. Find more information ab...

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 suffering from shutdown fatigu...

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.

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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.

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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.

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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 told people to "watch what 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 discuss who funded Red Channel...

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 academics to pledge loyalt...

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.

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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.

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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 in 1994.

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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.

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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.

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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 populist-celebrity politic...

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 the back and forth over the l...

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.

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It’s August 26th. This day in 1814, the small town of Brookeville, MD becomes the Capitol of the United States — for one night.

Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss why Brookeville became the seat of government amidst the chaos of the War of 1812. Plus, a bonus conversation about another story on this day, from 1970 — the bombing of a research facility at the University of Wisconsin.

Thanks to Ana and Chris, the listeners who wrot...

This is audio of a video chat we recorded earlier this week in reaction to the recent attacks on the Smithsonian by the Trump administration, the conversation about slavery's legacy, and more. We released this in full video for our newsletter subscribers first -- consider subscribing to America250 Watch now to get access to all our ongoing coverage of how history is being done in the Trump era, and to support our efforts!

F...

The Trump administration has ramped up its attacks on museums and The Smithsonian. We're recoding a special reaction episode that will appear in our newsletter - sign up now to get it. In the meantime, here's an episode from the archives on the founding of the institution.

It’s August 15th. This day (actually Aug 10th) in 1846, President Polk signed into law a bill establishing the Smithsonian Institution, after almost a de...