This Day (An America 250 History Show)

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...

Our conversation about the 2008 financial crisis continues with a look at the decision to bail out the banks, the response by the Obama and McCain campaigns, and how the seeds for our era of economic populism got planted.

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For the thirty-first installment of "50 Weeks That Shaped America," we go to fairly recent history -- the spring and summer of 2008, when the US banking industry began to collapse on the back of instability in the housing market. Jody, Niki, and Kellie revisit the world of Credit Default Swaps, Subprime mortgages, and a steady collapse of financial institutions. All while the Bush administration was flailing and Obama and McCain ar...

This past week we did a two-parter on the Scopes "monkey trial" in 1925 -- today we bring you an episode from the archives about the repeal of the Butler Act in 1967, and the way that evolution worked its way into curriculums across the country.

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Our conversation about the so-called "Monkey Trial" continues with a showdown between Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan. Jody, Niki, and Kellie then discuss how the verdict in the trial didn't capture the impact it would have, and how the story of the trial has resonated through other eras -- including through the play and film "Inherit The Wind."

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For the thirtieth installment of "50 Weeks That Shaped America," we go to 1925 and a small courthouse in the town of Dayton, Tennessee, and a trial over the teaching of evolution in public schools. Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss why it took 50 years since the theory of evolution was first proposed for it to come to a head in a trial like this; the flamboyant lawyers at the heart of the case; and the circus that surrounded a trial t...