This Day

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!

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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...

It’s July 31st, 2012. This day, on the campaign trail, a reporter shouts a question at Mitt Romney: “What about your gaffes?!”

Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss how the question came to be asked and why it perfectly encapsulates everything wrong with modern political journalism. Plus, why the other questions asked that day weren’t that much better.

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It’s August 19th. This day in 1791, Benjamin Banneker sent an advance copy of his almanac to Thomas Jefferson. Along with the almanac, he included a letter pleading with Jefferson to recognize slavery as a moral wrong.

Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss Banneker’s enlightenment-era appeal, Jefferson’s reaction, and how the correspondence between the two helped galvanize the abolitionist movement.

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It’s August 17th. This day in 1979, a young college student by the name of James Dallas Egber III disappeared into a steam tunnel below his university, intending to commit suicide. But the story of his disappearance became a media - and moral - panic because of his affinity for the fantasy role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons.

Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss what we know and don’t know about Egber’s troubled life, and wh...

It's August 15th. This day in 2017, President Donald Trump gave a press conference in which he offered remarks about the violence that took place in Charlottesville, VA a couple days before.

Jody, NIki, and Kellie discuss the roots of the white supremacist rallies and violence in Charlottesville, as well as Trump's comments that there were "very fine people on both sides." Those comments have since been contested and decont...

It's August 13th. This day in 1846, Henry David Thoreau is thrown in jail -- for one night -- for refusing to pay his back taxes.

Jody, NIki, and Kellie discuss why Thoreau objected to the poll tax, and how his political stances intersected with the more personal work that emerged from his two years living on Walden Pond.

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It's August 7th. This day in 1945, the US has bombed the Japanese city of Hiroshima, and two days later would drop a nuclear weapon on Nagasaki.

Jody, Niki, and Kellie are joined by author and journalist Garrett Graff to discuss the 80th anniversary of the bombings, how they played into the final months of WWII -- and what perspectives we are losing as the memories of WWII slip away.

Garrett has a new oral history of the mak...

It's August 5th. This day in 1944, a crucial moment in World War II history, a series of internment camps are being set up in Texas. Unlike the more widely known camps on the US West Coast, these camps held not only Japanese Americans but also individuals of Japanese, German, and Italian descent from Latin America, who were deported to this country.

Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss why the US was bringing people into the coun...

One of the biggest stories today, in 2025, is that Texas Democracts have left the state and are in Illinois, looking to hold up drastic redistricting legislation proposed by the GOP. In 2020, we recorded an episode about another time that Texas Dems fled the state to stop redestricting... 

We're bringing it to you now as part of our ongoing series to provide some historical context for stories playing out in American politi...

Last episode, we talked about the history of historical markers, and what they indicate about the present. Today, a tour through some of our favorite examples of strange and controversial markers from around the country. Be sure to share your favorite historical marker in our newsletter chat!

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It's July 29th. This day in 1913, Pennsylvania passed a law that would establish a system for adding historical markers and plaques around their state. Over the coming decades, other states would follow suit, and into the first half of the 20th century, the United States saw a flourishing of those road-side historical markers.

Jody, NIki, and Kellie discuss why there was such an appetite for historical commemoration in the ...

It's July 24th. This day in 1892, labor activist Alexander Berkman attempts to assasinate industrialist Henry Clay Frick, head of the Carnegie Steel Corporation.

Jody, NIki, and Kellie discuss the ratcheting tensions around the Homestead mill strike, and why Berman thought this "propaganda of the deed" would arouse class solidarity.

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It's July 22nd. This day in 1934, gangster John Dillinger is killed by federal agents while walking out of a movie theater in Chicago.

Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss the media environment that helped turn Dillinger into a star, and how J Edgar Hoover used the showdown with him and other gangsters to build the FBI as we know it.

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It's July 17th. This day in 1902, a New York engineer by the name of Willis Haviland Carrier is trying to figure out a system for keeping printing machinery cool -- and ends up developing the technology that would lead to air conditioning.

Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss how quickly Carrier's invention spread, and how air conditioning changed everything from urban development to political productivity.

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It's July 14th. This day in 1972, Russian agricultural officials are in New York City cutting deals with American farmers for surplus U.S. wheat. Before the U.S. government could realize what was happening, the U.S.S.R. had snapped up almost a quarter of the American crop.

Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss why the Russians were so desperate for grain, why the U.S. was caught off guard -- and how the ripple effects of this purc...

This episode is part of our "Some Sunday Context" series, new conversations and favorites from the archives that give some context for the biggest stories of the moment. Today: with a new Superman movie leading to a whole discourse about what he represents, we revisit a conversation with NPR's Glen Weldon about the comic book origins of the Man of Steel, and how he's always reflected the politics of this country throghout ...

It's July 10th. This day in 1868, the federal government officially dismantled the Department of Education -- it would be more than a 100 years before it was re-established.

Jody, NIki, and Kellie discuss why there was a federal push to promote education in the wake of the Civil War, and why the fight against it feels so resonant to the anti-DOE efforts today.

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It's July 7th. This day in 1850, a man by the name of James Strang has proclaimed himself the true inheritor of the Mormon church -- and set up a colony on Beaver Island in Michigan.

Jody, NIki, and Kellie discuss a time of religious awakening in America, how Strang convinced his followers that he was their leader, and how he ruled over his flock of 2500 acolytes. Also: buried treasure.

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