With J.D. Vance winning the Vice Presidency you'll probably hear about his wife Usha Vance being the first non-white Second Lady. This is true, but she is NOT the first non-white woman to be married to a Vice President. This is the story of Vice President Richard Johnson -- a legendary hero of the War of 1812 and the ninth Vice President of the United States -- and his wife, a slave named Julia Chinn.

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Rob Fox
https://www.instagram.com/robfoxthree/
https://twitter.com/RobFoxThree
https://www.tiktok.com/@robfoxthree

Dan Regester
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https://twitter.com/dan_regester

Teddy Roosevelt was one of the most important U.S. Presidents of the 20th century and a complete lunatic who was always up for an unneccesary challenge. Matt Cooper and Joel Benner join the show to talk about his deranged life outside of politics, The Colonel willing the Rough Riders to glory at San Juan Hill, and how he shaped football into the game we know and love today.

Subscribe to the Softcore History Patreon for hundreds of hours of extra history content including listener history questions, history movie watch-alongs, and weekly bonus episodes.

Head to FACTORMEALS.com/softcore50 and use code softcore50 to get 50% off your first box plus 20% off your next month.


Rob Fox
https://www.instagram.com/robfoxthree/
https://twitter.com/RobFoxThree
https://www.tiktok.com/@robfoxthree

Dan Regester
https://www.instagram.com/danregester/
https://twitter.com/dan_regester

Titanic Thompson would bet on anything, and usually win. And usually because he was cheating. It's one of the many reasons Titanic is the greatest gambler in American history. He hustled golf at country clubs with a young Ben Hogan. He hustled pool halls across the country with Minnesota Fats. He even cheated the man who fixed the 1919 World Series out of millions. All while dating starlets like Jean Harlow, having features written about him in Sports Illustrated, and competing in the first-ever World Series of Poker. Did Titanic Thompson live every bro's dream life?

Subscribe to the Softcore History Patreon for hundreds of hours of extra history content including listener history questions, history movie watch-alongs, and weekly bonus episodes.

Head to FACTORMEALS.com/softcore50 and use code softcore50 to get 50% off your first box plus 20% off your next month.

FOLLOW SOFTCORE HISTORY
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Rob Fox
https://www.instagram.com/robfoxthree/
https://twitter.com/RobFoxThree
https://www.tiktok.com/@robfoxthree

Dan Regester
https://www.instagram.com/danregester/
https://twitter.com/dan_regester

The 1976 murders of U.S. Army officers Captain Arthur Bonifas and First Lieutenant Mark Barrett by North Korean soldiers, which stemmed from a tree-trimming disagreement at the DMZ, provoked a forceful response from the United States in the form of Operation Paul Bunyan. SUBSCRIBE to our Patreon for exclusive audio, video, and written content.

Charles Guiteau was a failed clergyman, lawyer, bill collector, and cult member who falsely believed he played a massive role in the election of James Garfield. Feeling snubbed of a reward from the Republican Party after the inauguration of the president, this lunatic decided the only logical thing to do was to assassinate the leader of the free world. SUBSCRIBE to our Patreon for exclusive audio, video, and written content.

Another Russian mountain mass-death mystery is brought to the table and the guys have to figure out what went down. Perhaps a camping trip to Siberia might be ill-advised.

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The 1967 Koro Panic in Singapore saw hundreds of healthy men and boys rush to the hospital convinced their penises were disappearing. This and other shrinkage panics across history — such as medieval witches stealing dongs and keeping them as living, slithering, worm-like pets — highlight a male, cross-cultural fear that supernatural forces are out to steal their pieces.

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The secret location of the tomb of St. Nicholas — aka Santa Claus — has been potentially discovered in southern Turkey. But are Santa’s bones inside? Learn about the long history of Catholics pillaging Santa’s corpse and the miracles St. Nicholas performed that you definitely have NOT heard about.

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Zhang Zongchang was a Chinese general whom Time Magazine dubbed "The Basest Warlord". He was addicted to gambling and sex and relished trolling his enemies, friends, and the gods themselves. He pulled himself out of poverty and eventually became the military governor of his hometown Shandong, where he was a major player in the opium trade and one of the funnier leaders in the Fengtian Clique.

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Head to Policygenius.com to get your free life insurance quotes and see how much you could save.

Right now, you can get Harry’s Starter Set for just $3. Plus, you’ll get a free travel-size body wash. The set includes a 5-blade razor, weighted handle, foaming shave gel, and a travel cover. A $16 value for just $3. Just visit harrys.com/SOFTCORE

Boris Yeltsin was the first democratically elected leader of the Russian Federation, and also quite possibly the drunkest. Learn of his escapades across the world and how a Houston grocery store led to the fall of the Soviet Union.

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Messalina, the Empress of Rome from 41 AD to 48 AD, had rumors about her so messed up that even the meanest girl from your high school would think her enemies went too far. The weirdest part about the rumors, though? They weren’t even necessary. The actual stuff Messalina did was bad enough.

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Right now, you can get Harry’s Starter Set for just $3. Plus, you’ll get a free travel-size body wash. The set includes a 5-blade razor, weighted handle, foaming shave gel, and a travel cover. A $16 value for just $3. Just visit harrys.com/SOFTCORE

This week we cover four unique but equally bizarre tales from World War I including pilots being shot down in no man's land, a tough and durable bird that saved a battalion, and one of the most Australian stories imaginable.

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This week we explore the NASA-funded experiments that involved giving LSD to dolphins, discuss animal consent, and the ethics of living "intimately" with a dolphin for six months.

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Go today and claim a free indoor security camera plus 20% off with Interactive Monitoring. Go to SIMPLISAFE.com/softcore.

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Winston Churchill was one of the most important historical figures of the 20th century, taking power over the United Kingdom in the midst of World War II. Jack Mandaville joins us to talk about the Last Lion's unhinged upbringing, blood ties to the United States, his storied military and writing careers, and his rise to power through British parliament. 

Subscribe to the Softcore History Patreon for hundreds of hours of extra history content including listener history questions, history movie watch-alongs, and weekly bonus episodes.

Head to FACTORMEALS.com/softcore50 and use code softcore50 to get 50% off your first box plus 20% off your next month.

FOLLOW SOFTCORE HISTORY
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@softcorehistory
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/softcorehistory

Rob Fox
https://www.instagram.com/robfoxthree/
https://twitter.com/RobFoxThree
https://www.tiktok.com/@robfoxthree

Dan Regester
https://www.instagram.com/danregester/
https://twitter.com/dan_regester

Jack Mandaville
https://www.instagram.com/jackmandaville
https://x.com/jackmandaville

If you were in search of a prostitute in 1700s London you needed to look no further than Harris’s List of Covent-Garden Ladies, a pocketbook with reviews (and addresses) of over 150 of London’s ladies of the night. We read real hooker reviews from the 1788 edition of the pocketbook.

SUBSCRIBE to our Patreon for exclusive audio, video, and written content.

Go today and claim a free indoor security camera plus 20% off with Interactive Monitoring. Go to SIMPLISAFE.com/softcore.

Right now, you can get Harry’s Starter Set for just $3. Plus, you’ll get a free travel-size body wash. The set includes a 5-blade razor, weighted handle, foaming shave gel, and a travel cover. A $16 value for just $3. Just visit harrys.com/SOFTCORE

Get Honey for FREE at Join Honey.com/SOFTCORE

In Bath Township, Michigan on May 18th, 1927 Andrew Kehoe killed 38 elementary schoolchildren, and six adults, and injured nearly 60 others. It was the first recorded school bombing in U.S. History and the world’s earliest known suicide car bombing.

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Right now GhostBed is offering 40% off GhostBed Bundles where you get a Mattress & Adjustable Base -- Or 30% off everything if you use the code – DRINKINBROS AT GhostBed.com/drinkinbros

Jake takes us through three spooky tales: one real, one a hoax, and one that is disputed. Find out which real-life horror is fact in this week’s episode.

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The Pendle Witch Trials of 1612 are arguably the most famous witch trials in English history, and they all began because one girl, who definitely did not have magical powers, turned herself in to authorities for the crime of having magical powers.

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From causing city trolleys to crash to almost burning down Detroit, Halloween was once a holiday of mayhem so destructive that it was almost banned in our country during the Great Depression.

The guys continue spooky month and dive into famous curses surrounding classic horror movies including Rosemary’s Baby, The Omen, and Poltergeist.

One of the most famous witch trials in history involved a Jesuit priest, sex with the dark realm, drinking a baby’s blood, and a witness who didn’t expect to be cross-examined.

From Alexander Hamilton's wife having to go around with a collection basket to pay for his funeral to George Washington's vice for the sweet stuff, our Founding Fathers were reckless with their wealth.

Ray and Faye Copeland, a farming couple who stole cattle, forged checks, and murdered drifters on their Missouri farm were the oldest people ever put on death row.

How did Pulitzer, Hearst, et al. sell papers? It wasn’t with the high-brow stuff. They sent reporters to hospitals to write about the gruesome murders and horrible (or embarrassing, alcohol-fueled) injuries a city’s residents had suffered that day. We break down a paper full of those stories -- the August 23rd, 1897 edition of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Kyle Bandujo, podcaster and author of the new sports movie book "Movies With Balls", joins the show to talk about one of the most famous figures in American sports scandal history: Arnold Rothstein. Though he was most famous for allegedly fixing the 1919 World Series (a.k.a. the Black Sox Scandal), this distinction does the man's criminal history a disservice. In truth, Rothstein was so much more. Not only a founding father of American organized crime, Rothstein was also America's first Coke Lord.

Buy Kyle's new book, Movies With Balls, HERE

Subscribe to the Softcore History Patreon for hundreds of hours of extra history content including listener history questions, history movie watch-alongs, and weekly bonus episodes.

Head to FACTORMEALS.com/softcore50 and use code softcore50 to get 50% off your first box plus 20% off your next month.

Rob Fox
https://www.instagram.com/robfoxthree/
https://twitter.com/RobFoxThree
https://www.tiktok.com/@robfoxthree

Dan Regester
https://www.instagram.com/danregester/
https://twitter.com/dan_regester

Kyle Bandujo
https://x.com/kylebandujo
https://www.instagram.com/bandujokyle/?hl=en

Sometimes you have to crack a few of your fellow Christians' eggs to make a Holy Land omelet. The 4th Crusade was one Pope's call to action gone horribly wrong, featuring a few idiotic side missions that ultimately submarined the main quest, and one of the Catholic Church's biggest blunders in its storied history of mistakes.

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We dive into the history of The Republic of West Florida. Learn how Florida is basically responsible for everything America is today, for better and for worse.

The Kingdom of Himyar in modern-day Yemen may have converted to Judaism for political reasons in 380 A.D. but eventually they went harder than anybody to rep their beliefs. And by that we mean they slaughtered a bunch of Christians.

Jessie Wiseman joins the boys to talk about the lesser known details about the sinking of the Titanic.

Frano Selak is the luckiest unlucky person in history. Learn how he survived 7 brushes with horrible, violent death, and what he’s up to today.

Newly released Vatican records detail how Hitler used the Catholic Church's abuse to blackmail Pope Pius XII into not being too mean to the Third Reich.

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Two high-society Austrian noblewomen clashed over flowers and it ended in a topless sword fight.

Douglas Mawson ventured to Antarctica, TWICE, but it almost cost him his life. Find out how he almost died getting his literal rocks off in a frozen wasteland.

In 1511 the people of Brussels, while suffering through a brutal winter known as "The Winter of Death", took to the streets and expressed their displeasure with the ruling classes and life in general by... sculpting snowmen and making them do wildly inappropriate things with each other.

We discuss the most important women's movement of the last century: the march to smoke cigarettes.

Bleeding Kansas was a series of conflicts between abolitionists and pro-slavery forces after the passing of the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854. Election fraud, murder, and guerilla warfare were rampant during this five year window that decided whether Kansas would enter the union a free or slave state. Many historians consider it the prequel to the American Civil War. 

Subscribe to the Softcore History Patreon for hundreds of hours of extra history content including listener history questions, history movie watch-alongs, and weekly bonus episodes.

Head to FACTORMEALS.com/softcore50 and use code softcore50 to get 50% off your first box plus 20% off your next month. 

The guys talk about the coed killer’s disdain for his mother, his adventures in cat killing, and his unintentional contribution to the field of criminal profiling.

In the late 19th Century, one Chicago family found itself living in a house that turned out to be aggressively haunted. But these weren't normal ghosts. These were cool ghosts who loved to party.

A psycho trust fund kid, an aging but talented performer, and Wyatt Earp. Dodge City, Kansas was not a great place to "love" and "be loved"... or just to live in general. There's a reason the saying goes, "Get the hell outta Dodge."

This week we talk about RFK and Sirhan Sirhan, the assassin so nice they named him twice. We dive deep into the Robert Kennedy assassination and some of its mysterious circumstances. We’re just asking questions!

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The recently discovered ancient city of Karahan Tepe has changed everything -- seriously, everything — we know about human history, and it’s covered in dongs.

A group of liquored up traveling clowns and volunteer firefighters go into a Toronto brothel in 1855. Mayhem ensues.

This week we cover the USS William D Porter. A Naval destroyer that, for better or worse, was so good at destroying that it almost killed FDR… twice.

Massachusetts Puritan colonist Hannah Duston was the first woman to ever have a statue erected in her honor in the United States. But was what she did worthy of a monument?

The American Confederacy in Brazil? This week we talk about the southern rebels who took the L in the Civil War and picked up shop to continue their Dixieland Delight in South America.

This week Jake tries to dunk on Jesus and fails, Rob thinks Six Flags is the same as Disney, and we all learn about the pagan traditions that live on in modern Easter celebrations.

19th Century Southern lawyer-turned-sociologist and noted shut-in George Fitzhugh was "too online" 140 years before the internet was even invented. He stayed inside all day reading newspapers, books, and political pamphlets, rarely leaving home. As with anyone who shapes their worldview only by consuming media, Fitzhugh started to believe some pretty wild ideas. Particularly, that pretty much everyone should be a slave. Black, white, brown -- race didn't matter (much). Most people on Earth should be slaves in Fitzhugh's mind. This take not only made him a famous author and political commentator, it inspired none other than Abraham Lincoln to get back into politics after losing his congressional seat.

Subscribe to the Softcore History Patreon for hundreds of hours of extra history content including listener history questions, history movie watch-alongs, and weekly bonus episodes.

Customize your summer style with Indochino. Go to Indochino.com and use code SOFTCORE to get 10% off any purchase of $399 or more.

Get 25% off your subscription or try the app FREE for seven days at Fitbod.me/SOFTCORE.
 
Head to FACTORMEALS.com/softcore50 and use code softcore50 to get 50% off your first box plus 20% off your next month. 

Visit KalmWithKava.com/podcast and discover a range of flavors designed to soothe your mind and body. Use code SOFTCORE10 at checkout for a special discount on your first order.

FOLLOW SOFTCORE HISTORY
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Rob Fox
https://www.instagram.com/robfoxthree/
https://twitter.com/RobFoxThree
https://www.tiktok.com/@robfoxthree

Dan Regester
https://www.instagram.com/danregester/
https://twitter.com/dan_regester

Human beings might be at the top of the planet's food chain but we've taken some L's to animals over the years, none worse than what happened to the Japanese soldiers who, near the end of World War II, retreated into the swamps of Burma's Ramree Island and found ancient, bloodthirsty predators waiting for them.

This is the story of the FIRST colonization of the Americas, some 13,000ish years ago. Humans arrived here for what turned out to actually be the second time and, like people are wont to do, they killed the other people living here and, more importantly, the giant nightmare monsters that called the Americas home.

The guys talk about the golden age of Hollywood's most unusual deaths, including a sketchy accidental fatality on William Randolph Hearst's yacht, a teenaged starlet's older lover's suspicious death, and a famous actress's suicide that was super obviously NOT a suicide.