It's September 17th. This day in 1995, Oregon Senator Bob Packwood resigns before he can be expelled for decades of sexual misconduct.

Jody, NIki, and Kellie discuss Packwood's long record of abuse, which he chronicled in detail in his own diaries -- and why it took so long to finally hold him accountable.

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Our team: Jacob Feldman, Researcher/Producer; Brittani Brown, Producer; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Audrey Mardavich is our Executive Producer at Radiotopia

This day, in 1947, Georgia holds a special election that finally - finally - brings an end to a period in which the state had three people claiming the governor's office.

Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss how Georgia ended up in this constitutional crisis, and the many shenanigans that ensued within the halls of the capitol.

This Day In Esoteric Political History is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX.

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Our team: Jacob Feldman, Researcher/Producer; Brittani Brown, Producer; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Audrey Mardavich is our Executive Producer at Radiotopia

**Come to our first ever live show! In Boston, on Friday, September 13th. Tickets are available now!**

Welcome to Conventions Week! From time to time this election year, we're going to do some special series that highlight the rhythm of an election cycle. This week, as the Democrats are meeting in Chicago, we are looking at conventions, which are very strange affairs!

Want to watch the video version of this episode? Visit our new YouTube channel at youtube.com/@ThisDayPod

To mark conventions week, we thought we'd go through some of the weirder and more awkward convention moments in US political history. This episode, we continue the list, from a very awkward kiss between the Gores, to Clint Eastwood yelling at an empty chair...

Find out more at thisdaypod.com

This Day In Esoteric Political History is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX.

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Our team: Jacob Feldman, Researcher/Producer; Brittani Brown, Producer; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Audrey Mardavich is our Executive Producer at Radiotopia

It’s January 16th. This day in 1811, the aftermath of what came to be known as the “German Coast” uprising in the Orleans territory.

Jody, NIki, and Kellie discuss how Charles Deslondes led a slave revolt that became the biggest in US history, and how it was inspired by the Hatian revolution, French ideas of freedom, and more.

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Our team: Jacob Feldman, Researcher/Producer; Brittani Brown, Producer; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Audrey Mardavich is our Executive Producer at Radiotopia

It’s January 14th. This day in 1986, Ronald Reagan issued a proclamation that January 15th would be a federal holiday recognizing the contributions of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Jody, NIki, and Kellie discuss why it took 20 years since King’s assassination for there to be a federal holiday, and how there was active resistance and subversion among many states even after the federal mandate.

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Our team: Jacob Feldman, Researcher/Producer; Brittani Brown, Producer; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Audrey Mardavich is our Executive Producer at Radiotopia

It’s January 11th. In 1888, a massive and quick-moving storm swept across the American Midwest, trapping hundreds of school-children in their schoolhouses.

Jody and Niki discuss why the storm was so severe, and deadly — and how the poor preparation for the storm led to a change in weather forecasting.

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This Day In Esoteric Political History is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX.

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Our team: Jacob Feldman, Researcher/Producer; Brittani Brown, Producer; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Audrey Mardavich is our Executive Producer at Radiotopia

This Day In Esoteric Political History is produced by Jody Avirgan’s Roulette Productions.

It’s January 9th. In 1802, Thomas Jefferson penned a letter in which he referred to a “wall of separation between church and state.

Jody and Niki discuss how this phrase became wedded to the first amendment and a foundational political and legal idea for centuries — and how Jefferson’s intent has been contested at various points over the years.

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Our team: Jacob Feldman, Researcher/Producer; Brittani Brown, Producer; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Audrey Mardavich is our Executive Producer at Radiotopia

This Day In Esoteric Political History is produced by Jody Avirgan’s Roulette Productions.

It’s January 7th. In 1970, the New York Times published an article with the headline “Statisticians Charge Draft Lottery Was Not Random.”

Jody and Niki are joined by data reporter Walt Hickey to talk about how statistical analysis exposed that people born in December were more likely to be selected for the Vietnam War draft than those born in January, and what that tells us about randomness, trust, and more.

Walt’s most recent book is “You Are What You Watch” — check it out now!

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This Day In Esoteric Political History is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX.

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Our team: Jacob Feldman, Researcher/Producer; Brittani Brown, Producer; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Audrey Mardavich is our Executive Producer at Radiotopia

This Day In Esoteric Political History is produced by Jody Avirgan’s Roulette Productions.

**We’ll be back on Sunday with our first new epsiode of 2024. In the meantime, here’s a treat from the archives!**

It’s March 13th. This day in 1955, news breaks that the White House is engaged in a full-on battle against the squirrels that have invaded the grounds.

Jody, NIki, and Kellie discuss why President Eisenhower is so determined to get rid of the squirrels, and how he tried everything from relocating them to shooting them to — really — deploying psychological torture to solve the problem.

Sign up for our newsletter! We’ll be sending out links to all the stuff we recommended later this week.

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Our team: Jacob Feldman, Researcher/Producer; Brittani Brown, Producer; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Audrey Mardavich is our Executive Producer at Radiotopia

** It’s the final day of the Radiotopia fundraiser! Support the show using this link and you’ll get a 20% discount to our new merch store! https://on.prx.org/46XCf1R **

It’s December 31st. Today we wrap up the year by talking about — what else — the time that the Idaho Department of Fish and Game relocated 76 beavers by parachuting them out of airplanes.

Jody, Niki, and Kellie are joined by our Radiotopia pal Ian Chillag to discuss the story. Ian recently encountered it while doing an episode of his “Animals” series on beavers. You can listen to that here.

Happy New Year everyone!

Here’s our holiday book gift guide!

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This Day In Esoteric Political History is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX.

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Our team: Jacob Feldman, Researcher/Producer; Brittani Brown, Producer; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Audrey Mardavich is our Executive Producer at Radiotopia

This Day In Esoteric Political History is produced by Jody Avirgan’s Roulette Productions.

** It’s the Radiotopia fundraiser! Support the show using this link and you’ll get a 20% discount to our new merch store! https://on.prx.org/46XCf1R **

It’s December 29th. This day in 1975, a bomb, planted in a luggage locker, exploded at NYC’s LaGuardia Airport, killing 11 and injuring 74. If it had gone off just minutes earlier, it would have killed hundreds more.

Jody and Niki discuss who was responsible for the bombing, the prevalence of scattered violence in the 1970s, and why New York City was often the place in which conflicts from around the world would play out.

Here’s our holiday book gift guide!

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This Day In Esoteric Political History is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX.

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If you want to support the show directly, you can do so on our website: ThisDayPod.com

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Our team: Jacob Feldman, Researcher/Producer; Brittani Brown, Producer; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Audrey Mardavich is our Executive Producer at Radiotopia

This Day In Esoteric Political History is produced by Jody Avirgan’s Roulette Productions.

** It’s the Radiotopia fundraiser! Support the show using this link and you’ll get a 20% discount to our new merch store! https://on.prx.org/46XCf1R **

It’s December 26th. This day in 1951 — actually on Christmas Day — Florida activists Harry and Harriette Moore are killed by a bomb planted under their home.

Jody, NIki, and Kellie look at the life and activism of the Moore’s, why they became targets for assassination and Florida’s place in the early civil rights movement.

Here’s our holiday book gift guide!

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This Day In Esoteric Political History is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX.

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If you want to support the show directly, you can do so on our website: ThisDayPod.com

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Our team: Jacob Feldman, Researcher/Producer; Brittani Brown, Producer; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Audrey Mardavich is our Executive Producer at Radiotopia

** It’s the Radiotopia fundraiser! Support the show using this link and you’ll get a 20% discount to our new merch store! https://on.prx.org/46XCf1R **

It’s December 24th. Today, we look at a number of puzzle-related stories from the WWII era. This is when the New York Times finally got in the crossword game, codebreakers used puzzles to recruit great minds, and more.

Jody, NIki, and Kellie are joined by author and podcast host A.J. Jacobs to discuss what that first crossword looked like, why it was such a hit, and how puzzling can help explain the world.

A.J. is the author of “The Puzzler” and also host of the new daily puzzle podcast of the same name — which is produced by our own Jody Avirgan and Brittani Brown! Learn more at thepuzzler.com

Here’s our holiday book gift guide!

Sign up for our newsletter! Get your hands on This Day merch!

Find out more at thisdaypod.com

This Day In Esoteric Political History is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX.

Your support helps foster independent, artist-owned podcasts and award-winning stories.

If you want to support the show directly, you can do so on our website: ThisDayPod.com

Get in touch if you have any ideas for future topics, or just want to say hello. Our website is thisdaypod.com Follow us on social @thisdaypod

Our team: Jacob Feldman, Researcher/Producer; Brittani Brown, Producer; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Audrey Mardavich is our Executive Producer at Radiotopia

**Come to our first ever live show! In Boston, on Friday, September 13th. Tickets are available now!**

Welcome to Conventions Week! From time to time this election year, we're going to do some special series that highlight the rhythm of an election cycle. This week, as the Democrats are meeting in Chicago, we are looking at conventions, which are very strange affairs!

Want to watch the video version of this episode? Visit our new YouTube channel at youtube.com/@ThisDayPod

To mark conventions week, we thought we'd go through some of the weirder and more awkward convention moments in US political history. This episode, we bring you the first batch, from failed props to bad dancing...

Find out more at thisdaypod.com

This Day In Esoteric Political History is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX.

Your support helps foster independent, artist-owned podcasts and award-winning stories.

If you want to support the show directly, you can do so on our website: ThisDayPod.com

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Our team: Jacob Feldman, Researcher/Producer; Brittani Brown, Producer; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Audrey Mardavich is our Executive Producer at Radiotopia

** It’s the Radiotopia fundraiser! Support the show using this link and you’ll get a 20% discount to our new merch store! https://on.prx.org/46XCf1R **

It’s December 21st. This day in 1913, the New York World published the very first crossword puzzle — originally called a “word cross.” Soon, a bona fide puzzle craze was sweeping the country.

Jody, NIki, and Kellie are joined by author and podcast host A.J. Jacobs to discuss what that first crossword looked like, why it was such a hit, and how puzzling can help explain the world.

A.J. is the author of “The Puzzler” and also host of the new daily puzzle podcast of the same name — which is produced by Jody and Brittani Brown! Learn more at thepuzzler.com

Here’s our holiday book gift guide!

Sign up for our newsletter! Get your hands on This Day merch!

Find out more at thisdaypod.com

This Day In Esoteric Political History is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX.

Your support helps foster independent, artist-owned podcasts and award-winning stories.

If you want to support the show directly, you can do so on our website: ThisDayPod.com

Get in touch if you have any ideas for future topics, or just want to say hello. Our website is thisdaypod.com Follow us on social @thisdaypod

Our team: Jacob Feldman, Researcher/Producer; Brittani Brown, Producer; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Audrey Mardavich is our Executive Producer at Radiotopia

** It’s the Radiotopia fundraiser! Support the show using this link and you’ll get a 20% discount to our new merch store! https://on.prx.org/46XCf1R **

It’s December 19th. This day in 1732, Benjamin Franklin first published “Poor Richard’s Almanack” — his book of weather forecast, practical advice, and all sorts of aphorisms about living your best life.

Jody, NIki, and Kellie discuss why the Almanack became such a sensation in Colonial America, and why his advice still feels like it could find an audience today.

Here’s our holiday book gift guide! https://thisdaypod.substack.com/p/a-this-day-books-and-merch-gift-guide

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This Day In Esoteric Political History is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX.

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Get in touch if you have any ideas for future topics, or just want to say hello. Our website is thisdaypod.com Follow us on social @thisdaypod

Our team: Jacob Feldman, Researcher/Producer; Brittani Brown, Producer; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Audrey Mardavich is our Executive Producer at Radiotopia

** It’s the Radiotopia fundraiser! Support the show using this link and you’ll get a 20% discount to our new merch store! https://on.prx.org/46XCf1R **

It’s December 17th. This day in 1978, holiday travelers are flying around the country under a regulatory system that was about to come to an end. The next year, the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 would kick in.

Jody, NIki, and Kellie are joined by Ganesh Sitaraman of Vanderbilt to discuss how the act changed the competitive structure for airlines — and in turn led to a degradation of service, reliability, and the glamour of flying.

Ganesh’s new book is “Why Flying is Miserable… And How To Fix It.”

Here’s our holiday book gift guide! https://thisdaypod.substack.com/p/a-this-day-books-and-merch-gift-guide

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This Day In Esoteric Political History is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX.

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If you want to support the show directly, you can do so on our website: ThisDayPod.com

Get in touch if you have any ideas for future topics, or just want to say hello. Our website is thisdaypod.com Follow us on social @thisdaypod

Our team: Jacob Feldman, Researcher/Producer; Brittani Brown, Producer; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Audrey Mardavich is our Executive Producer at Radiotopia

** It’s the Radiotopia fundraiser! Support the show using this link and you’ll get a 20% discount to our new merch store! https://on.prx.org/46XCf1R **

It’s December 16th. This day in 1971, Richard Nixon signed the Alaska Natives Settlement Act, which established a new set of treaties and financial structures for Alaskan tribes — unlike any other arrangement in the so-called “lower 48.”

Jody, NIki, and Kellie discuss how the structure of the act meant that tribes would now be embracing, and contending with, American-style capitalism.

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This Day In Esoteric Political History is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX.

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If you want to support the show directly, you can do so on our website: ThisDayPod.com

Get in touch if you have any ideas for future topics, or just want to say hello. Our website is thisdaypod.com Follow us on social @thisdaypod

Our team: Jacob Feldman, Researcher/Producer; Brittani Brown, Producer; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Audrey Mardavich is our Executive Producer at Radiotopia

** It’s the Radiotopia fundraiser! Support the show using this link and you’ll get a 20% discount to our new merch store! https://on.prx.org/46XCf1R **

It’s December 12th. This day in 1909, garment industry workers in New York and Philadelphia are on a massive strike, protesting working conditions and beginning to unionize in favor of better working conditions. This was a couple years before the more infamous fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory.

Jody, NIki, and Kellie discuss how these earlier protests and victories re-cast our understanding of Shirtwaist, and the labor activism of the time.

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This Day In Esoteric Political History is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX.

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Our team: Jacob Feldman, Researcher/Producer; Brittani Brown, Producer; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Audrey Mardavich is our Executive Producer at Radiotopia

** It’s the Radiotopia fundraiser! Support the show using this link and you’ll get a 20% discount to our new merch store! https://on.prx.org/46XCf1R **

It’s December 10th. This day in 1875, the Canadian Metis leader Louis Riel is in Washington, DC to ask US President Grant for assistance in his battle against the Canadian government.

Jody, NIki, and Kellie discuss the Metis fight, violence along the western parts of the US-Canadian border, and Riel’s subsequent religious “epiphany.”

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Our team: Jacob Feldman, Researcher/Producer; Brittani Brown, Producer; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Audrey Mardavich is our Executive Producer at Radiotopia

** It’s the Radiotopia fundraiser! Support the show using this link and you’ll get a 20% discount to our new merch store! https://on.prx.org/46XCf1R **

Today we’re looking at Hawaiian Independence Day, marked on November 28th.

Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss what exactly “independence” meant for the islands, which were shifting from colonial rule to monarchical rule and, eventually, American annexation.

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Our team: Jacob Feldman, Researcher/Producer; Brittani Brown, Producer; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Audrey Mardavich is our Executive Producer at Radiotopia

** It’s the Radiotopia fundraiser! Support the show using this link and you’ll get a 20% discount to our new merch store! https://on.prx.org/46XCf1R **

It’s December 5th. In 196, W.E.B. Du Bois announces that he’s joining the Communist Party — at the age of 93.

Jody, Niki and Kellie discuss why Du Bois found an ideological home in the Party, his lifelong ideological seeking, and what it meant to join the Communist Party in this particular moment.

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Our team: Jacob Feldman, Researcher/Producer; Brittani Brown, Producer; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Audrey Mardavich is our Executive Producer at Radiotopia

** It’s the Radiotopia fundraiser! Support the show using this link and you’ll get a 20% discount to our new merch store! https://on.prx.org/46XCf1R **

It’s December 3rd. In 1878, the White House got a phone line for the first time.

Jody, Niki and Kellie discuss why President Rutherford B Hayes was so embracing of new technology — and how the phone got other presidents into hot water over the years.

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Our team: Jacob Feldman, Researcher/Producer; Brittani Brown, Producer; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Audrey Mardavich is our Executive Producer at Radiotopia

** It’s the Radiotopia fundraiser! Support the show using this link and you’ll get a 20% discount to our new merch store! https://on.prx.org/46XCf1R **

[[This episode is from the This Day archives]]

It’s November 24th. On this day in 1969, Native American activists have staged an occupation of Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay.

Jody and Niki are joined by Julian Brave Noisecat to discuss the 19-month occupation, often considered the birth of the modern Indigenous rights movement — and how exactly the protesters managed to pull off the occupation of the island.

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Get in touch if you have any ideas for future topics, or just want to say hello. Our website is thisdaypod.com Follow us on social @thisdaypod

Our team: Jacob Feldman, Researcher/Producer; Brittani Brown, Producer; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Audrey Mardavich is our Executive Producer at Radiotopia

Come to our first ever live show! In Boston, on Friday, September 13th. Tickets are available now!

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 decontextualized by his supporters.

If you want a deeper dive on the Unite The Right rally, check out Niki's six-part podcast A12.

This Day In Esoteric Political History is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX.

Your support helps foster independent, artist-owned podcasts and award-winning stories.

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Our team: Jacob Feldman, Researcher/Producer; Brittani Brown, Producer; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Audrey Mardavich is our Executive Producer at Radiotopia

** It’s the Radiotopia fundraiser! Support the show using this link and you’ll get a 20% discount to our new merch store! https://on.prx.org/46XCf1R **

It’s November 27th. In 1894, a group of 19 Hopi men are arrested in Arizona and brought to Alcatraz Island in California, imprisoned for their resistance to the US government’s re-education efforts.

Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss why the group of Hopi’s were arrested, what Hopi resistance looked like in this era, and what happened to the men after their imprisonment.

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Happy Thanksgiving everyone! For today, a special historical potluck. Jody, NIki, and Kellie discuss some of their favorite historical stories related to food, drink, and dessert.

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This Day In Esoteric Political History is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX.

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Our team: Jacob Feldman, Researcher/Producer; Brittani Brown, Producer; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Audrey Mardavich is our Executive Producer at Radiotopia

** It’s the Radiotopia fundraiser! Support the show using this link and you’ll get a 20% discount to our new merch store! https://on.prx.org/46XCf1R **

It’s November 21st. Tomorrow is the 60th anniversary of the JFK assassination, so we’re bringing you an episode from last year about the time someone made an attempt on the newly-elected president’s life, 3 years before the events in Dallas. We’ll be back with a new episode on Thursday for Thanksgiving!

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This Day In Esoteric Political History is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX.

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Our team: Jacob Feldman, Researcher/Producer; Brittani Brown, Producer; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Audrey Mardavich is our Executive Producer at Radiotopia

** It’s the Radiotopia fundraiser! Support the show using this link and you’ll get a 20% discount to our new merch store! https://on.prx.org/46XCf1R **

It’s November 19th. This day in 1915, IWW activist and songwriter Joe Hill is executed by the state of Utah.

Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss why Hill’s songs were so powerful, how they posed a threat to big business at the time — and Jody finally gets to talk about his undergraduate thesis!

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This Day In Esoteric Political History is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX.

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Our team: Jacob Feldman, Researcher/Producer; Brittani Brown, Producer; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Audrey Mardavich is our Executive Producer at Radiotopia

** It’s the Radiotopia fundraiser! Support the show using this link and you’ll get a 20% discount to our new merch store! https://on.prx.org/46XCf1R **

It’s November 16th. This day in 2016, Vice President-elect Mike Pence attends a performance of the hit Broadway show “Hamilton,” where he is booed by the audience before the show; and after the show the cast reads him a statement of protest.

Jody, NIki, and Kellie discuss how this story played out in 2016, what we make of it now — and why Pence was at “Hamilton” to begin with.

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This Day In Esoteric Political History is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX.

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Get in touch if you have any ideas for future topics, or just want to say hello. Our website is thisdaypod.com Follow us on social @thisdaypod

Our team: Jacob Feldman, Researcher/Producer; Brittani Brown, Producer; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Audrey Mardavich is our Executive Producer at Radiotopia

** It’s the Radiotopia fundraiser! Support the show using this link and you’ll get a 20% discount to our new merch store! https://on.prx.org/46XCf1R **

It’s November 14th. This day in 1918, famed industrialist Henry Ford starts to raise questions about the result of the Michigan Senate election, in which he lost by a narrow margin.

Jody, NIki, and Kellie discuss why Ford is contesting the vote, how it ties into his growing conspiratorial and anti-Semitic mindset — and how the worlds of business and politics began to meld in this era.

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This Day In Esoteric Political History is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX.

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If you want to support the show directly, you can do so on our website: ThisDayPod.com

Get in touch if you have any ideas for future topics, or just want to say hello. Our website is thisdaypod.com Follow us on social @thisdaypod

Our team: Jacob Feldman, Researcher/Producer; Brittani Brown, Producer; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Audrey Mardavich is our Executive Producer at Radiotopia

** It’s the Radiotopia fundraiser! Support the show using this link and you’ll get a 20% discount to our new merch store! https://on.prx.org/46XCf1R **

It’s November 12th. This day in 1970, a small town in Oregon decides that the best way to get rid of a massive whale that has washed up on its shores is by… dynamiting it into oblivion.

Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss why the plan went so awry, pay tribute to the one local who was trying to warn everyone — and discuss how footage of the incident became one of the first viral videos.

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This Day In Esoteric Political History is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX.

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Get in touch if you have any ideas for future topics, or just want to say hello. Our website is thisdaypod.com Follow us on social @thisdaypod

Our team: Jacob Feldman, Researcher/Producer; Brittani Brown, Producer; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Audrey Mardavich is our Executive Producer at Radiotopia

** It’s the Radiotopia fundraiser! Support the show using this link and you’ll get a 20% discount to our new merch store! https://on.prx.org/46XCf1R **

It’s November 9th. This day in 1865, Confederate commander Henry Wirz is executed for war crimes — the only Confederate commanding officer to face such justice.

Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss the Andersonville prison camp that Wirz oversaw, and why his particular crimes were seen as out of bounds during the brutal aftermath of the Civil War.

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Our team: Jacob Feldman, Researcher/Producer; Brittani Brown, Producer; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Audrey Mardavich is our Executive Producer at Radiotopia

It’s November 7th. This day in 1983, a bomb placed under a bench on the second floor of the Capitol building’s North Wing goes off, minutes after the Senate switchboard received a cryptic message claiming credit.

Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss the little-known group that carried out the bombing, why they turned to violence in this moment — and what exactly they were protesting.

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This Day In Esoteric Political History is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX.

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Our team: Jacob Feldman, Researcher/Producer; Brittani Brown, Producer; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Audrey Mardavich is our Executive Producer at Radiotopia

It’s November 5th. This day in 1980, voters in the Maryland 5th Congressional District have just re-elected Gladys Noon Spellman — despite the fact that she is in a coma from which she would never recover.

Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss the twists and turns of the election, how Congress reacted, and how this moment led to the political career of one of the most prominent Democrats in the House.

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This Day In Esoteric Political History is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX.

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If you want to support the show directly, you can do so on our website: ThisDayPod.com

Get in touch if you have any ideas for future topics, or just want to say hello. Our website is thisdaypod.com Follow us on social @thisdaypod

Our team: Jacob Feldman, Researcher/Producer; Brittani Brown, Producer; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Audrey Mardavich is our Executive Producer at Radiotopia

Come to our first ever live show! In Boston, on Friday, September 13th. Tickets are available now!

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.

This Day In Esoteric Political History is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX.

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If you want to support the show directly, you can do so on our website: ThisDayPod.com

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Our team: Jacob Feldman, Researcher/Producer; Brittani Brown, Producer; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Audrey Mardavich is our Executive Producer at Radiotopia

It’s November 2nd. This day in 2019, New York City began a process of opening up Hart Island to the public, after centuries of using the space to bury its unnamed dead.

Jody, Niki, and Kellie are joined by Joe Richman of “Radio Diaries” to discuss the history of Hart Island and the ongoing tension between public space and private cemetery. Radio Diaries has a new series called “The Unmarked Grave: Stories from Hart Island.” Listen to it now!

Check out the Radio Diaries live event on November 9th in NYC - it’s also being livestreamed.

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This Day In Esoteric Political History is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX.

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If you want to support the show directly, you can do so on our website: ThisDayPod.com

Get in touch if you have any ideas for future topics, or just want to say hello. Our website is thisdaypod.com Follow us on social @thisdaypod

Our team: Jacob Feldman, Researcher/Producer; Brittani Brown, Producer; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Audrey Mardavich is our Executive Producer at Radiotopia

It’s October 31st. This day in 1938, hundreds of thousands gather in Barcelona, Spain, to say thanks and bid farewell to the thousands of foreign volunteers who had come to join the fight in the Spanish Civil War.

Jody, NIki, and Kellie are joined by author Adam Hochschild to discuss why so many Americans were drawn to the battle in Spain, and how the anti-fascist fight there set the stage for WWII.

Adam is the author of many brilliant books, including “American Midnight,” “King Leopold’s Ghost” and “Spain In Our Hearts.”

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Our team: Jacob Feldman, Researcher/Producer; Brittani Brown, Producer; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Audrey Mardavich is our Executive Producer at Radiotopia

It’s October 29th. This day in 1948, a heavy, pollutant-laden fog is sitting over the Pennsylvania town of Donora. Over the course of five days, dozens of people would die and half the town’s population would get sick.

Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss why the town of Donora was so vulnerable to the US Steel plant’s pollution, and how the company fought back against regulation over the course of decades.

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This Day In Esoteric Political History is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX.

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Our team: Jacob Feldman, Researcher/Producer; Brittani Brown, Producer; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Audrey Mardavich is our Executive Producer at Radiotopia

It’s October 25th. This day in 1966, a group gathers for the first conference of the National Organization for Women, aka NOW.

Jody, NIki, and Kellie discuss why the group felt the need for a new activist organization — and how NOW navigated both the political and social spheres of the feminist movement.

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Our team: Jacob Feldman, Researcher/Producer; Brittani Brown, Producer; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Audrey Mardavich is our Executive Producer at Radiotopia

It’s October 24th. This day in 2008, former secretary of state Colin Powell goes on Meet the Press and endorses Barack Obama for president — over his longtime friend, and fellow Republican, John McCain.

Jody, Niki, and Kellie are joined by Leah Wrigth Rigueur to talk about why Colin rebuked his own party, what Obama represented, and what it says about the crossroads he found himself in that moment.

Leah is a professor at Johns Hopkins and the author of The Loneliness of the Black Republican — she’s also co-host with Kellie of You Get A Podcast!

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Our team: Jacob Feldman, Researcher/Producer; Brittani Brown, Producer; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Audrey Mardavich is our Executive Producer at Radiotopia

It’s October 22nd. This day in 1927, Americans are flocking to the theaters to watch “The Jazz Singer,” the first major “talkie” film.

Jody, Niki, and Kellie are joined by Walt Hickey to discuss how Hollywood became a major economic and political force in the aftermath of WWI, and how it the soft power of American entertainment started to shape the world.

Walt’s new book is “You Are What You Watch” — preorder it now and get a free poster!

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Our team: Jacob Feldman, Researcher/Producer; Brittani Brown, Producer; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Audrey Mardavich is our Executive Producer at Radiotopia

It’s October 19th. This day in 1987, real estate mogul Donald Trump was invited to New Hampshire to give a speech to a local GOP group. He bragged about his accomplishments, drew a big crowd and — of course — teased a possible presidential run.

Jody, Niki, and Kellie are joined by Robert Fleegler of the University Of Mississippi to discuss why Trump showed up in the early stages of the 1988 primary, and how his message then was almost exactly the same as his message now.

Robert’s latest book is “Brutal Campaign How the 1988 Election Set the Stage for Twenty-First-Century American Politics.”

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This Day In Esoteric Political History is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX.

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Our team: Jacob Feldman, Researcher/Producer; Brittani Brown, Producer; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Audrey Mardavich is our Executive Producer at Radiotopia

It’s October 17th. This day in 1978, President Jimmy Carter signed a resolution that passed Congress to restore the citizenship of Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy.

Jody, NIki, and Kellie discuss why there was a push to re-imagine Davis’s legacy — and whether Jefferson Davis would have even wanted this.

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Our team: Jacob Feldman, Researcher/Producer; Brittani Brown, Producer; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Audrey Mardavich is our Executive Producer at Radiotopia

It’s October 15th. This day in 2004, voters in the swing region of Clark County, Ohio are receiving letters encouraging them to vote for John Kerry — letters written by readers of the left-leaning British newspaper “The Guardian.”

Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss why “The Guardian” had launched their letter writing campaign, what it says about the gamification of politics — and how the folks who got the letters responded.

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This Day In Esoteric Political History is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX.

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If you want to support the show directly, you can do so on our website: ThisDayPod.com

Get in touch if you have any ideas for future topics, or just want to say hello. Our website is thisdaypod.com Follow us on social @thisdaypod

Our team: Jacob Feldman, Researcher/Producer; Brittani Brown, Producer; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Audrey Mardavich is our Executive Producer at Radiotopia

It’s October 12th. This day in 1863, fighting is breaking out in Jones County, Mississippi, as a group of southern farmers starts to rebel against the Confederacy.

Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss why this group felt compelled to rebel, what their fight was really about — and what the 2016 movie starring Matthew McConoughey got right and wrong about the incident.

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This Day In Esoteric Political History is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX.

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If you want to support the show directly, you can do so on our website: ThisDayPod.com

Get in touch if you have any ideas for future topics, or just want to say hello. Our website is thisdaypod.com Follow us on social @thisdaypod

Our team: Jacob Feldman, Researcher/Producer; Brittani Brown, Producer; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Audrey Mardavich is our Executive Producer at Radiotopia

Come to our first ever live show! In Boston, on Friday, September 13th. Tickets are available now!

It's August 11th. This day in 1965, six days of civil unrest erupts in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Watts.

Jody, NIki, and Kellie discuss why the violence was sparked -- and how the reaction to it prefigured much of the conversation that would dominate the rest of the decade around protest, deprivation, backlash, and more.

This Day In Esoteric Political History is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX.

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If you want to support the show directly, you can do so on our website: ThisDayPod.com

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Our team: Jacob Feldman, Researcher/Producer; Brittani Brown, Producer; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Audrey Mardavich is our Executive Producer at Radiotopia

It’s October 9th. In 1919, the US Department of Agriculture began a nationwide campaign to promote better breeding among livestock — and stamp out so-called “scrub bulls.”

Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss how this effort took on absurd dimensions, but also reflected a deeper and darker cultural obsession with breeding and fitness.

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This Day In Esoteric Political History is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX.

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If you want to support the show directly, you can do so on our website: ThisDayPod.com

Get in touch if you have any ideas for future topics, or just want to say hello. Our website is thisdaypod.com Follow us on social @thisdaypod

Our team: Jacob Feldman, Researcher/Producer; Brittani Brown, Producer; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Audrey Mardavich is our Executive Producer at Radiotopia

It’s October 5th. This day in 1982, a massive recall is underway for Tylenol, in the wake of a series of random poisonings and deaths in the Chicago era.

Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss the crisis, Johnson & Johnson’s relatively effective response — and the very strange ransom letter sent in the middle of it all.

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This Day In Esoteric Political History is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX.

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If you want to support the show directly, you can do so on our website: ThisDayPod.com

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Our team: Jacob Feldman, Researcher/Producer; Brittani Brown, Producer; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Audrey Mardavich is our Executive Producer at Radiotopia

It’s October 3rd. This day in 1935, Italian leader Benito Mussolini invades Ethiopia, one of the only independent Black states in the world.

Jody, Niki, and Kellie are joined by MSNBC’s Isaac-Davy Aronson to discuss what Italy’s aggression did to the very fragile world order — and how the move reverberated around the Black diaspora.

Be sure to check out “Deja News,” which did an episode about this moment.

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This Day In Esoteric Political History is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX.

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If you want to support the show directly, you can do so on our website: ThisDayPod.com

Get in touch if you have any ideas for future topics, or just want to say hello. Our website is thisdaypod.com Follow us on social @thisdaypod

Our team: Jacob Feldman, Researcher/Producer; Brittani Brown, Producer; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Audrey Mardavich is our Executive Producer at Radiotopia