Episodes

  • In the runup to Memorial Day, we're bringing you some stories from the archives about war and the cost of war. We'll be back with new episodes next week!

    It’s August 25th. In 1944, a group of sailors at Port Chicago in California are facing mutiny charges, after refusing to work under dangerous conditions. Just under a month earlier, there had been a massive explosion at the same location, killing hundreds.

    Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss why the sailors refused to work, the impact of the Port Chicago explosion, and the way in which the mostly-Black sailors were mistreated by the Navy and the U.S. government.

    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. 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

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

  • In the runup to Memorial Day, we're bringing you some stories from the archives about war and the cost of war. We'll be back with new episodes next week!

    It’s September 2nd. This day in 2005, Cindy Sheehan embarks on a tour around the country to protest the Iraq War, where her son Casey had died the prior year.

    Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss Sheehan’s protests, the “Camp Casey” encampment she established outside of George W. Bush’s Texas ranch, and how public opinion around a number of issues was starting to shift in late 2005.

    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. 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

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

  • Missing episodes?

    Click here to refresh the feed.

  • In the runup to Memorial Day, we're bringing you some stories from the archives about war and the cost of war. We'll be back with new episodes next week!

    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!

    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. 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

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

  • It's May 16th. This day in 1964, the FBI drops its years-long investigation into the pop song "Louie Louie."

    Jody, NIki, and Kellie discuss why there was a moral and political panic over the song and its indecipherable lyrics -- and look into what the song is actually about.

    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. 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 May 14th. This day in 1958, Vice President Richard Nixon is on a goodwill tour of South America when his motorcade is attacked by a violent mob in Venezuela.

    Jody, NIki, and Kellie discuss how the incident reflected the larger tensions between the United States and the region -- and how the U.S. saw Latin America as a key pawn in the growing Cold War showdown with Communism.

    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. 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 May 12th. This day in 1867, Jefferson Davis, the former President of the Confederacy, left a courthouse in Richmond after waiting in jail on treason charges for two years. His trial would never take place.

    Jody, NIki, and Kellie discuss why Davis was brought up on charges in the first place, and the way in which his trial got delayed and eventually cancelled mirrored the overall progress of Reconstruction throughout the South.

    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. 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

  • Jody, Niki, and Kellie are joined by author A.J. Jacobs, whose new book "The Year of Living Constitutionally" dives into the weird world of our founding document. They discuss the debate over what to call the new leader of the executive branch, and what that signaled about the direction of the new country.

    A.J.'s new book is out now! And be sure to check out The Puzzler too!

    The book A.J. mentioned is called "For Fear Of An Elective King"

    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. 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 May7th. This day in 1882, Congress passes the Chinese Exclusion Act, aimed at curbing Chinese immigration as fears about Asian immigrants threatening White American jobs is on the rise.

    Jody, NIki, and Kellie discuss how the American economy relied on Chinese labor at the same time that policy sought to exclude Chinese immigrants -- and how the decades after the Civil War applied new pressures on race-based legislation around the country.

    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. 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 May 5th. This day in 1960, a British theater critic named Kenneth Tynan is hauled before a Senate sub-committee to answer questions about what is seen as his anti-American work.

    It's a moment that captures the cultural and political swirl of the late 50s, which is the subject of Benjamen Walker's new audio series "Not All Propaganda Is Art," out now as part of the Radiotopia show "Theory of Everything." Check it out!

    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. 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 May 2nd. This day in 1989, Pepsi cuts a trade deal with the USSR in which it receives 17 submarines, a cruiser, a frigate, and a destroyer.

    Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss why exactly Pepsi is amassing a small naval fleet, and how the company found a market behind the Iron Curtain going back decades.

    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. 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 April 30th. This day in 1968, Columbia University asks the NYPD to intervene and break up campus protests. Sound familiar?

    Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss what the protests in '68 were about, how they married campus politics with national politics -- and why so many of the lessons of that year have still not been learned.

    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. 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

  • Welcome to Veepstakes 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, we are looking at the process of speculating, vetting, and selecting a Vice Presidential pick.

    Today: How JFK ended up picking Lyndon Johnson as his VP nominee. Its was an incredibly fraught and personal process, which of course had massive implications after JFK's assasination.

    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. 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

  • Welcome to Veepstakes 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, we are looking at the process of speculating, vetting, and selecting a Vice Presidential pick.

    Today: We go to Juneau, Alaska, in the spring of 2007 to discuss the conservative-magazine-sponsored cruise rides where Governor Sarah Palin wined-and-dined the Washington cognoscenti. A year later, she would be picked to be John McCain's Vice Presidential pick.

    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. 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

  • Welcome to Veepstakes 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, we are looking at the process of speculating, vetting, and selecting a Vice Presidential pick.

    Today: What are the main considerations that go into a VP pick? What does a good, and not so good, vetting process look like?

    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. 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 April 18th. This day in 1906, a massive earthquake devastates San Francisco.

    Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss the political impact of the quake -- from how it reshaped housing policy, shifted the demographics of the city, and provided a model for disaster response for years to come.

    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. 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 April 16th. This day in 1962, Walter Cronkite takes over as the anchor of CBS's evening news program.

    Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss how Cronkite quickly became America's most trusted voice -- not just because he played it straight, but because he was willing to show some emotion. They also look at why there may never be a single voice as trusted as his again.

    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. 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 April 14th. This day in 2000, GOP candidate for president George W. Bush meets with a group of "Log Cabin" Republicans to discuss how the GOP can better do outreach to gay conservatives.

    Jody, Niki, and Kellie are joined by Neil J. Young to talk about the "Austin Twelve" meeting, the big tent approach of the early 2000s, and how gay conservatives have tried to find a political home over the decades.

    Neil's new book is "Coming Out Republican: A History Of The Gay Right" and you can also catch him on the podcast Past Present.

    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. 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 April 11th. This day in 1877, Democrat Wade Hampton finally becomes the sole Governor of South Carolina after months of in-fighting and maneuvering following the previous fall's election.

    Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss how former confederate Democrats were able to regain political power in the aftermath of the Civil War, through the ballot and through mob violence -- marking an end to reconstruction and undermining democracy in the south for decades to come.

    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. 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 April 9th. This day in 1939, singer Marian Anderson performs for 75,000 people outdoors on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial -- after being denied the chance to perform in every indoor venue in Washington, DC.

    Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss how the concert came together, what Anderson meant to the civil rights movement at the time, and the mix of racial and cultural politics of the era.

    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. 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 April 7th. This day in 2012, there is an effort underway to recall Republican Governor Scott Walker.

    Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss how the recall effort gained momentum, why this race became a national cause, and why the effort ultimately failed.

    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. 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