Podcasts by Retropod
Retropod is a show for history-lovers, featuring stories about the past, rediscovered. Host Mike Rosenwald introduces you to history’s most colorful characters - forgotten heroes, overlooked villains, dreamers, explorers, world changers.
Further podcasts by The Washington Post
Podcast on the topic Geschichte
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The military's famous Santa Tracker began with a wrong number from 2019-12-25T08:00
In the 1950s, a child trying to call Santa Claus accidentally called NORAD and changed Christmas Eve forever.
ListenBenjamin Franklin's complicated relationship with turkeys from 2019-11-27T08:00
Benjamin Franklin, the most colorful of America's Founding Fathers, had a misunderstood, electrical and ultimately homicidal relationship with turkeys.
ListenThe last person to step foot on the moon from 2019-11-01T07:00
When Eugene Cernan walked on the moon, he didn’t know he’d be the last astronaut to make the journey.
ListenWilliam Howard Taft's housekeeper kept track of his weight from 2019-10-24T07:00
White House maid Elizabeth Jaffray not only cleaned up after presidents, she had an amazing insight into their appetites.
ListenMary Ann Van Hoof and her Marian apparitions from 2019-10-09T07:00
In 1950, Mary Ann Van Hoof gathered an estimated 100,000 people to see the Virgin Mary on a farm in Necedah, Wisconsin.
ListenClose encounters with the Capitol's Demon Cat from 2019-10-08T07:00
From the mid-1800s to well into the 20th century, the Capitol’s Demon Cat was the top dog of Washington ghost stories.
ListenAbraham Lincoln says he owes everything to his 'angel mother' and 'mama' from 2019-10-01T07:00
President Abraham Lincoln had two loving and supportive mothers in his lifetime. The second helped him cope with the tragic loss of the first.
ListenThe origins of the Waterloo teeth from 2019-09-25T07:00
More than 50,000 soldiers died during the Battle of Waterloo, but their teeth lived on.
ListenWinnie and Nelson Mandela's marriage survived prison but not freedom from 2019-09-05T07:00
Their 38-year marriage endured his incarceration and hers.
ListenMeet Paul Manafort's century-old forefather, who also liked fancy suits from 2019-08-19T07:00
Samuel Cutler Ward, also known as the “King of the Lobby,” is credited with shaping the craft of lobbying. And like lobbyist and former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, he also had some seriou...
ListenHow Hollywood's first major blockbuster revived the KKK from 2019-08-16T07:00
"The Birth of a Nation"depicted life after the Civil War in a way that glorified Klansmen. The film and its cultural impact led one man to conclude that the time was right to bring back the Klu Klu...
ListenThe biscuit tin that protected the crown jewels from 2019-08-15T07:00
It’s World War II, and you’re King George VI of England. You fear a Nazi invasion of England could come at any moment. How do you protect the crown jewels? Not even Queen Elizabeth II knew how her ...
ListenRosie the Riveter isn't who you think she is from 2019-08-14T07:00
An American in the 1940s would not recognize the woman from the “We Can Do It!” poster as Rosie the Riveter.
ListenThe first congresswoman's vote from 2019-08-09T07:00
In April 1917, Jeannette Rankin, the first woman elected to Congress, faced an agonizing choice: should she, or should she not, vote for the United States to enter World War I?
ListenThe fact and fiction of Prince Philip from 2019-08-02T07:00
The most recent British royal wedding puts all eyes on the Windsor family. But perhaps no royal is as controversial as Harry's grandfather, Prince Philip.
ListenIntroducing Moonrise from 2019-07-19T07:00
Host Lillian Cunningham's next podcast explores the real story of why we went to the moon -- a darker, but truer story than the one you've heard before. Listen to this trailer, and subscribe on you...
ListenThe storied past of Alderson federal women's prison from 2019-07-16T07:00
The Alderson Federal Prison Camp has a history filled with powerful women. Some pushed for the prison to be built. Others served time there.
ListenThe time we thought an asteroid might kill us all from 2019-07-02T07:00
In 1998, the world briefly panicked over an asteroid that seemed headed straight for Earth.
ListenSuzanne Lenglen, the first goddess of tennis from 2019-07-01T07:00
Suzanne Lenglen was physically ferocious, always fashionable and a disrupter of convention.
ListenThe origins of the National Rifle Association from 2019-06-24T07:00
When the NRA was founded in 1871, its primary concern was not gun rights or the Second Amendment.
ListenOregon was America’s first and only state to begin as 'whites-only' from 2019-06-19T07:00
Oregon’s original constitution banned black people from the state, and the law stayed in the constitution for well over 100 years.
ListenA history of extreme makeovers at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue from 2019-06-14T07:00
When the White House was built over 200 years ago, it lacked certain modern conveniences. A hodgepodge of improvements have been added over the years.
ListenThe 'temporary insanity' legal defense started with an affair from 2019-06-11T07:00
If you love gossip, drama and D.C. politics -- this story is the gift that keeps on giving.
ListenEisenhower’s famous speech to U.S. troops the day before D-Day from 2019-06-10T07:00
On the day before D-Day, Supreme Allied Commander in Europe Dwight D. Eisenhower gave a speech to the troops that totally masked how nervous he actually was.
ListenThe painter who became the CIA’s master of disguise from 2019-06-07T07:00
The spy business is all about masking the truth. One CIA agent’s deceptions and sham identities were so enterprising that he earned the nickname “Master of Disguise."
Related episodes Listen
The ax that killed Leon Trotsky from 2019-06-06T07:00
Joseph Stalin wanted his political rival dead. When bullets didn’t do the job, his intelligence service tried something even more gruesome.
Related episodes
That time the CIA stole a Russian submarine from 2019-06-05T07:00
When a Russian sub sank at the height of the Cold War, the CIA got help from Howard Hughes and created a fictitious mining operation to snag the vessel at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.
...
ListenThe pistols that almost fell from the sky from 2019-06-04T07:00
During World War II, U.S. intelligence operatives devised a plan to airdrop one-shot handguns, nicknamed the Liberator pistol, to allies in Europe in hopes of ending the war quickly.
Re...
ListenThe rat that helped win the Cold War from 2019-06-03T07:00
In the first of a weeklong series of episodes about spies, subterfuge and intelligence, a look at how the CIA used dead rats to send secret messages in the former Soviet Union.
Related ...
ListenThe test that changed childbirth from 2019-05-31T07:00
In the 1950s, Dr. Virginia Apgar created a quick test that nurses have since performed on millions of babies just after birth. She is considered one of the most important figures in modern medicine...
ListenAmid rising tension between the U.S. and Cuba, Hemingway's widow went on a literary rescue mission from 2019-05-30T07:00
When author Ernest Hemingway killed himself in 1961, the political strain between the United States and Cuba was escalating. In the midst of that struggle, Hemingway's widow scrambled to recover th...
ListenFrank Lloyd Wright tried to create a perfect house for an imperfect world from 2019-05-29T07:00
In 1939, an unknown copy editor from Washington, D.C., begged famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright to design his family a home. The result was a modern house that stood decades ahead of its time.
ListenRising from ruin: The many rebuilds of Notre Dame from 2019-05-28T07:00
The world watched Notre Dame as it burned in April. But the cathedral has endured a lot in its 856 years.
ListenA debate that went into extra innings: Can baseballs curve? from 2019-05-24T07:00
Beginning in the earliest days of baseball, fans, journalists and even physicists disputed whether or not pitchers could make a ball curve.
ListenHow food found its way into the freezer from 2019-05-23T07:00
While on a research trip to the Arctic in the early 20th century, scientist Clarence Birdseye — a name you might recognize from the frozen food aisle — made an observation that would go on to chang...
ListenThe man who helped create the first measles vaccine didn’t vaccinate his own son from 2019-05-22T07:00
In the 1950s, millions of people suffered from measles every year. David Edmonston, an 11-year-old student, became the cure.
ListenClara Barton, America's most famous nurse, broke boundaries to treat Civil War victims from 2019-05-21T07:00
The nurse who founded the American Red Cross had no formal training in medicine. She tended to countless wounded soldiers.
ListenWhy Naval Academy students climb a greased up obelisk every year from 2019-05-20T07:00
Every year, freshmen at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis take part in an annual tradition where they must climb a 21 foot high obelisk covered in vegetable shortening and place a hat at the very...
ListenThe forgotten pioneers of the first American utopia from 2019-05-17T07:00
More than a decade ago, bestselling historian David McCullough stumbled upon an important name from the past that even he’d never come across before. What he discovered was the story of pioneering ...
ListenThe game show contestant who cheated his way to fame from 2019-05-16T07:00
In the 1950s, Charles Van Doren, a quiet professor in New York City, became wrapped up in one of the biggest television quiz show scandals in history.
ListenThe unlikely beginning of paint-by-number from 2019-05-15T07:00
Paint-by-number was a national phenomenon. And then, the paint sets disappeared from the shelves.
ListenThe jazz queen who chose home over fame from 2019-05-14T07:00
Jazz singer Ethel Ennis’s voice wowed audiences and won praise from critics. But when she was faced with the opportunity to become a superstar, Ennis chose a different path.
ListenThe most difficult job Robert Mueller ever had from 2019-05-13T07:00
Serving as special counsel is probably only the third hardest job Robert Mueller has held. His life in public service started when he just 23 years old, as a Marine lieutenant in the Vietnam War.
ListenAnna Jarvis spent years fighting to create Mother's Day, then lost everything trying to protect it from 2019-05-10T07:00
Anna Jarvis would absolutely hate what Mother's Day has become.
ListenThe books presidents read from 2019-05-08T07:00
People have long been fascinated by the books presidents choose to read. But how much do reading habits actually reveal about a president?
ListenNeed a job? Ask Ulysses S. Grant. from 2019-05-02T07:00
While President Grant had an impressive resume on the battlefield, he was known to be a patsy when it came to helping job hunters. People used to walk right into the White House and ask the preside...
ListenThese guys were college jocks, and then became presidents of the United States from 2019-04-24T07:00
We dug through The Washington Post's archives and consulted the Pro Football Hall of Fame to bring you a rundown of the best presidential ballers.
ListenChillicothe, Missouri: The town that invented sliced bread from 2019-04-18T07:00
The town of Chillicothe, Missouri, discovered they have a surprising claim to history: the creation of sliced bread.
ListenHistory's most fascinating misquote from 2019-04-16T15:00
The Apollo 13 astronauts never said “Houston we have a problem.” Here’s why you think they did.
ListenThe Mouth of the South from 2019-04-12T07:00
Martha Mitchell was the wife of President Nixon's attorney general. Nixon blamed Mitchell for Watergate.
ListenHair peace. Bed peace. from 2019-04-11T07:00
On March 25, 1969, John Lennon and Yoko Ono were a few days into their marriage when they invited the press to join them at their honeymoon suite at the Amsterdam Hilton Hotel.
ListenQueen Arawelo from 2019-04-10T07:00
Growing up in Somalia, a country where stories are handed down through generations, one of the first tales that children are told is about an ancient queen who fought to give women power by castrat...
ListenThe man who killed Bonnie and Clyde from 2019-04-09T07:00
It was April of 1934. The multi-state crime spree of Bonnie and Clyde came to an end in an ambush on a winding country road in Louisiana. The man who finally hunted them down was Texas Ranger Frank...
ListenKetamine in the mainstream from 2019-04-05T21:00
Once a party drug, ketamine has found its way into modern medicine.
ListenFrom handsaws to parades: D.C.’s cherry blossom trees weren’t always beloved from 2019-04-05T07:00
Over one million people attend the National Cherry Blossom Festival each year. But the cherry blossom trees, and Japanese culture, were not always embraced in the United States.
ListenThe day before the Chernobyl disaster from 2019-04-04T07:00
Disasters don’t just happen. Like anything in life, there’s usually a buildup. In the case of the Chernobyl disaster, the series of failures stretched back more than a decade. But what happened the...
ListenLast Seen Ads from 2019-04-03T09:28:07
After the Civil War, formerly enslaved people placed notices in black-owned newspapers across the country to find their loved ones.
ListenGeorge Taliaferro, the first black player drafted to the NFL from 2019-04-01T09:17:35
He thought being drafted into the National Football League was so unlikely that he signed with an African American league team. Then, the NFL called.
ListenThe first 'Queen of the Air' from 2019-03-29T07:00
Four years before Amelia Earhart ever got into a plane, Ruth Law was already making a name for herself in the skies.
ListenA spy in the Confederate White House from 2019-03-28T07:00
During the American Civil War, a former slave smuggled secrets from the Confederate President to help the North to victory. Her name was Mary Bowser.
ListenThe nurse who picked up a rifle from 2019-03-27T07:00
During World War I, British nurse Flora Sandes put down her nurses bag to fight with the Serbian Army.
ListenThe 'Night Witches' from 2019-03-26T07:00
During World War II, around 80 Russian women took to the skies and risked their lives to fight against the Germans.
ListenThe extraordinary life of Civil War veteran Albert Cashier from 2019-03-25T07:00
On August 6, 1862, a shy young man from Belvidere, Illinois, signed up to fight for the North in the Civil War. His name was Albert Cashier.
ListenThe first black senator and America’s brief biracial democracy from 2019-03-22T09:33:58
Hiram Rhodes Revels came to the Senate after the Civil War in a shining moment of triumph — a black man taking over the seat once held by Jefferson Davis. It didn’t last.
ListenWhy isn’t lynching illegal? from 2019-03-21T07:00
It is one of the worst expressions of racism in American history. And there’s no federal law to prevent it.
ListenRobert Morris, the creator of the subpoena from 2019-03-20T07:00
The history of subpoenas, and the fiery congressional hearings that have captivated Americans for centuries began with a Founding Father raising his hand to say, “Investigate me!”
ListenJudy Garland and the long history of 'Me Too' in Hollywood from 2019-03-19T07:00
Sexual harassment has been existed in showbiz as long as there have been bright lights.
ListenA rich piece of scandal from 2019-03-18T07:00
In the 19th century, publications both reputable and scandalous routinely blackmailed society figures caught in compromising circumstances.
ListenTo ban a 'Mockingbird' from 2019-03-14T07:00
Harper Lee's classic novel has been causing controversy for as long as its been in print. Here's a look at the history of banning"To Kill a Mockingbird."
ListenAll the Presidents' Ghosts from 2019-02-18T08:00
Whether you believe in this stuff or not, the many accounts that have spilled out of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue over two centuries give ghosts an undeniable place in the country’s history.
ListenBefore the Lovings, another interracial couple fought to marry from 2019-02-14T08:00
The Kinneys married in Washington, D.C., in 1874. Then, they were arrested back home in Virginia for violating the state’s laws. They fought the ruling in higher and higher courts but never won the...
ListenThe first female Marine from 2019-02-12T08:00
During World War I, the Marines Corps needed help on the home front while men were fighting overseas. Opha May Johnson was the first woman in line.
ListenJim Crow and the rise of blackface from 2019-02-08T08:00
Back in the 1830s, Jim Crow wasn't yet a symbol of inequality. He was a fictional character in minstrel shows who, to entertain his audiences, performed in blackface.
ListenThe Wicked Bible from 2019-02-07T08:00:08
A full year after the King James Bible was printed in 1631, people discovered an error.
ListenHow the State of the Union went from speech to spectacle from 2019-02-06T08:00
The president's State of the Union started as a simple report on the condition on the nation; overtime, the address became a moment to rally Congress and the public.
ListenThe Soviet officer who stopped World War III from 2019-02-04T08:00
In 1983, Stanislav Petrov, a lieutenant colonel in the Soviet Union’s Air Defense Forces, trusted his gut and averted a global nuclear catastrophe.
ListenHow 'Broadway Joe' redefined the NFL from 2019-02-01T08:00
A few days before his team took the field as huge underdogs in Super Bowl III, New York Jets quarterback Joe Namath made what was seen as an insane prediction at the time:"The Jets will win Sunday,...
ListenThe godmother of the open office from 2019-01-31T08:00
If you work in an office without offices, with just about everyone working in a large spare space full of stylish desks, straight lines and papers stored in a credenza, then you have met Florence K...
ListenThe Confederate spy who evaded capture from 2019-01-30T08:00
After the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, John Surratt traveled across three continents, wore disguises and used fake names for nearly two years to escape authorities.
ListenPinball’s sordid past from 2019-01-25T08:00
Pinball was once so vilified that it was banned in cities across the United States.
ListenThe man inside the minds of a million consumers from 2019-01-24T08:00
In the 1950s, Lester Wunderman became the king of direct mail advertising — the ancestor of today’s online targeted ads.
ListenA history of hats in the House from 2019-01-23T08:00
In the early days of the House, some congresspeople thought hats had no place atop the heads of representatives debating the great issues of the day. Hats, they argued, weren’t dignified.
ListenThe last person to set foot on the moon from 2019-01-22T08:00
When Eugene Cernan walked on the moon, he didn’t know he’d be the last astronaut to make the journey.
ListenHow Martin Luther King Jr. got his name from 2019-01-21T10:03:29
The name on Martin Luther King Jr.'s birth certificate was not Martin. Nor did the document include the middle name Luther.
ListenTenure for life from 2019-01-18T10:01:20
When Alexander Hamilton argued in favor of lifetime tenures for Supreme Court justices, he probably didn’t foresee them living past their prime.
ListenThe hatchet wielding leader of the anti-alcohol movement from 2019-01-17T08:00
More than a century ago, Carry Amelia Nation — hatchet in hand — chopped the country toward temperance.
ListenA bridge of ice at Niagara Falls from 2019-01-16T08:00
Once upon a time, people walked between the U.S. and Canada over a frozen Niagara Falls. But one day, that all changed forever.
ListenA history of the U.S.-Mexico border from 2019-01-14T08:00
For decades, the boundary between Mexico and the United States was little more than an imaginary line in the sand.
ListenA presidential emergency that didn't end well from 2019-01-11T08:00
When a steel industry strike threatened military production during the Korean War, and Congress couldn’t come to an agreement, President Truman had a solution — declare a national emergency.
ListenHow Lego took over the toy world from 2019-01-10T08:00
Lego started as a company that made wooden toys, and grew into an empire of plastic building blocks.
ListenThe summer men rebelled against their shirts from 2019-01-09T08:00
It doesn't seem like a big deal today, but 1930s America lived in fear of the male nipple.
ListenThe researcher whose rats predicted the Internet from 2019-01-08T08:00
John Calhoun’s rodent experiments revolutionized the way we think about social behavior and the impact of growing populations.
ListenOne of the greatest astronomers of her generation from 2019-01-07T08:00
Nancy Grace Roman was one of NASA’s first female astronomers and was a key figure in the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope.
ListenHow one World War II veteran lived to be a centenarian from 2019-01-04T08:00
At 112-years-old, Richard Overton was the oldest living World War II veteran.
ListenA wooden mallet with a colorful history of being shattered from 2019-01-03T08:00
Throughout American history, speakers of the House have pounded their gavels so hard in search of order that they wind up smashing the gavel itself into smithereens.
ListenThe rabble rouser who inspired Ruth Bader Ginsburg from 2019-01-02T08:00
Dorothy Kenyon was an early leader in the legal fight for women's rights.
ListenThe military’s famous Santa Tracker began with a wrong number from 2018-12-24T08:00
In the 1950s, a child trying to call Santa Claus accidentally called NORAD and changed Christmas Eve forever.
ListenThe Christmas Truce from 2018-12-21T08:00
During the first Christmas of World War I, a miracle took place all along the Europe’s Western Front.
ListenA piece of punctuation that failed to leave its mark from 2018-12-20T08:00
A new punctuation mark called the interrobang found its way onto some typewriters in the 1960s, but it never caught on.
ListenPresident Grant fired his own special prosecutor from 2018-12-19T08:00
In 1875, Ulysses S. Grant hired a special prosecutor to investigate the Whiskey Ring scandal. Furious with his findings, Grant had him fired.
ListenThe first presidential press conference from 2018-12-18T08:00
Before 1913, the presidential press conference didn’t exist. But a president who liked reporters changed that.
ListenThe astronomer who took gay rights to the Supreme Court from 2018-12-17T08:00
After being fired from his job for being gay, Frank Kameny took his battle for equality to the nation’s highest court.
ListenThe policeman who arrested a president from 2018-12-14T08:00
After receiving complaints about carriages driving too fast, Washington D.C. policeman William H. West arrested a presidential speed demon.
ListenOne of the ugliest speaker fights in congressional history from 2018-12-13T08:00
In 1859, the House went to war over Rep. John Sherman’s bid for leadership.
ListenThe evangelist and convicted cat burglar who galvanized gay rights from 2018-12-12T08:00
In Houston, Ray Hill was a colossal character. He even adopted"citizen provocateur"as a formal title.
ListenIn 1939, the 'American Hitler' took the stage at Madison Square Garden from 2018-12-11T08:00
Fritz Kuhn was the leader of the pro-Nazi group known as the German American Bund. He was a hero to his audience, and a scourge on the world to most others.
ListenThe cranberry crisis that changed how we see our food from 2018-12-10T08:00
Weeks before Thanksgiving, 1959, cranberries were declared unsafe to eat. The race was on to save America’s favorite holiday side dish.
ListenThe 'Toy King' who never aspired to the throne. from 2018-12-07T08:00
Toys R Us founder Charles Lazarus had no idea how big the toy industry would become.
ListenAmerica’s first black Catholic priest from 2018-12-06T08:00
Augustus Tolton’s miraculous life took him from slavery to the brink of sainthood.
ListenJohn Adams was eulogized before his son even knew he died from 2018-12-05T08:00
News traveled so slowly in 1826 that the former president was buried days before his son, sitting president John Quincy Adams, got word of his death.
ListenGeorge H.W. Bush was a president and a prankster from 2018-12-04T08:00
Bush, who died last week, is being fondly remembered for his cool demeanor and a boundless sense of humor.
ListenThe unlikely friendship between George H.W. Bush and Dana Carvey from 2018-12-01T15:37:52
George H.W. Bush had a lot of humility. So much that he developed a friendship with the comedian who impersonated him on SNL, Dana Carvey.
ListenWilliam Howard Taft’s housekeeper kept track of his weight from 2018-11-30T08:00
White House maid Elizabeth Jaffray not only cleaned up after presidents, she had an amazing insight into their appetites.
ListenThe National Christmas Tree from 2018-11-29T08:00
One of the grandest events the president presides over every year is the lighting of the National Christmas Tree.
ListenA brief history of presidents visiting troops in combat from 2018-11-26T08:00
Presidents throughout history have visited battlefields to better grasp conditions, reverse public doubt and signal that the country took war efforts seriously.
ListenBenjamin Franklin’s complicated relationship with turkeys from 2018-11-21T08:00
Benjamin Franklin, the most colorful of America's Founding Fathers, had a misunderstood, electrical and ultimately homicidal relationship with turkeys.
ListenThe origins of the Unknown Soldier from 2018-11-19T14:58:59
The story of how the anonymous soldier came to rest inside the famous tomb is almost as unknown as his identity.
ListenMark Twain's complicated relationship with the typewriter from 2018-11-16T08:00
Mark Twain first laid eyes on a “newfangled typing machine,” as he called it, sometime in the early 1870s.
ListenFood stamps were born out of a surplus of food from 2018-11-15T08:00
The idea of food stamps was born out of a complicated paradox.
ListenWilliam Rehnquist's proposal to Sandra Day O'Connor from 2018-11-14T08:00
Rehnquist proposed. O'Connor said no.
ListenThe first lady who couldn’t get her memoir published from 2018-11-13T08:00
Julia Grant didn't a have particularly good experience in the world of publishing. In fact, her memoir wasn’t even published in her lifetime.
ListenJoachim Ronneberg, the saboteur who crippled Nazi atomic bomb project from 2018-11-12T08:00
Ronneberg started speaking about his experience in history in recent years.
ListenAmerica and warfare were never the same after World War I from 2018-11-09T08:00
Along with staggering death tolls, the"Great War"generated memorable literature, geopolitical upheaval, hope, disillusion, the Russian Revolution and the seeds of World War II.
ListenWong Kim Ark's Supreme Court fight for birthright citizenship from 2018-11-08T08:00
In 1895, the United States tried to deny an American citizen entry to the country even though he was born on U.S. soil.
ListenHow the Greeks once used a lottery system to select government officials from 2018-11-07T08:00
Some believed that a lottery was more democratic than a vote.
ListenThe makings of an electoral heist from 2018-11-06T08:00
Gerrymandering became a real electoral cudgel with a project called REDMAP.
ListenRahm Emanuel, Howard Dean and the midterm elections of 2006 from 2018-11-05T08:00
Rahm Emanuel, the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and Howard Dean, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, had two different approaches to taking back the Ho...
ListenMary Ann Van Hoof and the Marian apparitions from 2018-11-01T07:00
Van Hoof said she also has seen George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Joan of Arc.
ListenClose encounters with the Capitol’s Demon Cat from 2018-10-31T07:00
From the mid-1800s to well into the 20th century, the Capitol’s Demon Cat was the top dog of Washington ghost stories.
ListenHow Pittsburgh's Mister Rogers talked to children about tragedy from 2018-10-30T07:00
Mister Rogers’s approach to dealing with grief began with an American tragedy.
ListenNew York's mad bomber from 2018-10-29T07:00
In 1956, New York City’s bomb squad used criminal profiling to catch a terrorist known as “The Mad Bomber.”
ListenThe sword pulled from history from 2018-10-26T07:00
An 8-year-old found an ancient sword in a Swedish lake. Does that make her the queen?
ListenA love supreme: Ruth Bader and Martin Ginsburg from 2018-10-25T07:00
She was short. He was tall. Her family wasn't well off. His was. She was a worrier. He had not a care in the world. If you looked up mismatch in the dictionary, Ruth Bader and Martin D. Ginsburg f...
ListenThe unstoppable Fannie Lou Hamer from 2018-10-24T07:00
Civil rights crusader Fannie Lou Hamer rivaled Martin Luther King Jr. in her command of audiences.
ListenThe Sultan of Swat wasn’t always known as a slugger from 2018-10-23T07:00
Before becoming a legendary big hitter, Babe Ruth was one of baseball’s best from the mound.
ListenBig Bird and the genius inside from 2018-10-22T07:00
Caroll Spinney and his iconic character were inseparable for almost 50 years.
ListenWoodrow Wilson's secret letters to another woman from 2018-10-19T07:00
Family and friends had known about the president’s intimate relationship with Mary Peck for years, but whispers about their involvement were growing.
ListenThe metamorphosis of Jackie O from 2018-10-18T07:00
As Jacqueline Kennedy transitioned from wife-in-chief to widow-in-mourning, there was tension between whom she had been and whom she was allowed to become.
ListenThe body of Emmett Till from 2018-10-17T07:00
Emmett Till’s mother opened his casket and sparked the civil rights movement.
ListenThe photographer and the busboy from 2018-10-16T07:00
Photographer Boris Yaro shot the photo of Bobby Kennedy lying fatally wounded in the arms of Juan Romero, a busboy. The photo would haunt both of them.
ListenThe Romanovs, Russia's 'odious' autocratic family from 2018-10-15T07:00
If you think your family is overrun with controlling lunatics, please meet the Romanovs.
ListenThe gory origins of the Waterloo teeth from 2018-10-12T07:00
More than 50,000 soldiers died during the Battle of Waterloo, but their teeth lived on.
ListenHow the teddy bear was born from 2018-10-11T07:00
In the fall of 1902, a year into his presidency, President Teddy Roosevelt set off to Mississippi for a bear-hunting vacation. It ended differently than planned.
ListenThe first black female White House reporter held the powerful accountable on civil rights from 2018-10-10T07:00
It was rare to be a woman or African American covering the White House in the 1940s. Alice Dunnigan was both.
ListenThe teenage girl who caught a Nazi monster from 2018-10-09T07:00
In the fall of 1957, as the world was moving on from World War II and the extermination of 6 million Jews, Sylvia Hermann knocked on the door of a modest home in Buenos Aires.
ListenThe complicated history of swimsuits and Miss America from 2018-10-08T07:00
The debate was always about more than swimsuits.
ListenThe assassin who wore braids and killed Nazis from 2018-10-05T07:00
Freddie Oversteegen was 14 when she joined the Dutch resistance, though with her long, dark hair in braids she looked at least two years younger.
ListenThe surprising history of the 25th Amendment from 2018-10-04T07:00
The 25th Amendment passed after the assassination of John F. Kennedy.
ListenIn the 1850s, navigating Ice Alley was deadly for ships from 2018-10-03T07:00
Despite warnings of icebergs, the John Rutledge set sail from Liverpool, England, to New York.
ListenAmerica’s forgotten Iranian hostage from 2018-10-02T07:00:05
Nine months before the Iran hostage crisis, Kenneth Kraus was held hostage in Iran for eight days.
ListenThe heroine of Lime Rock Lighthouse from 2018-10-01T07:00
Ida Lewis saved as many as 25 people during her service at the lighthouse. But her deeds have largely been forgotten.
ListenHow accusations against Supreme Court nominees were once handled from 2018-09-28T07:00
In 1890, Henry Brown sailed through the confirmation process after being accused of shooting and killing someone in self defense.
ListenThe man and the coconut that saved JFK from 2018-09-27T07:00
William Liebenow rescued John F. Kennedy from an island filled with coconuts.
ListenRosie the Riveter isn’t who you think she is from 2018-09-26T07:00
An American in the 1940s would not recognize the woman from the “We Can Do It!” poster as Rosie the Riveter.
ListenThe presidential pardon the country never forgot from 2018-09-25T07:00
When Gerald Ford took over the presidency after Richard Nixon’s resignation, he soon made a controversial choice: He pardoned Nixon.
ListenHow Anita Hill’s testimony led to the"Year of the Woman" from 2018-09-24T07:00
No women served on the Senate Judiciary Committee in 1991. The ugly Anita Hill hearings changed that.
ListenThe thin-skinned president who made it illegal to criticize his office from 2018-09-21T07:00
The Alien and Sedition Acts passed under President John Adams led to the arrests of more than two dozen people.
ListenThe photographer who helped end child labor in America from 2018-09-20T07:00
Lewis Hine posed as a Bible salesman or machinery photographer to expose the hardships of child labor.
ListenOnly half of George Washington’s Supreme Court justices showed up on time from 2018-09-19T07:00
All of George Washington’s Supreme Court nominees were confirmed in only two days, but half of them didn't show up on time.
ListenWinnie and Nelson Mandela’s marriage survived prison but not freedom from 2018-09-18T07:00
Their 38-year marriage endured his incarceration and hers.
ListenThe day the nation's capital welcomed the KKK from 2018-09-17T07:00
In 1925, 30,000 Klansmen descended on Washington, D.C. The city cheered their arrival.
ListenThe search for the anonymous author of a 1996 political novel from 2018-09-14T07:00
Before an unnamed senior official in the Trump administration published the opinion piece, “I am part of the resistance inside the Trump administration"in the New York Times, another mysterious an...
ListenThe surprise hurricane that devastated the Florida Keys from 2018-09-13T07:00
In 1935, the Florida Keys ignored the threat of a looming hurricane. When the Category 5 storm made landfall, it left a wake of death and destruction.
ListenHow a solar eclipse made Albert Einstein famous from 2018-09-12T07:00
It may be hard to believe, but one single event rocketed Einstein to fame.
ListenThe rookie pilot who was ready to give her life on Sept. 11 from 2018-09-11T07:00
Heather Penney was among the first female combat pilots in the country. On Sept. 11, 2001, she got a mission: Bring down the fourth hijacked plane hurtling towards Washington.
ListenThe story of the real Charlotte of ‘Charlotte's Web’ from 2018-09-07T07:00
This episode is co-hosted by Madeline Daly, who won Retropod trivia last Saturday at the National Book Festival in Washington, D.C.
ListenRoe v. Wade’s forgotten loser from 2018-09-06T07:00
Dallas prosecutor Henry Wade never intended to become a central figure in Supreme Court history.
ListenThe French aviators who almost beat Charles Lindbergh from 2018-09-05T07:00
In 1927, the world watched as two French aviators attempted the world’s first transatlantic flight.
ListenThe campus massacre before Kent State from 2018-09-04T07:00
The first mass police shooting on a U.S. college campus happened two years before the Ohio National Guard opened fire on student protesters at Kent State University.
ListenThe time the United States illegally deported 1 million Mexican Americans from 2018-09-03T07:00
In 1931, President Herbert Hoover started a program that would result in the illegal deportation of 1.8 million people to Mexico by the end of the 1930s. Of those people, 60 percent were U.S. citiz...
ListenThe Quaker abolitionist who was disowned for condemning slave owners from 2018-08-31T07:00
Benjamin Lay wrote one of the first treatises against slavery in Colonial America, a time when many prosperous Pennsylvania Quakers were slave owners. But for speaking out, the Quakers disowned him.
ListenIda B. Wells, the woman who never gave up from 2018-08-30T07:00
Ida B. Wells was an investigative journalist, an anti-lynching activist, a suffragette and a teacher.
ListenHow a Supreme Court clerk changed the decision on Clay v. United States from 2018-08-29T07:00
Muhammad Ali was so close to going to jail for evading the draft. He has a Supreme Court clerk to thank for his freedom.
ListenColonel Blood, the scoundrel who tried to steal Great Britain's crown jewels from 2018-08-28T07:00
Thomas Blood had somewhat of a shady past. According to Ireland’s History magazine, he had a reputation for espionage and conducting terrorist campaigns — though many of his plans were foiled just ...
ListenBeing a maverick almost stopped John McCain from becoming a public servant from 2018-08-27T07:00
At the Naval Academy, McCain was in a group called the “Bad Bunch” as he rebelled against his father’s expectations.
ListenPaul Jennings, the former slave who disputed a legend from history from 2018-08-24T07:00
According to James Madison’s Virginia mansion Montpelier, Paul Jennings’ account reveals, “how the racial and gender hierarchies of the time complicate the way we understand roles in historic events.”
ListenWhat Operation Pied Piper taught us about family separations from 2018-08-23T07:00
Millions of British children were evacuated from London and other cities to escape the horrors of war. But the family separations seemed to impart long-term trauma that was in many cases as severe ...
ListenReagan's most historic speech took a few years to make an impact from 2018-08-22T07:00
When President Reagan told Mr. Gorbachev to “tear down this wall,” it was not seen as a historic moment. It took the actual fall of the wall to resurrect the speech and drill the quote into our con...
ListenA president’s lions and the emoluments clause from 2018-08-21T09:14:19
The greatest emoluments-clause dilemma of the 1800s involved two lions.
ListenHow Harry S. Truman went from being a racist to desegregating the military from 2018-08-20T07:00
When Harry Truman became president in 1945, Southern members of Congress were delighted. They thought he’d be sympathetic to segregationists. He proved them wrong.
ListenThe long-lost 'Laws of Baseball' from 2018-08-17T07:00
On display in Washington, D.C. are the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and another document that details a fundamental institution in American life: baseball.
ListenThe congressman who shot a waiter from 2018-08-16T07:00
A hungry congressman didn’t get the breakfast he ordered. So he shot the waiter.
ListenThe time Truman met with Stalin and it went well from 2018-08-15T07:00
Back in 1941, a get-together that should have been fraught with uneasiness didn't turn out that way, which is surprising given the participants: President Harry S. Truman and Joseph Stalin.
ListenMeet Paul Manafort’s century-old forefather, who also liked fancy suits from 2018-08-14T07:00
Samuel Cutler Ward, also known as the “King of the Lobby,” is credited with shaping the craft of lobbying. And like lobbyist and former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, he also had some seriou...
ListenAn aviation flop was a stamp collector’s dream and the U.S. Postal Service’s nightmare from 2018-08-13T07:00
A stamp collector’s discovery of the “Inverted Jenny” stamp created a headache for the U.S. Postal Service.
ListenHow Mister Rogers talked to children and families about tragedy from 2018-08-10T07:00
Mister Rogers’s approach to dealing with tragedy began with the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy.
ListenThe storied past of Alderson federal women’s prison from 2018-08-09T07:00
The Alderson Federal Prison Camp has a history filled with powerful women who both pushed for the walls to be built there and served time within them.
ListenRebels, turn out your dead! from 2018-08-08T07:00
During the American Revolution, more patriots died as prisoners of war in or around New York City than died in combat.
ListenThe Saturday Night Massacre from 2018-08-07T07:00
The one night that changed President Nixon’s fate has stuck with us as a reminder of the limits of presidential power.
ListenThe dark history of the pill from 2018-08-06T07:00
A group of poor women in Puerto Rico were the first test subjects for the birth control pill. Were they guinea pigs or pioneers?
ListenMeet Yvonne Burke, the first congresswoman to give birth in office from 2018-08-03T07:00
Sixty years after Congress welcomed its first woman, it welcomed its first baby.
ListenThe unlikely start of the Boy Scout movement from 2018-08-02T07:00
The Boy Scout movement began 110 years ago on a tiny island just off the southern coast of England.
ListenHow the anti-Semitic conspiracy theories about the Rothschilds began from 2018-08-01T07:00
The anti-Semitic conspiracy theories surrounding the Rothschild family date all the way back to The Battle of Waterloo.
ListenThe first campus shooting from 2018-07-31T07:00
A professor at The University of Virginia was fatally shot by a student in 1840.
ListenHow God became part of the pledge from 2018-07-30T07:00
For over 50 years, the phrase “under God” was not a part of the Pledge of Allegiance. One sermon changed that.
ListenHow a textile shortage led to the invention of the bikini from 2018-07-27T07:00
This episode addresses the history of the bikini in, naturally, two parts.
ListenThe complicated story of Linda Brown and the fight for desegregated schools from 2018-07-26T07:00
Linda Brown and her father Oliver Brown are heroes of the civil rights movement. The backstory of the landmark Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education is more complicated than what you learn...
ListenThe time a senator won an Emmy for grilling witnesses at a hearing from 2018-07-25T07:00
In 1951, a televised Senate hearing caught America’s attention.
ListenThe rainless flood that destroyed a city from 2018-07-24T07:00
It did not rain, at least not in Ellicott City, Md. That’s what made the 1868 flood so bizarre and unexpected.
ListenHow a renovation made the Supreme Court a friendlier place from 2018-07-23T07:00
One simple change to how the Supreme Court bench was designed made a world of difference to how the justices communicated.
ListenThe epic bender that launched America from 2018-07-13T07:00
Washington and his fellow partiers racked up a bill of $15,000 in today’s currency celebrating the completion of the Constitution.
ListenA Supreme Court justice morally opposed abortion, but voted to legalize it from 2018-07-12T07:00
The justice who helped persuade a majority of the Supreme Court to legalize abortion found the practice unthinkable — personally, but not constitutionally.
ListenEartha Kitt confronted the first lady and it nearly ruined her career from 2018-07-11T07:00
At a White House luncheon, actress Eartha Kitt would not let the president or the first lady avoid the issue of the Vietnam War. She paid a heavy price for her boldness.
ListenOregon, America’s first and only state to begin as"whites-only" from 2018-07-10T07:00
Oregon’s original constitution banned black people from the state, and the law stayed in the constitution for well over 100 years.
ListenHow Eleanor Roosevelt invented the modern idea of a first lady from 2018-07-09T07:00
Eleanor Roosevelt held news conferences just for female reporters. The men were not impressed.
ListenThe teen who tied a Virginia election from 2018-07-05T07:00
In 1971, Stephen Burns was 18 years old and a newly minted voter. He was so jazzed to be a part of the Democratic process.
ListenThomas Jefferson's last letter from 2018-07-04T13:18:12
Somehow, in the depths of his personal misery towards the end of his life, Thomas Jefferson had found his powerful way with words again.
ListenThe U.S. government recruited black men to watch them die from 2018-07-03T07:00
The Tuskegee syphilis experiment is a horrific piece of American history.
ListenThe deaf men who helped NASA send humans to space from 2018-07-02T07:00
In a largely forgotten experiment, a group of students from Gallaudet University spent years helping NASA understand the mechanisms of motion sickness, and how to prevent it.
ListenThat time we thought an asteroid might kill us all from 2018-06-29T07:00
In 1998, the world briefly panicked over an asteroid that seemed headed for a close call with Earth. Spoiler alert: it wasn’t.
ListenThe femme fatale from 2018-06-28T07:00
For the past 100 years, Mata Hari has been revered as the quintessential glamorous spy. But the real Mata Hari was much more complicated.
ListenThe first congresswoman’s vote from 2018-06-27T07:00
In April 1917, Jeannette Rankin, the first woman elected to Congress, faced an agonizing choice. Should she, or should she not, vote for the United States to enter World War I?
ListenHow Hollywood’s first major blockbuster revived the KKK from 2018-06-26T07:00
"The Birth of a Nation"depicted life after the Civil War in a way that glorified Klansmen. The film and its cultural impact led one man to conclude that the time was right to bring back the Klu Klu...
ListenThe first pride parade from 2018-06-25T07:00
The very first pride parade was held in 1964 and was a bit … calmer … than what we think of today.
ListenThe oldest surviving banjo recording from 2018-06-22T07:00
Charles Asbury’s newly digitized songs serve as a time capsule to the music of the 19th century.
ListenThe worst presidents from 2018-06-21T07:00
Besides President Trump, whom do scholars scorn the most?
ListenDoughnuts, the most patriotic of the junk foods from 2018-06-20T07:00
Doughnuts aren’t just delicious. They also helped America win a war.
ListenThe first shark attacks from 2018-06-19T07:00
For most of American history, no one was scared of sharks. One week - and one shark - changed that.
ListenBetween Lincoln and Washington, only one was a great poet from 2018-06-18T07:00
George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, two great presidents, had a lot in common: Both lost a parent as a child, both had a serious demeanor, and both dabbled with writing poetry. But only one was ...
ListenThis security guard discovered the Watergate break-in, but nobody remembers him from 2018-06-15T07:00
The man who called the police on the Watergate burglars never received the credit he deserved.
ListenThomas Jefferson’s iftar dinner and the long history of Ramadan at the White House from 2018-06-14T07:00
In December 1805, a handful of prominent politicians receive invitations to join President Thomas Jefferson for a White House dinner. The occasion was the arrival of a Tunisian envoy to the U.S., S...
ListenThe biscuit tin from 2018-06-13T07:00
It’s World War II, and you’re King George VI of England. You fear a Nazi invasion of England could come at any moment. How do you protect the crown jewels? Not even Queen Elizabeth II knew how her ...
ListenBefore Loving, another interracial couple fought to marry from 2018-06-12T07:00
The Kinneys married in Washington, D.C. in 1874. Then, they were arrested back home in Virginia for violating the state’s laws. They fought the ruling in higher and higher courts, but never won the...
ListenThe Jedwabne massacre from 2018-06-11T07:00
The controversy around the murders of a Polish village's Jewish residents has centered on raw questions of complicity versus compulsion.
ListenTennis's first goddess from 2018-06-08T07:00
Suzanne Lenglen was physically ferocious. Always fashionable. A disrupter of convention.
ListenThe White House makeover from 2018-06-07T07:00
When the White House was built over 200 years ago, it lacked certain modern conveniences. They got added in a hodgepodge of improvements over the years.
ListenThe Order of the Day from 2018-06-06T07:00
On the day before D-Day, Supreme Allied Commander in Europe Dwight D. Eisenhower gave a speech to the troops that totally masked how nervous he actually was.
ListenHistory’s most fascinating misquote from 2018-06-04T07:00
The Apollo 13 astronauts never said “Houston we have a problem.” Here’s why you think they did.
ListenMourning Bobby Kennedy from 2018-06-01T07:00
Robert F. Kennedy's death, which came just weeks after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., shocked the nation, especially those who looked to him to continue the national discussion over r...
ListenThe black power protest that shook the world from 2018-05-31T07:00
At the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, one of the most iconic moments of that chaotic year unfolded on television screens around the world.
ListenLBJ's political bombshell from 2018-05-30T07:00
By 1968, things were going badly for President Lyndon B. Johnson. Morale around the Vietnam War was sinking, and in Washington, political sharks were circling.
ListenOne broadcast helped turn Americans against the Vietnam War from 2018-05-29T07:00
Walter Cronkite's reputation, his calm but authoritative voice, carried so much weight that in 1968 one single report helped persuade the American public that we weren’t winning the war in Vietnam.
ListenThe performance that saved Johnny Cash's career from 2018-05-28T07:00
In a year of extraordinary, chaotic moments this was a hopeful one - a beat-up country music star recording an album live at a troubled maximum security prison in California.
ListenPublishers hated ‘A Wrinkle in Time,' and Madeleine L'Engle never forgot the rejections from 2018-05-25T07:00
'A Wrinkle in Time' author Madeleine L'Engle said she received 26 rejection letters from publishers.
ListenWhen Ronald Reagan visited a family targeted by the KKK from 2018-05-24T07:00
In the early 1980s, President Ronald Reagan wasn’t exactly known for his racial sensitivity. But when he read about a family whose house was targeted by the KKK, he and the First Lady flew out to c...
ListenThe Nazi stone from 2018-05-23T07:00
A mysterious stone memorial was found in 2006 in Washington, D.C. But who placed a memorial to Nazi spies on government property? And why?
ListenElaine Brown, the first and only woman to lead the Black Panther Party from 2018-05-22T07:00
Elaine Brown's takeover in 1974 was a pivotal moment for a woman in the black power movement. Although women had been a dynamic force for social and racial justice, they had often been overshadowed...
ListenThe man who filmed JFK's assassination from 2018-05-21T07:00
For many, memories of that devastating day quickly revert to that silent, flickering sequence captured by Abraham Zapruder. It is as chilling as it is familiar: the approaching convertible, the wav...
ListenPrincess Diana's final hours from 2018-05-18T07:00
When Prince Harry and his fiancee Meghan Markle are married this weekend, there will be one other royal on the world’s minds - Harry’s mother, the beloved Princess Diana.
ListenThe enigmatic Prince Philip - separating fact from fiction from 2018-05-17T07:00
The British royal wedding puts all eyes on the Windsor family - this time, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. But perhaps no royal is as controversial as Harry's grandfather, Prince Philip.
ListenWallis Simpson, the last American divorcee who married a British royal from 2018-05-16T07:00
Another British royal wedding is coming up, so over the next few days, we'll explore a few moments from the history of royal marriages in Great Britain. Today, we meet Wallis Simpson, the last Amer...
ListenThe truth is out there from 2018-05-15T07:00
Area 51's secrets may not be alien in nature, but that doesn't make them any less mysterious.
ListenJohn Brown's prophecy from 2018-05-14T07:00
Abolitionist John Brown wrote made a prophecy before he was executed.
ListenShe spent years fighting to create Mother's Day, then lost everything trying to protect it from 2018-05-11T07:00
Anna Jarvis would absolutely hate what Mother's Day has become.
ListenThe Sullivan brothers from 2018-05-10T07:00
Five brothers fought and died together on the same ship during World War II. Their final resting place was discovered earlier this year.
ListenLee Harvey Oswald's final hours before killing Kennedy from 2018-05-09T07:00
The assassination of President John F. Kennedy devastated the nation. But the day before the shooting was just a normal day. It was particularly calm and uneventful for the gunman, Lee Harvey Oswald.
ListenThe original Alcoholics Anonymous book was auctioned for millions, but its author was never paid from 2018-05-07T09:19:57
The original manuscript was auctioned off for $2.4 million this weekend to an NFL owner, after almost a year of legal wrangling.
ListenMay the Fourth be with you from 2018-05-04T07:00
Mark Hamill himself shares stories from Star Wars history. You can hear the full interview with Hamill on the Cape Up podcast with Jonathan Capehart.
ListenThe battle between Old Waddy and the press from 2018-05-03T07:00
Believe it or not, the relationship between politicians and the press has been worse. A lot worse.
ListenWere the Duke of Windsor and Adolf Hitler friends? from 2018-05-02T07:00
Was the duke a Nazi sympathizer? Did he plot to dethrone his brother, King George VI? Did he really suggest more German bombing of Britain might end World War II?
ListenHow the Doomsday Clock came to be from 2018-04-30T07:00
The Doomsday Clock was created not by a scientist, but by an artist.
ListenTake Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day was once just for daughters from 2018-04-27T07:00
Mike is joined by a special guest to talk about how Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day began.
ListenThe only person Hitler loved from 2018-04-25T07:00
Adolf Hitler's mother may be the only person he genuinely cared for.
ListenPhiladelphia's plumbing revolution: wood pipes from 2018-04-24T07:00
In 1812, Philadelphia was outfitted with the latest in plumbing technology - a network of wooden pipes to carry water throughout the city.
ListenBarbara Bush’s remarkable commencement address from 2018-04-20T07:00
In 1990, students protested the choice of the first lady as their commencement speaker, calling it anti-feminist. Her speech silenced the critics.
ListenThe day anti-Vietnam War protesters tried to levitate the Pentagon from 2018-04-19T07:00
In October 1967, antiwar protesters announced that they would march en masse to the front steps of the Pentagon. and levitate it. And then they would try to levitate it.
ListenThe history of epic North Korean insults from 2018-04-18T07:00
North Korea has long been a superpower when it comes verbal attacks.
ListenHate the IRS? Blame Abraham Lincoln. from 2018-04-17T07:00
In 1861, President Abraham Lincoln was in a financial bind. Also, he was in a war. To raise money, he pushed for and won passage of an income tax and, a year or so later, established the Internal R...
ListenThe mother who made George Washington miserable from 2018-04-16T11:36:53
George and his mother had an unusual relationship for the 1700s, more like what you might see in a sitcom from the 1970s. She was indispensable to him, but intolerable.
ListenWhy Thurgood Marshall asked an ex-Klan member to help him make Supreme Court history from 2018-04-13T07:00
Thurgood Marshall, the first African American member of the Supreme Court, took the constitutional oath of office from Hugo Black, a white associate justice who had once been a member of the Ku Klu...
ListenA letter from home from 2018-04-12T07:00
A German woman discovered that her childhood home was stolen from a Jewish family who fled Nazi Germany. Last year, she tracked down the address of one of the children, and wrote him a letter.
ListenWas Mary Todd Lincoln a leaker? from 2018-04-11T07:00
President Abraham Lincoln had to worry about the first lady being a leaker, and it was quite a scandal.
ListenWinifred Stanley, a forgotten equal pay pioneer from 2018-04-10T09:08:49
The woman who first introduced equal pay legislation in Congress had to fight to be taken seriously -- and often failed.
ListenThe invention of sarin from 2018-04-09T07:00
Weevils, a voracious beetle found in fields and orchards, were the original target of sarin gas.
ListenThe spy plane from 2018-04-06T07:00
Over the past few months, historians and national security analysts have been re-examining one particular forgotten moment in the history of U.S. and North Korea conflict.
ListenThe toughest job in politics from 2018-04-05T07:00
The most thankless job might be that of the White House press secretary. Just ask Ron Ziegler.
ListenThe day Martin Luther King Jr. died from 2018-04-04T07:00
Fifty years ago today, the civil rights leader Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was gunned down in Memphis. Riots broke out across the country, but in Indianapolis, there was peace.
ListenThe Mountaintop from 2018-04-03T07:00
On April 3, 1968, 50 years ago today, Martin Luther King, Jr. was in Memphis to support sanitation workers who were protesting for their civil rights. It was there that King delivered his last speech.
ListenThe books the presidents read from 2018-04-02T17:47
Throughout history, the reading of books has been a sort of armchair way measuring someone's intelligence. Here are stories of three former presidents at opposite ends of the reading spectrum. You...
ListenThe girl who struck out Babe Ruth from 2018-03-29T07:00
One of baseball's most enduring mysteries surrounds a 17-year-old girl name Jackie Mitchell.
ListenThe first daughters from 2018-03-28T07:00
Ivanka Trump might be the only first daughter in American history to score a West Wing office, but she’s not the first presidential daughter to wield power in the White House.
ListenMeet the Press from 2018-03-27T07:00
At the beginning of the television age, “Meet the Press” dented the dominance of newspapers and thrilled news junkies with the you-were-there power of live broadcasting.
ListenThe man who won World War II from 2018-03-26T09:12:52
Andrew Higgins wasn't in the Army. He wasn't a paratrooper. He was a wild and wily genius, a tough, crafty, businessman. And he built the built the boats that brought troops ashore at Normandy on J...
ListenThe children's crusade from 2018-03-23T07:00
The movement organized by survivors of the school shooting in Parkland, Fla., is not the first time that kids have taken a stand. History shows that kids, with their innocence, honesty and moral ur...
ListenThe forbidden question from 2018-03-22T07:00
If the order for a nuclear attack is issued, the soldiers operating the launch machine have no choice but to fire. Or do they?
ListenThe crooked picture from 2018-03-21T07:00
Jesse James, the most famous outlaw in history, was eventually foiled by a picture hanging crooked on a wall.
ListenThen they came for me from 2018-03-16T07:00
Martin Niemoller's simple and haunting words are often quoted in moments of intolerance. The story behind them is much more complicated.
ListenThe godfather of bracketology from 2018-03-15T06:59
Some 50 million people are projected to fill out a March Madness bracket this year. As you finish filling out yours, you might want to tip your pencil and say thanks to the late and loud Staten Isl...
ListenThe Limping Lady from 2018-03-14T07:00
President Trump made history Tuesday when he nominated a woman to become director of the Central Intelligence Agency. But while a woman leading the CIA was once unthinkable, female spies have made ...
ListenThe trials and tribulations of being a cat from 2018-03-12T07:00
Cats have endured some really mean stuff throughout history. Dogs should be thankful.
ListenFall back, spring forward from 2018-03-09T08:00
Why, oh, why is daylight savings a thing? It's because for roughly two decades after World War II, no one had any clue what time it was.
ListenThe glass ceiling from 2018-03-08T08:00
In 1978, Marilyn Loden coined a phrase that paints very image that women have been fighting for decades.
ListenHow are you, Grandmama? from 2018-03-07T08:00
A dog and a cadaver deserve credit for their contributions to the invention of the telephone.
ListenThe night America burned from 2018-03-06T08:00
The deadliest wildfire in U.S. history wasn’t in California.
ListenAnd the winner is... from 2018-03-05T08:11
Oscars night is probably the one moment around the world when people become really interested in envelopes.
ListenSpecial delivery! from 2018-03-02T10:24:50
There’s one thing that you can’t have delivered anymore that was totally normal to send by mail in the early 1900s.
ListenThe woman behind Lisa Ben from 2018-03-01T17:54:59
Edythe Eyde, also known by her pen name Lisa Ben, was a visionary who fought to make lesbians visible in pop culture decades before most others had the guts to do the same.
ListenThe houses built by slaves from 2018-02-28T08:00
Buildings that stand as symbols of American democracy - the White House, Mount Vernon and Monticello, to name a few - were erected with the labor of those who were not free.
ListenHow the NRA began from 2018-02-27T08:00
When the NRA was founded in 1871, its primary concern was not gun rights or the Second Amendment.
ListenThe rise of supermarkets from 2018-02-26T08:00
If you’re like most Americans, you probably visit a grocery store once or twice a week. But you probably don’t know that one single grocery item is responsible for the rise of supermarkets as we kn...
ListenThe Green Book from 2018-02-23T08:00
In the 1930s, traveling the nation's highways while black was fraught with peril. One postal worker, Victor Green, wrote a guidebook for African Americans after he faced discrimination on a road trip.
ListenThe ice queen from 2018-02-22T08:00
Sonja Henie won three Olympic gold medals and 10 world championships, and turned her star power into as career as one of Hollywood's biggest movie stars. Meet figure skating's first megastar.
ListenMrs. Graham from 2018-02-21T08:00
Katherine Graham's leadership in the decision to release the Pentagon Papers was the subject of the Stephen Spielberg film"The Post."But it was her leadership during the pressman's strike in 1975 t...
ListenThe electric rivalry from 2018-02-20T08:00
To understand the gruesome history of the death penalty, it is essential to comprehend how badly Thomas Edison wanted to zap George Westinghouse.
ListenAll the president's ghosts from 2018-02-19T08:00
Whether you believe in this stuff or not, the many accounts that have spilled out of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue over two centuries give ghosts an undeniable place in the country’s history.
ListenDon't mess with Harriet Tubman from 2018-02-16T08:00
She was just 5 feet tall. There was once a $40,000 bounty on her head. She suffered seizures throughout her life. She never gave up. She never gave in.
ListenWhen Olympic silver beats gold from 2018-02-15T08:00
Ski jumping involves flying more than 800 feet in the air and then landing on two feet, without dying. Where on earth did this sport come from?
ListenThe most romantic day from 2018-02-14T08:00
From all over the country, couples rushed to Las Vegas to get married. The demand for quickie weddings was at a fever pitch. But it wasn't Cupid's arrow causing the frenzy. It was the Vietnam War.
ListenThe best birthday card ever from 2018-02-13T08:00
In 1926, the United States received a birthday card signed by 5.5 million Polish people.
ListenWhat hath God wrought? from 2018-02-12T08:00
The history of social media began in 1844, when Samuel F.B. Morse sent a message from Washington to Baltimore. It said,"What hath God wrought?"
ListenIntroducing 'Retropod' from 2018-02-07T10:10:13
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