154 episodes
This Day in Esoteric Political History Radiotopia
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- History
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4.5 • 704 Ratings
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We’re living in unprecedented times. Maybe. In this show, Jody Avirgan, Nicole Hemmer and Kellie Carter Jackson (and guests) take one moment, big or small, from that day in U.S. political history and explore how it might inform our present –– all in about fifteen minutes. New episodes release Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays. Find us at ThisDayPod.com. We’re also posting about moments from the past @thisdaypod on Twitter and Instagram. If you have a suggestion for a topic, get in touch. This Day In Esoteric Political History is a proud member of the Radiotopia podcast network from PRX.
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The Franklin Cent (1787)
It’s April 20th. This day in 1787, Congress authorized the production of the country’s first coin.
Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss the “Fugio cent,” designed — some say over-designed — by Ben Franklin, and what it meant for a new country to have a proper coin.
Find a transcript of this episode at: https://tinyurl.com/esoterichistory
This Day In Esoteric Political History is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX.
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 -
John Freeman's Freedom (1809)
It’s April 18th. This day in 1809, a man by the name of John Freeman writes a letter to Thomas Jefferson, asking that Jefferson transfer his indentured servitude contract to incoming president James Madison.
Jody, Niki, and Kellie talk about the life of John Freeman, the role of enslaved people in building the White House, and the star-crosssed-lovers story at the heart of it all.
Find a transcript of this episode at: https://tinyurl.com/esoterichistory
This Day In Esoteric Political History is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX.
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 -
Oprah's Beef (1996)
It’s April 15th. On this day in 1996, Oprah Winfrey hosted a segment on her show about “Mad Cow Disease” and proclaimed that she would no longer eat beef. That same day, cattle futures plummeted, and she was soon sued by the cattle industry.
Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss the power of Oprah, the “veggie libel laws” and how she turned the trial into both television and a free speech crusade.
Find a transcript of this episode at: https://tinyurl.com/esoterichistory
This Day In Esoteric Political History is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX.
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 -
The CIA LSD Experiments (1953)
It’s April 13th. This day in 1953, the CIA started the secretive MK Ultra program, which experimented on unwitting subjects to determine the effects of LSD and other drugs.
Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss some of the program’s tactics, the intelligence community’s obsession with “mind control,” and the legacy of the secretive program.
Find a transcript of this episode at: https://tinyurl.com/esoterichistory
This Day In Esoteric Political History is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX.
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 -
Pets are People (1866)
It’s April 11th. This day in 1866, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is founded.
Jody, Niki, Kellie and special guest Anne Helen Petersen discuss the rise of animal welfare groups, and how they reflected a growing conversation about morality, labor, child cruelty, and more.
Be sure to subscribe to Anne’s excellent newsletter “Culture Study” https://annehelen.substack.com/
Find a transcript of this episode at: https://tinyurl.com/esoterichistory
This Day In Esoteric Political History is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX.
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 -
Go Ahead, Make Me Mayor (1986)
It’s April 8th. This day in 1986, Clint Eastwood is elected mayor of Carmel-by-the-Sea, a wealthy town of 4,000 in California.
Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss why Eastwood decided to get into politics, how he want about improving the town, and his political life in the decades since.
Find a transcript of this episode at: https://tinyurl.com/esoterichistory
This Day In Esoteric Political History is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX.
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
Customer Reviews
Oprah segment!
Love love love the show in general, today’s episode about Oprah in Texas was great and may I suggest a five minute segment, if not every day, maybe weekly? Entitled “today in Oprah history” it can be not just what she talks about but how it’s moved the needle in whatever area the topic is… I think it would be a great success! 😊
If you love history
If you love history you’ll love this podcast!
Usually great
Usually a great show ... then they decide to deal with and defend criminal actions by Oprah. That episode was meant to manipulate markets (libel is what it was made out to be). It needed to be investigated by the SEC, not the state of Texas. This was proven by the hypocrisy they noted at the end of the episode of how Oprah is not vegetarian (and almost certainly never was even for a day). She was out for financial gain. I forgot which but one made a statement that Oprah had “no peers” ... correct in a one way - she is, by far, the biggest racist in the United States. She should have been treated that way.