This Day

It’s May 7th. This day in 1994, during a town hall airing on MTV, President Bill Clinton is asked whether he wears “boxers or briefs.” Jody, Niki, and Kellie are joined once again by the hosts of Normal Gossip to discuss why MTV was hosting a town hall with the president, why Clinton even bothered to answer — and what we make of the more gossipy political interview approach. Be sure to check out Normal Gossip wherever you get your podcasts! Sign up for our newsletter! We’ll be sending out links to all the stuff we recommended later this week. 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 Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

We’re doing a couple episodes on moments of historical gossip with our new Radiotopia pals from the show Normal Gossip. Today, we discuss Anne Royall, who in 1826 began publishing books and articles based on her travels around the country talking to everyday folks about their everyday lives. She was able to gather stories and map society in a new way — and also recieved a lot of pushback for it. Jody, NIki, and Kellie are joined by Kelsey McKinney and Alex Sujong Laughlin of Normal Gossip to discuss Royall’s work and legacy. Be sure to check out Normal Gossip wherever you get your podcasts! Sign up for our newsletter! We’ll be sending out links to all the stuff we recommended later this week. 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 Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

It’s May 2nd. In 1847, a US military ship, the USS Jamestown, was loaded up with food and other relief to sail to Ireland and help with the famine in that country. Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss how disparate communities in the US rallied around the cause, and how the Jamestown represented one of the first moments of international camaraderie for a new country. Sign up for our newsletter! We’ll be sending out links to all the stuff we recommended later this week. 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 Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

It’s April 30th. This day in 1994, an 18-year-old American named Michael Fay is awaiting his punishment in Singapore for acts of vandalism. That punishment included caning, which caused a media and diplomatic firestorm in the United States. Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss the details of Faye’s crime and punishment — and the way in which the incident revealed American’s appetite for corporal punishment. Sign up for our newsletter! We’ll be sending out links to all the stuff we recommended later this week. 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 Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

It’s April 27th. In 2004, a report aired on 60 Minutes II featuring reports and photos of abuse by American troops at the Iraqi prison Abu Ghraib. Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss why the photos caused such a scandal, and how the torture at the prison was largely within the framework of how the Bush administration conducted the war in Iraq. Sign up for our newsletter! We’ll be sending out links to all the stuff we recommended later this week. 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 Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

It’s April 25th. In 1777, a 16-year-old by the name of Sybil Luddington went on a 40-mile nighttime ride to warn Colonial troops and citizens of an impending British invasion. Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss why Luddington’s midnight ride isn’t nearly as famous as Paul Revere’s — and how we can ever know if the details of her story are actually true. Sign up for our newsletter! We’ll be sending out links to all the stuff we recommended later this week. 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 Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

We’re re-running some favorite recent episodes this week, and will be back with brand new episodes very soon! It’s December 4th. Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss the Colored Conventions movement, which provided and intellectual and political space for Black leaders in the years before, during, and after the Civil War. Check out the Colored Conventions database at coloredconventions.org Sign up for our newsletter! Find out more at thisdaypod.com And don’t forget about Oprahdemics, hosted by Kellie, out now from Radiotopia. 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 Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

We’re re-running some favorite recent episodes this week, and will be back with brand new episodes very soon! It’s October 4th. In 1776, Benjamin Franklin is headed to France as the Continental Congress’s first diplomat, looking to secure support for the American independence movement. Jody and Kellie are joined by Mike Duncan, history podcaster behind series such as “Revolutions” and “The Fall of Rome.” They discuss Franklin’s diplomatic goal, his taste for the Parisian nightlife — and why the values of the Founding Fathers continue to be contested and politicized. Check out Mike’s book “Hero of Two Worlds.” Sign up for our newsletter! Find out more at thisdaypod.com And don’t forget about Oprahdemics, hosted by Kellie, out now from Radiotopia. 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 Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

We’re re-running some favorite recent episodes this week, and will be back with brand new episodes very soon! It’s December 15th. In 1960, a New Hampshire man lined his car with dynamite and planned to ram in to the limousine in which President-Elect John F Kennedy was riding. He ditched his plan at the last second, and was arrested shortly after. Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss the plot, the incredible way it was uncovered, and why Kennedy was the target of such hatred even before he took office. Sign up for our newsletter! 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 Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

It’s April 13th. This day 1810, a new canal is being built in Washington, DC in an attempt to give a little logic to the topography of the nation’s capital. Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss why DC was built where it was, and the persistent idea that DC is a “swamp” in both the literal and metaphorical sense. Sign up for our newsletter! We’ll be sending out links to all the stuff we recommended later this week. 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 Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices