

This Day
Jody Avirgan & Radiotopia
“This Day” takes you beyond the head-spinning headlines of today and into the unexpected historical moments that have shaped American politics. Hosted by Jody Avirgan (538), and historians Nicole Hemmer (Vanderbilt), and Kellie Carter Jackson (Wellesley), each episode explores a moment from that day in U.S. political history to uncover its lasting impact. On Sunday episodes, Jody, Niki and Kellie react to current news with their usual mix of humor, analysis, and historical perspective.New episodes released Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays. Lots more on our Instagram page, YouTube, and newsletter. Find it all at thisdaypod.com.This Day is a proud member of the Radiotopia podcast network from PRX.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Nov 28, 2021 • 18min
'21 Favorite: Drafting the Confederate Constitution (1861)
This Thanksgiving week, we’re running some favorite episodes from the year that you may have missed. We’ll be back with new episodes the Tuesday after Thanksgiving.
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This episode originally ran on March 11th. This day in 1861, the Confederate States of America ratifies its own constitution. It’s largely based on the United States constitution, but with some key changes.
Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss what values were expressed in the constitutional do-over, and why the similarities between the two documents might mean more than the differences.
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.
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; Julie Shapiro, Executive Producer at Radiotopia
Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Nov 25, 2021 • 21min
'21 Favorite: Oprah's Beef Beef (1996)
This Thanksgiving week, we’re running some favorite episodes from the year that you may have missed. We’ll be back the Tuesday after Thanksgiving.
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This episode originally aired on 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.
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; Julie Shapiro, Executive Producer at Radiotopia
Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Nov 23, 2021 • 27min
'21 Favorite: Instant City (1889) w/ Sam Anderson
This Thanksgiving week, we’re running some favorite episodes from the year that you may have missed. We’ll be back the Tuesday after Thanksgiving.
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This episode originally ran on April 22nd. This day in 1889, tens of thousands of people gathered in the middle of “unassigned territory” to wait for the signal at high noon — at which point they rushed to claim their free land in what would, overnight, become Oklahoma City.
Jody, NIki, and Kellie are joined by Sam Anderson of the New York Times Magazine to talk about the Oklahoma land rush, the chaos of those first few days, and how the forming of OKC represents modern America.
Sam’s book about Oklahoma City is called “Boom Town.”
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.
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; Julie Shapiro, Executive Producer at Radiotopia
Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Nov 21, 2021 • 21min
'21 Favorite: The Kerner Alarm (1967) w/ Jelani Cobb
This Thanksgiving week, we’re running some favorite episodes from the year that you may have missed. We’ll be back the Tuesday after Thanksgiving.
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This episode originally aired on July 27th. This day in 1967, LBJ convened the “Kerner Commission” to look into the roots of violence and unrest in America, largely in Black and brown communities around the country.
Jody, Niki, and Kellie are joined by The New Yorkers Jelani Cobb to discuss the convening of the Kerner commission and the report that came out the next year, which offered a frank and damning assessment of the complicity of white Americans.
Jelani Cobb is the author of an updated version, “The Essential Kerner Commission Report,” out now.
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.
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; Julie Shapiro, Executive Producer at Radiotopia
Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Nov 18, 2021 • 12min
Milhouse's Missing Minutes (1973)
It’s November 18th. This day in 1973, the major revelation that there are 18 1/2 minutes missing from the secret recordings Richard Nixon was making in the Oval Office as he discussed the Watergate break-in.
Jody, NIki, and Kellie discuss how the missing minutes supercharged the Watergate scandal, created loads of theories and conspiracies — an whether what’s on those tapes will ever be recovered.
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; Julie Shapiro, Executive Producer at Radiotopia
Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Nov 16, 2021 • 15min
Murkowski's Write-In Surprise (2010)
It’s November 16th. This day in 2010, Alaskan Senator Lisa Murkowski prevailed in her re-election effort — one in which she was forced to mount a write-in campaign after losing the primary.
Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss how hard it is to get a successful write-in campaign going, and what the Murkowski story says about the way in which parties and voters can moderate themselves.
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; Julie Shapiro, Executive Producer at Radiotopia
Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Nov 14, 2021 • 27min
Why Sherman Marched (1864) w/ Anne Sara Rubin
It’s November 14th. This day in 1864, Union General William Tecumseh Sherman left Atlanta and began destructive march to the sea, burning buildings and supply lines in his attempt to “break the back” of the Confederacy.
Jody, Niki, and Kellie are joined by Anne Sarah Rubin of UMBC to talk about why Sherman’s March endures as such a powerful story of “total war,” and how the story of the march has been reframed over the years.
Anne’s book is Through the Heart of Dixie: Sherman’s March and American Memory.
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; Julie Shapiro, Executive Producer at Radiotopia
Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Nov 11, 2021 • 15min
Bootlegger Biplane Bombings (1926)
It’s November 11th. This day in 1926, members of the Shelton gang in southern Illinois commandeered a biplane to drop homemade bombs on the hideout of their main bootlegging rivals, the Birgers.
Jody, NIki, and Kellie discuss the scheme, how the Shelton-Birger feud reached this level, and where this story fits in to the history of aerial bombings on American soil.
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; Julie Shapiro, Executive Producer at Radiotopia
Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Nov 9, 2021 • 17min
"The Enemy Is The Knife" (1974)
It’s November 9th. This day in 1974, Dr. Connie Redbird Uri testified at a hearing about the practice of forced sterilization at Indian Health Services clinics. She sounded the alarm about the large numbers of women who were given hysterectomies and other procedures without their consent.
Jody, NIki, and Kellie discuss the long and shameful history of forced sterilization in this country, usually among poor and marginalized communities.
Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Nov 7, 2021 • 17min
Snatching Lincoln's Body (1876)
It’s November 7th. This day in 1876, a group of Chicago-area men attempt to steal Abraham Lincoln’s body from his grave in Springfield, Illinois, hoping to hold it ransom to release one of their colleagues from prison. It does not go well.
Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss the harebrained scheme, the larger context of grave-robbing in the 19th century, and what ended up happening to Lincoln’s body.
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; Julie Shapiro, Executive Producer at Radiotopia
Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices