

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

Sep 14, 2023 • 26min
The Case For Capitalism (1970) w/ Noel King
It’s September 14th. This day in 1970, economist Milton Friedman pens an op-ed in The New York Times making the case that a corporation’s primary goal is to increase shareholder value and profits.
Jody, Niki, and Kellie are joined by Noel King of “Today, Explained” to discuss how Friedman’s “shareholder theory” pushed back against existing ideas of corporate responsibility, and signaled a new vision for capitalism — and how the last forty years have reflected those values.
Noel is the host of a new series running in the “Today, Explained” feed called BLAME CAPITALISM. Check out the first episode now!
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

Sep 12, 2023 • 23min
The Reagan's Prime-Time Drug Address (1986) w/ Donovan X Ramsey
It’s September 14th. This day in 1986, President Ronald Reagan and First Lady Nancy Reagan gave a prime-time television address about drugs, drug policy, and crack cocaine.
Jody, Niki, and Kellie are joined by journalist Donovan X Ramsey to talk about why both Reagans took part in the address, the media-savvy narratives that emerged in the “Just Say No” era, and the real victims of drug abuse who were left behind.
Donovan’s new book is When Crack Was King — buy it now, or check out the audio book!
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

Sep 10, 2023 • 21min
The First Food Nutrition Labels (1971) w/ Xaq Frohlich
It’s September 8th. This day in 1971, a consumer advocate Esther Peterson worked with the supermarket chain GIANT to come up with the first nutrition labels.
Jody, NIki, and Kellie are joined by Auburn professor Xaq Frolich to talk about Peterson’s advocacy, what labels looked like before this initiative — and whether labels do actually help empower consumers to make better choices.
Frolich’s forthcoming book is “From Label to Table” — pre-order it now!
Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Sep 7, 2023 • 17min
Upton Sinclair's Epic Run For Governor (1933)
It’s September 7th. This day in 1933, journalist Upton Sinclair launches a campaign for California governor.
Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss why Sinclair turned to politics after enormous success and influence as a muckraking journalist — and how his radical progressive campaign found a large audience.
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

Sep 5, 2023 • 32min
What We Learned On Our Summer Travels
It’s the end of summer, and today we’re doing a special episode where we talk about some of the most interesting stories from history we discovered on our various summer travels.
And we want to hear from you! If there was something you learned that has stuck with you, let us know and we’ll do a follow-up episode shortly. Email thisdaypod@gmail.com or find us on twitter or instagram.
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

Aug 31, 2023 • 25min
Adam Mckay is Morris The Cat (1992) [[Archive Episode]]
As we wrap up summer, we’re bringing you some of our favorite episodes from the archives. We’ll see you after Labor Day!
///
It’s July 28th. This day in 1992, “Morris The Cat,” the feline spokesperson for Nine Lives cat food, is in the heart of a stunt presidential campaign.
Jody and Niki are joined by director and writer Adam McKay (Don’t Look Up, Vice, Anchorman) to talk about the campaign and how Adam’s career changed as a result.
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

Aug 29, 2023 • 18min
The Man Who Killed The Man Who Killed Lincoln (1894) [[Archive Episode]]
As we wrap up summer, we’re bringing you some of our favorite episodes from the archives. We’ll see you after Labor Day!
///
It’s August 30th. This day in 1894, a man by the name of Thomas H “Boston” Corbett is presumed dead in a fire in Minnesota. Boston Corbett led a troubled life, particularly over the previous thirty years, during which he was best known as the man who killed John Wilkes Booth — the man who killed Abraham Lincoln.
Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss the circumstances under which Corbett killed Booth, the way in which he was treated as a hero, and the spiral Corbett’s life took as he embraced the role of “Lincoln’s Avenger.”
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

Aug 27, 2023 • 18min
Fred Korematsu's Internment (1942) [[Archive Episode]]
On Sundays this summer, we’re bringing you some of our favorite episodes from the archives. We’ll continue to do new episodes on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Happy summer!
///
It’s August 31st. This day in 1942, a judge upholds the arrest of a Japanese-American man named Fred Korematsu.
Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss how Korematsu tried to resist the detention of Japanese-Americans in the wake of Pearl Harbor, and the legal battles that broke out after the Roosevelt administration moved hundreds of thousands of people to concentration camps along the west coast.
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

Aug 24, 2023 • 12min
Missouri's Early Emancipation Proclamation (1861)
It’s August 24th. This day in 1861, a Union general in Missouri issued an edict freeing all enslaved people in the territory — this some sixteen months before Lincoln would issue the formal Emancipation Proclamation.
Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss why Missouri went rogue, the way in which frontier and border states lived in a sort of limbo during the Civil War — and what kind of fallout there was from the edict.
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

Aug 22, 2023 • 15min
The Bridge To Nowhere (2005)
It’s August 22nd. In the summer of 2005, a proposed bridge in rural Alaska was becoming a hot-button controversy, as conservatives assailed its half-billion dollar price tag as emblematic of government overspending and pork-barrel politics.
Jody, NIki, and Kellie look back at the “Bridget to Nowhere” controversy, what it says about how local and national politics intersect — and whether the bridge really was way too expensive after all.
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


