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    History

    Not Your Century

    On hiatus as of March 2020 because of the coronavirus crisis. Get unlimited access to the Chronicle. | A daily celebration of the news — and the news media — of years gone by. King Kaufman takes you on a quick tour of the Bay Area and the world as it used to be, which often colors the world of your century.

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    Latest Episodes:
    1959: The Dalai Lama Escapes Mar 16, 2020

    The 23-year-old religious and spiritual leader of Tibet gets an invitation from the occupying Chinese to come to a dance performance. Without bodyguards. Sensing a trap, he flees on foot over the Himalayas to India, where he remains in exile.

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    1922: Fatty Arbuckle's Third Trial Mar 13, 2020

    He's a giant of silent comedies, in more ways than one. Hollywood's first million-dollar star is a baby-faced man-mountain with the grace of a dancer. But a sensational rape and manslaughter case has derailed his life and career.

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    1918: The Flu Pandemic Mar 11, 2020

    A century before the COVID-19 coronavirus, the United States, like all combatants in the Great War, wants to keep the exploding flu crisis quiet to protect morale and prevent the enemy from seeing weakness. Sound familiar? | (Correction: An earlier version of this episode contained an error. Some 675,000 AIDS deaths occurred in the United States.)

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    1964: The Palace Hotel Protest Leader Mar 09, 2020

    As an 18-year-old, Tracy Sims was the leader of civil rights protests that forced San Francisco hotels to end hiring discrimination. Now Tamam Tracy Moncur, the retired schoolteacher remembers a time when "the whole country was on fire for civil rights." | See also: 1964: Civil Rights at the Palace Hotel

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    1981: Walter Cronkite Signs Off Mar 06, 2020

    "That's the way it is," says the Most Trusted Man in America — for the last time, as he retires from anchoring the CBS Evening News. It's like a presidential changeover. | Get unlimited Chronicle access.

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    1946: Churchill's Iron Curtain Speech Mar 04, 2020

    In a college gym in small-town Missouri, former Prime Minister Winston Churchill tries to shake Americans out of their postwar bliss by saying their old ally "Uncle Joe" Stalin has dropped an "Iron Curtain" across Europe.

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    1991: The Rodney King Beating Mar 02, 2020

    When a commotion outside his apartment woke George Holliday up at 1 a.m., the plumber grabbed his new camcorder and went out to his balcony. He saw a police beating, and within a few days, everyone would see it.

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    1991: Murder in Porn's First Family Feb 28, 2020

    The Mitchell Brothers, Jim and "Party Artie," revolutionized the adult entertainment business, first with their O'Farrell Theatre in San Francisco, then with movies like "Behind the Green Door." They were close. Then Jim killed Artie. Why?

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    1965: Malcolm X Suspect Arrested Feb 26, 2020

    In the wake of the Fusion and Netflix series "Who Killed Malcolm X?" the New York D.A. has reopened the case of Muhammad Abdul Aziz, then known as Norman 3X Butler, who served 20 years for the murder despite multiple alibi witnesses.

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    1945: Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima Feb 24, 2020

    AP Photographer Joe Rosenthal had one chance to get what would become one of the most iconic pictures in history. He didn't miss. After the war, he spent 35 years at the San Francisco Chronicle. | See a trove of Rosenthal's Chronicle photos

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    1972: Nixon Arrives in China Feb 21, 2020

    The lifelong anti-Communist shocks the world by initiating the first high-level contact with the People's Republic in more than 20 years. Even after he's driven from office, it would remain a signature achievement.

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    1963: A Great City Forced to Drink Swill Feb 19, 2020

    Total SF host Peter Hartlaub joins King Kaufman to talk about the most infamous headline in San Francisco history and the man behind it, Scott Newhall, the mad genius of the Chronicle's mid-century rise. | Related: 1962: Crusading Against Animal Nudity

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    1937: Golden Gate Bridge Disaster Feb 17, 2020

    Chief engineer Joseph Strauss' massive safety net had saved 12 construction workers who'd fallen during construction. They called themselves the Halfway to Hell Club. Then a broken bolt turned the net into a killer. | See how Hollywood hates the Golden Gate Bridge.

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    1929: St. Valentine's Day Massacre Feb 14, 2020

    In the most famous hit in American mob history, seven members of Bugs Moran's North Side Gang are gunned down, cementing control of Chicago for Al Capone's South Side Gang. | Related: 1934: Alcatraz Opens for Business.

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    1999: Impeachment Acquittal Feb 12, 2020

    Despite a GOP majority in the Senate, President Bill Clinton is easily acquitted on both articles of impeachment stemming from his lies about an affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

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    1967: The Pill and the Puritan Ethic Feb 10, 2020

    Sparks fly at a San Francisco panel on changing sexual mores as anthropologist Margaret Mead suggests a new kind of marriage and promotes access to birth control for 16-year-old girls.

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    1986: Steve Jobs Buys Pixar Feb 07, 2020

    The big Bay Area business news of the day is Wells Fargo buying Crocker Bank. Nobody knew the computer graphics division of Lucasfilms would become a $7 billion company. Related: The Golden Spike.

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    1956: Integration Fail at Alabama Feb 05, 2020

    Seven years before Gov. George Wallace's Stand in the Schoolhouse Door, Autherine Lucy integrates the University of Alabama. But she's expelled after two days — "for her own protection."

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    1997: Vallejo Courthouse Bombing Feb 03, 2020

    They were the gang that couldn't bomb straight. Their plan to blow up court records was dumb, they didn't know anything about dynamite, and they talked too much. | Get unlimited Chronicle access.

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    1865: 13th Amendment Passes House Jan 31, 2020

    As the Union nears victory in the Civil War, a constitutional amendment that would ban slavery wins a close vote. All that's needed now is ratification by three-quarters of the states. But do states at war with the U.S. count?

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    1977: "Roots" Is a Sensation Jan 29, 2020

    An 8-part miniseries about slavery told from the point of view of the slaves? ABC acted like it was afraid its adaptation of Alex Haley's novel was going to flop. It became the biggest hit in TV history.

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    1971: Charles Manson Convicted Jan 27, 2020

    After a circus of a trial, the leader of a murderous "family" and three female followers are guilty on all charges in the Tate-Labianca Murders, which claimed the lives of Sharon Tate and six others.

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    1972: Japan Holdout Soldier Found Jan 24, 2020

    When Sgt. Shoichi Yokoi of the Imperial Japanese Army is captured on Guam, the first thing he asks is whether FDR has died yet. Well, yes, 27 years earlier, just before the end of World War II.

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    1901: Queen Victoria Dies Jan 22, 2020

    Britain mourns its longest-reigning monarch, who dies after nearly 64 years on the throne. Her screw-up, playboy son Bertie is about to be crowned King Edward VII — and all he'll do is save the monarchy. | Related: Edward VII Dies

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    1954: The Moskovitz Kidnapping Jan 20, 2020

    It's one of the most dramatic capers in San Francisco history, and San Francisco has no idea it's going on. The media agrees to clam up so the bad guys won't know the cops are on the case. Related: Patty Hearst

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    1865: The First Chronicle Jan 17, 2020

    Teenage founders Charles and Michael de Young have big ambitions for the daily theater program and newspaper they've founded with $20 borrowed from their landlord. In the first edition, they're already itching for a fight.

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    1919: Boston Molasses Flood Jan 15, 2020

    Nothing so sweet — and so ridiculous-sounding — has ever been so deadly. A storage tank bursts, sending a 15-foot wave of the sticky stuff through the streets of the North End at 35 mph, killing 21.

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    1929: Death of Wyatt Earp Jan 13, 2020

    When he died, the old Wild West lawman wasn't yet the legend of "Tombstone" or "Gunfight at the OK Corral." He was a guy who'd fixed a famous boxing match in San Francisco. The mythmaking kicked in later.

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    1901: The Spindletop Oil Gusher Jan 10, 2020

    It's a strike that will transform Texas and pave the way for the industrial and transportation revolutions of the 20th century. Four million gallons a day shoot 200 feet into the air for nine days, and the oil industry is born.

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    1978: Harvey Milk Sworn In Jan 08, 2020

    With his arm around his boyfriend's shoulders, the first gay elected official in California leads a parade of supporters to City Hall to start his historic, and tragically short, term on the Board of Supervisors.

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    1994: Nancy Kerrigan Attacked Jan 06, 2020

    America's top female figure skater is whacked on the knee at the Olympic Trials in Detroit. Rival Tonya Harding is implicated. The story consumes the sports and tabloid worlds — and supercharges figure skating's popularity.

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    Best of NYC: Climate Change and Coit Tower Jan 03, 2020

    Serious business at two conferences: One on climate change, the other on humor. Plus: Old firefighters shed a tear for Lily Hitchcock Coit at the dedication of Coit Tower. First published June 27 and Oct. 8.

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    Best of NYC: Dark and Bright Times Jan 01, 2020

    Near the end of a shocking (but not surprising) FBI spying operation on the gay community, Air Force Technical Sgt. Leonard Matlovich becomes the face of the gay rights movement in America. First published Sept. 20 and Oct. 22. Related: Don't Ask, Don't Tell | Randy Shilts | Shilts biographer Andrew E. Stoner.

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    Best of NYC: The Future Is Here Dec 30, 2019

    Twenty years ago, the San Francisco Chronicle published a special section on what life would be like in the Bay Area ... in 20 years. So now that the future is here, how'd they do? Mark Lundgren, who edited that section, talks about it. First published Nov. 14 and 15.

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    Best of NYC: NFL and an Escape Dec 27, 2019

    Some businessmen sit on running boards of cars in a Canton, Ohio, car dealership and talk about a crazy idea: A national football league. Plus: One of the Great Train Robbers escapes from prison. First published Sept. 17 and Aug. 12.


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    Best of NYC: S.F. History Trivia, Part 2 Dec 25, 2019

    More fun at the Betabrand Podcast Studio as audience members learn about San Francisco history and occasionally get trivia questions correct. Recorded Aug. 22, first published Aug. 30.

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    Best of NYC: S.F. History Trivia, Part 1 Dec 23, 2019

    Live from the Betabrand Podcast Studio, audience members vie for valuable* prizes and learn some of the wild details of San Francisco history. Recorded Aug. 22, first published Aug. 27. *Not that valuable.

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    Best of NYC: Patty and Squeaky Dec 20, 2019

    A couple of female-centered true crime stories from the 1970s. Patty Hearst was a kidnap victim, and then was she a bank robber, or a brainwash victim? And: Manson Family member Squeaky Fromme took a shot at President Ford. The gun didn't fire. First published Sept. 18 and Sept. 5.

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    Best of NYC: Martians and the Mona Lisa Dec 18, 2019

    Orson Welles' "War of the Worlds" radio broadcast sends America into a panic! Didn't it? And the reason the Mona Lisa is so famous is that a guy tucked it under his arm and walked out of the Louvre in 1911. First published Oct. 30 and Aug. 21, 2019.

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    Best of NYC: Free Speech Battles Dec 16, 2019

    Lawrence Ferlinghetti is acquitted on obscenity charges in San Francisco for publishing Allen Ginsberg's "Howl." A few years later in Berkeley, the Free Speech Movement gets its start in a stranded cop car. First published Oct. 4 and Oct. 1, 2019.

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    1941: San Francisco Blackouts Dec 13, 2019

    A week after Pearl Harbor, a jittery San Francisco struggles to prepare for what seems like an inevitable Japanese air raid. The Presidio commander suggests such an attack might be a good idea — to convince stragglers of the need to be ready.

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    1989: Queen of Mean Sentenced Dec 12, 2019

    After a trial in which a household maid quoted her as saying "We don't pay taxes — only the little people pay taxes," Leona Helmsley, the real estate mogul who was a tabloid favorite, is sentenced to prison for tax evasion.

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    1978: The Lufthansa Heist Dec 11, 2019

    JFK airport was easy pickings for robbers, but this job stood out. The robbers — who would be immortalized in "Goodfellas" — were incredibly efficient. Their only mistake: They thought they were stealing $2 million, not $6 million.

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    1963: Frankie Safe! Dec 10, 2019

    Frank Sinatra's 19-year-old son is kidnapped before a gig in Lake Tahoe. Is it a publicity stunt? No. It's real. Ol' Blue Eyes offers $1 million ransom. The kidnappers' counteroffer: $240,000. Wait, what?

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    1968: The Mother of All Demos Dec 09, 2019

    He introduced the mouse. He introduced videoconferencing. He introduced copy and paste! Douglas Engelbart sat in front of an audience of computer professionals at Civic Auditorium and blew their minds by showing them the future.

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    1969: The '60s End at Altamont Dec 06, 2019

    It started as a West Coast answer to Woodstock: A free concert in Golden Gate Park with the Rolling Stones, the Grateful Dead and the Jefferson Airplane. It ended in violence and death at Altamont Raceway in Tracy.

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    1955: Montgomery Bus Boycott Dec 05, 2019

    Montgomery's black community, led by 26-year-old Martin Luther King Jr., launches a one-day protest against the arrest of Rosa Parks. The boycott lasts more than a year, and sets the tone for civil rights protests in the next decade.

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    1993: Polly Klaas Found Dec 04, 2019

    The search for the kidnapped 12-year-old from Petaluma had captivated the nation, but now, after 65 days, came the worst possible news: A confession, and a grisly discovery.

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    1967: First Human Heart Transplant Dec 03, 2019

    Everyone thought Stanford's Norman Shumway would be first to transplant a human heart, but a tragic drunk-driving crash gave South African Dr. Christiaan Barnard, who had worked with Shumway, his chance at worldwide fame.

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    1997: Warriors Star Chokes Coach Dec 02, 2019

    The Golden State Warriors thought they'd hit rock bottom when they lost 13 of their first 14 games. Then star player Latrell Sprewell choked coach P.J. Carlesimo, leaving a three-inch scratch on his neck.

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    Best of NYC: First! Nov 27, 2019

    A collection of episodes about firsts and beginnings to celebrate the start of the holiday season: The first cable car run in San Francisco, the first federal prisoners to arrive at Alcatraz, and the founding of the Black Panthers.

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    1992: Revenge of the Nerds Nov 26, 2019

    Booming Santa Clara County is home to the largest concentration of computer engineers in the world, and they're almost all men. Mental health experts say they're paying a price for the boom. Lost episode from Aug. 30.

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    1983: Hillside Strangler Guilty Nov 25, 2019

    The Hillside Strangler terrorized Los Angeles for months in 1977 and '78. It turns out there were two stranglers, Kenneth Bianchi and his cousin Angelo Buono, whose trial was the longest in U.S. history to that point. Lost episode from Oct. 31.

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    1963: JFK Assassinated Nov 22, 2019

    Like every city, town, village and hamlet in America, San Francisco grinds to a halt as news spreads that President John F. Kennedy has been shot and killed in Dallas.

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    1985: A Spy For Israel Arrested Nov 21, 2019

    In a rare case of espionage involving an ally, Jonathan Pollard, a Navy intelligence analyst, is busted for selling U.S. secrets to Israel. He says he did it to right a wrong. Prosecutors say he did it for money.

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    1945: Nuremberg Trials Begin Nov 20, 2019

    Not long ago, they'd been powerful men in a country that had conquered much of Europe. Now these 21 former Nazi leaders listen meekly as they're charged with crimes against humanity.

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    1973: Sweeping Powers for Nixon Nov 19, 2019

    With the Watergate scandal in full swing, the Democratically controlled Senate votes to give Republican President Richard Nixon broad authority to respond to the energy crisis stemming from the OPEC oil embargo.

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    1978: The Jonestown Massacre Nov 18, 2019

    Rep. Leo Ryan, D-San Mateo, and four others are killed and his legal aide, Jackie Speier, is among those injured in a shooting at an airstrip in Guyana, a prelude to more than 900 members of the formerly San Francisco-based People's Temple dying in the jungle.

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    Bay Area 2020, Part 2 Nov 15, 2019

    In the second of two parts, we look at the predictions and scenarios in the San Francisco Chronicle's 1999 "guide" to life in the Bay Area in 2020, including one very big thing that, you won't be surprised to hear, they didn't mention.

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    Bay Area 2020, Part 1 Nov 14, 2019

    In 1999, the San Francisco Chronicle published a special section, a guide to life in the Bay Area in the unimaginably distant year of 2020. How'd the predictions do? First of two parts.

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    1953: Robin Hood Is a Commie! Nov 13, 2019

    Steal from the rich and give to the poor? That sounds like communism! And an Indiana official says the Prince of Thieves should be banned from textbooks. He isn't, but the controversy spawns the Green Feather Movement, an important moment in college campus activism.

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    1936: Bay Bridge Opens Nov 12, 2019

    Emperor Norton ordered a bridge to be built between San Francisco and Oakland via Yerba Buena Island in 1872. Now, more than a half-century later, that bridge opens in the most appropriate way: With a massive traffic jam.

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    1918 World War I Ends Nov 11, 2019

    The world erupts in celebration as Germany signs the Armistice, ending the fighting in the War to End All Wars. Hundreds of thousands pour into the streets all over the Bay Area, delirious with joy.


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    1923: The Beer Hall Putsch Nov 08, 2019

    Nazi leader Adolf Hitler and 600 of his followers take over a beer hall where Bavaria's military leader is speaking. The leader gives way, but the coup fizzles, and Hitler decides on a new strategy.

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    1917: The Bolshevik Revolution Nov 07, 2019

    The Bolsheviks storm the Winter Palace and overthrow the Provisional Government in the second Russian Revolution of the year. A bloody civil war remained to be fought before the Soviet Union was established.

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    1968: Strike at San Francisco State Nov 06, 2019

    The Black Students Union and the Third World Liberation Front call a student strike to protest the lack of representation for people of color in the curriculum, faculty and administration. The strike will last into March and have a profound impact on American higher education.

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    1967: Ronald Reagan's "Gay Ring" Nov 05, 2019

    Washington columnist Drew Pearson accuses California's conservative governor of doing nothing about a gay sex scandal in his administration. Reagan denies it. But you'll never guess where the columnist got his information.

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    1979: Iranians Storm U.S. Embassy Nov 04, 2019

    It's the start of the Iran Hostage Crisis, a 444-day episode that would convulse American politics and culture: Students loyal to revolutionary Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini storm the U.S. embassy in Tehran and take more than 60 hostages.

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    1950: Assassins Target Truman Nov 01, 2019

    A pair of well-dressed men walk up to Blair House — the temporary presidential residence — and open fire. They're Puerto Rican nationalists, trying to assassinate President Harry Truman, who pokes his head out the window to check on the commotion.

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    1926: Death Shackles Houdini Oct 31, 2019

    The King of Magicians dies on Halloween. Of course he does. Joe Posnanski, author of the new biography "The Life and Afterlife of Harry Houdini," talks about what made Houdini great — which also might be what killed him.

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    1938: The Martians Are Coming! Oct 30, 2019

    Orson Welles' radio adaptation of H.G. Wells' "The War of the Worlds" causes nationwide panic about a Martian invasion. At least, that's the legend. Really, hardly anyone heard the show, and the few people who panicked thought it was the Germans who were coming.

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    1929: Black Tuesday Oct 29, 2019

    Here comes the Great Depression. The stock market crash wasn't a one-day event, but the one day known as Black Tuesday shattered records, and it was a wild day on the Wall Street of the West, Montgomery Street in San Francisco.

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    1995: Mayor Jordan Takes a Shower Oct 28, 2019

    A week and a half before Election Day, Frank Jordan, running for re-election, thinks it'll be fun to go along with a morning radio show stunt. One result is a photo of him and two DJs naked in his shower. Another is a very happy opponent, Willie Brown.

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    1929: Secretary Fall Is Convicted Oct 25, 2019

    Albert B. Fall, secretary of the Interior under President Warren G. Harding, is found guilty of taking a bribe in the Teapot Dome scandal. He's the first Cabinet member ever convicted of a felony.

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    1906: San Francisco City Hall Scandal Oct 24, 2019

    The grand jury is in session. The boodlers who may end up in the dock? — that's how the Chronicle put it. Mayor Eugene "Handsome Gene" Schmitz and Abe Ruef, the Boss Tweed of San Francisco, the head of the city's political machine.

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    1995: Selena's Killer Convicted Oct 23, 2019

    Yolanda Saldivar said she meant to kill herself, not Selena Quintanilla, when they met in a motel room to hash out charges that Saldivar was embezzling money from "the queen of Tejano music." A jury didn't believe her.

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    1975: "I Am a Homosexual" Oct 22, 2019

    With those words, on the cover of Time magazine, Air Force Technical Sgt. Leonard Matlovich becomes the face of the gay rights movement in America.

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    1989: A Miracle in the Rubble Oct 21, 2019

    After four of the saddest days in Bay Area history, at last there's a reason for hope and joy: Longshoreman Buck Helm has been found alive in the rubble of the Cypress Structure.

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    1989: Loma Prieta Earthquake, Part 2 Oct 18, 2019

    San Francisco Chronicle reporters talk about where they were when the earth shook on Oct. 17, 1989, and what they did once it stopped. Memories from Kevin Fagan, Nanette Asimov, John Wildermuth, Bruce Jenkins and Sam Whiting. See the Chronicle's look back at the 1989 earthquake.

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    1989: Loma Prieta Earthquake, Part 1 Oct 17, 2019

    A magnitude 6.9 earthquake kills more than 60 people, injures hundreds, damages the Bay Bridge and other roadways and buildings, and interrupts the Giants vs. A's World Series. Citizens and first responders remember where they were. See the Chronicle's 30th anniversary look back at the 1989 earthquake.

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    1995: The Million Man March Oct 16, 2019

    They came to Washington in fleets of buses, caravans of cars, and scores of redeye flights. The march may or may not have attracted a million men — the crowd size was hotly disputed in the aftermath — but it was massive.

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    1966: Black Panthers Founded Oct 15, 2019

    Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale, a pair of Oakland political activists, form an organization to protect the African American community from police violence. They call it the Black Panther Party for Self Defense.

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    1919: Marcus Garvey Shot Oct 14, 2019

    A man bursts into the offices of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and shoots its founder, who survives. Garvey is best remembered for his "back to Africa" sentiments, but his views on black self-sufficiency had a huge influence on the Civil Rights Movement.

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    1906: San Francisco Segregates Japanese Kids Oct 11, 2019

    A San Francisco Board of Education order forces all students of Japanese heritage to attend one school. It's a win for anti-Japanese immigration forces, but it angers President Theodore Roosevelt and causes an international incident.

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    1913: Panama Canal Opens Oct 10, 2019

    President Woodrow Wilson presses a telegraph key in Washington and 4,000 miles to the south, eight tons of dynamite blow away the last barrier between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans at the Panama Canal. First through? A pair of Americans in a rowboat.

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    1967: Che Guevara Killed Oct 09, 2019

    The Argentine doctor turned Cuban revolutionary icon had a grandmother born in San Francisco and "the blood of the Irish rebels in him." He's executed on the battlefield in Bolivia, where he was leading forces in a rebellion against the CIA-backed government.

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    1933: Coit Tower Dedicated Oct 08, 2019

    The old hearts of retired San Francisco volunteer firemen fluttered under their red shirts as they listened to speeches about Lillie Hitchcock Coit, their mascot and admirer, who left a third of her estate to further "the beauty of the city which I have always loved."

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    1960: JFK, Nixon Go Toe-to-Toe Oct 07, 2019

    Their first televised debate — the first presidential debate in U.S. history — had been pretty tame. But now, in a TV studio in Washington with no audience, the gloves are off as the young senator from Massachusetts and the vice president battle over how to handle the Cold War.

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    1957: "Howl" Is Not Obscene Oct 04, 2019

    Allen Ginsberg isn't on trial for writing the poem but another poet, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, is — for selling it at his City Lights Books. The hippest crowd that ever gathered at the Hall of Justice cheers the verdict.

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    1995: O.J. Simpson Acquitted Oct 03, 2019

    It wasn't the first 20th century trial to be dubbed the Trial of the Century. But it might be the one that keeps the title. The gloves didn't fit, and the Juice was acquitted.

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    1950: "Peanuts" Debuts Oct 02, 2019

    "Good ol' Charlie Brown," a little boy sitting on a curb says as a soon-to-be-familiar character with a round head strolls pass. "How I hate him!" The angst-filled, psychologically fraught newspaper comic has arrived.

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    1964: Free Speech Movement Born Oct 01, 2019

    A former grad student sits in a car at UC-Berkeley but he's not going anywhere. He's under arrest, the car is surrounded by fellow protesters, and Mario Savio is standing on the roof giving a speech. It's the first hours of the Free Speech Movement.

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    1982: Extra Deadly Tylenol Sep 30, 2019

    Seven people die in the Chicago suburbs after taking Extra Strength Tylenol laced with cyanide. The murders are never solved. The case, which terrorized America, changed the way medicine and food are packaged.

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    1983: Drug and Alcohol Crowd at the White House! Sep 27, 2019

    That's what Interior Secretary James Watt called the audience for the Beach Boys when he banned them from a July Fourth concert at the National Mall. But whoops: The Reagans dug the nostalgia act. Originally aired June 13, 2019.

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    1923: General Theory of Relativity Confirmed Sep 26, 2019

    You'll be glad to know Albert Einstein was right. Astronomers at the Lick Observatory in San Jose confirmed it by examining photos of a 1922 eclipse. How did that confirm Einstein? We asked an astronomer at the Lick Observatory. Originally published April 12, 2019.

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    1995: Talking With the Unabomber Sep 25, 2019

    "I'm just very fortunate that I'm not dead," UC Berkeley professor Tom Tyler said after receiving a letter from the Unabomber. It was his manifesto, not a mail bomb. And Tyler wrote back. Originally published July 3, 2019.

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    1905: "I Am Poisoned!" Sep 24, 2019

    Jane Lathrop Stanford, co-founder of the university, survives a poisoning attempt at her palatial home in San Francisco. Devastated, she sails to Hawaii, vowing never to return to her house. She doesn't. A second poisoning kills her—a murder that Stanford's president covers up. Originally published March 1, 2019.

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    1967: Ballet Superstars Busted Sep 23, 2019

    A complaint in the Haight leads to the cops breaking up a hippie pot party. Among those under arrest: Rudolf Nureyev and Dame Margot Fonteyn. Rudy pouts and tells reporters, "You're all children!" Originally published July 11, 2019.

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    1989: The FBI's Gay Spying Program Sep 20, 2019

    The Chronicle's Randy Shilts reports that the FBI conducted exhaustive and apparently illegal surveillance of the gay-rights movement from the '50s to the '70s, despite never finding evidence of any subversive activity or crime.

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    1952: Charlie Chaplin Exiled Sep 19, 2019

    Once one of America's most beloved movie stars, the great comedian was now being hounded by the FBI for his leftist politics and by the media for a series of personal scandals. Sailing for London, he learns he's not welcome to return to the U.S.

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    1975: Patty Hearst Arrested Sep 18, 2019

    A tip leads police to knock on a door in the Outer Mission. When Patty Hearst answers, it ends a 19-month odyssey that saw her go from kidnapped newspaper heiress to dangerous fugitive, wanted for bank robbery.

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    1920: The NFL Is Born Sep 17, 2019

    It all starts in a car dealership showroom in Canton, Ohio. Reprentatives of teams from the Midwest and Northeast sit on running boards as they hammer out the details of a league that, a half century later, will come to rule American sports.

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    1963: Birmingham Church Bombing Sep 16, 2019

    Even by the standards of "Bombingham," the explosion that ripped through the 16th Street Baptist Church was shocking. It was the 21st racist bombing in eight years, but the first fatal one, killing four girls as they got ready for Youth Day services.

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    1993: Oslo Accords Signed Sep 13, 2019

    Not long before Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin accepted the handshake offer of Palestinian Liberation Organization chairman Yasser Arafat during a White House ceremony, it had been illegal for an Israeli to talk to a PLO member.

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    1940: Lascaux Cave Paintings Discovered Sep 12, 2019

    Some teenage boys out for a walk in the woods stumble upon a living museum of prehistoric times, "a cavalcade of animals larger than life," the stunning colors of the drawings preserved by the cave's geology.

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    1998: The Starr Report Sep 11, 2019

    The case for impeachment against Bill Clinton is also a salacious page turner outlining the president's White House affair with intern Monica Lewinsky. The independent counsel says the titillating details are necessary.

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    1963: Integration War in Alabama Sep 10, 2019

    President John F. Kennedy federalizes the National Guard in response to Gov. George Wallace using guardsmen to block black students from enrolling in schools after he'd pledged "Segregation forever."

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    1986: The First National Oprah Show! Sep 09, 2019

    She hadn't worked out as a TV reporter in Baltimore, but when Oprah Winfrey turned a low-rated local talk show in Chicago into a hit, she was on her way to building an empire. Going national was the next big step.

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    1978: The Top Female Cop in the World Sep 06, 2019

    SFPD Officer Dorothy Jorgensen has some wild stories from the mean streets of the Tenderloin after she's named Officer of the Year by an international women's police organization for her work as a decoy.

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    1975: Squeaky Fromme, Would-be Assassin Sep 05, 2019

    The Charles Manson follower has a clear shot at President Gerald Ford as he walks through a park in Sacramento, but her gun doesn't fire. It's the first of two Northern California attempts on the president's life in three weeks.

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    1977: The Golden Dragon Massacre Sep 04, 2019

    Three gang members walk into a crowded Chinatown restaurant in the wee hours with long guns. The worst mass shooting in San Francisco history to date kills 5 and wounds 11 — none of them the intended targets.

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    1976: Crisis on the Viking 2 Sep 03, 2019

    The spacecraft has lost radio contact with earth and it's plunging through 1,000 miles of the martian atmosphere. This is not how the mission was planned. Will NASA's Hail Mary work?

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    Best of NYC: Labor Sep 02, 2019

    A collection of episodes with stories about work, workers and organized labor for your Labor Day listening. From the original March on Washington to Jimmy Hoffa's last lunch meeting.

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    Live! San Francisco History Trivia, Part 2 Aug 30, 2019

    It’s the rest of the story as King Kaufman regales a live audience at the Betabrand Podcast Theatre in San Francisco with tales of a murderous editor and an animal activist on a moral crusade.

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    The “Vertigo” Mansion — Live! Aug 29, 2019

    That strange rooming house that Kim Novak slips into and disappears from in the movie? It had a strange story in real life. “Cool Gray City of Love” author and Portals of the Past columnist Gary Kamiya tells it to a San Francisco audience.

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    Reliving the Dotcom ’90s — Live! Aug 28, 2019

    Return to those VC-fueled days of yesteryear with Owen Thomas, who pestered his way onto the staff at Suck.com and then became a chronicler of Silicon Valley at Valleywag, Red Herring and, now, the San Francisco Chronicle. Recorded live.

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    Live! San Francisco History Trivia, Part 1 Aug 27, 2019

    Join King Kaufman and a living, breathing audience at the Betabrand Podcast Theatre in San Francisco for strange tales of murderous editors and naked mayors. First of four live episodes.

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    1920: The 19th Amendment Aug 26, 2019

    The women's suffrage amendment is quietly certified, a week after the deciding vote was cast in Tennessee by a young legislator who listened to his mom.

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    1879: San Francisco's Political Gunfight Aug 23, 2019

    S.F. Chronicle founder and editor Charles de Young's political beef with Baptist minister and mayoral candidate Isaac Smith Kalloch culminates in a shooting. But that's not where it ends.

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    1991: Gorbachev Survives Coup Flu Aug 22, 2019

    The Soviet president was held prisoner in his vacation home by hardliners who announced he was sick and threatened to remove him — maybe kill him — if he didn't back off his glasnost and perestroika reforms. He didn't.

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    1911: Mona Lisa Stolen Aug 21, 2019

    The Mona Lisa was famous among art lovers when Vincenzo Peruggia walked out of the Louvre with it under his arm. Since that moment, it's been the most famous painting in the world.

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    1968: Prague Spring Crushed Aug 20, 2019

    The Soviet Union and its Warsaw Pact allies invade the capital of Czechoslovakia, bringing a violent end to the eight months of liberalization and reform under Alexander Dubček.

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    1957: The Giants Are Coming Aug 19, 2019

    The board of directors of the New York baseball Giants makes official something the Chronicle had reported three months earlier: The most successful team in National League history was moving to San Francisco for the 1958 season.

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    1965: A Tense Peace in Watts Aug 16, 2019

    The neighborhood south of downtown Los Angeles has been wracked by six days of violence in the wake of a traffic stop of a black man by a white cop. Was the fighting a riot? Or was it a community rising up against its oppressors?

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    1969: Woodstock, Day 1 Aug 15, 2019

    We know it as an iconic "three days of peace and music." Early media reports made it sound like a natural disaster had hit Max Yasgur's farm, and barely mentioned what happened onstage.

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    1962: Crusading Against Animal Nudity Aug 14, 2019

    G. Clifford Prout Jr., president of the Society for Indecency to Naked Animals, has toured the San Francisco zoo and discovered a shocking amount of animal nudity there. His group is fighting for the nation's morals!

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    1961: The Berlin Wall Aug 13, 2019

    Germans would come to know it as Barbed Wire Sunday. With a railroad line that bypassed the city complete, East Germany shut down border crossings in Berlin and put up fencing. It was the beginning of what would become the wall.

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    1964: Great Train Robber Escapes Aug 12, 2019

    Charlie Wilson busts out of Winson Green prison in a caper nearly as sensational as the crime that put him there: The Great Train Robbery of 1963 outside London.

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    1934: Alcatraz Opens for Business Aug 09, 2019

    The first federal prisoners arrive by train, then barge, under heavy guard, with prison officials lying about them to throw off any pals with escape plans on their mind. Al Capone and Pretty Boy Floyd will be there soon.

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    Corrected—1974: Richard Nixon Resigns Aug 08, 2019

    Dear Subscribers: Thanks to a file mixup, you got a preview of tomorrow's episode about Alcatraz instead of the correct one about Nixon's resignation. We're republishing the episode with the correct audio. Sorry about the error!

    The president lost the support of Republicans in Congress following the release of the "Smoking Gun Tape," which revealed him plotting to obstruct the Watergate investigation. Saying "I have never been a quitter," he quits.

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    1974: Richard Nixon Resigns Aug 08, 2019

    The president lost the support of Republicans in Congress following the release of the "Smoking Gun Tape," which revealed him plotting to obstruct the Watergate investigation. Saying "I have never been a quitter," he quits.

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    1964: Gulf of Tonkin Resolution Aug 07, 2019

    President Lyndon Johnson applauds Congress for authorizing him to take all necessary steps to defend Southeast Asia against Communist aggression. It's based on a lie.

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    1945: Hiroshima Aug 06, 2019

    The headlines couldn't have been more stark. The most terrible destructive force ever harnessed by humanity had been unleashed on a Japanese city, with tens of thousands dead.

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    1981: Reagan Fires 11,000 Aug 05, 2019

    Ronald Reagan liked to point out that he was the first president who'd been a union chief, and he'd even led a strike. But when air-traffic controllers went out, he fired them. It was a devastating loss for organized labor.

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    1873: The First Cable Car Aug 02, 2019

    The story is that Andrew Smith Hallidie, who manufactured "wire rope," saw horses struggling to pull a streetcar uphill. So he had an idea, and this run up Clay Street was its first test.

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    1955: L.A.'s First Smog Alert Aug 01, 2019

    It wouldn't be the last. People had been donning gas masks in the smoky air for joke photos for a decade, but this was the first official recognition of Los Angeles' signature air pollution.

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    1996: Clinton Triangulates Jul 31, 2019

    Bill Clinton's central campaign promise in 1992 was to "end welfare as we have come to know it." With Election Day looming, he backs ending cash welfare. A Bay Area congressman calls it a "cave" to the GOP.

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    1975: Jimmy Hoffa Disappears Jul 30, 2019

    The former Teamsters president was trying to regain control of the union after serving time in prison. He had what was supposed to be a peace conference with a couple of dangerous enemies. He hasn't been seen since.

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    1945: Empire State Building Plane Crash Jul 29, 2019

    World War II was still being fought in the Pacific, but this wasn't an enemy attack. An American B-25 pilot got disoriented in the fog and slammed into the 79th floor, killing 14. One woman fell from the 80th floor — and lived.

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    1984: The Original Psycho Checks Out Jul 26, 2019

    Ed Gein barely rated a mention in the obituary column when he died in prison, but the psychotic Wisconsin killer launched a Hollywood genre. Norman Bates, Leatherface and Buffalo Bill were all based on him.

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    1997: Critical Mass Goes Critical Jul 25, 2019

    Chaos rules the streets of the Financial District as Mayor Willie Brown's attempt to crack down on the monthly freeform bicycle ride backfires in a big way.

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    1959: The Kitchen Debate Jul 24, 2019

    A grumpy but funny Nikita Khrushchev mixes it up in a model American kitchen in Moscow with a charming — at least on the Nixon scale — Vice President Richard Nixon.

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    1976: Chowchilla Suspect Surrenders Jul 23, 2019

    Richard Schoenfeld and his two accomplices would eventually be convicted of a kidnapping that shocked the nation: 26 children and their schoolbus driver buried alive. Driver Ed Ray led the kids to safety.

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    1916: Preparedness Day Bombing Jul 22, 2019

    Two labor leaders are framed for the worst terrorist act in San Francisco history. They spend 23 years in prison for the parade bombing that kills 10 and wounds 40.

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    1993: Don't Ask Don't Tell Jul 19, 2019

    President Bill Clinton knows you're not going to like the new policy he's announcing on gays in the military. Whoever "you" are. Even the policy's creator didn't think much of it.

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    1938: Wrong Way Corrigan Lands in Ireland Jul 18, 2019

    Douglas Corrigan takes off for L.A. from Brooklyn, and 28 hours later he lands ... in Dublin! He says he misread his compass and couldn't tell because of the heavy clouds. And if you believe that, there's a bridge in Brooklyn he could sell you.

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    1944: Port Chicago Explosion Jul 17, 2019

    The disaster at a munitions depot near Martinez kills 320, most of them African American sailors, and highlights racial inequality in the Navy.

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    1969: Apollo 11 Launches Jul 16, 2019

    Hundreds of thousands of people crowd the Florida coast to brave traffic jams, parties and the sight of a sweaty Ed McMahon as Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins sit on top of a rocket that hurls them toward the moon.

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    1997: Gianni Versace Murdered Jul 15, 2019

    A shocking, brazen killing on the front steps of the designer's South Beach mansion. Suspicion quickly falls on one of the FBI's 10 Most Wanted — prostitute Andrew Cunanan, already suspected of 4 killings.

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    1972: Ho-Hum, 2 More Hijackings Jul 12, 2019

    After D.B. Cooper, the thing to do was take over a plane and demand half a million bucks and a parachute. It rarely worked, but it sure got tried a lot during the golden age of hijacking.

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    1967: Ballet Superstars Busted Jul 11, 2019

    A complaint in the Haight leads to the cops breaking up a hippie pot party. Among those under arrest: Rudolf Nureyev and Dame Margot Fonteyn. Rudy pouts and tells reporters, "You're all children!"

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    1925: The Scopes Monkey Trial Jul 10, 2019

    The nation is captivated as Clarence Darrow battles William Jennings Bryan over evolution in a — but very real — trial. "Do you think about things you DO think about?"

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    1893: A Medical Moses Jul 09, 2019

    Dr. Daniel Hale Williams, who ran the first African American-owned hospital in the U.S., was sure he'd performed the first successful open-heart surgery. It was actually the second, but he was still a giant.

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    1987: Oliver North Testifies Jul 08, 2019

    The Reagan administration was trading arms for hostages in the Middle East and supporting right-wing rebels in Nicaragua. North's idea was to put the two together, and that was Iran-Contra.

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    Best of NYC: You'll Get No Theme and You'll Like It! Jul 05, 2019

    More of our favorite episodes for your longer-form holiday listening, with stories about banana-smoking hippies, Evel Knievel, Randy Shilts and Herb Caen.

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    Best of NYC: True Crime! Jul 04, 2019

    From the SFPD bunko scandal to the possibly imaginary criminal element of North Beach's topless joints, revisit our favorite law-and-order tales.

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    1995: Talking With the Unabomber Jul 03, 2019

    "I'm just very fortunate that I'm not dead," UC Berkeley professor Tom Tyler said after receiving a letter from the Unabomber. It was his manifesto, not a mail bomb. And Tyler wrote back.

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    1937: Amelia Earhart Disappears Jul 02, 2019

    The press called her Lady Lindy. She looked a little like Charles Lindbergh, but she was also a record-seeting flyer in her own right — an aviatrix, they called her. Now, an around-the-world flight almost done, she went missing.

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    1946: The A-Bomb at Bikini Atoll Jul 01, 2019

    For the first time, the world knows about a nuclear weapon being detonated before it happens. Some of the most brilliant scientists and engineers in the world ... have no idea what they're doing.

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    1914: Archduke Franz Ferdinand Assassinated Jun 28, 2019

    Gavrilo Princip was pouting in a cafe after missing his chance to assassinate the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary. Then the archduke's driver took a wrong turn down a narrow street — right in front of Princip.

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    1997: Climate Change and Humor Jun 27, 2019

    Five years after the heady optimism of Rio, the Earth Summit+5 international conference on climate change is a failure. But a confab on humor in Norway is serious business.

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    1945: United Nations Charter Signed Jun 26, 2019

    As World War II nears its end, Harry Truman announces the dawn of the U.N. in San Francisco. "If we had had this Charter a few years ago," he says, "millions now dead would be alive."

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    1876: The Battle of Little Big Horn Jun 25, 2019

    They used to call it "Custer's Last Stand," thanks to nearly a century of myth-making. But the real story is it was a great victory, but a last stand, for the Lakota Sioux

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    1977: The President Insists on Paying Taxes Jun 24, 2019

    President Jimmy Carter owes nothing on his federal income taxes because of deductions and investments in the family business. So he sends a request to the IRS: Please let me pay $6,000.

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    1967: Muhammad Ali Appeals Jun 21, 2019

    He was undefeated in the ring, but the heavyweight champ was on a losing streak in court. Appealing his conviction for refusing induction into the armed forces, he said there was another possible outcome besides Vietnam or jail: Justice.

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    1953: Julius and Ethel Rosenberg Executed Jun 20, 2019

    Albert Einstein, Pablo Picasso and Pope Pius XII are among those begging for mercy on their behalf, but the New York couple, convicted of selling secrets to the Soviets, are the first Americans put to death for espionage.

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    Republish: 1906: San Francisco Rebuilds Jun 19, 2019

    Subscribers got the wrong episode yesterday. The correct episode is now in place, but we’re republishing it here as a “bonus” so you don’t have to re-download it yourself. Two months after the earthquake and fire that devastated San Francisco, donations are pouring in from around the country to reopen schools. Dentists are sending tools. The city is digging itself out.

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    1906: San Francisco Rebuilds Jun 19, 2019

    Two months after the earthquake and fire that devastated San Francisco, donations are pouring in from around the country to reopen schools. Dentists are sending tools. The city is digging itself out.

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    1992: A Win for Prop 13 Jun 18, 2019

    Proposition 13, the property tax rollback that forced massive government cuts and launched the taxpayer revolt of the '80s, is upheld by the Supreme Court, confirming it as California's political third rail.

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    1976: Selling off the Oakland A's Jun 17, 2019

    All owner Charlie Finley wants to do is get something for his star players who are about to become this new thing, free agents. But commissioner Bowie Kuhn says that kind of deal — now common — is "not in the best interests of baseball."

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    1996: Herb Caen Day in San Francisco Jun 14, 2019

    Robin Williams, Willie Mays, Bill Walsh and Amy Tan are among the throngs celebrating the city's "voice and conscience" — in the words of his Pulitzer Prize — in a downtown celebration. "God, I love this town," he said. It was mutual.

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    1983: Drug and Alcohol Crowd at the White House! Jun 13, 2019

    That's what Interior Secretary James Watt called the audience for the Beach Boys when he banned them from a July Fourth concert at the National Mall. But whoops: The Reagans dug the nostalgia act.

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    1923: Why Not a Businessman President? Jun 12, 2019

    Does this sound familiar? A rich guy who owns a famous company that's popular with consumers talks about running for president. Grab a cup of coffee and listen to the story of ... Henry Ford.

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    1971: Alcatraz Captured Jun 11, 2019

    A 19-month occupation by American Indian activists ends when U.S. marshals take back Alcatraz Island. The protest action has a huge influence on U.S. policy toward native tribes.

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    1946: Death of a Champion Jun 10, 2019

    Jack Johnson was the Jackie Robinson of boxing. He broke the color barrier as the first black man to fight for the heavyweight title, and the first to win it. He died while traveling to see the second black champ, Joe Louis.

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    1992: Say Goodbye to the Giants Jun 07, 2019

    The local 9 lose again at the ballot box in their attempt to get a new publicly funded stadium. They're 0-for-4. They're never going to get a new ballpark, are they?

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    1944: D-Day by the Bay Jun 06, 2019

    As Allied troops storm the beaches of Normandy, a Chronicle reporter patrols the city. He finds a subdued reaction, with scattered rejoicing in the immigrant-heavy produce market and at the French consulate.

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    1972: Angela Davis Acquitted Jun 05, 2019

    "Wild Scene in the Courtroom." The former UCLA professor had been charged with supplying the guns in a 1970 courtroom takeover that left a judge and three others dead.

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    1986: Crisis at the Mexican Border Jun 04, 2019

    The Reagan administration says it's going to get tough and crack down. "The drug trafficking and related violence along the border is a horror story," says one official. Sound familiar?

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    1913: The Last Horsecar in San Francisco Jun 03, 2019

    Mayor Sunny Jim Rolph grabs the reins and drives old Car 45 on its last Market Street run. Horse-drawn streetcars are going the way of, well, horse-drawn streetcars.

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    1964: The Rolling Stones Invade America May 31, 2019

    First the Beatles and now these guys. The Chronicle wants to know: When will this British Invasion end? At least they're just bringing music from England, not the battles between gangs of Mods and Rockers.

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    1911: The First Indy 500 May 30, 2019

    It wasn't just the first Indianapolis 500, it was the first 500-mile race, period. The winner was the only solo driver. Ray Haroun didn't need someone to help watch out for other cars. He used his new invention: A rearview mirror.

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    1987: The GMO Food War Begins May 29, 2019

    Activists resort to vandalism to block the University of California from field testing Ice-Minus, the first experiment with genetically modified crops outside a lab.

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    1975: Evel Knievel Is Through! May 28, 2019

    The Most Important Man in the World — at least according to the 11-year-old future host of Not Your Century and his bike-jumping friends — says he's retiring after his latest crash, at Wembley Stadium in London.

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    1943: Inside a U.S. Prison Camp for Japanese Americans May 24, 2019

    San Francisco Chronicle staff writer Milton Silverman tours the camp at Tulelake. Though the camps enjoy overwhelming popular support at the time, his report is surprisingly frank.

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    1967: Sex is Everywhere May 23, 2019

    With the sexual revolution in full swing, a study says it's having an effect on the mental health of young women. In San Francisco, the obscenity trial over Lenore Kandel's erotic poetry collection "The Love Book" continues.

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    1956: The Destruction of the Fillmore May 22, 2019

    The Board of Supervisors approves a plan that will devastate the African-American community of the Fillmore, "the Harlem of the West." It's urban renewal, which James Baldwin says "means moving the Negroes out. It means Negro removal."

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    1910: The King Is Dead May 21, 2019

    He wasn't king long, but Edward VII had a whole era named after him. His mother, Queen Victoria, blamed him for the death of his father and never forgave him. But other people liked him. Especially the ladies.

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    1999: Dan Quayle in San Franciscoe May 20, 2019

    The former VP, running for president, returns to the scene of his "Murphy Brown" comment, for which he was roasted—but not like he was roasted for spelling potato "potatoe."

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    1954: Brown vs. Board of Education May 17, 2019

    The Supreme Court delivers a death sentence for the doctrine of separate but equal, the basis for legal segregation. It's an epochal decision, but not the top headline in the newspaper.

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    1967: Undercover With the Hippies May 16, 2019

    A Chronicle reporter spends a month in Haight-Ashbury, living with the flower children, getting high with them and trying to understand their culture of peace, love and psychedelic bananas you heard us psychedelic bananas.

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    1960: San Francisco Protests HUAC May 15, 2019

    The anti-Communist House Un-American Activities Committee is holding hearings at S.F. City Hall, and protesters — chanting, singing and comparing the committee to Nazis — are brutalized by police.

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    1932: Who Killed the Lindbergh Baby? May 14, 2019

    The search for the missing Charles Lindbergh Jr. had gripped the nation. Now that the 2-year-old has been found dead, the great aviator has recruited some sketchy characters to help find the killer.

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    1982: Randy Shilts and the Dawn of AIDS May 13, 2019

    The headline about what would become the AIDS epidemic was buried on Page 6. It was the first story on the disease by the man who would become its voice: Randy Shilts. A special longform edition of Not Your Century.

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    Bonus: Randy Shilts Biographer Andrew E. Stoner May 13, 2019

    Host King Kaufman interviews Andrew E. Stoner, the author of “The Journalist of Castro Street: The Life of Randy Shilts,” which is out this month.

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    1869: The Golden Spike May 10, 2019

    The transcontinental railroad is completed by the driving of the final spike. It's hooked up to telegraph wires, so Leland Stanford's hammer blow sends a nationwide signal for the celebrations to begin. It's the first mass media event.

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    1959: Great White Shark Attack May 09, 2019

    San Francisco teenager Albert Kogler is killed by a "maneater" while swimming in the bay. Shirley O'Neil braves the shark's attack to pull him from the water, then becomes an international sensation when she baptizes her dying friend on shore.

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    1965: A Surrender to the Fleshpots of North Beach May 08, 2019

    San Francisco Mayor John F. Shelley has given in. Not to the temptations of the flesh, but to the idea that topless entertainment is here to stay in North Beach.

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    1942: Japan Routs the U.S. at Corregidor May 07, 2019

    The last allied stronghold in Southeast Asia falls. General Douglas MacArthur had hoped to hold out for reinfocements, but they never came. Still, the battle had slowed Japan's drive to conquer the Pacific, and the tide would soon turn.

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    1970: The Kent State Shooting May 06, 2019

    President Nixon reverses course and escalates the Vietnam War by invading formerly neutral Cambodia, and America's college campuses erupt in protest. In Ohio, National Guardsmen open fire on unarmed demonstrators, killing four.

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    1945: Adolf Hitler's Suicide May 03, 2019

    A day after Americans learned that the Nazi leader had died, they learned that Germany's official announcement that Hitler had died in battle was a lie. He had killed himself as the Red Army captured Berlin and closed in on his bunker.

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    1973: Conspiracy to Obstruct Justice at the White House May 02, 2019

    Investigators have evidence that high-ranking officials of the White House and President Nixon's reelection committee conspired to cover up the Watergate break-in. They haven't figured out Nixon's role yet, but John Dean is about to start talking.

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    1913: The SFPD Bunko Scandal May 01, 2019

    Fat envelopes of cash are being handed over the bars of North Beach. To the cops. And they're going down. The real scandal? A century later, not enough people use the word "bunko" anymore.

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    1986: The Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster Apr 30, 2019

    The USSR has finally admitted that something happened, but Western observers are worried it's worse than officials are letting on. The Soviets rarely ask the West for help, announce a problem on Tass, or say a government investigation is underway.

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    1958: U.S. Space Program Failing Apr 29, 2019

    The Soviet Union is sending Sputnik satellites into orbit, but for the United States, it's failure after failure. The latest Vanguard rocket has plunged into the sea from 140 miles up.

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    1963: Fidel Castro Visits Nikita Khrushchev Apr 26, 2019

    In something of a surprise, the Cuban premier heads to the Soviet Union for the first time amid rumors of tensions with the Soviet leader in the wake of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Meanwhile, Khrushchev opens a new front in the Cold War: Women's panties.

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    1894: The First March on Washington Apr 25, 2019

    The Butte, Montana, faction of Coxey's Army has stolen a freight train and is headed east, part of a nationwide convergence to demand a jobs and infrastructure program. So who was Coxey? And how'd he get an army?

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    1957: Failed the Bus Driver Test? Try Cable Cars Apr 24, 2019

    If you blow the San Francisco Municipal Railway's bus driver test, don't worry. They'll send you over for cable car training. The Public Utilities Commission thinks that's odd, but Muni defends its policy.

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    1935: Pan Am Clipper Crosses the Pacific Apr 23, 2019

    In the first of four test flights, Pan American's "flying boat" completes a round-trip to Hawaii with a water landing in front of 10,000 spectators at Alameda. It's the first step toward passenger service to Asia.

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    1993: Hacker Busted, Joe Montana's Farewell Apr 22, 2019

    Prosecutors are throwing the book at Kevin Lee Poulsen, a notorious hacker who rigged radio station contests to finance his life on the lam for other crimes. Plus: Joe Cool bids adieu to San Francisco and the 49ers.

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    1962: The Prehistoric Google Bus Apr 19, 2019

    Commuters are taking private luxury buses to their jobs on the Peninsula, and people are fighting mad about it. It's a preview of the Google Bus fights of a later century. But without Wi-Fi.

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    1912: Scant News from the Titanic Apr 18, 2019

    Three days after the great ship sank, news is still scarce. The rescue ship Carpathia has gone silent. But word is filtering in over the wires about who survived — and who didn't.

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    1990: Chinatown Is Closed Apr 17, 2019

    Mayor Art Agnos wants to tear down the Embarcadero Freeway, badly damaged in the Loma Prieta earthquake. Chinatown shuts down as its business leaders head downtown to fight for repair of the road they say is their lifeline of customers.

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    Bonus: Mike Sager on Janet Cooke Apr 16, 2019

    Mike Sager worked with and dated Janet Cooke at the Washington Post and later wrote a book about her. The veteran author and magazine writer talks about his friend, "the fabulist who changed journalism."

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    1981: Space Shuttle Soars, Janet Cooke Crashes Apr 16, 2019

    Real news: The inaugural flight of the space shuttle Challenger. Fake news: The Washington Post returns Janet Cooke's Pulitzer Prize after editors discover she made up her story about an 8-year-old heroin addict.

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    1891: A Lot of Ruckus Over Oranges Apr 15, 2019

    The people of Chicago are amazed! They're coming by the trainload to gaze at produce from California. The oranges are the star of the show. It's a precursor to the Chicago World's Fair of 1893, which in turn would lead to a giant fair in Golden Gate Park in 1894.

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    1923: General Theory of Relativity Confirmed Apr 12, 2019

    You'll be glad to know Albert Einstein was right. Astronomers at the Lick Observatory in San Jose confirmed it by examining photos of a 1922 eclipse. How did that confirm Einstein? We asked an astronomer at the Lick Observatory. Plus: The curse of the mummy’s tomb!

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    1906: Mount Vesuvius Erupts Apr 11, 2019

    Untold thousands died when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 A.D., including Pliny the Elder. The death toll wasn't as high in 1906, but it was high. Vesuvius remains an active volcano. How am I going to be an optimist about this?

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    1952: Nationwide Labor Strife Apr 10, 2019

    Big Steel accuses President Harry Truman of being in bed with the labor unions after he nationalizes the industry to ward off a strike by steelworkers. There are huge strikes in industries across the country as labor battles the wage and price controls Truman had put in place at the beginning of the Korean War.

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    1975: Operation Babylift Apr 09, 2019

    85 Vietnamese orphans arrive at Travis Air Force Base in the latest flight of Operation Babylift — the massive, controversial evacuation of children from South Vietnam in the dying days of the Vietnam War. President Gerald Ford is there for a photo op.

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    1924: Ambushed in Albania—2 San Franciscans Killed Apr 08, 2019

    The U.S. Navy would send warships to the area after a pair of American businessmen are killed by a bandit gang. The accused killer claims he was under orders from the prime minister—who would later become king.

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    1961: Raising Muni Fares and Honoring Hydrant 12 Apr 05, 2019

    San Francisco bus fares are the lowest in the nation and Muni, facing a deficit, wants to do something about that. Plus: A plaque for the hydrant that saved the Mission District in the 1906 earthquake and fire? Spoiler alert: Yes. You can go look at it.

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    1910: Teddy Roosevelt vs. the Pope Apr 04, 2019

    You've got to be pretty bold to tangle with the pope. Teddy Roosevelt was pretty bold. On a post-presidential world tour, TR wired to ask for an audience with Pius X, but when the Vatican asked him to submit to certain conditions, the old Roughrider got rough. Featuring guest star Jason Feifer, host of the history podcast Pessimists Archive, as Roosevelt.

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    1954: Last Stand at Dien Bien Phu Apr 03, 2019

    Viet Minh forces were laying siege to Dien Bien Phu, which the French had fortified in hopes they could bait the rebels into a battle the French thought they could win. They were wrong about that. Plus: A San Francisco boxing champ wins, and the Army makes a significant hire.

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    1997: Cult Left an Arsenal Behind Apr 02, 2019

    The beatific, peace-loving Heaven's Gate cult, whose members had committed mass suicide, left behind a cache of weapons and ammunition, police find. Plus: On Opening Day for the Giants, Matier and Ross note fans' sticker shock at the concession prices at Candlestick Park. Would you believe $4 for a beer!

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    1981: "I Am in Control Here, at the White House" Apr 01, 2019

    Secretary of State Alexander Haig takes heat for his behavior in the hours after the shooting of President Ronald Reagan, and authorities delve into the bizarre motive of shooter John Hinckley, who wanted to impress teenage actor Jodie Foster.

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    1981: "Honey, I Forgot to Duck" Mar 29, 2019

    President Ronald Reagan and three others are shot as he walks out of a Washington hotel following a speech to the AFL-CIO. The shooter is John Hinckley, who wanted to impress actress Jodie Foster. No one is aware the president has been hit until after he arrives at the hospital.

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    1928: Hundreds Dead, Mulholland Takes the Blame Mar 28, 2019

    You know the name Mulholland from the famous street in the Hollywood Hills. Did you know William Mulholland, who designed the aqueduct system that allowed Los Angeles to grow into a big city, was responsible for the second-worst disaster for loss of life in California history? "Don't blame anyone else," he told a jury. "You just fasten it on me."

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    1977: The First Female Chief Justice Mar 27, 2019

    Rose Bird was used to firsts. She was the first female public defender in Santa Clara County and the first female cabinet secretary in California, and now she was the first female state Supreme Court chief justice in California—and probably the first to get a kiss in public from the governor. But the good times wouldn't last for her.

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    1935: Fatso Rats Out Baby Face Nelson's Pals Mar 26, 2019

    It was dangerous to call George Nelson "Baby Face" to his face, but Baby Face was dead by 1935, when Fatso Negri walked into a San Francisco courtroom to testify against nine locals accused of helping the notorious gangster when he was on the lam out west. Still, Fatso looked plenty nervous.

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    1949: Anti-Semites in the New York Schools? Mar 25, 2019

    A litigious former magistrate is suing to get these purveyors of anti-Jewish feeling out of the curriculum. Their names? William Shakespeare and Charles Dickens. Plus: The House Un-American Activities Committee had a book out too. It says there are 825,000 domestic traitors and spies in the U.S., and it didn't pull that number out of thin air at all.

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    1875: The Best Game of Base Ball Ever Mar 22, 2019

    It's a sparkling start to the 1875 season of base ball—which was two words back then. The crack San Francisco Club looks poised to wrest the championship from the Oakland players, having beaten them twice already. Center fielder Murkey is the San Francisco star. In one game, he made two fly-catches!

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    1946: Axis Sally Captured, Frank Sinatra Conquers Mar 21, 2019

    U.S. counterintelligence agents capture American Nazi propagandist "Axis Sally," who'd been hiding out in Berlin since the end of World War II. Back in San Francisco, bobby soxers with notes from their parents skip school to line up for hours to see Frank Sinatra, whom the Chronicle calls an "astonishingly inoffensive and almost colorless young man."

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    1913: Who Killed King George? Mar 20, 2019

    Why was King George I of Greece shot and killed as he walked the streets? Greek authorities have a suspect. His motive was a mystery, they say. And that motive would remain a mystery right up until he "fell" out of a police-station window six weeks later.

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    1974: The Children of the Divorce Wave Mar 19, 2019

    The first comprehensive study of the effect of divorce on children is being conducted as the divorce rate is roughly doubling in a decade. Many of the conclusions seem obvious today, but were anything but 45 years ago. Plus: Rotten advice from columnist Count Marco.

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    1907: Weigh a Soul? Nikola Tesla Says No Mar 18, 2019

    Nikola Tesla says, "It is altogether too absurd for discussion," and he's somehow not talking about Elon Musk. "It" was whether a person's soul can be weighed, which was a debate in 1907. Plus: Upton Sinclair's house burns down as he's researching a book on the steel industry. Suspicious?

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    1984: Larry Flynt and Dianne Feinstein Mar 15, 2019

    They didn't have anything to do with each other except they both were in the news. Flynt for wearing an American flag diaper in court, among other protest moves that got him locked up for contempt, Feinstein for talking, at the start of her second San Francisco mayoral term, about her political future. She says that having worked in both the executive and legislative branches, she sees her future in the executive. Narrator voice ...

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    1948: A Democratic Party Civil War Mar 14, 2019

    Southern Democratic governors, led by Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, vow to oppose the reelection of President Harry Truman, or anyone else who supports Truman's civil rights program. It's the first stirrings of what would become the short-lived Dixiecrat Party, with Thurmond as its nominee.

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    1976: Gov. Moonbeam Throws His Hat in the Ring Mar 13, 2019

    Jerry Brown, the charismatic 38-year-old governor of California, announces that he's running for the Democratic nomination for president. It's a bit late to do that — the primaries are already in full swing. But not to worry, Brown says. He's only running in California.

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    1924: The President's Plan to Slash Taxes Mar 12, 2019

    Sound familiar? President Calvin Coolidge wanted Congress to put aside all its other business and get to work on his proposal to slash income taxes. What was it that Silent Cal wanted Congress to stop doing to work on that tax cut? Investigating corruption in the executive branch.

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    1916: The U.S. Invades Mexico Mar 11, 2019

    In response to a raid on a small New Mexico town by Pancho Villa, President Woodrow Wilson taps Gen. John "Blackjack" Pershing to lead a force across the border to chase the revolutionary leader down. The Punitive Expedition would last until the U.S. entry into World War I the next year.

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    1964: Civil Rights at the Palace Hotel Mar 08, 2019

    After the biggest mass arrests to date in San Francisco history, demonstrators who had shut down the Palace Hotel were victorious: The city's hotels had agreed to fair hiring practices. As the triumphant protesters carried their leader on their shoulders, she shouted, "We got everything we asked for!" Her name was Tracy Sims. She was 18 years old.

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    1956: Gum Machines: Devil's Spawn Mar 07, 2019

    Eldon C. Middleton of King Street, Redwood City, has a clear idea of what lies "at the very foundations of wickedness which are threatening to engulf us all." Gumball machines. And he's letting the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors know the awful truth. Today, gumball machines. Tomorrow? "Pinball machines, slot machines, canasta and even Scrabble."

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    1913: A Monkey Cage for the Veep Mar 06, 2019

    Vice President Thomas Marshall doesn't think much of his new office. History doesn't think much of his tenure as V.P. — neither did the president Marshall served, Woodrow Wilson. But Marshall did leave us with a memorable phrase: "What this country needs is a good 5-cent cigar." Plus: Famous lawyer Clarence Darrow was in court. That certainly wasn't unusual but this was: It was Darrow himself who was on trial!

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    1896: Do You Poop Out at Parties? Mar 05, 2019

    An ad says the cure for "womb trouble" and all sorts of other female maladies is Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound, Blood Purifier and Sensitive Wash, a version of which you can still buy at your local drug store. Plus: The climax of the Italo-Ethiopian War, and Spanish university students burn American flags.

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    1922: The Whiskey Heist Heroine Mar 04, 2019

    At the height of Prohibition, 100 cases of rare whiskey are stolen from a Menlo Park mansion in a daring robbery. The bandits, who tippled as they stole, didn't hurt anyone, thanks to the quick thinking of the family's nanny — also a noted "aviatrix."

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    1905: "I Am Poisoned!" Mar 01, 2019

    Jane Lathrop Stanford, co-founder of the university, survives a poisoning attempt at her palatial home in San Francisco. Devastated, she sails to Hawaii, vowing never to return to her house. She doesn't. A second poisoning kills her—a murder that Stanford's president covers up.

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    Bonus Episode: Marshall Kilduff Feb 28, 2019

    The reporter who exposed the abuses of Jim Jones and the People's Temple in 1977 talks about covering the murder of former temple members Al and Jeannie Mills for the San Francisco Chronicle in 1980.

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    1980: A Murder in Berkeley Feb 28, 2019

    Al and Jeannie Mills are found dead in their home. They had been members of Jim Jones' People's Temple before leaving and becoming fierce critics. Fifteen months after the Jonestown Massacre, had surviving cultists carried out the killing on an order given by Jones before he died?

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    1919/1969: The More Things Change Feb 27, 2019

    A hundred years ago, an education official says wealth inequity is the greatest threat to equal education. Fifty years ago, violent right-wing groups are making surprising appearances in the Bay Area.

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    1933: "Alfalfa Bill" Murray Empties the Jails Feb 26, 2019

    Imagine the surprise for the prosecutor when he looked out at the law class he was teaching and saw the face of the man he'd just put away for murder. Why was Oklahoma's controversial governor freeing so many prisoners?

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    1942: The Battle of Los Angeles Feb 25, 2019

    Weeks after Pearl Harbor—and one night after a minor attack on a Santa Barbara oil field by a Japanese submarine—Los Angeles is thrown into a panic by reports of an air raid on the city. There's no raid, but five people die, and calls for Japanese internment intensify.

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    Coming Soon: Not Your Century Jan 28, 2019

    Not Your Century launches February 25 from the San Francisco Chronicle, celebrating the news—and the news media—of years gone by.

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