This Day (An America 250 History Show)

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The Penny Is Dead [Some Sunday Context] Nov 16, 2025

Show notes

Welcome to our Sunday Context series, where we try and bring you new conversations and episodes from the archives to give a little context for the news of the day. Today, a look at the very first one-cent coins, as the US minted the very last new penny.

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It’s April 20th. This day in 1787, Congress authorized the production of the country’s first coin.

Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss the “Fugio cent,” designed — some say over-designed — by Ben Franklin, and what it meant for a new country to have a proper coin.

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Sesame Street Premieres (1969) Nov 13, 2025

Show notes

We continue with part two of our look at the birth of Sesame Street. Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss the show's premier, how it was received -- and what the program has meant to them over the years.

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Find out more about the show 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. 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

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The Birth of Sesame Street (1969) Nov 11, 2025

Show notes

It's November 11th. This day in 1969, a new show for children is on the airwaves -- Sesame Street.

Jody, Niki, and Kellie dive into a two-part look at the birth of this new show, from the big ideas about television and children's psychology, to the set design and use of puppets.

https://thisdaypod.substack.com/

Find out more about the show 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. 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

Utah's Revolutionary Senator (1868) Nov 06, 2025

Show notes

It's November 6th. This day in 1868, Martha Hughes Cannon becomes the first female state senator in US history, when she beats her husband in a Utah election.

Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss Cannon's career as a doctor, her move into women's rights and then politics -- and how the question of polygamy hovered over the entire political landscape of Utah in that era.

https://thisdaypod.substack.com/

Find out more about the show 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. 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

The Sewer Socialist Mayor (1916) Nov 04, 2025

Show notes

It's Election Day in many parts of the country, including in New York City, which may elect a Democratic Socialist mayor. 100 years ago, many cities in the US had socialist mayors, who came to be known as "sewer socialists" for their relentless focus on city services.

Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss Milwaukee's history of electing socialist mayors, how they found a foothold in day-to-day issues -- and what Zohran Mamdani's rise says about the revival of this brand of socialism.

https://thisdaypod.substack.com/

Find out more about the show 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. 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

Japanese Cars, Made In America (1982) Oct 30, 2025

Show notes

It's October 30th. This day (technically November 2nd) in 1982, a Honda Accord rolls off the assembly line at a new plant in Marysville, Ohio -- the first Japanese car made by American workers.

Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss the rise of Japanese auto manufacturing throuhgout the 1970s, the arguments over protectionism and American manufacturing that arose as a result -- and the compomise during the Reagan era to have the automakers build plants in the United States.

https://thisdaypod.substack.com/

Find out more about the show 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. 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

Dizzy Gillespie For President (1964) Oct 28, 2025

Show notes

It's October 28th. This day in 1964, the presidential election is in the home stretch, with candidates like Lyndon B Johnson, Barry Goldwater -- and Dizzy Gillespie?

Jody, NIki, and Kellie discuss the only-half-joking candidacy of the legendary jazz trumpeter, and the intersection of entertainment and politics in that era. Plus: the power of great merch.

https://thisdaypod.substack.com/

Find out more about the show 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. 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

The Memory Palace: This Weekend's Teach-In Oct 24, 2025

Show notes

This Sunday, we are convening a teach-in in Washington DC with our friend Nate DiMeo of The Memory Palace. Here is Nate's latest episode, where he discusses the path to this event and the need to defend the work of history and museums.

Find out more information about the teach in here.

https://thisdaypod.substack.com/

Find out more about the show 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. 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

The (Actual) Tree Of Liberty Oct 23, 2025

Show notes

It's October 22nd. This day in 1999, in Annapolis, MD, the last of the so-called "Liberty Trees" was cut down.

Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss the original liberty trees that served as gathering spots for political ideas to be shared -- and political violence to play out -- during the American revolution. And they make the case for bringing back gatherings-under-trees as a political act.

https://thisdaypod.substack.com/

Find out more about the show 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. 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

A Toxic Town Fights Back (1982) Oct 21, 2025

Show notes

It's October 21st. This day in 1982, residents of Warren County, NC are fighting back against plans to dump tons of PCB-laden dirt in their local landfill.

Jody, NIki, and Kellie discuss how Warren County came to be a target of this environmental disaster, how residents banded together, and the legacy of "environmental racism."

https://thisdaypod.substack.com/

Find out more about the show 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. 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

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