This Day (An America 250 History Show)

Latest Episodes:

The Woman Who Invented -- And Disowned -- Mother's Day (1914) May 08, 2025

Show notes

Happy Mother's Day! The holiday was invented and popularized in the first decade of the 20th century, often credited to a woman named Anna Jarvis, who had a very interesting relationship with her own mother.

Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss where the idea came from, why Jarvis was so focused on it being about honoring her mother, specifically -- and how she came to regret the commercialization and popularization of the holiday.

Find out more at thisdaypod.com

This Day In Esoteric Political History is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX.

Your support helps foster independent, artist-owned podcasts and award-winning stories.

If you want to support the show directly, you can do so on our website: ThisDayPod.com

Get in touch if you have any ideas for future topics, or just want to say hello. 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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Reagan's German Cemetery Visit Controversy (1985) May 06, 2025

Show notes

It's May 5th. This day in 1985, President Reagan visits a German military cemetery in Bitburg, where a number of SS Soldiers were buried.

Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss why the visit to the cemetery had been a controversial decision for months, why Reagan still went ahead with the visit -- and how the attempt to clean up the mess afterwards didn't go any better.

Find out more at thisdaypod.com

This Day In Esoteric Political History is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX.

Your support helps foster independent, artist-owned podcasts and award-winning stories.

If you want to support the show directly, you can do so on our website: ThisDayPod.com

Get in touch if you have any ideas for future topics, or just want to say hello. 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 Women's Health Vacuum (Some Sunday Context) May 04, 2025

Show notes

The Trump administration is targeting health and scientific research -- often based on whether it includes keywods like "women." This presents the risk that a science vacuum will emerge, which could take years or decades to unwind.

Today, as part of our "Some Sunday Context" series, we go back to a moment when there was a huge dearth of research and information about women's health -- and grassroots efforts to fix it.

In Boston, in 1969, a group of women got together to share information about women’s health, which would eventually lead to writing a 193-page pamphlet, which would eventually lead to the book “Our Bodies, Our Selves.”

Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss why women felt the need to share this basic information about their health, the book’s influence over the generations, and whether it’s still needed today.

Sign up for our newsletter! Find out more at thisdaypod.com

This Day In Esoteric Political History is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX.

Your support helps foster independent, artist-owned podcasts and award-winning stories.

If you want to support the show directly, you can do so on our website: ThisDayPod.com

Get in touch if you have any ideas for future topics, or just want to say hello. Our website is thisdaypod.com Follow us on social @thisdaypod

Our team: Jacob Feldman, Researcher/Producer; Brittani Brown, Producer; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Julie Shapiro and Audrey Mardavich, Executive Producers at Radiotopia

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Lincoln Needs Troops (1861) May 01, 2025

Show notes

It's May 1st. This day in 1861, the Civil War is breaking out and President Lincoln issues a desperate call for more military volunteers.

Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss how Lincoln's appeal galvanized the sides of the conflict, with Northern volunteers feeling called to duy and Southerners framing the battle as "northern agression."

Find out more at thisdaypod.com

This Day In Esoteric Political History is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX.

Your support helps foster independent, artist-owned podcasts and award-winning stories.

If you want to support the show directly, you can do so on our website: ThisDayPod.com

Get in touch if you have any ideas for future topics, or just want to say hello. 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 Artists Who Worked For The CIA (1960) w/ Benjamen Walker Apr 29, 2025

Show notes

[[This is an episode from the This Day archives -- we'll be back with a new conversation real soon!]]

It's May 5th. This day in 1960, a British theater critic named Kenneth Tynan is hauled before a Senate sub-committee to answer questions about what is seen as his anti-American work.

It's a moment that captures the cultural and political swirl of the late 50s, which is the subject of Benjamen Walker's new audio series "Not All Propaganda Is Art," out now as part of the Radiotopia show "Theory of Everything." Check it out!

Find out more at thisdaypod.com

This Day In Esoteric Political History is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX.

Your support helps foster independent, artist-owned podcasts and award-winning stories.

If you want to support the show directly, you can do so on our website: ThisDayPod.com

Get in touch if you have any ideas for future topics, or just want to say hello. 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 First 100 Days (Some Sunday Context) Apr 27, 2025

Show notes

We're reaching the 100 day mark of Donald Trump's second term in office. 100 days has traditionally been a benchmark for assessing how productive and impactful a presidency is.

Today, Jody Niki and Kellie get together for a "Some Sunday Context" conversation to look back at where the idea of "first 100 days" came from, and run through some of the more eventful starts to American presidencies -- from FDR to Lincoln to poor William Henry Harrison.

Then, we discuss what from Trump's first 100 days will be remembered 100 months, and 100 years from now.

If you want to watch this video, visit our YouTube page!

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, want merch, or just want to say hello. Our website is thisdaypod.com Follow us on social @thisdaypod
Our team: Jacob Feldman, Researcher/Producer; Brittani Brown, Producer; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Julie Shapiro and Yooree Losordo, Executive Producers at Radiotopia

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

John Paul Jones' Half-Baked Raid On British Soil (1778) Apr 24, 2025

Show notes

It's April 23rd. This day in 1778, John Paul Jones leads the only American raid on British soil in the Revolutionary War.

Jody, Niki and Kellie discuss Jones's spotty past, and what brought him to the port of Whitehaven, where he launched a scheme to raid the town. It did not go well, but the day wasn't a total failure, as he later stumbled into one of America's great naval victories...

Sign up for our newsletter! Find out more at thisdaypod.com
This Day In Esoteric Political History is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX.
Your support helps foster independent, artist-owned podcasts and award-winning stories.
If you want to support the show directly, you can do so on our website: ThisDayPod.com
Get in touch if you have any ideas for future topics, want merch, or just want to say hello. Our website is thisdaypod.com Follow us on social @thisdaypod
Our team: Jacob Feldman, Researcher/Producer; Brittani Brown, Producer; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Julie Shapiro and Yooree Losordo, Executive Producers at Radiotopia

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Betty Ford Enters Rehab (1978) Apr 22, 2025

Show notes

It's April 22nd. This Day in 1978, former First Lady Betty Ford is in the Long Beach Naval Hospital, being treated for addiction to pain killers and alcohol. Outside, a spokesperson shares the news with the country.

Jody, Niki, and Kellie look at the life of Betty Ford, from dancer to First Lady -- and why it was so significant that she shared her addiction and hospitalization with the American public.

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Prisons, Photos, CECOT, Abu Ghraib, and What Shocks Us (Some Sunday Context) Apr 20, 2025

Show notes

The eyes of the world are on the images coming from a prison in El Salvador. The photos are being used as propoganda for U.S. deportation efforts; and are shocking those who care about abuse and the judicial process. For some, they are reminiscint of the photos that emerged during the Iraq War from the Abu Ghraib prison. Niki shares her thoughts as part of our "Some Sunday Context" series -- and then we return to our episode from 2023 about the Abu Ghraib photos that shocked America.

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The Battles Of Lexington and Concord -- and Menotomy? (1775) Apr 17, 2025

Show notes

It's April 1775. This day in 1775, the Revolutionary War is sparked when British troops enter the towns of Lexington and Concord. But later that same day there's a third battle in a third town that is often forgotten.

Jody, NIki, and Kellie discuss what happened in the town of Menotomy, how the fighting there was much more brutal than in Lexington and Concord -- and why it has been written out of the tidy story of the Revolution.

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