This Day (An America 250 History Show)

For the forty-first installment of "50 Weeks That Shaped America" we talk about Al Gore's life and legacy. We use it as a chance to talk about the fateful 2000 election, plus his advocacy for climate change issues. This episode, Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss Gore's upbringing, how his political path reflected the larger politics of the 80s and 90s, and how he found himself in the middle of the most controversial election of our lifetimes.

Join our America250newsletter community! Subscribe for free to get the latest news and analysis of how America250 is playing out. Paying subscribers get access to early, ad-free versions of the show. Plus bonus features throughout the year. To supportour work and get access to everything, subscribe now.

This Day 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:http://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; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Audrey Mardavich is our Executive Producer at Radiotopia.

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To cap off our collaboration with the Charles F. Kettering Foundation, the This Day team went to Washington, DC, for a live conversation at the Howard Theatre about whether the next big realignment in American democracy is on the horizon -- and what history can teach us about the path forward. We were joined by Alex Lovit, host of Kettering’s podcast The Context, and Reverend Dr.William J. Barber II—bishop, author, founder of the Poor People's Campaign and the Moral Mondays movement, and Kettering Foundation senior fellow. Thanks to everyone who joined us in DC, and thanks to Kettering for being our partners over the last month!

You can find out more about Kettering athttp://kettering.org and listen to their podcast “The Context” athttp://kettering.org/thecontext

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Our conversation about Ross Perot continues with a look at his drop -- and re-entry -- into the 1992 presidential race, including those iconic infomercials. Plus, how his mix of personal wealth, folksy wisdom, and economic populism set a template for modern politics and politicians.

Join our America250newsletter community! Subscribe for free to get the latest news and analysis of how America250 is playing out. Paying subscribers get access to early, ad-free versions of the show. Plus bonus features throughout the year. To supportour work and get access to everything, subscribe now.

This Day 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:http://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; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Audrey Mardavich is our Executive Producer at Radiotopia.

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

For the fortieth installment of “50 Weeks That Shaped America” we go to 1992, when Texas billionaire Ross Perot crashed the presidential election contest. We talk about how Perot got his money, why he jumped into politics — and why a short Texan with big ears, a folksy charm, and lots of charts managed to captivate the nation.

Join our America250newsletter community! Subscribe for free to get the latest news and analysis of how America250 is playing out. Paying subscribers get access to early, ad-free versions of the show. Plus bonus features throughout the year. To supportour work and get access to everything, subscribe now.

This Day 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:http://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; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Audrey Mardavich is our Executive Producer at Radiotopia.

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

This past week we looked at the voyage of Lewis & Clark's Corps of Discovery. Today, we re-run an episode from last fall about how the story of the journey remained in relative obscurity, only to be reframed about 100 years later as ideas about the American West began to shift.

Join our America250newsletter community! Subscribe for free to get the latest news and analysis of how America250 is playing out. Paying subscribers get access to early, ad-free versions of the show. Plus bonus features throughout the year. To supportour work and get access to everything, subscribe now.

This Day 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:http://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; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Audrey Mardavich is our Executive Producer at Radiotopia.

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

Our conversation about the Lewis & Clark expedition continues with a look at Sacagawea's role on the journey, the Native American encounters throughout the journey -- and Lewis's tragic life after returning from the frontier.

Join our America250newsletter community! Subscribe for free to get the latest news and analysis of how America250 is playing out. Paying subscribers get access to early, ad-free versions of the show. Plus bonus features throughout the year. To supportour work and get access to everything, subscribe now.

This Day 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:http://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; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Audrey Mardavich is our Executive Producer at Radiotopia.

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

For the thirty-ninth installment of “50 Weeks That Shaped America” we go to the spring of 1804, when Meriwether Lewis and William Clark are tapped by Thomas Jefferson to lead an expedition into the northwest territories to map a route to the Pacific Ocean. We discuss why the Louisiana Purchase made mapping this territory a priority, how the two put together their group, and how hard the journey was, despite having a very cute canine companion.

Join our America250newsletter community! Subscribe for free to get the latest news and analysis of how America250 is playing out. Paying subscribers get access to early, ad-free versions of the show. Plus bonus features throughout the year. To supportour work and get access to everything, subscribe now.

This Day 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:http://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; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Audrey Mardavich is our Executive Producer at Radiotopia.

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

This past week we talked about the life of John Brown, and his attempted raid on Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. Here's an episode from the archives about his death and martyrdom. We'll be back on Tuesday with a brand new episode in our "50 Weeks That Shaped America" series!

Join our America250 newsletter community! Subscribe for free to get the latest news and analysis of how America250 is playing out. Paying subscribers get access to early, ad-free versions of the show. Plus bonus features throughout the year. To support our work and get access to everything, subscribe now.

This Day 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: http://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; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Audrey Mardavich is our Executive Producer at Radiotopia.

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

Our conversation about John Brown continues with a look at how he raised the funds and put together the group that would mount a raid on Harpers Ferry -- and a look at why the raid went so wrong, so fast. Plus, how Brown's legend grew from the moment he was captured, and how his place within a larger abolitionist movement changes our understanding of him.

Join our America250newsletter community! Subscribe for free to get the latest news and analysis of how America250 is playing out. Paying subscribers get access to early, ad-free versions of the show. Plus bonus features throughout the year. To supportour work and get access to everything, subscribe now.

This Day 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:http://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; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Audrey Mardavich is our Executive Producer at Radiotopia.

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

For the thirty-eighth installment of “50 Weeks That Shaped America” we go to October of 1859, and abolitionist John Brown's raid on the munitions depot in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. First, we trace Brown's upbringing and anti-slavery activism -- and try to place him in the larger context of the abolitionist movement throughout the country.

Join our America250newsletter community! Subscribe for free to get the latest news and analysis of how America250 is playing out. Paying subscribers get access to early, ad-free versions of the show. Plus bonus features throughout the year. To supportour work and get access to everything, subscribe now.

This Day 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:http://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; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Audrey Mardavich is our Executive Producer at Radiotopia.

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

Today we present a show we think you'll love: "The Speaker" from KQED Radio.

Before her historic Speakership, even before she got to the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi worked for years outside the spotlight as an official in the California Democratic party while she raised her family in San Francisco. That was until 1987, when tragic circumstances led her to do something she hadn’t considered before: run for Congress. Her first hurdle? A city in crisis and a motivated opponent from a community impacted by a deadly epidemic.

Be sure to check out The Speaker wherever you get your podcasts.

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Our conversation about FDR and polio continues with a look at how his public image obscured the fact that he was in a wheelchair -- while the story of his battle with polio also him serve as a champion of the downtrodden. Plus: Will we ever see an "openly" disabled president in our lifetime?

Join our America250newsletter community! Subscribe for free to get the latest news and analysis of how America250 is playing out. Paying subscribers get access to early, ad-free versions of the show. Plus bonus features throughout the year. To supportour work and get access to everything, subscribe now.

This Day 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:http://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; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Audrey Mardavich is our Executive Producer at Radiotopia.

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

For the thirty-seventh installment of “50 Weeks That Shaped America” we go to the 1920s and the moment Franklin Delano Roosevelt contracted polio. We look at how the disease terrified the American public, how FDR contracted it, and how it shaped his public and private life throughout his three terms as president.

Join our America250newsletter community! Subscribe for free to get the latest news and analysis of how America250 is playing out. Paying subscribers get access to early, ad-free versions of the show. Plus bonus features throughout the year. To supportour work and get access to everything, subscribe now.

This Day 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:http://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; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Audrey Mardavich is our Executive Producer at Radiotopia.

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

Every Sunday during our month-long collaboration with the Charles F. Kettering Foundation, Jody Avirgan chats with Alex Lovit, host of the Kettering podcast "The Context."

The story of Citizens United continues with a look at the state of money in our current elections. Jody and Alex discuss the staggering amounts of dark money guiding our elections, and some of the efforts to reform. Plus, reflections on our month-long partnership as it draws to a close.

Join our America250newsletter community! Subscribe for free to get the latest news and analysis of how America250 is playing out. Paying subscribers get access to early, ad-free versions of the show. Plus bonus features throughout the year. To supportour work and get access to everything, subscribe now.

This Day 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:http://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; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Audrey Mardavich is our Executive Producer at Radiotopia.

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

All this month, we're partnering with the Charles F. Kettering Foundation for a series called "Democracy Under Construction." You can find out more about their work athttp://kettering.org/ and listen to their podcast "The Context" athttp://kettering.org/thecontext

The Citizens United story continues with the case itself — a 90-minute anti-Hillary documentary that became the pretext for one of the most sweeping rulings in Supreme Court history. Celina Stewart is back to dig into the corporate speech argument, the Stevens dissent, and what the majority got wrong about transparency and an informed public. Plus: with $14 billion flooding the 2024 election cycle, and more on the way this year, we discuss what American citizens, and organizations like the League of Women Voters can actually do to push back.

Be sure to check out the League of Women Voters athttp://lwv.org/ and their voter information resource athttp://vote411.org/.

Join our America250newsletter community! Subscribe for free to get the latest news and analysis of how America250 is playing out. Paying subscribers get access to early, ad-free versions of the show. Plus bonus features throughout the year. To supportour work and get access to everything, subscribe now.

This Day 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:http://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; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Audrey Mardavich is our Executive Producer at Radiotopia.

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

All this month, we're partnering with the Charles F. Kettering Foundation for a series called "Democracy Under Construction." You can find out more about their work athttp://kettering.org/ and listen to their podcast "The Context" athttp://kettering.org/thecontext

For the thirty-sixth installment of "50 Weeks That Shaped America" we go to 2010 and the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision — which enshrined corporate spending as protected speech and unleashed a new era of dark money in American politics. Jody, Niki, and Kellie are joined by Celina Stewart, CEO of the League of Women Voters, to trace how we got here: from the Tillman Act of 1907 through Watergate, the FEC, McCain-Feingold, and the long effort to keep corporate money out of elections. How much of the problem predates Citizens United, and how much did that ruling change everything?

Be sure to check out the League of Women Voters athttp://lwv.org/ and their voter information resource athttp://vote411.org/.

Join our America250newsletter community! Subscribe for free to get the latest news and analysis of how America250 is playing out. Paying subscribers get access to early, ad-free versions of the show. Plus bonus features throughout the year. To supportour work and get access to everything, subscribe now.

This Day 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:http://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; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Audrey Mardavich is our Executive Producer at Radiotopia.

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

Every Sunday during our month-long collaboration with the Charles F. Kettering Foundation, Jody Avirgan chats with Alex Lovit, host of the Kettering podcast "The Context."

Today, they follow up on the conversation about the Southern realignment in the 1960s, as White voters shifted to the Republican party -- and the party embraced a strategy to woo them. Jody and Alex discuss the mix of cultural and racial issues that lead to voting patterns, and how the story of realignment isn't as simple as a North-South thing.

Be sure to check out “The Context” athttp://kettering.org/thecontext

Join our America250 newsletter community! Subscribe for free to get the latest news and analysis of how America250 is playing out. Paying subscribers get access to early, ad-free versions of the show. Plus bonus features throughout the year. To support our work and get access to everything, subscribe now.

This Day 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: http://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; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Audrey Mardavich is our Executive Producer at Radiotopia.

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

All this month, we're partnering with the Charles F. Kettering Foundation for a series called "Democracy Under Construction." You can find out more about their work athttp://kettering.org/ and listen to their podcast "The Context" athttp://kettering.org/thecontext

The story of Southern realignment continues with the Southern Strategy itself -- how Nixon looked at the 1964 and 1968 electoral maps and saw an opening, how coded language replaced overt racism, and how a regional story became a national one. Plus, how it all connects to the counter-majoritarian movements of today, and the current debate over who gets to be included in American democracy.

Be sure to check out Eric's documentary "White with Fear" on PBS.

Join our America250newsletter community! Subscribe for free to get the latest news and analysis of how America250 is playing out. Paying subscribers get access to early, ad-free versions of the show. Plus bonus features throughout the year. To supportour work and get access to everything, subscribe now.

This Day 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:http://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; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Audrey Mardavich is our Executive Producer at Radiotopia.

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

All this month, we're partnering with the Charles F. Kettering Foundation for a series called "Democracy Under Construction." You can find out more about their work athttp://kettering.org/ and listen to their podcast "The Context" athttp://kettering.org/thecontext

For the thirty-fifth installment of "50 Weeks That Shaped America" we go to 1964, and a moment when the two major parties in this country, in a sense, switched. Jody, Niki, and Kellie are joined by Eric K. Ward, Executive Vice President of Race Forward, to trace the story from Jim Crow through the New Deal and into the Civil Rights Act -- and to understand why the Democratic coalition that produced it was always too contradictory to survive. How did Black voters move from Lincoln's party to LBJ's? And what did white Southerners do when their party started to leave them behind?

Be sure to check out Eric's documentary "White with Fear" on PBS.

Join our America250newsletter community! Subscribe for free to get the latest news and analysis of how America250 is playing out. Paying subscribers get access to early, ad-free versions of the show. Plus bonus features throughout the year. To supportour work and get access to everything, subscribe now.

This Day 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:http://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; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Audrey Mardavich is our Executive Producer at Radiotopia.

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

Every Sunday during our month-long collaboration with the Charles F. Kettering Foundation, Jody Avirgan chats with Alex Lovit, host of the Kettering podcast "The Context."

Today, they follow up on the conversation about Seneca Falls by looking at how the movement for women's rights fractured after the Civil War -- and what it says about the long, winding road to progress.

Be sure to check out “The Context” athttp://kettering.org/thecontext

Join our America250 newsletter community! Subscribe for free to get the latest news and analysis of how America250 is playing out. Paying subscribers get access to early, ad-free versions of the show. Plus bonus features throughout the year. To support our work and get access to everything, subscribe now.

This Day 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: http://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; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Audrey Mardavich is our Executive Producer at Radiotopia.

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