Want to see the “Big List of Ideas” document we use to plan the show? Become a Radiotopia member today, let us know, and we’ll give you a glimpse behind the scenes.

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It’s June 20th. This day in 1986, news of the death of basketball star Len Bias is starting to spread around the country. Bias died of a cocaine overdose just days after being drafted by the Boston Celtics.

Jody, NIki, and Kellie are joined by director and producer Adam McKay (The Big Short, Anchorman) to talk about how Bias’s death fueled a narrative about the dangers of cocaine and crack. Later that summer, politicians would rush through punitive drug laws that created mandatory minimum sentences and huge disparities between how crack and powder cocaine were treated.

Adam recently hosted a podcast series “Death at the Wing” which features an episode on Len Bias. Jody served as executive producer. Listen to it wherever you get your podcasts! https://www.threeuncannyfour.com/show/death-at-the-wing/

Find a transcript of this episode at: https://tinyurl.com/esoterichistory

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

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

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

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

Want to see the “Big List of Ideas” document we use to plan the show? Become a Radiotopia member today, let us know, and we’ll give you a glimpse behind the scenes.

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

Donate today at https://on.prx.org/3wl9pWn

It’s June 17th. This day in 1991, authorities in Louisville, KY dug up the body of former president Zachary Taylor, who had died in 1850. They were trying to put to rest a rumor that Taylor had been poisoned.

Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss why one woman’s theory that Taylor was killed was able to convince everyone to go forward with the exhumation, the gruesome details of Taylor’s death, and what the body revealed when it was dug up 140 years later.

Find a transcript of this episode at: https://tinyurl.com/esoterichistory

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

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

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

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

Want to see the “Big List of Ideas” document we use to plan the show? Become a Radiotopia member today, let us know, and we’ll give you a glimpse behind the scenes.

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

Donate today at https://on.prx.org/3wl9pWn

It’s June 15th. This day in 1970, Russian television reporter Valentin Zorin aired an episode of his series “Masters Without Masks.” For decades, Zorin was the primary source by which Russians understood what life in America was like.

Jody, Niki, and Kellie are joined by historian Jill Lepore to discuss Zorin’s influence and his mix of truth-telling and propaganda — and whether there are any voices like his today.

Zorin’s story is the subject of an episode in the latest season of Jill Lepore’s excellent podcast “The Last Archive.” Check it out here: http://podcasts.pushkin.fm/thisday

Find a transcript of this episode at: https://tinyurl.com/esoterichistory

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

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

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

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

Want to see the “Big List of Ideas” document we use to plan the show? Become a Radiotopia member today, let us know, and we’ll give you a glimpse behind the scenes.

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

Donate today at https://on.prx.org/3wl9pWn

It’s June 13th. This day (actually June 14th) in 2017, a shooter opened fire on a GOP practice for the annual congressional charity baseball game.

Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss the incident, carried out by a left-wing activist, how it quickly became politicized, and how the conversation about this recent era of violence reflects our deeply tribal politics and culture.

Find a transcript of this episode at: https://tinyurl.com/esoterichistory

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

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

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

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

Want to see the “Big List of Ideas” document we use to plan the show? Become a Radiotopia member today, let us know, and we’ll give you a glimpse behind the scenes.

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

Donate today at https://on.prx.org/3wl9pWn

It’s June 10th. This day in 1845, at the funeral of Andrew Jackson, his parrot “Poll” had to be removed from the room for excessive swearing.

Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss Poll’s uncouth behavior, what kinds of swear words may have been uttered, and the history of other notable presidential pets.

Find a transcript of this episode at: https://tinyurl.com/esoterichistory

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

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

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

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

Want to see the “Big List of Ideas” document we use to plan the show? Become a Radiotopia member today, let us know, and we’ll give you a glimpse behind the scenes.

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

Donate today at https://on.prx.org/3wl9pWn

It’s June 8th. This day in 1866, a series of raids by Irish-Americans is taking place, starting in Vermont and headed across the border to attack British outposts in southern Canada.

Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss the “Fenian raids,” and the efforts to destabilize the British empire in the middle of the US Civil War. Was there actually a chance of establishing a sovereign Irish republic in America?

Find a transcript of this episode at: https://tinyurl.com/esoterichistory

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

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

Want to see the “Big List of Ideas” document we use to plan the show? Become a Radiotopia member today, let us know, and we’ll give you a glimpse behind the scenes.

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

Donate today at https://on.prx.org/3wl9pWn

It’s June 6th. This day in 1994 (June 4th, in fact) disgraced former National Security Council advisor Oliver North wins the GOP primary for the Virginia Senate race. He would go on to lose in an extremely close election.

Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss North’s second act, how the 1994 campaign was an extremely modern and ugly affair, and how there are indeed second acts in American life.

Find a transcript of this episode at: https://tinyurl.com/esoterichistory

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

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

It’s the Radiotopia Spring Fundraiser! Your support helps foster independent, artist-owned podcasts and award-winning stories.

Donate today at https://on.prx.org/3wl9pWn

It’s June 3rd. This day in 1943 marked the start of the “Zoot Suit Riots,” a series of skirmishes and attacks in Los Angeles targeting Mexican-Americans, who were often identified by their flashy ensembles.

Jody, Niki and Kellie are joined by Emily Spivack of “Worn Stories” to discuss the causes of the riots, how the zoot suit became a political symbol, and whether super-baggy clothes are on their way back.

Check out Emily’s “Worn Stories” book and the new series on Netflix!

Find a transcript of this episode at: https://tinyurl.com/esoterichistory

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

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

It’s the Radiotopia Spring Fundraiser! Your support helps foster independent, artist-owned podcasts and award-winning stories.

Donate today at https://on.prx.org/3wl9pWn

It’s June 1st. This day in 1863, Harriet Tubman led Union soldiers on a nighttime to free some 700 enslaved people in South Carolina.

Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss the Combahee River Raid, where it fits into Harriet Tubman’s long and varied life, and whether Tubman’s legacy has become flattened and distorted.

It’s the Radiotopia Spring Fundraiser! Your support helps foster independent, artist-owned podcasts and award-winning stories.

Donate today at https://on.prx.org/3wl9pWn

It’s May 30th. This day in 1921 was the day before a white mob descended on the Greenwood neighborhood of Tulsa, Oklahoma, burning hundreds of buildings to the ground in what was known as “Black Wall Street.”

Jody, Niki, and Kellie are joined by Cord Jefferson, writer for the HBO series “Watchmen,” which opens during the massacre and helped to introduce the story of Tulsa for many viewers. They discuss what Greenwood looked like just before the riots, and how the massacre led to generations of lost wealth for Black Oklahomans.