It’s March 21st. On Palm Sunday, 1937, a peaceful march in Ponce. Puerto Rico was attacked by police who shot and killed 19 Puerto Ricans, including a seven year old girl and wounded over 200 others.

Jody, Niki, and Kellie are joined by Alana Casanova-Burgess, host of “La Brega,” to discuss the incident and its place in Puerto Rican independence efforts — and crackdowns by U.S. government.

Find Alana’s podcast “La Brega” wherever you get your podcasts.

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 March 18th. This day in 2005, a feeding tube was removed from Terri Schiavo for the final time. She would die later that month.

Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss why Schiavo case became such a media sensation and political cause.

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 March 16th. This day in 1988, President Reagan ordered 3000 US troops to Honduras, along the border with Nicaragua.

Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss the decision in the context of the larger Iran-Contra scandal — this move took place the very same day that two key Reagan officials were indicted.

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 March 14th. This day in 1783, George Washington gave an address to his troops camped in Newburgh, NY, that averted a possible coup attempt.

Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss why Washington’s troops were upset in the last year of the war, whether the “coup” plot was legit, and how much to believe the story that it was the sheer power of Washington’s words that averted catastrophe.

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 March 11th. This day in 1861, the Confederate States of America ratifies its own constitution. It’s largely based on the United States constitution, but with some key changes.

Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss what values were expressed in the constitutional do-over, and why the similarities between the two documents might mean more than the differences.

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 March 9th. On this day in 1993, Dr. David Gunn was murdered outside the women’s clinic at which he worked by an anti-abortion protester.

Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss the incident and how it marked a turn towards a more violent, with-us-or-against-us, chapter in the abortion debate.

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 March 7th. On this day in 1854, vandals broke into the construction site at the Washington Monument, made off with the “Pope’s Stone,” and threw it in the Potomac River.

Jody, NIki, and Kellie discuss the incident, why it was part of rising anti-Catholic sentiment in the United States, and the very rocky construction of the Washington Monument.

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 March 4th. This day in 1855, a British sanitary commission arrived in Istanbul to inspect a field hospital where soldiers were dying at alarming rates. Among the nurses treating the soldiers was Florence Nightingale, who would go on to make one of the most famous data analysis of the conditions at the hospital.

Jody, Niki, and Kellie are joined by writer Tim Harford to discuss Nightingales findings and how they influenced the world of data visualization — plus the perils of compelling graphics.

Tim’s podcast “Cautionary Tales” has a new season out now, which features the story of Nightingale. His newest book is “The Data Detective.”

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 March 2nd. This day, in 1971, the leftist group The Weather Underground carries out a bombing at the US Capitol.

Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss the bombing, and the rise of more violent direct action coming out of the late 1960s protest movements.

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 February 28th. This day in 1859 (February 27th, actually) a New York representative named Daniel Sickles shot and killed Phillip Barton Key, the son of Francis Scott Key, in a dispute over an affair that Key was reportedly having with Sickles’s wife.

Jody, Niki, Kellie and special guest Wright Thompson discuss the shooting in broad daylight, and the many twists and turns of Daniel Sickles’s life.

Wright’s latest book is “Pappyland,” his TV show is TrueSouth, and his podcast series is called “Bloodlines.” Check out all his work!

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