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Aural History Productions
The Radio Archive ~ January-June 2014
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June 24, 2014
Segment 1 | "Hindsight: 'Eichmann on Trial' and 'The Man in the Glass Box'" (2014).
From ABC/RN's Hindsight: "Part 1 ~ Adolf Eichmann was responsible for sending millions of people to the Nazi death camps during World War Two. After the end of the war he escaped to Argentina, but in 1960 he was snatched by the Mossad, Israel's intelligence service, and brought to Jerusalem to stand trial.
In this programme the award-winning British journalist Gavin Esler travels to Israel to meet those involved in Eichmann's dramatic and controversial capture and trial.
The kidnapping violated Argentina's sovereignty and was condemned by the UN. Questions were raised about whether it was appropriate to try Eichmann in Israel, and international Jewish leaders feared an anti-Semitic backlash.
David Ben-Gurion, Israel's Prime Minister, insisted that the Jewish state was the only heir of the six million murdered and that the trial would fulfil a historic duty. Ultimately, it forced the young country to confront its history in a way that had profound consequences.
Gavin meets Rafi Eitan, who led the Mossad team and who recalls his acute sense of being involved in something momentous. Gabriel Bach, the deputy prosecutor, explains that Eichmann's defence; that 'he was only following orders' was laughable. In fact he disobeyed orders to carry out his extermination ambitions. Michael Goldman Gilad, who survived Auschwitz, became a policeman and witnessed Eichmann's execution. He remembers being forced to spread ash from the Birkenau crematorium onto the icy ground so SS officers wouldn't slip. Only when he saw the tiny pile of ash after Eichmann's cremation did he realise how many bodies must have made up the ash mound in the camp.
This program is a Whistledown production." PART 2 ~ Jeffrey Shandler, author of While America Watches, analyzes the impact of the televising of the Eichmann Trial.
Segment 2 | From the Archives: Hermann Goering at Nuremberg, March 18, 1946.
We present here some excerpts from the cross examination of Hermann Goering on March 18, 1946 by chief American Prosecutor Robert H. Jackson at the Nuremberg trials. For the film/video version of these excerpts, see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfwujaV7Ia8.For further information on Goering, see: http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007112. For more on the Nuremberg trials, see: http://www.loc.gov/rr/frd/Military_Law/Nuremberg_trials.html.
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June 17, 2014
Segment 1 | "Against the Grain: Backstory: Greg Grandin on Freedom and Slavery" (2014).
From Against the Grain, we bring you this discussion with historian Greg Grandin: "In 1805, a remarkable slave rebellion took place -- not in the Atlantic, but in the Pacific, and involving an unusual ruse. And it illustrates, argues historian Greg Grandin, something fundamental about freedom and unfreedom in the New World. Grandin examines the historical event, immortalized by Herman Melville, in which insurgent slave leaders maintained a striking deception against the odds, but were ultimately repressed by an anti-slavery republican. Greg Grandin is the author of The Empire of Necessity: Slavery, Freedom, and Deception in the New World (Metropolitan Books, 2014).
Segment 2 | From the Archives: "LibriVox reading of William Lloyd Garrison from The Liberator, December 28, 1859." Original document: 1859; reading: 2007).
From LibriVox, here is a selection from a reading of a William Lloyd Garrison sympathetic editorial on John Brown's attack on Harper's Ferry. It appeared in Garrison's paper, The Liberator on October 28, 1859. For the text, see: http://fair-use.org/the-liberator/1859/10/28/the-tragedy-at-harpers-ferry.
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June 10, 2014
Segment 1 | "Backstory: Black Gold ~ An American History of Oil" (2014).
From Backstory and the American History guys, we bring you these stories of oil in American history: "At the beginning of the 20th century, oil was hardly on America's energy map. Coal was king, supplying as much as 90% of the nation's energy needs. And the second most used energy source? Wood. But in just a few short decades Americans would come to depend on oil to heat their homes, get to work, power their military, and supply the plastics for their appliances. By the dawn of the 21st century, President George W. Bush would declare America "addicted" to the substance. So in this episode, the BackStory guys and their guests look to the roots of that addiction, and explore how oil has shaped the American lifestyle and economy over time.
Guests include:
H.W. Brands, University of Texas--Austin, on John D. Rockefeller, the Standard Oil trust, and the contradictory capitalism of the Gilded Age;
Kathryn Morse, Middlebury College, on the beauty some observers discerned in the first oil 'gushers';
Matt Huber, Syracuse University, on the 1930s oil boom in the American southwest, and the military might brought in to control it; Rochelle Zuck, University of Minnesota--Duluth, on the emergence of Spiritualist fervor in the Pennsylvania oil fields of the 1860s; and
Andrew Scott Cooper, author of The Oil Kings, on the oil shocks of 1973 and how they continue to shape the world we live in today.
Segment 2 | From the Archives: "Franklin D. Roosevelt's Fireside Chat on the 1943 Coal Strike" (1943).
During World War II, John L. Lewis, head of the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA), and one of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's most consistent critics, repeatedly violated the union's "no strike" pledge. The pledge -- one that was also taken by CIO and AFL unions -- came right after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Probably the most egregious violation of that pledge came in 1943 when half a million UMWA mine workers walked off their jobs. "By 1943, the UMWA's agreements with bituminous
coal mine owners had expired, and Lewis demanded a 2-
dollar wage increase to compensate workers for the
time it took them to travel from the entrance of the
mine to the work site, travel time for which they had
not previously received any pay. The matter was referred
to the War Labor Board, but Lewis refused to appear
before the board, and the union went out on strike.
President Roosevelt responded by seizing the coal
mines and attempting to force the UMWA and the
mine owners to come to an agreement. No agreement
was reached however, and Lewis led the miners out on
strike a second time on 11 June 1943, this time against
the federal government, who were at that point running
the mines. Roosevelt responded by threatening to ask
Congress for the ability to draft striking miners. This
temporarily ended the strike, but UMWA walked out
again in October. This time an agreement was reached,
and the coal miners received a wage increase of $1.50." [SOURCE: Encylopedia of U.S. Labor and Working-Class History, Routledge, 2007; p. 1279). Lewis' repeated violation of the "no-strike" pledge outraging public opinion and ultimately contributed to the passage of the Smith-Connaly Act, which restricted the ability of war industry workers to strike.
Right after the US. government took control of the mines in 1943, President Roosevelt went on the air with one of his fireside chats and appealed to mine workers to return to work. Here we present his recorded remarks.
For the published text of FDR's remarks, see: http://millercenter.org/president/speeches/detail/3330.
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June 3, 2014
Segment 1 | "Hindsight: Child of Ardoyne" (Falling Tree Production, 2011 ).
From our friends at ABC's Hindsight we bring you this Falling Tree Production: "Ardoyne, in north Belfast, lies at the heart of 'murder mile', the working class community where there were more deaths per capita than anywhere else in Northern Ireland during thirty years of 'the Troubles' And at the centre of Ardoyne are the Holy Cross primary schools, one for girls and one for boys.
Of the ninety-nine people killed in Ardoyne between 1969 and 1997 by the army or by nationalist or loyalist paramilitaries, two-thirds attended these schools. Children like Philip McTaggart used the burnt-out houses abandoned by Protestant families in 1969 as their playground. Others like Karen McGuigan leapt from their bicycles and ran for cover as gun battles broke out between republicans and the army.
A generation later - and three years after the 1998 Good Friday Agreement - Karen and her daughter Christine, who was then in her last year at primary school, became embroiled in the Holy Cross dispute. This protest by loyalist residents against their Catholic neighbours' route to the school shocked a world that had been lulled into thinking the worst of Northern Ireland's troubles was in the past.
In this 'composed meditation', residents of Ardoyne - Catholic and Protestant, nationalist and loyalist - remember growing up during the conflict and, together with children of today, seek an understanding of the legacy that's been bequeathed to the children of tomorrow."
Segment 2 | From the Archives: "Samuel Becket's Endgame" (selection; 1992 film production audio track).
Here is a short excerpt from the play Endgame by the Irish-born playwright Samuel Becket. The play was originally directed for the stage by Becket; the 1992 film version of the play -- from which this was extracted -- was directed by Robert Bilheimer and starred Bud Thorpe, Rick Cluchey, Teresita Garcia Suro and Alan Mandell. For the video of the production, see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Joj4Akj_rPo. For more information on the play and on Becket, see: http://www.sparknotes.com/drama/endgame/themes.html. For the script, see: http://samuel-beckett.net/endgame.html.
Segment 3 | "With Good Reason: The Doctors of Nazi Germany" (2014).
Here's a segment from With Good Reason from the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities: "In the late 19th century, German medical practices were considered to be the best in the world. But by the start of World War II, German physicians were directly involved in the mass killings of the Holocaust. Theodore Reiff (Christopher Newport University) looks at the subversion of German doctors in the Nazi era." See http://withgoodreasonradio.org/2014/03/the-aftermath-of-nazi-germany/ for more details.
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May 27, 2014
Segment 1 | "Mine Enemy: The Story of German POWs in America" (2014).
Our feature today, from PRX, focuses on an aspect of World War II that few Americans know very much about: the experience of German prisoners of war in the United State. It was produced by Alison Jones and editor Deborah George, and mixed by Ben Shapiro: "When captured German soldiers showed up to work the Camlin family farm in South Carolina, World War II entered the family's life in a direct and intimate way. Suddenly the enemy was there on the farm, planting tobacco, building fences, and even sitting down for meals at the kitchen table.
Some 400,000 captured German soldiers were shipped across the ocean to the U.S. during the war. The POWS went to work on farms and in factories. And in small towns across America, two warring cultures came in close contact. This hour-long special tells the story of a remarkable and under-explored episode in history, through archival sound and through the voices of those who lived it. Residents of Florence, South Carolina share vivid recollections of the Germans' time there. We learn about Camp Hearne, Texas, one of the nation's first and largest German POW camps, where culture bloomed until ardent Nazi factions seized control. And we travel to Germany to hear former German POWs, men in their 80s and 90s, describe the repercussions of their unexpected stays in states such as North Carolina, Colorado, Kansas, Kentucky and Mississippi.
The piece is richly textured, and the tone varies as layers of the story are explored: The arrival of the POWs was a big event in small towns in Texas, South Carolina and elsewhere, and locals were fascinated by the enemy soldiers in their midst. The story takes a surprising turn in Segment C as we learn about secret U. S. efforts to teach German soldiers about democracy. In Segment C, which recounts the end of the war, we also hear about how the POWs are shown films of German concentration camps. Towards the end of that segment, we hear form a former German POW who is now a U.S. citizen. He describes how, decades later, he can't completely forget the Nazi songs of his youth, and shares the disturbing words of one such song. We also hear former POWs describe how their time in America affected their postwar lives."
Segment 2 | From the Archives: "American World War II POW Kurt Vonnegut Recalls the Fire Bombing of Dresden" (1997).
Here is a short selection from a May 26, 1997 symposium at Florida State University focusing on "Bureaucracy and War" at which novelis Kurt Vonnegut spoke about the fire bombing of Dresden in 1945 and his book, Slaughterhous Five, or The Children's Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death (1969). For the full C-Span video recording of the event, see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oyw5vFe4Kcs. For background on Slaughterhouse Five and the context of its composition, see: http://www.nytimes.com/1969/03/31/books/vonnegut-slaughterhouse.html?_r=0; http://www.thenation.com/article/167921/i-was-there-kurt-vonnegut#; and http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/slaughter/context.html.
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May 20, 2014
Segment 1 | "EconTalk: Russ Roberts interviews Stanley Engerman" (2006).
"Stanley Engerman of the University of Rochester talks about slavery throughout world history, the role it played (or didn't play) in the Civil War and the incentives facing slaves and slave owners. This is a wide-ranging, fascinating conversation with the co-author of the classic Time on the Cross (co-authored with Robert Fogel) and [. . . ] Slavery, Emancipation, and Freedom (LSU Press, 2007). Engerman knows as much as anyone alive about the despicable human arrangement called slavery and the vastness and precision of his knowledge is on display in this interview." Originally published on November 21, 2006 at the Library of Economics and Liberty. Used with permission of Liberty Fund, Inc. For a link to the original program, index of the interview, and bibliography, go to: http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2006/11/engerman_on_sla.html.
Segment 2 | From the Archives: "LibriVox reading: Josiah Priest's Biblical Defense of Slavery" [originally published in 1843].
Here is a LibriVox reading of a selection from Josiah Priest's Bible Defense of Slavery; and Origin, Fortunes, and History of the Negro Race ( 5th edition). It originally appeared -- in shorter form -- as Slavery, as it Relates to the Negro, or African Race, published in 1843. Though many of Priest's biographical details remain obscure, this much we know: "Josiah, the subject of this sketch, was born at Unadilla, N. Y., Dec. 9, 1788. He married Eliza Perry at Lansingburgh, N. Y., July 5, 1812. His wife, a native of Lansingburgh, was born June 17, 1789[. . . .] Josiah Priest was never an ordained clergyman, although some of his published works indicate a theological trend. It is a fair inference that Josiah Priest lived for some years after his marriage, in Lansingburgh. He moved to Albany about 1819, as his name first appears in the Albany directory of that year. His first place of residence was in a humble dwelling in the rear of 47 Lydius St., and his vocation that of a coach trimmer. William Pritchard, a stone cutter, occupied the front of the building. After a year or two. Priest moved his place of business to 542 South Market Street, and his occupation was that of a saddler and harness maker with his place of residence at 51 Union Street. Some one has said, that he at one time filled the position of harness maker for the State of New York. However that may be, he did not continue long at this trade. By 1824, he had become plain Josiah Priest and lived at 203 South Pearl St. About this time he entered upon a literary career and wrote and published his various works for many years thereafter. Another of his sons, Francis William Priest, became a physician and lived with his father, in 1840, at 233 North Pearl Street, and in 1841 and 1842 at 352 Lydius Street. Josiah Priest last lived in Albany in Dove Street, near Washington Street. This was in 1844, the year of his last published work and thereafter presumably removed to a small hamlet in Alleghany County, where, as we have seen, he died in 1851." Priest wrote many popular tracts on history and archaeology, but turned to the study of the biblical foundations/justifications of slavery in the 1840s. The work we showcase appeared originally as the following: "Slavery, as it relates to the negro, or African race, examined in the light of circumstances, history and the Holy Scriptures; with an account of the origin of the black man's color, causes of his state of servitude and traces of his character as well in ancient as in modern times; With strictures on abolitionism. Embellished with engravings. Albany: Printed by C. Van Benthuysen and Co. 1843." SOURCES: Proceedings of the American Anituarian Society, 1934 (The entire article on Priest and his publications can be found on line at: www.americanantiquarian.org/proceedings/45647919.pdf). See also De Villo Sloan, "The Crimsoned Hills of Onondaga: Josiah Priest's Hallucinatory Epic," Journal of Popular Culture 36:1 (August 2002): 86-104.
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May 13, 2014
Segment 1 | "Humankind: The Right to Vote" (2014).
From the series Humankind: This program examines "the much-contested right to vote in America: from slaves freed after the Civil War, to women's suffrage, to the civil rights movement, to today's debate over whether voters should be required to show ID at the polls. In The Right to Vote, we hear diverse voices and views, plus archival audio, on the long battle over who is included in our democracy.
When the United States was founded, only white male property-owners could vote in most states. Gradually, the franchise has expanded -- but the debate continues to this day. In this fast-moving documentary by David Freudberg, we trace the fascinating twists and turns of a core American activity, with the nation's leading historian on this topic, Harvard's Alexander Keyssar. We hear the personal story of Univ. of Florida religion professor Gwendolyn Zoharah Simmons, who at age 19, against the wishes of her parents, participated in the 1964 Mississippi Freedom Summer Project for voter registration, when three young civil rights workers were murdered. Also, historian Faye Dudden recounts highlights of the women's suffrage movement.
In addition, long-time Washington Post executive editor Leonard Downie Jr. reviews the scant evidence of voter impersonation (a flashpoint in the controversy over whether voter IDs should be required). Also weighing in on voter IDs are former Secretary of State Colin Powell; Trey Grayson, former Republican Secretary of State of Kentucky; and Myrna Perez of NYU's Brennan Center for Justice. And we listen to the stories of two convicted felons in Florida who are seeking their right to vote."
Segment 2 | From the Archives: "LibriVox reading: The Federalist Papers, No. 54 (orig. 1788).
Federalist No. 54, attributed to James Madison, was part of what came to be known as The Federalist Papers and the extensive debates over the ratification of the U.S. Constitution. Published on February 12, 1788, its subject was the apportionment of representatives in the U.S. House of Representatives -- how to count slaves for the purpose of taxation and representation. For more information on The Federalist Papers, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federalist_Papers. Here we present a reading of a selection from Federalist #54 from LibriVox.
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May 6, 2014
Segment 1 | "Backstory: Stars and Tzars ~ A History of U.S./Russia Relations" (2014).
Backstory and The American History Guys explore the history of Russia-US relations: "Alexis de Tocqueville, the famous commentator on early America, described the United States and Russia as 'two great nations,' each of which might one day 'hold in its hands the destinies of half the world.' In this episode, the BackStory guys take a look at that prediction -- which seemed to anticipate the Cold War -- and explore the relationship between these two great nations over time. From Civil War-era analogies between freeing American slaves and freeing Russian serfs, to early 20th-century debates over women's suffrage, Americans have often looked to Russia as a counterpart, if sometimes a cautionary one.
Guests include:
Rosemary Neering, writer and journalist, on the epic attempt in the 1860s to link the United States and Russia by telegraph; David Foglesong, Rutgers University, on 19th Century Americans' tendency to compare their country to Russia, and the ways it was seen as a 'dark double.'
Julia Mickenberg, University of Texas at Austin, on the ways American suffragettes used developments in revolutionary Russia to aid their cause;
Frank Costigliola , University of Connecticut, on diplomat George F. Kennan -- the father of 'containment' -- and his complex relationship with the Soviet Union;
Peter Carlson, writer; and Sergei Khrushche, Brown University, on a moment of levity during Russian Premier Nikita Khrushchev's 1959 visit to the United States, in an otherwise tense period in US-Russian relations; Vladimir Pozner, former editor of Soviet Life magazine, on promoting the Soviet Union in Cold War America."
Segment 2 | From the Archives: "Truman and The Truman Doctrine (March 12, 1947).
President Harry Truman's March 12, 1947 speech helped define in concrete terms the U.S. Cold War policy of "containment." Truman established the policy -- soon to be referred to as the "Truman Doctrine" -- of political, military, and economic intervention in support of nations under threat of Soviet domination. Intervention in 1947 -- as addressed in this speech -- dealt specifically with assistance to Greece and Turkey. For more information on the Truman Doctrine, see http://history.state.gov/milestones/1945-1952/truman-doctrine. The full text of the speech is available at: http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=81.
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April 29, 2014
Segment 1 | "Againt the Grain: 17th Century Climate Crisis" (2014).
From our friends at Pacifica Radio's Against the Grain we bring you this fascinating discussion of climate change in the 17th century: "The effects of climate change are here and serious, as the latest report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has laid out in stark terms. While it may seem like uncharted waters in the modern era, our ancestors in the 1600s faced a global climate crisis in a century wracked by wars, famines, and social unrest. Historian Geoffrey Parker discusses the lessons of the 17th century, where elites -- with the exception of Tokugawa Japan -- responded to the "Little Ice Age" with wars and scapegoating. Geoffrey Parker is the author of Global Crisis: War, Climate Change and Catastrophe in the 17th Century (Yale U. Press, 2013)."
Segment 2 | From the Archives: "Robinson Crusoe and Alexander Selkirk (Librivox reading; originally published in 1719).
After listening to a reading of a selection from Daniel Defoe's The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe of York, Mariner (1719) -- one of the first English novels -- we explore the real-life story of Alexander Selkirk, a marooned Scottish sailor who spent more than four years as a castaway on an uninhabited island in the South Pacific Ocean. Selkirk was able to survive his years on the island by developing keen survival skills, hunting, and making use of the resources found on the island. His story was widely circulated in England and Northern Europe and -- it is widely believed -- was the inspiration for writer Defoe's fictional Robinson Crusoe. For the full reading, see: https://librivox.org/robinson-crusoe-by-daniel-defoe/. Stories about casstaways were frequent
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April 22, 2014
Segment 1 | "Backstory: The Departed ~ Extinction in America" (2014).
Today is Earth Day, so it's no surprise to find Backstory and the American History Guys focusing on environmental issues: "When did we first realize that species could go extinct? To what extent did earlier extinctions shape the emergence of today's environmentalism? And how have ideas about biological extinction factored into American thinking about human cultures? These are just some of the questions the BackStory Guys and their guests explore in this episode, with stories on our obsession with dinosaurs, the bird that helped birth the conservation movement, the unlikely fish that galvanized a new generation of environmental activists, and much more.
Guests include:
Lee Dugatkin, University of Louisville, on the ways extinction played into an 18th- century debate over American biological inferiority; Jenny Price, Princeton University, on the extinction of the passenger pigeon and the lessons we can draw from its decimation;
Michele Mitchell, NYU, on 19th -century notions of racial extinction -- the claim that newly emancipated African-Americans could not survive in freedom;
Brian Switek, science writer, on American "dinomania," and how ideas about dinosaur extinction have paralleled concerns about threats facing humanity; and
Zygmunt Plater, Boston College, on arguing the "snail darter" case before the Supreme Court, the Endangered Species Act, and the impact of his case."
Segment 2 | From the Archives: "Canticle For Liebowitz" (Radio Play version -- WHA/NPR 1861 text).
Here is the concluding segment of a 15-part full-cast WHA (Wisconsin) and National Public Radio (NPR) 1981 dramatic production of Walter M Miller Jr.'s post-apocalyptic science fiction novel A Canticle For Liebowitz. It was adapted for radio by John Reeves, produced by Karl Schmidt and Marv Nunn, directed by Karl Schmidt, and narrated by Carol Collins -- who narrated many dramatic radio pieces for Wisconsin Public Radio's Madison-based WHA. A Canticle for Leibowitz, first published in 1960 and set in a Catholic monastery in the desert of the Southwestern United States, explores cyclical episodes of near-extinction and resurrection over many centuries.
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April 15, 2014
Segment 1 | "Backstory: Real to Reel ~ The 2014 Oscars Show" (2014).
Repeating last year's visit to the Oscars, Backstory returns again to a discussion of History in Holiwood, looking over this past year's Oscar nominees: "In this episode, BackStory explores how Hollywood takes on history, and the stories they choose to tell. Along with their guests, Ed, Peter, and Brian consider the political context of the original Solomon Northup slave narrative, and examine how certain kinds of narratives – like those dealing with captivity – show up again and again in American storytelling. And with several of this year’s movies looking to recent decades, they ask how factual accuracy weighs up against dramatic imperatives, and whether movies can tell larger truths about history.
Guests include:
Daniel Blake Smith, screenwriter and former University of Kentucky History professor, on adapting history for the silver screen;
Kristina Bross, Purdue University, on captivity narratives in American story-telling – from the colonial settlers held captive by Native Americans, to the modern-day story of Captain Phillips; Mary Mitchell, University of New Orleans, on the use of slave narratives like Solomon Northup’s 12 Years a Slave to aid the Abolitionist cause, and the various audiences at whom they were aimed; Mark King, AIDS activist, on the HIV/AIDS crisis of the 1980s and its representation in the movie Dallas Buyers Club; James Surowiecki, The New Yorker, history of America’s obsession with swindlers, like The Wolf of Wall Street’s Jordan Belfort.
Segment 2 | From the Archives: "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl" (LibriVox reading of original 1861 text).
Here is a LibriiVox reading of an edited selection from Harriet Jacobs' autobiography, originally written under the pseudonym Linda Brent and partially serialized in the New York Tribune. It was one of a half-dozen or so slave narratives written by former female slaves. Jacobs recounts her experiences as a slave in North Carolina and especially documents the sexual exploitation that plagued many enslaved black women. Though the Tribune found Jacobs' account of sexual violence and rape too explicit to run the full text, her narrative was indeed fully published in 1861 in book form. See https://librivox.org/incidents-in-the-life-of-a-slave-girl-by-harriet-jacobs/ for the full audio. The etxt version is available at: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/11030.
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April 8, 2014
Segment 1 | "Backstory: Fair Wages ~ A History of Getting Paid" (2014).
From Backstory and the American History Guys, this week we focus on wages: "This episode of BackStory explores the history of American thinking about wage work. Along with their guests, Ed, Brian, and Peter discuss how slaves in the antebellum period could sometimes be brought into the wage economy, and how convict labor played havoc with wages in the wake of the Civil War. They discover why early 20th century feminists cheered the demise of state minimum wage legislation in the 1920s, and find out how the federal minimum wage came to be, a decade later.
Guests include:
Gregg Kimball, Library of Virginia, on the phenomenon of �hiring out� enslaved persons prior to the Civil War, and how this introduced some slaves to the world of wages;
Karin Shapiro, Duke University, on the convict leasing arrangements of the 1890s that led to labor disputes with free workers, and even sparked a violent conflict in Tennessee;
Dorothy Sue Cobble, Rutgers University, on the 1920s Supreme Court case that won greater equality for working women, but lost them the minimum wage; Risa Goluboff, University of Virginia, on the legal background to the federal minimum wage, established by the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938." Go to http://backstoryradio.org/?p=12536 for more details on this segment and to access a transcript of the program.
Segment 2 | From the Archives: "H. G. Wells' A Modern Utopia" 1905 (reading/selection).
Utopian and Science Fiction writers have often grappled with notions of fair wages and income equality. Here we bring you a selection from a LibriVox reading of Science Fiction writer H. G. Wells' ideas about reconstitutioning the wage system: "H. G. Wells' proposal for social reform was the formation of a world state, a concept that would increasingly preoccupy him throughout the remainder of his life. One of his most ambitious early attempts at portraying a world state was A Modern Utopia (1905). A Modern Utopia was intended as a hybrid between fiction and 'philosophical discussion'. Like most utopists, he has indicated a series of modifications which in his opinion would increase the aggregate of human happiness. Basically, Wells' idea of a perfect world would be if everyone were able to live a happy life. This book is written with an intimate knowledge of former ideal commonwealths and is a conscious attempt to describe a utopia that is not utopian." (Summary from Wikipedia).
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April 1, 2014
Segment 1 | "Against the Grain: French Intellectuals and Maoism" (2011; 2014).
From Against the Grain we bring you this segment focusing on French intellectuals and Maoism: "Womens' liberation, immigrants' and prisoners' rights, gay liberation and queer studies -- they're part of the enduring legacy of the 1960s and '70s. And as Richard Wolin argues, they're partially the inheritance of Maoism in France. Wolin explores the rise of Maoism in that country following the upheavals of 1968 and its impact on the thinking of intellectuals like Sartre and Foucault." Richard Wolin is the author of The Wind From the East: French Intellectuals, the Cultural Revolution, and the Legacy of the 1960s (Princeton U. Press, 2010).
Segment 2 | From the Archives: "Dick Cavett interview of Jean-Luc Godard" (selection, 1980).
Soon after the release of his film, "Every Man For Himself," in 1980, French filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard appeared on the Dick Cavett show, broadcast on WNET in New York City. We bring you the first part of the two- part interview that Cavett conducted on two consecutive shows. For the full video version of the interview, see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjiK5FfbCtE and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBFRZ-PLL-s. For a short biography of Godard, see: http://www.nytimes.com/movies/person/91804/Jean-Luc-Godard/biography.
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March 25, 2014
Segment 1 | "Backstory: On the Money ~ A History of American Currency" (2014).
From Backstory with the American History Guys: "This episode of Backstory unpacks America's relationship with money, exploring the transformations of currency over the centuries. The Guys and their guests discuss the profusion of currencies in the past, considering how Americans decided which ones to trust -- and which were only flashes-in-the-pan. From Continental Dollars at the Founding, to Greenbacks and 'Greybacks' during the Civil War; from the gold and silver crises of the Gilded Age, to the new Federal Reserve notes of the 20th century -- this episode considers the many ways money has shaped, and been shaped by, America's politics, economy, and society.
Guests include: Stephen Mihm, University of Georgia, on why Bitcoin is going against the lessons of history -- which established the dominance of government-backed currency; Benjamin Irvin, University of Arizona, on the design of Continental currency, and how it sought to inspire confidence in the new United States; Ben Tarnoff, author, on counterfeiting the 'Greyback' during the Civil War, and the ways this undermined the Confederate war effort;
and Michael O'Malley, George Mason University, on the connections critics of Reconstruction drew between fiat currency on the one hand, and emancipation on the other.
Segment 2 | From the Archives: "William Jennings Bryan 1896 Campiagn Song: No Crown of Thorns, No Cross of Gold" (Song by H. D. Pittman, 1896; sung by Peter Janovsky, 1980 Folkways recording).
William Jennings Bryan ran for President of the U.S. three times under the banner of the Democratic party -- in 1896, 1900, and 1908 (and lost all three times). During the first of his campaigns he delivered one of the more powerful speeches in U.S political history -- his famous "Cross of Gold" speech -- delivered at the National Democratic Convention in Chicagonin 1896. "No crown of thorns, no cross of Gold" soon became one of the central rallying cries of the Bryan campaign during that election. It also became the basis of this H. D. Pittman campaiign song, an excerpt of which we offer you here (a modern rendition, at least). Though Bryan lost his bids for President, he nonetheless had a distinguised political and legal career, as a Representative from Nebraska, as Secretary of State under Woodrow Wilson from 1913-15, and as a lawyer (most famous for his role in the 1925 Scopes "monkey Trial"). This excerpt of "No Crown of Thorms, No Cross of Gold" comes from the Smithsonian Folkways collection of campaign songs, Winners & Losers: Campaign Songs from the Critical Elections in American History, Volume 2-1896-1996, sung by Peter Janovsky. For the excellent liner notes that came with the album, see: http://media.smithsonianfolkways.org/liner_notes/folkways/FW37261.pdf. The full version of "No Cross of Gold, No Crown of Thorns" and other classic campaing songs are available from Smithsonian Folkways. See: http://www.folkways.si.edu/TrackDetails.aspx?itemid=34531.
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March 18, 2014
Segment 1 | "Hindsight: Bukhara and the Silk Road" (2014).
From ABC's Hindsight, we bring you this look back at the silk road region of Central Asia. It "has a history that stretches back for millenia. This part of the Moslem world had played a vital part in Islam's Golden Age, that period that saw a great flowering in science, mathematics, medicine, and the arts. The city of Bukhara, in modern day Uzbekistan, had been a major centre of learning, culture, and spiritual endeavour.
For much of the 20th century Central Asia was part of the Soviet Union. In 1991, after the break-up of the USSR, the former Central Asian Soviet republics - the 'stans' - opened up to the world for the first time in generations.
The region that's now made up of Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan was once know to the West as Turkestan.
In the 19th and 20th centuries only a few westerners made the long journey there. In Journeys into Bukhara we hear the voice of of three of these rare travellers, each very different to the other, and travelling in very different times. But all three visited and wrote about the ancient city of Bukhara." Guests on the program include:
Dr Kirill Nourzhanov,
Centre for Arabic and Islamic Studies, Australian National University;
Dr Marrianne Kamp,
Dept of History, University of Wyoming, USA;
Professor David Chioni Moore,
Depts of International Studies & English, Macalaster University, Minnesota, USA.
For more information on this segment, see: http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/hindsight/journeys-to-bukhara/5222916.
Segment 2 | From the Archives: "Benjamin Franklin and the Abolition of Slavery" (1790).
Here's a reading from LibriVox of an important letter Bejamin Franklin wrote. Back in February 12, 1790, the U.S. House of Representatives received a petition from Benjamin Franklin and the Pennsylvania Abolition Society requesting that the federal government move forward toward the gradual abolition of slavery and an early termination of the slave trade (before the year specificed by the Constitution -- 1807 -- as the earliest for introducing legislation to prohibit the latter). The petition led to an intense debate in the House, covered by various newspapers. During this debae, a congressman from Georgia, James Jackson, offered one of the most impassioned defenses of slavery in the South; he argued that slavery was not only sanctioned by the Bible, but that whites and blacks could never live together in equality and that the labor of slaves was asbsolutely necessary to sustain the Southern plantation economy. Benjamin Franklin addressed Jackson's arguments in parody. He submitted a letter, under the pseudonym Historicus, to the Federal Gazette (it appeared in the March 23, 1790 edition). In it he suggested an ironic parallel between Jackson's defense of slavery and the justifications of an Algerian pirate named Sidi Mehmet Ibrahim for the enslavement of Christians.
Franklin died the month after his letter was published. See the following for more d on the 1790 slavery debate and this incident: http://www.everydaycitizen.com/2010/06/benjamin_franklin_and_his_figh.html
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March 11, 2014
Segment 1 | "Backstory: Sweet Talk ~ A History of Sugar" (2014).
In this episode, BackStory explores how sugar has shaped, and sometimes sweetened, American history. The Sugar Act of 1764 helped feed colonial resentment of Great Britain, paving the way for protests and, ultimately, the American Revolution. But for much of our history, sugar was intimately linked to a lack of freedom for many Americans. Quakers in the 1790s boycotted slave-produced sugar in a stand against the “peculiar institution,” and free blacks took up the cause in the 1830s. But even after the Civil War, the production of sugar was tied to work arrangements that seemed far from voluntary. So where does sugar fit into labor history in the US? How has this tasty cash crop affected our environment and our economy? And how far have we been willing to go to satisfy our craving?
Guests include:
? Peter Andreas, Brown University, on how sugar – and smuggling – shaped early America, and helped fuel the Revolution.
? Alan Taylor, University of Virginia, on the 18th Century search for a sweetener untainted by slavery.
? Moon-Ho Jung, University of Washington, on the Chinese labor that flowed into the Louisiana sugar fields after the Civil War, and the questions it raised about new forms of slavery.
? Carolyn de la Peña, University of California – Davis, on the 20th Century rise of artificial sweeteners from unhealthy “adulterants” to the dieter’s best friend.
Steve Almond, writer, on the personal obsession that led him to write Candy Freak: A Journey Through the Chocolate Underbelly of America (2004).
Segment 2 | From the Archives: "'Sugar' as Metaphor: Mike Jagger's Brown Sugar" (1971).
Mick Jagger's Brown Sugar, a lyrically complex and controversial song, offers us an example of "sugar" used as a metaphor -- for heroin, slavery, racial and sexual exploitation, sexual temptation and indulgance, and guilty pleasure. Its lyrics are:
Gold coast slave ship bound for cotton fields / Sold in a market down in new orleans / Scarred old slaver know he’s doin’ alright./ Hear him whip the women just around midnight. / Ah brown sugar how come you taste so good (a-ha) / brown sugar, just like a young girl should A-huh. /Drums beating, cold english blood runs hot, / Lady of the house wond’rin where it’s gonna stop. / House boy knows that he’s doin’ alright. / You should a heard him just around midnight. / Ah brown sugar how come you taste so good (a-ha) / brown sugar, just like a black girl should A-huh. / I bet your mama was a tent show queen, / and all her boy Friends were sweet sixteen./ I’m no schoolboy but I know what I like, / You should have heard me just around midnight. / Ah brown sugar how come you taste so good (a-ha) / brown sugar, just like a young girl should. / I said yeah, I said yeah, I said yeah, / I said Oh just like a, just like a black girl should. / I said yeah, I said yeah, I said yeah, I said / Oh just like, just like a black girl should.
For one interpretation of the song, see: http://www.theguardian.com/music/2007/sep/13/2.
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March 4, 2014
Segment 1 | "Against the Grain: The Harvard Psychedelic Club: Leary, Weil, Smith, and Ram Dass" (2014).
From Pacifica's Against the Grain: "Four men who would have a profound impact on U.S. culture converged at Harvard in the early 1960s. In The Harvard Psychedelic Club, Don Lattin tells the story of what Timothy Leary, Ram Dass, Andrew Weil, and Huston Smith did, how they interacted, and how they influenced the psychedelic and countercultural and spiritual and holistic-health movements of the 1960s and '70s and way beyond." For more information, see: Don Lattin, The Harvard Psychedelic Club: How Timothy Leary, Ram Dass, Huston Smith, and Andrew Weil Killed the Fifties and Ushered in a New Age for America (HarperOne, 2010).
Segment 2 | From the Archives: "Sherlock Holmes, Cocaine, and Scandal in Bohemia" (1891; contemporary LibiVox reading).
Published in 1891, A Scandal in Bohemia" was Arthur Canon Doyle's first short story focusing on Sherlock Holmes and published in The Strand Magazine. Like many of Doyle's other works focusing on Holmes, it acknowledged the main character's cocaine drug habit.
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February 25, 2014
Segment 1 | "Backstory: Outed ~ A History of Sexual Identity in America" (2014).
"As the Winter Olympics in Sochi approach, countries around the world have expressed concerns over Russian legislation outlawing LGBTQ 'propaganda.' The Obama administration called the law offensive, and the president pointedly chose several openly gay athletes for the US Olympic delegation. But recent Supreme Court decisions on gay marriage have highlighted our own internal debate on sexuality and its expression in the public sphere. So in this episode, we explore the often hidden stories of sexuality in American history.
We ask how and why Americans have distinguished between 'normal' and 'deviant' sexual behavior, and look at changes in those distinctions through the centuries. How have those categories been policed -- and challenged? When and why did Americans begin to think of homosexuality and heterosexuality as distinct identities? And how do historians reconstruct histories that were often purposely kept secret? From colonial courts to 19th Century 'intimate friendships,' to a federal government crackdown on gay and lesbian life in the mid-20th Century, we explore the many ways that Americans have understood -- and broken -- the sexual status quo."
Segment 2 | From the Archives: "Petronius's Satyricon" (Original, 1st century A.D.; contemporary LibiVox reading).
Here is a reading (from LibriVox) of a short segment from Gaius Petronius' fragmentary comic novel, Satyricon, an early Roman work from the 1st century A.D. that blends prose and poetry. The Satyricon -- particulary the portion that has survived (discovered in the 17th century) offers a satirical view of Rome's emergent economic elite and deals explicitly with early Roman sexual practices. It is the tale of Encolpius and his sixteen-year old boy lover; the young man, apparently, is always lured into sexual liasons with others. For a short introduction to Petronius and his Satyricon, see: http://community.middlebury.edu/~harris/LatinAuthors/Petronius.html.
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February 18, 2014
Segment 1 | "Against the Grain: Adam Hochschild on the Spanish Civil War and George Orwell" (2014).
From our friends at AGAINST THE GRAIN (ATG), we bring you this conversation between ATG host C. S. Soong and Adam Hochschild focusing on the Spanish Civil War and George Orwell's involvement in that conflict. Hochschild is the author of King Leopold's Ghost, To End All Wars: A Story of Loyalty and Rebellion, 1914-1918, Bury the Chains, The Mirror at Midnight, and The Unquiet Ghost). Hochschild is currently working on a book focusing on the Spanish Civil War. The two explore: "Was what happened in Spain beginning in 1936 a civil war or a workers' revolution? It's called the Spanish Civil War, and it did pit Francisco Franco's forces against a democratically elected government, but what George Orwell discovered when he arrived in Spain was 'a revolution in full swing'. Adam Hochschild talks about the conflicts, their international context, and Orwell's Homage to Catalonia."
Segment 2 | From the Archives: "Robert Capa on The Falling Soldier" (1947).
This is a short edited selection from "Robert Capa Tells of Photographic Experiences Abroad" -- a radio interview originally broadcast on October 20, 1947 on the early morning radio show Hi! Jinx that focused on the life and work of one of the most famous photojournalists of the 20th century. The edited section of the interview we feature here deals with the background behind Capa's iconic photograph, "The Falling Soldier," probably one fo the best recognized photos that came out of the Spanish Civil War. For the full recording and more information on Capa, go to: http://www.icp.org/robert-capa-100.
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February 11, 2014
Segment 1 | "Backstory: Border Crossings ~ A History of US-Mexico Relations" (2014).
From Backstory and the American History Guys: "Twenty years ago, NAFTA — the North American Free Trade Agreement — removed barriers to trade between the United States and Mexico, marking a more cooperative phase in what has often been a contentious relationship over the centuries. In this episode, Peter, Ed, and Brian delve into the complexities of that relationship and offer a broader take on American history that looks beyond our national boundaries.
In terms of national identity, territory, and citizenship, the United States has often defined itself in opposition to its southern neighbor. But the Guys uncover moments of convergence too: like the twin crises in 1861 – Confederate secession in the US and European invasion in Mexico – which sparked talk of American “sister republics,” united in opposition to despotism. So how have these two countries shaped each other – whether in conflict and cooperation? What kinds of borders – political, cultural, or economic — have been built and dismantled and rebuilt over the years? And where does the US-Mexico relationship stand today?" For more on Backstory, go to: http://backstoryradio.org.
Segment 2 | From the Archives: "Selection from Viva Zapata!" (1952).
Download: MP3 |
Here is a selection (audio only) from the 1952 film, Viva Zapata! -- a fictionalized account of the life and struggles of Emiliano Zapata (1879-1919), the famed Mexican revolutionary who took on the Mexican dictator Porfirio Diaz and struggled on behalf of Mexican peasants for radical land reforms. Marlon Brando played the title role of Emiliano Zapata. The film was directed by Elia Kazan and the screenplay was written by John Steinbeck. Anthony Quinn won an Oscar for his portrayal of Zapata's brother. For more information on Zapata, see: http://www.pbs.org/itvs/storm-that-swept-mexico/the-revolution/faces-revolution/emiliano-zapata/.
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February 4, 2014
Segment 1 | "Pete Seeger: How Can I Keep From Singing, Part 1 ~ Origins" (2008; Re-broadcast).
Producer and Seeger biographer, David Dunaway (Across the Tracks: A Route 66 Story; Writing the Southwest), produced this acclaimed documentary, Pete Seeger: How Can I Keep From Singing?, in 2008. We bring it back to the air this year -- at least the first of the original three hours -- in paying tribute to the Seeger who died last week. Dunaway tackles the question of "How did a Harvard-educated boy become a radical, hitchhiking, banjo-playing, political activist? This proram explores Seeger's youth and America's folk revival of the 1930s and '40s. For more on Seeger and his legacy, see the New York Times obituary at: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/29/arts/music/pete-seeger-songwriter-and-champion-of-folk-music-dies-at-94.html?_r=0.
Segment 2 | From the Archives: "Pete Seeger at Camp Woodland" (1948).
Download: MP3 |
In 1939, progressive educator Norman Studer along with Rose Sydney, Regine Dicker (Ferber), Sara Abelson (Abramson), and Hannah Studer, founded Camp Woodland in Phoenicia, New York, located in the heart of the Catskill Mountains. According to Dale Johnson, "Camp Woodland strove to create a democratic environment where children of varying religions, socioeconomic, and ethnic backgrounds from the New York City area could steep in the rich ecology of the Catskill region for two months each summer.
The curriculum and experience of Camp Woodland were deeply rooted in the folklore and folk culture of the Catskill Mountains. Throughout his career as an educator and administrator, Studer championed cultural and racial integration in the educational environment." Pete seeger was a frequent visitor, performer, and music teacher at Camp Woodland. Here we present an excerpt from one of his many camp performances, recorded on August 21, 1948, at the 8th Annual Folk Festival (an annual festival at Camp Woodland). The recording comes from the Norman Studer collection, now housed at the M.E. Grenander Department of Special Collections and Archives at the University of Albany, SUNY. For more information on the collection, which contains more than 200 rare recording from the camp, see: http://library.albany.edu/speccoll/findaids/apap116.htm For more information about Camp woodland, see Dale W. Johnson's article on the camp in Voices, the journal of hte New Yokr Florlore Society: http://www.nyfolklore.org/pubs/voicjl28-1-2/campwood.html.
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January 28, 2014
Segment 1 | "Backstory: Heaven on Earth: A History of American Utopias" (2014).
In this episode from BACKSTORY with the American History Guys, " Ed, Brian, and Peter discover the utopian yearnings in the American past, and the ways they still resonate today. Whether based in religious conviction or a secular vision of social progress, attempts to build model communities have been a recurring feature in American life. What allows some utopian communities to endure for decades, while others collapse within months? How have mainstream Americans viewed their utopian-minded brethren? And is America itself a utopian project?
Guests include:
Carl Guarneri, St. Mary's College, on the French proto-Socialist thinker Charles Fourier, the young American who popularized his ideas, and the efforts to implement them across the United States;
Richard Francis, independent scholar, on how tensions over the nature of family life ultimately sank the Transcendental community “Fruitlands”; and
Jane Baxter, DePaul University, on one of the first company towns – Pullman – and the search for a capitalist utopia in the late 19th Century."
Segment 2 | From the Archives: "The Republic of Plato (a LibriVox reading" | 380 BC original text).
Written some time around 380 B.C., Plato's Republic presents what many consider the first expression of a utopian society in literature. Though hardly the utopia that most contemporary cititizens would yearn for, Plato's hierarchical, aristocratic ideal state places truth and reason at the center of an ideal society. In Plato's rendition of an ideal state, individuals are ranked and assigned social, political, and economic roles based on an evaluation of their suitability for these roles (through a process of examination). The ideal society for Plato is an "aristocracy" -- a polis ruled by the "best") -- and not a democracy. Here we present a LibriVox reading of the beginning of Book 4 of the Republic. Book 4 deals with an exploration of "Justice" and happiness, and especially as they appy to the guardians -- the philosopher-kings, or rulers -- of Kallipolis, the Greek name of Plato's ideal state. For the full text of The Republic, see: http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/republic.html.
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January 21, 2014 [NEW SCHEDULE BEGINS; NOW EVERY TUESDAY MORNING]
Segment 1 | "State of the Reunion - Rewriting Black History" (2013).
RealMedia (streaming) No MP3 available, by producer request. |
State of the Reunion host Al Letson examines the state of Black History today: "During a month selected to celebrate 'history,' we certainly are treated to a lot of the same familiar stories: the battles won for Civil Rights, the glory of Martin Luther King Jr's words, the hardships endured by slaves. And as important as those narratives are for us to collectively remember, many others get lost in trumpeting the same heroic tales. In this hour, State of the Reunion zeroes in some of those alternate narratives, ones edited out of the mainstream imagining of Black History, deconstructing the popular perception of certain celebrated moments. From a more complicated understanding of the impact of the Civil Rights Act of '64 on Jackson, Mississippi . . . to a city in Oklahoma still trying to figure out how to tell the history of one particular race riot . . . to one woman's wrangling with her own personal racial history."
Segment 2 | From the Archives: The Quest of the Silver Fleece (LibriVox reading | 1911 novel).
W. E. B. Du Bois explored the systemic and personal dimensions of the cotton industry in his first novel, published in 1911. The novel offers a range of sociological and economic critiques as it weaves together the lives of Blessed "Bles" Alwyn, a young man seeking to better himself in the post-Reconstruction era through education, and Zora, a strong and independent woman who lives in a mysterious Alabama swamp. Exploring themes of racial equality, economic speculation and exploitation, political power, and love -- Du Bois brings to his novel many of his observations about American society previously published in his nonfiction works, like The Souls of Black Folk. For more about the book, including links to reviews and the the complete text, see: http://www.webdubois.org/wdb-quest.html.
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January 16, 2014
Segment 1 | "Backstory: Wall of Separation: Church and State in America" (2013).
In this episode of BackStory, the American History Guys delve into the history of the relationship of church and state in America. The explore "the meaning of 'freedom of religion' and find out why Baptists in 1802 actually pleaded for Thomas Jefferson's 'wall of separation.' We'll learn why the dramatic wartime deaths of three ministers -- each of different faiths -- shaped public ideas about American religion during the 1940s and 50s. And we'll explore how legal decisions about the relationship of church and state have shaped how Americans understand faith and what it means to have 'a religion.'
Guests include:
David Sehat, Georgia State University, on the ways liberals and conservatives look to the Founders to bolster their arguments about religious freedom in America, and how both sides get it wrong;
Adam Jortner, Auburn University, on the election of 1832 and one of the first religious 'wedge issues' -- as presidential aspirants sparred over whether the government should intervene in a cholera epidemic…with prayer;
Sarah Barringer Gordon, University of Pennsylvania Law School, on the 19th Century showdown over the meaning of marriage and the scope of religious 'free exercise' -- when Mormons took their case for polygamy to the Supreme Court; Tisa Wenger, Yale University, on the Pueblo Indian dance controversy of the 1920s, and how church-state jurisprudence shaped the ways Pueblos thought about their own forms of worship;
Kevin Schultz, University of Illinois at Chicago, on the cross-faith coalitions that emerged in the mid-20th Century, and how they inadvertently helped to foster the spread of secularism." For more on Backstory, go to: http://backstoryradio.org.
Segment 2 | From the Archives: Abington v. Schempp (Oyez audio selection, 1962)
In June 1963, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that organized Bible reading and prayer recitation in public schools was a violation of the first amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The decision was based on two suits that had worked themselves up to the nation's highest court, one from Baltimore, Maryland (Murray v. Curlett), and the second from Abington, Pennsylvania (Abington v. Schempp). The audio selection we present here comes from Abington v. Schempp; the original recording comes from Record Group 267: Records of the Supreme Court of the United States, 1772 - 1990, available at the National Archives' Motion Picture, Sound, and Video Records LICON, Special Media Archives Services Division, College Park, MD. Digital recordings of this and many other Supreme Court cases can be accessed through the The Oyez Project at www.oyez.org. For recordings and transcripts of the entire Abington case, see http://www.oyez.org/cases/1960-1969/1962/1962_142.
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January 9, 2014
Segment 1 | "Backstory: Grassy Knolls ~ Conspiracy Thinking in American History" (2013).
Here's a recent production from Backstory (http://backstoryradio.org) and the American History Guys: "This episode of BackStory explores why alternative theories for the Kennedy assassination have proven so resilient over the years, and finds a long tradition of American conspiracy thinking -- stretching all the way back to the Founding. From a political party formed to combat the secretive power of Freemasons, to whispers of a "slave power" conspiracy in the 19th Century, to an outcry over a criminal network fostering "white slavery" in the early 20th Century, and, of course, an abundance of Communist conspiracies during the Cold War -- the Guys and their guests discover that while conspiracy theorists might sometimes be on the fringes of American society, conspiracy thinking has always been mainstream.
Guests include:
Jefferson Morley, journalist and founder of the website JFKfacts.org, on the conspiracy theories that still swirl around the Kennedy assassination; Ron Formisano, University of Kentucky, on the perceived power of Freemasons in the early Republic, and the political backlash it inspired; Jesse Walker, journalist and author of The United States of Paranoia (2013), on the "slave power conspiracy" of the 19th Century, and its alleged links to the assassination of Abraham Lincoln; Mara Keire, University of Oxford, on the "white slavery" panic of the early 20th Century – and the criminal conspiracy that supposedly lay behind it;
Andrew Case, Lyman Briggs College, Michigan State University, on the supposed Communist conspiracy that lay behind the fluoridation of water in the mid-20th Century."
Segment 2 | Conspiracies in Cold War Era Films: "The Manchurian Candidate." (Audio selection, 1962)
Here's a short audio track selection from a classic Cold-War era "conspiracy film" based on the 1959 novel by Richard Condon: The Manchurian Candidate. The film, released in 1962 during the Cuban Missile Crisis, was directed by John Frankenheimer and featured Frank Sinatra, Laurence Harvey, Janet Leigh, Angela Lansbury, Henry Silva, and James Gregory. The core plot of the film and novel focuses on the communist brainwashing during the Korean War of the stepson of a prominent right-wing senator (a fictive mirror of Joseph McCarthy), who is psychologically transformed into a political assassin. For more information on the film, see: http://www.filmsite.org/manc.html. For a brief examination of other Cold-War era films, see: http://www.jacknilan.com/senatorjoe/index.html.
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December 26, 1913 - January 2, 2014
Vacation break. Check out our previous broadcasts available here and through the drop-down menu on the upper left of this page.
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