Episode 53: Presidential Debates, Stop and Frisk, and Fat Shaming

In this week's episode, Niki, Natalia, and Neil discuss the presidential debates, the constitutionality of stop and frisk, and obesity and medical care.

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show:

• Do presidential debates change election results? Natalia pointed to research that showed debates had only small electoral effects. Neil discussed how the Lincoln-Douglas Senate debates of 1858 set the model for political debates in the country. Niki commented on how moderators fact-checked candidates in the 1976 and 2012 debates. Natalia and Niki live tweeted the first presidential debate this year at #PSLive.

• Donald Trump defended the controversial stop-and-frisk police program in the presidential debate, and Rudy Giuliani followed with his own endorsement in the Wall Street Journal. Neil noted the controversy owed to how the policy was disproportionately directed at African-American males. Niki commented on the policy’s 1950s origins, noting that cities implemented it before crime rates rose in the late 1960s. Niki also commented on the 1968 Supreme Court case Terry v. Ohio that ruled stop and frisk constitutional.

• The New York Times recently reported that obese patients receive less medical care from their doctors. Neil remarked this resembled the inferior medical treatment African Americans receive, as demonstrated in the anthropologist Carolyn Rouse’s research. Natalia recommended the books the Fat Studies Reader, Fat Shame, and Fat Blame for recent works in the discipline of fat studies. Natalia also commented on the “Fat Liberation Manifesto” that declared fatness a category of oppression.

In our regular closing feature, What’s Making History:

• Natalia discussed the organization Athlete Ally.

• Neil commented on the life of Arnold Palmer.

• Niki talked about Nazi drug abuse in World War II.

Episode 52: Brangelina, EpiPens, and Dr. Oz

In this week's episode, Niki, Natalia, and Neil debate the dissolution of the Jolie-Pitt marriage, the price of EpiPens, and Dr. Oz and medical entertainment.

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show:

• Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, famously known as Brangelina, have announced they are divorcing. Neil argued Angelina Jolie’s public remaking as mother and humanitarian repeated a common pattern for actresses in the history of Hollywood, like Loretta Young. Natalia remembered W Magazine’s 2005 issue that officially introduced the couple to the world with a photospread of them as members of an unhappy 1960s suburban family, and recommended the celebrity gossip historian Anne Helen Peterson’s writings on Brangelina. Niki responded to those who have argued Brangelina were the last great Hollywood couple.

• EpiPens now cost $600, an increase of more than 500% since 2009. Natalia noted some had argued during Congressional hearings on EpiPens that pharmaceuticals ought to be under price controls like utilities. Niki discussed a 1905-06 Collier’s Magazine article series, “The Great American Fraud,” that examined the patent medicine business and led to the creation of the Food and Drug Administration. Neil shared how EpiPen’s technology had military origins.

• Dr. Mehmet Oz has been called “America’s Doctor,” but his many critics call him a huckster and a quack. Natalia recommended the New Yorker’s 2013 profile of Dr. Oz. Niki connected Dr. Oz to the history of medical quackery.

In our regular closing feature, What’s Making History:

• Natalia discussed Out Magazine’s profile of Milo Yiannopoulous.

• Neil commented on the history and politics of pockets.

• Niki shared the new website historycommunication.com. 

Episode 51: Presidential Health, Free Pre-K, and Star Trek

In this week's episode, Natalia, Neil, and Niki debate secrecy and presidential health, New York City's universal pre-kindergarten, and the legacy of Star Trek.

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show:

• Hillary Clinton’s team announced she has pneumonia after she fell ill at the 9/11 commemoration. Neil argued anxiety over Clinton’s health was really partisan politics, fueled by internet conspiracies like the “Hillary Clinton Parkinson’s” videos. Natalia responded the Hillary health stories didn’t operate only on the fringe, noting Sean Hannity has been pushing the rumors for weeks on his Fox News program. Niki contended that the long history of cover-ups regarding presidential health issues and illnesses meant that stories about Clinton’s health were really about the issue of trust, something she’s written about for U.S. News & World Report. Natalia pointed out the importance of the visual in shaping American ideas about the presidency, including photos of FDR in his wheelchair and JFK posing in Sports Illustrated to mask his own ailments. Neil raised the issue of mental health, citing a Politico article about the prevalence of mental illness among the presidents.

• for the city’s children. Natalia outlined the significant features of the program and distinguished it from the federal Head Start program launched in the 1960s. Niki remembered how a proposal for other universal childcare programs in the 1970s had been stopped by the Nixon administration.

• 2016 marks the fiftieth anniversary of Star Trek! Niki contended Star Trek reflected a certain progressivism in domestic politics – including one of the first televised interracial kisses – but also was notable for how it promoted a “universalism” on the foreign policy front during its Cold War era. Neil observed that Star Trek’s creator Gene Roddenberry had pitched the show to producers as a “space western,” a concept that spoke its Space Race-era setting but also the popularity of television westerns. Niki recommended the documentary Trekkies for understanding the show’s particular fandom.

In our regular closing feature, What’s Making History:

• Natalia commented on the new app Sit With Us.

• Neil discussed Christine Woodside’s new book, Libertarians on the Prairie. He also recommended Woodside’s Politico article, “How ‘Little House on the Prairie’ Built Modern Conservatism.”

• Niki shared Adam Davidson’s article, “The Unemployment-Rate Hoax,” from the New Yorker’s new series, “Trump and the Truth.”

Episode 50: Mother Teresa, the Alt-Right, and Taco Trucks

In this week's episode, Neil, Niki, and Natalia debate the canonization of Mother Teresa, the rise of the alt-right, and the menace of taco trucks.

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show:

• Mother Teresa has been declared St. Teresa by Pope Francis. Natalia noted the controversy that has swirled around Mother Teresa, including Christopher Hitchens calling her a “fanatic, fundamentalist, and a fraud.” Niki detailed how Pope John Paul II changed the canonization process to benefit Mother Teresa. Neil discussed Mother Teresa’s political significance to the pro-life movement, including her anti-abortion speeches at her 1979 Nobel Peace Prize acceptance and at the 1994 National Prayer Breakfast.

• The alt-right has made its presence known in the 2016 presidential race. Niki outlined the rise of the alt-right, something she has written about for U.S. News & World Report. Natalia discussed how the alt-right fit in the larger world of conservatism, citing the influence of George Nash in her thinking. Niki discussed the alt-right’s intellectual self-identity as smarter than the “old-school racist skinheads,” as Milo Yiannopolous wrote in Breitbart News in 2016.

• The founder of Latinos for Trump warned there would soon be “taco trucks on every corner” if Donald Trump didn’t win the presidency. Natalia and Neil discussed whether this served as an effective political threat. Natalia shared how scholars of immigration have identified the lowest tolerance for immigrants as something called “contributionism,” where immigrants are appreciated only for what they contribute to American society. Niki placed the taco truck in a long history of food trucks, including chuck wagons and pushcarts. Natalia remembered the alarm when salsa recently outsold ketchup as America’s favorite condiment.

In our regular closing feature, What’s Making History:

• Natalia commented on the value of taking Phyllis Schlafly seriously.

• Neil talked about Jimmy Carter and grits.

• Niki recommended Matt Dallek’s book, Defenseless Under the Night.

Episode 49: Colin Kaepernick, Burkinis, and Crime at Walmart

In this week's episode, Natalia, Neil, and Niki debate Colin Kaepernick's protest against the national anthem, France's burkini ban, and Walmart's high crime rate.

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show:

• San Francisco 49er quarterback Colin Kaepernick remained seated during a recent pre-game national anthem in protest against racial discrimination in the country. Neil argued Kaepernick likely chose that moment to lodge his protest in reference to other black athletes who have done the same, such as at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City. Natalia observed that non-political events like athletic competitions often provided useful moments to make a protest, like Beyonce’s 2016 Super Bowl performance that referenced the Black Panthers. Niki detailed the history of the Star-Spangled Banner and why some have called it a racist song. Natalia shared a Christianity Today article that detailed how the “Battle Hymn of the Republic” almost became the national anthem. Neil recommended listeners read John Stauffer and Benjamin Soskis’s book, The Battle Hymn of the Republic, for those interested in learning more about the song.  

• Towns along the French Riviera have attempted to ban the burkini from their beaches this summer. Natalia situated the controversy in France’s tradition of laïcité, a word that roughly translates to “secular ideal,” as the French philosopher Alain Finkielkraut has described it. Niki explained an Australian-Lebanese woman had created the burkini in 2006 as a form of modest beachwear. Natalia recommended the Public Books essay, “Saving Muslim Women,” for thinking more about the complicated responses of American feminists towards Muslim women.

• A recent Bloomberg article found that Walmart stores have become high crime locations. Niki recommended William Leach’s history of consumption, Land of Desire, for understanding how the rise of department stores encouraged shoplifting. Natalia added Elaine Abelson’s When the Ladies Go A-Thieving, as another history of shoplifting. Niki noted Jane Jacobs had argued that the physical design of cities increased crime rates in areas where there less eyes on the street. Natalia recommended a City Lab article on the history of the 24-hour convenience store.

In our regular closing feature, What’s Making History:

• Natalia discussed the documentary, “The Uncommon Yogi.”

• Neil shared the story of the Great Dismal Swamp.

• Niki commented on Donald Trump’s proposal for an ideological test as part of his immigration program and recommended Mae Ngai’s book, Impossible Subjects, as her favorite book on the history of immigration to the United States. 

Episode 48: Baton Rouge, Christian Intellectuals, and Teaching Trump

In this week's episode, Niki, Neil, and Natalia debate flood relief in Louisiana, the disappearance of Christian intellectuals, and teaching Trump in the classroom.

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show:

• More than two feet of rain brought death and destruction to southern Louisiana recently. Natalia addressed the political dimensions of the Louisiana flood, including Donald Trump’s visit to the state and blaming President Obama for not going there. Niki argued the memory of George W. Bush’s bungling of Hurricane Katrina provided important context for the political meaning of the Louisiana flood. Neil situated the flood in a long history of flooding in Louisiana, including the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 as chronicled in John M. Barry’s classic book Rising Tide. Neil also commented on the history of federal relief for natural disaster, including the Federal Disaster Relief Act of 1950. Niki observed that suburban sprawl in Louisiana had worsened the destruction there as neighborhoods had expanded into the area’s 100-year floodplain.

• What became of the Christian intellectuals? This is the question of a provocative new essay in Harper’s from Alan Jacobs, a professor at Baylor University. Neil commented that Jacobs’ essay focused on the lack of prominent Christian public intellectuals, but wondered if any public intellectuals remained in our current moment. Niki observed that Jacobs’ references to Reinhold Niebuhr as a model Christian intellectual of an earlier age made sense as Niebuhr’s works, such as The Children of Light and the Children of Darkness, had highlighted the moral struggle of global events, like the Cold War. Natalia compared Jacobs’ thesis of Christian intellectuals’ retreat from public life with the argument of Christian marginalization made by other evangelical scholars such as Owen Strachan.

• On college campuses and in the nation’s primary and secondary schools, many educators are wondering how to teach Donald Trump. Niki worried this was a partisan question in itself. Natalia cited Jonathan Zimmerman’s essay in the Atlantic that argued classrooms needed to engage controversial and diverse opinions brought out by the Trump campaign, but she also shared Michael Gerson’s Washington Post editorial that noted the word Trump has come to be seen as a racial slur. Neil discussed the controversy over the Chronicle of Higher Education’s Trump Syllabus and the response by the African American Intellectual History Society to create the Trump 2.0 Syllabus published by Public Books.

In our regular closing feature, What’s Making History:

• Natalia talked about American Life episode 594 and a New York Times article about a veteran lifeguard who has refused to wear a Speedo.

• Neil discussed the history of the front crawl and butterfly swimming strokes.

• Niki shared the Miller Center of Public Affairs’ First Year Project.

Gone Fishing

We're away on vacation -- see you next week! 

Episode 47: Voting Rights, Olympics Commentary, and Think Tanks

On this week's episode, Niki, Neil, and Natalia debate recent court decisions on voting rights, sexism in Olympics commentary, and corporate influence in think tanks.

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show:

• This summer, courts struck down restrictive voting laws in North Carolina, Kansas, and Wisconsin. Niki pointed out that there have been only 31 cases of voter fraud since 2000. We recommended Ari Berman’s history of voting rights, Give Us the Ballot.

• The Olympics sportscasters can’t seem to stop describing women athletes as “girls” and crediting their accomplishments to men. Neil suggested this was because sports broadcasting remained a mostly male profession. Natalia remarked that a lot of the coverage of Michael Phelps has been on his new role as a father, but this was an exception that proved the rule of focusing on women athletes’ personal lives. Neil added the attention to Ryan Lochte’s bleached hair also provided another exception that highlighted the focus on women athletes’ physical appearance, including even a news article on Katie Ledecky’s manicure that Niki shared. Niki also compared responses to Michael Phelps’ “game face” versus the scrutiny given to McKayla Maroney’s “smirk” from the 2012 Games. Natalia recommended Lindsay Pieper’s essay on the onset of “cuteness” in women’s gymnastics as a response to American Cold War fears about masculinized Russian women athletes. Neil added Reeves Wiedeman’s New Yorker essay about women’s gymnastics noted the sport required an expression of effortlessness from its athletes that undermined the sport’s athleticism.

• The New York Times’ investigation of leading think tanks found that many of them, like the left-leaning Brookings Institution, were beholden to their corporate donors’ agendas. We recommended Jason Stahl’s history of think tanks, Right Moves, along with several essays he has written about think tanks.

In our regular closing feature, What’s Making History:

• Natalia shared L.D. Burnett’s article, “Holding On to What Makes Us Human.”

• Neil commented on the death of the VCR.

• Niki discussed the #firstsevenjobs.

Episode 46: Khizr & Ghazala Khan, Roger Ailes, and Juicing

On this week's episode, Niki, Natalia, and Neil debate the Khans and the politics of grief, Roger Ailes and sexual harassment at Fox News, and the history of juicing.

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show:

• Khizr and Ghazala Khan’s appearance at the Democratic National Convention was only one among many speeches at both political conventions by parents who had lost their children. Neil argued that these speeches were effective because people felt sympathetic towards grieving parents no matter one’s politics. Niki pointed to the example of Emmett Till’s mother as a good use of the personal becoming political, and Neil cited the organization Mothers Against Drunk Drivers who had translated their grief into policy changes. Natalia observed Donald Trump’s implication that Ghazala Khan couldn’t speak because she was a Muslim woman depended on a common view that Muslim women need saving by the West, as Leti Volpp has demonstrated. Neil noted that Ghazala Khan has not remained silent, in fact, as she spoke at length on Lawrence O’Donnell’s show and also penned an op-ed for the Washington Post.

• Roger Ailes has been ousted from his position as Fox News chairman after several women accused him of sexual harassment. Niki detailed Ailes’ professional biography beginning with his involvement in Richard Nixon’s 1968 campaign. Natalia wondered how Ailes’ alleged actions, particularly those raised by Laurie Luhn’s sordid accusations, fit within Fox News’ attention to “family values” politics, something that Bill O’Reilly’s sexual harassment case had also challenged. Neil commented that most Americans had come to understand sexual harassment through Anita Hill and Paula Jones’s accusations against Clarence Thomas and Bill Clinton, respectively. Natalia shared that Susan Brownmiller’s In Our Time talks about how feminists came up with the term “sexual harassment” in the 1970s to describe the experiences many women were facing in the workplace.

• Niki’s on a juice cleanse! But is this just a modern phenomenon? Natalia sketched the long history of juicing from its mention on the Dead Sea Scrolls to the 1936 classic by Dr. Norman Walker, Raw Vegetable Juices. Neil placed juicing in a religious history of fasting, and recommended Judith Shulevitz’s essay “Jesus and Moses Went on Cleanses.” Natalia shared the writer Marisa Meltzer’s observation that juicing allowed women to speak about wellness without ever talking about weight loss. And Niki recommended Katy Waldman’s Slate essay, “There Once Was a Girl,” that remarked on the religious practice of “holy anorexia.”

In our regular closing feature, What’s Making History:

• Natalia discussed the new movie Equity.

• Neil recommended the book People Who Eat Darkness.

• Niki shared “An Exciting History of Drywall” from the Atlantic.

Episode 45: Veeps, Beach-Going, and the Olympic Doping Scandal

On this week's episode, Natalia, Neil, and Niki debate the changing role of the vice presidency, the history of beach-going, and the Russian doping scandal overshadowing the Rio Olympics.

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show:

• Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have picked Tim Kaine and Mike Pence as their respective running mates, but does the Vice Presidency even matter? Niki recently argued in the Atlantic that the twentieth century saw the rise of the “executive vice presidency” beginning with Richard Nixon’s VP Spiro Agnew. Neil recalled Jimmy Carter in 1976 became the first to seriously vet potential VPs after the mishaps of Agnew’s vice presidency and Thomas Eagleton withdrew from George McGovern’s ticket when it was revealed he had previously been hospitalized for depression. Natalia pointed to Walter Mondale’s selection of Geraldine Ferraro as an important turning point in making the VP about an identity-based choice rather than a geographically-based on.

• It’s the summer and everyone is headed to the beach. But for most of history, people stayed away from the seashore. Neil explained European elites began going to the beach in the eighteenth century during the industrial revolution in order to get “fresh air” and an invigorating plunge in the waters. Natalia recommended Andrew Kahrl’s history of African-American beaches, The Land Was Ours, for understanding the history of racial segregation at the beach, and Jeff Wiltse’s book, Contested Waters, that examines the politics of the swimming pool. Natalia also pointed to Stephen Carter’s novel, The Emperor of Ocean Park, for a depiction of how elite African-Americans found escape in the resort community on Martha’s Vineyard, Oaks Bluff. Neil noted gay and lesbian Americans had also escaped to their own beach communities like Provincetown and Fire Island.

• The International Olympic Committee failed to issue a blanket ban on Russia’s participation in the Rio Games despite evidence of widespread doping among its athletes. While countries have been banned or boycotted the games before, Natalia argued this possible ban was different because it was about rules of the game rather than political reasons that had kept countries away before. Natalia also commented that athletes since the first Olympics have used some form of performance enhancing substances.

In our regular closing feature, What’s Making History:

• Natalia discussed the threats Jessica Valenti has received online after tweeting about her excitement watching Hillary Clinton’s nomination with her young daughter.

• Neil commented on the religious history of Las Vegas and shared an article about street preachers on the Strip.

• Niki talked about the history of optimism and politics. 

Episode 44: Pokemon Go, Turkey's Coup, and the Irony of Reform

On this week's episode, Neil, Natalia, and Niki debate the history of Pokemon Go, the near-coup in Turkey, and the unintended consequences of political reform.

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show:

• The whole world seems to be playing Pokemon Go. Natalia situated the app game in a history of bug collecting but also the long tradition of fears about technology. Neil noted fears about technology went back to the printing press, but Niki commented Pokemon Go reversed the usual fears about children being stuck inside playing video games to the new worry that Pokemon Go was sending children out into a dangerous world. Natalia added that there were plenty of fears about so many adults wasting time playing the game too, and recommended Gary Cross’s book, Men to Boys, as a history of cultural fears about male immaturity. Natalia pointed out the game’s designers envisioned Pokemon Go as an exercise app that would get people out into nature. Neil connected that to the nineteenth century pastime of collecting, including butterfly collecting.
•  
• The staged military coup in Turkey failed, but why are Americans confused about which side to support? Neil argued Americans didn’t know what to make of Erdogan, a democratically-elected leader who had increasingly become autocratic. Natalia situated American responses to the coup in the history of the U.S. viewing Turkey as its most important ally in the region. Niki argued that since the Truman Doctrine of 1947, the U.S. has held Turkey up as an example of democracy and secularism in the Middle East, but had often prized stability over democracy in Turkey and other allied countries. Niki cited Jeane Kirkpatrick’s classic essay “Dictatorships and Democracy” that advocated an American foreign policy that could ignore human rights abuses and align with autocratic right-wing leaders as long as they were useful to American interests.
•  
• In the third segment, Natalia, Niki, and Neil debated Jonathan Rauch’s recent essay in the Atlantic, “How American Politics Went Insane.”

In our regular closing feature, What’s Making History:

• Natalia commented on the Project MOST organization in East Hampton, New York.

• Neil shared a brief history of children sent through the mail.

• Niki discussed the history of floor votes at political conventions. 

Episode 43: Dallas, Conventions, and Vaccines

In this week's episode, Niki, Natalia, and Neil debate the police shooting in Dallas, the role of conventions in presidential politics, and the rise of anti-vaccine activism. 

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show:

• The nation is grieving the death of five Dallas police officers, one of the deadliest events for police in the nation’s history. Natalia observed the shootings immediately conjured memories of JFK’s assassination in Dallas in 1963. Niki commented that the immediate aftermath of both events had parallels as well, as Dallas the “City of Hate” was blamed for killing JFK rather than Lee Harvey Oswald acting alone much as some have charged Black Lives Matter is responsible for the police officers’ deaths rather than the individual gunman. Neil rooted the history of police and African-American relations in the Reconstruction period where Southern towns established police forces to use the Thirteenth Amendment’s loophole to re-enslave African Americans who committed even the smallest infractions. For present context, Natalia cited a piece by a Dallas native that pointed out the city was losing police officers to surrounding suburbs that could pay more. Neil described how the Blank Panther movement’s militarization in the 1960s led to wide public support from white Americans, including Governor Ronald Reagan who passed a gun control bill in California in response to Black Power demonstrations in his state. Niki recommended David Graham’s Atlantic article, “The Second Amendment’s Second-Class Citizens,” for more reading on this.

• It’s time for the Republican and Democratic conventions! Niki situated this summer’s conventions in a long history that showed their changing role in the political process. Neil remarked on the Republican politicians who have said they won’t attend this year, and the many humorous explanations they’ve come up with for why they have to miss rather than saying it is because of Donald Trump. Natalia and Niki both outlined the long history of violence at political conventions; Niki pinpointed the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago as a turning point when the violence moved from the convention floor to the outside. That was about intraparty skirmishes, so Neil offered the 2004 Republican Convention in New York City as another turning point because now non-Republican protestors assembled outside the convention hall to protest the proceedings going on inside. Niki also spoke about her upcoming attendance at the Republican National Convention where she’ll be providing historical analysis for the assembled media.

• A California law requiring parents immunize their children in order to register for school has now gone into effect. Natalia explained the anti-vaccination movement has defended their cause on the basis of “parental rights” and also with the language of “wellness” and “natural living.” Niki cited the political scientist Brendan Nyhan’s work that showed ridicule has not been an effective tool in changing the minds of anti-vaxxers. Neil observed that African-American mistrust of the medical establishment and public health efforts owed to a history that has included forced sterilizations and the Tuskegee syphilis experiment. Niki recommended Rebecca Skloot’s book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, as a good source on that history. But Niki also pointed to the larger suspicion of science among white Americans following World War II because of the rise of the nuclear bomb and the complicity of Dow Chemicals in the production of napalm for the Vietnam War, something Robert Neer documents in his recent book Napalm: An American Biography. Natalia recommended Alondra Nelson’s book, Body and Soul, and Jason Johnson’s article “Where are the Black Anti-Vaxxers in the Measles Debate?” for further reading on African-American responses to the medical establishment and vaccination. Neil discussed the politics of the vaccination debate, including conservative support for vaccination mandates as “good government” and attacking anti-vaxxers as “anti-science liberals,” but noted conservatives didn’t seem concerned about parental rights in this case. Niki noted that conservatives did use parental arguments, however, to oppose HPV vaccination mandates.  

In our regular closing feature, What’s Making History:

• Natalia commented on the photograph of Ieshia Evans and the Baton Rouge police that has gone viral. 
• Neil shared the blog post Just. One. Book. If you are interested in donating to the Greenville Junior/Senior High School library, you can find their Amazon wish list here.
• Niki discussed the 1927 book The President’s Daughter by Nan Britton.

Episode 42: Elie Wiesel, Clinton's Emails, and Guns N Roses

In this week's episode, Niki, Natalia, and Neil debate Elie Wiesel's impact on Americans' memory of the Holocaust, the place of Clinton's email controversy in presidential scandals, and the legacy of Guns N Roses.

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show:

• The Holocaust memoirist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel died at the age of 87. Natalia explained how Wiesel’s memoir of his time in Auschwitz, Night, had gone largely unnoticed in the U.S. until the trial of Adolf Eichmann trial in 1960 raised American curiosity about the Holocaust. Niki contrasted Wiesel’s treatment of the Holocaust as a singular horror that transcended history with those of Victor Frankl who saw the Holocaust as a human act rooted in history and of Raphael Lemkin who in trying to come up with a language to make sense of the Holocaust coined the term “genocide.” Natalia recalled Wiesel’s visit to Auschwitz with Oprah Winfrey where he rejected Winfrey’s interpretation of his story as a triumph over adversity. Natalia also pointed to critics of Wiesel, such as Corey Robin, who have accused him of sacralizing the Holocaust while unquestioningly defending Israel. Niki recommended Peter Novick’s The Holocaust in American Life for understanding how the Holocaust banished anti-Semitism from American public life, and Natalia cited Matthew Frye Jacobson’s Whiteness of a Different Color for an explanation of how Jews were “whitened” in American society following the Holocaust.  

• The FBI has announced it will not recommend to the Justice Department that Hillary Clinton be indicted over her use of a private server for her emails while Secretary of State. Neil set Clinton’s email scandal in a longer history of Clinton controversies and a pattern of insignificant scandals leading to bigger problems, such as how the Whitewater investigation uncovered the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Niki noted that pattern was relevant here too, as the Benghazi investigation ultimately led to the email scandal. Natalia shared Claire Potter’s Public Seminar essay that lamented Clinton’s deleted emails as a loss for historians. Niki argued Clinton’s email scandal fit in a long history of worries about the State Department that go back to the Cold War years, including Joseph McCarthy’s allegation of Communist infiltration of the State Department, the “Lavender Scare,” and the Alger Hiss spy case.

• Guns N’ Roses have launched a reunion tour. Natalia contended the reunion was noteworthy for bringing Axl Rose and Slash back together after their messy breakup, but added the group’s original fame came as much from their scandalous personalities as it did their music. Neil remembered the music had provoked controversy as well, especially the racist and homophobic lyrics of their 1989 song “One In A Million,” that drew strong rebukes, including from Tipper Gore. Niki wondered how subversive Guns N’ Roses should be seen today, especially considering they had launched their reunion tour at the highly-commercialized Coachella Festival.

In our regular closing feature, What’s Making History:

• Natalia commented on Autumn Whitefield-Madrano’s new book Face Value: The Hidden Ways Beauty Shapes Women’s Lives.

• Neil discussed how the six-pointed star became associated with Judaism.

• Niki shared Sam Lebovic’s essay, “The Surprisingly Short History of American Secrecy.”

Episode 41: Pat Summitt, Hellerstedt, and the Democratic Sit-In

On this week's episode, Neil, Natalia, and Niki debate the legacy of basketball coach Pat Summitt, the place of Women's Whole Health v. Hellerstedt in America's abortion debate, and the House Democrats' sit-in over gun control.

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show:

• The winningest college basketball coach, Pat Summitt of the University of Tennessee, died last week at the age of 64. Neil commented on Summit’s incredible achievements on the court and argued she was the most important figure in the history of women’s college athletics. Natalia cited the importance of Title IX in the Summitt’s career and recommended Mary Jo Festle’s Playing Nice, a history of women’s college athletics. Neil noted Summitt’s most important legacy may be her 45 former athletes who went on to become basketball coaches. Neil also recommended the HBO documentary “A Cinderella Story: The Lady Vols Fight Back” and Summitt’s 2013 memoir Sum It Up.

• In Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt, the Supreme Court overturned Texas’ abortion restrictions. Natalia noted that since Roe v. Wade, states have placed various restrictions on the right to abortion, including the recent TRAP laws. Niki viewed Hellerstedt as a real reversal for the Supreme Court that has historically supported these earlier restrictions, such as the Hyde Amendment. With Hellerstedt, Niki argued the Court had given power to the 1992 decision Planned Parenthood v. Casey that established the “undue burden” test. Neil noted the pro-life movement had shifted to talking about abortion through the language of “religious liberty” rather than as a single issue. Niki and Natalia noted there had been a shifting language about abortion that sought to normalize it as a routine medical procedure for women, including the recent trend of “I had an abortion” essays.

• Democrats recently staged a sit-in of Congress to demand a vote on gun reform. Neil argued that the sit-in drew on the moral authority of the Civil Rights Movement, made all the more powerful since they were led by Congressman John Lewis who had been a civil rights activist in the 1960s, and because social media turned the sit-ins into a viral sensation. Niki observed the Civil Rights Movement had been a media story too as the news networks televised the sit-in protests to a national audience. Natalia noted that conservative media had also covered the Congressional sit-ins, blasting the Democrats for ordering catering and using the sit-in to fundraise. Niki recommended David Greenberg’s article for The Sixties that showed how the idea of “liberal media bias” came out of the mainstream coverage of the Civil Rights Movement. Niki has written about the divisions within the Democratic Party over the proposed gun measures, particularly those that focus on the terror watch lists.

In our regular closing feature, What’s Making History:

• Natalia commented on Rachel Adams recent Public Books essay “Disability Narratives” and the forthcoming documentary, “Blind Date.”

• Neil discussed the Southern Baptist Convention’s passage of a resolution against the Confederate flag.

• Niki talked about the controversy over the Chronicle of Higher Education’s “Trump Syllabus” and the response by some historians to create a Trump 2.0 Syllabus. Niki also recommended the introduction to the Trump 2.0 syllabus authored by N. D. B. Connolly and Keisha N. Blain for the African American Intellectual History Association blog.

Episode 40: Brexit, Camps for Grownups, and Trump's Missing Campaign

On this week’s episode, Natalia, Neil, and Niki discuss Brexit, Adult Camps, and Trump’s faltering campaign.

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show:

• Voters in Britain passed a referendum supporting the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union. Neil explained that although Brexit was supported by the minority party UKIP, it was able to bring the referendum to a vote because Prime Minister David Cameron promised he’d allow it if reelected in 2015 and because, as Niki pointed out, deep divisions in Cameron’s own Conservative Party. Natalia and Neil situated the Brexit vote in other historical questions about British unity, including the Irish Home Rule movement and the recent Scottish independence movement. Neil observed the British “leave” voters reminded him of white ethnic voters in Jonathan Reider’s history of Canarsie who left the Democratic Party as it moved away from labor rights to civil rights.

• More than a million Americans attended adult sleep-away camp last year. But why are they going? Natalia put these camps in the context of other popular childlike activities for adults, like adult coloring books and adult pre-school. Neil noted recent sociological arguments about the “extended adolescence” of adult urban-dwellers might help explain the adult camp phenomenon. Natalia shared that the summer camp consultant Jessica Borstein had also explained that changing economic circumstances, including children attending for shorter sessions, meant camps were looking to adult campers for additional revenue. Niki outlined the history of summer camps that originated in the 1880s as a way for boys living in cities to develop masculine traits. Neil noted the history of religious camps, particularly popular among Jewish Americans. Natalia connected that history to the rise of the Esalen Institute in the 1960s, as detailed in Jeffrey Kripal’s history of the California New Age retreat. Neil traced the desire to retreat to nature to find one’s “authentic self” back to Henry David Thoreau’s escape to Walden Pond. Natalia commented that the adult sleepaway camp Soul Camp focused on tapping into one’s authentic self and using camp as a time for personal growth.

• Donald Trump’s campaign barely exists. In a recent column for U.S. News and World Report, Niki argued Trump’s lack of campaign had consequences not only for his November prospects but also for the GOP’s long-term. Neil observed Past Present’s early episode on Trump served as a cautionary tale about making predictions of Trump’s political future. Natalia noted recent articles have argued Trump has really carried out this presidential campaign to launch his own national news network. Niki remarked that political scientists have long argued campaigns don’t matter in determining election results, but she also contended Trump’s campaign has overturned most conventional wisdom about politics.

In our regular closing feature, What’s Making History:

• Natalia commented on the new season of the Netflix series Orange is the New Black. She also recommended the Atlantic’s episode-by-episode guide to the show.

• Neil shared a brief history of the summer internship.

• Niki discussed the Atlantic’s article, “The War on Stupid People.”

Episode 39: Orlando - The City Beautiful, Histories of Violence, and Presidential Empathy

On this week's episode, Neil, Natalia, and Niki discuss the Orlando shooting, focusing on the history of the city, the attack's place in the many histories of violence, and the role of presidential empathy in responding to national crises. 

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show:

• The world is focused on Orlando after the horrific shooting at the Pulse Nightclub. Neil talked about what it meant for this tragedy to take place in his hometown, something he wrote about for Public Seminar this week. Natalia noted the references to Orlando in the musical Book of Mormon made humor of the city’s association with wholesome Disney World. Niki added that although Disney had a conservative reputation, it had hosted “gay days” at the Orlando theme park since 1991 much to the ire of conservatives at the time. Natalia shared how John Findlay’s history of Disneyland, Magic Lands, showed how the original park in Anaheim operated as a refuge from California’s hippie culture in the 1960s and offered discounts to heterosexual married couples. Niki observed how Orlando’s rising Hispanic population had shifted the politics of the region.

• The attack on the Pulse Nightclub was the deadliest shooting in US history, but part of a long history of violence at gay establishments. Natalia noted how although many think of the 1969 Stonewall riot as launching the gay liberation movement, the historian George Chauncey’s book Gay New York showed how gay men and women had found community in gay bars since the 1890s. Niki shared the story of the 1973 arson of the UpStairs Lounge, a New Orleans gay nightclub, which killed thirty-two people, the worst massacre of gay people before the Orlando shooting. Natalia recommended Richard Kim’s essay in the Nation that described how gay nightclubs served as a sanctuary for the LGBT community, particularly in the aftermath of the AIDS crisis. Niki situated the Pulse Nightclub attack in the rise of lone wolf terrorism of the past decade. And Natalia mentioned the historian Jonathan Zimmerman’s recent editorial which noted the importance of acknowledging Islamic homophobia for understanding the different motivations for the Orlando shooter.

• In the aftermath of the Orlando shooting, public officials have sought to communicate their empathy for the victims and their families. But what is the history of empathy? Neil explained the word had only been around since the early twentieth century, coming from a German psychological term. Although many credit Bill Clinton for making empathy a component of presidential politics, Niki saw Lyndon Johnson’s response to the Civil Rights Movement, particularly his Voting Rights Act address to Congress in 1965, as the origin of empathetic presidential politics. Neil contrasted Johnson’s empathetic response to black Americans with the example of contemporary Republican politicians who have refused to acknowledge the victims of the Orlando shooting were gay Latinos. Natalia noted the works of the historian James T. Sears showed how hard it had been for gay Southerners to create a community in a time when little empathy was shown to them.  

In our regular closing feature, What’s Making History:

• Natalia commented on the Time Magazine article, “Your Baby Is a Racist,” and recommended the Brad Meltzer “I Am” children’s book series and Duncan Tonatiuh’s Separate Is Never Equal.

• Neil shared why the decline in high school driver’s ed courses matters.

• Niki discussed the history of fashion magazines in the 1930s.

Episode 38: Muhammad Ali, Brock Turner, and the First Woman Nominee

On this week's episode, Niki, Neil, and Natalia debate the legacy of Muhammad Ali, the aftermath of the Brock Turner trial, and America's first woman nominated to the presidency by a major party.

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show:

• Muhammad Ali died last week at the age of 74. Natalia remarked on a life that was as notable for Ali’s political activism as it was for his athletic prowess. She also connected Ali’s story to Jane Fonda, another celebrity known for both her fitness empire and her controversial political activism during the Vietnam War. Neil commented on how Ali’s religious conversion to Nation of Islam was seen as one of his most radical acts. Niki commented American attitudes about the Nation of Islam had been shaped in part by the 1959 documentary The Hate that Hate Produced and by James Baldwin’s 1963 book The Fire Next Time that used the Nation of Islam as a foil to the Civil Rights Movement. Baldwin argued that America had to deal with the Civil Rights Movement or it risked having to deal with “the fire next time” from the Nation of Islam and black radicalism.

• The sentencing of Brock Turner, the Stanford swimmer convicted of raping a woman, the just six months in jail has provoked tremendous outrage. Neil argued the case had generated so much response because of the powerful letter the victim read in the courtroom to her attacker and the entitled and appalling letter Brock’s father sent to the judge. Natalia commented on Stanford’s influence in the culture and politics of the Bay Area as relevant to the case, but also noted the school’s public statement on the crime. Niki argued the history of victim impact statements raised important questions about how we think about the law, emotions, and fairness in these cases. Neil observed the Supreme Court had taken conflicting views on victim impact statements, banning them in 1987 and then overturning that ruling in 1991. Niki saw the rise of victim impact statements as a response to the legal decisions of the 1960s that extended greater rights to the accused, including Gideon v. Wainright (1963) which required states to provide counsel in criminal cases to defendants who cannot pay for an attorney and Miranda v. Arizona (1966) which established Miranda rights. Natalia thought it was important to understand the Stanford case in the context of sexual violence cases, and recommended Estelle Freedman’s book Redefining Rape. Natalia also shared Freedman’s recent op-ed in the New York Times that showed how feminists used expanding legal rights for women to challenge judges who gave lenient sentencing in rape cases, a relevant historical context for understanding the movement to recall Aaron Persky, the judge in Brock Turner’s case.

• Hillary Clinton made history last week when she became the first woman to capture the presidential nomination of a major political party. Niki situated Clinton’s political career within a long history of American women and politics, starting with Abigail Adams’s 1776 letter that instructed her husband to “remember the ladies” as he worked to establish the new nation. Natalia cited Rebecca Traister’s recent New York magazine profile of Clinton which recounted a lifetime of overcoming gender barriers. Neil found Clinton’s victory speech remarkable for how much it focused on the history-making nature of her candidacy, something the campaign has generally downplayed in 2016.

In our regular closing feature, What’s Making History:

• Natalia chatted about the JSTOR daily blogpost, “Students Don’t Just Need Grit, They Need Agency.”

• Neil commented on a possible Supreme Court case concerning the citizenship rights of American Samoans.

• Niki discussed the history of death photography.

Episode 37: Harambe the Gorilla, Baylor Football, and Peter Thiel's Gawker Vendetta

On this week’s Past Present podcast, Niki, Neil, and Natalia discuss Harambe, Ken Starr at Baylor, and Peter Thiel’s attack on Gawker.

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show:

• Cincinnati Zoo officials recently killed Harambe, a silverback gorilla, when a four-year-old boy slipped into the gorilla exhibit, drawing outrage from many Americans. Natalia explained the boy was able to enter the gorilla exhibit because of significant changes in zoo designs in the twentieth century that allowed for more open enclosures. Niki reminded that zoos once displayed people too, exhibiting non-white humans as objects to be examined, such as shown in Pamela Newkirk’s recent book Spectacle, the story of Ota Benga. Natalia noted the writer Shaun King had argued racism was partly responsible for those who were blaming the four-year-old’s mother, a black woman, for Harambe’s shooting. Many of these people have demanded child protective services intervene, a striking development for Neil as he noted nineteenth century child protective laws grew out of animal welfare legislation. 
• Baylor University removed Ken Starr as its president after it was determined the university failed to properly investigate sexual assault complaints against the school’s football players. Neil explained Baylor’s conservative campus culture is guided by a strict student conduct code that bans drinking and premarital sex. Niki argued conduct codes at conservative universities often depend on older ideas about gender roles, drinking, and sexuality that complicate how rape is understood and handled on these campuses, such as in the recent controversy over sexual assaults at Brigham Young University. Neil noted, however, that several Baylor women who had been victims of rape had created blogs that urged the university to reform itself as an expression of its Christian mission rather than a feminist cause. Neil connected the Baylor football scandal to those at other universities including the University of North Carolina and the University of Louisville, while Niki noted the question of whether NCAA athletes should be paid loomed over all these incidents as one means of reform. Natalia cited Jonathan Zimmerman’s Los Angeles Times editorial, “Blame Football, Not Title IX,” that argued the largest inequality on college campuses today was not between men’s and women’s athletic programs but between football and all other sports.
• Internet billionaire Peter Thiel revealed last week that he has been secretly funding Hulk Hogan’s lawsuit and other suits against Gawker Media. Thiel’s vendetta against Gawker stems from the website publicly outing him as gay in a 2007 story. Neil noted a 2011 New Yorker profile of Thiel suggested Thiel’s own discomfort with his sexuality as a public matter, but he raised the question of whether “outing” should still be considered a thing in 2016. Niki noted American laws that protected media companies against libel suits made the US an exception especially compared to Britain where Natalia noted courts had recently ruled a British newspaper could not publish news about a celebrity’s affair, deeming it “unacceptable speech.” Niki shared the open letter from Nick Denton, Gawker’s publisher, which argued Thiel’s use of his billions to take down a media company was an attack on press freedoms. And Natalia noted Thiel’s desire to roll back the 1964 Supreme Court ruling in Sullivan v. New York Times which established the malice standard that has to be met before press stories about public officials can be considered defamation or libel.

In our regular closing feature, What’s Making History:

• Natalia discussed Colin Stokes’s New Yorker essay on how the Frog and Toad children’s book series was a celebration of same-sex love.
• Neil shared a New York Magazine blog post about why New Yorkers have always worn black.
• Niki talked about Stuart Whatley’s history of boredom.

Episode 36: Trump's Tax Returns, Hiroshima, and High Heels

On this week’s Past Present podcast, Natalia, Neil, and Niki discuss presidential candidates and income taxes, Obama in Japan, and the history of high heels.

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show:

• Donald Trump has refused to release his tax returns, but why do Americans care about seeing them? Neil argued that in a post-Watergate landscape, Americans want transparency from the presidential candidates and income tax returns provide one demonstration of this. Niki agreed but noted that Watergate had made Americans forget that Richard Nixon was already ensnared in a controversy over the IRS auditing him in 1973 for how little federal taxes he’d been paying. Natalia remarked that Nixon had called for transparency from politicians regarding finances in his 1952 Checkers speech. Niki commented that tax returns sometimes demonstrated that politicians had given little charitable donations, something that Neil remembered tripped Ted Cruz up when it was revealed he tithed less than one percent of his income.
• President Obama became the first sitting president to visit Hiroshima since its bombing seventy-one years ago. Natalia argued that American attitudes towards Japan were marked by a juxtaposition of racism and respect as seen in the 1907 Gentleman’s Agreement and in President Truman’s decision to use the atomic bomb. Neil mentioned that anti-Japanese propaganda, including cartoons drawn by Theodor Geisel (Dr. Seuss), built American support for dropping the atomic bomb by dehumanizing the Japanese people. Natalia shared the 1945 Frank Sinatra film The House I Live In which used the idea of the Japanese as enemies to unite Protestants, Catholics, and Jews in an American identity. Niki remarked that the question to bomb Hiroshima remained an unsettled one for Americans as reflected in the 1994 controversy over the Smithsonian’s plans for an Enola Gay exhibit. Natalia recommended the popular children’s book Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes which taught a generation of American children about the horrors of Hiroshima.
• Megan Garber’s recent Atlantic essay considered the high heel in long-form. Neil noted that high heels originated as a shoe for men, worn first by Persian equestrians and then taken up by the European aristocracy. 1940s pinup models brought high heels back after a brief absence, Niki observed, which were then mainstream by 1950s housewives. Natalia cited Kathy Peiss’s book, Hope in a Jar, showed a similar history of changing ideas about makeup in this period. Yet Natalia noted in the 1960s, some feminists saw high heels as a tool of oppression, such as the protestors at the 1968 Miss America pageant. But others, like Helen Gurley Brown in her book Sex and the Single Girl, championed high heels as a celebration of an empowered femininity. Natalia also mentioned Peggy Orenstein’s recent book, Girls & Sex, that found college girls feel confident when they wear items like high heels, but the confidence comes from feeling sexually validated.

In our regular closing feature, What’s Making History:

• Natalia discussed Stanford law professor Rabia Belt’s research on the obstacles disabled Americans face in voting.
• Neil shared the story of an enameled mug from the Auschwitz museum.
• Niki talked about a history of vacuum cleaners from Popular Mechanics.

Episode 35: Lethal Injection, PC Culture, and Closeted Clinton Voters

On this week’s Past Present podcast, Niki, Natalia, and Neil discuss the history of America’s death penalty, political correctness, and Hillary Clinton’s “enthusiasm gap.”

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show:

• The last U.S. pharmaceutical company has stopped selling drugs used for lethal injections. American attitudes about the death penalty have shifted dramatically over time, Niki noted, including a significant drop in public support after World War II because of European allies banning the practice. Natalia mentioned Mary Dudziak’s book Cold War Civil Rights which showed how the international community looked at the death penalty as another example of America’s racial problems during the Cold War. Natalia also argued that events like the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and the 1995 Oklahoma City bombings led to President Clinton signing the 1996 Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act which cut back on regulations on executions. Neil cited the rise of DNA science and the funding of “innocence projects” for changing American attitudes about the death penalty.
• What’s wrong with political correctness? Both the right and left are taking on America’s P.C. culture. Jonathan Haidt warned in the Atlantic last year about the “Coddling of the American Mind,” and Jonathan Chait recently wrote for New York Magazine about “Not a Very P.C. Thing to Say.” Natalia traced the origins of political correctness to the debates within the American communist movement in the 1930s. Neil noted the positive meaning of political correctness in the 1950s and 1960s when politicians used it to speak about their own correct policies. That changed in the 1970s and 1980s, Niki argued, when politics were no longer seen favorably and in the 1990s when the Dartmouth Review and Dinesh D’Souza’s Illiberal Education (1991) began to push back at P.C. campus culture.
• The Harvard student Sam Koppelman recently wrote about the challenge of supporting Hillary Clinton on a liberal campus. Throughout this election, Clinton has suffered from what has been called an “enthusiasm gap.” Natalia argued Clinton struggled from being seen as a status quo candidate, while Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump benefitted from being viewed as critics of the system. But Niki remembered when Clinton was recently “cool,” such as in the popularity of Clinton memes like “Texts from Hillary.” Niki also discussed the Bradley effect, a theory concerning the discrepancy between voter opinion polls and election outcomes, as a possible component of the 2016 race.

In our regular closing feature, What’s Making History:

• Natalia discussed the Wall Street Journal’s finding that most Americans do not know about the gig economy.
• Neil shared Annette Gordon-Reed’s essay about reading biographies as a young person. Neil also recommended Fawn Brodie’s biography of Joseph Smith, No Man Knows My History.
• Niki talked about the Guardian’s article, “The Day We Discovered Our Parents were Russian Spies.”