Retropod

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Retropod is a show for history lovers, featuring stories about the past, rediscovered. Host Mike Rosenwald introduces you to history’s most colorful characters - forgotten heroes, overlooked villains, dreamers, explorers, world changers. Available every weekday morning.

The Washington Post

  • Dec 31, 2019 LATEST EPISODE
  • infrequent NEW EPISODES
  • 4m AVG DURATION
  • 486 EPISODES


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Latest episodes from Retropod

Earthrise

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 31, 2019 5:21


On Christmas Eve in 1968, the Apollo 8 astronauts captured an image that symbolizes hope and inspired environmentalism.

Hair peace. Bed peace.

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 30, 2019 5:54


On March 25, 1969, John Lennon and Yoko Ono were a few days into their marriage when they invited the press to join them at their honeymoon suite at the Amsterdam Hilton Hotel.

The jazz queen who chose home over fame

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 27, 2019 6:34


Jazz singer Ethel Ennis’s voice wowed audiences and won praise from critics. But when she was faced with the opportunity to become a superstar, Ennis chose a different path.

Clara Barton, America's most famous nurse, broke boundaries to treat Civil War victims

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 26, 2019 7:08


The nurse who founded the American Red Cross had no formal training in medicine. She tended to countless wounded soldiers.

The military's famous Santa Tracker began with a wrong number

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 25, 2019 6:27


In the 1950s, a child trying to call Santa Claus accidentally called NORAD and changed Christmas Eve forever.

The 'Toy King' who never aspired to the throne.

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 23, 2019 6:21


Toys R Us founder Charles Lazarus had no idea how big the toy industry would become.

Last Seen Ads

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 20, 2019 6:53


After the Civil War, formerly enslaved people placed notices in black-owned newspapers across the country to find their loved ones.

How 'Broadway Joe' redefined the NFL

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 19, 2019 6:33


A few days before his team took the field as huge underdogs in Super Bowl III, New York Jets quarterback Joe Namath made what was seen as an insane prediction at the time: "The Jets will win Sunday," he said. "I guarantee it."

The game show contestant who cheated his way to fame

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 18, 2019 6:48


In the 1950s, Charles Van Doren, a quiet professor in New York City, became wrapped up in one of the biggest television quiz show scandals in history.

How food found its way into the freezer

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 17, 2019 6:22


While on a research trip to the Arctic in the early 20th century, scientist Clarence Birdseye — a name you might recognize from the frozen food aisle — made an observation that would go on to change the way we eat.

The day before the Chernobyl disaster

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 16, 2019 7:22


Disasters don’t just happen. Like anything in life, there’s usually a buildup. In the case of the Chernobyl disaster, the series of failures stretched back more than a decade. But what happened the day before the explosion?

The most difficult job Robert Mueller ever had

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 13, 2019 6:12


Serving as special counsel is probably only the third hardest job Robert Mueller has held. His life in public service started when he just 23 years old, as a Marine lieutenant in the Vietnam War.

Queen Arawelo

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 12, 2019 7:11


Growing up in Somalia, a country where stories are handed down through generations, one of the first tales that children are told is about an ancient queen who fought to give women power by castrating men.

The nurse who picked up a rifle

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 11, 2019 4:16


During World War I, British nurse Flora Sandes put down her nurses bag to fight with the Serbian Army.

George Taliaferro, the first black player drafted to the NFL

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 10, 2019 6:18


He thought being drafted into the National Football League was so unlikely that he signed with an African American league team. Then, the NFL called.

The summer men rebelled against their shirts

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 9, 2019 5:29


It doesn't seem like a big deal today, but 1930s America lived in fear of the male nipple.

America’s forgotten Iranian hostage

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 6, 2019 5:17


Nine months before the Iran hostage crisis, Kenneth Kraus was held hostage in Iran for eight days.

A bridge of ice at Niagara Falls

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 5, 2019 5:26


Once upon a time, people walked between the U.S. and Canada over a frozen Niagara Falls. But one day, that all changed forever.

The Soviet officer who stopped World War III

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 4, 2019 5:16


In 1983, Stanislav Petrov, a lieutenant colonel in the Soviet Union’s Air Defense Forces, trusted his gut and averted a global nuclear catastrophe.

Why isn’t lynching illegal?

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 3, 2019 6:35


It is one of the worst expressions of racism in American history. And there’s no federal law to prevent it.

A letter from home

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 2, 2019 3:31


A German woman discovered that her childhood home was stolen from a Jewish family who fled Nazi Germany. Last year, she tracked down the address of one of the children, and wrote him a letter.

The test that changed childbirth

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 29, 2019 6:41


In the 1950s, Dr. Virginia Apgar created a quick test that nurses have since performed on millions of babies just after birth. She is considered one of the most important figures in modern medicine — a world that almost pushed her away.

A debate that went into extra innings: Can baseballs curve?

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 28, 2019 7:14


Beginning in the earliest days of baseball, fans, journalists and even physicists disputed whether or not pitchers could make a ball curve.

Benjamin Franklin's complicated relationship with turkeys

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 27, 2019 5:56


Benjamin Franklin, the most colorful of America's Founding Fathers, had a misunderstood, electrical and ultimately homicidal relationship with turkeys.

The cranberry crisis that changed how we see our food

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 26, 2019 5:56


Weeks before Thanksgiving, 1959, cranberries were declared unsafe to eat. The race was on to save America’s favorite holiday side dish.

How Anita Hill’s testimony led to the "Year of the Woman"

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 25, 2019 6:24


No women served on the Senate Judiciary Committee in 1991. The ugly Anita Hill hearings changed that.

The man who filmed JFK's assassination

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 22, 2019 3:48


For many, memories of that devastating day quickly revert to that silent, flickering sequence captured by Abraham Zapruder. It is as chilling as it is familiar: the approaching convertible, the waves of a crowd about to lose its innocence.

The 'Night Witches'

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 21, 2019 4:56


During World War II, around 80 Russian women took to the skies and risked their lives to fight against the Germans.

Robert Morris, the creator of the subpoena

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 20, 2019 6:05


The history of subpoenas, and the fiery congressional hearings that have captivated Americans for centuries began with a Founding Father raising his hand to say, “Investigate me!”

Lee Harvey Oswald's final hours before killing Kennedy

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 19, 2019 3:54


The assassination of President John F. Kennedy devastated the nation. But the day before the shooting was just a normal day. It was particularly calm and uneventful for the gunman, Lee Harvey Oswald.

Ketamine in the mainstream

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 18, 2019 5:53


Once a party drug, ketamine has found its way into modern medicine.

The first 'Queen of the Air'

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 14, 2019 6:38


Four years before Amelia Earhart ever got into a plane, Ruth Law was already making a name for herself in the skies.

Judy Garland and the long history of 'Me Too' in Hollywood

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 13, 2019 6:13


Sexual harassment has been existed in showbiz as long as there have been bright lights.

Jim Crow and the rise of blackface

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 12, 2019 6:13


Back in the 1830s, Jim Crow wasn't yet a symbol of inequality. He was a fictional character in minstrel shows who, to entertain his audiences, performed in blackface.

The policeman who arrested a president

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 11, 2019 6:01


After receiving complaints about carriages driving too fast, Washington D.C. policeman William H. West arrested a presidential speed demon.

A history of the U.S.-Mexico border

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 8, 2019 7:42


For decades, the boundary between Mexico and the United States was little more than an imaginary line in the sand.

The godmother of the open office

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 7, 2019 6:52


If you work in an office without offices, with just about everyone working in a large spare space full of stylish desks, straight lines and papers stored in a credenza, then you have met Florence Knoll Bassett.

The Wicked Bible

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 6, 2019 5:39


A full year after the King James Bible was printed in 1631, people discovered an error.

The Confederate spy who evaded capture

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 5, 2019 8:00


After the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, John Surratt traveled across three continents, wore disguises and used fake names for nearly two years to escape authorities.

Pinball’s sordid past

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 4, 2019 6:46


Pinball was once so vilified that it was banned in cities across the United States.

The last person to step foot on the moon

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 1, 2019 5:38


When Eugene Cernan walked on the moon, he didn’t know he’d be the last astronaut to make the journey.

A history of hats in the House

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 31, 2019 6:57


In the early days of the House, some congresspeople thought hats had no place atop the heads of representatives debating the great issues of the day. Hats, they argued, weren’t dignified.

Tenure for life

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 30, 2019 7:51


When Alexander Hamilton argued in favor of lifetime tenures for Supreme Court justices, he probably didn’t foresee them living past their prime.

How Lego took over the toy world

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 29, 2019 7:11


Lego started as a company that made wooden toys, and grew into an empire of plastic building blocks.

The researcher whose rats predicted the Internet

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 28, 2019 7:28


John Calhoun’s rodent experiments revolutionized the way we think about social behavior and the impact of growing populations.

A brief history of presidents visiting troops in combat

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 25, 2019 6:51


Presidents throughout history have visited battlefields to better grasp conditions, reverse public doubt and signal that the country took war efforts seriously.

William Howard Taft's housekeeper kept track of his weight

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 24, 2019 4:39


White House maid Elizabeth Jaffray not only cleaned up after presidents, she had an amazing insight into their appetites.

In 1939, the 'American Hitler' took the stage at Madison Square Garden

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 23, 2019 5:39


Fritz Kuhn was the leader of the pro-Nazi group known as the German American Bund. He was a hero to his audience, and a scourge on the world to most others.

The astronomer who took gay rights to the Supreme Court

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 22, 2019 5:42


After being fired from his job for being gay, Frank Kameny took his battle for equality to the nation’s highest court.

The first campus shooting

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 21, 2019 4:15


A professor at The University of Virginia was fatally shot by a student in 1840.

The origins of the Unknown Soldier

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 18, 2019 6:08


The story of how the anonymous soldier came to rest inside the famous tomb is almost as unknown as his identity.

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