Podcast appearances and mentions of Scott W Stern

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 2, 2024 is: forfend • for-FEND • verb Forfend is used in contexts relating to some kind of real or pretended danger or other unpleasantness. In humorous and ironic use, forfend typically appears in the phrase “heaven forfend,” and, like “heaven forbid,” expresses a usually ironic desire that something not happen or be done. In general use, if you forfend something unwanted or undesirable, you ward it off or prevent it; and if you forfend yourself from or against something, you protect or preserve yourself from it. // Heaven forfend that people actually pick up dictionaries and read them! // By studying your dictionary, you may forfend any risk of not knowing the meaning of a word. // To forfend against the prospect of being at a loss for words, we recommend you read the Word of the Day daily. See the entry > Examples: “Cigarette companies financed armies of letter and op-ed writers, think tank reports, and ‘expert' testimony promoting the return of DDT. … Big Tobacco fought for the return of DDT, [Elena] Conis argues, because the pesticide made for such ‘a helpful scientific parable, one that, told just right, illustrated the problem of government regulation of private industry gone wrong.' It was private companies, and not politicians—or, heaven forfend, the people—who should decide what products should be produced, and how.” — Scott W. Stern, The New Republic, 31 May 2022 Did you know? Forfend is an unusual word in that its most commonly used sense is considered archaic, meaning it survives in English chiefly in specialized uses. When forfend was first used in the 14th century, it meant “to forbid.” It still does but only in phrases, like “heaven forfend” or “God forfend,” that have an exaggeratedly old-timey ring to them. (The use is also typically humorous and/or ironic.) Put another way, substituting forfend for forbid in any other context would sound strange, as in “students are forfended from using cell phones in the classroom.” Other senses of forfend, including “to protect or preserve” and “to ward off or prevent,” are current, though much less common. The fend part of the word comes from the same Latin source as defend.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 1, 2023 is: bifurcate • BYE-fer-kayt • verb When something bifurcates, it divides into two branches or parts; to bifurcate something is to divide it into two branches or parts. // The stream bifurcated into two narrow winding channels. // When a highway bifurcates a forest, it also splits the habitats of animal populations that may have a difficult time making it across safely to the other side. See the entry > Examples: "Over time, the English ... became more powerful, spreading from Virginia to Maryland to Carolina (not yet bifurcated) ..." — Scott W. Stern, The New Republic, 26 June 2023 Did you know? Yogi Berra, the baseball great who was noted for his head-scratching quotes, is purported to have said, "When you come to a fork in the road, take it." Berra's advice might not offer much help when you're making tough decisions in life, but perhaps it will help you remember bifurcate. A road that bifurcates splits in two, like the one in Berra's adage. Other things can bifurcate (or be bifurcated) as well, such as an organization that splits, or is split, into two factions. Bifurcate comes from the Latin adjective bifurcus, meaning "two-pronged," a combination of the prefix bi- ("two") and the noun furca ("fork"). Furca, as you may have guessed, is also an ancestor of fork, which refers to the handy utensil that can (in a pinch) help us—as Berra might say—to cut our pizza in four pieces when we're not hungry enough to eat six.

In the late 1960s, as college campuses became hotbeds of liberal protest, conservative college groups, like the Intercollegiate Society of Individualists (ISI), the Young Americans for Freedom (YAF), and College Republicans, backed by powerful conservative elders and their deep pockets, fought back, staging counter protests, publishing conservative newspapers, taking over student governments, and suing colleges to remain open. Joining me in this episode to discuss the campus right in more detail is Dr. Lauren Lassabe Shepherd, author of Resistance from the Right: Conservatives and the Campus Wars in Modern America. Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is “Row Your Boat,” by The Goldwaters, Sing Folk Songs to Make the Liberals Mad, 1964. The episode image is "Ban SDS sign,” Columbia University Student Strike, April 1968, Office of Public Affairs Protest & Activism Photograph Collection, Collection number: UA#109, University Archives, Columbia University, accessed October 9, 2023. Additional Sources: “The Attack on Yale,” by McGeorge Bundy, The Atlantic, November 1951. “Debunking a Longstanding Myth About William F. Buckley,” by Matthew Dallek, POlitico, March 31, 2023. “About Us,” Young America's Foundation. “Young Americans for Freedom,” Civil Rights Digital History Project, University of Georgia. "Young Americans for Freedom and the Anti-War Movement: Pro-War Encounters with the New Left at the Height of the Vietnam War," by Ethan Swift, Kaplan Senior Essay Prize for Use of Library Special Collections. 2019. “About Us,” Intercollegiate Studies Institute. “1968: Columbia in Crisis,” Columbia University Libraries. “How Columbia's Student Uprising of 1968 Was Sparked by a Segregated Gym,” by Erin Blakemore, History.com, Originally published April 20, 2018, and updated July 7, 2020. “‘The Whole World Is Watching': An Oral History of the 1968 Columbia Uprising,” by Clara Bingham, Vanity Fair, March 26, 2018. “The Right Uses College Campuses as Its Training Grounds,” by Scott W. Stern, Jacobin, August 2023. “Critical race theory is just the new buzzword in conservatives' war on campuses,” by Lauren Lassabe, The Washington Post, July 7, 2021. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tina and Hillary cover the Chamberlain-Kahn Act and the assassination attempt of Theodore Roosevelt. Tina's Story The Chamberlain-Kahn Act was initiated to help stop the spread of sexually transmitted infections among service men. BUT instead, it led to the incarceration of thousands of women. Hillary's Story In 1912 former republican President Theodore Roosevelt ran for president again under the Progressive Party. BUT while on the campaign trail, he is nearly assassinated. Sources Tina's Story Bartleby The Chamberlain Kahn Act And Its Effect On Society (https://www.bartleby.com/essay/The-Chamberlain-Kahn-Act-And-Its-Effect-P3UGCJTKVG5ZW) History America's Forgotten Mass Imprisonment of Women Believed to Be Sexually Immoral (https://www.history.com/news/chamberlain-kahn-act-std-venereal-disease-imprisonment-women)--by Scott W. Stern Mead Project Source Page An Act Making appropriations for the support of the Army for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and nineteen: Chapter 15 (The Chamberlain-Kahn Act) (https://brocku.ca/MeadProject/USA/Chamberlain_Kahn_1918.html) New Republic A forgotten War on Women (https://newrepublic.com/article/148493/forgotten-war-women)--by Kim Kelly Time The U.S. Detained 'Promiscuous' Women in What One Called a 'Concentration Camp.' That Word Choice Matters (https://time.com/5276807/american-concentration-camps-promiscuous-women/)--by Scott W. Stern Wikipedia Chamberlain-Kahn Act (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chamberlain%E2%80%93Kahn_Act#cite_note-3) Photos Bag of Trouble Government Poster (https://www.history.com/news/chamberlain-kahn-act-std-venereal-disease-imprisonment-women)--from US National Library of Medicine The Trials of Nina McCall Book (https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/561471/the-trials-of-nina-mccall-by-scott-w-stern/)--by Scott W. Stern via Penguin Hillary's Story History Theodore Roosevelt shot in Milwaukee (https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/theodore-roosevelt-shot-in-milwaukee) JAMA Network SCHRANK ADJUDGED INSANE ON REAL EXPERT TESTIMONY (https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/1346161) The New York Times SCHRANK, WHO SHOT T. ROOSEVELT, DIES; Insane Man Had No Visitors in 31 Years in Wisconsin Asylums (https://www.nytimes.com/1943/09/17/archives/schrank-who-shot-t-roosevelt-dies-insane-man-had-no-visitors-in-31.html) Theodore Roosevelt Center John Flammang Schrank (https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/Learn-About-TR/TR-Encyclopedia/Law-and-Justice/John-Flammang-Schrank.aspx) Theodore Roosevelt Institution It Takes More Than That to Kill a Bull Moose: The Leader and The Cause (https://web.archive.org/web/20190304223801/http://www.theodoreroosevelt.org/site/c.elKSIdOWIiJ8H/b.9297449/k.861A/It_Takes_More_Than_That_to_Kill_a_Bull_Moose_The_Leader_and_The_Cause.htm) Wisconsin Life Shot In The Chest, Theodore Roosevelt Kept Talking In Milwaukee (https://wisconsinlife.org/story/shot-in-the-chest-theodore-roosevelt-kept-talking-in-milwaukee/)--by Dean Robbins Wikipedia Attempted assassination of Theodore Roosevelt (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attempted_assassination_of_Theodore_Roosevelt) Theodore Roosevelt (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Roosevelt#Post-presidency_(1909%E2%80%931919)) Photos Theodore Roosevelt (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/72/Unsuccessful_1912_2.jpg)--from Pack Brothers (Public Domain) via Wikipedia Speech with Bullet Holes (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c1/Political_address_by_Theodore_Roosevelt_through_which_the_bullet_passed_when_the_attempt_was_made_to_assassinate_him_at_Milwaukee_in_1912.pdf/page2-969px-Political_address_by_Theodore_Roosevelt_through_which_the_bullet_passed_when_the_attempt_was_made_to_assassinate_him_at_Milwaukee_in_1912.pdf.jpg)--from MHS Archive (Public Domain) via Wikipedia Lung X-Ray with Bullet (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/80/TR-Xray.jpg)--from Library of Congress (Public Domain) via Wikipedia John Schrank (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cf/JohnSchrank2.jpg)--from Library of Congress (Public Domain) via Wikipedia

Denae tells Kim the unbelievable tale of The American Plan.  Sources:  History.com article: America's Forgotten Mass Imprisonment of Women Believed to Be Sexually Immoral by Scott W. Stern Time article: The U.S. Detained 'Promiscuous' Women in What One Called a 'Concentration Camp.' That Word Choice Matters by Scott W. Stern Beacon Press synopsis of the book "The Trials of Nina McCall" by Scott W. Stern

Political activism of queer people in the United States started long before the Stonewall riots in 1969. One surprising place that queer people found a home for their activism was in the Communist Party. The Communist Party of the United States was established in 1919, and from the 1920s to the 1940s the Party was influential in American politics, at the forefront of labor organizing and opposition to racism. It was the first political party in the US to be racially integrated. Some queer folks embraced the radical politics of the Party and found it to be a place where they could agitate for radical sexual politics as well.  One of the first national gay rights organizations in the United States, The Mattachine Society, was founded in 1950 by prominent Communist Harry Hay and a group of friends in Los Angeles. However, in the early 1950s as Joseph McCarthy and others publicly linked homosexuality and Communism as threats to the 'American way of life,' homosexuals began to distance themselves from the Left to gain acceptance, and the previous links between homosexuals and the Communist Party were lost or suppressed. In 1953 Harry Hay was ousted from the Mattachine Society in part because of his Communist affiliation, which by then was considered a liability. In this episode, Kelly  tells the history of homosexuality and the Communist Party in America in the early 20th Century and interviews Associate Professor of American Studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston Aaron Lecklider, author of Love's Next Meeting: The Forgotten History of Homosexuality and the Left in American Culture. Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons.  Episode image: Members of Marine Cooks and Stewards Union. Courtesy Black Heritage Society of Washington State. Public domain.Transcript available at: https://www.unsunghistorypodcast.com/transcripts/transcript-episode-5Sources: Love's Next Meeting: The Forgotten History of Homosexuality and the Left in American Culture, by Aaron Lecklider, 2021 "Despite Everything, Queer Leftists Survived," by Scott W. Stern, Jacobin Magazine, June 2021. "Milestones in the American Gay Rights Movement," PBS "Communist Party USA History and Geography," Mapping American Social Movements Project, University of Washington "Homophiles': The LGBTQ rights movement began long before Stonewall," by Ben Kesslen, NBC News, June 10, 2019 Support the show (https://www.buymeacoffee.com/UnsungHistory) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

March 2, 1923. In Wichita, Kansas, Mary Irby and Euna Hollowell are being held at the county jail. The two women are charged with “lewdly abiding.” Translation: officials suspect them of carrying a sexually transmitted infection. Hollowell, Irby, and many women like them will go on to be forcibly examined and incarcerated under a public health program known as “The American Plan.” This initiative resulted in decades of mass incarceration of tens of thousands of American women. How was it possible for the U.S. government to publicly wage war on women? And how did those women fight back?Special thank you to our guest Scott W. Stern, author of The Trials of Nina McCall: Sex, Surveillance, and the Decades-Long Government Plan to Imprison "Promiscuous" Women. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

You’re young, innocent, female. Perhaps 18 years old. You’re walking down the street in your hometown on a fine spring day. A car pulls to the curb. A man gets out. He has a gun. And a badge. “Come with me,” he says. “Why?” You think perhaps someone has been hurt. “You’re under arrest.” “What? Why?” The cop gives you a hard look. “Suspicion of promiscuity.” Seems unlikely, doesn’t it? Laughable. But it’s no joke. Such things really happened, and not so long ago, to thousands of American women. One of those women was Nina McCall. Author Scott W. Stern tells us all about it.

There’s a dark chapter in American history that gets left out of the history books: the American Plan, which detained tens, and possibly hundreds of thousands of women from the 1910s through the 1950s. Conceived in WWI to protect soldiers from “promiscuous” women and the diseases they possibly carried, women were surveilled, picked off the street, detained without due process, imprisoned sometimes for years, and forcefully injected with unproven mercury treatments for sexually transmitted infections they were merely suspected of having. The American Plan laid the groundwork—and sometimes, the literal foundations—for the women’s prisons and mass incarcerations of today. Progressive luminaries like Eleanor Roosevelt, Margaret Sanger, and Earl Warren endorsed the plan, so its victims, more often than not women of color, were often forced to fight back on their own. Historian Scott W. Stern joins us to tell the story of Nina McCall, one of the women who defied a system that locked her up even though she was a virgin, experimented on her, and then tried to silence her.Go beyond the episode:Episode page, featuring a slideshow of sexist government PSAs against STIs and images of American Plan institutionsScott W. Stern’s The Trials of Nina McCall, based on his master’s thesis in American Studies at YaleRead Stern’s opinion piece for The Washington Post on “Why hero worship is a mistake for the left”Tune in every week to catch interviews with the liveliest voices from literature, the arts, sciences, history, and public affairs; reports on cutting-edge works in progress; long-form narratives; and compelling excerpts from new books. Hosted by Stephanie Bastek.Subscribe: iTunes • Feedburner • Stitcher • Google Play • AcastHave suggestions for projects you’d like us to catch up on, or writers you want to hear from? Send us a note: podcast [at] theamericanscholar [dot] org. And rate us on iTunes! Our theme music was composed by Nathan Prillaman. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

There’s a dark chapter in American history that gets left out of the history books: the American Plan, which detained tens, and possibly hundreds of thousands of women from the 1910s through the 1950s. Conceived in WWI to protect soldiers from “promiscuous” women and the diseases they possibly carried, women were surveilled, picked off the street, detained without due process, imprisoned sometimes for years, and forcefully injected with unproven mercury treatments for sexually transmitted infections they were merely suspected of having. The American Plan laid the groundwork—and sometimes, the literal foundations—for the women’s prisons and mass incarcerations of today. Progressive luminaries like Eleanor Roosevelt, Margaret Sanger, and Earl Warren endorsed the plan, so its victims, more often than not women of color, were often forced to fight back on their own. Historian Scott W. Stern joins us to tell the story of Nina McCall, one of the women who defied a system that locked her up even though she was a virgin, experimented on her, and then tried to silence her.Go beyond the episode:Episode page, featuring a slideshow of sexist government PSAs against STIs and images of American Plan institutionsScott W. Stern’s The Trials of Nina McCall, based on his master’s thesis in American Studies at YaleRead Stern’s opinion piece for The Washington Post on “Why hero worship is a mistake for the left”Tune in every week to catch interviews with the liveliest voices from literature, the arts, sciences, history, and public affairs; reports on cutting-edge works in progress; long-form narratives; and compelling excerpts from new books. Hosted by Stephanie Bastek.Subscribe: iTunes • Feedburner • Stitcher • Google Play • AcastHave suggestions for projects you’d like us to catch up on, or writers you want to hear from? Send us a note: podcast [at] theamericanscholar [dot] org. And rate us on iTunes! Our theme music was composed by Nathan Prillaman.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.