The first pride parade
The very first pride parade was held in 1964 and was a bit … calmer … than what we think of today.
Jun 25, 2018•3 min
Retropod
The Washington Post
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.
Last refreshed: ⓘ
Follow this podcast in the Metacast mobile app to refresh it and see new episodes.
Podcasts are better in Metacast mobile app
Don't just listen to podcasts. Learn from them with transcripts, summaries, and chapters for every episode. Skim, search, and bookmark insights. Learn more
Episodes
The oldest surviving banjo recording
Charles Asbury’s newly digitized songs serve as a time capsule to the music of the 19th century.
Jun 22, 2018•6 min
The worst presidents
Besides President Trump, whom do scholars scorn the most?
Jun 21, 2018•5 min
Doughnuts, the most patriotic of the junk foods
Doughnuts aren’t just delicious. They also helped America win a war.
Jun 20, 2018•3 min
The first shark attacks
For most of American history, no one was scared of sharks. One week - and one shark - changed that.
Jun 19, 2018•4 min
Between Lincoln and Washington, only one was a great poet
George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, two great presidents, had a lot in common: Both lost a parent as a child, both had a serious demeanor, and both dabbled with writing poetry. But only one was any good at poetry.
Jun 18, 2018•4 min
This security guard discovered the Watergate break-in, but nobody remembers him
The man who called the police on the Watergate burglars never received the credit he deserved.
Jun 15, 2018•3 min
Thomas Jefferson’s iftar dinner and the long history of Ramadan at the White House
In December 1805, a handful of prominent politicians receive invitations to join President Thomas Jefferson for a White House dinner. The occasion was the arrival of a Tunisian envoy to the U.S., Sidi Soliman Mellimelli, who was observing Ramadan.
Jun 14, 2018•3 min
The biscuit tin
It’s World War II, and you’re King George VI of England. You fear a Nazi invasion of England could come at any moment. How do you protect the crown jewels? Not even Queen Elizabeth II knew how her dad did it - until recently.
Jun 13, 2018•3 min
Before Loving, another interracial couple fought to marry
The Kinneys married in Washington, D.C. in 1874. Then, they were arrested back home in Virginia for violating the state’s laws. They fought the ruling in higher and higher courts, but never won the right to stay married in their home state.
Jun 12, 2018•4 min
The Jedwabne massacre
The controversy around the murders of a Polish village's Jewish residents has centered on raw questions of complicity versus compulsion.
Jun 11, 2018•4 min
Tennis's first goddess
Suzanne Lenglen was physically ferocious. Always fashionable. A disrupter of convention.
Jun 08, 2018•3 min
The White House makeover
When the White House was built over 200 years ago, it lacked certain modern conveniences. They got added in a hodgepodge of improvements over the years.
Jun 07, 2018•4 min
The Order of the Day
On the day before D-Day, Supreme Allied Commander in Europe Dwight D. Eisenhower gave a speech to the troops that totally masked how nervous he actually was.
Jun 06, 2018•4 min
The “temporary insanity” legal defense started with an affair
If you love gossip, and drama, and D.C. politics - this story is the gift that keeps on giving.
Jun 05, 2018•4 min
History’s most fascinating misquote
The Apollo 13 astronauts never said “Houston we have a problem.” Here’s why you think they did.
Jun 04, 2018•4 min
Mourning Bobby Kennedy
Robert F. Kennedy's death, which came just weeks after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., shocked the nation, especially those who looked to him to continue the national discussion over racial inequality.
Jun 01, 2018•6 min
The black power protest that shook the world
At the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, one of the most iconic moments of that chaotic year unfolded on television screens around the world.
May 31, 2018•3 min
LBJ's political bombshell
By 1968, things were going badly for President Lyndon B. Johnson. Morale around the Vietnam War was sinking, and in Washington, political sharks were circling.
May 30, 2018•5 min
One broadcast helped turn Americans against the Vietnam War
Walter Cronkite's reputation, his calm but authoritative voice, carried so much weight that in 1968 one single report helped persuade the American public that we weren’t winning the war in Vietnam.
May 29, 2018•5 min
The performance that saved Johnny Cash's career
In a year of extraordinary, chaotic moments this was a hopeful one - a beat-up country music star recording an album live at a troubled maximum security prison in California.
May 28, 2018•5 min
Publishers hated ‘A Wrinkle in Time,' and Madeleine L'Engle never forgot the rejections
'A Wrinkle in Time' author Madeleine L'Engle said she received 26 rejection letters from publishers.
May 25, 2018•4 min
When Ronald Reagan visited a family targeted by the KKK
In the early 1980s, President Ronald Reagan wasn’t exactly known for his racial sensitivity. But when he read about a family whose house was targeted by the KKK, he and the First Lady flew out to comfort them.
May 24, 2018•4 min
The Nazi stone
A mysterious stone memorial was found in 2006 in Washington, D.C. But who placed a memorial to Nazi spies on government property? And why?
May 23, 2018•4 min
Elaine Brown, the first and only woman to lead the Black Panther Party
Elaine Brown's takeover in 1974 was a pivotal moment for a woman in the black power movement. Although women had been a dynamic force for social and racial justice, they had often been overshadowed by men.
May 22, 2018•4 min
The man who filmed JFK's assassination
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.
May 21, 2018•3 min
Princess Diana's final hours
When Prince Harry and his fiancee Meghan Markle are married this weekend, there will be one other royal on the world’s minds - Harry’s mother, the beloved Princess Diana.
May 18, 2018•4 min
The enigmatic Prince Philip - separating fact from fiction
The British royal wedding puts all eyes on the Windsor family - this time, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. But perhaps no royal is as controversial as Harry's grandfather, Prince Philip.
May 17, 2018•4 min
Wallis Simpson, the last American divorcee who married a British royal
Another British royal wedding is coming up, so over the next few days, we'll explore a few moments from the history of royal marriages in Great Britain. Today, we meet Wallis Simpson, the last American divorcee to marry a British royal.
May 16, 2018•4 min
The truth is out there
Area 51's secrets may not be alien in nature, but that doesn't make them any less mysterious.
May 15, 2018•5 min
For the best experience, listen in Metacast app for iOS or Android