New York's mad bomber
In 1956, New York City’s bomb squad used criminal profiling to catch a terrorist known as “The Mad Bomber.”
Oct 29, 2018•7 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.
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Episodes
The sword pulled from history
An 8-year-old found an ancient sword in a Swedish lake. Does that make her the queen?
Oct 26, 2018•5 min
A love supreme: Ruth Bader and Martin Ginsburg
She was short. He was tall. Her family wasn't well off. His was. She was a worrier. He had not a care in the world. If you looked up mismatch in the dictionary, Ruth Bader and Martin D. Ginsburg fit the definition perfectly.
Oct 25, 2018•6 min
The unstoppable Fannie Lou Hamer
Civil rights crusader Fannie Lou Hamer rivaled Martin Luther King Jr. in her command of audiences.
Oct 24, 2018•6 min
The Sultan of Swat wasn’t always known as a slugger
Before becoming a legendary big hitter, Babe Ruth was one of baseball’s best from the mound.
Oct 23, 2018•4 min
Big Bird and the genius inside
Caroll Spinney and his iconic character were inseparable for almost 50 years.
Oct 22, 2018•6 min
Woodrow Wilson's secret letters to another woman
Family and friends had known about the president’s intimate relationship with Mary Peck for years, but whispers about their involvement were growing.
Oct 19, 2018•6 min
The metamorphosis of Jackie O
As Jacqueline Kennedy transitioned from wife-in-chief to widow-in-mourning, there was tension between whom she had been and whom she was allowed to become.
Oct 18, 2018•6 min
The body of Emmett Till
Emmett Till’s mother opened his casket and sparked the civil rights movement.
Oct 17, 2018•4 min
The photographer and the busboy
Photographer Boris Yaro shot the photo of Bobby Kennedy lying fatally wounded in the arms of Juan Romero, a busboy. The photo would haunt both of them.
Oct 16, 2018•5 min
The Romanovs, Russia's 'odious' autocratic family
If you think your family is overrun with controlling lunatics, please meet the Romanovs.
Oct 15, 2018•6 min
The gory origins of the Waterloo teeth
More than 50,000 soldiers died during the Battle of Waterloo, but their teeth lived on.
Oct 12, 2018•4 min
How the teddy bear was born
In the fall of 1902, a year into his presidency, President Teddy Roosevelt set off to Mississippi for a bear-hunting vacation. It ended differently than planned.
Oct 11, 2018•5 min
The first black female White House reporter held the powerful accountable on civil rights
It was rare to be a woman or African American covering the White House in the 1940s. Alice Dunnigan was both.
Oct 10, 2018•5 min
The teenage girl who caught a Nazi monster
In the fall of 1957, as the world was moving on from World War II and the extermination of 6 million Jews, Sylvia Hermann knocked on the door of a modest home in Buenos Aires.
Oct 09, 2018•6 min
The complicated history of swimsuits and Miss America
The debate was always about more than swimsuits.
Oct 08, 2018•6 min
The assassin who wore braids and killed Nazis
Freddie Oversteegen was 14 when she joined the Dutch resistance, though with her long, dark hair in braids she looked at least two years younger.
Oct 05, 2018•5 min
The surprising history of the 25th Amendment
The 25th Amendment passed after the assassination of John F. Kennedy.
Oct 04, 2018•6 min
In the 1850s, navigating Ice Alley was deadly for ships
Despite warnings of icebergs, the John Rutledge set sail from Liverpool, England, to New York.
Oct 03, 2018•5 min
America’s forgotten Iranian hostage
Nine months before the Iran hostage crisis, Kenneth Kraus was held hostage in Iran for eight days.
Oct 02, 2018•5 min
The heroine of Lime Rock Lighthouse
Ida Lewis saved as many as 25 people during her service at the lighthouse. But her deeds have largely been forgotten.
Oct 01, 2018•4 min
How accusations against Supreme Court nominees were once handled
In 1890, Henry Brown sailed through the confirmation process after being accused of shooting and killing someone in self defense.
Sep 28, 2018•4 min
The man and the coconut that saved JFK
William Liebenow rescued John F. Kennedy from an island filled with coconuts.
Sep 27, 2018•5 min
Rosie the Riveter isn’t who you think she is
An American in the 1940s would not recognize the woman from the “We Can Do It!” poster as Rosie the Riveter.
Sep 26, 2018•4 min
The presidential pardon the country never forgot
When Gerald Ford took over the presidency after Richard Nixon’s resignation, he soon made a controversial choice: He pardoned Nixon.
Sep 25, 2018•5 min
How Anita Hill’s testimony led to the "Year of the Woman"
No women served on the Senate Judiciary Committee in 1991. The ugly Anita Hill hearings changed that.
Sep 24, 2018•6 min
The thin-skinned president who made it illegal to criticize his office
The Alien and Sedition Acts passed under President John Adams led to the arrests of more than two dozen people.
Sep 21, 2018•5 min
The photographer who helped end child labor in America
Lewis Hine posed as a Bible salesman or machinery photographer to expose the hardships of child labor.
Sep 20, 2018•5 min
Only half of George Washington’s Supreme Court justices showed up on time
All of George Washington’s Supreme Court nominees were confirmed in only two days, but half of them didn't show up on time.
Sep 19, 2018•5 min
Winnie and Nelson Mandela’s marriage survived prison but not freedom
Their 38-year marriage endured his incarceration and hers.
Sep 18, 2018•5 min
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