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.
Aug 22, 2019•5 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 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.
Aug 21, 2019•5 min
When Olympic silver beats gold
Ski jumping involves flying more than 800 feet in the air and then landing on two feet, without dying. Where on earth did this sport come from?
Aug 20, 2019•5 min
Meet Paul Manafort's century-old forefather, who also liked fancy suits
Samuel Cutler Ward, also known as the “King of the Lobby,” is credited with shaping the craft of lobbying. And like lobbyist and former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, he also had some seriously expensive tastes.
Aug 19, 2019•5 min
How Hollywood's first major blockbuster revived the KKK
"The Birth of a Nation" depicted life after the Civil War in a way that glorified Klansmen. The film and its cultural impact led one man to conclude that the time was right to bring back the Klu Klux Klan.
Aug 16, 2019•5 min
The biscuit tin that protected the crown jewels
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.
Aug 15, 2019•3 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.
Aug 14, 2019•4 min
Reagan's most historic speech took a few years to make an impact
When President Reagan told Mr. Gorbachev to “tear down this wall,” it was not seen as a historic moment. It took the actual fall of the wall to resurrect the speech and drill the quote into the nation's political consciousness.
Aug 13, 2019•4 min
How the anti-Semitic conspiracy theories about the Rothschilds began
The anti-Semitic conspiracy theories surrounding the Rothschild family date all the way back to The Battle of Waterloo.
Aug 12, 2019•5 min
The first congresswoman's vote
In April 1917, Jeannette Rankin, the first woman elected to Congress, faced an agonizing choice: should she, or should she not, vote for the United States to enter World War I?
Aug 09, 2019•5 min
The day the nation's capital welcomed the KKK
In 1925, 30,000 Klansmen descended on Washington, D.C. The city cheered their arrival.
Aug 08, 2019•5 min
The man and the coconut that saved JFK
William Liebenow rescued John F. Kennedy from an island filled with coconuts.
Aug 07, 2019•5 min
The first daughters
Ivanka Trump might be the only first daughter in American history to score a West Wing office, but she’s not the first presidential daughter to wield power in the White House.
Aug 06, 2019•4 min
The time a senator won an Emmy for grilling witnesses at a hearing
In 1951, a televised Senate hearing caught America’s attention.
Aug 05, 2019•5 min
The fact and fiction of Prince Philip
The most recent British royal wedding puts all eyes on the Windsor family. But perhaps no royal is as controversial as Harry's grandfather, Prince Philip.
Aug 02, 2019•4 min
What Operation Pied Piper taught us about family separations
Millions of British children were evacuated from London and other cities to escape the horrors of war. But the family separations seemed to impart long-term trauma that was in many cases as severe as if they had stayed behind and faced the bombs.
Aug 01, 2019•5 min
The teen who tied a Virginia election
In 1971, Stephen Burns was 18 years old and a newly minted voter. He was so jazzed to be a part of the Democratic process.
Jul 31, 2019•4 min
The books the presidents read
People have long been fascinated by the books presidents choose to read. But how much do reading habits actually reveal about a president?
Jul 30, 2019•5 min
How God became part of the pledge
For over 50 years, the phrase “under God” was not a part of the Pledge of Allegiance. One sermon changed that.
Jul 29, 2019•5 min
How Harry S. Truman went from being a racist to desegregating the military
When Harry Truman became president in 1945, Southern members of Congress were delighted. They thought he’d be sympathetic to segregationists. He proved them wrong.
Jul 26, 2019•6 min
The U.S. government recruited black men to watch them die
The Tuskegee syphilis experiment is a horrific piece of American history.
Jul 25, 2019•5 min
The femme fatale
For the past 100 years, Mata Hari has been revered as the quintessential glamorous spy. But the real Mata Hari was much more complicated.
Jul 24, 2019•4 min
The congressman who shot a waiter
A hungry congressman didn’t get the breakfast he ordered. So he shot the waiter.
Jul 23, 2019•5 min
The children's crusade
The movement organized by survivors of the school shooting in Parkland, Fla., is not the first time that kids have taken a stand. H
Jul 22, 2019•4 min
Introducing Moonrise
Host Lillian Cunningham's next podcast explores the real story of why we went to the moon -- a darker, but truer story than the one you've heard before. Listen to this trailer, and subscribe on your favorite podcast app or at washingtonpost.com/moonrise
Jul 19, 2019•5 min
The time Truman met with Stalin and it went well
Back in 1941, a get-together that should have been fraught with uneasiness didn't turn out that way, which is surprising given the participants: President Harry S. Truman and Joseph Stalin.
Jul 18, 2019•5 min
Mrs. Graham
Katherine Graham's leadership in the decision to release the Pentagon Papers was the subject of the Stephen Spielberg film "The Post." But it was her leadership during the pressman's strike in 1975 that is perhaps the most gripping moment of her life.
Jul 17, 2019•5 min
The storied past of Alderson federal women's prison
The Alderson Federal Prison Camp has a history filled with powerful women. Some pushed for the prison to be built. Others served time there.
Jul 16, 2019•5 min
The deaf men who helped NASA send humans to space
In a largely forgotten experiment, a group of students from Gallaudet University spent years helping NASA understand the mechanisms of motion sickness and how to prevent it.
Jul 15, 2019•4 min
The first shark attacks
For most of American history, no one was scared of sharks. One week--and one shark--changed people's opinions of the marine creatures.
Jul 12, 2019•4 min
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