Matt's Today in History Podcasts

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MTIH 414 That Terrible Day in Dallas, 1963 Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 413 Future Career, 2009 Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 412 Lee's First Invasion Of The North, 1862 Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 411 An Introduction To The Introductions Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 410 A Choice Between Evils, 1945 Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 409 Mutiny on the Bounty Part Two, 1789 Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 408 Federal Highway Act Signed, 1956 Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 407 Dancing Mania, 1374 Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH Mutiny on the Bounty, 1789, Part One Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 405 Pyle At Normandy, 1944 Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 404 Martha Washington is Born, 1731 Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 403 The Scorpion Mystery Part Two, 1968 Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 402 The Scorpion Mystery Part One, 1968 Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 401 Blue Jeans Patented, 1873 Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 400 Queen Victoria Proclaims Neutrality, 1861 Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 399 In Flanders Fields Written, 1915 Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 398 President Reagan Shot, 1981 Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 397 The Wannsee Conference, 1942 Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 396 The Boston Tea Party, 1773 The story of what caused the Boston Tea Party and what happened because of it. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 395 The Abdication Crisis, 1936 Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 394 HMAS Sydney and Kormoran Do Battle, 1941 The story of the battle between the HMAS Sydney and the German raider Kormoran in the waters off Australia in November, 1941. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 393 Bastille Day, 1789 Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH A Plea and Thoughts on Memorial Day---PLEASE LISTEN Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 392 Robert Kennedy Killed, 1968 Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 391 Memorial Day Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH Update - Please Listen Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 390 Super Outbreak, 1974 Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 389 USS Missouri Decommissioned, 1992 Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 388 Giuseppe Zangara Executed, 1933 Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 387 The First Spacewalk, 1965 Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 386 The Battle of Dien Bien Phu Begins, 1954 Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 385 The First National Fireside Chat, 1933 Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH Special Request Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 384 The Boston Massacre, 1770 Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 383 Augustus Saint-Gaudens Born, 1848 Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 382 The Battle of Los Angeles, 1942 Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 381 Douglas Bader Born, 1910 Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 380 Iwo Jima Invasion, 1945 Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH DB Cooper Gets Away, 1971 The story of D.B. Cooper, one of the most infamous hijackers of the 20th century. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH Update November 26, 2007 Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 378 Man O' War Dies, 1947 A short summary of the life of Man O' War, one of greatest horses to every run in a race. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH Hiatus See you in November! Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 377 F. Scott Fitzgerald Born, 1896 A short history of the life of F. Scott Fitzgerald, arguably one of the most important American writers of the 20th century. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 376 Norton the First, 1859 The story of Joshua Norton, the United States' first and only emperor. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 375 A Cloudy Day for Basketball, 1972 Tonight, we discuss the basketball game between the Soviet Union and the United States at the Munich Olympics in 1972. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 374 V-2s Against London, 1944 We discuss the first V-2 rocket attack against London during the Second World War and the development of the terror weapon. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 373 Sound Today and Edsel, 1957 I need to hear from you if you are having audio problems with this show, plus we discuss Ford Motor Company's Edsel, the mother of all bad marketing decisions. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 372 Caligula Born, 12 Today is the birthday of Caligula, the Roman Emperor who is today remembered as a madman. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 371 Shays' Rebellion, 1786 Sorry, no transcript for this episode. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 370 The Chicago Convention, 1968 Today in 1968, the Democratic National Convention opened in Chicago, Illinois.  The purpose of the convention was to choose a Democratic nominee for the Presidency of the United States, but it was much more.  The four-day gathering became a symbol of the divisions present in American society during the late 1960’s and is today viewed as one of the defining events of that decade. The divisiveness that existed in the United States in 1968 was more pronounced than at any time since the Civ ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 369 Raid on Dieppe, 1942 Today in 1942, Allied forces raided the German-held port city of Dieppe located on the northern coast of France. The majority of the soldiers on the Allied side of the battle were Canadians, who were more than ready to contribute to the war effort. The raid became a painful lesson of how not to run an invasion. The spring of 1942 was a dark time for the Allies. The United States had joined the war the previous December, but had yet to send a meaningful number of troops to England, the ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 368 The Vasa Sinks, 1628 Today in 1628, the Vasa, a Swedish warship, foundered during her maiden voyage off Stockholm.  Vasa was more than another cannon-carrying ship---she was the pride of a nation, built on the direct orders of a king who was mired in a war and desperately in need of a world-class navy.  Today, she serves as a reminder of Sweden's ocean-going past and as a rare example of early 17th century shipbuilding. King Gustavus Adolphus the Great was from the Royal House of Vasa, a line that had ruled S ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 367 HL Hunley Raised, 2000 Today in 2000, the H.L. Hunley was recovered from the bottom of Charleston Harbor in South Carolina.  She was the first submarine in history to sink a warship and although her trip was one way, she proved the value of small submersibles in an age dominated by ever-larger surface ships.  Her story is one of Confederate desperation, determination and ingenuity during America's Civil War. The Hunley was a privately-built sub and, thus, was never commissioned into the Confederate Navy.  Her b ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 366 A Choice Between Evils, 1945 Today in 1945, the first atomic bomb used in wartime was dropped on the city of Hiroshima in Japan.  Three days later, the second such device used in wartime was dropped on the city of Nagasaki.  We discussed these bombings early in the history of this podcast, and so I will not repeat the details here.  What I'd like to discuss is the ongoing debate over whether or not the use of nuclear weapons against two Japanese cities was justified. The most important aspect of the debate is probabl ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 365 Last Mission of PT109 (Part Two), 1943     Because the remnant of the boat the men were holding onto was listing badly and starting to sink, Kennedy decided to swim for a small island three miles to the southeast. Five hours later, all eleven survivors had made it to the island after having spent a total of fifteen hours in the water. Kennedy had given McMahon, who was badly burned, a life-jacket and had towed him all three miles with the strap of the device in his teeth. After finding no food or water on the island, Kennedy co ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 364 Last Mission of PT-109 (Part One), 1943 Today in 1943, the Motor Torpedo Boat PT-109 put to sea on her last mission.  Before sunrise on August 2nd, she would be sunk and her surviving crew would find themselves in danger from both the elements and Japanese garrisons located on nearby islands.  The story of their survival over the next six days and the ultimate fate of her commanding officer ensured that PT boats would earn their place in American naval history. Motor Torpedo Boats, or PT boats, were the smallest warships used b ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 363 Jimmy Hoffa Disappears, 1975 Today in 1975, James Riddle Hoffa disappeared from the parking lot of a Bloomfield Hills, Michigan restaurant.  Thus began the mystery of Jimmy Hoffa, the man who became the face of union labor in the United States for two decades.  Today, as many questions remained unanswered with regard to Hoffa's fate as did on this day 32 years ago. Hoffa was born in February, 1913 in Brazil, Indiana, a small farming town in west-central Indiana.  He dropped out of school early and became the family's ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 362 The Eastland Disaster, 1915 Today in 1915, the S.S. Eastland rolled over in the Chicago River while still tied to a nearby wharf.  The disaster was the worst maritime accident to occur in the continental United States during the 20th century, yet very few people are familiar with what happened.  What's more, a review of the ship, her construction and her later modifications prove that the accident was completely avoidable. The Eastland was commissioned in 1902 by the Michigan Steamship Company.  She was built to ca ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 361 Pee Wee Reese Born, 1918 Harold Henry Reese was born on July 23, 1918 in Ekron, Kentucky.  A superb defensive shortstop, a capable hitter, and a student of baseball, Reese used his intelligence as much as his athletic abilities to beat opponents. Reese, however, earned his place in baseball history for far more than his ball-playing talent. Today, he is most remembered as the man whose courage, sense of justice and fair play greatly helped smooth the entry of Jackie Robinson into the 1947 Brooklyn Dodgers. Reese's ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 360 The Lost Colony, 1587 Today in 1587, 121 English colonists arrived at Roanoke Island, located off the coast of the modern state of North Carolina.  Thus began the story of "The Lost Colony", a mystery that remains with us 420 years after the colonists set foot in the New World. British colonies on the North American continent often began as semi-private enterprises wherein the monarch granted an individual or company a charter for the colonization of an area.  Such it was with Virginia, a huge area n ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 359 Corrigan's Wrong Way Flight, 1938 Today in 1938, Douglas Corrigan arrived in Ireland, having flown there from New York solo in an aircraft that seemed hardly up to the task.  The story of his flight and the events that lead up to it lead Corrigan to a life of fame in both the United States and Europe and left him forever remembered as a pioneer in cross-ocean aviation. Douglas Corrigan was born in January, 1907 in Galveston, Texas.  He was 18 when he took his first plane ride, a short trip in a First World War-vintage Cur ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 358 District of Columbia Created, 1790 Today in 1790, the Residence Act was signed into law by US President George Washington.  The act designated Philadelphia, Pennsylvania as the temporary capital of the United States, but it also gave the President the power to create a federal district to serve as the permanent capital.  Thus was born Washington, District of Columbia. The location of the new nation's capital was the source of much heated debate in the early days of the United States.  The early federal government had met i ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 357 Medal of Honor Created, 1862 Today in 1862, a Congressional resolution providing for a Medal of Honor was signed into law.  It was and remains the highest decoration awarded to military personnel in the service of the United States.  In it's most current form, the Medal of Honor is bestowed upon a service member who distinguishes himself or herself "…conspicuously by gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his/her life above and beyond the call of duty while engaged in an action against an enemy of the United St ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 356 Zheng He Sets Sail, 1405 Today in 1405, Chinese admiral Zheng He (Cheng Ho) set sail on his first voyage, the beginning of a series of journeys that would greatly expand his nation's knowledge of the outside world.  While many details of these explorations have been lost to time, one thing is almost certain:  Zheng He's fleets traveled further and came into contact with more people of foreign birth than any other marine explorer up to that time. Zheng He was born Ma Sanbao in an area of southwest China that was s ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 355 Hoover Dam Begins, 1930 Today in 1930, money was for appropriated by the United States Congress to build Hoover Dam, a concrete gravity-arch dam which straddles the border of Arizona and Nevada 30 miles southeast of Las Vegas, Nevada.  It impounds Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the United States.  While not the largest dam in the United States today, it remains a powerful symbol of the ability, ingenuity and work ethic of thousands of men during the worst economic crisis the modern world has ever seen. The ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 354 Lou Gehrig Day, 1939 Today in 1939, Lou Gehrig delivered his famous closing speech at Yankee Stadium in the New York City borough of the Bronx.  This marked the symbolic end of Gehrig's career, a 17-season run that showed him to not only be an exceptional athlete, but a man of great character as well.   Henry Louis Gehrig was born in June, 1903 to poor German immigrants living in the Yorkville area of Manhattan.  Despite their poverty, the Gehrig's sent their son to Columbia University.  Their hope was that h ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH Update - Sick Call I'm sick.  I have no voice.  And the beat goes on! Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 353 The Berlin Airlift, 1948 Today in 1948, the Berlin Airlift began. This effort to feed more than two million people in the city of Berlin was unprecedented in the history of aviation, for never before had so many people in one location been supplied by air. The Airlift also showed that nonlethal forms of airpower could directly achieve national objectives. At the end of the Second World War in Europe, the Allies divided Germany into occupation zones: the American, French, and British zones in the west and a Sovi ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 352 The Unabomber Strikes Again, 1993 Today in 1993, Dr. David Gelernter, a professor of computer science at Yale, was severely injured by a bomb that had been mailed to his office. He lost part of his right hand, sight in one eye, and hearing in one ear. After a six-year long hiatus, the Unabomber was back. The string of bombings, with a history going back nearly 20 years, was the work of one man: Theodore Kaczynski. Kaczynski was born in May, 1942, in Chicago. During his fifth grade year, he was told that he could skip ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 351 The Beetle is Born, 1934 Today in 1934, Ferdinand Porsche signed a contract with the German government to begin development of a “People's Car”, a vehicle that would be affordable, carry two adults and three children and run with limited maintenance for many years.  What emerged from this contract was a vehicle known by the German words for “People's Car”, “Volks-Wagen”.  Today, we call it the Beetle. The Volkswagen Beetle, officially known as the Type 1, began life during the Nazi regime in Germany.  In 1933, th ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 350 Juneteenth, 1865 Today in 1865, slavery in the United States and her territories came to an end.  Because of this, today is remembered as Juneteenth in parts of the US and in several other nations. You may be under the impression that the institution of slavery was ended in the United States on January 1st, 1863 when President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation.  In fact, the proclamation did not immediately free a single slave and was very limited in scope.  The proclamation declared th ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 349 First Woman in Space, 1963 Today in 1963, Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman to travel into space.  Her flight not only marked a first for her sex, but also gave the Soviet Union another jump ahead in the early space race to the moon, a competition that would continue for the rest of the decade. Tereshkova was born in March, 1937 in the Central Federal District of the Soviet Union, not far from Moscow.  She attended state schools until she was 16, then went to work in a local coat factory.  During this tim ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 348 Reagan at Brandenburg Gate, It’s not often that our reviews of history include an actual audio record of the event, but today were are fortunate. 20 years ago today, US President Ronald Reagan gave a speech at the Brandenburg Gate in West Berlin, a speech that is today one of his most remembered. Communism in Europe and the Soviet Union was on the decline in 1987, but few people outside of government knew it. For more than forty years, Germany had been a divided nation, torn into eastern and western halves as a ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 347 Operation Opera, 1981 Today in 1981, aircraft of the Israeli Air Force bombed the Iraqi Osirak nuclear reactor located near Baghdad.  The consequences of the raid, both intended and unintended, helped to shape world opinion of Israel and took Iraq out of the nuclear club for the remainder of the 20th century. Iraq’s nuclear program began in the mid-1960’s, but it remained a mostly academic exercise until the late 1970’s, when the nation’s government sought to purchase an Osiris-class nuclear reactor from Franc ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 346 First Drive-In Theater, 1933 Today in 1933, the first drive-in theater opened in Camden, New Jersey.  This new business venture brought together two things Americans tend to be passionate about:  automobiles and movies.  The 70-year long history of the drive-in serves as a sort of model in miniature of the cultural history of the United States from the Great Depression to the dawn of the 21st century. The drive-in theater was the brainchild of Richard Hollingshead, a man of means whose family owned a chemical company ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 345 Tiananmen Square Massacre, 1989 Today in 1989, elements of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army entered Tiananmen Square with the intention of ending the massive protests occurring there.  This marked the beginning of the end of the unrest both in Beijing and in other cities across the country.   Tiananmen Square is located near the center of the city of Beijing and is named after the Tiananmen, or Gate of Heavenly Peace, located at the northern end of the Square.  With a total area of over 526,000 square yards, it is t ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 344 The Bonus Marchers, 1932 Today in 1932, veterans of the First World War began arriving in Washington, DC for a rally.  This was the beginning of what would become known as the Bonus Army, the largest gathering of veterans in the nation's history up to that time.  What transpired over the course of the next two months weeks forever change the relationship between the US federal government and those who risked life and limb in service to their nation. 1932 was one of the worst years of the Great Depression.  In the ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH Special Announcement - PLEASE LISTEN Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 343 The Squalus Rescue, 1939 Commissioned in early 1939, the USS Squalus was the 11th of the new Sargo class of submarines, which were named for fighting fish. This new breed of underwater boat was 310 feet long and 27 feet wide, larger than any previous class. She had improved surface and underwater speed and extended range, which enabled the sub to keep up with fleet surface ships up to a speed of 16 knots. She had seven watertight compartments, plus a conning tower and amenities such as flush toilets, air condition ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 342 Brooks-Sumner Affair, 1856 Today in 1856, Congressman Preston Brooks beat Senator Charles Sumner severely in the chamber of the United States Senate.  The attack symbolized the building animosity between the North and South and caused further polarization as newspapers and public officials on both sides alternately condemned and praised the attack. Charles Sumner took his seat in the Senate in 1851, representing Massachusetts.  He was an impressive orator and had a powerful physical presence, standing six feet, fou ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 341 De Soto Dies, 1542 Today in 1542, Hernando de Soto died on the bank of the MIssissippi River near the present-day town of Lake Village, Arkansas.  His exploration of the southeastern United States in search of a passage to China and untold riches gave Europeans their first substantial assessment of the North American continent.  It also served as another brutal introduction to inland Native Americans of what was to come. De Soto was born in Extremadura, a region of Spain that produced many explorers, in 149 ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 340 Second Anniversay Special No transcript tonight Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 339 Admiral Kimmel Dies, 1968 Today in 1968, retired US Navy Admiral Husband Edward Kimmel died in Groton, Connecticut.  Kimmel gained notoriety for his role as the Commander of the Pacific Fleet at the time of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941.  Today, the Kimmel family continues to fight for an accurate public accounting of his actions before and during that fateful day. Kimmel was born in Henderson, Kentucky on February 26, 1882.  He graduated from the US Naval Academy in 1904 and began a career ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 338 First Fleet Sails For Australia, 1787 Today in 1787, the First Fleet sailed from Portsmouth, England bound for New South Wales on the continent of Australia.  This marked the beginning of European settlement of the future country, although it was for less than noble reasons. Human beings have been living in Australia for as long as 65,000 years, but there is no surviving written history of that time.  While it has been theorized that the ancient Phoenicians, the Chinese or Portuguese were the first outsiders to explore the ar ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 337 The Hindenburg Disaster, 1937 Today in 1937,  The German zeppelin Hindenberg caught fire and was destroyed while attempting to land at the Lakehurst Naval Air Station in Lakehurst, New Jersey.  Although not the first airship accident, this disaster marked the beginning of the end of passenger-carrying lighter-than-air craft due to its extensive coverage on radio and in newsreels. The rigid dirigible had been around since the 1870's, but it took German engineering to make the craft successful.  The term "zeppelin& ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 336 U-Boats Stand Down, 1945 Today in 1945, the Commander-in-Chief of the German Navy, Admiral Karl Donitz, ordered all of his nation's U-boats to cease offensive operations and return home.  Thus ended the Battle of the Atlantic, a struggle that ran the entire length of the Second World War and saw the sinking of thousands of ships and the loss of tens of thousands of lives. The German U-boat, short for Unterseeboot, made its initial appearance during the First World War.  They proved to be highly effective weapons, ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH Second Anniversary Announcement Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 335 The Fall of Saigon, 1975 Today in 1975, the capital of South Vietnam, Saigon, fell to the North Vietnamese Army.  This marked the end of the Vietnam War and the end of South Vietnam as a separate nation.  The evacuation of thousands of Americans and South Vietnamese from the city, mainly by helicopter, marked the end of nearly 20 years of US involvement in the nation. The Paris Peace Accords, signed in 1973, ended direct US military involvement in Vietnam.  The accords also called for a cease-fire between the nor ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 334 ANZAC Day, 1915 Today is ANZAC Day in Australia and New Zealand.  The word "ANZAC" is an acronym for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, a force made up of two infantry divisions which took part in the Battle of Gallipoli in 1915.  This battle, one of most well remembered from the First World War, helped to form the identities of these two nations. When the First World War began in the summer of 1914, Imperial Russia, which fought on the side of the Allied Powers, found herself isolated.  Th ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 333 The Army-McCarthy Hearings, 1954 Today in 1954, what came to be known as the Army-McCarthy hearings began in Washington, DC. The hearings are important to us today because they were the first Congressional hearings to be televised from beginning to end and they marked the beginning of the demise of Wisconsin Senator Joseph R. McCarthy, the man who lent his name to the term "McCarthyism". By 1950, the Cold War was well under way. In the United States, talk of potential Soviet domination in Europe and elsewhere ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH332 San Francisco Earthquake, 1906 Today in 1906, San Francisco and much of the coastal area of northern California was struck by a devastating earthquake. The story of the quake remains alive in the city to this day and serves as a cautionary tale for architects and engineers. It remains the most deadly natural disaster in the history of California. In 1906, San Francisco was the largest city on the West Coast and the ninth-largest in the US; nearly 410,000 people called the city home. It served as a trading center and ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 331 Operation El Dorado Canyon, 1986 Today in 1986, air units from the United States Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps bombed targets in the nation of Libya. Known as Operation El Dorado Canyon, it was the largest battle in a series of confrontations that took place between Libya and the United States during the 1980's. Muammar Gaddafi had been in control of Libya for nearly 17 years by the spring of 1986. During that time, he had distanced his nation from the Western powers, namely Great Britain and the United States. By ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 330 First Human In Space, 1961 Today in 1961, Soviet Air Force pilot Yuri Gagarin became the first human being to travel into space. This gave the Soviets the second of two big "firsts" in the space race, the other one being the launch of the first artificial satellite, Sputnik, in October, 1957. Gagarin's flight made him a larger than life hero in the Soviet Union, a position of admiration and respect that he holds to this day. Gagarin was born in the village of Klushino in the Soviet Union in March, 1934. ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 329 Lee Surrenders to Grant, 1865 Today in 1865, Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia to Union Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant, commander of the Army of the Potomac.  With this act, the bloodiest conflict in American history essentially came to an end. Thousands of volumes have been written about the United States Civil War, so I will not attempt to delve into the war itself here.  Suffice it to say that by April, 1865, the war had been going on for four years and more than 1.6 m ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH328 Operation Baby Lift Crash, 1975 Today in 1975, A C-5A Galaxy cargo aircraft belonging to the US Air Force crashed while trying to make an emergency landing at Tan Son Nhut Air Base near Saigon, South Vietnam.  This tragedy marked the beginning of Operation Baby Lift, a plan by the United States government to fly orphans from South Vietnam to a new life in America. By the early spring of 1975, the Vietnam War was all but over.  The United States, having signed a cease-fire accord with North Vietnam in early 1973, no longe ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH327 Mills Commission Report, 1908 With Special Guest Host Bob Wright of the Baseball History Podcast, which can be found at bhp.libsyn.com Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 326 Eiffel Tower Inaugurated, 1889 Today in 1889, the Eiffel Tower was inaugurated.  It remains today one of the most recognizable man-made structures on the planet.  The tower has become a symbol of Paris; with that in mind, it is hard to imagine that it was once considered an eyesore and was twice almost demolished. The tower is named after Gustave Eiffel, the man who, along with Maurice Koechlin, Emile Nouguier, Stephen Sauvestre and others, designed and oversaw its construction.  The project was proposed in 1884 as the ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 325 President Reagan Shot, 1981 Today in 1981, US President Ronald Reagan was the victim of an assassination attempt.  While assassination attempts, both successful and unsuccessful, have occurred in the United States since the early days of the Presidency, this attempt remains perhaps the most bizarre, not for the act itself, but for the motivation of the would-be assassin. On March 30, 1981, Ronald Reagan had been in office for 70 days.  Unbeknownst to him, a 25-year old man named John Hinckley, Jr. had arrived in town ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 324 The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, 1911 Today in 1911, the largest industrial disaster in the history of New York City occurred. Known as the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, it brought to broad public attention the dangerous and inhumane working conditions present in many American factories. The Triangle Shirtwaist Company was located on the top three floors (the 8th, 9th and 10th) of the Asch building in New York City. It employed about 500 workers, mostly women who were recent immigrants from Europe. Some of the workers were ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 323 MacArthur Promises to Return, 1942 Today in 1942, while changing trains in the town of Terowie in South Australia, US Army General Douglas MacArthur addressed journalists with his now-famous quote, "I came out of Bataan and I shall return".  The promise would take more than two years to fulfill and cost thousands of lives, but it was a promise desperately needed by a nation that was struggling in a dark hour of fear and doubt. The Japanese invasion of the Philippines began a scant nine hours after the bombing of P ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 322 In The Beginning, 3952 BC According to Doctor of the Church the Venerable Bede, the Earth was created today in 3952 BC.  Bede was criticized for his conclusion, not because it was revolutionary, but because the calculations he used were considered heretical by the Church.  Bede would probably be surprised to learn that the age of the Earth continues to be a source of debate today, both in religious and scientific circles. Estimates of the age of our planet date back to before the birth of Christ.  The 6,000-10,000 ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 321 The Newburgh Conspiracy, 1783 When most people think of the American War for Independence, their first thought is of the Declaration of Independence or one of the war's battles.  But today in 1783, an event occurred that could have unraveled everything that the new nation had gained in nearly seven years of conflict.  The actions of one man reversed a dangerous tide of emotion and saved the day.  Today, we remember and honor the man, but the day has been all but lost. In March, 1783, the fighting was over but the youn ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 320 Questions and Answers I answer 5 commonly asked questions about myself and the show.  A little different than our normal fare, but I hope you'll enjoy it. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 319 Austria Annexed By Germany, 1938 Today in 1938, Austria was annexed by Nazi Germany.  This union, or Anschluss, made the nation part of Greater Germany and brought Adolf Hitler one step closer to his goal of unifying all the German-speaking areas of Europe under one government.  It also tested the resolve of the Allies and their commitment to upholding the agreements which ended the First World War. The idea of a unified German-speaking nation in Europe was not new; in fact, talk of it had occurred as early as the late 18 ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 318 Pancho Villa Raids New Mexico, 1916 Today in 1916, two hours before sunrise, more than 500 Mexican raiders led by Francisco "Pancho" Villa crossed the US border and attacked the small town of Columbus, New Mexico.  The raid marked the beginning of a confrontation with the Mexican revolutionary and helped the citizens of the United States wake up to the fact that isolation and neutrality brought no guarantees of security and peace. Columbus, New Mexico was a typical border town.  Its only distinguishing characterist ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 317 Golda Meir Nominated, 1969 Today in 1969, Golda Meir was nominated by Israel's Labor Party to be Prime Minister of that nation. Her years in the office were the culmination of more than 40 of service to her nation and its people. To this day, she remains the only woman to ever be Prime Minister of Israel. Golda Meir was born Golda Mabovitz on May 3, 1898 in Kiev, which was then a city in the Russian Empire. As Jews during a time of persecution in their homeland, Golda later wrote that her family lived in cons ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 316 Churchill's Iron Curtain Speech, 1946 Today in 1946, former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill gave an address at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri entitled "The Sinews of Peace" in which he stated that "an iron curtain" had been placed across Europe. Every eastern European country behind this iron curtain had fallen or would soon fall under the Soviet Union's influence, both economically and militarily. While it is arguable whether Churchill's speech marked the beginning of the Cold Wa ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 315 Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves, 1807 Today in 1807, the United States Congress passed the Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves. While viewed by some as an important step on the road to abolition, others viewed it as a way for Senators and Representatives to sidestep, at least for the time being, the argument over slavery that was slowly pulling the young country apart. The US Constitution had done nothing to alter the state of slavery in the 13 former colonies. After the War for Independence, anti-slavery groups began to o ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 314 The Cooper Union Speech, 1860 Most of history's great moments can only be imagined. There are no photos of Roman legions in battle or of Gutenberg as he perfected movable type. Even though photography has been with us for nearly 200 years, many events have nonetheless been lost to us and only remain as the recorded memories of eyewitnesses. But every once in a while the camera is present at a moment in history. February 27, 1860 saw one such moment, for on that day in New York City, a tall, rail-thin lawyer from ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 313 Buffalo Bill Cody Born, 1846 Today in 1846, William Frederick Cody was born in Scott County, Iowa. Known to the world as Buffalo Bill, Cody helped define the image of the Old West with his work as a showman and became one of the best-known celebrities of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Cody was just 11 when the death of his father and his family's subsequent financial difficulties forced him to take a job as a messenger for a freight company. He would ride back and forth along the length of wagon trains and d ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 312 US Granted Panama Canal Zone, 1904 Today in 1904, the United States was granted control of the Panama Canal Zone, a twenty-mile wide strip of land running from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific across the newly-formed country of Panama. This marked the culmination of a struggle for control of the tiny strip of land that, in the end, resulted in a canal that would help usher the planet into a new age of commerce and rapid transit. Panama is an isthmus, a narrow strip of land connecting Central and South America. The idea o ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 311 Executive Order 9066 Issued, 1942 Today in 1942, US President Franklin Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, which gave military authorities the right to declare large sections of the United States to be military areas. Once so declared, these areas could be cleared of any and all persons who were perceived to be a threat to the national security of the United States. While the order did not mention Americans of Japanese ancestry specifically, it was aimed squarely at them. What followed was the largest forced internment o ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 310 Robert Hanssen Arrested, 2001 Matt's Today in History, February 18, 2007 Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 309 Captain James Cook Dies, 1779 Matt's Today in History, February 14, 2007 Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 308 James-Younger Gang's First Robbery, 1866 Matt's Today in History, February 13, 2007 Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 307 Henry VIII Named Head Of English Church, 1531 Matt's Today in History, February 11, 2007 Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 306 The Devil's Footprints, 1855 Matt's Today in History, February 8, 2007 Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 305 The Washington Naval Treaty, 1922 Matt's Today in History, February 6, 2007 Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 304 The Day The Music Died, 1959 Matt's Today in History, February 3, 2007 Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 303 The Nome Serum Run, 1925 Matt's Today in History, February 2, 2007 Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 302 Apollo 1/Challenger Disasters, 1967/1986 Matt's Today in History, January 27/28, 2007 Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 301 Last Japanese Holdout On Guam, 1972 Matt's Today in History, January 24, 2007 Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 300 The Greenbrier Ghost Murder, 1897 Matt's Today in History, January 23, 2007 Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 299 Vladimir Lenin Dies, 1924 Matt's Today in History, January 21, 2007 Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 298 The Zimmermann Telegram, 1917 Matt's Today in History, January 19, 2007 Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 297 Ike's Farewell Speech, 1961 Matt's Today in History, January 17, 2007 Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 296 Benedict Arnold Born, 1741 Matt's Today in History, January 14, 2007 Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 295 Sergey Korolyov Born, 1907 Matt's Today in History, January 12, 2007 Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 294 Mona Lisa Visits America, 1962 Matt's Today in History, January 8, 2007 Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 293 Emperor Showa Dies, 1989 Matt's Today in History, January 7, 2007 Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 292 Golden Gate Bridge Started, 1933 Matt's Today in History, January 5, 2007 Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 291 The SL-1 Accident, 1961 Matt's Today in History, January 3, 2007 Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 290 Emperor Commodus Dies, 192 Matt's Today in History, December 31, 2006 Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 289 The Liberator's First Flight, 1939 Matt's Today in History, December 29, 2006 Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 288 Billy Mitchell Born, 1879 Matt's Today in History, December 28, 2006 Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 287 North Tower Topped Out, 1970 Matt's Today in History, December 23, 2006 Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 286 Valley Forge Winter, 1777 Matt's Today in History, December 19, 2006 Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 285 Benjamin Davis Born, 1912 Matt's Today in History, December 18, 2006 Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 284 Adolf Eichmann Sentenced, 1961 - Part Two Matt's Today in History, December 16, 2006 Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 283 Adolf Eichmann Sentenced, 1961 - Part One Matt's Today in History, December 15, 2006 Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 282 Mary Todd Lincoln Born, 1818 Matt's Today in History, December 13, 2006 Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 281 The Panay Incident, 1937 Matt's Today in History, December 12, 2006 Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 280 The Day After, 1941 Matt's Today in History, December 8, 2006 Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 278 Walt Disney Born, 1901 Matt's Today in History, December 5, 2006 Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 275 Butch O'Hare Disappears, 1943 Matt's Today in History, November 26, 2006 Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH 271 Naval Battle of Guadalcanal Ends, 1942 Matt's Today in History, November 15, 2006 Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MTIH Update and Donations Matt's Today in History, November 13, 2006 Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website