Episode 33: Dennis Hastert, Phyllis Schlafly, and Malia's Gap Year

On this week’s Past Present podcast, Nicole Hemmer, Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, and Neil Young discuss Dennis Hastert, Phyllis Schlafly, and Malia Obama taking a gap year before entering Harvard. 

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show:

• Former Republican Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert was sentenced to 15 months in federal prison for various crimes he committed trying to cover up his sexual abuse of wrestlers he coached many years ago. Niki contended the real surprise was that Hastert had been seen as a change from prior GOP leaders Newt Gingrich and Tom Delay who saw their careers ended by corruption scandals. Natalia noted the irony that the Mark Foley scandal had helped bring about the end of Hastert’s stint as Speaker. Neil discussed how Hastert had used the wrestling world to both target his victims and protect him from their accusations. Natalia observed that the Hastert scandal seemed to reveal that public discourse had finally decoupled pedophilia from homosexuality, something Niki remembered had been prominent in the 1961 public service film Boys Beware.
• Conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly is fighting to control the organization Eagle Forum she founded 44 years ago. The 91 year old Schlafly is facing a coup from board members who are angry she endorsed Donald Trump rather than Ted Cruz for the Republican nomination. Niki argued Schlafly has always been more populist than conservative, noting she sided with the John Birch Society against the National Review in the conservative crackup after Barry Goldwater’s terrible loss in 1964. Natalia agreed, citing Claire Potter’s recent article that Schlafly has always operated as a populist against the GOP establishment she saw as “kingmakers.” Natalia also mentioned historians like Catherine Rymph and Stacie Taranto who have written about Schlafly’s influence on grassroots conservative politics. 
• Malia Obama has chosen to attend Harvard University, but she will delay her entry one year as she takes an increasingly popular “gap year.” Natalia noted that many of the formal programs students participate in require tuition, making them an option for only wealthier families. Neil thought Malia’s decision might partly be so that she can enter college after her father has left the White House and perhaps avoid some of the social media moments she’s endured as a daughter of the president. Niki explained our fascination with presidential children as a 20th century phenomenon tied to the increasing importance of the president as a personality and celebrity. Niki remembered Teddy Roosevelt’s daughter, Alice, had been much in the public eye for her notorious antics. And she pointed to John F. Kennedy’s presidency, famous for photographs of his children, as a turning point in American fascination with presidential children. Neil argued the Clinton presidency had been another turning point, as they had asked the media to protect Chelsea’s privacy. But Niki responded that talk media had been cruel to Chelsea, including Rush Limbaugh saying she looked like a dog.

In our regular closing feature, What’s Making History:

• Natalia commented on the J-Stor blog article that argued kids’ screen time is a feminist issue.
• Neil discussed the prediction that China will become the world’s most Christian nation by 2030.
• Niki recalled the history of presidents and food in light of Donald Trump’s taco bowl picture.

Episode 32: Prince, America First, and the Degree Divide

On this week’s Past Present podcast, Nicole Hemmer, Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, and Neil Young discuss Prince, Donald Trump’s America First foreign policy, and educational inequality.

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show:

• The legendary musician Prince died last month at the age of 57. Niki noted his New York Times obituary described Prince as a “songwriter, singer, one-man studio band and consummate showman.” Neil described Prince’s growing up in Minneapolis as important for understanding his musical style and persona. Natalia discussed Prince’s gender-bending style and influence, as described by Dodai Stewart. Neil commented on Prince’s religious conversion to Jehovah’s Witness in 2001, an experience that pushed Prince in a more conservative direction musically and politically. Prince was noted for his humanitarian philanthropy, something Natalia mentioned Van Jones had movingly spoken about on CNN. Prince’s musical genius, Neil argued, was seen not only in his own songs, but also those he wrote for other performers like “Manic Monday” for the Bangles and Sinead O’Connor’s “Nothing Compares 2 You.”
• Donald Trump recently delivered a speech outlining his foreign policy which he described as “America First.” Natalia disagreed with historians who tied Trump’s speech to the America First movement of the 1940s, arguing she didn’t believe Trump was historically literate enough to make such a connection. Niki remembered Pat Buchanan’s use of an America First foreign policy as a response to the end of the Cold War in his 1992 presidential campaign. Neil contrasted Trump’s isolationist vision with more dominant use of American foreign policy as a tool to open foreign markets to American goods, as argued by Andrew Bacevich in his book, American Empire.
• A recent Pew Poll found more highly educated adults are far more likely to be liberal, while adults with less education are far more likely to be conservative. Natalia cited the historian Richard Hofstadter’s 1963 classic Anti-Intellectualism in American Life was responding in part to the broad American belief that pluck and craftiness were the keys to success rather than education. Niki mentioned several recent studies have found economic segregation may lead to greater educational inequality. Natalia argued anti-intellectualism was not only something on the right, but also displayed in leftist circles on college campuses today, something the scholar John McWhorter recently wrote about for the Chronicle of Higher Education.

In our regular closing feature, What’s Making History:

• Natalia commented on the news that Classpass had dramatically raised its prices.
• Neil observed the thirtieth anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster and its surprising ecological benefits.
• Niki touted the new podcast from the Brooklyn Historical Society, Flatbush + Main.

Episode 31: Tubman Twenties, Adult Toys, and Whole Foods Politics

On this week’s Past Present podcast, Nicole Hemmer, Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, and Neil Young discuss Harriet Tubman’s replacement of Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill, the regulation of adult toys, and Whole Foods.

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show:

• The Treasury Department announced Harriet Tubman would replace Andrew Jackson on the front of the $20 bill. Neil noted this has been largely an uncontroversial decision, although Donald Trump called the move “pure political correctness.” Natalia and Niki cited the historian David Greenberg’s defense of Andrew Jackson as one of the architects of the American political system as a reason for keeping him on our currency. The change to the $20 bill came as a surprise to many who had expected Alexander Hamilton to be removed from the $10 bill, but a groundswell of support for Hamilton in the wake of the hit Broadway musical named after him may have kept him on our currency. In light of that popularity, Natalia shared Hilary Levey Friedman’s recent blog post that ruminated on the cultural meaning of the internet trend to post selfies at the Broadway show.
• In 2007, Ted Cruz defended Texas’ prohibition against the sale of sex toys as the state’s attorney general. Niki situated Texas’ law in the history of vice regulation. Neil pointed out that the establishment of the right to sexual privacy by the Supreme Court case Lawrence v. Texas (2003) covered the use of sex toys, but not their sale. Natalia observed the long history of sex toys, including their use by medical doctors in the nineteenth century for female patients suffering from “hysteria.” Niki noted the rise of Passion Parties, a sex toy company popular in the Bible Belt, and Neil discussed the different views Christian sex manuals have taken regarding these devices, including Tim and Beverly LaHaye’s opposition in The Act of Marriage and Dr. Douglas Rosenau’s endorsement in A Celebration of Sex.
• The chain Whole Foods may be liberal foodies’ favorite supermarket, but Natalia pointed out the conservative politics of its founder John Mackey, including his opposition to Obamacare. Natalia argued that although Mackey’s politics may seem surprising they cohered in a wellness and libertarian worldview not uncommon among the “crunchy cons” set, a group of conservatives like Rod Dreher who promote natural living and organic food as a conservative cause. Niki thought Whole Foods’ cultural liberalism and economic conservatism reminded her of similar examples in David Brooks’ Bobos in Paradise. Natalia also recommended Joshua Clark Davis’s forthcoming book From Head Shops to Whole Foods for understanding more about this grocery chain’s history. Natalia has written about the strange gender politics of “natural” living for the U.S. Intellectual History Blog.

In our regular closing feature, What’s Making History:

• Natalia talked about the strange story of the Craigslist ad for a feminism tutor.
• Neil commented on HBO’s new movie, Confirmation, which depicts the story of Anita Hill’s testimony at Clarence Thomas’s Supreme Court nomination hearings. 
• Niki shared the recent New York Times editorial written by three historians, “Did Blacks Really Endorse the 1994 Crime Bill?”

Episode 30: Political Violence, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, and Prisons for Profit

On this week’s Past Present podcast, Nicole Hemmer, Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, and Neil Young discuss political violence, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, and the prison industrial complex.

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show:

• Battery charges filed against Donald Trump’s campaign manager are just the latest incident in an election year that has known its share of violence. Neil argued political violence may be built into our historical DNA, tracing back to the American Revolution. Natalia suggested that tradition went even further back, citing Bacon’s Rebellion of 1676. Niki likened some of Trump’s political strategies to the domestic violence tactic of gaslighting, something she has written about in her column for U.S. News. Trump’s aggressive masculinity reminded Natalia of Gail Bederman’s argument in Manliness and Civilization that although unrestrained masculinity became considered uncivil in the early twentieth century it still retained certain political and cultural value.
• The hit Netflix show Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt just began its second season. Part of the show’s appeal, Natalia argued, was it tapped into a new nostalgia for the 1990s. Niki contrasted that with our more prevalent cultural nostalgia for the 1980s, demonstrated in the success of the television drama The Americans. Niki commented that although Kimmy represented a lot of the optimism of the 1990s, the show also reflected some of its darker elements including the rise of doomsday cults in the decade. Neil traced those cults to apocalyptic fervor of the 1980s, shown in the popularity of the Left Behind series. Natalia noted those fears continued in the 1990s, particularly in anticipation of Y2K.
• ·Many of America’s prisons have been outsourced to private corporations. Natalia situated that development in the context of the Rockefeller drug laws that led to increasing prison populations at the same time as shrinking state budgets. Niki noted that the Prison Industries Act of 1995 provided that prisoners be paid minimum wage for their labor, but also allowed for wages to be deducted for room and board costs. Natalia recommended Jeff Smith’s prison memoir, Mr. Smith Goes to Prison, for how it shows the prison system has no sense of rehabilitating inmates.

In our regular closing feature, What’s Making History:

• Natalia talked about the Brittany Stinson’s college admissions essay about Costco hot dogs that helped her get in to five Ivy League universities.
• Neil recommended Matthew Desmond’s book Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City. You can read an excerpt of Desmond’s book here.
• Niki discussed Texas Monthly’s article on the 50th anniversary of the University of Texas Tower shooting.

Episode 29: Flashback! Woodrow Wilson, SoulCycle, and Bernie Sanders

On this week’s Past Present podcast, Nicole Hemmer, Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, and Neil Young discuss the legacy of Woodrow Wilson, Soul Cycle, and Bernie Sanders and the history of socialism.

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show:

• Princeton students have demanded the university remove Woodrow Wilson’s name from campus sites because of his racist acts as president. Natalia agreed with the historian Nathan Connolly’s request that we “write segregation and race into the story, not to write the racists out of it.” She also recommended the historian Jonathan Zimmerman’s Politico article that encouraged Princeton students to reckon more with Wilson’s complicated example.
• SoulCycle’s initial public offering has attracted the attention of Wall Street investors, but the cycling brand has received steady criticism from cultural critics since its wheels first started spinning. For those interested in reading more about the history of fitness and wellness, be sure to check out Natalia’s essays on these topics.
• Bernie Sanders’ bid for the Democratic Party’s nomination has raised the old question, “Why is there no socialism in America?” That question served as the title of Werner Sombart’s 1906 classic. Natalia mentioned the historian Eric Foner’s advice that Sanders should use moral language to defend socialism as Eugene Debs did in the early 20th century. Natalia also noted that Larry David’s portrayal of Sanders on Saturday Night Live could make the senator’s Jewishness more well-known among American voters.

Episode 28: Bathroom Politics, Spring Break, and the Heroin Crisis

On this week’s Past Present podcast, Nicole Hemmer, Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, and Neil Young discuss North Carolina’s bathroom bill, the history of Spring Break, and the nation’s heroin epidemic. 

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show:

• North Carolina’s state legislature recently overturned a Charlotte non-discrimination ordinance which allowed transgender people to use the bathroom corresponding to their gender identity. Natalia noted that fears about public restrooms have often inspired moral panics, pointing to the 1961 short film Boys Beware that warned boys about homosexual predators waiting to attack them in public bathrooms. Niki mentioned that opponents of the Civil Rights Movement played on similar fears, claiming women would be exposed to venereal disease if restrooms were integrated, as the historian Gillian Frank has argued. Neil said anti-feminists had helped defeat the Equal Rights Amendment by arguing the constitutional amendment would create sex-integrated bathrooms, making women vulnerable to attacks from rapists. Neil has written for Slate about how similar arguments were made to defeat Houston’s recent bathroom bill.
• It’s Spring Break time again, but what’s the history of this annual bacchanalia? Niki considered Spring Break in part as a media creation, noting Time Magazine’s 1959 article that deemed it a rite of passage for college students and the 1960 movie Where the Boys Are that depicted Spring Break adventures in the popular destination of Fort Lauderdale. Natalia noted Spring Break had begun in Fort Lauderdale in the 1930s where a major swim meet turned into a well-known event for thousands of college students. Fort Lauderdale’s Spring Break status culminated in the 1980s with the arrival of MTV Spring Break which televised every debauched moment. 
• President Obama recently announced a host of new measures to address the nation’s heroin epidemic, including increased focus on treatment. Natalia noted that this more compassionate approach to drug addiction marks a real departure from how the nation dealt with the crack epidemic of the 1980s, arguing racism may explain some of the difference as crack affected black communities while heroin is largely a white epidemic. Neil traced the history of heroin from the nineteenth century when most heroin addicts were upper-class women who used the drug to self-medicate their pains. That history linked to the current crisis, Niki observed, since today’s heroin epidemic stemmed from the abuse of prescription painkillers. Natalia mentioned Elizabeth Wurtzel’s 1994 book Prozac Nation detailed how the author used drugs to deal with her debilitating depression. And Neil and Natalia both commented on how pop culture had represented drug use and addiction, including the movies Less Than Zero and American Psycho and the television dramas Weeds and Nurse Jackie. 

In our regular closing feature, What’s Making History:

• Natalia commented on Juicero, the $700 juicer that is raising enormous Silicon Valley investment capital.
• Neil looked back on the life and career of the architect Zaha Hadid who died at the age of 65 this week.
• Niki discussed Justin Driver’s Los Angeles Times editorial on the 60th anniversary of the Southern Manifesto.

Episode 27: Hulk Hogan v Gawker, Parental Leave, and Bernie's Scandinavia

On this week’s Past Present podcast, Nicole Hemmer, Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, and Neil Young discuss Hulk Hogan v. Gawker, parental leave policy, and the left’s love of Scandinavia.

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show:

• Hulk Hogan has won a $115 million judgment against Gawker Media for publishing a recording of him having sex with a female friend. Hogan asserted his right to privacy, but others have defended Gawker’s First Amendment rights. Neil pointed out the concept of privacy is a modern one that was originally encoded in the Bill of Rights as a protection against government intrusion by the military. Niki argued that notion expanded with the rise of newspapers in the late nineteenth century as citizens sought protection against their “invasion of privacy” for news stories. Niki noted Gawker’s response to the court’s judgment argued their opponents in court had won their case by presenting the Gawker website as an example of the distasteful and objectionable fare that proliferates on the Internet. Natalia situated the Hogan case and the history of celebrity sex tapes in the context of the nation’s obscenity laws, something John D’Emilio and Estelle Freedman’s book, Intimate Matters, argues allowed for the wide expression of sexual imagery in the public sphere.
• The online retailer Etsy recently announced it would now provide six months of paid leave to mothers and fathers following a birth or adoption. Natalia contrasted the histories of the United States and Europe in order to explain why American policies regarding parental leave lag behind Europe’s. Niki noted the AARP had pushed for the passage of the 1993 Family and Medical Leave Act in order to expand the circumstances around which employers could take off from work, including the care of an elderly parent. Natalia remarked on the surprising irony that a man, Gary Akerman, is considered the father of family leave because he tried unsuccessfully to be granted paternal leave to care for his newborn daughter in 1969, arguing that maternity leave discriminated on the basis of gender.
• The American left loves Scandinavia while conservative critics prefer to point out Scandinavia’s darker aspects. Neil cited the Finnish writer Anu Partanen who recently argued American liberals wrongly think Scandinavians support their social democratic system because of a self-denial for the common good. Rather, Partanen maintains, Scandinavians do so out of self-interest. Many Americans also admire Scandinavia’s high educational rankings, but Natalia remarked that Pasi Sahlberg’s book Finnish Lessons showed how different the Scandinavian education system was from America’s, including the absence of private schools and a cultural aversion to competition. Niki likened this to the “tall poppy syndrome” philosophy prevalent in Australia and other Anglosphere countries.

In our regular closing feature, What’s Making History:

• Natalia discussed the meaning of President Obama’s trip to Argentina.
• Neil shared CityLab’s series on the forgotten history of female mapmakers.
• Niki explained why the KKK hated chain stores in the 1920s.

Episode 26: Merrick Garland, Misty Copeland, and Contested Conventions

On this week’s Past Present podcast, Nicole Hemmer, Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, and Neil Young discuss Merrick Garland, Misty Copeland, and brokered conventions.

You can listen to Episode 25 here.

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show:

• President Obama has nominated Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court. Niki noted that Republican leaders and activists have cited historical precedents to defend their opposition to Obama’s nomination, but that this has been an incorrect use of history. Neil noted Garland was a shrewd choice in part because Republicans had previously voiced support for his selection. Natalia and Niki both observed that should Garland be confirmed the Court would continue to be made up only by Catholics and Jews.
• Misty Copeland, the first African-American principal dancer in the American Ballet Theater, recently sat down with President Obama for an interview with Time Magazine. African Americans have been remarkably underrepresented in ballet, Natalia argued, because of the assumption that ballet should present a uniform, monochromatic (white) aesthetic, but also because black female bodies have historically been seen as hypersexualized. Natalia mentioned Estelle Friedman’s recent book, Redefining Rape, showed how black women had to prove their bodies were violable since they were viewed as hypersexual and thus incapable of being raped. Neil observed that Copeland’s critics saw her athletic physique as unsuited for ballet, but Copeland’s ads for Under Armour showcased her physicality to sell their athletic wear. Neil noted the question of athletic bodies in the ballet world reminded him of similar debates within figure skating, particularly seen in the example of Debi Thomas, the African-American figure skater in the 1988 Winter Olympics. Niki suggested the expensive costs of ballet precluded many from the sport, something detailed in a New Yorker profile of Copeland that chronicled the financial challenges she had faced in her training to become a ballet dancer.
• Will the Republican Party face a contested convention in 2016? If it does, it will be the first since the 1952 Democratic Convention, as Jeff Greenfield explained on a recent Slate podcast. Trump has threatened riots will erupt if there’s a brokered convention. Niki pointed to the historical examples of 1912 and 1968 as other times when violence broke out at party conventions, and Neil noted wrestling matches broke out during the 1924 Democratic Convention’s 103 rounds of ballot voting.

In our regular closing feature, What’s Making History:

• Natalia recommended the New-York Historical Society’s exhibition, “The Art and Whimsy of Mo Willems.”
• Neil explained the history of the “air ball” chant.
• Niki discussed Samuel Redman’s article in Smithsonian Magazine, “When Museums Rushed to Fill Their Rooms With Bones.”

Episode 25: Nancy Reagan, OJ Simpson, and Presidential Bodies

On this week’s Past Present podcast, Nicole Hemmer, Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, and Neil Young discuss Nancy Reagan, O.J. Simpson, and presidential bodies.

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show:

• Nancy Reagan passed away last week at the age of 94. Niki noted most remembrances of Mrs. Reagan had taken a respectful tone, but a controversial Washington Post obituary accused her of “meddling” in her husband’s presidency. That comment has now been removed from the Washington Post article. Niki observed that controversy over Nancy Reagan originated during the Reagan presidency, spurred in part by the White House Chief of Staff Don Regan’s 1988 tell-all that revealed, among other things, that Nancy had dabbled in astrology. Neil explained that after the assassination attempt on her husband in 1981, Nancy had turned to the San Francisco astrologist, Joan Quigley, for comfort and help in planning the president’s schedule, much to the ire of Reagan’s conservative religious supporters. This reminded Natalia of how Mary Todd Lincoln held séances in the White House after the death of her son, Willie. Niki remarked Nancy’s Just Say No campaign against drugs had been one of the most successful initiatives by a First Lady. Natalia cited a Joan Didion essay during Reagan’s governorship of California had skewered Nancy as an inauthentic actress playing a part for the cameras. The accusation of inauthenticity plagued both Reagans throughout their career, Neil noted, though never regarding their love for each other. For appreciating that great love, Niki recommended the collection, I Love You, Ronnie, which contains all of Reagan’s love letters to Nancy. 
• O.J. Simpson is back in the news thanks to a miniseries about the 1995 murder trial of Simpson’s ex-wife and the discovery of a knife from the grounds of Simpson’s former home. Neil explained America’s fascination with the trial owed in part to Simpson’s outsized celebrity status as a famous football player and celebrity pitchman, such as his commercials for Hertz Rental Cars. Niki noted Simpson’s case wasn’t the first “trial of the century,” and pointed to the Leopold and Loeb trial of 1924 as offering several parallels to Simpson’s case, including their representation by the celebrity lawyer, Clarence Darrow. Natalia cited Jeffrey Toobin’s New Yorker article that argued the unique pre-Internet media environment of the time helped make the Simpson case so ubiquitous. Neil argued the Simpson trial was shaped by the racial politics of Los Angeles, including the recent acquittal of the police officers who had been caught on tape beating Rodney King.
• Donald Trump’s private parts have become a campaign issue. Niki detailed the history of presidential phalluses, including Warren Harding’s explicit letters to his mistress, the White House tape of Lyndon Johnson ordering pants big enough to accommodate his crotch, and the Starr Report’s detailed descriptions of Bill Clinton’s anatomy. (Niki has also tweeted more examples.) Natalia noted how the bodies of presidents often have posed challenges for the nation’s leaders, including William Howard Taft’s obesity and John F. Kennedy’s covering up his physical ailments in order to present strength in the midst of the Cold War. Natalia also mentioned Jerome Karabel’s The Chosen discussed how Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s worries about his body traced back to his time at Harvard when he wasn’t strong enough to play football. Niki noted Theodore Roosevelt had used his own story of overcoming his childhood physical ailments, as detailed in his 1899 speech, “The Strenuous Life,” as a model for how the nation could strengthen itself.

In our regular closing feature, What’s Making History:

• Natalia discussed the anthropological study, “Why We Post,” that is investigating how different cultures use social media.
• Neil commented on how journalists have written about John F. Kennedy’s application essay to Harvard.
• Niki noted the passing of Ray Tomlinson, who invented email and rescued the @ sign from obscurity.  

Episode 24: Trump's Evangelicals, the KKK, and CrossFit

On this week’s Past Present podcast, Nicole Hemmer, Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, and Neil Young discuss Donald Trump and evangelical voters, the Ku Klux Klan, and CrossFit. 

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show:

• Donald Trump is winning white evangelical voters, and evangelical leaders are not happy about it. Niki pointed out that Ted Cruz seemed like the candidate who should be winning evangelical voters, but Neil argued 2016 is revealing the political diversity within evangelicalism that has often been overlooked. Natalia observed Trump’s evangelical supporters often praised him for his wealth and business acumen, reminding her of the work of historians like Bethany Moreton and Kevin Kruse that have examined conservative Christian support for free market capitalism. Neil noted there were some indications Trump was drawing voters from the Pentecostal/prosperity gospel wing of evangelicalism, movements that mainstream evangelicals have viewed very suspiciously through the years.
• Donald Trump hesitated to condemn the Ku Klux Klan after David Duke endorsed his candidacy. Niki outlined the Klan’s three historic periods, and argued the anti-Catholic, anti-immigrant 1920s KKK was most instructive for understanding the present moment. Natalia noted Trump’s father was arrested at a 1927 Klan riot in Queens. That event reminded Neil of Kenneth Jackson’s 1967 classic, The Ku Klux Klan in the City, which examined the Klan’s presence in urban centers in the 1920s. Neil remarked the Klan’s reemergence in the 1920s followed D. W. Griffith’s 1915 film, The Birth of a Nation, a film that romanticized the KKK’s role in “redeeming” the South after the Civil War. Niki has written about how the GOP needs to stand up to Trump’s racism in this election.
• The workout phenomenon CrossFit is now twenty years old. Natalia noted CrossFit’s critics often called it a “cult” because of the passionate devotion its members showed for the workout regimen, but also cited a recent New York Times article that had compared it to a church. Natalia recommended two books, T. J. Murphy’s Inside the Box and J. C. Herz’s Learning to Breathe Fire, for understanding more about CrossFit.

In our regular closing feature, What’s Making History:

• Natalia talked about Elissa Strauss’ Slate article on the controversy of teaching meditation and mindfulness in public schools.
• Neil discussed Peter Manseau’s New York Times essay about the history of accidental gun deaths in America.
• Niki chatted about the history of International Women’s Day which is celebrated March 8. 

Episode 23: Apple v. US, Michael Pollan, and Guantanamo Bay

On this week’s Past Present podcast, Nicole Hemmer, Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, and Neil Young discuss Apple vs. the US, Michael Pollan’s “Cooked,” and Guantanamo Bay.

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show:

• The federal government has sued Apple to develop technology that will allow it to access the locked iPhone of the San Bernardino terrorists. Neil noted the government has used the All Writs Act of 1789 to issue its order because the 1992 Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act has not been updated to cover technological innovations like the iPhone.  
• Michael Pollan’s Netflix documentary, “Cooked,” explores how the history of cooking has shaped human existence. Natalia noted Pollan’s writings about food have often stoked controversy, including his 2009 New York Times article that blamed feminism for the end of cooking. Conservatives praised Pollan for that essay at the time, Natalia observed, but now the American Conservative has critiqued Pollan for not enshrining the family meal enough in “Cooked.” Niki observed the long history of food politics, pointing to Upton Sinclair’s 1906 classic, The Jungle, which was meant to be a critique of unsafe labor conditions but was received by American readers as an exposure of unhealthy food production processes. Natalia cited Eric Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation as a modern update of The Jungle. She also recommended the historian Katherine Leonard Turner’s How the Other Half Ate for understanding how the history of industrialization and food technology improved the eating habits of working-class Americans in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
• President Obama has issued an executive order to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay. Niki situated Guantanamo Bay in one hundred years of US involvement in Cuba. Natalia observed Cuba represented one of the first examples of the US’s “informal empire.” Neil recalled use of Guantanamo as an extralegal detention camp began when the United States brought 300 Haitian refugees to the island in 1991. Cuban Americans, Natalia remarked, have shaped American policy towards Cuba, something visible in Marco Rubio’s recent statements about Guantanamo on the campaign trail.

In our regular closing feature, What’s Making History:

• Natalia shared the news that North Carolina A&T University has disbanded its women’s swim team, the last women’s swim team at a historically Black college or university. Natalia also recommended Jeff Wiltse’s book, Contested Waters, for understanding the history of African Americans and public pools.
• Neil recommended the movie Spotlight which tells the story of how the Boston Globe uncovered the pedophilia scandal in the Catholic Church in 2001. Neil noted that several recent investigations have also exposed sexual abuse scandals in evangelical churches and ministries.
• Niki discussed the Twitter hashtag #ObamaAndKids that captures photos of the president with children.

Episode 22: Antonin Scalia, Samantha Bee, and the Grammys

On this week’s Past Present podcast, Nicole Hemmer, Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, and Neil Young discuss Antonin Scalia, Samantha Bee and women in comedy, and the Grammy Awards. 

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show:

• The death of Antonin Scalia has opened up a spot on the Supreme Court and created a political controversy about his replacement. Niki noted Scalia’s reputation as a Constitutional originalist, and but Neil noted Scalia pivoted between originalist and textualist interpretations depending on the cases. While most originalists are conservatives, Neil commented that some liberals, like Yale Law School’s Akhil Reed Amar, have also claimed the originalist mantle. Niki argued that controversies over Supreme Court appointments didn’t begin with Robert Bork’s nomination battle in 1987, but instead had been a regular feature of the twentieth century. Natalia cited Jonathan Zimmerman’s recent article in the San Francisco Chronicle that showed these nomination fights went back into the nineteenth century.
• Full Frontal with Samantha Bee recently debuted on TBS, but why have so few women comedians had late night television shows? Natalia discussed why historically women have not been seen as funny, a prejudice exhibited as recently as 2011 in Christopher Hitchens’s essay, “Women, the Unfunny Sex.” Niki noted Tina Fey has written about the discrimination she faced as a woman at Saturday Night Live in her recent book, Bossypants. Neil argued Joan Rivers’ short lived show in 1986 had become the standard Hollywood argument for why women couldn’t succeed in late night television. Natalia observed how women comedians continue to be assessed as much by their appearance as by their humor, something that Amy Schumer has tried to skewer in her comedy and in her recent nude photographs for the Pirelli calendar.
• Kendrick Lamar’s performance of his songs “The Blacker the Berry” and “Alright” produced the most memorable moment of the 2016 Grammy Awards. Niki commented that Lamar’s performance of “Alright” at the 2015 BET Awards and also the song’s video had much more overt criticisms of police violence than his Grammy performance demonstrated. Natalia remarked that the Grammys have often awarded songs about racial justice, such as Bob Dylan’s Grammy wins for We Shall Overcome (1964) and The Times They Are A-Changin’ (1965), but these typically took a much different tone from Lamar’s song and its performance. Niki observed this owed in part to the Grammys’ conservative reputation as an organization founded in 1958 to preserve classical pop music against the new form of rock and roll. Neil noted Grammy performances were often remembered more than the awards, such as the mass wedding presided over by Queen Latifah in 2014.

In our regular closing feature, What’s Making History:

• Natalia recommended Paul Kalanithi’s cancer memoir, When Breath Becomes Air.
• Neil remarked on the history of women wearing pants, including the recent Wear Pants to Church Day movement launched by Mormon feminists.
• Niki discussed why Republican Party reforms of their primary process have backfired.

Episode 21: The Zika Virus, Beyonce's Formation, and Hillary Clinton's Feminism Problem

On this week’s Past Present podcast, Nicole Hemmer, Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, and Neil Young discuss the Zika virus, Beyonce’s “Formation,” and Hillary Clinton’s feminism problem.

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show:

• The mosquito-borne virus is ravaging Brazil, but starting to spread globally. Natalia pointed to how rubella outbreaks in the 1960s helped change European abortion laws, a relevant historical precedent considering Brazil’s restrictive abortion laws. Neil traced the history of Zika since its discovery in Uganda in 1947. 
• Beyonce’s Super Bowl performance and video for her new single, “Formation,” have drawn controversy for their references to the Black Panthers, the Black Lives Matter movement, and issues of racism and police brutality. Natalia noted critics on the left also have accused Beyonce of representing a “corporate feminism” that is uncritical of capitalism, something the Combahee River Collective Statement of 1977 made central to its definition of black feminism. Niki noted the historian Jim Downs’s essay for We’re History interpreted “Formation” as an artistic expression of black women and black middle class culture instead of the more common pop cultural representations of African-American history as a story of subjugation and discrimination.
• Does Hillary Clinton have a problem with women voters? Controversial comments from Madeline Albright and Gloria Steinem certainly haven’t endeared women voters to Clinton’s candidacy. Natalia argued the controversy exposed longstanding generational divides within feminism, something she noted Gloria Steinem had written about in her recent memoir that detailed her spars with Betty Friedan during the 1960s. Neil cited Carly Fiorina’s exit statement from the Republican presidential race for how it asserted a conservative version of feminism and encouraged women to not let anyone tell them how to vote.

In our regular closing feature, What’s Making History:

• Natalia recommended Aidan Donnelley Rowley’s new book, The Ramblers, as participating in the tradition of the New York novel.
• Neil discussed a history of subway etiquette campaigns from CityLab.
• Niki shared what 74 years of crossword history show us about the language we use.

Episode 20: Clinton & Reconstruction, Curvy Barbie, and Bernie Sanders's (Un)Religion

On this week’s Past Present podcast, Nicole Hemmer, Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, and Neil Young discuss Hillary Clinton and Reconstruction, Curvy Barbie, and Bernie Sanders and atheism.

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show:

• Hillary Clinton stepped into controversy when she named Abraham Lincoln as her favorite president, in part, because he would have brought the nation back together more peacefully after the Civil War had he lived than what Reconstruction did. Natalia explained the controversy owed to Clinton’s parroting a version of history known as the Dunning School which presented Reconstruction as period of northern vengeance on the South. The Dunning interpretation of Reconstruction, Natalia pointed out, dominated much of the twentieth century, but has now been thoroughly repudiated by historians, including Eric Foner’s seminal work, Reconstruction: America’s Unfinished Revolution, published in 1988. Neil noted the Clintons’ relationship with African American voters has a troubled history, including Bill Clinton’s comments about Jesse Jackson during Hillary’s race against Obama in 2008. But Natalia pushed back at arguments that lump the Clintons together as one unit, even while noting Bill Chafe’s recent history of the couple, Bill and Hillary: The Politics of the Personal.
• Barbie has a new look! The doll now comes in three new body shapes: curvy, tall, and petite. Natalia explained Barbie’s origins as a German sex toy named Lilli in the 1950s. Niki noted how dolls have often revealed controversial American attitudes and beliefs, pointing to the Clark doll study in the 1940s which showed the psychological effects of segregation on African-American children. Natalia recommended the New Yorker article, “Our Dolls, Ourselves,” that showed how the American Girl Dolls brand changed from historical period dolls to ones that are made to look like young girls today.
• Bernie Sanders’ emergence as a serious candidate has political observers commenting on both his Jewishness and his a-religiousness. Neil argued Judaism was not controversial at all in politics anymore, but that a recent Gallup poll indicated a surprising high tolerance for atheism in a presidential candidate. Neil also noted both Christian and atheist writers have interpreted Sanders’ comments about faith quite differently, but in ways that support their particular views. Natalia recommended Matthew Frye Jacobson’s book, Whiteness of a Different Color, for understanding the changing position of Jewish Americans in the twentieth century.

In our regular closing feature, What’s Making History:

• Natalia discussed Ted Cruz’s comments that he’ll bring French fries back to the cafeteria when he becomes president.
• Neil explained how scientists are fighting the Zika virus with genetically modified mosquitoes.
• Niki pondered the question, why does Ohio not produce presidents anymore?

Episode 19: #OscarsSoWhite, Oprah & Weight Watchers, and the Iowa Caucus

On this week’s Past Present podcast, Nicole Hemmer, Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, and Neil Young discuss #OscarsSoWhite, Oprah Winfrey and the history of Weight Watchers, and why Iowa’s caucus goes first. 

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show:

• For the second year in a row, the Academy Awards will feature only white nominees in the acting categories, leading to an #OscarsSoWhite boycott. Natalia mentioned Marc Bernardin’s Hollywood Reporter piece that argued black movies have to be about African-American heroes like Martin Luther King or major historical moments like Selma in order to attract Oscar attention. Neil noted Hattie McDaniel won the first Oscar by an African-American actor in 1939 by playing Mammy in “Gone with the Wind,” but her acceptance speech was prepared for her and she was not allowed to sit with the white audience at the awards show. Niki discussed an Economist article which questioned how racially skewed the Oscars are.
• Weight Watchers’ stock has surged since Oprah Winfrey’s purchase of a 10% stake in the company in October, but Natalia mentioned a Slate article pointed out Winfrey’s investment was a particularly shrewd one because Weight Watchers doesn’t work long term. Neil noted Oprah made her own struggles with weight a recurrent theme of her talk show, including the famous 1988 episode when she brought 67 pounds of animal fat onto her stage to represent how much weight she had lost. Natalia cited Trysh Travis’ history of the recovery movement, The Language of the Heart, which explores how Oprah has played a key role in the feminization of American confessional culture. But Natalia also remarked that Oprah’s Weight Watchers turn has drawn critics, including Melissa Harris-Perry’s plea that Winfrey think more about her accomplishments than her dress size. Niki explained Weight Watchers began in the early 1960s when Jean Nidetch created a program that combined calorie counting with an emotional support system. Niki traced the history of weight loss in America back to Sylvester Graham’s nineteenth-century diet program which was also intended to curb Americans’ sexual appetites. That moral dimension to weight loss, Niki observed, has other historical examples, including the “holy anorexia” female saints practiced in medieval times. Niki also recommended Katy Waldman’s recent essay, “There Once Was a Girl,” that thinks about these themes in a contemporary context.
• It’s Iowa caucus time, but why does Iowa get to vote first? Niki explained how the McGovern-Fraser Commission reforms after the 1968 Democratic National Convention led to Iowa being moved to the front of the primary calendar in 1972. Jimmy Carter’s 1976 win in Iowa, Niki also commented, helped cement Iowa’s importance for the media. Neil discussed how Carter won Iowa in part thanks to his standing with the state’s evangelical voters and his suggestion he’d be a pro-life president, but those evangelical voters now largely vote for Republican candidates in the state. Neil noted Public Religion data that showed evangelical voters were increasing in Iowa as a constituency even as they were decreasing nationally. 

In our regular closing feature, What’s Making History:

• Natalia discussed Marley Dias’ #1000BlackGirlBooks campaign.
• Neil commented on the thirtieth anniversary of the Challenger space shuttle disaster and Gawker’s report that the astronauts did not die in the explosion but instead plunged to their deaths.
• Niki compared Mike Huckabee’s Adele ad with other strange political ads from history, including Ronald Reagan’s “The Bear” ad from 1984.

Episode 18: Flint's Water, New York Values, and Wheaton College

On this week’s Past Present podcast, Nicole Hemmer, Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, and Neil Young discuss Flint’s water crisis, New York values, and Wheaton College. 

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show:

• The water crisis in Flint, Michigan, is the latest challenge this post-industrial town has faced. Niki recommended the book, Environmental Inequalities, an examination of industrial pollution and structural racism in Gary, Indiana, as a way of understanding Flint. Neil cited data from Andrew Highsmith’s history of Flint, Demolition Means Progress, about how the sharp decline in manufacturing jobs led to the city’s depopulation and shrinking tax base.
• Ted Cruz is attacking Donald Trump for exhibiting “New York values,” but what does that mean? Niki pointed out anti-urban sentiment in America stretched back to Thomas Jefferson’s vision of an agrarian-based democracy. Niki has written about the history of New York’s complicated status among conservatives.  Neil argued the idea of a “real America” depended in part on the “Southernization” of America, as books like John Egerton’s The Americanization of Dixie and Peter Abblebome’s Dixie Rising have shown. Niki noted cities have attracted Americans who felt oppressed or stifled in their small towns, such as the men of George Chauncey’s Gay New York who found freedom and community by moving to Manhattan.
• Wheaton College has suspended Prof. Larycia Hawkins over comments she made that Christians and Muslims “worship the same God” which were seen as a violation of the evangelical school’s Statement of Faith. Neil noted that both supporters and critics of Hawkins have looked to Wheaton’s history to bolster their positions.

In our regular closing feature, What’s Making History:

• Natalia talked about “Turning the Tide,” a call for college admissions reform from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and a New York Times’ report on a New Jersey school district’s plans to ease pressures on its students.
• Neil commented on what Donald Trump’s candidacy says about the state of the Religious Right today in light of his recent appearance at Liberty University.
• Niki discussed National Review’s decision to devote an entire issue of the magazine to opposing Trump.

Episode 17: David Bowie, Bikini Bodies, and Natural Born Citizens

On this week’s Past Present podcast, Nicole Hemmer, Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, and Neil Young discuss David Bowie, bikini bods, and Ted Cruz and natural born citizenship. 

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show:

• Fans around the world have mourned the death of David Bowie. Niki remembered she first encountered Bowie in his 1986 movie, Labyrinth. Neil argued Bowie’s gender bending and sexual boundary pushing made his death particularly poignant in a year when transgenderism has been so in the news. Natalia reminded that Bowie’s sexual history was a complicated one, including statutory rape allegations. Neil contrasted the individualized mourning of Bowie through social media with the collective public mourning of earlier figures, such as the crowds that came out to see Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s funeral train in 1945.
• Women’s Health magazine has banned the phrase “bikini body” from its covers, but is this really a revolutionary move? Natalia recommended Joan Jacobs Brumberg’s book, The Body Project, for thinking about how the “bikini body” ideal fits in a longer history of women’s changing bodies and beauty standards. Neil noted male bodies have also changed through time, especially the changing physical ideals gay men have adopted historically. Niki observed those changing standards often have dangerous results, including the high rate of eating disorders among gay men.
• Donald Trump has argued Ted Cruz can’t be president because he was born in Canada, but Cruz – and most legal scholars – contend he qualifies under “natural born citizenship” because his mother was born in the United States. Neil observed that presidential candidates like George Romney, Barry Goldwater, and John McCain had all been born outside of the US, but didn’t face questions about their natural born citizenship. Neil also noted that the “birther” controversy regarding whether Barack Obama had been born in the U.S., originated from a small group of Hillary Clinton supporters in 2008 before being taken up by right-wing Republicans.

In our regular closing feature, What’s Making History:

• Natalia discussed the new book Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World.
• Neil decried the move of Sesame Street to HBO and news that the show’s set had been given an upscale look.
• Niki recommended David Greenberg’s new book, Republic of Spin.

Episode 16: The Oregon Standoff, Executive Orders, and Downton Abbey

On this week’s Past Present podcast, Nicole Hemmer, Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, and Neil Young discuss the Oregon standoff, President Obama and executive orders, and Downton Abbey. 

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show:

• The grievances listed by armed militants in the Oregon standoff include the federal government’s ownership and regulation of vast lands used by ranchers, but those ranchers have benefited from incredibly discounted usage rates guaranteed by the federal government, as Neil pointed out. Ideas about the West as an open landscape welcome to rugged individualists have long roots, Natalia noted, strengthened in part by Fredrick Jackson Turner’s “Frontier Thesis” of 1893. Natalia also cited the racist origins of Oregon’s statehood as relevant to the current crisis, and Neil argued that Mormonism’s longstanding tensions with the federal government were significant, as several militant leaders cited their Mormon faith and scriptures as inspiration for their cause.
• President Obama’s executive orders regarding guns, including increasing background checks, elicited pushback from Republican lawmakers and charges that Obama had overstepped his authority. Neil cited data that showed Obama has averaged fewer executive orders per year than Reagan and far less than presidents in the early twentieth century.
• Downton Abbey’s popularity in the U.S. is the latest example of American Anglophilia. Neil argued American fascination with a show on British aristocracy in a moment of Occupy Wall Street and economic uncertainty resembled Americans’ interest in the British television series, Upstairs, Downstairs, during the bleak economic years of the 1970s. But Natalia suggested Americans watched Downton because it offered the escapist pleasures of a soap opera, something the British historian Simon Schama has criticized the show for being. 

In our regular closing feature, What’s Making History:

• Natalia commented on Sean Penn’s interview of the Mexican drug lord, El Chapo.
• Neil shared the news that the manatee will be removed from the Endangered Species List.
  
• Niki discussed Andrew Kahn and Rebecca Onion’s recent Slate essay, “Is History Written About Men, by Men?”

Episode 15: Star Wars, Marriage Inequality, and Tamir Rice

On this week’s Past Present podcast, Nicole Hemmer, Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, and Neil Young discuss Star Wars, marriage and income inequality, and Tamir Rice. 

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show:

• The Force Awakens is the latest entry in the Star Wars franchise. Niki argued that the optimistic Star Wars movies are a departure from the dystopian anxieties apparent in earlier science fiction films such as Godzilla and Them! which were responding to the nuclear age. Natalia remarked this Star Wars moment is taking place within our culture’s current love affair with Wonder Woman, a topic she has written about.
• A recent New York Times article by the economist Tyler Cowen argued that “assortative mating” – where people of similar class and educational backgrounds marry – is contributing to income inequality. Natalia pointed to Nancy Cott’s Public Vows as an indispensable guide to the history of marriage and Christine Whelan’s Why Smart Men Marry Smart Women for understanding more about the phenomenon Cowen describes. Neil mentioned the “Princeton mom” who gained notoriety by encouraging Princeton undergraduate women to use their college years to find their husbands. Niki suggested the “opt-out” phenomenon of highly-educated women who choose to be stay-at-home mothers revealed another way income inequality shapes marriage and family choices.
• The murder of Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old African-American boy gunned down by police while playing with a toy gun in a Cleveland park, has drawn comparisons to Emmett Till, the 14-year-old African-American boy killed by a white mob in Mississippi in 1955 for allegedly whistling at a white woman. Natalia recommended the historian Edward Baptist’s recent essay, “Ferguson and Fatherhood,” which discusses “The Talk” African-American families have with their sons about how they must protect themselves in public. Natalia also noted that Stacey Patton’s tweet comparing Tamir Rice to Ralphie, the white Cleveland boy of the movie “A Christmas Story” who famously plays with his toy guy, became an internet sensation and inspired virulent racist backlash. Neil argued Rice’s fate ought to be seen in contrast to the story of Ethan Couch, the white Texas teenager who killed four people in a drunk driving accident but was found not guilty after his lawyers presented an “affluenza” defense.

In our regular closing feature, What’s Making History:

• Natalia discussed Barbara Ehrenreich’s essay “The Selfish Side of Gratitude” and the web series, “Namaste, Bitches.”
• Neil commented on the absence of Hitler’s name in the current national road tour of The Sound of Music.
• Niki recommended the Amicus podcast, particularly its recent “Judging Tribal Courts” episode.

Bonus Episode 2: Life Coaches

On this week’s Past Present bonus episode, Nicole Hemmer, Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, and Neil Young discuss life coaches. 

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show:

• Life coaching is big business these days, but there’s still some confusion about what life coaches actually do. Natalia drew from the sociologist Arlie Hochschild’s work on the outsourcing of intimate labor to argue that life coaches are often stand-ins for a reliable friend or professional mentor. Niki noted this was most visible in new services like “Rent-a-Mom.”
• Niki cited Julie Golia’s research on the rise of advice columns as a helpful way for understanding life coaches. Like Golia’s advice columnists, life coaches fulfill and professionalize social functions that once played out in close-knit communities. Neil noted that in a “Bowling Alone” era, life coaches provided an individualized experience of professional authority within a larger culture of community breakdown and anti-institutional sentiments.
• Natalia recommended Susan Faludi’s Stiffed for thinking more about the gendered politics of self-help and Barbara Ehrenreich’s Bright-Sided for a critical take on the life coaching industry.