Episode 41: Pat Summitt, Hellerstedt, and the Democratic Sit-In

On this week's episode, Neil, Natalia, and Niki debate the legacy of basketball coach Pat Summitt, the place of Women's Whole Health v. Hellerstedt in America's abortion debate, and the House Democrats' sit-in over gun control.

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

• The winningest college basketball coach, Pat Summitt of the University of Tennessee, died last week at the age of 64. Neil commented on Summit’s incredible achievements on the court and argued she was the most important figure in the history of women’s college athletics. Natalia cited the importance of Title IX in the Summitt’s career and recommended Mary Jo Festle’s Playing Nice, a history of women’s college athletics. Neil noted Summitt’s most important legacy may be her 45 former athletes who went on to become basketball coaches. Neil also recommended the HBO documentary “A Cinderella Story: The Lady Vols Fight Back” and Summitt’s 2013 memoir Sum It Up.

• In Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt, the Supreme Court overturned Texas’ abortion restrictions. Natalia noted that since Roe v. Wade, states have placed various restrictions on the right to abortion, including the recent TRAP laws. Niki viewed Hellerstedt as a real reversal for the Supreme Court that has historically supported these earlier restrictions, such as the Hyde Amendment. With Hellerstedt, Niki argued the Court had given power to the 1992 decision Planned Parenthood v. Casey that established the “undue burden” test. Neil noted the pro-life movement had shifted to talking about abortion through the language of “religious liberty” rather than as a single issue. Niki and Natalia noted there had been a shifting language about abortion that sought to normalize it as a routine medical procedure for women, including the recent trend of “I had an abortion” essays.

• Democrats recently staged a sit-in of Congress to demand a vote on gun reform. Neil argued that the sit-in drew on the moral authority of the Civil Rights Movement, made all the more powerful since they were led by Congressman John Lewis who had been a civil rights activist in the 1960s, and because social media turned the sit-ins into a viral sensation. Niki observed the Civil Rights Movement had been a media story too as the news networks televised the sit-in protests to a national audience. Natalia noted that conservative media had also covered the Congressional sit-ins, blasting the Democrats for ordering catering and using the sit-in to fundraise. Niki recommended David Greenberg’s article for The Sixties that showed how the idea of “liberal media bias” came out of the mainstream coverage of the Civil Rights Movement. Niki has written about the divisions within the Democratic Party over the proposed gun measures, particularly those that focus on the terror watch lists.

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

• Natalia commented on Rachel Adams recent Public Books essay “Disability Narratives” and the forthcoming documentary, “Blind Date.”

• Neil discussed the Southern Baptist Convention’s passage of a resolution against the Confederate flag.

• Niki talked about the controversy over the Chronicle of Higher Education’s “Trump Syllabus” and the response by some historians to create a Trump 2.0 Syllabus. Niki also recommended the introduction to the Trump 2.0 syllabus authored by N. D. B. Connolly and Keisha N. Blain for the African American Intellectual History Association blog.

Episode 40: Brexit, Camps for Grownups, and Trump's Missing Campaign

On this week’s episode, Natalia, Neil, and Niki discuss Brexit, Adult Camps, and Trump’s faltering campaign.

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

• Voters in Britain passed a referendum supporting the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union. Neil explained that although Brexit was supported by the minority party UKIP, it was able to bring the referendum to a vote because Prime Minister David Cameron promised he’d allow it if reelected in 2015 and because, as Niki pointed out, deep divisions in Cameron’s own Conservative Party. Natalia and Neil situated the Brexit vote in other historical questions about British unity, including the Irish Home Rule movement and the recent Scottish independence movement. Neil observed the British “leave” voters reminded him of white ethnic voters in Jonathan Reider’s history of Canarsie who left the Democratic Party as it moved away from labor rights to civil rights.

• More than a million Americans attended adult sleep-away camp last year. But why are they going? Natalia put these camps in the context of other popular childlike activities for adults, like adult coloring books and adult pre-school. Neil noted recent sociological arguments about the “extended adolescence” of adult urban-dwellers might help explain the adult camp phenomenon. Natalia shared that the summer camp consultant Jessica Borstein had also explained that changing economic circumstances, including children attending for shorter sessions, meant camps were looking to adult campers for additional revenue. Niki outlined the history of summer camps that originated in the 1880s as a way for boys living in cities to develop masculine traits. Neil noted the history of religious camps, particularly popular among Jewish Americans. Natalia connected that history to the rise of the Esalen Institute in the 1960s, as detailed in Jeffrey Kripal’s history of the California New Age retreat. Neil traced the desire to retreat to nature to find one’s “authentic self” back to Henry David Thoreau’s escape to Walden Pond. Natalia commented that the adult sleepaway camp Soul Camp focused on tapping into one’s authentic self and using camp as a time for personal growth.

• Donald Trump’s campaign barely exists. In a recent column for U.S. News and World Report, Niki argued Trump’s lack of campaign had consequences not only for his November prospects but also for the GOP’s long-term. Neil observed Past Present’s early episode on Trump served as a cautionary tale about making predictions of Trump’s political future. Natalia noted recent articles have argued Trump has really carried out this presidential campaign to launch his own national news network. Niki remarked that political scientists have long argued campaigns don’t matter in determining election results, but she also contended Trump’s campaign has overturned most conventional wisdom about politics.

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

• Natalia commented on the new season of the Netflix series Orange is the New Black. She also recommended the Atlantic’s episode-by-episode guide to the show.

• Neil shared a brief history of the summer internship.

• Niki discussed the Atlantic’s article, “The War on Stupid People.”

Episode 39: Orlando - The City Beautiful, Histories of Violence, and Presidential Empathy

On this week's episode, Neil, Natalia, and Niki discuss the Orlando shooting, focusing on the history of the city, the attack's place in the many histories of violence, and the role of presidential empathy in responding to national crises. 

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

• The world is focused on Orlando after the horrific shooting at the Pulse Nightclub. Neil talked about what it meant for this tragedy to take place in his hometown, something he wrote about for Public Seminar this week. Natalia noted the references to Orlando in the musical Book of Mormon made humor of the city’s association with wholesome Disney World. Niki added that although Disney had a conservative reputation, it had hosted “gay days” at the Orlando theme park since 1991 much to the ire of conservatives at the time. Natalia shared how John Findlay’s history of Disneyland, Magic Lands, showed how the original park in Anaheim operated as a refuge from California’s hippie culture in the 1960s and offered discounts to heterosexual married couples. Niki observed how Orlando’s rising Hispanic population had shifted the politics of the region.

• The attack on the Pulse Nightclub was the deadliest shooting in US history, but part of a long history of violence at gay establishments. Natalia noted how although many think of the 1969 Stonewall riot as launching the gay liberation movement, the historian George Chauncey’s book Gay New York showed how gay men and women had found community in gay bars since the 1890s. Niki shared the story of the 1973 arson of the UpStairs Lounge, a New Orleans gay nightclub, which killed thirty-two people, the worst massacre of gay people before the Orlando shooting. Natalia recommended Richard Kim’s essay in the Nation that described how gay nightclubs served as a sanctuary for the LGBT community, particularly in the aftermath of the AIDS crisis. Niki situated the Pulse Nightclub attack in the rise of lone wolf terrorism of the past decade. And Natalia mentioned the historian Jonathan Zimmerman’s recent editorial which noted the importance of acknowledging Islamic homophobia for understanding the different motivations for the Orlando shooter.

• In the aftermath of the Orlando shooting, public officials have sought to communicate their empathy for the victims and their families. But what is the history of empathy? Neil explained the word had only been around since the early twentieth century, coming from a German psychological term. Although many credit Bill Clinton for making empathy a component of presidential politics, Niki saw Lyndon Johnson’s response to the Civil Rights Movement, particularly his Voting Rights Act address to Congress in 1965, as the origin of empathetic presidential politics. Neil contrasted Johnson’s empathetic response to black Americans with the example of contemporary Republican politicians who have refused to acknowledge the victims of the Orlando shooting were gay Latinos. Natalia noted the works of the historian James T. Sears showed how hard it had been for gay Southerners to create a community in a time when little empathy was shown to them.  

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

• Natalia commented on the Time Magazine article, “Your Baby Is a Racist,” and recommended the Brad Meltzer “I Am” children’s book series and Duncan Tonatiuh’s Separate Is Never Equal.

• Neil shared why the decline in high school driver’s ed courses matters.

• Niki discussed the history of fashion magazines in the 1930s.

Episode 38: Muhammad Ali, Brock Turner, and the First Woman Nominee

On this week's episode, Niki, Neil, and Natalia debate the legacy of Muhammad Ali, the aftermath of the Brock Turner trial, and America's first woman nominated to the presidency by a major party.

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

• Muhammad Ali died last week at the age of 74. Natalia remarked on a life that was as notable for Ali’s political activism as it was for his athletic prowess. She also connected Ali’s story to Jane Fonda, another celebrity known for both her fitness empire and her controversial political activism during the Vietnam War. Neil commented on how Ali’s religious conversion to Nation of Islam was seen as one of his most radical acts. Niki commented American attitudes about the Nation of Islam had been shaped in part by the 1959 documentary The Hate that Hate Produced and by James Baldwin’s 1963 book The Fire Next Time that used the Nation of Islam as a foil to the Civil Rights Movement. Baldwin argued that America had to deal with the Civil Rights Movement or it risked having to deal with “the fire next time” from the Nation of Islam and black radicalism.

• The sentencing of Brock Turner, the Stanford swimmer convicted of raping a woman, the just six months in jail has provoked tremendous outrage. Neil argued the case had generated so much response because of the powerful letter the victim read in the courtroom to her attacker and the entitled and appalling letter Brock’s father sent to the judge. Natalia commented on Stanford’s influence in the culture and politics of the Bay Area as relevant to the case, but also noted the school’s public statement on the crime. Niki argued the history of victim impact statements raised important questions about how we think about the law, emotions, and fairness in these cases. Neil observed the Supreme Court had taken conflicting views on victim impact statements, banning them in 1987 and then overturning that ruling in 1991. Niki saw the rise of victim impact statements as a response to the legal decisions of the 1960s that extended greater rights to the accused, including Gideon v. Wainright (1963) which required states to provide counsel in criminal cases to defendants who cannot pay for an attorney and Miranda v. Arizona (1966) which established Miranda rights. Natalia thought it was important to understand the Stanford case in the context of sexual violence cases, and recommended Estelle Freedman’s book Redefining Rape. Natalia also shared Freedman’s recent op-ed in the New York Times that showed how feminists used expanding legal rights for women to challenge judges who gave lenient sentencing in rape cases, a relevant historical context for understanding the movement to recall Aaron Persky, the judge in Brock Turner’s case.

• Hillary Clinton made history last week when she became the first woman to capture the presidential nomination of a major political party. Niki situated Clinton’s political career within a long history of American women and politics, starting with Abigail Adams’s 1776 letter that instructed her husband to “remember the ladies” as he worked to establish the new nation. Natalia cited Rebecca Traister’s recent New York magazine profile of Clinton which recounted a lifetime of overcoming gender barriers. Neil found Clinton’s victory speech remarkable for how much it focused on the history-making nature of her candidacy, something the campaign has generally downplayed in 2016.

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

• Natalia chatted about the JSTOR daily blogpost, “Students Don’t Just Need Grit, They Need Agency.”

• Neil commented on a possible Supreme Court case concerning the citizenship rights of American Samoans.

• Niki discussed the history of death photography.

Episode 37: Harambe the Gorilla, Baylor Football, and Peter Thiel's Gawker Vendetta

On this week’s Past Present podcast, Niki, Neil, and Natalia discuss Harambe, Ken Starr at Baylor, and Peter Thiel’s attack on Gawker.

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

• Cincinnati Zoo officials recently killed Harambe, a silverback gorilla, when a four-year-old boy slipped into the gorilla exhibit, drawing outrage from many Americans. Natalia explained the boy was able to enter the gorilla exhibit because of significant changes in zoo designs in the twentieth century that allowed for more open enclosures. Niki reminded that zoos once displayed people too, exhibiting non-white humans as objects to be examined, such as shown in Pamela Newkirk’s recent book Spectacle, the story of Ota Benga. Natalia noted the writer Shaun King had argued racism was partly responsible for those who were blaming the four-year-old’s mother, a black woman, for Harambe’s shooting. Many of these people have demanded child protective services intervene, a striking development for Neil as he noted nineteenth century child protective laws grew out of animal welfare legislation. 
• Baylor University removed Ken Starr as its president after it was determined the university failed to properly investigate sexual assault complaints against the school’s football players. Neil explained Baylor’s conservative campus culture is guided by a strict student conduct code that bans drinking and premarital sex. Niki argued conduct codes at conservative universities often depend on older ideas about gender roles, drinking, and sexuality that complicate how rape is understood and handled on these campuses, such as in the recent controversy over sexual assaults at Brigham Young University. Neil noted, however, that several Baylor women who had been victims of rape had created blogs that urged the university to reform itself as an expression of its Christian mission rather than a feminist cause. Neil connected the Baylor football scandal to those at other universities including the University of North Carolina and the University of Louisville, while Niki noted the question of whether NCAA athletes should be paid loomed over all these incidents as one means of reform. Natalia cited Jonathan Zimmerman’s Los Angeles Times editorial, “Blame Football, Not Title IX,” that argued the largest inequality on college campuses today was not between men’s and women’s athletic programs but between football and all other sports.
• Internet billionaire Peter Thiel revealed last week that he has been secretly funding Hulk Hogan’s lawsuit and other suits against Gawker Media. Thiel’s vendetta against Gawker stems from the website publicly outing him as gay in a 2007 story. Neil noted a 2011 New Yorker profile of Thiel suggested Thiel’s own discomfort with his sexuality as a public matter, but he raised the question of whether “outing” should still be considered a thing in 2016. Niki noted American laws that protected media companies against libel suits made the US an exception especially compared to Britain where Natalia noted courts had recently ruled a British newspaper could not publish news about a celebrity’s affair, deeming it “unacceptable speech.” Niki shared the open letter from Nick Denton, Gawker’s publisher, which argued Thiel’s use of his billions to take down a media company was an attack on press freedoms. And Natalia noted Thiel’s desire to roll back the 1964 Supreme Court ruling in Sullivan v. New York Times which established the malice standard that has to be met before press stories about public officials can be considered defamation or libel.

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

• Natalia discussed Colin Stokes’s New Yorker essay on how the Frog and Toad children’s book series was a celebration of same-sex love.
• Neil shared a New York Magazine blog post about why New Yorkers have always worn black.
• Niki talked about Stuart Whatley’s history of boredom.

Episode 36: Trump's Tax Returns, Hiroshima, and High Heels

On this week’s Past Present podcast, Natalia, Neil, and Niki discuss presidential candidates and income taxes, Obama in Japan, and the history of high heels.

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

• Donald Trump has refused to release his tax returns, but why do Americans care about seeing them? Neil argued that in a post-Watergate landscape, Americans want transparency from the presidential candidates and income tax returns provide one demonstration of this. Niki agreed but noted that Watergate had made Americans forget that Richard Nixon was already ensnared in a controversy over the IRS auditing him in 1973 for how little federal taxes he’d been paying. Natalia remarked that Nixon had called for transparency from politicians regarding finances in his 1952 Checkers speech. Niki commented that tax returns sometimes demonstrated that politicians had given little charitable donations, something that Neil remembered tripped Ted Cruz up when it was revealed he tithed less than one percent of his income.
• President Obama became the first sitting president to visit Hiroshima since its bombing seventy-one years ago. Natalia argued that American attitudes towards Japan were marked by a juxtaposition of racism and respect as seen in the 1907 Gentleman’s Agreement and in President Truman’s decision to use the atomic bomb. Neil mentioned that anti-Japanese propaganda, including cartoons drawn by Theodor Geisel (Dr. Seuss), built American support for dropping the atomic bomb by dehumanizing the Japanese people. Natalia shared the 1945 Frank Sinatra film The House I Live In which used the idea of the Japanese as enemies to unite Protestants, Catholics, and Jews in an American identity. Niki remarked that the question to bomb Hiroshima remained an unsettled one for Americans as reflected in the 1994 controversy over the Smithsonian’s plans for an Enola Gay exhibit. Natalia recommended the popular children’s book Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes which taught a generation of American children about the horrors of Hiroshima.
• Megan Garber’s recent Atlantic essay considered the high heel in long-form. Neil noted that high heels originated as a shoe for men, worn first by Persian equestrians and then taken up by the European aristocracy. 1940s pinup models brought high heels back after a brief absence, Niki observed, which were then mainstream by 1950s housewives. Natalia cited Kathy Peiss’s book, Hope in a Jar, showed a similar history of changing ideas about makeup in this period. Yet Natalia noted in the 1960s, some feminists saw high heels as a tool of oppression, such as the protestors at the 1968 Miss America pageant. But others, like Helen Gurley Brown in her book Sex and the Single Girl, championed high heels as a celebration of an empowered femininity. Natalia also mentioned Peggy Orenstein’s recent book, Girls & Sex, that found college girls feel confident when they wear items like high heels, but the confidence comes from feeling sexually validated.

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

• Natalia discussed Stanford law professor Rabia Belt’s research on the obstacles disabled Americans face in voting.
• Neil shared the story of an enameled mug from the Auschwitz museum.
• Niki talked about a history of vacuum cleaners from Popular Mechanics.

Episode 35: Lethal Injection, PC Culture, and Closeted Clinton Voters

On this week’s Past Present podcast, Niki, Natalia, and Neil discuss the history of America’s death penalty, political correctness, and Hillary Clinton’s “enthusiasm gap.”

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

• The last U.S. pharmaceutical company has stopped selling drugs used for lethal injections. American attitudes about the death penalty have shifted dramatically over time, Niki noted, including a significant drop in public support after World War II because of European allies banning the practice. Natalia mentioned Mary Dudziak’s book Cold War Civil Rights which showed how the international community looked at the death penalty as another example of America’s racial problems during the Cold War. Natalia also argued that events like the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and the 1995 Oklahoma City bombings led to President Clinton signing the 1996 Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act which cut back on regulations on executions. Neil cited the rise of DNA science and the funding of “innocence projects” for changing American attitudes about the death penalty.
• What’s wrong with political correctness? Both the right and left are taking on America’s P.C. culture. Jonathan Haidt warned in the Atlantic last year about the “Coddling of the American Mind,” and Jonathan Chait recently wrote for New York Magazine about “Not a Very P.C. Thing to Say.” Natalia traced the origins of political correctness to the debates within the American communist movement in the 1930s. Neil noted the positive meaning of political correctness in the 1950s and 1960s when politicians used it to speak about their own correct policies. That changed in the 1970s and 1980s, Niki argued, when politics were no longer seen favorably and in the 1990s when the Dartmouth Review and Dinesh D’Souza’s Illiberal Education (1991) began to push back at P.C. campus culture.
• The Harvard student Sam Koppelman recently wrote about the challenge of supporting Hillary Clinton on a liberal campus. Throughout this election, Clinton has suffered from what has been called an “enthusiasm gap.” Natalia argued Clinton struggled from being seen as a status quo candidate, while Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump benefitted from being viewed as critics of the system. But Niki remembered when Clinton was recently “cool,” such as in the popularity of Clinton memes like “Texts from Hillary.” Niki also discussed the Bradley effect, a theory concerning the discrepancy between voter opinion polls and election outcomes, as a possible component of the 2016 race.

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

• Natalia discussed the Wall Street Journal’s finding that most Americans do not know about the gig economy.
• Neil shared Annette Gordon-Reed’s essay about reading biographies as a young person. Neil also recommended Fawn Brodie’s biography of Joseph Smith, No Man Knows My History.
• Niki talked about the Guardian’s article, “The Day We Discovered Our Parents were Russian Spies.”

Episode 34: Multicultural Evangelicalism, the End of Running, and Facebook in India

On this week’s Past Present podcast, Nicole Hemmer, Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, and Neil Young discuss the changing racial demographics of American evangelicalism, the decline of running, and digital imperialism.

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

• Russell Moore of the Southern Baptist Convention recently wrote in the New York Times that the white evangelical church of old is no more. Neil noted the significance of Moore’s piece, considering the SBC originated from a split among Baptists over slavery in 1845. Natalia compared white American evangelicals’ increasingly close relationships with conservative Christians in Africa, South America, and Asia to the global network of religious people of color who have united to block sex education that Jonathan Zimmerman writes about in his book, Too Hot to Handle. Neil argued Moore’s comments had to be seen in light of his efforts against Donald Trump, but also betrayed a refusal to acknowledge evangelical support for Trump, such as seen in his recent article for Christianity Today.
• Millennials are killing running! Instead of running, Natalia explained, millennials prefer group-based fitness classes with built-in socializing elements. Niki noted that trend served as the antithesis to Robert Putnam’s Bowling Alone argument about social fragmentation. Although running as an exercise has a short history in the United States, Natalia explained John F. Kennedy’s 1960 Sports Illustrated article, “The Soft American,” that worried about Americans’ poor health and lack of vigor had helped spur the running craze. Many of those runners turned to Bill Bowerman’s 1967 classic, Jogging, the first book about the sport. As Natalia has written for Well + Good, women faced a bumpy road in taking up the sport.
• The Indian government has rejected Facebook’s bid to provide its Free Basics internet program in the country. Neil situated that rejection in a longer history of colonial resistance to imperial rule. Those rulers, Natalia observed, had articulated their imperial project in a language of uplift and civilization, something she saw in the technology entrepreneur Marc Andreessen’s controversial tweets responding to India’s decision.

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

• Natalia shared Well + Good’s article about the arrival of the natural makeup store Credo to New York.
• Neil discussed the blog FiveThirtyEight’s finding of New Haven as America’s most “normal” city.
• Niki recalled the story of Ethel Payne, a pioneering African-American woman in the field of journalism, and recommended James McGrath Morris’ new biograph of Payne, Eyes on the Struggle.

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.