Episodes

June 12, 1987. US President Ronald Reagan delivers a rousing speech challenging Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall.

On today’s Saturday Matinee, we unravel the layers of deception in this episode of "Useless Information", where extraordinary stories meet the flip side of reality. Link to Useless Information: https://uselessinformation.org Go to HistoryDaily.com for more history, daily. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

June 9, 1973. Secretariat makes horse racing history by winning the Belmont Stakes by an unprecedented 31 lengths and capturing the Triple Crown.

June 8, 1949. George Orwell’s dystopian masterpiece, 1984, hits bookshelves for the first time, causing an immediate sensation with the novel’s chilling depiction of life under authoritarianism.

June 7, 1892. Homer Plessy is arrested for sitting in the “whites-only” compartment of a train, leading up to the landmark Supreme Court case Plessy v. Ferguson which heralded an era of racist legislation in America.

June 6, 1944. During World War II, British, Canadian, and American troops storm five beaches in Normandy, France, beginning the liberation of Western Europe from Nazi Germany.

June 5, 1968. At a campaign stop in Los Angeles, US senator and presidential candidate Robert Kennedy is assassinated.

On today’s Saturday Matinee, we bring you part one of a six part series on the most inspiring, infuriating, painful and powerful events in American history: Reconstruction. Link to American History Tellers: wondery.com/shows/american-history-tellers/ Go to HistoryDaily.com for more history, daily. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

June 2, 1953. Following the unexpected death of her father, twenty-five-year-old Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor is crowned Queen Elizabeth II.

June 1, 1962. Former high-ranking Nazi and architect of the Holocaust, Adolf Eichmann, is executed for his crimes against humanity.

May 31, 1859. After 13 years of construction, the Great Clock of Westminster, also known as Big Ben, begins operation.

May 30, 1948. In less than a day, a flood destroys a public housing project that was once one of Oregon’s largest cities, killing 15 people and leaving over 18,000 homeless.

May 29, 1953. Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay become the first climbers to reach the summit of Mount Everest.

On today’s Saturday Matinee, we leave the names and dates behind to investigate the real past, which is often too complicated for history. Link to 2 Complicated 4 History: https://linktr.ee/2c4h_podcast Go to HistoryDaily.com for more history, daily. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

May 26, 1896. In the aftermath of a financial crisis, the Wall Street Journal begins printing the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the nation’s oldest market index still in use today.

May 25, 1521. Holy Roman Emperor Charles V passes the Edict of Worms, condemning German theologian Martin Luther and sparking Europe’s Protestant Reformation.

May 24, 1883. The Brooklyn Bridge opens to the public, becoming the longest suspension bridge in the world at the time of completion.

May 23, 1977. Terrorists simultaneously attack an elementary school and a train in the Netherlands, sparking a long and harrowing hostage crisis.

May 22, 2002. A jury in Birmingham, Alabama convicts former Ku Klux Klan member Bobby Frank Cherry of bombing the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in 1963, resolving one of the most shocking cases of the civil rights era.

On today’s Saturday Matinee, we witness the 1527 Sack of Rome with the podcast “Anthology of Heroes.” Link to Anthology of Heroes: anthologyofheroespodcast.com Go to HistoryDaily.com for more history, daily. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

May 19, 1536. After being accused of treason, adultery, and incest, Anne Boleyn, the second wife of King Henry VIII, is publicly executed.

May 18, 1980. After a century of silence, Mount St. Helens, a dormant volcano in the scenic Washington countryside comes to life.

May 17, 1974. Four car bombs explode in the Republic of Ireland, killing thirty three people, injuring hundreds, and wrecking an attempt to end the long conflict over the future of Northern Ireland, known as the Troubles.

May 16, 1997. US President Bill Clinton officially apologizes for the Tuskegee Experiment, a four decade long government-funded research experiment which used African American men to study the long-term effects of untreated syphilis.