Stories tagged "history"

As the 111th Congress begins, so does a very special ritual on the senate floor. Incoming senators begin the shuffling and choosing which of the 100 desks in the Senate chamber they want to occupy… and every desk has a very long history. Todd Zwillich joins John and Adaora in a historical and surprising behind the scenes tour of the desks of the United States Senate.

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More than a century ago, an eight-year-old girl asked an adult at the New York Sun for the answer. And for the past 100 years, grown-ups still tell their kids, yes, yes, yes! We take a listen back on that famous letter, and how it keeps kids young and old still believing.

Read the original letter from Virginia O'Hanlon and the "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Clause" response at newseum.org »

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With a president, vice president and a secretary of state nominee all coming from the U.S. Senate, three state governors will have the chance to choose their replacements.

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The bagel’s secrets are revealed.

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In 1978 Harvey Milk made history as the first openly gay man elected to office in San Francisco. Months later, disgruntled former city employee Dan White made history when he assassinated Milk and San Francisco mayor George Moscone. Thirty years have passed and Hollywood is marking Milk’s legacy with a movie about his life. The Takeaway takes stock of Milk’s enduring influence with attorney Carol Ruth Silver, who served on San Francisco’s Board of supervisors with Harvey Milk. We are also joined by New York State Senator Tom Duane. Duane was the first openly gay and HIV-positive member of the New York state senate and city council.

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The museums of New York, Paris and London are filled with treasures from Egypt, Italy, Turkey and Greece. And museum directors in those countries are no longer content to sit back and allow their own ancient treasures to take up permanent residence in museums of other nations. The Takeaway is joined by Sharon Waxman, author of the book, “Loot: The Battle over the Stolen Treasures of the Ancient World ”

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"Moments later, Jones pulled out vats of Flavor-Aid (not Kool-Aid, as the urban legend goes) containing valium, cyanide and more -- a deadly cocktail. And he urged members to commit 'Revolutionary Suicide.'"
--Adaora Udoji on the Jonestown Massacre

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"That's God's wife. Not only did he have a wife, but he had many girlfriends, too."
--Gary Glassman, from the upcoming Nova documentary on the Bible

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"If you're not at war, you're always training for it. You train for war, pray for peace." — Corporal John Hall, U.S. Marine Corps. John and Adaora talk with veterans of the Vietnam War and the Korean War about how they're spending Veterans Day and what it means to them.

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John and Adaora talk with veterans of World War II and the war in Iraq about how they're spending Veterans Day and what it means to them.

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"He learned how to reach to the heart of our deepest fears about race and crime." — filmmaker Stefan Forbes on Lee Atwater

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Tomorrow, for the first time in history, American will put either an African-American man in the White House or elect a woman as vice president. Today, we take a look at several African-American women who helped make this moment in history possible. These women were writers, politicians and civil rights leaders. But their names are often omitted in the discussion about how we got to this pivotal moment in American history.

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This presidential election, no matter who wins, will be historic. Either Americans will elect the nation's first African-American leader or the first female vice president. We also know that what's past is prologue. For a look at how former presidencies have shaped this unprecedented race, The Takeaway turns to award-winning filmmaker David Grubin. Grubin has produced a number of presidential biographies for PBS' American Experience.

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Forty-eight years ago this week, Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested for participating in a sit-in at an Atlanta department store. After the other protestors had been released, King was kept behind bars. Almost overnight, civil rights and race became key issues in the 1960 presidential election. Senator John F. Kennedy reached out to Coretta Scott King that week to allay fears that her husband would be lynched. JFK’s civil rights advisor and former U.S. Senator Harris Wofford tells The Takeaway how one phone call influenced the outcome of the 1960 Nixon-Kennedy Presidential election and why the story matters now.

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