TOURING HISTORY PODCAST SCRIPT Episode: June 16th - "Divided Houses, Space Women, and Presidential Announcements" Runtime: 10-12 minutes Hosts: Lane & Dave     OPENING LANE: Welcome to Touring History, the podcast where we discover that every day in history was basically someone's "well, this escalated quickly" moment. I'm Lane— DAVE: And I'm Dave, and before we dive into today's collection of presidential speeches, space firsts, and corporate empires, we need to thank Randy's Donuts. You know, that iconic giant donut sign in Inglewood has been a landmark since 1952— LANE: —and it's survived everything we're about to talk about today: political upheavals, cultural revolutions, even the birth of Ford Motor Company, which feels weirdly connected since both involve American innovation and slightly questionable decision-making. DAVE: When you're processing the fact that we live in a timeline where ballet dancers defect during the Cold War and presidential campaigns launch via escalator—which we absolutely are today—you need the comfort of knowing that some things endure. Like that 32-foot donut sign that's probably visible from the International Space Station. LANE: Speaking of things that endure, it's June 16th, which means we have literary giants, golf legends, and—oh no—Dave's going to have opinions about the Monterey Pop Festival, isn't he? DAVE: I'm absolutely going to have opinions about Monterey Pop. But first, we need to talk about how this day gave us both profound political speeches and the most chaotic music festival of the 1960s. Starting with...     BIRTHDAY SECTION LANE: Birthdays! Joyce Carol Oates turns 87 today, and I just want to point out that she's written approximately 847 books, which means she's probably been writing continuously since 1952. DAVE: That's not mathematically possible, but knowing Joyce Carol Oates, she's probably figured out how to write in her sleep. Also celebrating: Phil Mickelson at 55, John Cho at 53, and—this is where it gets interesting—Tupac Shakur would have been 54. LANE: And Justin Jefferson, the NFL receiver, turns 26. So we have a literary powerhouse, a golf legend, a beloved character actor, a hip-hop icon who died too young, and a current sports star. That's like the full spectrum of American achievement right there. DAVE: You know what's fascinating? Joyce Carol Oates has been writing professionally longer than some of these other people have been alive. She started publishing in the early '60s, which means she's witnessed literally everything we're about to discuss as it happened. LANE: Meanwhile, Justin Jefferson was born in 1999, which means the internet has existed for his entire life. Different worlds, same birthday. Speaking of different worlds, Dave, let's talk about Abraham Lincoln's house metaphors.     HISTORICAL EVENTS - CHRONOLOGICAL 1858 - Lincoln's "A House Divided" Speech VIDEO PROMPT: 1858 Springfield, Illinois Republican convention with Abraham Lincoln at wooden podium addressing crowd of men in period clothing, gaslight illumination, serious faces in the audience LANE: June 16th, 1858. Abraham Lincoln delivers his "A house divided against itself cannot stand" speech in Springfield, and basically predicts the Civil War three years early. DAVE: This is where your fascination with political foreshadowing really kicks in, doesn't it? LANE: Look, Lincoln literally said "I believe this government cannot endure, permanently, half slave and half free." Not "I hope we can work this out through compromise," but "this is going to explode." And everyone was like, "Oh, Abraham, you're being so dramatic." DAVE: And then, spoiler alert, it exploded. 600,000 people died. Sometimes the dramatic prediction is just... accurate. LANE: What gets me is that this speech was considered politically risky at the time. His advisors were like, "Maybe don't say the quiet part out loud about inevitable conflict?" But Lincoln was like, "No, actually, let's address reality." 1903 - Ford Motor Company Incorporated VIDEO PROMPT: Early 1900s Detroit with Henry Ford and investors in period suits signing incorporation papers in modest office, early automotive machinery visible, horse-drawn carriages outside windows DAVE: 1903—Ford Motor Company gets incorporated in Detroit with $28,000 in initial capital. Which, adjusted for inflation, is about $800,000 today. So basically a modest startup budget to revolutionize human transportation. LANE: You know that reminds me of a story, Dave. My great-great-uncle supposedly had the chance to invest in Ford's company but decided that "horseless carriages were a fad" and put his money into a buggy whip factory instead. DAVE: That's the most perfectly American family tragedy I've ever heard. Although to be fair, in 1903, most people probably thought cars were a rich man's toy. LANE: Henry Ford figured out that if you could mass-produce cars, regular people could afford them. Revolutionary concept: make more stuff, charge less money, sell to everyone instead of just rich people. DAVE: And this also marks the beginning of automotive advertising, which would eventually convince Americans that we need a different car for every possible life situation. 1961 - Rudolf Nureyev Defects VIDEO PROMPT: 1960s Paris airport with Soviet ballet dancer in period clothing making dramatic escape from KGB handlers, tense Cold War atmosphere, French officials intervening LANE: 1961—Rudolf Nureyev defects from the Soviet Union in Paris. And this wasn't some quiet diplomatic defection, this was straight-up spy movie drama. DAVE: Oh, here we go. Lane's got opinions about Cold War ballet politics. LANE: The KGB was literally trying to force him onto a plane back to Moscow, and Nureyev ran to French police and asked for asylum. At an airport. In front of everyone. Can you imagine being such a good dancer that it becomes a matter of international incident? DAVE: This is peak Cold War absurdity, right? The Soviets are like, "We cannot allow this ballet dancer to experience Western freedom, he might tell people that art doesn't have to serve the state." LANE: And Nureyev went on to completely revolutionize ballet in the West. So the Soviets basically created their own worst-case scenario by trying to prevent it. 1963 - Valentina Tereshkova in Space VIDEO PROMPT: 1960s Soviet space launch facility with female cosmonaut in space suit boarding Vostok 6 spacecraft, mission control with period technology, dramatic rocket launch sequence DAVE: 1963—Valentina Tereshkova becomes the first woman in space aboard Vostok 6. And this is where the Soviet space program gets genuinely impressive. LANE: Right? The Americans are still trying to figure out how to keep astronauts alive for more than a few hours, and the Soviets are like, "Let's send a woman to orbit Earth 48 times over three days." DAVE: Although what's fascinating is that this was partly propaganda—the Soviets wanted to prove that communism was so advanced that even their women could go to space. But also, Tereshkova was genuinely qualified. She was a textile worker and amateur parachutist. LANE: And it would be 20 years before another woman went to space. So the Soviets accidentally set a record that stood for two decades because everyone else was apparently like, "Well, that's enough women in space for a while." 1967 - Monterey Pop Festival Opens VIDEO PROMPT: 1960s California festival grounds with crowds of hippies, Jimi Hendrix performing with burning guitar, Janis Joplin on stage, colorful period fashion and psychedelic atmosphere DAVE: 1967—the Monterey Pop Festival opens, featuring Hendrix, Joplin, The Who, and basically everyone who would define rock music for the next decade. LANE: And this is where Dave's music history obsession really takes over, isn't it? DAVE: Look, this festival basically invented the modern music festival. Before Monterey Pop, you had concerts. After Monterey Pop, you had "experiences." This is where Jimi Hendrix lit his guitar on fire and The Who destroyed their instruments as performance art. LANE: Also, this was 1967, which means all of this happened during the Summer of Love while the Vietnam War was escalating. So people were literally dancing to revolutionary music while the country was falling apart. Very American. DAVE: And the whole thing was filmed, so we have this time capsule of what American counterculture looked like at its peak. It's beautiful and chaotic and kind of heartbreaking when you know what happens next. 1976 - Tom Lantos Released VIDEO PROMPT: 1940s concentration camp liberation scene with Allied soldiers freeing prisoners, somber black and white atmosphere, survivors in striped uniforms LANE: 1976—well, actually, this one's tricky. Tom Lantos, who would become a U.S. Congressman, was released from a Nazi concentration camp, but that would have been in 1945, not 1976. DAVE: Right, this seems like a data mix-up. Lantos survived the Holocaust as a teenager and later became the only Holocaust survivor to serve in Congress. But his liberation happened decades before 1976. LANE: What's remarkable about Lantos is that he survived one of humanity's worst moments and then dedicated his life to preventing it from happening again. That's the kind of personal history that puts everything else in perspective. 1989 - Soweto Uprising VIDEO PROMPT: 1980s South African township with student protesters facing police forces, apartheid-era tensions, young people with signs demanding educational rights DAVE: Actually, 1989 brings us to Soweto, where youth protested apartheid education policies and police opened fire on students. Though the major Soweto uprising was actually in 1976. LANE: Right, the famous Soweto uprising where students protested being forced to learn in Afrikaans happened on June 16th, 1976. It's one of those dates that changed everything—hundreds of students killed for demanding education in their own language. DAVE: This is where institutional racism meets generational courage. These were teenagers who said "we're not accepting this anymore" and paid for it with their lives. But they also helped bring down apartheid. LANE: And it took until the 1990s for the world to fully address this through sanctions and pressure. Sometimes the right side of history moves painfully slowly.     MID-EPISODE AD BREAK LANE: Here's a moment from our..."value-driven" sponsor—stay tuned! Randy's Donuts has been a constant through all the chaos we've been discussing. DAVE: You know what I love about this? While we're talking about political upheavals and social revolutions, there's something reassuring about knowing that Randy's has been consistently delivering great donuts since 1952. Through the Cold War, the civil rights movement, the counterculture—just making donuts. LANE: And they've figured out how to evolve without losing what made them special. That original Inglewood location with the giant donut sign is still there, but now you can get Randy's in Vegas, Phoenix, even South Korea and Japan. DAVE: It's like they took the Ford approach—innovate and expand while keeping the core product excellent. When everything else is changing rapidly, sometimes you need a donut from a place that's been featured in more movies than most actors. Check them out at randysdonuts.com. Now, back to more historical chaos...     CONTINUED HISTORICAL EVENTS 1999 - Sara Jane Olson Arrested VIDEO PROMPT: 1990s FBI arrest scene with former Symbionese Liberation Army member being taken into custody, period news vans and law enforcement vehicles LANE: 1999—Sara Jane Olson, former Symbionese Liberation Army member, gets arrested after 23 years on the run. And this is one of those stories where the 1970s finally caught up with the 1990s. DAVE: The SLA was the group that kidnapped Patty Hearst, right? So this arrest was like opening a time capsule of '70s radical politics that nobody really wanted to remember. LANE: Exactly. Olson had been living as a suburban mom in Minnesota for over two decades. PTA meetings, soccer practice, the whole thing. And then the FBI shows up and is like, "Actually, you're still wanted for domestic terrorism." DAVE: It's the most bizarre example of reinvention I can think of. From urban guerrilla to suburban parent. Although I guess if you're going to disappear, becoming aggressively normal is probably the way to do it. 2015 - Trump Announces Presidential Campaign VIDEO PROMPT: 2015 Trump Tower escalator scene with Donald Trump and Melania descending golden escalator to crowd of supporters, modern campaign atmosphere with media cameras LANE: 2015—Donald Trump launches his 2016 presidential campaign. Via escalator. Which is somehow the perfect metaphor for everything that followed. DAVE: You know, at the time, most people thought this was a publicity stunt. Like, "Oh, Donald's running for president again, he does this every few years for attention." LANE: And then it turned out he was actually serious, and also good at it, and also completely changed how political campaigns work. Sometimes the joke candidate wins, and then you have to deal with the fact that it wasn't actually a joke. DAVE: Although launching a presidential campaign via escalator while simultaneously insulting entire ethnic groups is such a perfect encapsulation of 2015 political energy. Grandiose and inflammatory at the same time. 2016 - Shanghai Disneyland Opens VIDEO PROMPT: Modern Shanghai with massive Disney castle opening ceremony, crowds of excited Chinese families, Mickey Mouse characters in contemporary Disney park setting LANE: 2016—Shanghai Disneyland opens, Disney's first park in mainland China. Which represents probably the most expensive cultural translation project in human history. DAVE: Think about what this means: a California entertainment company spending $5.5 billion to bring American fantasy storytelling to a country with 5,000 years of its own stories. LANE: Although Disney was smart about it—they included Chinese cultural elements and made it feel less like "American culture exported" and more like "Disney stories told in a Chinese context." DAVE: It's fascinating that this opened just one year after Trump announced his campaign while talking about China as an economic threat. Meanwhile, Disney was literally building the most expensive theme park ever constructed there. LANE: Sometimes business moves faster than politics. Disney was like, "We don't care about trade wars, we care about selling Mickey Mouse ears to 1.4 billion people."     CLOSING LANE: So that's June 16th—divided houses that actually divided, space pioneers, cultural revolutions, and the collision between radical politics and suburban normalcy. DAVE: If there's a theme here, it's that bold predictions often come true, and revolutionary moments happen when people decide they're not accepting the status quo anymore. Whether that's Lincoln calling out slavery, Nureyev choosing freedom, or students in Soweto demanding education. LANE: Thanks again to Randy's Donuts for sponsoring today's episode. When the world is dividing itself and ballet dancers are defecting and presidential campaigns are launching via escalator, at least we have that giant donut sign as a constant. DAVE: Visit randysdonuts.com, and remember—history is full of people who looked at impossible situations and decided to do something about it. Sometimes it works out great, sometimes it takes decades, but things do change. LANE: I'm Lane— DAVE: I'm Dave— BOTH: And we'll see you next time on Touring History, where we prove that the past was just as weird as the present, but with fewer smartphones to document it. DAVE: Fortunately.     [END OF EPISODE - Runtime: Approximately 11 minutes] 000002E8 000002E8 00009715 00009715 00142715 00142715 00007E6B 00007E86 00003197 00003197

Ver todos los episodios