Retropod

When author Ernest Hemingway killed himself in 1961, the political strain between the United States and Cuba was escalating. In the midst of that struggle, Hemingway's widow scrambled to recover the author's work from his beloved home in Cuba.

In 1939, an unknown copy editor from Washington, D.C., begged famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright to design his family a home. The result was a modern house that stood decades ahead of its time.

The world watched Notre Dame as it burned in April. But the cathedral has endured a lot in its 856 years.

Beginning in the earliest days of baseball, fans, journalists and even physicists disputed whether or not pitchers could make a ball curve.

While on a research trip to the Arctic in the early 20th century, scientist Clarence Birdseye — a name you might recognize from the frozen food aisle — made an observation that would go on to change the way we eat.

In the 1950s, millions of people suffered from measles every year. David Edmonston, an 11-year-old student, became the cure.

The nurse who founded the American Red Cross had no formal training in medicine. She tended to countless wounded soldiers.

Every year, freshmen at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis take part in an annual tradition where they must climb a 21 foot high obelisk covered in vegetable shortening and place a hat at the very top.

More than a decade ago, bestselling historian David McCullough stumbled upon an important name from the past that even he’d never come across before. What he discovered was the story of pioneering American idealists.

In the 1950s, Charles Van Doren, a quiet professor in New York City, became wrapped up in one of the biggest television quiz show scandals in history.

Paint-by-number was a national phenomenon. And then, the paint sets disappeared from the shelves.

Jazz singer Ethel Ennis’s voice wowed audiences and won praise from critics. But when she was faced with the opportunity to become a superstar, Ennis chose a different path.

Serving as special counsel is probably only the third hardest job Robert Mueller has held. His life in public service started when he just 23 years old, as a Marine lieutenant in the Vietnam War.

Anna Jarvis would absolutely hate what Mother's Day has become.

Abolitionist John Brown made a prophecy before he was executed.

People have long been fascinated by the books presidents choose to read. But how much do reading habits actually reveal about a president?

The original manuscript was auctioned off for $2.4 million to an NFL owner, after almost a year of legal wrangling.

Weevils, a voracious beetle found in fields and orchards, were the original target of sarin gas.

Mark Hamill, the actor known for playing Luke Skywalker, shares stories from Star Wars history.

While President Grant had an impressive resume on the battlefield, he was known to be a patsy when it came to helping job hunters. People used to walk right into the White House and ask the president to find them a job.

At the beginning of the television age, “Meet the Press” dented the dominance of newspapers and thrilled news junkies with the power of live broadcasting.

George and his mother had an unusual relationship for the 1700s.

Five brothers fought and died together on the same ship during World War II. Their final resting place was discovered in 2018.

Elaine Brown's takeover in 1974 was a pivotal moment for a woman in the black power movement. Although women had been a dynamic force for social and racial justice, they had often been overshadowed by men.

Mike is joined by a special guest to talk about how Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day began.

We dug through The Washington Post's archives and consulted the Pro Football Hall of Fame to bring you a rundown of the best presidential ballers.

Area 51's secrets may not be alien in nature, but that doesn't make it any less mysterious.

Walter Cronkite's calm but authoritative voice carried so much weight that in 1968 one single news report helped persuade the American public that we weren't winning the war in Vietnam.

One day a year, the White House grounds are turned over to kids for the Easter Egg Roll.

The town of Chillicothe, Missouri, discovered they have a surprising claim to history: the creation of sliced bread.

At the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, one of the most iconic moments of that chaotic year unfolded on television screens around the world.

The Apollo 13 astronauts never said “Houston we have a problem.” Here’s why you think they did.

In 1861, President Abraham Lincoln was in a financial bind. Also, he was in a war. To raise money, he pushed for and won passage of an income tax and, a year or so later, established the Internal Revenue Bureau to collect what was owed.

Martha Mitchell was the wife of President Nixon's attorney general. Nixon blamed Mitchell for Watergate.

On March 25, 1969, John Lennon and Yoko Ono were a few days into their marriage when they invited the press to join them at their honeymoon suite at the Amsterdam Hilton Hotel.

Growing up in Somalia, a country where stories are handed down through generations, one of the first tales that children are told is about an ancient queen who fought to give women power by castrating men.

It was April of 1934. The multi-state crime spree of Bonnie and Clyde came to an end in an ambush on a winding country road in Louisiana. The man who finally hunted them down was Texas Ranger Frank Hamer, a legendary lawman from the Wild West.

Once a party drug, ketamine has found its way into modern medicine.

Over one million people attend the National Cherry Blossom Festival each year. But the cherry blossom trees, and Japanese culture, were not always embraced in the United States.

Disasters don’t just happen. Like anything in life, there’s usually a buildup. In the case of the Chernobyl disaster, the series of failures stretched back more than a decade. But what happened the day before the explosion?

After the Civil War, formerly enslaved people placed notices in black-owned newspapers across the country to find their loved ones.

On Christmas Eve in 1968, the Apollo 8 astronauts captured an image that symbolizes hope and inspired environmentalism.

He thought being drafted into the National Football League was so unlikely that he signed with an African American league team. Then, the NFL called.

Four years before Amelia Earhart ever got into a plane, Ruth Law was already making a name for herself in the skies.

During the American Civil War, a former slave smuggled secrets from the Confederate President to help the North to victory. Her name was Mary Bowser.

During World War I, British nurse Flora Sandes put down her nurses bag to fight with the Serbian Army.

During World War II, around 80 Russian women took to the skies and risked their lives to fight against the Germans.

On August 6, 1862, a shy young man from Belvidere, Illinois, signed up to fight for the North in the Civil War. His name was Albert Cashier.

Hiram Rhodes Revels came to the Senate after the Civil War in a shining moment of triumph — a black man taking over the seat once held by Jefferson Davis. It didn’t last.

It is one of the worst expressions of racism in American history. And there’s no federal law to prevent it.