It’s January 24th. This day in 1909, the administration of William Howard Taft has gone completely possum crazy — and is desperately trying to make “Billy Possum” a mascot along the lines of the Teddy Bear.
Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss why Taft was so infatuated with the possum, and the key differences between the origin stories of the Teddy Bear and Billy Possum marketing campaigns.
Sign up for our newsletter! We’ll be sending out links to all the stuff we recommended later this week.
Find out more at thisdaypod.com
This Day In Esoteric Political History is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX.
Your support helps foster independent, artist-owned podcasts and award-winning stories.
If you want to support the show directly, you can do so on our website: ThisDayPod.com
Get in touch if you have any ideas for future topics, or just want to say hello. Our website is thisdaypod.com Follow us on social @thisdaypod
Our team: Jacob Feldman, Researcher/Producer; Brittani Brown, Producer; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Audrey Mardavich is our Executive Producer at Radiotopia
On The Media: The Divided Dial
In The Bubble: Ken Burns on Franklin, Public Health, and More
Ask Us Anything (Part 2)
Ask Us Anything (Part 1)
Stuff That Inspired Us: Popular Work
Stuff That Inspired Us: Academic Work
The Reagan Astrology Scandal w/ Mangesh Hattikudur (1988)
Karl Rove's "IT Guru" and the 2004 Ohio Rumor Mill (2008)
Ford on "Dynasty" (1983)
JFK Almost Assassinated (1960)
Bernie Madoff's Pyramid Collapses (2008)
Sandy Hook Conspiracies Take Root (2012)
The Video Game Freakout (1993)
The Nullification Crisis and the Almost-Civil-War (1832)
Colored Conventions Movement (1830)
The First Email. Probably. (1971)
Jews To Alaska (1938)
401 Episodes! w/ Jacob Feldman
400 Episodes! (pt 1) w/ Jacob Feldman
The Jekyll Island Secret Meeting (1910) w/ Jacob Goldstein
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Up First
Criminal
Ear Hustle
Song Exploder
The Truth