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The Russian-Jewish Woman Who Voluntarily Interred Herself in a WW2 Japanese Internment Camp

During World War II, Elaine Black Yoneda [1906-1988], the daughter of Russian Jewish immigrants, spent eight months in a concentration camp—not in Europe, but in California. She was an activist who voluntarily joined her incarcerated Japanese-American husband, Karl, and their son, Tommy, at the Manzanar Relocation Center. But her beliefs…

A Traumatized Civil War Vet Spent 40 Years Wandering America as a Hobo, Became a Cautionary Tale For Prohibitionists, And Raised Early Aware

William Aspinwal was many things. A child soldier. A ladies’ man. A mechanic. A tramp. A drunkard. A husband married five times. Each of these descriptions capture an aspect of his life, yet none do him justice. And they don’t explain how he became one of the most unlikely folk…

A Stuttering, Nebbish Magazine Editor Secretly Negotiated a 1963 Deal Between JFK and Khrushchev, and Possibly Averted Nuclear War

As the editor of the Saturday Review for more than thirty years, Norman Cousins had a powerful platform to shape American public debate during the height of the Cold War. Although he was a low-key, nebbish figure, under Cousins's leadership, the magazine was considered one of the most influential in…

The Secret Role of Japanese Americans Who Fought in the WW2 Pacific Theatre

Several thousand Japanese Americans were trained by the US Military Intelligence Service and sent to the Pacific to serve as interpreters, translators, and interrogators, even as their own families were being held in internment camps in America. Why haven’t we heard about their story? Today’s guest is Bruce Henderson, author…

FDR’s Polio Made Him Wheelchair Bound, but Also an Incredible Orator and Strategic Mastermind

The qualities that made Franklin Roosevelt great weren’t things that he was born with but arguable the things that he had to learn in the hardest years of his life. Many thought of Roosevelt as the quintessential political natural. But the essential Roosevelt traits – his strategic ability, his gifts…

John Donne: The Genius Priest/Poet Who Saw Infinity and Triggered Stampedes At His Sermons

John Donne was not a typical English clergyman. Before his ordination, the 17th century Anglican priest had worked as a poet, lawyer, pirate, satirist, politician, and chaplain to the King, before ultimately becoming dean of the St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. But it was his preaching and writing that made…

Sigmund Freud – the Inventor of Psychoanalysis – Deluded Himself Into Thinking The Nazi’s Weren’t A Threat Until It Was Nearly Too Late

“The ‘uncanny’ is that class of the terrifying which leads back to something long known to us, once very familiar.” This is a quote from Sigmund Freud, the father of modern psychanalysis. He laid the foundations of understanding the subconscious and how our mind tries to protect us in ways…

AGE OF Discovery 2.0, Part 4: Death Has Always Been an Inevitable Part of Discovery, Whether on Magellan’s Voyage or a Trip to Mars

The history of exploration and establishment of new lands, science and technologies has always entailed risk to the health and lives of the explorers. Yet, when it comes to exploring and developing the high frontier of space, the harshest frontier ever, the highest value is apparently not the accomplishment of…

The Most Important Diplomat in 1700s North America was a Cherokee Woman Who Saved Washington’s Life and Introduced Dairy Products to Her Tri

A Cherokee woman named Nanyehi, which means “One Who Goes About” was born in the 1730s in modern-day Tennessee. She stood out at an early age: At 17, she led her tribe to victory against the Creeks. She eventually became the only female voting member of the Cherokee General Council.…

Do Racial Preferences in U.S. College Admissions Process Date Back to Ivy League Attempts to Limit Jewish Enrollment?

Much of what we know about the college admissions process in the United States -- eg. requiring interviews to gauge "character"; seeking diversity of interest; looking for "geographic diversity" – are not timeless features of American higher education. They were actually implemented in the early 20th century to keep their…