Abortion wasn't always controversial. In fact, in colonial America it would have been considered a fairly common practice: a private... more

Whose job is it to educate Americans? Congress created the first Department of Education just after the Civil War as... more

From Social Security and the minimum wage to exit signs and fire escapes, Frances Perkins transformed how people in the... more

The Fourth Amendment is the part of the Bill of Rights that prohibits "unreasonable searches and seizures." But — what's... more

On today's episode, we travel from the battlefields of the U.S. Civil War, through the rubble of two world wars,... more

Gangsters, banksters, and politicians. Today on the show, how the hunt for Al Capone helped turn the IRS into one... more

The story of the Los Angeles police chief who, faced with one of the largest internal migrations in American history,... more

Baby bonuses, childless cat ladies: the rhetoric around motherhood is politically charged right now. And the fantasy of an ideal... more

When James Garfield won the Presidency in 1880, Charles Guiteau got ready to accept his new government job. No one... more

In March 2025, President Trump issued an executive order invoking a centuries-old law: the Alien Enemies Act. The Act allows... more