Arsenal For Democracy 🎙 📻

A casual material history of the United States. Hosted & edited by @BillHumphreyMA since 2011. Co-hosted by @checkerdandy. Formerly produced for WVUD

[Arsenal For Democracy 🎙 📻 @afdradio]

Unlocked from our Patreon (on pause this summer): Bill and Rachel discuss the failed IWW strike at the Port of Los Angeles in 1923, including Upton Sinclair getting arrested and the Klan menacing strikers. https://t.co/06ioRe49KE

[Arsenal For Democracy 🎙 📻 @afdradio]

Guessing we won't be posting for much longer from this account unfortunately. Apparently (per a notice that appeared on screen) due to never sending messages or interacting with the main feed we're now a limited account or something. Sorry I'm not gonna fave stuff just for this.

[Arsenal For Democracy 🎙 📻 @afdradio]

Unlocked from our Patreon (on pause this summer): Bill and Rachel discuss dropped ceilings and the rise and fall of the mid-century office. It’s an area that could probably use some academic study. https://t.co/r9qru4vQVb

[Arsenal For Democracy 🎙 📻 @afdradio]

tldr: After more than 160 eps in our current format from April 2020 through May 2023, plus some precursors in 2019, we're taking a break this summer to recharge our creative juices & recalibrate what we want to do with the show. (We will also unlock more 2021 Patreon episodes.)

[Arsenal For Democracy 🎙 📻 @afdradio]

A new mini-episode from Bill and Rachel on how a major defense contract led to the iconic KitchenAid stand mixer, followed by some announcements about the podcast for the summer months ahead. https://t.co/dlGcZJvx9P

[Arsenal For Democracy 🎙 📻 @afdradio]

New ep: 150 years ago, in May 1873, work began on developing the breakthrough design for mass-produced barbed wire, with wide-ranging (pun intended) implications for agriculture, society, and warfare. https://t.co/aA2X5r26Ea

[Arsenal For Democracy 🎙 📻 @afdradio]

New episode: After a quick chat about the ongoing 2023 Writers Guild of America strike, we look back at a few of the noteworthy strikes in Hollywood of years past. https://t.co/S2B0HQ57xH

[Arsenal For Democracy 🎙 📻 @afdradio]

@LeavittAlone I guess they were usually horizontally wide prints for the troops. I saw pictures but I didn't quite get the whole printing format enough to understand why.

[Arsenal For Democracy 🎙 📻 @afdradio]

New ep: we're talking about the field of home economics / domestic science. Was it really a science? To what extent was it a marketing exercise? Can it ever really overcome its founding racist and classist overtones? Does home economics even exist anymore? https://t.co/3ooGBjK7OL

[Arsenal For Democracy 🎙 📻 @afdradio]

New ep: The non-profit Council on Books in Wartime (from US publishers) during World War II single-handedly made a bunch of books like The Great Gatsby into major American texts by providing specialized paperback copies free to the troops. https://t.co/CLFZlkT2lE

[Arsenal For Democracy 🎙 📻 @afdradio]

New episode: From 1934 to 1936, the US Senate’s Nye Committee examined the role of the private defense industry (and capitalism more broadly) in fomenting global conflict and dragging the US into WWI. https://t.co/9sA9JJ2ON2

[Arsenal For Democracy 🎙 📻 @afdradio]

New ep: The recent failure of Silicon Valley Bank and intervention to protect its previously uninsured accounts has brought renewed focus to Federal Deposit Insurance. Contrary to popular belief, it was not part of the New Deal & was not championed by FDR. https://t.co/BRn6eAt2yu

[Arsenal For Democracy 🎙 📻 @afdradio]

New episode: The anthracite coal mine workers strike of 1887-88 in eastern Pennsylvania illustrates some of the fault lines & contradictions within capitalism and highlight some of the ways our 21st century economy is devolving back toward older patterns. https://t.co/MRMuFACQIX

[Arsenal For Democracy 🎙 📻 @afdradio]

Unlocked from our Patreon: Have you ever wondered what the absolute peak example of neoliberal policy is? Bill and Rachel submit to you that it might be the tradable Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) in effect since 1986. https://t.co/JqnOFvPVhp

[Arsenal For Democracy 🎙 📻 @afdradio]

New episodes will resume at the beginning of April. We needed a break.

[Arsenal For Democracy 🎙 📻 @afdradio]

Unlocked from our Patreon: Bill and Rachel discuss the Red Ark (or Soviet Ark) deportations of Russian-born American anarchists in 1919. https://t.co/Ul0ORMwlC1

[Arsenal For Democracy 🎙 📻 @afdradio]

New episode! At the start of the 20th century, eccentric inventor & utopian theorist King C. Gillette developed the disposable blade for safety razors, launching one of the most influential, trend-setting American corporations of all time, for good or ill. https://t.co/P1h2qEMdUY

[Arsenal For Democracy 🎙 📻 @afdradio]

New episode: 150 years ago last week, on March 3rd, 1873, the Comstock Laws on obscenity, including birth control and abortion supplies or information, became part of the US Criminal Code. https://t.co/oa7jkY6DRw