The forbidden question

FromRetropod

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The forbidden question

FromRetropod

ratings:

Length:

4 minutes

Released:

Mar 22, 2018

Format:

Podcast episode

Description

If the order for a nuclear attack is issued, the soldiers operating the launch machine have no choice but to fire. Or do they?

Released:

Mar 22, 2018

Format:

Podcast episode

Titles in the series (100)

Retropod is a show for history lovers, featuring stories about the past, rediscovered. Host Mike Rosenwald introduces you to history’s most colorful characters - forgotten heroes, overlooked villains, dreamers, explorers, world changers. Available every weekday morning.

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Mrs. Graham: Katherine Graham's leadership in the decision to release the Pentagon Papers was the subject of the Stephen Spielberg film "The Post." But it was her leadership during the pressman's strike in 1975 that is perhaps the most gripping moment of her life. by Retropod
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The history of epic North Korean insults: North Korea has long been a superpower when it comes verbal attacks. by Retropod
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The best birthday card ever: In 1926, the United States received a birthday card signed by 5.5 million Polish people. by Retropod
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The most romantic day: From all over the country, couples rushed to Las Vegas to get married. The demand for quickie weddings was at a fever pitch. But it wasn't Cupid's arrow causing the frenzy. It was the Vietnam War. by Retropod
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Was Mary Todd Lincoln a leaker?: President Abraham Lincoln had to worry about the first lady being a leaker, and it was quite a scandal. by Retropod
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Then they came for me: Martin Niemoller's simple and haunting words are often quoted in moments of intolerance. The story behind them is much more complicated. by Retropod
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How the NRA began: When the NRA was founded in 1871, its primary concern was not gun rights or the Second Amendment. by Retropod
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When Olympic silver beats gold: Ski jumping involves flying more than 800 feet in the air and then landing on two feet, without dying. Where on earth did this sport come from? by Retropod
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All the president's ghosts: Whether you believe in this stuff or not, the many accounts that have spilled out of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue over two centuries give ghosts an undeniable place in the country’s history. by Retropod
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The glass ceiling: In 1978, Marilyn Loden coined a phrase that paints very image that women have been fighting for decades. by Retropod
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The electric rivalry: To understand the gruesome history of the death penalty, it is essential to comprehend how badly Thomas Edison wanted to zap George Westinghouse. by Retropod
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The books the presidents read: Throughout history, the reading of books has been a sort of armchair way measuring someone's intelligence. Here are stories of three former presidents at opposite ends of the reading spectrum. You can decide for yourself. by Retropod
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What hath God wrought?: The history of social media began in 1844, when Samuel F.B. Morse sent a message from Washington to Baltimore. It said, "What hath God wrought?" by Retropod
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Introducing 'Retropod': Preview The Washington Post's newest daily podcast, a show about the past, rediscovered. Subscribe now to get the first episode when it launches February 12. by Retropod
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The Green Book: In the 1930s, traveling the nation's highways while black was fraught with peril. One postal worker, Victor Green, wrote a guidebook for African Americans after he faced discrimination on a road trip. by Retropod
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The ice queen: Sonja Henie won three Olympic gold medals and 10 world championships, and turned her star power into as career as one of Hollywood's biggest movie stars. Meet figure skating's first megastar. by Retropod
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The crooked picture: Jesse James, the most famous outlaw in history, was eventually foiled by a picture hanging crooked on a wall. by Retropod
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And the winner is...: Oscars night is probably the one moment around the world when people become really interested in envelopes. by Retropod
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Dr. Spock: Dr. Spock - not the guy from Star Trek - was at one time America's most beloved pediatrician. A whole generation of children was raised on his medical advice. But not even his popularity could save him from being indicted by the federal government. by Retropod
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The forbidden question: If the order for a nuclear attack is issued, the soldiers operating the launch machine have no choice but to fire. Or do they? by Retropod
4 min listen
Special delivery!: There’s one thing that you can’t have delivered anymore that was totally normal to send by mail in the early 1900s. by Retropod
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Don't mess with Harriet Tubman: She was just 5 feet tall. There was once a $40,000 bounty on her head. She suffered seizures throughout her life. She never gave up. She never gave in. by Retropod
5 min listen
The rise of supermarkets: If you’re like most Americans, you probably visit a grocery store once or twice a week. But you probably don’t know that one single grocery item is responsible for the rise of supermarkets as we know them. by Retropod
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The woman behind Lisa Ben: Edythe Eyde, also known by her pen name Lisa Ben, was a visionary who fought to make lesbians visible in pop culture decades before most others had the guts to do the same. by Retropod
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How are you, Grandmama?: A dog and a cadaver deserve credit for their contributions to the invention of the telephone. by Retropod
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The night America burned: The deadliest wildfire in U.S. history wasn’t in California. by Retropod
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The houses built by slaves: Buildings that stand as symbols of American democracy - the White House, Mount Vernon and Monticello, to name a few - were erected with the labor of those who were not free. by Retropod
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Egg Roll: One day a year, the White House grounds are truly turned over to the people - well, the kids. That day is the annual White House Easter Egg Roll, and it began as the solution to a problem that Victorian children created. by Retropod
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The trials and tribulations of being a cat: Cats have endured some really mean stuff throughout history. Dogs should be thankful. by Retropod
3 min listen
The first daughters: Ivanka Trump might be the only first daughter in American history to score a West Wing office, but she’s not the first presidential daughter to wield power in the White House. by Retropod
4 min listen

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Earthrise: On Christmas Eve in 1968, the Apollo 8 astronauts captured an image that symbolizes hope and inspired environmentalism. by Retropod
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Hair peace. Bed peace.: 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. by Retropod
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The jazz queen who chose home over fame: 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. by Retropod
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Clara Barton, America's most famous nurse, broke boundaries to treat Civil War victims: The nurse who founded the American Red Cross had no formal training in medicine. She tended to countless wounded soldiers. by Retropod
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The military's famous Santa Tracker began with a wrong number: In the 1950s, a child trying to call Santa Claus accidentally called NORAD and changed Christmas Eve forever. by Retropod
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The 'Toy King' who never aspired to the throne.: Toys R Us founder Charles Lazarus had no idea how big the toy industry would become. by Retropod
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Last Seen Ads: After the Civil War, formerly enslaved people placed notices in black-owned newspapers across the country to find their loved ones. by Retropod
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How 'Broadway Joe' redefined the NFL: A few days before his team took the field as huge underdogs in Super Bowl III, New York Jets quarterback Joe Namath made what was seen as an insane prediction at the time: "The Jets will win Sunday," he said. "I guarantee it." by Retropod
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The game show contestant who cheated his way to fame: 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. by Retropod
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How food found its way into the freezer: 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. by Retropod
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The day before the Chernobyl disaster: 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? by Retropod
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The most difficult job Robert Mueller ever had: 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. by Retropod
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Queen Arawelo: 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. by Retropod
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The nurse who picked up a rifle: During World War I, British nurse Flora Sandes put down her nurses bag to fight with the Serbian Army. by Retropod
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George Taliaferro, the first black player drafted to the NFL: 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. by Retropod
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The summer men rebelled against their shirts: It doesn't seem like a big deal today, but 1930s America lived in fear of the male nipple. by Retropod
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America’s forgotten Iranian hostage: Nine months before the Iran hostage crisis, Kenneth Kraus was held hostage in Iran for eight days. by Retropod
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A bridge of ice at Niagara Falls: Once upon a time, people walked between the U.S. and Canada over a frozen Niagara Falls. But one day, that all changed forever. by Retropod
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The Soviet officer who stopped World War III: In 1983, Stanislav Petrov, a lieutenant colonel in the Soviet Union’s Air Defense Forces, trusted his gut and averted a global nuclear catastrophe. by Retropod
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Why isn’t lynching illegal?: It is one of the worst expressions of racism in American history. And there’s no federal law to prevent it. by Retropod
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A letter from home: A German woman discovered that her childhood home was stolen from a Jewish family who fled Nazi Germany. Last year, she tracked down the address of one of the children, and wrote him a letter. by Retropod
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The test that changed childbirth: In the 1950s, Dr. Virginia Apgar created a quick test that nurses have since performed on millions of babies just after birth. She is considered one of the most important figures in modern medicine — a world that almost pushed her away. by Retropod
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A debate that went into extra innings: Can baseballs curve?: Beginning in the earliest days of baseball, fans, journalists and even physicists disputed whether or not pitchers could make a ball curve. by Retropod
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Benjamin Franklin's complicated relationship with turkeys: Benjamin Franklin, the most colorful of America's Founding Fathers, had a misunderstood, electrical and ultimately homicidal relationship with turkeys. by Retropod
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The cranberry crisis that changed how we see our food: Weeks before Thanksgiving, 1959, cranberries were declared unsafe to eat. The race was on to save America’s favorite holiday side dish. by Retropod
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How Anita Hill’s testimony led to the "Year of the Woman": No women served on the Senate Judiciary Committee in 1991. The ugly Anita Hill hearings changed that. by Retropod
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The man who filmed JFK's assassination: For many, memories of that devastating day quickly revert to that silent, flickering sequence captured by Abraham Zapruder. It is as chilling as it is familiar: the approaching convertible, the waves of a crowd about to lose its innocence. by Retropod
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The 'Night Witches': During World War II, around 80 Russian women took to the skies and risked their lives to fight against the Germans. by Retropod
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Robert Morris, the creator of the subpoena: The history of subpoenas, and the fiery congressional hearings that have captivated Americans for centuries began with a Founding Father raising his hand to say, “Investigate me!” by Retropod
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Lee Harvey Oswald's final hours before killing Kennedy: The assassination of President John F. Kennedy devastated the nation. But the day before the shooting was just a normal day. It was particularly calm and uneventful for the gunman, Lee Harvey Oswald. by Retropod
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Discover this podcast and so much more

The forbidden question

The forbidden question

Description

Titles in the series (100)

More Episodes from Retropod