Curated playlist
Liberalism in the United States
- Condé NastCondé Nast began in 1909 when a publisher bought Vogue. The weekly society journal had been in print since 1892.
- John F. KennedyJohn F. Kennedy spent hours in the water towing a burned crewman after a destroyer cut his boat in half.
- Martin Luther King Jr.Martin Luther King Jr. died at the age of 39, yet his autopsy showed the heart of a 60 year old, according to his biographer Taylor Branch. Branch attributed the damage to stress. The causes were many. King was jailed repeatedly, attacked…
- New DealWhen Roosevelt took office in 1933, every state governor had already limited bank withdrawals.
- Lyndon B. JohnsonLyndon B. Johnson took the presidential oath from a woman, a first for any American president.
- Woodrow WilsonWoodrow Wilson ordered his own supporters to vote against his League of Nations treaty.
- Rolling StoneRolling Stone magazine began in 1967 on $7,500 borrowed from family. Its first cover showed John Lennon in a helmet.
- Harry S. TrumanHarry Truman became president knowing nothing about the atomic bomb. He had been vice president for only 82 days.
- Liberal Republican Party (United States)The Liberal Republican Party's presidential nominee died before the electors met.
- Modern liberalism in the United StatesIn 1960, John F. Kennedy declared, "I'm proud to say that I'm a Liberal." He said liberals look ahead, not behind.
- Sean PennIn Kyiv in November 2022, Sean Penn handed an Oscar statuette to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy. "This is for you. It's just a symbolic silly thing...When you win, bring it back to Malibu." That was the whole speech. Penn is an…
- Jane FondaJane Fonda sat on a North Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun during a 1972 visit to Hanoi, and a photograph of that moment outraged a large number of Americans. It earned her a nickname that has followed her for decades: Hanoi Jane. For many…
- Robert RedfordRobert Redford died in his sleep at his home in Sundance, Utah, on the 16th of September 2025. He was 89 years old. After a private funeral, he was buried on his own property there. The man who ended his days in a place that carried his…
- George ClooneyIn 1977, a teenage George Clooney tried out for the Cincinnati Reds and did not make it past the first round of player cuts. No contract was offered. Clooney, an American actor and filmmaker, would go on to collect two Academy Awards, a…
- Willie NelsonWillie Nelson plays a classical guitar with a hole worn through its face. Decades of strumming with a pick have scoured a wide sweep of wood away beside the sound hole. Classical guitars are made for fingers, so this one has no pickguard…
- Salon.comSalon.com once asked ad-blocker users to let it mine Monero on their computers. It was a 2018 experiment.
- Upton SinclairUpton Sinclair aimed his novel The Jungle at the public's heart and hit its stomach instead. Meat sales fell by half.
- NAACPThe NAACP hung a black flag from its New York window whenever a lynching was reported.
- Barbra StreisandBarbra Streisand once filed a lawsuit that sent a crowd of strangers to look at a single photograph. In 2003 she claimed that a website documenting coastal erosion had invaded her privacy. Among its more than 12,000 images, one happened to…
- Ben & Jerry'sBen & Jerry's began in 1977 as a plan to sell bagels. Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield incorporated a business for that purpose. Then they discovered the equipment was too expensive. Ice cream became the fallback, and it stuck. The company…
- Hayley WilliamsHayley Williams was 16 years old when her band Paramore released its debut album, All We Know Is Falling, in 2005. Readers of Alternative Press later voted her second in a poll of the five greatest pop-punk vocalists of all time. Yet…
- Daniel Patrick MoynihanDaniel Patrick Moynihan once shined shoes in Penn Station, which now has a train hall named for him.
- Civil rights movementsIn 1963, children marching in Birmingham were met with fire hoses and attack dogs. That sight shifted public opinion.