Not Your Century show

Not Your Century

Summary: On hiatus as of March 2020 because of the coronavirus crisis. Get unlimited access to the Chronicle. | A daily celebration of the news — and the news media — of years gone by. King Kaufman takes you on a quick tour of the Bay Area and the world as it used to be, which often colors the world of your century.

Podcasts:

 1999: Impeachment Acquittal | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 397

Despite a GOP majority in the Senate, President Bill Clinton is easily acquitted on both articles of impeachment stemming from his lies about an affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

 1967: The Pill and the Puritan Ethic | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 355

Sparks fly at a San Francisco panel on changing sexual mores as anthropologist Margaret Mead suggests a new kind of marriage and promotes access to birth control for 16-year-old girls. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

 1986: Steve Jobs Buys Pixar | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 365

The big Bay Area business news of the day is Wells Fargo buying Crocker Bank. Nobody knew the computer graphics division of Lucasfilms would become a $7 billion company. Related: The Golden Spike. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

 1956: Integration Fail at Alabama | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 413

Seven years before Gov. George Wallace's Stand in the Schoolhouse Door, Autherine Lucy integrates the University of Alabama. But she's expelled after two days — "for her own protection." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

 1997: Vallejo Courthouse Bombing | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 372

They were the gang that couldn't bomb straight. Their plan to blow up court records was dumb, they didn't know anything about dynamite, and they talked too much. | Get unlimited Chronicle access. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

 1865: 13th Amendment Passes House | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 377

As the Union nears victory in the Civil War, a constitutional amendment that would ban slavery wins a close vote. All that's needed now is ratification by three-quarters of the states. But do states at war with the U.S. count? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

 1977: "Roots" Is a Sensation | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 385

An 8-part miniseries about slavery told from the point of view of the slaves? ABC acted like it was afraid its adaptation of Alex Haley's novel was going to flop. It became the biggest hit in TV history.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

 1971: Charles Manson Convicted | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 394

After a circus of a trial, the leader of a murderous "family" and three female followers are guilty on all charges in the Tate-Labianca Murders, which claimed the lives of Sharon Tate and six others. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

 1972: Japan Holdout Soldier Found | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 381

When Sgt. Shoichi Yokoi of the Imperial Japanese Army is captured on Guam, the first thing he asks is whether FDR has died yet. Well, yes, 27 years earlier, just before the end of World War II. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

 1901: Queen Victoria Dies | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 417

Britain mourns its longest-reigning monarch, who dies after nearly 64 years on the throne. Her screw-up, playboy son Bertie is about to be crowned King Edward VII — and all he'll do is save the monarchy. | Related: Edward VII Dies Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

 1954: The Moskovitz Kidnapping | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 481

It's one of the most dramatic capers in San Francisco history, and San Francisco has no idea it's going on. The media agrees to clam up so the bad guys won't know the cops are on the case. Related: Patty Hearst Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

 1865: The First Chronicle | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 375

Teenage founders Charles and Michael de Young have big ambitions for the daily theater program and newspaper they've founded with $20 borrowed from their landlord. In the first edition, they're already itching for a fight. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

 1919: Boston Molasses Flood | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 418

Nothing so sweet — and so ridiculous-sounding — has ever been so deadly. A storage tank bursts, sending a 15-foot wave of the sticky stuff through the streets of the North End at 35 mph, killing 21.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

 1929: Death of Wyatt Earp | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 448

When he died, the old Wild West lawman wasn't yet the legend of "Tombstone" or "Gunfight at the OK Corral." He was a guy who'd fixed a famous boxing match in San Francisco. The mythmaking kicked in later. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

 1901: The Spindletop Oil Gusher | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 341

It's a strike that will transform Texas and pave the way for the industrial and transportation revolutions of the 20th century. Four million gallons a day shoot 200 feet into the air for nine days, and the oil industry is born. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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