WRFH/Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM - This Week In History with Michaela and Gavin: August 4-10

Episode Date: August 5, 2024

Thank you to everyone who has been learning along with us this summer! This is our final episode so stick around one last time for the end of the episode to see whether Gavin or Michaela wins our "Guess That Year" portion of the show. Do you know what year Jesse Owens won his gold medal in the German Olympics? 

Welcome to this week in history with Michaela and Gavin. The show where we highlight historical events from World American and Pop Cultural History. All right. World history. Whose turn is it? I think I'd let you go two times in a row last time. So now you get to go two times in a row? Because I think you went first last week.

All right. All right. You go, Gavin. You go. We got to make it even. Okay. August 5th, 2010. A cave-in at the San Jose copper gold mine in northern Chile trapped 33 miners,

2,300 feet underground in 2010. I think I remember that. I do it too. And I remember, you know, Tim Hawkins? Yes. Yeah, he had like a bit about it. Oh, no. He was like, he was making fun of people who are like,

this is the worst thing ever. He's like, I can think of a lot of things that are worse than you being stuck in the mall or whatever. Oh, my gosh. Those miners had it pretty bad. Go Tim Hawkins. We did another date, too, about the soccer team that was stuck in. The soccer team, yeah.

Wow, people getting stuck in holes. I know. They think twice about that. Why are you going there? What are you doing? That's crazy. My day is also August 5th, but it's way longer ago than that. It's August 5th, 1305.

William Wallace was captured by the English. He led the Scottish Resistance. He was captured and then taken to London for trial and execution. Man, I saw that happen in the movie. And you saw that happen, really, in Brayford? In Brayford. It's an intense movie. That's a good movie, though.

It's a very good movie. I can't stand the trial, though, at the end. Or not the trial, the execution. Yeah. All right. August 6th, 1945, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, during World War II. So an American victory, but a world event, I think.

A massive world event. Massive. Like the explosion from the bomb. Was it massive? Like huge? Yeah, it was massive. And its impact and its, like, magnitude. Facts.

But, yeah. All right. What's your next day? My next day. We're not even going to, like, debate about that. Yeah, no. No, okay, cool. August 9th, 48 BC.

So, wow, I'm just really going with the old dates today. Julius Caesar defeats Pompeii in a Civil War battle of Farrasalus. I don't think I'm saying that right, but there you go. Yeah. There you go. Julia Caesar. I always found him so confusing. Yeah, I don't know if I'm supposed to, like, really like him or think he's a horrible guy.

I think that's probably most Roman leaders. That's true. Really noteworthy, to say the least, but then probably not the greatest, like, virtue models of all time. Same era, kind of. No, really. August 6th, 70 AD. What was yours? 48 BC, but within 100 years.

Yeah, it's close. It's still the Roman Empire. There you go. The second temple in Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans during the siege of Jerusalem. Pivotal event in Jewish history. And Christian history. Yeah, Christian. I mean, definitely Jewish for sure.

But. And I'm pretty sure, like, I had a class with Dr. Calvert where he said that they also kind of destroyed the area where Jesus was crucified. Oh. Because they just kind of stamp it all out. And so it was, like, buried. I don't know what that means, but they eventually uncovered it. But yeah, so the Jews do not have a temple since then. From the 70 AD till now.

Have you ever been to Israel? I have not. I have not left. I've not been to Europe or anything across the Atlantic. Oh, sad. I went like... I know Israel's not in Europe. I know.

You just mean you haven't left. I know what you were saying. I've been to South America. I was like, let me just clarify. In Canada, but I've never been anywhere else. Yeah, I haven't been there. Well, when I went like a year and a half ago at this point, they still, the Jews still go to the Western wall of the temple.

Jeez. And try to get as close as they can to it, which is crazy. Yeah. So, anyways. Thank God for the synagogue. Otherwise, it had nowhere else to go. Okay, my last day, August 9th, 378. This is also the Roman Empire.

Wow. We're just like in Rome a lot. The Battle of Adriana Pole, where, oh, this is kind of a major defeat of the Roman army. So the Goss defeat Rome under Emperor Valens. He's killed in battle. I think he was like one of the few emperors to actually be killed in battle. Thanks. And it was a huge, some people mark that as it's not,

But some people say that's the end or like the final decline of the Roman Empire because like an emperor was killed in battle and the goss, like these random groups of people killed. Someone was finally standing up to them in their conquest. Man. I wonder if America's at that point yet. Hmm. Have we met our gotts? Have we met our gotts?

Are we on our decline? Should we start talking about all the open borders? I don't know. Well. Well, moving on to America. America, yes. Okay, August 6th, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law, prohibiting racial discrimination in voting. Voting is very important as an American citizen, so... That's crazy that that I was so late.

Yeah, but I think it secured some of the last things that were held from, you know, or being taken away from African-American voters, you know, systemically. So, good for... LBJ. Well done, sir. Okay, so you mentioned this in world history, and I'm just going two days later, but I'm putting it in American. It's August 9th, 1945. America drops the second bomb on Nagasaki, but honestly the thing that I found really funny, do you remember the name of the bomb? Do you know it? I remember the plane is a Nola Gay, but I don't know.

The name of the bomb was Fat Man. Isn't that funny? Wow. Like you couldn't come up with anything else. Just like crazy. I'm sure it had like a technical. That's true. Like Adam bomb K something T25.

Some letters. Yeah. And numbers. Something boring. But Fat Man's memorable. So that's funny. I know. And then I guess that ended the war officially because it was a second bomb.

Yeah. A few days later. That's insane that after the first bomb, they're like, no, we can keep going. Right. So we had to like drop a second one. Man, determined people, that's for sure. Hats off to them. On both sides, I think.

Yes, for sure. Okay. August 8th, 1974, Richard Nixon becomes the first U.S. president to resign from office due to the Watergate scandal. Tough. Very tough. Every time I hear about the Watergate scandal,

it sounds, like, bad, like what they did. Yeah. But I'm always wondering, does this not go on every day in our government? Yep. This was just someone got caught until they had to step down. No, I've heard that so many times. Yeah, like someone got caught.

And the really sad thing is I've heard that he was going to win. Like he didn't need to do any of that. Like, he, based off of the poles of the people at the time, like, he was way far ahead. So that's really sad. Man. Yeah, it's so crazy, though, that like he had no other choice than just be like, you got me. Yeah. I'm sorry.

I know. Stepping down. But. So it takes a lot of, I don't know, courage, I guess, even though he was wrong, but still to say that and step down. Yeah. There's too much evidence, I guess, against him. Okay, I have August 7th, 1942, so World War II, but we're back a few years. The Allies under the U.S. Marine Corps land on Japanese occupied Guadica now. And it's the first major land offensive in the Pacific theater. It lasted six months. It's a long time. So, anyways, I don't know much about that

battle but fighting in the fighting in the jungle and like the tropics yes seems just like a wasn't like all the yellow fever and all the sickness it's just always wet and you're you know you're being watched because they know the land way better than you and it's you know it's not like no i mean i don't want to compare normandy and in this but like at least when they like took normandy they're like okay now we're in like a french town we know how this works right but they're like in the middle of nowhere that's so true which is very scary i feel like so much gets talked about the european theater, but not the Pacific theater. It's a, I, I feel like I always assumed most of it happened on, like, in like,

dog fights and, like, in the water, but I didn't realize a lot of it was just island hopping. Oh, yeah. And eventually getting to Japan. Imagine if we had, like, actually invaded Japan. That would have, that's, I mean, that's what led to the drop, yeah, bomb dropping, which I know we've said. Yeah, easily, easily avoided, thankfully, thanks to the bomb. Okay, my last date for America is August 7th, 1934.

The U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that the government could not force all Native Americans to assimilate into mainstream society, acknowledging their rights to preserve their culture and traditions. Wow, you find an interesting one. Yeah, I think it's in good spirit, but I think it's a little late. 1934. It's a little late. You know, this is post-trail tears. Yeah.

This is post-the-Ocla, you know, forcing everyone into Oklahoma. And like, you know, it's nice, but it was a long time coming. No, I know what you're saying. And it almost, you know, nowadays it seems like it's done them more harm too because it just kind of kept the wound open. Yeah. And I mean, you don't really hear much about like Indian reservations anymore at all. Unless it's like the big casino ones. Right.

It's so sad as well. But that's just kind of how their culture is survived. But 1934. Good, good effort. for a while, but finally, wow. All right. I'm going to take us back to the beginning of America with our very first president, George Washington, on August 7th, 1782. George Washington, I didn't know this.

He creates the badge for military merit, which is also called the Purple Heart. Of course he did. Did you know that? That's amazing. I did not know that. So anyways. I wonder when it switched. I don't know.

I couldn't find anything of when it switched in name, but he said it was four acts of heroic. merit basically and then only three people were awarded it during the American Revolution, which means that like it was high honor. Yeah. So anyways, that was cool. That is very cool. Thank you, George Washington. Well done.

Doing good stuff. All right. Moving on to pop culture. Good category. Great. My favorite category. Maybe. August 4th, 1958.

The Billboard Hot 100 was published for the first time. The first number one song of the Hot 100 was, Poor Little Fool by Ricky Nelson. Here's a little taste of that. Wow. I don't know that song, but... Really? I recognized it. It sounds like a lot of songs to be, but I can't tell.

I wonder if I've heard it in, like, a movie or something. It might have been, yeah. But that was the first number one song, according to Billboard, which is the system we still use today. And what date was that? 1958. Wow. So August 4th. There you go.

Yeah. So I have another show where I talk about like, I choose a year and then I do like different cultural things that happened. Is that the jazz show? No, it's a different one. I just started. But it has a, we do, I do like the top song of each year. And it's really hard to find the top song of 1933. Because there's no billboard.

And like some people would like, report like, oh, we sold this many. The store did or whatever. But you don't actually. know. So this is a great way to standardize it. So now we know who's the best. Also a little pot for Gavin Show. Go check it out. Yesterday's with Gavin Leastrow. Ooh. There you go. You know. He's climbing. I have so many shows. Wait, I think we've talked about this before, but have you seen that thing you do? That's my favorite movie. I love that movie. Favorite movie of all time. That's what I think of. It's a great movie. I watch it every year. So good. But that's what I think of when I

think of Billboard because there's that one scene where they're climbing in the charge. Yes. It's great. Very good. Oh, so good. If you haven't seen it, you guys have to go watch it. Tom Hanks, the dad from Wimpy, the Diary Wimpy Kid. Great, great movie. Such a good movie. Okay, what's your pop culture? This one's kind of sad, but August 4th, 1962, Marilyn Monroe was found dead at the age of 36, which is so, so young. It's very young. From an overdose, but they think it was a probable suicide. That's rough. Great actor.

great singer as well. She did so much for being so young. And she was still so famous. Boop-doo-bo-bo-bo-bo-do. Wow, how have songs change. Yes. Ah, but that's very sad. Have you seen that really famous photo of her bedstand, her nightstand?

Maybe. It has like a bunch of pills, like bottles all over it. I think I have, yeah. And it's very sad. That's so sad. Wow. Wow. Careful.

Hey, be careful when you become famous, Gavin, just so you know. Note take. I'm taking so many notes. He's learning so much. Gotta get number one on the billboard. Gotta make sure I don't overdose on drugs. He's got a list. Oh, and then also here's another note to take if you're going to be famous.

August 8th, 1969. The Beatles took their iconic Abbey Road cover photo in London, which became one of the most famous album covers in history. So, yeah. That's fun. It's a great album. I've heard, I don't know if this is true There's so many like

Myths around them But I heard that like They didn't want to take an album cover photo And so they just walked out of the studio And walked across the street And they're like just take a picture of this It looks It looks too choreographed

Like to do that But I think that's why like Paul's not wearing shoes I mean that's a famous album photo too yeah Yeah So it's everywhere Wow But the Beatles Not to out you again Gavin

But I feel like I remember you saying Where's a good place for an album photo. Am I remembering that earlier this summer? Yeah, maybe. Weren't you going to the train tracks or something? Something, yeah. We'll see. There you go. We don't know yet. They're figuring it out. There's an album coming, but we don't know what's going to look like.

Oh, album. Yay. So good. All right, next date. Okay, August 6, 1911, actress Lucille Ball was born. Woo! I love Lucille Ball. I love Lucy. Greatest show of all time. Yeah. Great comedy. Super wholesome

Beautiful dynamic between husband and wife Until they got divorced But you know before then Did they get divorced in the show too? No Okay I think the show just ended Okay

Which is sad And their kids cute too Oh so cute It was back in television Where husbands and wife Couldn't sleep in the same bed on screen I know it's so funny Oh my gosh

I watched so many of those growing up I think I have like half of them memorized It's crazy I love it oh Lucy That's my favorite Oh, Lucy, I'm home. I love it. Okay, August 9, 1999, the Woodstock 99 music festival concluded after several days of performances,

but it was marred by reports of violence, fires, and other chaotic events. Wow. So not as famous as the first Woodstock. I don't think it's successful, so that's why we haven't had Woodstock 19 or Woodstock. Wait, okay, film me in. What is that? What is this? You know the Woodstock Festival?

No, I don't. What? I know. Oh my goodness. Okay. So Woodstock was like this big, huge festival. And it was during the 60s. I think it was 69.

And so everyone just camped out and did drugs. And it was like crazy good lineup, like amazing. And so, you know, if it like people use that sometimes as like a gauge of how successful someone was. Like, oh, they played Woodstock. And that's like, you know. Like I'm familiar with the term, but I didn't realize it was like a. event. And so Woodstock 99 was the second version of it and it didn't go well at all. Oh, that's sad. Very sad. But understandable because anytime you have music and illicit drug use

and, you know, just kind of free love, things are probably bound to go poorly. Gavin's again, taking notes. Don't go to Woodstock 99. No matter how much payment will get you. That's so funny. Oh my gosh. Okay, I have my final date for pop culture. August 9th, 199th, In 1997, Just to See You Smile by Tim McGraw was released. And then the next year in 1998, it became the song of the year, which just amazes me because I didn't realize it was that old. Yeah. Here it is. Good old country.

He's far from the chorus. Let's just say that. But if you know it, just to see you smile with Tim McGraw came out today. If we played the chorus, it would be stuck in your head all day. So we spared you. Why don't you just sing it for us? No, I'm good. I'm good. What time is it?

Oh, well, it's about that time. It's guess that year time, time where we match the dates with the events. This is a big day because it's our last one. It is our last episode, guys. We're going to see who wins. I'm sure half our listeners didn't even know this was a show, and this is your first time hearing it. And I'm sure half of you don't even care. But for us, this is a very big day. It's a really big day.

And there are tears in the studio. Okay, so who goes first? I always get this wrong. Do I give you a date or do you give me a date since you've gone first? How do we do this? I think I read you the date. Okay. Okay. I almost said the date. Okay. That's fine. Louis Vuitton, the French fashion designer who founded Louis Vuitton, was born. Oh my gosh. This is hard. I don't know anything about French fashion. Hmm. How long has Louis Vuitton been around? Apparently. At least 100 years? Yes.

Okay. Over 100 years. Okay. We're going to go with 1830. Wow. Nine years off. No, really? 1821.

Okay. Not bad. Not bad. Wow. Nine years, guys. That's the score to beat. Score to beat. Okay.

All right. Here we go. This one's pretty old. I almost gave you the date too. Okay. This is the traditional, it's a holiday in Muslim tradition. But it's the traditional date that Muhammad began receiving the Quran. 600?

Yeah. 20? 650? Wait, no, wait. 620? Is that your answer? Sure. Okay, it was 610.

So 10 years off. So I was 9 years off, 10 years off. Hey, I think we're pretty evenly matched right now. Thanks for taking my first answer. Of course. Okay, all right. Second question here. The last question.

Jesse Owens, the Black Olympian track star, won a gold medal in the Germany Olympics, embarrassing a certain German dictator. Yeah, see, I should know. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, no. Because he was black and the dictator thought only white people were fast. Right.

I can't remember if it was, okay, 1938. Oh, two years off. Dang it. What was it? 1936. 1936. Yeah. Okay.

Okay, that's, who. I'm going to have to either get it or one year off. I'm sorry, this one's really tough. Congratulations, but Kayla on the win. Okay. This is the first transatlantic telegraph that was completed. Telegraph, like the line was made, like, laid? Transatlantic.

Gosh. You got it. Okay. 18. Well done. 92. 1858. Okay.

But that was hard. That was hard. The Jesse Owens I had to get within a couple. Yeah, that was good. I think you, I mean, two years is not bad, especially if you knew what around what date it was. So congratulations. I think you won our first and our last episode. So very fitting.

Thank you. I'm humbled. Thank you for everyone who's listened to these like seven or eight episodes. All summer long. All summer long. Yes, this is Ben, this has been Michaela and Gavin. In history. Now, this has been this week in history with Michaela and Gavin.

Thank you so much. see you around campus See you around campus