It’s May 23rd. This day in 1909, Helen “Nellie” Taft, wife of President William Howard Taft, suffered a stroke that caused her to retreat from the White House to recover.

Jody, NIki, and Kellie discuss how Nellie was a highly influential figure, and how her absence may have significantly effected the course of the Taft presidency. Plus, Jody floats a theory…

Sign up for our newsletter! Find out more at thisdaypod.com

And don’t forget about Oprahdemics, hosted by Kellie, out now from Radiotopia.

This Day In Esoteric Political History is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX.

Your support helps foster independent, artist-owned podcasts and award-winning stories.

If you want to support the show directly, you can do so on our website: ThisDayPod.com

Get in touch if you have any ideas for future topics, or just want to say hello. Our website is thisdaypod.com Follow us on social @thisdaypod

Our team: Jacob Feldman, Researcher/Producer; Brittani Brown, Producer; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Julie Shapiro and Audrey Mardavich, Executive Producers at Radiotopia

Podden och tillhörande omslagsbild på den här sidan tillhör Jody Avirgan & Radiotopia. Innehållet i podden är skapat av Jody Avirgan & Radiotopia och inte av, eller tillsammans med, Poddtoppen.