Not Your Century
Not Your Century
San Francisco Chronicle
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.
1959: The Dalai Lama Escapes
The 23-year-old religious and spiritual leader of Tibet gets an invitation from the occupying Chinese to come to a dance performance. Without bodyguards. Sensing a trap, he flees on foot over the Himalayas to India, where he remains in exile. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mar 16, 2020
6 min
1922: Fatty Arbuckle's Third Trial
He's a giant of silent comedies, in more ways than one. Hollywood's first million-dollar star is a baby-faced man-mountain with the grace of a dancer. But a sensational rape and manslaughter case has derailed his life and career. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mar 13, 2020
7 min
1918: The Flu Pandemic
A century before the COVID-19 coronavirus, the United States, like all combatants in the Great War, wants to keep the exploding flu crisis quiet to protect morale and prevent the enemy from seeing weakness. Sound familiar? | (Correction: An earlier version of this episode contained an error. Some 675,000 AIDS deaths occurred in the United States.) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mar 11, 2020
7 min
1964: The Palace Hotel Protest Leader
As an 18-year-old, Tracy Sims was the leader of civil rights protests that forced San Francisco hotels to end hiring discrimination. Now Tamam Tracy Moncur, the retired schoolteacher remembers a time when "the whole country was on fire for civil rights." | See also: 1964: Civil Rights at the Palace Hotel Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mar 9, 2020
18 min
1981: Walter Cronkite Signs Off
"That's the way it is," says the Most Trusted Man in America — for the last time, as he retires from anchoring the CBS Evening News. It's like a presidential changeover. | Get unlimited Chronicle access. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mar 6, 2020
8 min
1946: Churchill's Iron Curtain Speech
In a college gym in small-town Missouri, former Prime Minister Winston Churchill tries to shake Americans out of their postwar bliss by saying their old ally "Uncle Joe" Stalin has dropped an "Iron Curtain" across Europe. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mar 4, 2020
5 min
1991: The Rodney King Beating
When a commotion outside his apartment woke George Holliday up at 1 a.m., the plumber grabbed his new camcorder and went out to his balcony. He saw a police beating, and within a few days, everyone would see it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mar 2, 2020
6 min
1991: Murder in Porn's First Family
The Mitchell Brothers, Jim and "Party Artie," revolutionized the adult entertainment business, first with their O'Farrell Theatre in San Francisco, then with movies like "Behind the Green Door." They were close. Then Jim killed Artie. Why?  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Feb 28, 2020
6 min
1965: Malcolm X Suspect Arrested
In the wake of the Fusion and Netflix series "Who Killed Malcolm X?" the New York D.A. has reopened the case of Muhammad Abdul Aziz, then known as Norman 3X Butler, who served 20 years for the murder despite multiple alibi witnesses.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Feb 26, 2020
6 min
1945: Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima
AP Photographer Joe Rosenthal had one chance to get what would become one of the most iconic pictures in history. He didn't miss. After the war, he spent 35 years at the San Francisco Chronicle. | See a trove of Rosenthal's Chronicle photos Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Feb 24, 2020
7 min
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