LANE: Well, hello there! Welcome back to "Touring History," the podcast where we talk about stuff that happened before you were born. I'm Lane...
DAVE: And I'm Dave. Today is May 10th, 2025, and we're about to recall a bunch of things that happened on this day throughout history. Because, you know, that's our whole deal.
LANE: That's right, Dave. May 10th has seen all sorts of historical events—some significant, some less so, but all of them definitely happened. Probably.
DAVE: It's like flipping through a history textbook with your eyes closed and just pointing at random pages. "This! Let's talk about this!" So let's get to it, I guess.
LANE: First up, some people who were born on May 10th. In 1899, Fred Astaire was born. You know, the dancing guy.
DAVE: Fred Astaire was an amazing dancer. He once said dancing is like "walking, except you're not getting anywhere." That's how I feel about this podcast sometimes.
LANE: Also born on this day in 1960 was Bono from U2. The guy with the sunglasses who's always trying to save the world.
DAVE: You know, Bono's real name is Paul David Hewson. "Bono" is just a nickname. It comes from "Bono Vox," which is Latin for "good voice." Though I'm pretty sure the ancient Romans weren't listening to "With or Without You."
LANE: And in 1838, John Wilkes Booth was born. He later became famous for... well, you know, shooting Abraham Lincoln.
DAVE: Talk about a bad career move. He was actually a famous actor before that, but nobody remembers him for his Shakespearean roles. It's like if Daniel Day-Lewis was only remembered for that time he threw a bowling pin at someone.
LANE: Except Daniel Day-Lewis never assassinated a president.
DAVE: As far as we know. The man does take method acting pretty seriously.
LANE: On May 10th, 1869, the Golden Spike was driven at Promontory Summit, Utah, completing the first Transcontinental Railroad across the United States.
DAVE: This was a big deal. Before this, if you wanted to go from New York to California, you had to either take a ship all the way around South America, cross through Panama, or ride a horse for months and probably die of dysentery or something.
LANE: It's like if the only way to get to your friend's house was to either swim across a lake full of alligators or walk through a forest full of bears, and then suddenly someone built a bridge.
DAVE: The ceremony was pretty fancy. They used a special spike made of gold, which seems impractical for railroad construction. Gold is too soft for railroad spikes. That's why your wedding ring bends when you hit it against something, but railroad tracks don't bend when a train goes over them.
LANE: Actually, the golden spike was just ceremonial. They took it out right after and replaced it with a regular iron spike.
DAVE: Well, that makes more sense. Still feels like false advertising though. "Come see the Golden Spike! Just kidding, it's iron now."
LANE: After the ceremony, the telegraph operator sent a single word across the nation: "Done." Not "The railroad is complete" or "We've made history." Just "Done." Like he was reporting that he'd finished his lunch.
DAVE: The 1800s version of "k."
LANE: On May 10th, 1872, Victoria Woodhull became the first woman nominated for the presidency of the United States.
DAVE: This was almost 50 years before women could even vote. It's like applying for a job at a company where they don't allow people with your name to work there.
LANE: Woodhull ran as the candidate of the Equal Rights Party. Her running mate was Frederick Douglass, though apparently no one bothered to ask if he wanted the job.
DAVE: That's like putting someone as your emergency contact without telling them. "Surprise! You're responsible for me now!"
LANE: Woodhull was quite the character. Before getting into politics, she was a stockbroker, a newspaper editor, and a spiritualist who claimed to communicate with the dead.
DAVE: Talking to dead people seems like a useful skill for a politician. "What do you think about my tax plan, Abraham Lincoln?" "I'm dead, leave me alone."
LANE: She didn't win, obviously. In fact, she spent Election Day in jail for publishing an exposé on a famous preacher's affair. Talk about campaign setbacks.
DAVE: It's hard to deliver your victory speech from a jail cell. "My fellow Americans... can someone post bail?"
LANE: On May 10th, 1994, Nelson Mandela was inaugurated as South Africa's first Black president.
DAVE: Wait, didn't we talk about this yesterday?
LANE: That was May 9th, when he was sworn in. Today is about the actual inauguration ceremony.
DAVE: So he got sworn in one day and inaugurated the next? That seems inefficient. Like cooking dinner and then waiting until the next day to eat it.
LANE: Well, the inauguration was a big ceremony with world leaders and celebrations. It marked the official end of apartheid in South Africa.
DAVE: After spending 27 years in prison, Mandela could have been pretty bitter. But instead, he focused on reconciliation. It's like if you spent 27 years in a DMV line, and when you finally got to the front, you said, "No hard feelings. How's your day going?"
LANE: He said in his speech, "Never, never and never again shall it be that this beautiful land will again experience the oppression of one by another."
DAVE: That's a lot of "nevers." When I say "never," I usually mean "not until I change my mind in about 20 minutes."
LANE: On May 10th, 2002, FBI agent Robert Hanssen was sentenced to life in prison without parole for spying for Russia.
DAVE: Hanssen had been spying for the Russians for over 20 years. He was like a real-life version of "The Americans," but with less attractive people and 100% more fanny packs.
LANE: He sold thousands of classified documents and revealed the identities of U.S. agents, all while rising through the ranks of the FBI.
DAVE: The FBI, the agency that's supposed to catch spies, had a spy working for them. That's like hiring a fox to guard your chicken coop, and then being surprised when all your chickens go missing.
LANE: Hanssen was finally caught in 2001 when the FBI paid $7 million to a Russian source for a file that contained Hanssen's fingerprints.
DAVE: $7 million for fingerprints? I would have given them my fingerprints for like 50 bucks and a sandwich.
LANE: Not your fingerprints, Dave. Hanssen's fingerprints that proved he was the spy.
DAVE: Oh. Well, that makes more sense. But still, $7 million seems steep. That's like paying $100 for a cup of coffee. Sure, you really want it, but come on.
LANE: On May 10th, 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Fair Sentencing Act, which reduced the disparity in sentencing between crack and powder cocaine offenses.
DAVE: Previously, sentences for crack cocaine were 100 times harsher than for powder cocaine, even though they're basically the same drug in different forms. It's like getting 100 years in prison for eating a Twinkie, but only 1 year for eating a cupcake.
LANE: The disparity had a disproportionate impact on Black Americans, who were more likely to be arrested for crack offenses, while white Americans were more likely to be arrested for powder cocaine.
DAVE: The Fair Sentencing Act reduced the disparity from 100-to-1 to 18-to-1. So it went from extremely unfair to just kind of unfair. Like when your boss says, "Good news! Instead of working 7 days a week, now you only have to work 6!"
LANE: Still, it was considered a significant step toward addressing racial disparities in the criminal justice system.
DAVE: Baby steps. Or maybe toddler steps. The kind where they still fall down a lot but you applaud anyway because they're trying.
LANE: On May 10th, 1970, at least in the UK, The Beatles launched their final studio album with what was, at the time, an unprecedented marketing campaign.
DAVE: This wasn't just an album release—it was a whole multimedia extravaganza with a tie-in film and more brand collaborations than you could shake a walrus at.
LANE: It really changed how music was marketed. Before this, albums were just, you know, music you could buy. After this, they were lifestyle products with merchandise and movie deals.
DAVE: It's like they were saying, "Here's our album. Also, would you like a lunch box? A t-shirt? How about we slap our faces on everything you own?"
LANE: Today we take this kind of marketing for granted, but back then, it was revolutionary. Kind of like the first person who put cheese inside a burger patty instead of on top.
DAVE: That's a strange comparison, but I'll allow it because I'm hungry now.
LANE: On May 10th, 1997, Apple launched its online store, allowing customers to purchase Apple products directly over the internet for the first time.
DAVE: This was pretty revolutionary for its time. Back in 1997, buying things online was still new and scary. It was like the first time someone suggested cooking meat with fire. "You want me to put my credit card information WHERE?"
LANE: Steve Jobs had just returned to Apple, and the company was in serious financial trouble. The online store was part of his strategy to turn things around.
DAVE: And it worked! Apple went from nearly bankrupt to the most valuable company in the world. It's like going from eating ramen noodles every day to owning a chain of five-star restaurants.
LANE: The funny thing is, in 1997, people thought Apple was done for. The headline in Wired magazine was literally "101 Ways to Save Apple." I don't think "become worth trillions of dollars" was on the list.
DAVE: That's the problem with predictions—they're always wrong. Except for mine. I predict that after this segment, we'll have a word from our sponsors. Let's see if I'm right.
LANE: Alright folks, it's time for a quick break. We'll be right back after this message from our sponsors.
LANE: History fans, do you like preserving things? Of course you do! That's why you're listening to a history podcast!
DAVE: That's right! And nobody knows preservation like Ball Mason Jars, the glass jars that have been around since your great-grandmother was complaining about "kids these days."
LANE: Ball Mason Jars have been used to store everything from peaches to pickles to mysterious substances that your aunt won't identify but insists are "medicinal."
DAVE: I joined the Ball Mason Jar Facebook group last year. It's a real thing with over 100,000 members. That's more people than some countries! I'm not going to name which countries because I don't want to start an international incident.
LANE: In this group, people share canning tips, recipes, and photos of their jars. It's like Instagram, but with more preserved fruit and fewer filters.
DAVE: One time I posted a picture of my homemade salsa, and I got 500 likes. My wedding photos only got 50. Really makes you think about what people value these days.
LANE: So if you want to join a community that's more passionate about jars than most people are about their own children, search for "Ball Mason Jar" on Facebook!
DAVE: Tell them Dave sent you. They'll have no idea what that means, but it'll make me feel important.
LANE: And we're back! On May 10th, 1990, China released dissident Wei Jingsheng from prison after nearly 17 years.
DAVE: Wei was imprisoned in 1979 for putting up a poster calling for democratic reforms. That's like getting 17 years for an angry Facebook post, which, to be fair, I've written a few that probably deserve at least a weekend in jail.
LANE: He was part of the "Democracy Wall" movement, where people would put up posters calling for political change. The government initially allowed it, then changed its mind when people started criticizing the Communist Party.
DAVE: That's like telling your kids they can say whatever they want, and then grounding them when they say your meatloaf tastes like a gym sock.
LANE: Wei's release was seen as a gesture to improve China's international image after the Tiananmen Square protests the year before.
DAVE: But it didn't last long. He was arrested again in 1994 and eventually exiled to the United States in 1997.
LANE: It's like being kicked out of a restaurant, then they invite you back, then they kick you out again, but this time they say, "And don't come back!" Some people just can't make up their minds.
LANE: On May 10th, 1962, Marvel Comics introduced Spider-Man in the final issue of "Amazing Fantasy."
DAVE: Spider-Man was created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. According to Lee, he got the idea after seeing a spider crawling up a wall. Which seems like a pretty low bar for inspiration. "Hmm, there's a fly in my soup. I shall create... Soup-Fly Man!"
LANE: The character was a huge departure from typical superheroes of the time. Instead of being an adult with a perfect life, Peter Parker was a nerdy teenager with money problems and girl troubles.
DAVE: He was relatable. Except for the whole "climbing walls and shooting webs" thing. That's less relatable unless you're an actual spider.
LANE: The first issue of "Amazing Fantasy" that featured Spider-Man is now worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. In 2011, a near-mint copy sold for $1.1 million.
DAVE: That's insane! I had comics when I was a kid, but my mom threw them out when I went to college. She probably cost me millions of dollars. Thanks, Mom!
LANE: I doubt your "Archie" comics were worth millions, Dave.
DAVE: You don't know that! Archie could have fought crime at night! You never read my collection!
LANE: On May 10th, 2005, Germany unveiled the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin, officially known as the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe.
DAVE: This is a more somber topic, but important. The memorial consists of 2,711 concrete slabs of different heights, creating a wave-like effect when you walk through it.
LANE: It took 17 years from the initial proposal to the completion of the memorial, partly because of debates about how to appropriately commemorate such a tragic event.
DAVE: It's located near the Brandenburg Gate and the buried remains of Hitler's bunker, which is quite symbolic. It's like building a monument to truth right next to the site of history's biggest lies.
LANE: The designer, Peter Eisenman, said he wanted to create a place where people could experience disorientation and isolation, feelings that victims of the Holocaust might have experienced.
DAVE: It's a powerful reminder of a dark chapter in human history. And unlike most of the things we talk about on this show, there's no joke to be made here. Some parts of history just need to be remembered as they were.
LANE: Well said, Dave.
LANE: On May 10th, 1999, NATO intensified its bombing campaign against Yugoslavia during the Kosovo conflict.
DAVE: This was part of NATO's response to ethnic cleansing in Kosovo. The conflict was complex, like trying to untangle Christmas lights that have been in storage for 10 years.
LANE: The bombing was controversial. NATO said it was necessary to prevent humanitarian disaster, but Russia and China strongly opposed it.
DAVE: It's like when two parents disagree about how to discipline a child, except with missiles and international diplomacy.
LANE: The campaign ultimately lasted 78 days and led to the withdrawal of Yugoslav forces from Kosovo.
DAVE: Kosovo later declared independence in 2008, but not everyone recognizes it. It's like having a party and only half the people you invited show up. "Am I a country?" "Well, yes, but actually no."
LANE: International relations are complicated, Dave.
DAVE: Tell me about it. I can barely manage relations with my own family at Thanksgiving.
LANE: Finally, on May 10th, 2018, the United States announced new sanctions against Iran over its nuclear development program.
DAVE: This came after President Trump withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal, which was like saying, "I don't like these rules, so I'm going to make new rules, and they're going to be tougher rules."
LANE: The sanctions targeted Iranian oil exports and banking transactions, putting significant pressure on Iran's economy.
DAVE: International sanctions are basically the adult version of putting someone in time-out. "Go sit in the corner and think about what you've done with your nuclear program."
LANE: The difference is that sanctions affect millions of ordinary people who have nothing to do with their government's decisions.
DAVE: That's true. It's like giving the whole class detention because one kid set off a stink bomb in the bathroom.
LANE: International relations are rarely fair or simple. They're more like a game of chess where half the pieces are secretly checkers and nobody gave you the rules.
DAVE: And on that confusing note...
LANE: That wraps up our tour through history for May 10th.
DAVE: From dancing Fred Astaire to Spider-Man to the complexities of international sanctions, May 10th has seen it all.
LANE: You know, Dave, they say those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it. But based on our show, I think those who do learn from history are just doomed to be really depressed.
DAVE: Or become really good at trivia nights at the local bar. "The Golden Spike? I know exactly when that happened! May 10th, 1869! Where's my free beer?"
LANE: I'm Lane...
DAVE: And I'm Dave, reminding you that history is just a bunch of stuff that happened before you were born, and it'll keep happening after you're gone, too.
LANE: Thanks for touring with us! We'll see you tomorrow for another journey through time, where we'll talk about yet another calendar date and the random assortment of events that happened on it.
DAVE: Until then, remember: the past is behind you, but so is that weird guy who's been following you for the last block!
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