Modern-day election nights are huge ordeals, with computer graphics, breathless coverage, and lightning-fast returns and predictions. But have they always been this way? This episode of Precedented Times dives deep into the history of election nights in America— what they’ve been, and how they’ve become what we know them as today. To achieve this, we visit the election of 1952, where computers and technology played a new and “unprecedented” role in the election story.

Impeachments are grave and serious affairs in American society. Today more than ever. But as strange and disastrous as they feel, they are a regular, expected part of American politics like any other. This episode of Precedented Times dives deep into the history of the i-word— going from the impeachments of President Johnson, Nixon, Clinton, Trump, and an investigation into the origins of impeachment as the Founders saw it.

The summer of 2020 was characterized by the Black Lives Matter Movement and the civil unrest sparked by the murders of George Floyd and others earlier that year. From the beginnings of these protests, there was speculation about if/how the movement might affect the upcoming 2020 election. In this episode, we’re looking back at the exciting election of 1968, which had similar protests and demonstrations, and how it changed the course of American history.

2020 was marked by the world’s reaction to the COVID-19 Pandemic and its rapid spread across the planet. Some countries responded quickly and effectively, while others took longer to take action and suffered the consequences. In this episode of Precedented Times, we’re looking back at the last once-in-a-century pandemic— a little more than 100 years ago— to see if/how Americans in 1918 handled their own viral outbreak and if we can learn anything from their successes and failures.

Welcome to Precedented Times— the show about America's past, America's present, and how it all seems to be repeating itself. This limited-time series tries to disprove the notion that we are living through "unprecedented times," and host Dillon Mims turns to history to make his case. Tune in each week for six weeks this spring to hear what history has to say about 2020.