Eyewitness History

Serving as a covert operations officer for the CIA, Valerie Plame kept her occupation and identity a secret, even from her closest family and friends. All that changed in 2003 when a conservative columnist, at the direction of senior White House officials, leaked her true identity. It was payback for her then husband, Ambassador Joseph Wilson, questioning the administration’s primary rationale for the Iraq war. It ended her covert career and set off a political scandal that rocked the Bush/Cheney White House. ​These days, this mother of college-aged twins is a best-selling author, public speaker, consultant, and advocate for the elimination of nuclear weapons. Find out more about her “Spies, Lies, and Nukes” conference this November at: https://www.spiesliesnukes.com/ Valerie’s Website: https://www.valerieplame.com/ Full “Real Time with Bill Maher” Source: https://rb.gy/qm0mrSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Eugene Smith joined Peoples Temple in 1973 and lived in the Temple’s San Francisco commune before leaving for Jonestown in fall 1977. He was in Georgetown on November 18 clearing items from customs. Numerous members of his family – including his mother, wife, and infant son – died in Jonestown. Eugene is the author of the 2021 book, Back to the World: A Life after Jonestown.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Allan Havey is an actor, comedian, writer, and talk show host. He was the host, writer and executive producer of Night After Night with Allan Havey, which aired on The Comedy Channel from 1989-1992. He’s known for portraying Lou Avery on AMC’s “Mad Men” and Karl Allerd on Showtime’s “Billions”. He made numerous appearances on the David Letterman show (on both CBS and NBC) and created two Cable Ace Award nominated performances for HBO, “One Night Stand” and “Command Performance”. Find out more about him at: https://allanhavey.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In Organized Crime and Punishment: A History and Crime Podcast, historian Steve Guerra and his trusty sidekick “Mustache Chris'' explore the rise of organized crime in various regions of the world and delve into the lives of some of the most renowned criminals and notorious gangsters. Every week, you’ll hear historical recollections and exclusive interviews about everything organized crime, from the American Mafia to modern-day cartels!Start listening now and take the journey through the shadowy world of organized crime, exploring its history, impact, and ongoing influence on our societies today!Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/organized-crime-and-punishment/id1690217862 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5peY6z7nFz8Q7tZNqK9JOc?si=70d9eb49cfd44c14 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Anne Marie works with NGO's and private companies to develop and fund their organizations and projects. She has hosted fundraisers for political campaigns from NY City Council to the NY Governors race and Presidential bids. Clients include, United Cerebral Palsy Research & Education (CEO Paul Volcker) as well as Tom Cruise and his 9/11 NY Detox Project. She creates and produces unique events from small, private dinners, to wine tastings and large scale stadium venues . As the former President of New York From the Ground Up, a 9/11 small business lobby (co-founded with Kevin Curnin, Jeanine Chanes and Arielle Goodman), they helped break through and redefine HUD regulations. FTGU was instrumental in reshaping public policy to help deliver federal funds and grant monies to assist small business owners in rebuilding the Ground Zero Community. Honored by League of Woman Voters as a Woman of Distinction. Honorary co-chair of the Congressional Small Business Advisory Board of NYC for three years. Two national leadership awards from Congress. A 9/11 Manhattan Chamber of Commerce award was presented to From the Ground Up for their leadership and advocacy. Anne Marie was previously a Non Partisan Political writer for The Examiner. To find out more about her petition, click here: https://www.change.org/p/you-promised-to-never-forget?utm_content=cl_sharecopy_34325637_en-US%3A8&recruiter=895007848&recruited_by_id=bbb1b420-a3df-11e8-b166-6d0b6cd0f77f&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink&utm_campaign=psf_combo_share_initial&utm_term=share_petition&share_bandit_exp=initial-34325637-en-USSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Henk Rogers is the President of the Tetris Company and a pioneer in the video game industry. In the 1980s, Rogers brought role-playing games to Japan and turned a little-known game called Tetris into an international phenomenon after intense negotiations with the Soviet Union and Nintendo. His efforts helped establish the Game Boy as a market leader and made Tetris one of the most popular games of all time. Rogers’ story became folklore in the gaming industry and is the subject of the 2023 Apple TV+ film “Tetris.” Today, Rogers is the founder of 10 companies and non-profit organizations focused on renewable energy, space exploration, and ending the use of fossil fuels on Earth. A near-fatal heart attack in 2005 made Rogers identify his true missions in life and led to him founding the Blue Planet Foundation, a non-profit organization that has been instrumental in implementing renewable energy policies in Hawaii. Realizing this model needed to be exported to the rest of the world, Rogers 2021 founded the Blue Planet Alliance, an organization helping island communities disproportionately affected by climate change transition from being reliant on importing fossil fuels to using 100 percent renewable energy. Rogers is also the founder of Blue Planet Energy, a global leader in renewable energy storage systems, and the International Moonbase Alliance, an organization with the goal to build sustainable settlements on the Moon and Mars and establish Hawaii as a leader in the space industry. Today, Rogers continues to be an influential figure in both the gaming industry and the sustainable energy sector. He has received numerous awards for his contributions to both fields, including being inducted into the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences’ Hall of Fame in 2008 and named CEO of the Year by Hawaii Business Magazine in 2015. He currently lives between his off-grid ranch in Hawaii and New York City and continues to be an active entrepreneur pursuing his passion for making a positive impact on the world.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Doug Drexler is a visual effects artist, designer, sculptor, illustrator, and a makeup artist who has collaborated with such talents as Al Pacino, Dustin Hoffman, James Caan, Meryl Streep, and Warren Beatty. He began his career in the entertainment industry working for makeup artist Dick Smith on such films as The Hunger and Starman. He has also contributed to Three Men and a Little Lady, The Cotton Club, FX, Manhunter and Dick Tracy.Dick Tracy earned Drexler an Oscar, as well as The British Academy Award and the Saturn Award for his special makeup effects on characters such as Big Boy Caprice (played by Pacino) and Mumbles (played by Hoffman). Two Emmy nominations in the same field followed for three years working on Star Trek: The Next Generation, where he performed such tasks as aging Captain Picard for "The Inner Light". In 1992 Drexler moved over to Star Trek: Deep Space Nine as designer, digital artist and effects artist. He continued in that capacity on the subsequent Star Trek films as well as Star Trek: Voyager. In April 2001 Drexler worked as senior Illustrator and CGI designer on the fifth Star Trek series, Enterprise. Following Enterprise, he was hired by Visual Effects Supervisor Gary Hutzel as CG Supervisor on Battlestar Galactica, "Caprica", "Blood and Chrome", and "Defiance". Doug won two Emmy Awards and a Visual Effects Society Award for Galactica.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jackie Kohnstamm grew up in North London, where she still lives. She studied an ancient Jewish community in France for her PhD, never guessing how the skills acquired then would later help her delve into her own family story. She has lectured in higher education and written short stories and plays for BBC radio and the stage. Jackie is nourished by lengthy meals with friends and by her garden on the wild side. If she hits a winning shot at tennis, that’s a bonus. The Memory Keeper is her first book. One night some time after her mother’s death, Jackie Googled her grandparents’ names on a whim. Where previous searches had come up blank, this time she had a surprise: only four days earlier, two Stolpersteine (‘stumble stones’) had been laid outside the house in Berlin where they had once lived. Someone – a stranger – had commissioned this memorial to her grandparents, each listing their name, year of birth, date of deportation to Theresienstadt and date of their murder by the Nazis. Here, then, was the first step, and what followed was a remarkable story of loss, discovery, community and memory. - A deeply personal account of one family’s experience of the Holocaust, showing the devastating impact of seemingly tiny decisions made during Hitler’s rise. - Contains family photographs, official documentation and – most poignantly – transcripts of letters sent between the family members in the 1930s and 1940s, as Jewish lives were increasingly restricted and Kohnstamm’s mother and her siblings tried to persuade their parents to flee. - A moving insight into the work being done by groups all over Germany to commemorate and remember those lost during the Holocaust – and a vital reminder of just how easily fascism can rise when apathy or hatred prevails.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Michael Chertoff is an American attorney who was the second United States Secretary of Homeland Security to serve under President George W. Bush. He was the co-author of the USA PATRIOT Act. Chertoff previously served as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, as a federal prosecutor, and as Assistant U.S. Attorney General. He succeeded Tom Ridge as U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security on February 15, 2005. Since leaving government service, Chertoff has worked as senior of counsel at the Washington, D.C. law firm of Covington & Burling. He also co-founded the Chertoff Group, a risk-management and security consulting company.For links to the 9/11 episodes Josh references in the interview, see below:Dave Paventi - https://rb.gy/hjoncTom Wilson - https://rb.gy/gzvywMichael O'Connor - https://rb.gy/wdrdzIvonne Sanchez - https://rb.gy/1haxtSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Landon Y. Jones (Lanny) is an author and magazine editor. His most recent book is Celebrity Nation: How America Evolved into a Culture of Fans and Followers, to be published in May 2023 by Beacon Press. His previous books are William Clark and the Shaping of the West (Hill and Wang, 2004), The Essential Lewis and Clark (Ecco/HarperCollins, 2000) and Great Expectations: America and the Baby Boom Generation (Putnam, 1980). The latter coined the phrase “baby boomer” and was nominated for the American Book Award in Nonfiction. From 1989-97, Jones was the head editor of People magazine at Time Inc., the most successful magazine in publishing history. While at People, Jones directed the editorial planning and launching of three new magazines: Who Weekly (1992), the Australian version of People; In Style (1994), the successful celebrity lifestyle monthly; and People en Espanol (1996), the first general-interest magazine published for the U.S. Hispanic market. He serves on the board of The Rita Allen Foundation, a philanthropy with a special focus on transformative ideas in their early stages. He has previously served on the boards of The Alzheimer’s Association , American Rivers, and Princeton Alumni Corps. He is a former member of the Graduate Advisory Council of the Princeton University Department of English. He and his wife Sarah live in Princeton, NJ.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.