#57 Jamestown and the Powhatans Part 4

The History of the Americans

Jack Henneman

History

4.9 • 632 Ratings

🗓️ 27 January 2022

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This is the 57th episode of the podcast, so we take a very brief digression to discuss that milestone. Mostly, this episode looks at the first nine months of 1608, which saw the rise of John Smith to the colony’s presidency amid rising tension with the Powhatan Confederacy. To lower that tension, the English and the Powhatans exchange young men in a gesture of goodwill, and so will begin the stories of Thomas Savage and Namontack. Smith leads two separate explorations of the Chesapeake, in search of the Virginia Company’s three priorities: Precious metals, a “middle passage” to the Pacific, and “lost colonists” from the Roanoke Colony, in addition to an objective of his own — to make contact with tribes who are antagonists of the Powhatans, and potential allies of the English. Oh, and Ratcliffe ends up in the brig.

Twitter: @TheHistoryOfTh2

Selected references for this episode

James Horn, A Land As God Made It: Jamestown and the Birth of America

David Price, Love and Hate in Jamestown: John Smith, Pocahontas, and the Start of a New Nation

Karen Ordahl Kupperman, “Apathy and Death in Early Jamestown,” The Journal of American History, June 1979.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the History of the Americans podcast, episode 57.
0:10.8	There are now 57 varieties of the History of the Americans podcasts.
0:17.0	I'm your host, Jack Heneman, and I'm recording this on January 26, 2022, in Austin, Texas.
0:25.3	So that little quip caused me to look up the origin of Heinz 57 sauce and the 57 varieties slogan.
0:33.6	That sent me to a write-up on Snopes. I know, I know, which we are going to assume is true because we can't verify everything in this world.
0:43.9	No, it really had nothing to do with Hintz once selling 57 different products.
0:50.0	Here's a short bid on the H Heinz 57 varieties slogan, quote,
0:54.6	This cashphrase had nothing to do with the actual number of varieties produced by H.J. Heintz,
1:02.9	which by then totaled over 60.
1:05.6	Rather, Heintz was riding an elevated train in New York when he spied an advertising placard in the train car
1:12.2	promoting 21 styles of shoes. Struck by the concept and recognizing that catchyness and
1:19.3	resonance were far more important qualities for a company's slogan than literal accuracy.
1:25.8	Heinz cast about for the perfect number to use for his own company's version of
1:30.5	the phrase. Settling on 57, Heinz soon put the number to work, and within a week, the sign of the
1:38.1	green Heinz pickle bearing the words 57 varieties was everywhere. Heinines could find a place to stick it.
1:47.5	By the time the H.J. Hines Company celebrated its 100th anniversary in 1969, its product line
1:54.2	included more than 1,100 items. But over the years, the number 57 had permeated almost every
2:00.6	aspect of the Heinz corporate culture.
2:03.8	Besides being a company slogan, it appeared in the name of one of their best-selling products,
2:09.1	Heinz 57 Steak Sauce, their mailing address, P.O. Box 57, and their phone number, 273-57-57.
2:19.7	Yankee great Joe DiMaggio reportedly lost out on a $10,000 promotional deal with Heinz
2:25.5	when his Major League record hitting streak ended at 56 games in July 1941.
	...

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