Thunderation! The Speaker Demands Bean Soup (1904)

This Day in Esoteric Political History

Jody Avirgan & Radiotopia

History

4.6 • 982 Ratings

🗓️ 27 July 2023

⏱️ 12 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

It’s July 27th. This day in 1904, Speaker of the House Joseph Cannon (IL) goes to the Capitol dining room expecting to have a nice hot cup of his favorite, bean soup, and is met with an unfortunate surprise.

Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss why Cannon was so upset at not being served bean soup, and why the Senate has featured it on the menu every single day since — except for one.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome to this day an esoteric political history from radiotopia.
0:07.0	My name is Jody Avergan.
0:10.0	This day, it's August 1904, dead summer in Washington, D.C. hot and sticky and humid, as you can
0:17.8	imagine. Maybe a good day for a light salad if you're looking for lunch or a refreshing
0:22.0	guspacho, maybe will do the trick.
0:24.2	But no, not for Speaker of the House in 1904 Joseph G. Cannon of Illinois.
0:30.3	No, on this day, Speaker Cannon went to the house dining room expecting to order his usual favorite hot bean soup and it was not on the menu and this was not pleasing to the speaker of the House who used his bully pulpit to demand
0:44.4	that they serve Bean soup because clearly there is nothing more pressing
0:48.8	in 1904 for a politician the menu for lunch.
0:53.8	So Speaker Cannon in this moment proclaims,
0:56.5	and I'm quoting here, from now on, hot or cold, rain, snow or shine,
1:00.6	I want bean soup on the menu every day and in some form or another
1:06.1	Senate Bean Soup has been on the menu every day except for one in almost now
1:11.2	120 years so let's talk about this dish and take a moment to
1:16.0	imagine what all that bean soup is doing to the digestive systems of
1:19.2	our elected officials, but here as always to discuss our
1:23.6	Nikola Hammer of Vanderbilt and Kelly Carter Jackson of Wesley.
1:26.7	Hello there.
1:27.6	Hello Jody.
1:28.9	Hey there.
1:30.1	So do you like Bean Soup?
1:32.0	Would you be this upset or not on a menu?
	...

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