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Big Winner · Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities

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  Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Menkey's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of
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  Speaker 1: I Heart Radio and Grim and Mild. Our world is
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  Speaker 1: full of the unexplainable, and if history is an open book,
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  Speaker 1: all of these amazing tales are right there on display,
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  Speaker 1: just waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet
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  Speaker 1: of Curiosities. There's a reason game shows are so entertaining.
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  Speaker 1: Viewers love watching everyday people test their skills and change
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  Speaker 1: their lives. Answering questions correctly or competing in physical challenges
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  Speaker 1: can lead to big ratings and big money. Ken Jenning's
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  Speaker 1: famously one seventy four games of Jeopardy, earning a total
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  Speaker 1: of four point three million dollars. This led to Jenning's
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  Speaker 1: becoming an author, a magazine columnist, and even a temporary
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  Speaker 1: host of Jeopardy itself. Perform well on a game show
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  Speaker 1: and a lot can change quickly, but one woman's appearance
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  Speaker 1: on a popular program in the nineteen fifties did more
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  Speaker 1: than make her famous. It made her a household name
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  Speaker 1: for generations to come. Joyce Bauer was born in Brooklyn,
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  Speaker 1: New York in n but raised in Queens. Her parents
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  Speaker 1: were lawyers who ran their own practices and demanded greatness
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  Speaker 1: from their children, boy or girl. The expectations were clear,
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  Speaker 1: do well in your studies if you want to do
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  Speaker 1: well in life. As a result, Joyce spent a lot
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  Speaker 1: of her time with her nose in a book. After
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  Speaker 1: graduating high school, she enrolled at Cornell University, where she
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  Speaker 1: majored in both home economics and psychology. Her efforts earned
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  Speaker 1: a Bachelor of Science degree with honors, after which she
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  Speaker 1: attended Columbia University to get her masters and then a
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  Speaker 1: pH d in psychology. Joyce never stopped learning, nor did
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  Speaker 1: she ever grow complacent. Her studies led to several jobs
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  Speaker 1: over the years, including one as a research assistant at Lumbia,
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  Speaker 1: followed by a research fellowship at the United Nations Educational,
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  Speaker 1: Scientific and Cultural Organization otherwise known as UNESCO. However, her
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  Speaker 1: big break, so to speak, came in nineteen fifty. Joyce,
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  Speaker 1: then twenty years old and married with a child, was
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  Speaker 1: cast on a hot new game show called The sixty
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  Speaker 1: four thousand Dollar Question. She had written a letter to
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  Speaker 1: the producers all about herself, describing what she liked to
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  Speaker 1: do for fun and how she planned on using the
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  Speaker 1: money if she actually won. Her main goal was to
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  Speaker 1: get her and her family out of their current living situation,
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  Speaker 1: which was not only unsafe, but also unaffordable even on
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  Speaker 1: two salaries, and unfortunately, competing on a game show seemed
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  Speaker 1: like the only way to accomplish this. Producer Mert Copland
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  Speaker 1: saw something in her and brought her in for an interview.
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  Speaker 1: The sixty four thousand Dollar Question was a pretty straightforward
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  Speaker 1: quiz show where contestants chose a category on any topic
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  Speaker 1: from a large board. As they answered questions about that subject,
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  Speaker 1: they earned money. With each correct answer, the amounts doubled,
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  Speaker 1: so the first question was worth sixty four dollars, the
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  Speaker 1: second one, and so on until the final question was
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  Speaker 1: worth sixty four thousand, oh and The five hundred and
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  Speaker 1: twelve dollar question was at checkpoints, and if answered correctly,
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  Speaker 1: was the least a person could win if they answered
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  Speaker 1: any of the subsequent questions incorrectly. Things got progressively difficult
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  Speaker 1: as the game went on, and the contestant had the
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  Speaker 1: choice to walk away at any time with whatever they'd
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  Speaker 1: already earned, but getting an answer wrong meant walking away
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  Speaker 1: with nothing or at the least five hundred and twelve dollars.
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  Speaker 1: Mert Copland, however, set some pretty strict rules for Joyce.
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  Speaker 1: She could not answer any questions on topics she knew
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  Speaker 1: through her education or profession. Copland figured he could earn
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  Speaker 1: higher ratings by pushing Joyce toward a subject more often
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  Speaker 1: associated with men at the time, like sports. Little did
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  Speaker 1: he know she had an ace up her sleeve. Joyce
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  Speaker 1: had an idetic memory, often called a photographic memory. She
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  Speaker 1: chose boxing as her favorite topic, a favorite sport of
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  Speaker 1: her husband's, and went home to study. She read every
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  Speaker 1: boxing related book and magazine she could get her hands on.
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  Speaker 1: She also had help from a top boxing writer as
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  Speaker 1: well as former Olympic champion Edward P. F Egan. With
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  Speaker 1: all that expertise under her belt, Joyce could have earned
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  Speaker 1: a third major in boxing history. When it finally came
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  Speaker 1: time to compete, she had no problem keeping up with
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  Speaker 1: the questions. Her real challenge came from the show's sponsor, Revlon.
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  Speaker 1: The founder Charles Revson demanded she put on makeup before
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  Speaker 1: each show. Joyce refused, so Revson made its mission to
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  Speaker 1: get her booted from the show. He had the producer's
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  Speaker 1: right questions that were so difficult even the most ardent
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  Speaker 1: boxing fans would have trouble answering them. They also had
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  Speaker 1: sportswriters sending questions that nobody would have the answers to.
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  Speaker 1: Things got so esoteric the host started asking Joyce about
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  Speaker 1: referees instead of boxers. To their surprise, she got every
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  Speaker 1: question right. There wasn't anything they could ask her that
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  Speaker 1: she didn't already know. The final question, the one worth
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  Speaker 1: sixty four thousand dollars, was comprised of sixteen parts. The
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  Speaker 1: last episode of her run was so long it ate
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  Speaker 1: into the next show on the schedule, but the extra
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  Speaker 1: time was worth it because Joyce won it all, every
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  Speaker 1: last penny. She was told she'd get her money after
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  Speaker 1: a couple of weeks. Apparently the network CBS didn't have
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  Speaker 1: it available. Nobody had expected her to win. Eventually, though,
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  Speaker 1: Joyce got all the money she'd earned, and she spent
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  Speaker 1: some of it on a new dishwasher for herself and
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  Speaker 1: her extended family. She also managed to elevate herself out
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  Speaker 1: of poverty. Winning the sixty four thousand dollar Question had
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  Speaker 1: kicked off a lifelong career in the public eye, with
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  Speaker 1: a monthly column in Good Housekeeping magazine, several television shows,
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  Speaker 1: numerous talk show appearances and a few game show runs
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  Speaker 1: over the years, but she didn't go by Joyce Bauer.
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  Speaker 1: The woman who had won sixty four thousand dollars on
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  Speaker 1: a game show and went on to change the face
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  Speaker 1: of modern psychology was known by her married name instead,
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  Speaker 1: Dr Joyce Brothers. San Juan Island is small, just nineteen
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  Speaker 1: miles long by seven miles wide, and despite its name,
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  Speaker 1: it is nowhere near San Juan, Puerto Rico. No. This
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  Speaker 1: little island sits off the Washington State coastline in the
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  Speaker 1: Pacific Ocean. Tourists arrived there by ferry to take in
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  Speaker 1: the island's wind sweat beaches, iconic lighthouses, and gorgeous rock outcroppings.
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  Speaker 1: Much of the island is farmland, and visitors can see
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  Speaker 1: large herds of alpacas. There's plenty of hiking and picnic areas.
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  Speaker 1: The marina is a perfect place to rent a kayak,
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  Speaker 1: by seafood or take a whale watching tour. There are
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  Speaker 1: also two camps on the island, the American Camp and
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  Speaker 1: the English Camp. Tour guides at each tell tourists about
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  Speaker 1: the conflict between the two countries from eighteen fifty nine
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  Speaker 1: to eighteen seventy two, but even before then, the island
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  Speaker 1: and surrounding areas were rather contentious. It all started when Britain, Russia, Spain,
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  Speaker 1: and the United States all sent explorers to chart the
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  Speaker 1: coastline of what was once called the Oregon Territory that
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  Speaker 1: stretched from the southern border of Alaska down to California
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  Speaker 1: and eastward to the Rocky Mountains. Each country believed that
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  Speaker 1: they discovered the territory and that it now belonged to them.
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  Speaker 1: None of the countries asked what the indigenous people living
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  Speaker 1: there thought of this arrangement, though, and discounted them as
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  Speaker 1: having no say in the matter. Russia and Spain eventually
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  Speaker 1: backed off any claim to the land. In eighteen forty six,
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  Speaker 1: the Treaty of Oregon cut the territory into two parts
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  Speaker 1: with a distinctive line the US and Canadian border. That
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  Speaker 1: solved the mainland problem, but it didn't take into account
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  Speaker 1: the channels and the islands. When farmers from both countries
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  Speaker 1: began to settle closer to the coastline, Britain made a
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  Speaker 1: bold move to keep San Juan Island under British rule.
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  Speaker 1: Controlling the island meant controlling the strait. All the natural
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  Speaker 1: resources and the local political power. The Britains sent in units. Naturally,
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  Speaker 1: the Americans noticed. They promptly presented the British with a
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  Speaker 1: large tax bill. When the bill went unpaid, soldiers planted
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  Speaker 1: an American flag in the area, but the units stayed.
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  Speaker 1: Both sides brought in more units. Lyman Cutler oversaw the
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  Speaker 1: American line and Charles Griffin brought in the British, and
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  Speaker 1: while they mostly got along in a live and let
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  Speaker 1: live situation, there was a thief in their midst He
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  Speaker 1: ventured from the British line over into the American camp
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  Speaker 1: and stole some tubers. Having gotten away with it, he
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  Speaker 1: did it several more times before Lyman Cutler shot and
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  Speaker 1: killed him. Matters after that escalated quickly. It became a
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  Speaker 1: shouting match. Griffin threatened to have the Americans removed. Cutler
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  Speaker 1: said that was rich, considering the island was American territory.
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  Speaker 1: Word got back to General William Harney, in charge of
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  Speaker 1: the U. S Military forces. He dispatched sixty six men
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  Speaker 1: by Captain George Pickett to settle on the island. Two
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  Speaker 1: days later, the British sent three warships. Harney sent more
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  Speaker 1: American troops to the island. Back and forth. The escalation
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  Speaker 1: went until there were two thousand British sailors and hundreds
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  Speaker 1: of American troops squaring off. Seeing that they were headed
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  Speaker 1: for war, leaders from both sides agreed to reduce forces
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  Speaker 1: by late fall. By March, both agreed to keep a
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  Speaker 1: camp on opposite ends of the island for twelve more years.
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  Speaker 1: Neither side was willing to give up their claim to
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  Speaker 1: the island. Finally, they decided to let a neutral commission decide.
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  Speaker 1: After both presented their case, the commissioner decided in favor
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  Speaker 1: of the Americans. After all those years, the conflict was
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  Speaker 1: officially over and named for one of the casualties that
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  Speaker 1: started it. That's right, the Pig War was started over
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  Speaker 1: a pig, one of thirteen hundred units of livestock the
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  Speaker 1: British used to try and establish claim over the territory.
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  Speaker 1: In the end, I guess it could be said that
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  Speaker 1: both sides had been a little pig headed, requiring higher
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  Speaker 1: powers to step in and stop everyone from going hog wild.
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  Speaker 1: I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet
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  Speaker 1: of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts. Or learn
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  Speaker 1: more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com.
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  Speaker 1: The show was created by me Aaron Manky in partnership
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  Speaker 1: with how Stuff Works. I make another award winning show
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  Speaker 1: called Lore, which is a podcast, book series, and television
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  Speaker 1: show and you can learn all about it over at
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  Speaker 1: the World of Lore dot com. And until next time,
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  Speaker 1: stay curious. Ye