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Mural High Ground · Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities

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  Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Manke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of
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  Speaker 1: iHeartRadio and Grimm and Mild. Our world is full of
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  Speaker 1: the unexplainable, and if history is an open book, all
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  Speaker 1: of these amazing tales are right there on display, just
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  Speaker 1: waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities.
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  Speaker 1: I have this idea. Arts is a lot like Isaac
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  Speaker 1: Newton's third Law of Motion. Just hear me out for
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  Speaker 1: a second. As the law states, for every action there
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  Speaker 1: is an equal and opposite reaction. The forces of motion
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  Speaker 1: push and pull at each other, and in the same way,
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  Speaker 1: artistic movements exist in tension with themselves. You cannot have
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  Speaker 1: modernism without postmodernism as an essential counterbalance force. And in
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  Speaker 1: that regard, consider the historical significance of art in relation
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  Speaker 1: to totalitarianism. Every time a state uses art as a
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  Speaker 1: means of control, oppression, or propaganda, they cannot fully contain
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  Speaker 1: how that will reverberate in the greater artistic world. Oppressive
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  Speaker 1: art can birth art that is, in its very form,
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  Speaker 1: an expression of rebellion. In nineteen thirty four, Maxim Gorky
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  Speaker 1: proposed an artistic philosophy that would become known as socialist realism.
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  Speaker 1: As an artistic expression of the new Soviet Union. The
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  Speaker 1: works in this field would celebrate the state and the
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  Speaker 1: party for the people. It was supposed to be a movement,
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  Speaker 1: but it would become a doctrine. The form of the
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  Speaker 1: work became the way in which the art was supposed
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  Speaker 1: to look in Soviet Russia, and naturally it provoked a response.
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  Speaker 1: The generation that came later birthed the so called sixtiars artists,
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  Speaker 1: writers and thinkers who came to prominence in the nineteen sixties.
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  Speaker 1: Their work actively defied socialist realism in form and content.
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  Speaker 1: Many of these artists were socialist politically, but had become
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  Speaker 1: disillusioned with life in the USSR. Their interpretation of left
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  Speaker 1: wing values was not strict adherence to the communist party line.
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  Speaker 1: It was an artistic expression. Enter A La Horska. She
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  Speaker 1: was the Ukrainian daughter of a Soviet film executive, and
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  Speaker 1: she would grow to resent the repressive politics of Stalin's Russia.
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  Speaker 1: She started painting when she was young, earning praise and
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  Speaker 1: recognition for realistic works, but ultimately she grew away from
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  Speaker 1: the style, growing increasingly fond of traditional Ukrainian art. Her
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  Speaker 1: later works favored bold colors and abstract, fantastical designs, work
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  Speaker 1: that was in direct defiance of Soviet realism. In Kiev,
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  Speaker 1: she freely experimented with mediums, paints, mural, stained glass windows,
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  Speaker 1: you name it. Her apartment became a popular meeting place
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  Speaker 1: for sixty year gatherings. By the mid nineteen sixties, the
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  Speaker 1: KGB was keeping tabs on all of these artists. Their
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  Speaker 1: work was defiant in spirit as well as in form.
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  Speaker 1: One of a La Horska's early stained glass windows was
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  Speaker 1: destroyed before it could be exhibited for the way that
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  Speaker 1: it depicted Mother Ukraine as a sorrowful presence under the
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  Speaker 1: yoke of Russia. Her phone would be tapped and many
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  Speaker 1: of her friends arrested or killed. Horska's work for the
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  Speaker 1: Ukrainian underground had only just begun. She provided shelter to
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  Speaker 1: enemies of the USSR, attended anti government protests, supported her
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  Speaker 1: colleagues who had been sent to labor camps, and all
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  Speaker 1: of this while continuing to produce bold artwork that celebrated
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  Speaker 1: the unique culture of Ukraine. Horska, however, didn't escape persecution
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  Speaker 1: for long. In nineteen seventy she vanished without a trace.
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  Speaker 1: Her body was later found in her father in law's cellar.
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  Speaker 1: Her father in law meanwhile had been found dead on
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  Speaker 1: some nearby railroad tracks. It was supposed to look like
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  Speaker 1: a suicide after he had killed her, but everyone knew
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  Speaker 1: the truth. This was the KGB attempting to silence a
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  Speaker 1: public opponent. But if the intent was decided silence her,
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  Speaker 1: it was ineffective. Her funeral later that December turned into
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  Speaker 1: a massive protest against the communist regime, and her name
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  Speaker 1: joined the ranks of martyrs for the cause of Ukrainian liberty.
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  Speaker 1: And then there's her artwork, those murals, paintings and portraits.
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  Speaker 1: They outlived the USSR and many still remain in treasured
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  Speaker 1: museum collections all across Ukraine. Their value comes from the
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  Speaker 1: indomitable voice she represented, someone who fought for persecuted people
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  Speaker 1: with every tool she had available to her. Art is
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  Speaker 1: a curious thing. It is inherently political, no matter how
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  Speaker 1: escapist it aspires to be. Art exists as an expression
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  Speaker 1: of culture, and culture is a cumulative thing, something that
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  Speaker 1: can't be forced onto a nation against the will of
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  Speaker 1: its people, and Russia today clearly realizes this as during
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  Speaker 1: the war in Ukraine, Several of Alahorska's pieces have been
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  Speaker 1: destroyed by invading forces, but it's twenty twenty five and
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  Speaker 1: artistic practice exists farther than just one physical space. Destroying
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  Speaker 1: Horska's murals does not erase them from cultural memory or
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  Speaker 1: the digital copies taken by people who have seen them.
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  Speaker 1: Art is as ephemeral as an emotion, and both are indestructible.
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  Speaker 1: The winds were lighter than usual as Tommy Tomberlin climbed
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  Speaker 1: skyward over the island. The twenty six year old part
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  Speaker 1: time flight instructor kept his hands off the controls, letting
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  Speaker 1: his students in the front seat. Twenty four year old
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  Speaker 1: Jimmy Duncan get used to piloting the small two seat airplane.
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  Speaker 1: It was a clear morning with only light clouds and
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  Speaker 1: great visibility. You couldn't ask for a better day to fly,
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  Speaker 1: and Tommy was enjoying the warmth of the sun on
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  Speaker 1: his face through the glass cockpit window. Glancing down, he
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  Speaker 1: saw another plane parked on a small runway. It had
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  Speaker 1: botched its landing, rolled off the gravel into the grass
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  Speaker 1: where it had gotten stuck. The two pilots, a young
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  Speaker 1: man and a woman were struggling to push it back
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  Speaker 1: onto the runway. The woman looked up, saw Tommy's plane
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  Speaker 1: and waved. That had to be Marguerite's, another young flight
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  Speaker 1: instructor who worked with Tommy. She wouldn't be happy about
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  Speaker 1: the delay, which would put her behind schedule for her
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  Speaker 1: next student. Tommy did not envy her. He'd hate to
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  Speaker 1: be grounded on a morning like this. He waved back
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  Speaker 1: and then instructed Jimmy to bank right and follow the
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  Speaker 1: island's northeastern shore. A few minutes later, they were soaring
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  Speaker 1: over Rocky Cliffs when a flash caught Tommy's attention. He
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  Speaker 1: turned to see two bright red lines streak toward him.
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  Speaker 1: The plane shuddered as something punched through the rear fuselage.
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  Speaker 1: Jimmy shouted in surprise, and Tommy whirled around, searching the
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  Speaker 1: skies in a panic. He saw another flash and heard
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  Speaker 1: the sharp burst of machine gun fire. Someone was shooting
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  Speaker 1: at them. Tommy didn't think. He grabbed the stick, taking
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  Speaker 1: control of the plane back from Jimmy, and he dove.
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  Speaker 1: Now Tommy wasn't a military pilot in a warplane. He
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  Speaker 1: was a twenty six year old civilian in a slow,
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  Speaker 1: cheap hobby aircraft made of wood and canvas, but he
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  Speaker 1: knew that he'd have a better chance of evading an
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  Speaker 1: attack by flying low. As long as he stayed close
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  Speaker 1: to the waves and the cliffs, anyone dive bombing him
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  Speaker 1: from above would be forced to pull up to avoid
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  Speaker 1: a crash. When he was just fifty feet above the water,
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  Speaker 1: Tommy leveled out. He glanced back to see two sleek
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  Speaker 1: metal fighters close on his tail. They fired again, and
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  Speaker 1: Tommy rolled, turning into the island. They had to get
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  Speaker 1: out of the sky as soon as possible, and that
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  Speaker 1: meant cutting across the island to the civilian airport on
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  Speaker 1: the southwestern harbor. But as he banked in that direction,
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  Speaker 1: he let out a groan of despair. Dark clouds blocked
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  Speaker 1: his path. A rain squall had appeared over the mountains,
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  Speaker 1: cutting off the quickest path back to the airport, and
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  Speaker 1: that left only one option. With the fighters still close
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  Speaker 1: on his tail, Tommy plunged toward a canyon, cutting through
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  Speaker 1: the jungle. It was a risky play. The pass was
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  Speaker 1: notorious for powerful gusts that could throw his injured plane
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  Speaker 1: into a tailspin, but Tommy gritted his teeth and pushed ahead,
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  Speaker 1: skimming just eight feet above the trees. His knuckles turned
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  Speaker 1: white as he fought with the controls. The plane trembled
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  Speaker 1: with every dip and turned, but the tailwind was in
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  Speaker 1: his favor today, rocketing him through the pass at breakneck speed.
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  Speaker 1: The fighters finally peeled away, unwilling to follow so close
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  Speaker 1: to the jagged cliffs. Tommy barely noticed, though, his focus
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  Speaker 1: locked on the narrow strip of sky ahead. Then the
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  Speaker 1: trees fell away and the sky opened up, and he
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  Speaker 1: was through. Tommy led out a breath that he'd been
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  Speaker 1: holding onto, but his relief was short lived. As he
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  Speaker 1: emerged from the pass, the whole island unfolded before him.
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  Speaker 1: The sky was filled with hundreds of planes, all bearing
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  Speaker 1: the red circle of the rising sun. They swarmed over
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  Speaker 1: the island's many military buildings, strafing runways and bombing aircraft carriers.
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  Speaker 1: Fires burned along the shores as dark smoke billowed up
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  Speaker 1: from the naval base at Pearl Harbor. You see, Tommy's
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  Speaker 1: plane was one of six civilian aircraft in the sky
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  Speaker 1: when the Japanese Naval Air Force descended on Hawaii that Sunday.
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  Speaker 1: Tommy and his student passenger made it to the airport
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  Speaker 1: in one piece, although the plane was riddled with bullets.
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  Speaker 1: Not all the other civilian pilots were so lucky. The
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  Speaker 1: next day, President Franklin Roosevelt told the world what had
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  Speaker 1: happened on December seventh of nineteen forty one, a day
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  Speaker 1: that would live in infamy and one that, as Tommy
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  Speaker 1: Tomberland learned firsthand, was a very curious day to fly.
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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 show,
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  Speaker 1: and you can learn all about it over at Theworldoflore
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  Speaker 1: dot com. And until next time, stay curious.