British car history, forgetting Tiananmen and Bohemian National Hall

Lots of good history on The World this week so I’m giving you a compilation in this week’s podcast. First Lisa Mullins interviews Giles Chapman on what happened to British automakers four decades ago, and potential lessons for GM which declared bankruptcy this week.  Chapman explains that when British car companies started to tank in the  late 1960′s the government forced them to merge into one big company called British Leyland.  That enterprise had to be bailed out in 1975. There’s a nice snippet at the end of the interview when Lisa Mullins asks Chapman who’s an expert on all things cars what little known factoid he can offer up about GM. He says General Motors invented car design by opening up its “Art and Color Department” in 1926.

Think 1959 Cadillac with gigantic fins…

Next, the heart of this week’s podcast is a radio story from The World’s Mary Kay Magistad about Chinese efforts to suppress the Tiananmen story.  Mary Kay has a real feel for the politics of historical memory and the implications of letting the story fester untold. She also conveys well the ambivalence and uncertainty surrounding the silence in China. You’ll hear Mary Kay interviewed by Lisa Mullins as well which frames the story nicely.

And we finish off with a masterful radio story from The World’s Alex Gallafent who’s been venturing way off the beaten path in and around New York City lately. Here he takes us into the heart of the Czech immigrant experience in Manhattan with memories of Bohemian National Hall on the Upper East Side.