The Minneapolis Aquatennial Coverup

Episode 7 August 04, 2025 00:44:55
The Minneapolis Aquatennial Coverup
Busted Business Bureau
The Minneapolis Aquatennial Coverup

Aug 04 2025 | 00:44:55

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Hosted By

Christian Borkey

Show Notes

You ever bestie so hard you and your homegirl's boyfriend wind up at drinks and podcasting? My dear friend Archie joins me in studio to talk about a geographically relevant piece of history for him: The Minneapolis Aquatennial! This is a pretty violent and bloody episode - I mean, what else were people up to in the 30s? - and is a long awaited union-sode! Along the way we'll talk trashy old newspapers, the kidnapping of a beer heir, and just how much businessmen will put on the line for...documents. Spoiler alert: it's EVERYTHING!

Yes I did record this like 2 days after it'd have been relevant. One thing about me? I love being juuuuust a hair away from being topical. 

SOURCES:

1) "A Union Against Unions: the Minneapolis Citizens Alliance and Its Fight Against Organized Labor, 1903-1947" by William Millikan 2001 https://archive.org/details/unionagainstunio0000mill/page/n1/mode/2up (This is the main source on the subject, and basically any website is ripping from this book)

2) Aquatennial.com

3) Minneapolis Journal Tuesday August 26, 1930 is the random newspaper I picked: https://www.newspapers.com/image/811596648/

4) Star Tribune, Wednesday November 1, 1933 op-ed: "In Defense of Hitler" https://www.newspapers.com/image/182407195

5) The grindset ad is somewhere on this newspaper page of the Star Tribune, Sunday August 21st 1932: https://www.newspapers.com/image/182534699/

6) This wasn't officially quoted BUT "90 years ago, Hamm's heir kidnapped in broad daylight in St. Paul," Cathy Wurzer and Gretchen Brown, Jun 2023, MPR News, https://www.mprnews.org/episode/2023/06/14/90-years-ago-hamms-heir-kidnapped-held-for-ransom-in-st-paul

7) the stock music I used for that one bit is at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I34bTKW8ud0&list=PLQtpqy3zeTGB7V5lkhkfBVaiZyrysv_fG the top comment of which is "My god, this beat just told me that unionizing wasn't in my best interest because it would destroy our family culture"

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