Published: August 3, 2012
With the 2012 Summer Olympics underway in London, Americans are being bombarded by images of physical perfection. If that triggers any envy on the part of viewers, it might offer some comfort to know that the ideal of the perfect body has not always been what it is today.
On this episode, the History Guys look at how body ideals have changed through the centuries, and explore some of the ways Americans have attempted to perfect their physiques. They take on the 19th century science of “nasology” – which held that the shape of a person’s nose was the key to understanding their character – and ask why this theory emerged when it did. They also examine the reasons why skinniness became desireable for middle-class men long before it was valued by women. And they consider the Cold War roots of that bane of schoolchildren everywhere: the Presidential Physical Fitness Test.
Donna
When was the song “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes” written? Was it one of Eisenhower’s?
Carolyn Lieberg
I really want to like your show, because I spend a lot of time reading and researching various aspects of American and European history. I knew something about the attention to our physical selves as a result of the exams for military service for WWII (It wasn’t your focus, but the discovery of birth defects in feet and spines and so on had a huge impact on that area of research.), and I was interested in the follow-up to the weight issues.
With regard to physical fitness — I was in high school when the Chicken Fat song came out, and it was a frequent warm-up in gym class. We thought it was goofy, but it kept us moving for 7 minutes, gave us something to sing/shout along with, and it was more fun than running laps.
At Kennedy’s instigation, we started every morning, in our home rooms, with ten or so minutes of light calisthenics. Students are always going to think things like this are goofy, but we did it, because we were told to.
The Madison Avenue connection was earlier, wasn’t it? Victory gardens and the other promotions of patriotic behavior? There were many ways that physical fitness had been promoted in the century prior to WWII — another topic for you some time?
It is easy now to mock the Cold War. Perhaps some day the same will happen to terrorism and Al Qaeda. At the time, though, that threat seemed larger than this one — though I was a child, so perhaps children now feel the same dark cloud.
Back to my original point — why laugh about Ike’s heart attack? The more I learn about him, the more I respect him. All physical fitness proponents eventually die; the impulse to make fun of him seemed way off. Please don’t try to be the car guys. We all know that Americans need to know more history. Your topics are fascinating. Please press on, but can you exercise a bit more respect without feeling like you’re being stuffy?
Pam Herman
This was the first Backstory I have listened to and I found it very engaging. It made doing dishes early on a Sunday morning a lighter task. Hearing “Chicken Fat” took me right back to my junior high gym days!
But I also think I’m somewhat on the same wavelength as Carolyn. When Megan Kate Nelson made a joke out of the post Civil War family portrait that included the ammunition that had caused the father to lose limbs I found that disrespectful, especially from someone who is a scholar of the period.
I can see that a delicate balance is essential to make your topics engaging to modern listeners and yet not be flippant in tone. Looking forward to listening to future (and past) programs as you and your guests tackle that task.
Denny
The link to check the music used during this episode doesn’t seem to be working for me. I’m pretty sure I heard some LCD Soundsystem though… nice.
Carl Lynch
Great Show!
During your show on American Body Image you mentioned during the Civil War that chloroform was used for anesthesia. Actually, to my knowledge, in the US diethyl ether was used for anesthesia. Chloroform was developed and used in England (to ease birth pains of Queen Victoria). Because chloroform had a lower ‘margin of safety’, it was use exclusively by physicians, In England gereral anesthesia is still given only by physicians.. Diethyl ether caused less cardiovascular depression, and less death, particularly to injured people, hence it could used by less trained individuals (not that physicians were terribly well trained in the US until the 1900′s). Consequently, there arose within nursing the subspecialty of nurse anesthetists in addition to physician anesthetists (or preferred anesthesiologists). During the Civil War (war between the states, war of northern aggression) general anesthesia was administered by variously trained individuals, including the ‘discoverer’ of anesthesia a dentist William T. G. Morton, who made the first public demonstration of ether in ‘The Ether Dome’ in Massachusetts General Hospital. As far as i know, Chloroform was not widely used in the USA (or CSA) untill later.