Episode 888: The First Shutdown

An undated portrait by Mathew Brady of Rutherford B. Hayes, 19th President of the United States.

The government is shut down again. Here at Planet Money, we wondered: just how long has this been going on? The answer is: It started a long time ago, but then it didn't happen again for nearly a hundred years.

Today on the show, we go back in time to 1879. There was a fight between President Rutherford B. Hayes and Congress about African-Americans voting. It ended in the first ever government shutdown.

Music: "Hakoniwa," "Salmon Smash" and "Broke Me."

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