Fifty years ago this weekend, the Central Intelligence Agency launched a covert attack on Cuba in what became known as The Bay of Pigs. The three day assault, which was carried out under the auspices of a Cuban rebel group, was a fiasco. The rebels were captured and killed, along with a handful of CIA intelligence officers. It was just three months after John F. Kennedy took over the White House, and while the plan had been initiated under Dwight D. Eisenhower, it was Kennedy who signed off on the operation.

Twenty years ago this weekend, a new sketch comedy show, "In Living Color," made its debut on the then-fledgling network, Fox.

Thirty years ago today, Robert Mugabe was elected as Zimbabwe’s first Black Prime Minister, and the country erupted in celebration. But in the interem, many have regretted his era of rule, which has been sometimes characterized by executive power-grabbing and economic disaster.

On this day in 1965, "The Sound of Music" opened in theaters. It was hugely successful, winning five Academy Awards, including best picture.

We hear from listeners and people on the National Mall in Washington D.C., where one year ago today, President Obama was sworn into office.

We check in with two states, Missouri and Georgia – both states that went to Sen. John McCain in 2008 – to see how voters view President Obama today and what they think he needs to do going forward.

20 years ago, The Simpsons stepped out of the Tracy Ullman show and into their own half-hour timeslot on the then-fledgling FOX network.  450 episodes later, they're still going strong.  We talk this morning with one of the show's long time voice actors, Harry Shearer, who hosts public radio's Le Show when he's not providing the voice of Mr. Burns, Smithers, Ned Flanders, Rev. Lovejoy, Kent Brockman, Dr. Hibbert, Lenny, Principal Skinner, Otto, Rainier Wolfcastle...

Tomorrow, December 26, is the 5-year anniversary of the Indian Ocean Tsunami. How have things changed since 2004? Indeed, have things changed? The BBC's Karishma Vaswani reports on the progress Indonesia's Aceh province. We also talk with Christoph Gorder, Vice President of Emergency Response with Americares, about what's still needed for the region to fully recover.

Today marks thirty years since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. On December 24, 1979, the Soviet 40th army was ordered to deploy in Afghanistan by then Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev.  Of course, today’s anniversary resonates not just with Russians and other members of the former Soviet Union, but also with Americans after the recent announcement of 30,000 extra US troops to Afghanistan.  To remind us of the events of 30 years ago, Kira Fomenko from the BBC Russian service joins us.

All year long, people around the world have been recalling the events of 1989, 20 years ago, when the Soviet Empire in Europe collapsed, country after country.  They were generally known as "Velvet Revolutions": in Hungary, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the embrace of democracy all across central Europe, culminating with the final collapse of the Soviet Union itself, early in the 1990s. But shortly before Christmas 1989, the revolution came to the closed, bizarre dictatorship of Romania's Nicolai Ceauşescu ... and there, the revolution wasn't so velvety.  We talk with Nick Thorpe, BBC Central Europe correspondent and author of "'89: The Unfinished Revolution," from Opera Square in Timişoara, where the revolution happened 20 years ago.

Hard to believe, but it's been one year since Ponzi scheme 'mastermind' Bernie Madoff was arrested for scamming over $50 billion from investors. We thought it'd be the perfect time to check in and see how Madoff's victims and associates are doing, one year after his arrest. Aaron Lucchetti is a reporter for The Wall Street Journal whose latest article says the Madoff sons are having an incredibly hard time finding themsleves new jobs. Cynthia Crane was one of Madoff's many victims; she decided to adapt her story for the theatre in a show titled, "John Denver, Bernie Madoff, and Me."

A year ago, terrorists attacked hotels in Mumbai, India. We talk to Linda Blake, contributor for the Wall Street Journal in Mumbai, about what's happening there today, and to Felix Ambrose, who helped rescue victims at the Leopold Café last year, directly across from the site of the attacks.

Forty years ago this month, a group of Native Americans staged an occupation of the Island of Alcatraz. The occupation lasted nineteen months and was part of a protest movement that was intended to bring the rights of Native peoples into the public consciousness. This morning, a group of Native Americans will gather for a sunrise meeting to commemorate the takeover. We talk to Andrea Carmen, executive director of the International Indian Treaty Council.

As we've been marking the eighth anniversary of the war in Afghanistan, we've found that people can think about the war in vastly different ways, depending on how close they are. We hear from those who've served, those who see the soldiers return, and even those for whom the war is far from their minds.

"The Twilight Zone" turns 50 years old today, and we take a look back through the episodes that made this one of the most influential television series – science-fiction or otherwise – in history. With Rod Serling's distinctive narration alongside mysterious plot lines that made the hairs stand up on viewers' necks, the series was and remains in a class of its own. Are you ready to enter ... the Twilight Zone?

Thousands of people have stories about September 11th, eight years ago. For many of us these are stories that hang on the profound consequences of one life intersecting with another. Today we take a look at two of these stories, where the significance of a perfect stranger grows more pronounced with each passing year. We speak with Sarah Bunting. She’s a writer and publisher of the blog tomatonation.com. We also talk to Jim Dwyer, reporter for the New York Times and author of "102 Minutes: The Untold Story of the Fight to Survive Inside the Twin Towers," which he co-wrote with New York Times editor Kevin Flynn.

All week we are reviewing the year that was — the year that marked the beginning of the financial meltdown and the recession that we continue to live through. Today we’re taking stock of how the nation’s banks are managing, one year after the government spent billions of taxpayers' dollars to bail them out. For a look at what regulations need to be in place to avoid future financial disasters, we talk with Eliot Spitzer. He was New York's attorney general before being elected governor; he first made a name for himself for keeping an eagle eye on the banking industry. We are also joined by Tyler Cowen, professor of economics at George Mason University and author of the new book, Create Your Own Economy: The Path to Prosperity in a Disordered World. (click through for the interview transcript.)

All week long we are reviewing the year that was: the year that marked the beginning of the financial meltdown and the recession that we continue to live through. Today we are focusing on the $600 billion collapse of Lehman Brothers — the largest bankruptcy filing in U.S. history. It’s a moment that many believe sent the global economy into crisis. To get a sense of the forces leading up to that day we speak with a Lehman Brothers’ insider, former vice president of distressed debt and convertible securities at Lehman Brothers, Lawrence McDonald. He's the author of the new book, A Colossal Failure of Common Sense: The Inside Story of the Collapse of Lehman Brothers.

We also talk to our contributor Louise Story, finance reporter for the New York Times, about the collapse of Lehmann and the ensuing global financial crisis. Louise also tells us about the new spate of corporate mergers that could indicate the nation's economy is making the slow turn towards recovery.

The first of the major bank bailouts happened one year ago today. We listen to what the financial crisis sounded like as it happened — immediately before and immediately after.

Yesterday the NAACP wrapped up its Centennial Convention. The Takeaway has been covering the convention all week, from DJ Spooky’s artistic take on the African-America experience to President Obama’s address last night. Today, as part of the “after the party” conversation, we are joined by John McWhorter to look at the relevance of the 100-year old institution and the challenges it faces in taking on 21st century discrimination. John McWhorter is a Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute and Adjunct Professor at Columbia, his latest book is Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue: The Untold Story of English.