Legendary activist and author Tom Hayden, Listen Yankee!: Why Cuba Matters/Peace & Justice Resource Center joins Thom on The Big Picture. While the Cold War ended more than two decades ago - the relationship between Cuba and the United States has remained frozen - until now. As President Obama starts to normalize relations with our revolutionary neighbor to the south - how will that change America's image abroad? And how will it change the political system right here at home? As a founding member of the Students for Democratic Society - Tom played a pivotal role in the anti-war movement of the 1960s and was the author of the famous Port Huron statement that catalyzed a generation of activists. He also served in the California legislature for almost two decades - and is currently the Director of the Peace and Justice Resource Center.

For more information on the stories we've covered visit our websites at thomhartmann.com - freespeech.org - and RT.com. You can also watch tonight's show on Hulu - at Hulu.com/THE BIG PICTURE and over at The Big Picture YouTube page. And - be sure to check us out on Facebook and Twitter!

Caroline Fredrickson, American Constitution Society for Law and Policy / Demos / Under the Bus: How Working Women Are Being Run Over joins Thom. More than 50 years after the passage of the Equal Pay Act - the wage gap is still a fact of life in America. Why is that? And what does it have to do with our troubled history of slavery and racial discrimination?

For more information on the stories we've covered visit our websites at thomhartmann.com - freespeech.org - and RT.com. You can also watch tonight's show on Hulu - at Hulu.com/THE BIG PICTURE and over at The Big Picture YouTube page. And - be sure to check us out on Facebook and Twitter!

Thanks to the successes of the Warren Court in the 1950s and 1960s - many Americans think of the Supreme Court as a progressive institution. But in reality - it's been one of - if not the most - reactionary forces in American history. ThinkProgress editor Ian Millhiser will explain why in tonight's Conversations with Great Minds. His newest book is Injustices: The Supreme Court's Nearly Unbroken History of Comforting the Comfortable and Afflicting the Afflicted.

For more information on the stories we've covered visit our websites at thomhartmann.com - freespeech.org - and RT.com. You can also watch tonight's show on Hulu - at Hulu.com/THE BIG PICTURE and over at The Big Picture YouTube page. And - be sure to check us out on Facebook and Twitter!

For tonight's Conversations with Great Minds - Thom is joined by Gerald Posner. Gerald Posner was one of the youngest attorneys ever hired by the Wall Street law firm of Cravath, Swaine & Moore and is the author of eleven books - including New York Times bestsellers - and one a finalist for the Pulitzer in History. Gerald has written dozens of articles for national magazines and papers and has been a regular contributor to a variety of television networks. He's also the author of the new book, "God's Bankers: A History of Money and Power at the Vatican."

For more information on the stories we've covered visit our websites at thomhartmann.com - freespeech.org - and RT.com. You can also watch tonight's show on Hulu - at Hulu.com/THE BIG PICTURE and over at The Big Picture YouTube page. And - be sure to check us out on Facebook and Twitter!

My guest for tonight's Conversations with Great Minds is one of the world's leading political scientists. Currently the Malkin Professor of Public Policy at Harvard University - Robert D. Putnam, who has been called "the most influential academic in the world." He has advised three U.S. presidents - and has won a number of distinguished awards. Professor Putnam's 2000 book Bowling Alone is considered a classic of its kind - an was a national besteller. His new book - "Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis" - is a fascinating and challenging look at our nation's deep crisis of opportunity.

For more information on the stories we've covered visit our websites at thomhartmann.com - freespeech.org - and RT.com. You can also watch tonight's show on Hulu - at Hulu.com/THE BIG PICTURE and over at The Big Picture YouTube page. And - be sure to check us out on Facebook and Twitter!

Thom's guest for tonight's Conversations with Great Minds is award-winning historian Steve Fraser. Currently an adjunct professor at Columbia University - Steve is one of America's leading labor historians and is the co-founder - along with Tom Engelhardt - of the American Empire Project books series. Steve is also the editor-at-large of the journal New Labor Forum and is the author of a number of critically acclaimed books - including his latest -"The Age of Acquiescence: The Life and Death of American Resistance to Organized Wealth and Power" - a fascinating look at America's new Gilded Age. From the Sons of Liberty to the Wobblies - America has always been a revolutionary country. So why with wealth inequality at record highs does it now seem like everyday Americans are terrified of taking on the powers that be?

For tonight's Conversations with Great Minds - Thom is joined by award-winning author David O. Stewart. Formerly a trial lawyer here in Washington, D.C. - David is also the president of the Washington Independent Review of Books. He's written a number of books about American history as well a mystery novel and won the 2013 History Prize from the Society of the Cincinnati. David Stewart's new book - "Madison's Gift: Five Partnerships that Built America" - is a fascinating look into the friendships that made James Madison into the revolutionary leader he was.