[Abridged] Presidential Histories

2025 Friendsgiving History Podcast Spectacular

Mon, 24 Nov 2025 00:00:00 -0800

It's the week of Thanksgiving, which means its time for the fourth annual Friendsgiving Podcast Spectacular. Four compelling podcast hosts sit down for a round table where each host gets to ask 1 question of each other host. Questions like:

On the eve of the United States' 250th birthday, what ideas or facts from the revolution could use more emphasis today?
Is there anyone from history your opinion pulled a 180 on as you learned more about them?
If you could take any one president and swap their place with any other president, who would you swap and why?

Join me for a merry discussion with 3 of the best U.S. / Presidential History podcasters you'll find:

Howard Dorre, Plodding through the Presidents
Jerry Landry, Presidencies of the United States
Alycia, Civics & Coffee

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20.B) Death by Lightning, an interview on the assassination of James Garfield with Candice Millard

Thu, 13 Nov 2025 13:00:00 -0800

Historian Candice Millard, author of Destiny of the Republic, discusses what it's like to have your book turned into a major Netflix Miniseries, Death by Lightning, and what first attracted her to the story of President James Garfield and the assassin Charles Guiteau.

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The improbable Victoria Woodhull, an interview with Eden Collinsworth

Mon, 01 Sep 2025 00:00:00 -0700

"While others prayed for the good time coming, I worked for it," - Victoria Woodhull, April 2, 1870, in a newspaper column announcing her candidacy for presidency of the United States.

You may know that Victoria Woodhull was the first woman to run for president, but did you know that prior to running for office, she turned a reputation for being a clairvoyant into a stock brokerage career? Or that her vice presidential candidate was Frederick Douglass, but he didn't know it? Or that she missed the election because she was in jail?

Join me for an interview with Eden Collinsworth on her new book, The Improbable Victoria Woodhull: Suffrage, Free Love, and the First Woman to Run for President.

If there are other historians or authors of presidential history you would like to hear from, drop me a line: abridgedpresidentialhistories@gmail.com

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Democricide season 1: Who Killed Athenian Democracy? Episode 2

Sat, 14 Jun 2025 11:00:00 -0700

Please enjoy this preview of my new podcast, Democricide.

Athenian Democracy was established, but who cared? Compared to the mighty Persian empire, the Greek city states were a bunch of backwaters. And that's how history may have remembered them, if not for one suicidally ambitious Greek, and one desperately crafty Athenian who saved his city from destruction.

Sources:

The Peloponnesian War, by Donald Kagan
Lords of the Sea, by John R. Hale

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Democricide season 1: Who Killed Athenian Democracy? Episode 1

Sat, 14 Jun 2025 11:00:00 -0700

Please enjoy this preview of my new podcast, Democricide.

Athens wasn't always a democracy, but when a tyrant overplayed his hand and a revolutionary proposed something better, it launched a new form of government that changed the Greek world.

Sources:

The Peloponnesian War, by Donald Kagan
Lords of the Sea, by John R. Hale

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45.) Donald Trump part 1 2017-2021

Mon, 09 Jun 2025 00:00:00 -0700

"This American carnage stops right here and stops right now." - Donald Trump, inauguration speech, Jan. 20, 2017.

The American presidency had long fascinated Donald Trump. Ever since attending the 1988 GOP National Convention, Trump had wanted a piece of it - he'd even called Bush that year to ask to be on the ticket. But the idea that a twice divorced, six-times bankrupted Democratic donor could become the Republican president of the United States - that was laughable. Until it happened.

Follow along as Donald Trump develops a personal brand for luxury, rides that brand to the White House, and then spends four years contending with investigations, impeachments, and a global pandemic. When he's voted out of office at the end of those four years, he won't accept it, and his supporters will storm the U.S. capital to try and take the presidency back for him.

Sources

Confidence Man - Maggie Haberman
CDC - for COVID stats and timelines
WHO - for COVID stats and timelines
Jan. 6 Committee - for Jan. 6 details and timelines
Washington Post & New York Times - for miscellaneous other details on Trump's presidency.

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8.A) Martin Van Buren, America's first politician, an interview with James Bradley

Mon, 07 Apr 2025 21:00:00 -0700

Martin Van Buren is known as the "little magician." If he was a magician, he cast a powerful spell. The two party system he championed and helped establish has ruled the United States for two centuries and Democratic party he co-founded is the oldest American political party alive today.

Historian and Journalist James Bradley, author of the new book Martin Van Buren: America's First Politician discusses how Martin Van Buren took over New York politics, and then American politics, to transform the American political system forever.

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44.A) Obama's 08' Iowa campaign, an interview with Chelsea Waliser

Mon, 03 Mar 2025 19:00:00 -0800

What's it like to be on the inside of a dark horse presidential campaign?

Chelsea Waliser knows.

Waliser was an Obama campaign regional field director during the lead up to first-in-the-nation 2008 Iowa Caucus. For nearly a year, she hired, trained, and organized volunteers for a candidate who was viewed by many as a long shot. What drove her to Obama? What's it like to spend a year of your life in Iowa? And how did Obama's campaign beat the odds?

Tune in to find out.

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44.) Barack Obama 2009-2017

Mon, 17 Feb 2025 00:00:00 -0800

"Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek." - Barack Obama, on the campaign trail, Feb. 5, 2008

Nothing was ever going to come easy to Barack Obama, and many thought he was crazy for trying, but belief himself was something Obama had in spades, and it lifted him to the presidency of the United States. Follow along as Barack Obama rises from a humble start as a community organizer in Chicago to crack into Illinois Democratic politics, transform his career with a 2004 national convention speech, and shock the political establishment by becoming the first African American President in U.S. history in 2009. His reward? Two foreign wars, an economy in free fall, and an opposition party committed to saying 'no!' at every turn. It was one of the most challenging hands any president has been given, and yet he overcame it to save the American economy and settle its foreign policy on stable ground.

Bibliography
1. Obama: The Call of History - Peter Baker
2. Bush - Jean Edward Smith

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43.A) An Afghan Story, an interview with Sahba Azami

Mon, 27 Jan 2025 00:00:00 -0800

Sahba Azami was born an Afghan refugee.
Today, she's an Afghan refugee once more.
But, for nearly 20 years, she was not a refugee. She was simply an Afghan. And the future was bright.
Brought back to the country of her parents' birth after the United States toppled the Taliban, Sahba joined a vanguard of young women who were going to make the most of the precious opportunity that had been denied every generation of Afghan women before them -- She pursued an education.
Sahba graduated college. She graduated law school. She joined the Afghan president's administration. She was building a new country.
But then the Taliban returned.
It's an odd thing to realize: Sahba's life has almost certainly been more dramatically changed and changed again by the decisions of American presidents than my own, but it's a realization I can't shake. The decision of American presidents made it possible for Sahba to return to Afghanistan and pursue an education. The decisions of American presidents contributed to Afghanistan's collapse, separating her from her family, and making her a refugee in a faraway land.
But still, she dreams.
Today, she shares her story.

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45.A) The rhetoric of Donald Trump, an interview with Jennifer Mercieca

Mon, 20 Jan 2025 00:00:00 -0800

Donald Trump does not talk like a politician. But where some hear truth telling, and others hear something unhinged, professor Jennifer Mercieca hears a consistent rhetorical strategy designed to bind audiences to Trump and sever them from everyone else.

A strategy good enough to win the presidency not just once, but twice.

Communication professor Jennifer Mercieca, author of Demagogue for President: The Rhetorical Genius of Donald Trump, discusses the six techniques Trump uses to cast a spell on his audiences.

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43.) George W Bush 2001-2009

Mon, 06 Jan 2025 00:00:00 -0800

"I can hear you! The rest of the world hears you. And the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon." - George W Bush, World Trade Center Site, September 14, 2001

George W. Bush did not get the presidency he thought he would. He expected to be the tax, entitlement, and education reform guy. Not the war on terror guy.

But the deadliest attack in World History will do that to you.

Follow along as Bush rides a privileged upbringing to the Texas Governorship, wins the White House after the most controversial election of the past 150 years, then struggles with how to keep Americans safe in the years after 9/11 and how to stave off economic armageddon when the 2008 financial crisis sends the global economy into a free fall.

Bibliography
1. Bush - Jean Edward Smith
2. Obama: The Call of History - Peter Baker
3. Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush – Jon Meacham

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42.A) Bill Clinton's Economic Legacy, an interview with Nelson Lichtenstein

Mon, 16 Dec 2024 00:00:00 -0800

"It's the economy, stupid" - Clinton advisor James Carville, 1992.

Bill Clinton left office with a 66% approval rating. This was in large part because 81% of Americans approved his handling of the economy - 71% said the 1999 was the best economy of their lifetimes (according to Gallup).

But how much credit does a president really deserve for an economy? And how does Clinton's record on free trade, welfare reform, and deregulation hold up today?

Labor historian Nelson Lichtenstein, author of A Fabulous Failure: The Clinton Presidency and the Transformation of American Capitalism, joins me to discuss the economic legacy of Bill Clinton.

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42.) Bill Clinton

Mon, 02 Dec 2024 00:00:00 -0800

“There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right with America.’” — Bill Clinton's inaugural address, Jan. 20, 1993.

Bill Clinton has the highest end-of-term approval rating of any president in modern history - 66%. But that doesn't mean things came easy. It doesn't even mean he succeeded in what he set out to do! Follow along as Clinton rises from Arkansas poverty to become the youngest governor in the country and a dark horse presidential candidate on his way to the White House. Once there, he will contend with a revolution in opposition politics, a government shutdown, and the first presidential impeachment trial since 1868. And then, after all that, he'll try to resolve one of the world's most tragic intractable struggles - the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He won't succeed at that either, but damnit, he'll try.

Bibliography
1. The Survivor: Bill Clinton in the White House - John Harris
2. Bill Clinton - Michael Tomasky
3. Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush – Jon Meacham
4. Bush - Jean Edward Smith
5. His Very Best: Jimmy Carter, a Life – Jonathan Alter

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BONUS! 2024 Friendsgiving History Podcast Spectacular

Mon, 18 Nov 2024 00:00:00 -0800

For the third consecutive year, four podcasters got together to record their annual Friendsgiving History Podcast Spectacular. Tune in as I'm joined by three fellow history podcasters and friends for a roundtable discussion on U.S. and presidential history. The other podcasters are:

Howard Dorre, Plodding through the Presidents
Jerry Landry, Presidencies of the United States
Alycia, Civics & Coffee

Happy Thanksgiving!

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41.A) George Bush & the end of the Cold War, an interview with Jeff Engel

Mon, 11 Nov 2024 00:00:00 -0800

George H.W. Bush presided over 4 of the most consequential years in world history. Before he entered office, a Cold War divided East and West: Democratic Capitalism vs Dictatorial Communism. After he left office, Democratic Capitalism had won. How did Bush usher in an age of American hegemony? And what role did he play in dramas ranging from the reunification of Germany to the independence of former soviet states like Russia and Ukraine?

Jeffrey Engel, Director of SMU's Center for Presidential History and author of numerous books on George H.W. Bush, including When the World Seemed New: George H.W. Bush and the End of the Cold War, discusses how Bush kept the peace without sacrificing American idealism at a time of dangerous global change.

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41.) George H.W. Bush

Mon, 07 Oct 2024 00:00:00 -0700

“The Congress will push me to raise taxes, and I’ll say no, and they’ll push, and I’ll say no, and they’ll push again. And I’ll say to them: ‘Read my lips, no new taxes.’” — George Bush's GOP Nomination Acceptance speech, Aug. 18, 1988.

"Poor George [Bush], he can't help it. He was born with a silver foot in his mouth." - Texas Governor Ann Richards at the 1988 Democratic National Convention.

George H.W. Bush may have lived one of the most personally moving stories in all of presidential history. There's war. There's loss. There are great heights and great defeats. Through it all, Bush often appeared somewhat wooden. Unreachable. Unavailable. But beneath that was a man of deep emotions. Follow along as Bush fights in World War II, builds an oil empire in Texas, and rises through the ranks of GOP politics to the White House, where he contended with the end of the Cold War, the aggression of an Iraqi dictator, and an economic reckoning that threatened to be the undoing of his career.

Bibliography
1. Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush – Jon Meacham
2. When the World Seemed New: George H. W. Bush and the End of the Cold War - Jeffrey Engel
3. The Survivor: Bill Clinton in the White House - John Harris
4. Ronald Reagan: The life – H.W. Brands
5. Bush - Jean Edward Smith
6. Richard Nixon, the life – John A. Farrell
7. His Very Best: Jimmy Carter, a Life – Jonathan Alter
8. Gerald Ford – Douglas Brinkley

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40.A) Reaganomics and the anti-tax movement, an interview with Michael Graetz

Mon, 16 Sep 2024 00:00:00 -0700

Americans have long had a complicated relationship with taxes. We don't like paying them, but we love the things they pay for. In the decades after World War II, both political parties agreed - taxes are worth it.
Then came Ronald Reagan and the anti-tax movement.
Michael Graetz, a Professor Emeritus of Law at Yale University and Columbia University and author of The Power to Destroy: How the Antitax Movement Hijacked America, discusses how an American consensus was shattered and a new era of low taxation and deficit spending was begun, and the impact that era will have on Americans today and tomorrow.

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38.B) The History of the Pardon, an interview with Kimberly Wehle

Mon, 02 Sep 2024 01:00:00 -0700

On September 8, 1974, President Gerald Ford pardoned recently-resigned president Richard Nixon of any crimes he may have committed in the presidency, and the pardon has never been the same since. Law Professor Kimberly Wehle, author of the new book Pardon Power: How the Pardon System Works - and Why, discusses the origin and history of the presidential pardon and the danger its potential abuse poses to the future of democracy.

If you'd like to read more from Kim, check out her Substack at https://kimwehle.substack.com/

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2.A) John Adams and the modern presidency, an interview with Lindsay Chervinsky

Tue, 20 Aug 2024 00:00:00 -0700

Pandemics, political violence, partisans recognizable by the color of their hat - it may sound novel, but it's been with us practically since the beginning of the republic. Historian Lindsay Chervinsky, author of the new book Making the Presidency: John Adams and the Precedents That Forged the Republic, discusses the wildly volatile John Adams administration (1797-1801) and the lessons it offers as we face our own modern political moment.

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40.) Ronald Reagan 1981-1989

Mon, 05 Aug 2024 10:00:00 -0700

"Government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem," - Ronald Reagan's inaugural address, January 20, 1981.

For the first 50 years after the onset of the Great Depression and the election of Franklin Roosevelt, the United States had been led by politicians who believed government held the power to make life better for the American people. Then came Ronald Reagan, one of the most talented political orators in American history. Follow along as Reagan rises from the great depression to realize his dreams in Hollywood, then takes his talents into politics, where he upends a half-century of big-government consensus and pivots the United States toward a small-government future.

Bibliography
1. Ronald Reagan: The life – H.W. Brands
2. Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush – Jon Meacham
3. His Very Best: Jimmy Carter, a Life – Jonathan Alter
4. Gerald Ford – Douglas Brinkley
5. Richard Nixon, the life – John A. Farrell

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39.B) Jimmy Carter, Stagflation, & Paul Volcker, an interview with Jennifer Burns

Mon, 15 Jul 2024 00:00:00 -0700

When unemployment and inflation began to rise side by side in the 1970s, nobody knew what to do. Economic theory suggested it should have been impossible, and yet the numbers couldn't be denied. Stanford Historian Jennifer Burns, author of Milton Friedman: The Last Conservative, discusses how American presidents of the 70's tried and failed to curb stagflation, what led Carter to Paul Volcker, and how Volcker's medicine may have saved the economy, but doomed Carter's presidency in the process.

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BONUS! The Hail Mary Effect in Presidential Politics, an interview with William Silber

Mon, 01 Jul 2024 00:00:00 -0700

It's commonly accepted wisdom that presidents are less effective in their second terms, when the term limits of the 22nd amendment turn them into Lame Ducks who cannot be elected to office a third time.

But what if that common wisdom is wrong?

Former NYU economics professor William Silber, author of The Power of Nothing to Lose: The Hail Mary Effect in Politics, War and Business, argues that lame ducks only appear less effective because, with nothing left to lose, they pursue goals that are more ambitious and more difficult. And nothing-to-lose, gamble-it-all-on-the-win behavior can also be seen in presidential campaigns when candidates trail badly in the polls or fear a defeat will end their careers.

With two former presidents on the ballet this fall, Silber forecasts what to expect from the campaigns and potential administrations of the contendors.

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39.A) Jimmy Carter, the outsider, an interview with Jonathan Alter

Mon, 17 Jun 2024 00:00:00 -0700

When Jimmy Carter won the presidency, his Democratic party held a 61-37 majority in the Senate and a 292-143 majority in the House. Why then, with such a clear governing majority, were his relations with Congress so poor, and his agenda so challenged?

Jonathan Alter, a long-time journalist and author of numerous books on the presidency, including His Very Best: Jimmy Carter, a Life, discusses how Carter's outsider status and a healthy heaping of luck swept him to the presidency, but betrayed him in the White House.

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39.) Jimmy Carter 1977-1981

Mon, 03 Jun 2024 00:00:00 -0700

"The erosion of confidence in the future is threatening to destroy the social and political fabric of the nation," - Jimmy Carter, July 15, 1979

~~~

Jimmy Carter may have been the luckiest presidential candidate and unluckiest president in American history. Chasing the presidency after Watergate and the pardon of Nixon had crushed American faith in its leaders, Carter's outsider message was the right note at the right time. But once in office, a combination of economic headwinds and international disasters doomed his administration. From Plains, Georgia, to the White House and back, follow along as Carter navigates southern politics and national disenchantment to try and set the nation on a path for the future.

Bibliography
1. His Very Best: Jimmy Carter, a Life – Jonathan Alter
2. Gerald Ford – Douglas Brinkley
3. Ronald Reagan: The life – H.W. Brands
4. Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush – Jon Meacham
5. The Survivor: Bill Clinton in the White House – John F. Harris

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37.C) Nixon v The Supreme Court, an interview with Michael Bobelian

Mon, 20 May 2024 00:00:00 -0700

From 1953 to 1969, the Supreme Court was a vanguard of progressive change for the United States. But then came Tricky Dick.
Michael Bobelian, author of Battle For The Marble Palace: Abe Fortas, Lyndon Johnson, Earl Warren, Richard Nixon and the Forging of the Modern Supreme Court, discusses how presidential candidate Richard Nixon and senate conservatives blocked LBJ's efforts to cement a progressive court for years to come and, in 3 short years, transformed the once liberal bastion into a conservative bulwark, forever changing how justices are nominated and confirmed in the United States.

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38.A) Gerald Ford in the Maelstrom, an interview with Brooke Clement

Mon, 06 May 2024 00:00:00 -0700

A 24-year career in Congress crested at a tumultuous time for Gerald Ford. He was the GOP leader of the house during the Nixon administration, then Nixon's VP, then the president who had to heal the country after Watergate. Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and Museum director Brook Clement discusses the crucible Ford walked as a national leader.

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38.) Gerald Ford 1974-1977

Mon, 15 Apr 2024 13:00:00 -0700

"Our long national nightmare is over." - Gerald Ford, August 9, 1974

~~~

Gerald Ford is the only person in American history to reach the vice presidency and the presidency without being elected to either. Despite this, he was a popular president - for 1 month. But then he pardoned Nixon, and it was all downhill from there. Follow along as Ford rides his athletic gifts from Grand Rapids to The University of Michigan and eventually Yale, serves his country in World War 2, then embarks on a quest to become Speaker of the House, only to discover the presidency instead. Once there, he'll grapple with the legacy of Watergate, and a bedeviling rise in unemployment and inflation that threatened to send the country's economy over the cliff.

Bibliography
1. Gerald Ford – Douglas Brinkley
2. Richard Nixon: The Life – John Farrell
3. Ronald Reagan: The life – H.W. Brands
4. The Vietnam War – Ken Burns (documentary)
5. Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush – Jon Meacham
6. Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream – Doris Kearns Goodwin
7. Indomitable Will: LBJ in the Presidency – Mark K Updegrove
8. His Very Best: Jimmy Carter, a Life – Jonathan Alter

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37.B) The campaigns of Richard Nixon, an interview with John Farrell

Mon, 08 Apr 2024 11:00:00 -0700

It didn't take long for Richard Nixon to earn the nickname "Tricky Dick," but was he really any more tricky than the typical politician? You bet he was!

John Farrell, a long-time journalist and author of numerous books on political leaders, including Richard Nixon, The Life, discusses the many campaigns of Richard Nixon, from the red scare tactics that swept him to office, to the southern strategy that changed America's political map forever.

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37.A) Nixon's Domestic Agenda, an interview with Luke Nichter

Mon, 18 Mar 2024 10:00:00 -0700

Richard Nixon was sworn in as President with a Democratic House and Senate across Capitol Hill, which you might expect to lead to legislative impasse. Instead, it was one of the more prolific legislative stretches in American history, including such accomplishments as: Lowering the voting age, Title IX, creating the EPA, the Clean Air Act, abolishing the draft, and more. But were all of these laws passed because of Richard Nixon, or despite him? Historian Luke Nichter, a Chapman University professor who operates nixontapes.org, explores how Nixon and the Democratic Congress came together to pass so much meaningful change.

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37.) Richard Nixon 1969-1974

Mon, 04 Mar 2024 00:00:00 -0800

"People have got to know whether or not their President is a crook. Well, I'm not a crook." - Richard Nixon, November 17, 1973

~~~

Richard Nixon's life is a drama unlike any other. A desire to win at any cost earned him the name "Tricky Dick" and carried him from Whittier, California, to the Presidency of the United States, but it also proved his undoing. From Alger Hiss to Checkers, the Chenault Affair, "Nixon goes to China," and Watergate, we will dive into the remarkable rise and fall of the only American to resign the presidency, Richard Milhouse Nixon.

Bibliography
1. Richard Nixon: The Life – John Farrell
2. The Vietnam War – Ken Burns (documentary)
3. Gerald Ford – Douglas Brinkley
4. Eisenhower in War and Peace – Jean Edward Smith
5. Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush – Jon Meacham
6. An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy, 1917–1963 – Robert Dallek
7. Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream – Doris Kearns Goodwin
8. Indomitable Will: LBJ in the Presidency – Mark K Updegrove

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16.F.) How Lincoln changed American immigration, an interview with Harold Holzer

Mon, 19 Feb 2024 00:00:00 -0800

Migrating to the United States used to be as easy as buying a boat ticket. Getting settled was the hard part, and it became far more daunting when the United States was torn asunder by Civil War in 1861. As more and more northerners were conscripted into the Union Army, Lincoln realized a friendlier immigration policy might be the key to sustaining economic and military strength through the long years of war.

Harold Holzer, director of the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College in New York City and Chairman of the Lincoln Forum, discusses his new book Brought Forth on this Continent Abraham Lincoln and American Immigration, which delves into the role immigration played in killing the Whig party, building the republican party, and how Lincoln's views toward immigration changed during through his career and into the Civil War, when he attempted one of the first major overhauls of the American immigration system in U.S. history.

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36.B) LBJ's Great Society, an interview with Mark Updegrove

Mon, 12 Feb 2024 00:00:00 -0800

Lyndon Baines Johnson is one of the most legislatively accomplished presidents in American history - possibly the only president who actually did so much winning, people got tired of it. But how did he make legislating look so easy?

Mark Updegrove, president and CEO of the LBJ Foundation and author of 5 books on the presidency, including Indomitable Will: LBJ in the Presidency, discusses the impact and legacy of LBJ's Great Society.

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36.A) LBJ & Vietnam, an interview with Mark Lawrence

Mon, 15 Jan 2024 00:00:00 -0800

Few presidents have a darker mark on their resume that LBJ's handling of the Vietnam war. Though overwhelmingly popular at first, the war divided the nation and broke Johnson's political power just 4 years later.

How did the United States get into Vietnam? Why didn't LBJ see what the American people saw as public opinion turned against it? And what can we learn from Johnson's handling of the war in Vietnam?

Mark Lawrence, director of the LBJ Presidential Library & Museum in Austin and author of The End of Ambition: The United States and the Third World in the Vietnam Era, discusses the legacy of LBJ's leadership of the Vietnam War.

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36.) Lyndon Baines Johnson 1963-1969

Mon, 01 Jan 2024 00:00:00 -0800

"There is no Negro problem. There is no Southern problem. There is no Northern problem. There is only an American problem." - Lyndon Baines Johnson, March 9, 1965

~~~

Lyndon Baines Johnson was thrust into the presidency at a moment of tragedy - the public assassination of his predecessor. With the nation in panic, Congress in deadlock, and Civil Rights seemingly out of reach, the challenges were long, but Johnson used his mastery of the legislative process to overcome them. He may have gone down as one of the greats if not for the war that consumed his presidency, the war in Vietnam.

Bibliography
1. Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream – Doris Kearns Goodwin
2. The Years of Lyndon Johnson and the Passage of Power – Robert Caro
3. Indomitable Will: LBJ in the Presidency – Mark K Updegrove
4. The Vietnam War – Ken Burns (documentary)
5. An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy, 1917–1963 – Robert Dallek
6. Richard Nixon: The Life – John Farrell
7. Eisenhower in War and Peace – Jean Edward Smith
8. Gerald Ford – Douglas Brinkley

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35.C) JFK & The Press, an interview with Harold Holzer

Mon, 18 Dec 2023 00:00:00 -0800

JFK once joked, "the worst I do, the more popular I get." Historian Harold Holzer, director of the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College in New York City, Chairman of the Lincoln Forum, and author of The presidents vs. the Press: The endless battle between the white house and the media, from the founding fathers to Fake News, discusses how JFK used his mastery of the press to become one of the most enduringly popular presidents in U.S. history.

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35.B) Joe Kennedy Sr., The Patriarch, an interview with David Nasaw

Mon, 04 Dec 2023 00:00:00 -0800

Joe Kennedy Jr. used his intellect, connections, and more than a few shady stock market tricks to become one of the wealthiest men in America. Once there, he threw his vast fortune behind the political aspirations of his children, challenging them to do good in the world. But tragedy was always a step away. Within a year of Joe's crowning achievement, the presidential inauguration of his son, Jack, Joe was struck down by a stroke. He lived 8 more years, helplessly watching as two sons were felled by assassins bullets.

Historian David Nasaw, author of The Patriarch: The Remarkable Life and Turbulent Times of Joseph P. Kennedy, discusses the Shakespearean tragedy that is Joe Kennedy Sr.

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35.A) The Assassination of JFK, an interview with Stephen Fagin

Wed, 22 Nov 2023 00:00:00 -0800

60 years ago today, John F. Kennedy was assassinated while traveling through the streets of Dallas. Stephen Fagin, curator of The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza, takes us through the tragic day and discusses why Kennedy's assassination has attracted so much doubt and dreams of conspiracy.

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35.) John F. Kennedy 1961-1963

Mon, 20 Nov 2023 01:00:00 -0800

"Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country." - John F. Kennedy, January 20, 1961

~~~

John F. Kennedy presided over three of the most turbulent years of the Cold War. From the Bay of Pigs to the Cuban Missile Crisis and a coup in Vietnam, the stakes have rarely been higher. But how did he overcome youth and bigotry against his Catholic faith to reach the White House? Well, it helps when your daddy has money and you have charisma to spare.

Bibliography
1. An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy, 1917–1963 – Robert Dallek
2. Richard Nixon: The Life – John Farrell
3. Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream – Doris Kearns Goodwin
4. The Years of Lyndon Johnson and the Passage of Power – Robert Caro
5. Indomitable Will: LBJ in the Presidency – Mark K Updegrove
6. Eisenhower in War and Peace – Jean Edward Smith

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BONUS! 2023 Friendsgiving History Podcast Spectacular

Mon, 20 Nov 2023 00:00:00 -0800

Earlier this year, four podcasters got together to record the second annual Friendsgiving History Podcast Spectacular! Tune in as I'm joined by three fellow history podcasters and friends for a round table discussion on U.S. and presidential history. The other podcasters are:

Jerry Landry, Presidencies of the United States
Alycia, Civics & Coffee
Howard Dorre, Plodding through the Presidents

Happy Thanksgiving!

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34.C) Ike, the Last General, an interview with Bryan Gibby

Mon, 06 Nov 2023 00:00:00 -0800

Eisenhower is the last general to have become president. How did his time in the army influence his administration and what stamp did it leave on the presidency?

Bryan Gibby, the deputy head of West Point's history department, discusses how Ike's time at the academy, in the army, and during World War II shaped his leadership style and impacted his presidential administration

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34.C) Isolationism v internationalism, Ike & the election of 1952, an interview with Chris Nichols

Mon, 16 Oct 2023 00:00:00 -0700

As the election of 1952 approached, one thing seemed certain - a staunch isolationist, senator Robert Taft, was going to be the GOP's presidential nominee and the next president of the United States. Which was a major concern to anyone who feared the United States retreating back to its borders would invite Soviet conquest in the 50s just as it had invited Nazi conquest in the 30s. And so a plan was hatched to draft Eisenhower, the supreme commander of a fledgling NATO, to defeat Taft at home so the United States could defeat soviet influence abroad. The fate of the GOP, and the world, hung in the balance - would the later half of the 20th century be an isolationist one, or an international one?

Historian Christopher Nichols, who is currently working on a book about the 1952 election, discusses the pivotal race that set the stage for the rest of the Cold War.

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34.B) Ike & the Suez Crisis, an interview with Jim Newton

Mon, 02 Oct 2023 00:00:00 -0700

There are October Surprises, and there are October crisis. Just days before Americans went to the polls to vote for Ike's 1956 reelection, his allies France, England, and Israel launched a surprise October invasion of Egypt to capture the Suez Canal. With Cold War temperatures rising, Ike was faced with a high-stakes dilemma. Would he back his allies, or Egypt, for control of the all-important canal.

Veteran journalist Jim Newton, author of Eisenhower: The White House Years, discusses the crisis that reshaped the political world order.

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34.A) Ike v McCarthyism, an interview with Larry Tye

Mon, 18 Sep 2023 00:00:00 -0700

Dwight Eisenhower ascended to the presidency when the United States was in the grips of a red scare - a red scare fanned by Wisconsin Senator Joe McCarthy. As McCarthy exploited the public fear to steal the spotlight with hundreds of unfounded accusations of communist sympathies, Eisenhower, and three future presidents then in the Senate, had to grapple with the moral and societal threat of McCarthy to the republic, and what they were willing to do to stop him.

New York Times best-selling author Larry Tye, author of Demagogue: The life and long shadow of Senator Joe McCarthy, discusses the origins of the McCarthy era, its costs, and what it took to end it.

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34.) Dwight Eisenhower 1953-1961

Mon, 04 Sep 2023 00:00:00 -0700

"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed." - Dwight Eisenhower, April 16, 1953

~~~

Dwight Eisenhower was born to poverty, but rose to be the savior of Europe and preside over the perilous early years of the Cold War. Follow along as Ike punches a ticket to education and upward mobility at West Point, leads the allied armies of Europe to victory during World War II, and faces off with Soviets abroad and racists at home from the White House.

Bibliography
1. Eisenhower in War and Peace – Jean Edward Smith
2. Truman – David McCullough
3. FDR – Jean Edward Smith
4. Richard Nixon: The Life – John Farrell
5. An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy, 1917–1963 – Robert Dallek
6. Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream – Doris Kearns Goodwin

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33.D) The blinding of Sgt. Isaac Woodard and the awakening of Harry S. Truman, an interview with Judge Richard Gergel

Mon, 21 Aug 2023 00:00:00 -0700

As millions of Americans demobilized after World War II, some were welcomed home as heroes, but others were attacked by their neighbors. When a white South Carolina sheriff attacked a black sergeant, still in uniform, on his way home from the war, the resulting outrage inspired Harry Truman to risk his presidency for the cause of Civil Rights. Judge Richard Gergel, author of Unexampled Courage: The Blinding of Sgt. Isaac Woodard and the Awakening of President Harry S. Truman and Judge J. Waties Waring, discusses the attack and its impact on a nation and its conscience.

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33.C) Truman and the Pendergast Machine, an interview with Jon Taylor

Mon, 07 Aug 2023 00:00:00 -0700

Before he was president, and before he formed the Truman Committee, Harry Truman was known primarily for one thing: his connection to an infamous Kansas City political machine - the Pendergast Machine. But what was the Pendergast Machine? How did it work? What was it into? Historian Jon Taylor discusses Truman's connection to the infamous operation, and who was helping who in the relationship.

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33.B) Truman and the Bomb, an interview with D.M. Giangreco

Mon, 24 Jul 2023 00:00:00 -0700

"16 hours ago, an American airplane dropped one bomb on Hiroshima ... It is an atomic bomb. It is a harnessing of the basic power of the universe. The force from which the sun draws its power has been loosed against those who brought war to the Far East" - President Harry S. Truman, Aug. 6, 1945, in his announcement of the first atomic attack in world history

~~~

When Harry S. Truman unexpectedly became president on April 12, 1945, the United States was still in the midst of World War II - but there were plans to hasten its resolution. Secret plans. Atomic plans. In the following four months, the first atomic bombs would be tested in New Mexico and then dropped on the Empire of Japan. Historian D.M. Giangreco, author of the new book Truman and the Bomb: The Untold Story, discusses what Senator Truman knew about the bomb and when he knew it, the casualty forecasts that Truman weighed in his decision to drop the bomb, and whether dropping the bomb ended World War II.

~~~

“The full impact of the war comes more to me, I think, in some respects than it does to anyone in this country. The daily casualty lists are mine. They arrive in a constant stream, a swelling stream, and I can’t get away from them.” - Army Chief of Staff George C. Marshall, June, 1945

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33.A) The Truman Committee: An interview with Steve Drummond

Mon, 17 Jul 2023 00:00:00 -0700

"When people create delays for profit, when they sell poor products for defense use, when they cheat on price and quality, they aren't any different from a draft dodger and the public at large feels just the same way about it." - Senator Harry S. Truman, March 31, 1941

~~~

As American war industry roared to life in 1941, Senator Harry S. Truman began receiving letters from concerned constituents. Money was being wasted. Badly. And all over the place. Truman jumped in his car and travelled thousands of miles to investigate first-hand, then formed the senate investigatory committee that would bear his name - The Truman Committee. NPR executive producer Steve Drummond, author of The Watchdog: How the Truman Committee Battled Corruption and Helped Win World War Two, discusses the origin and impact of the Truman Committee, and some of the truly crazy schemes of corruption it unearthed for the American people.

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33.) Harry S Truman 1945-1953

Wed, 05 Jul 2023 00:00:00 -0700

"I don't know if you fellas ever had a load of hay fall on you, but when they told me what happened yesterday, I felt like the moon, the stars, and all the planets had fallen on me." - Harry S. Truman, April 13, 1945, the day after Franklin Roosevelt died and Truman was sworn in as president.

~~~

Harry S. Truman was a political late bloomer, first elected to the senate at age 50, and becoming vice president against his own wishes at age 60. That second role lasted just 82 days before president Franklin Roosevelt died and Truman inherited the final months of a world war, and the opening years of a cold war. Follow along as Truman, an uneducated farmer, World War I veteran, and failed businessman, rises to the presidency and grapples with the atomic bomb, global communist aggression, and a rogue general eager to start World War III.

Bibliography
1. Truman – David McCullough
2. FDR – Jean Edward Smith
3. Eisenhower in War and Peace – Jean Edward Smith

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Bonus! The Rough Rider and the Professor, an interview with Laurence Jurdem

Tue, 04 Jul 2023 00:00:00 -0700

"You are the only man whom in all my life I have met who has repeatedly and in every way done for me what I could not do for myself and nobody else would do." - New York Governor Theodore Roosevelt to Massachusetts Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, 1900

~~~

Theodore Roosevelt didn't reach the top of American politics without a little help from his friends, and no friend was more important than Massachusetts Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, a titan in his own right. Laurence Jurdem, author of The Rough Rider and the Professor (publication date: July 4, 2023), discusses how Roosevelt and Lodge propelled each other to the heights of American politics, and the battles they waged together and against each other once they got there.

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32.G.) Eleanor Roosevelt, an interview with David Michaelis

Mon, 19 Jun 2023 00:00:00 -0700

"A good leader inspires people to have confidence in the leader. A great leader inspires people to have confidence in themselves." - Eleanor Roosevelt

~~~

Eleanor Roosevelt is the most enduringly famous first lady in American history, and for good reason. She transformed what a first lady can be, criss-crossing the country to meet and listen to Americans in need and serve as their advocate in Washington D.C. But the woman we remember her as is not the woman she always was. David Michaelis, author of New York Times bestseller Eleanor discusses how Eleanor rose from a "Dickensian childhood" to become the champion of millions.

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32.F.) FDR & American Grand Strategy, an interview with Elizabeth Borgwardt and Christopher Nichols

Mon, 05 Jun 2023 00:00:00 -0700

"In the future days, which we seek to make secure, we look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms.
"The first is freedom of speech and expression ...
"The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way ...
"The third is freedom from want ...
"The fourth is freedom from fear." - Franklin Roosevelt, Jan. 6, 1941, State of the Union Address

~~~

When FDR entered office, he had one overriding concern - to get the United States of America out of the Great Depression. But as the years advanced, as the economy improved, and as war spread across Asia and Europe, Roosevelt began to turn his focus to the international situation and the world he hoped to forge. Christopher Nichols, the Wayne Woodrow Hayes Chair in National Security Studies and a Professor of History at Ohio State University, and Liz Borgwardt, a historian, lawyer, and author, discuss their new book, Rethinking American Grand Strategy, and the stamp FDR put on it.

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32.E.) FDR's policy of Japanese internment, an interview with Paul Sparrow

Mon, 15 May 2023 00:00:00 -0700

"By virtue of the authority vested in me as President of the United States ... I hereby authorize and direct the Secretary of War and the Military Commanders ... to prescribe military areas … from which any or all persons may be excluded," - Executive Order No. 9066, Feb. 12, 1942

~~~

Two months after Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an executive order permitting the military to remove anyone it wanted from designated "military areas." By this authority, 120,000 Japanese Americans were taken from their homes and put in military prison camps for the duration of the war. Historical consultant Paul Sparrow, a former Director of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum in Hyde Park, New York, discusses the arguments for and against this policy, why FDR implemented it, and what life was like for the tens of thousands of innocent civilians caught up in order 9066.

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32.D.) FDR's mastery of radio, the press, and persuasion, an interview with Harold Holzer

Mon, 01 May 2023 00:00:00 -0700

"The president wants to come into your home and sit at your fireside for a little fireside chat," - Robert Trout of CBS News, introducing one of FDR's radio speeches.

~~~

FDR is the longest-serving president in U.S. history, winning four consecutive terms. That doesn't happen without darn good PR. Historian Howard Holzer, director of the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College in New York City, Chairman of the Lincoln Forum, and author of The presidents vs. the Press: The endless battle between the white house and the media, from the founding fathers to Fake News , joins me to discuss how FDR mastered the media of his day to become the most persuasive president in U.S. history.

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32.C.) FDR, Traitor to his Class, an interview with H.W. Brands

Mon, 17 Apr 2023 00:00:00 -0700

"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little," - Franklin Roosevelt, Jan. 20, 1937.

~~~

FDR had one of the most privileged upbringings of any U.S. President. Why was he the one to enact the most radical social and economic reforms in U.S. history? Historian H.W. Brands discusses his Pulitzer Prize-finalist book, Traitor to His Class: The Privileged Life and Radical Presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and the roles uncle Teddy, Polio, and the Great Depression played in making FDR a champion of the downtrodden.

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32.B.) FDR's death & the history of presidential mourning, an interview with Lindsay Chervinsky & Matthew Costello

Mon, 03 Apr 2023 00:00:00 -0700

"Those who have long enjoyed such privileges as we enjoy forget in time that men have died to win them," - FDR on Bill of Rights Day, 1941.

~~~

Every president's death is mourned differently. What do those differences tell us about the evolving culture of our nation? Historians Lindsay Chervinsky and Matthew Costello join me to discuss their new book Mourning the Presidents: Loss and Legacy in American Culture, with a deeper dive on the death of FDR 82 days into the start of his fourth term. Did anyone know how sick he was? Did his health impact the change at VP? And how did his death impact the nation?

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32.A.) FDR and the New Deal, an interview with Eric Rauchway

Mon, 20 Mar 2023 00:00:00 -0700

"I pledge you, I pledge myself, to a new deal for the American people" - Franklin Delano Roosevelt, July 2, 1932, upon accepting the Democratic nomination for president

~~~

Did the New Deal get the United States out of the Great Depression? Or was it World War II? Just how successful was the New Deal anyway? Eric Rauchway, a distinguished professor of history at UC Davis and the author of Why the New Deal Matters, Winter War: Hoover, Roosevelt, and the First Clash Over the New Deal, and The Money Makers: How Roosevelt and Keynes Ended the Depression, Defeated Fascism, and Secured a Prosperous Peace, discusses the legacy of the New Deal and the impact it had in lifting the United States from the Great Depression.

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32.) Franklin Delano Roosevelt 1933-1945

Mon, 06 Mar 2023 00:00:00 -0800

"This generation of Americans has a rendezvous with destiny." - Franklin Roosevelt

~~~

When FDR was sworn in on March 4, 1933, the nation, and the world, were in dire straights. Nation's around the world had abandoned democracy for militaristic authoritarian solutions, and many Americans were tempted to join them. Radio priest Father Coughlin espoused an American fascism from the right, while Louisiana kingpin Huey Long flirted with a socialist form of dictatorial power on the left. As if to underscore the danger, a 32-year-old bricklayer attempted to assassinate Roosevelt a month before he was sworn in, narrowly missing in his attempt.

American democracy itself seemed to be in peril.

Follow along as FDR attempts to follow in the footsteps of his famous relative Theodore Roosevelt, learns humility and compassion from a bout of polio that left him paralyzed, reaches the presidency on a message of hope during the darkest days of the Great Depression, attempts to end the depression and save democracy with a transformative campaign of New Deal economic legislation, and then goes toe-to-toe with the evils of fascism in the greatest war in world history.

Bibliography
1. FDR – Jean Edward Smith
2. Hoover: An Extraordinary Life in Extraordinary Times - Kenneth Whyte
3. Truman – David McCullough
4. Eisenhower in War and Peace – Jean Edward Smith
5. An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy, 1917–1963 – Robert Dallek
6. Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream – Doris Kearns Goodwin
7. T.R. the last Romantic – H.R. Brands
8. The Moralist: Woodrow Wilson and the World He Made – Patricia O’Toole

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31.C) Herbert Hoover & the origins of The Great Depression, an interview with Robert McElvaine

Mon, 20 Feb 2023 00:00:00 -0800

"The fundamental business of the country, that is, production and distribution of commodities, is on a sound and prosperous basis," - Herbert Hoover, on the eve of the Great Depression, Oct. 25, 1929

What caused the Great Depression? Robert McElvaine, a professor of history at Millsaps College and the author of Down and Out in the Great Depression: Letters from the “Forgotten Man” and The Great Depression: America, 1929-1941, argues the very factors that made the 1920's roar were the instruments of its destruction - mass production, easy credit, and an ads industry that told Americas, 'spend away today, don't worry about tomorrow.'

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31.B) Herbert Hoover, the first businessman president, an interview with David Hamilton

Mon, 06 Feb 2023 08:00:00 -0800

"It simply comes to this: men hate me more after they work for me than before. They don't need think they are coming to a snap. They're coming to a perfect hell and I am the devil." - Herbert Hoover, 1897, written from the gold fields of Australia.

The United States had seen generals, publishers, history professors, and lawyers - oh so many lawyers - become president. But it had never had a businessman president before Herbert Hoover. David E. Hamilton, a history professor at the University of Kentucky, discusses how Hoover's background in business gave him the tools to handle some aspects of the presidency, but left him entirely unequipped to handle others.

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31.A.) The political evolution of Herbert Hoover, an interview with Thomas Schwartz

Mon, 16 Jan 2023 00:00:00 -0800

"My country owes me nothing. It gave me, as it gives every boy and girl, a chance. It gave me schooling, independence of action, opportunity for service and honor.” - Herbert Hoover

Herbert Hoover entered government a self-described progressive. But by the time the end of his life, his opposition to the New Deal had some calling him a father of modern conservativism. What's the truth of the matter? Join me as I talk to Thomas Schwartz, director of the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library-Museum, about the evolution of Herbert Hoover and whether he changed, or whether the country changed around him.

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31.) Herbert Hoover 1929-1933

Mon, 02 Jan 2023 00:00:00 -0800

"In America today, we are nearer a final triumph over poverty than is any other land." - Herbert Hoover.

~~~

Herbert Hoover made his fortune as a mining engineer, made his name as a humanitarian leader, and lost his reputation as a president. Nobody knew the great Depression was coming when they elected Hoover, but the great irony of his presidency is that, after savings millions of lives as a humanitarian during national and global emergencies, he's the first guy most Americans would have turned to if they had known it was coming. He went above and beyond what any previous president had dared try to combat a financial panic, but it wasn't enough.

Follow along as Hoover goes from being an orphan, to a member of Stanford's inaugural class, to the gold fields of Australia and China, and the boardrooms of Britain, only to shed his business identity for a 15-year career as a humanitarian from Belgium to the Mississippi, and ultimately win the White House, only for a series of economic calamities known as the Great Depression to destroy his administration and reputation. By the time Hoover leaves the White House, his name will be a synonym for homeless encampments.

Bibliography
1. Hoover: An Extraordinary Life in Extraordinary Times - Kenneth Whyte
2. FDR – Jean Edward Smith
3. Calvin Coolidge - David Greenberg
4. The Moralist: Woodrow Wilson and the World He Made – Patricia O’Toole
5. Warren G Harding – John W. Dean
6. Truman – David McCullough
7. The President and the Assassin: McKinley, Terror, and Empire at the Dawn of the American Century – Scott Miller
8. Eisenhower in War and Peace – Jean Edward Smith
9. William Howard Taft – Jeffrey Rosen

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30.A.) Calvin Coolidge turns PR into Presidential Relations, an interview with David Greenberg

Mon, 19 Dec 2022 00:00:00 -0800

History remembers Calvin Coolidge as "Silent Cal," but the notoriously quiet president was also an early adopter of emerging forms of mass media, such as radio and motion picture.

Join me as I talk to historian David Greenberg, author of Calvin Coolidge and Republic of Spin: An Inside History of the American Presidency, about how Coolidge quietly became one of the more effective image manipulators of the early 20th century.

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30.) Calvin Coolidge 1923-1929

Mon, 05 Dec 2022 00:00:00 -0800

"The business of America is business." - Calvin Coolidge.

~~~

Calvin Coolidge had a saying: When you see 10 problems coming down the road, nine will probably go into the ditch on their own. Translation? Don't do anything. But what happens when the one problem that doesn't go into the ditch is the Great Depression?

Follow along as Coolidge works his way up the government food chain to VP, becomes president when Harding dies, introduces new tools like radio and motion picture to the presidential PR kit, enjoys one of the most fortuitous presidencies in U.S. history, and then leaves office just in time for the Great Depression to smack Herbert Hoover in the face instead of Cal.

Bibliography
1. Calvin Coolidge - David Greenberg
2. Warren G Harding – John W. Dean
3. Hoover: An Extraordinary Life in Extraordinary Times - Kenneth Whyte

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History Podcast Friendsgiving Spectacular

Mon, 21 Nov 2022 00:00:00 -0800

On a late summer day in September, four podcasters got together to record the first ever History Podcast Friendsgiving Spectacular! Tune in as three respected podcasters join me for a round table discussion of American and presidential history. The other podcasters are:

Jerry Landry, Presidencies of the United States
Alycia, Civics & Coffee
Howard Dorre, Plodding through the Presidents

If you enjoy the format, let us know and we'll look for more collaborative opportunities in the future.

Happy Thanksgiving!

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29.A.) Warren Harding's affairs & legacy, an interview with James Robenalt

Mon, 07 Nov 2022 00:00:00 -0800

Politicians having affairs is nothing new in the history of the world. But what happens when they're sleeping with an enemy spy?

Join me as I talk to author and lawyer James Robenalt, author of The Harding Affair: Love and Espionage During the Great War, about Warren Harding's 15-year affair with Carrie Fulton Phillips, who became an Imperial German spy during World War I; whether we should be concerned about politicians having affairs; and whether Harding deserves a better shake than history has given him.

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29.) Warren Harding 1921-1923

Mon, 17 Oct 2022 00:00:00 -0700

First, Warren G Harding was a beloved president.
Then, he became synonymous with government corruption.
But today, we know him for his sex scandals - scandals that took more than 90 years to fully come to light.

Follow along as Harding jumps from the newspaper business to politics, sleeps with a potential german spy, fathers a child out of wedlock with another mistress, wins the presidency at a time of great national turmoil, presides over two of the largest corruption scandals in American history, dies in office, and somehow leaves behind a nation that's in much better shape than how he found it. It's the start of the roaring 20s! This is going to be fun.

Bibliography
1. Warren G Harding – John W. Dean
2. Calvin Coolidge - David Greenberg
3. The Moralist: Woodrow Wilson and the World He Made – Patricia O’Toole
4. William Howard Taft – Jeffrey Rosen
5. Hoover: An Extraordinary Life in Extraordinary Times - Kenneth Whyte
6. T.R. the last Romantic – H.R. Brands

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APH Mailbag Episode!

Mon, 03 Oct 2022 00:00:00 -0700

"Who was the biggest presidential bust?"

"Do any of our presidents have an unvarnished legacy on race?"

"Which 19th century president would fail under the media scrutiny of today?"

You've all been submitting some great questions this summer and today I take some time to answer them. Thank you everyone who participated. Enjoy the show!

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28.E.) Wilson's Wives, an interview with Paul Brandus

Mon, 19 Sep 2022 00:00:00 -0700

Woodrow Wilson's wives had a tremendous impact on his presidency. His first wife, Ellen Axson Wilson, died the week World War I broke out in Europe, leaving the president so depressed at a moment of crisis that he told aids he wished someone would shoot him. Less than a year later, he was over it, and instead obsessed with his courtship of Edith Bolling Galt, sometimes writing her three letters a day. When a stroke crippled Wilson in the final years of his presidency, it was Edith who cared for him and maintained the illusion that he was still healthy enough for the office - leading some to dub her the first female president.

Join me as I talk with White House correspondent Paul Brandus (@WestWingReports on Twitter), author of several books on the presidency and first ladies, about the relationships and influence of Wilson's Wives.

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28.D.) Woodrow Wilson, WW1, and the new world order; an interview with Thomas Knock

Mon, 05 Sep 2022 00:00:00 -0700

For the first 128 years of American history, the United States followed the parting advice of its first president, George Washington, to stay out of European wars.

That all changed with Woodrow Wilson.

Wilson wielded the power of rhetoric to change not just the country's course, but the way Americans thought of themselves - They had a destiny to make the world safe for democracy. But even as Americans embarked on this quest, the ideals Wilson gave life to began to flicker and dim as he succeeded in winning the war, but failed to win the peace.

Join me as I talk with Thomas Knock, who is both the chair of the department of history at SMU and a Distinguished Fellow at the Center for Presidential History at SMU, as well as the author of To End All Wars: Woodrow Wilson and the Quest for a New World Order, about Wilson, World War 1, and the quest for a new world order.

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28.C.) Woodrow Wilson's legacy on race; an interview with Eric S. Yellin

Mon, 15 Aug 2022 00:00:00 -0700

No 20th century president did more to set back racial equality in the United States than Woodrow Wilson. His administration introduced a silent policy of segregating the federal government, and when he finally spoke out about it, he gave weight to a philosophy that was used to rationalize continued segregation for decades more.

Join me as I talk with Eric S. Yellin, an associate professor of History and American Studies at the University of Richmond and author of Racism in the Nation’s Service: Government Workers and the Color Line in Woodrow Wilson's America, about the racist legacy of Woodrow Wilson.

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28.B.) Woodrow Wilson's progressive legacy; an interview with John Milton Cooper

Mon, 01 Aug 2022 00:00:00 -0700

Woodrow Wilson is one of the most legislatively accomplished progressive presidents in American history. His list of achievements ranges from the first progressive income tax to the creation of the Federal Reserve, an inheritance tax, a child labor law, and more. But a list doesn't do justice to the effort it took to get these laws passed or the impact they had on the Americans' lives.

Join me as I talk with John Milton Cooper, a professor emeritus at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and author of Pulitzer Prize-finalist Woodrow Wilson, a Biography, about the progressive legacy of Woodrow Wilson.

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28.A.) Woodrow Wilson & the Spanish flu pandemic; an interview with John Barry

Mon, 18 Jul 2022 00:00:00 -0700

The Spanish flu of 1918 wasn't from Spain and it didn't start or end with 1918. It lasted for years, killed millions around the world, and it infected President Woodrow Wilson himself, right as he was negotiating the treaty that would end World War I. The costs of that infection may have been the values and world order he'd taken the United States into the war to achieve.

Join me as I talk with John Barry, Distinguished Scholar at the Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine and author of The Great Influenza: the story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History, about Woodrow Wilson and the Great Influenza of 1918.

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28.) Woodrow Wilson 1913-1921

Mon, 04 Jul 2022 00:00:00 -0700

Woodrow Wilson was once regarded as one of the great progressive presidents of the 20th century. Then historians took another look at his record on race. Today, he's a bit of a mixed bag. But one thing you can't argue is the years he was president changed the world.

Follow along as Wilson gives up on politics to become an academic, only to unexpectedly rise from Princeton president to New Jersey Governor to American President in two short years! Wilson's presidency will witness a raft of progressive change, a reactive retreat on racial progress, and a little thing called World War I. Buckle up. It's a wild ride.

Bibliography
1. The Moralist: Woodrow Wilson and the World He Made – Patricia O’Toole
2. William Howard Taft – Jeffrey Rosen
3. T.R. the last Romantic – H.R. Brands
4. Warren G Harding – John W. Dean
5. FDR - Jean Edward Smith
6. Truman - David McCullough

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27.B.) William Howard Taft, the presidential Chief Justice; an interview with Kevin Burns

Mon, 20 Jun 2022 00:00:00 -0700

William Howard Taft is the only American in history to serve as both president of the United States and chief justice of the Supreme Court. But how did his experience as president shape his leadership as chief justice? What role did it play in his nomination process, and how good of a chief justice was he, anyway?

Join me as I talk with Kevin Burns, an assistant professor of political science and economics at Christendom College and author of William Howard Taft’s Constitutional Progressivism, about the judicial impact and legacy of William Howard Taft.

PS: I'll be speaking at the 2022 Intelligent Speech conference on Saturday, June 25. Tickets can be purchased at the link below. Use the code "abridged" to save 10%.

https://www.intelligentspeechconference.com/

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27.A.) The rise and presidency of William Howard Taft; an interview with Peri Arnold

Mon, 06 Jun 2022 00:00:00 -0700

To hear William Howard Taft tell it, all he ever wanted to do is be a federal judge. But people don't just accidentally become president.

Join me as I talk with Peri Arnold, a professor Emeritus in the Department of Political Science at the University of Notre Dame, a consultant to New York Times in Education, and author of several books, including Remaking the Presidency: Roosevelt, Taft, and Wilson; about the role ambition, luck, and family played in Taft's rise to the nation's highest office.

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27.) William Howard Taft 1909-1913

Mon, 16 May 2022 00:00:00 -0700

In 1908, Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft were such great friends, TR personally campaigned for Taft to succeed him to the presidency. Four years later, that relationship was so irrevocably damaged that TR split the GOP in half to deny Taft's reelection.

There's no way around, Taft's presidency was made by Roosevelt, and then it was unmade by Roosevelt. But there's far more to Taft's legacy than just his four years in the White House.

Follow along as Taft pursues a career in the judiciary, gets dragged into politics by President William McKinley, is tasked with rebuilding the Philippines in the midst of a bloody and horrific insurgency, gets put in the White House by his bff Theodore Roosevelt, gets kicked out of the White House by his former bff Theodore Roosevelt, and then becomes the only person in U.S. history to serve as both president of the United States and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

Bibliography
1. William Howard Taft – Jeffrey Rosen
2. T.R. the last Romantic – H.R. Brands
3. The Moralist: Woodrow Wilson and the World He Made – Patricia O’Toole
4. The President and the Assassin: McKinley, Terror, and Empire at the Dawn of the American Century – Scott Miller
5. Warren G Harding – John W. Dean

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26.E.) Theodore Roosevelt's post-presidential quest for death and glory; an interview with David Pietrusza

Mon, 02 May 2022 00:00:00 -0700

Theodore Roosevelt is the youngest American to become president. He's also the youngest American to become a former president, which means the hyper-energetic TR had plenty of time to do whatever he wanted with the rest of his life. In Roosevelt's case, that meant going on a bunch of suicidally dangerous adventures in search of death or glory.

Join me as I interview presidential historian David Pietrusza, author of TR's Last War: Theodore Roosevelt, the Great War, and a Journey of Triumph and Tragedy, to discuss Roosevelt's African safari, near-miss assassination attempt, near-death experience exploring the amazon, and his multiple attempts to get deployed to the battlefields of World War 1.

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26.D.) Teddy Roosevelt, his cabinet, and a doomed bromance with William Howard Taft; an interview with Lindsay Chervinsky

Mon, 18 Apr 2022 00:00:00 -0700

When Theodore Roosevelt was sworn in to replace the assassinated William McKinley, he was well aware that almost every previous accidental president had been a failure, and none had won reelection.

He had a plan to buck the trend, and it started with winning over McKinley's cabinet.

Join me as I interview presidential scholar Lindsay M. Chervinsky, author of The Cabinet: George Washington and the Creation of an American Institution, and cohost of the SMU Center for Presidential History podcast The Past, The Promise, The Presidency , in a conversation about Roosevelt, the cabinet, and his doomed bromance with Secretary of War and presidential successor William Howard Taft.

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26.C.) Teddy Roosevelt, the press, and the bully pulpit; an interview with Harold Holzer

Mon, 04 Apr 2022 00:00:00 -0700

When you hear the name Theodore Roosevelt, a face, personality, and image all pop into mind - Just the way Roosevelt wanted. Presidents have always dealt with and nurtured the press, but Teddy was a quantum leap forward in presidential PR, and he used the media to advance his career, his policies, and to create an image of himself that has lasted 100 years.

Join me as I interview Harold Holzer, director of the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College in New York City, Chairman of the Lincoln Forum, and author of The presidents vs. the Press: The endless battle between the white house and the media, from the founding fathers to Fake News on how Roosevelt mastered the media and built the bully pulpit.

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26.B.) How NY made TR, an interview with Ted Kohn

Mon, 21 Mar 2022 00:00:00 -0700

Theodore Roosevelt is one of the biggest personalities to ever inhabit the presidency, so of course he was born in New York City. Roosevelt was heir to one of the city's oldest families and a civil servant at nearly every level - state assemblyman, police commissioner, and governor of the Empire State.

Join me as I talk with Ted Kohn, the Dean of the College of Liberal Arts at Norwich University and author of Heir to the Empire City: New York and the Making of Theodore Roosevelt, on how Roosevelt's years in New York shaped him into the President we know.

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26.A.) The progressivism of Theodore Roosevelt, an interview with Alycia of Civics and Coffee Pod

Mon, 07 Mar 2022 00:00:00 -0800

Born with a silver spoon in his mouth, Theodore Roosevelt is one of the most unlikely champions of progressive reform. Yet there he is, ushering in the American progressive era, promising a "square deal" to all.

Join me as I talk with Alycia, host of the excellent Civics and Coffee podcast, about the origins and impact of TR's environment, economic, and civil service progressivism. How does one of the most privileged presidents in American history become its first champion of labor and the common man?

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26.) Theodore Roosevelt 1901-1909

Mon, 21 Feb 2022 00:00:00 -0800

In 1898, Theodore Roosevelt was a pencil-pushing desk jockey with no clear political future. Six months later, he was the war-hero governor-elect of New York and well on his way to the presidential ticket. How'd he do it?

Follow along as Roosevelt pushes the nation toward war with Spain, quits the safety of his Washington desk job to fight in Cuba, comes home a war hero with a bright political future, rises to the white house, then father's the modern progressive movement and overcomes treaties, disease, jungles, and international intrigue to build the Panama Canal.

Bibliography
1. T.R. the last Romantic – H.R. Brands
2. The President and the Assassin: McKinley, Terror, and Empire at the Dawn of the American Century – Scott Miller
3. William Howard Taft – Jeffrey Rosen
4. The Moralist: Woodrow Wilson and the World He Made – Patricia O’Toole
5. Grover Cleveland – Henry F. Graff
6. Rutherford B. Hayes – Hans. L. Trefousse
7. The Unexpected President: The Life and Times of Chester A. Arthur – Scott S. Greenberger

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25.B.) William McKinley's American Empire, an interview with Robert Merry

Mon, 07 Feb 2022 00:00:00 -0800

How did a country founded by anti-imperial revolutionaries come to own an empire of its own? The answer starts with William McKinley, whose administration exploded onto the international stage by carrying the American flag to Cuba, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Guam, Hawaii, and China.

Join me as I talk with Robert Merry, a 40-year veteran of Washington journalism and author of five books, including President McKinley: Architect of the American Century, about the arguments for and against McKinley's international actions and the legacy those decisions left behind.

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25.A.) How William McKinley revolutionized politics, an interview with Christopher McKnight Nichols

Mon, 17 Jan 2022 00:00:00 -0800

When William McKinley ran for president in 1896, he out-raised his opponent 7-to-1, printed more campaign literature than all previous GOP presidential candidates combined, and organized what is often called the first modern presidential campaign. How'd he do it?

Join me as I talk with professor Christopher McKnight Nichols, director of the Oregon State University Center for the Humanities; an expert on the Gilded Age, Progressive Era, World War I, and the 1918 flu pandemic; and author of Promise and Peril, America at the Dawn of the global age, to discuss what made McKinley's 1896 campaign such a game changer and how he pulled it off.

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25.) William McKinley 1897-1901

Mon, 03 Jan 2022 00:00:00 -0800

Once upon a time, the United States stuck to its shores and big business largely stayed out of politics.

Then came William McKinley.

William McKinley took the United States international in a big way, carrying the American flag to Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and China; he revolutionized political campaigning by leveraging the power of big business against a progressive populist threat and building a national campaign that was a quantum leap forward in political organization; and he crafted a international Chinese policy that is a big part of the reason we still have a China on the map, and not some carved up mess of former European colonies like we have in the Middle East, Africa, and the Americas.

Follow along as McKinley serves in the Civil War, enters politics, becomes a champion of big business, rewrites the political playbook in a successful campaign for the presidency, and dives head-first into the modern era of American overseas imperialism, only for his life to be cut short by an assassin driven by the one looming problem McKinley had not solved - the rampant economic inequality of the Gilded Age.

Bibliography
1. The President and the Assassin: McKinley, Terror, and Empire at the Dawn of the American Century – Scott Miller
2. T.R. the last Romantic – H.R. Brands
3. Grover Cleveland – Henry F. Graff
4. Benjamin Harrison – Charles W. Calhoun
5. William Howard Taft – Jeffrey Rosen

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24.B.) The lies and secrets of Grover Cleveland, an interview with Matthew Algeo

Mon, 27 Dec 2021 00:00:00 -0800

What was Grover Cleveland hiding in 1893? When the famously honest president was diagnosed with mouth cancer, he decided to keep it from the public at all costs - even if that meant hatching a hair-brained scheme to surgically remove the tumor on a yacht at sea.

Join me as I talk with award-winning journalist and author Matthew Algeo, author of All This Marvelous Potential: Robert Kennedy’s 1968 Tour of Appalachia; Harry Truman’s Excellent Adventure: The True Story of a Great American Road Trip; and The President Is a Sick Man: Wherein the Supposedly Virtuous Grover Cleveland Survives a Secret Surgery at Sea and Vilifies the Courageous Newspaperman Who Dared Expose the Truth, to discuss how far Cleveland was willing to go to take his secret to the grave.

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24.A.) Grover Cleveland's reelection revenge, an interview with Mark Summers

Mon, 20 Dec 2021 00:00:00 -0800

In 1892, the rich were getting richer, the poor were getting poorer, and a former president decided to run again against the rival who had defeated him. How similar is the Gilded Age to our modern political and economic moment?

Join me as I talk with University Kentucky professor Mark Summers, a historian of the Gilded Age and author of numerous books, including The Era of Good Stealings; The Gilded Age; and Rum, Romanism, and Rebellion: The Making of a President, 1884, to discuss how Grover Cleveland won his revenge campaign against Benjamin Harrison and whether we currently live in another Gilded Age.

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24.) Grover Cleveland part II 1893-1897

Mon, 13 Dec 2021 00:00:00 -0800

On the final day of Grover Cleveland's first term in office, his wife turned to a member of the white house staff and said. "I want you to take good care of all the furniture and ornaments in the house, for I want everything just as it is now when we come back again. We are coming back. Just four years from today."

Four years later, she was right.

Follow along as Cleveland graciously accepts defeat in 1888 only to become convinced he must run again, wins the white house, and them stumbles into one of the greatest economic depressions of the 19th century. By the time he leaves office, the party will be done with him and his brand of small-government politics forever.

Bibliography
1. Grover Cleveland – Henry F. Graff
2. Benjamin Harrison – Charles W. Calhoun
3. The President and the Assassin: McKinley, Terror, and Empire at the Dawn of the American Century – Scott Miller
4. T.R. the last Romantic – H.R. Brands
5. The Moralist: Woodrow Wilson and the World He Made – Patricia O’Toole

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23.B.) What is legacy, anyway? An interview on Benjamin Harrison with Charles Hyde

Mon, 06 Dec 2021 00:00:00 -0800

Benjamin Harrison presidential accomplishments range from obtaining America's first overseas possession to signing an anti-trust bill that is still the law of the land, but he's hardly known today. Why?

Join me as I talk with Charles Hyde, the President and CEO of the Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site in Indianapolis, Indiana, on why Benjamin Harrison should be better known and what we should remember him for.

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23.A.) How Benjamin Harrison won his way to defeat, an interview with Charles Calhoun

Mon, 29 Nov 2021 00:00:00 -0800

Is it possible to win your way to defeat? Benjamin Harrison and the 51st Congress might say so. After passing almost all the legislation they had campaigned on in 1889, American voters dealt them crippling defeats in 1891 and 1893. What went wrong?

Join me as I interview Charles Calhoun, a retired distinguished professor of History at East Carolina University, a past president of the Society for Historians of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era, and the author of Benjamin Harrison, on how Benjamin Harrison and the Republican Party won their way to defeat.

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23.) Benjamin Harrison 1889-1893

Mon, 22 Nov 2021 00:00:00 -0800

When it comes to politicians, promises made + promises kept is supposed to = reelection, right? For Benjamin Harrison and the 51st GOP Congress, this common sense equation failed in a major way. After passing more legislation than almost any Congress in U.S. history, Harrison and the GOP majority were sent packing in one of the most lopsided congressional wipeouts ever. Why?

Follow along as Harrison serves in the Civil War, enters politics, wins the White House, and passes a raft of major legislation - some of which we still live under today - only for the voters to reward him by punching his pink slip. Oh, and he'll acquire the country's first overseas territory, too. Imperialism, here we come!

Bibliography
1. Benjamin Harrison – Charles W. Calhoun
2. Grover Cleveland – Henry F. Graff
3. The President and the Assassin: McKinley, Terror, and Empire at the Dawn of the American Century – Scott Miller
4. T.R. the last Romantic – H.R. Brands

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22.A.) Mugwumps, scandals, and the stunning campaign of 1884, an interview with Ted Kohn

Mon, 15 Nov 2021 00:00:00 -0800

How do you break a 28-year losing streak? It takes good strategy, a bit of luck, and sometimes whatever the heck a mugwump is.

Join me as I interview Ted Kohn, the Dean of the College of Liberal Arts at Norwich University and a historian of the Gilded Age in American History, on how the Democrats ended an era of Republican rule.

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22.) Grover Cleveland part I 1885-1889

Mon, 08 Nov 2021 00:00:00 -0800

What do you do when your party hasn't won a presidential election in 28 years? You find an outsider and roll the dice. Grover Cleveland's political career was less than three years old when the Democratic party nominated him for president in 1884, but that guaranteed a candidate with a clean record - or so they thought. Get ready for a sex scandal that will have Republicans famously taunting, "Ma, Ma, where's my Pa?" and ultimately victorious Democrats rejoining, "Gone to the White House, ha, ha, ha!"

Follow along as Cleveland buys his way out of serving in the civil war, jumps into law in politics, and rockets from Buffalo Mayor, to New York Governor, to U.S. President in three short years. He'll lose reelection in 1888, but don't worry, we'll see him again four years later.

Bibliography
1. Grover Cleveland – Henry F. Graff
2. Benjamin Harrison – Charles W. Calhoun
3. The President and the Assassin: McKinley, Terror, and Empire at the Dawn of the American Century – Scott Miller
4. T.R. the last Romantic – H.R. Brands

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21.A.) The Life and Times of Chester A. Arthur, an interview with Scott Greenberger

Mon, 01 Nov 2021 00:00:00 -0700

Chester A. Arthur is a 19th-century American politics version of Breaking Bad mashed with Darth Vader's redemption story.

Ok. There's no meth or space sorcery. But there is a seemingly noble man who jettisons his values when they get in the way of making a buck. (Ok, a LOT of bucks). And then, after a lifetime of proving himself a good-for-nothing scoundrel, he turns into a redemption story when thrust into the presidency with the future of the nation on the line.

Join me as I interview Scott Greenberger, executive editor of Stateline, the daily news service of the Pew Charitable Trusts, and author of The Unexpected President: The Life and Times of Chester A. Arthur, on why Arthur fell from grace, and the factors that inspired his redemption at a time when the entire country had given up on him.

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21.) Chester A. Arthur 1881-1885

Mon, 25 Oct 2021 00:00:00 -0700

Chester A. Arthur is the most corrupt politician to ever become president. For years, he made a fortune making sure enough money disappeared from the New York City customs house to keep his patron in power. When a backroom deal made him vice president and an assassin's bullet ended James Garfield's presidency and began Arthur's, the nation despaired. But then he got an unexpected letter. One woman - a woman he'd never met - believed he was capable of change. Could Arthur complete the most unexpected transformation in presidential history? Or was American democracy about to be sold to the highest bidder?

Follow along as Arthur goes from inspiring Civil Rights lawyer to not-so-inspiring corrupt political crony, to Vice President, to the White House and ponder the age old question - can people change?

Bibliography
1. The Unexpected President: The Life and Times of Chester A. Arthur – Scott S. Greenberger
2. Destiny of the Republic – Candice Millard
3. Rutherford B. Hayes – Hans. L. Trefousse
4. Grover Cleveland – Henry F. Graff
5. T.R. the last Romantic – H.R. Brands

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44.A) The Black President, an interview on Barack Obama with Claude A. Clegg

Mon, 18 Oct 2021 00:00:00 -0700

It's Obama time! We are skipping ahead in the narrative to talk with UNC professor Claude A. Clegg, author of the recently published book The Black President: Hope and Fury in the Age of Obama, about the Obama administration, race, and the challenges and opportunities that come with writing contemporary history.

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20.A.) Garfield and the Gilded Age, an interview with Todd Arrington

Mon, 06 Sep 2021 00:00:00 -0700

James Garfield has been called, "The best president we never had." What did we lose when he was assassinated? A champion for the abandoned freedmen? A guiding light in an age of corruption? Or just another politician, same as the rest?

Join me as I interview to Todd Arrington, a historian and site manager at the James A. Garfield National Historic Site in Mentor, Ohio, and author of The Last Lincoln Republican: The Presidential Election of 1880 , on what the nation lost when Garfield was assassinated and how the Republican Party was evolving in the final decades of the 19th century.

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20.) James A. Garfield 1881-1881

Wed, 01 Sep 2021 00:00:00 -0700

James Garfield didn't want to be president, but the 1880 Republican Convention nominated him against his will. And do you know what thanks he got for it? Assassinated within six months. But Garfield has a lot to teach us in his fascinating rags-to-riches life and the fierce political battles he waged during his short term in office for, in just a few months, he accomplished what his predecessor could not - the defeat of Lord Roscoe's corrupt New York political machine

Follow along as Garfield goes from school janitor to school president, civil war soldier to Congressman, and a guy in the crowd at the 1880 GOP convention to 20th president of the United States. And learn why his assassin's lone defense in court was, "The doctors killed Garfield, I just shot him."

Bibliography
1. Destiny of the Republic – Candice Millard
2. Rutherford B. Hayes – Hans. L. Trefousse
3. The Unexpected President: The Life and Times of Chester A. Arthur – Scott S. Greenberger

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19.A.) Hayes' evolving views on slavery, an interview with Dustin McLochlin

Mon, 09 Aug 2021 00:00:00 -0700

Rutherford B. Hayes is known to history as the President who ended Reconstruction, but is that a fair monicker? What did Hayes think of slavery, the freedmen, and Reconstruction, anyway?

Join me as I interview to Dustin McLochlin, a historian at the Rutherford B Hayes Presidential Library and Museums in Fremont, Ohio, on Hayes' evolving views on slavery and how to best protect the former slaves, and bring peace, after the Civil War set them free.

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19.) Rutherford B Hayes 1877-1881

Mon, 02 Aug 2021 00:00:00 -0700

How do you lead a nation when half the country thinks you were fraudulently elected? I'm not talking about 2021, I'm talking about 1877, when Rutherford B Hayes emerged the winner of an election that was so vigorously contested, he wasn't even officially declared the winner until two days before inauguration day. But what did Hayes win? A nation that didn't fully accept him, and a party so rife with corruption that the longest daggers were in his fellow Republicans' pockets.

Follow along as Hayes fights in the Civil War, becomes governor of Ohio, wins the craziest election in American history, and then faces down corrupt bosses within his own party and a violent crescendo of labor unrest triggered by the rampant inequalities of the industrial revolution.

Bibliography
1. Rutherford B. Hayes – Hans. L. Trefousse
2. Rutherford B. Hayes: Warrior & President - Ari Hoogenboom
3. Grant – Jean Edward Smith
4. T.R. the last Romantic – H.R. Brands
5. The Unexpected President: The Life and Times of Chester A. Arthur – Scott S. Greenberger
6. Destiny of the Republic – Candice Miller

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18.C.) Grant, Lincoln, and Reconstruction, an interview with Ron White

Mon, 19 Jul 2021 00:00:00 -0700

President Lincoln and General Grant formed one of the most successful president-general partnerships in American history, winning the Civil War and defeating the Confederacy. But before that partnership could turn to the challenge of reconstruction, Lincoln was assassinated, leaving the nation in the incapable hands of Andrew Johnson. Four years later, Grant was elected to pick up where Lincoln and left off and finish Lincoln's mission of healing the divided nation, and he'd lean on everything he'd learned from his late friend to attempt it.

Join me as I interview to Ron White, a New York Times best-selling author of presidential biographies, including his recently published Lincoln in Private, and American Ulysses: A life of Ulysses S. Grant, on the impactful friendship between Lincoln and Grant, and Grant's efforts honor Lincoln's legacy by rebuilding a better nation through reconstruction.

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18.B.) The evolving myth and reputation of Ulysses S. Grant, an interview with Joan Waugh

Mon, 12 Jul 2021 00:00:00 -0700

Ulysses S. Grant's reputation has been through a lot. While he was still alive, he was very nearly our first three-term president; after he died, the Myth of the Lost Cause repainted him as a drunk and corrupt butcher; in the past 30 years, he's started to become a Civil Rights Icon as historians gave him a long overdue second look. Join me as I interview to Joan Waugh, UCLA professor of 19th-century America who specializes in the Civil War, Reconstruction, and the Gilded Age, and the author of U.S. Grant, American Hero, American Myth on why Grant's reputation has changed so much, and what's still misunderstood about our 18th president.

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18.A.) The moments that shaped Ulysses S. Grant, an interview with Nick Sacco

Sun, 04 Jul 2021 00:00:00 -0700

Ulysses S. Grant led an Odyssey of a life. From the battlefields of the Mexican-American War, to the get-rich-quick frontier of the California Gold Rush, to years of poverty in St. Louis, Grant was shaped by a dizzying array of diverse experiences. Join me as I interview Nick Sacco, a park ranger at Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site in St. Louis and an author for The Journal of the Civil War Era, on the experiences that prepared Grant to win the Civil War and lead the nation through Reconstruction as our 18th President.

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18.) Ulysses S. Grant 1869-1877

Thu, 01 Jul 2021 00:00:00 -0700

They say history is written by the victor. Ulysses S Grant may beg to differ. For nearly 100 years, Grant was derided as an inept and corrupt drunk who won the Civil War by recklessly sacrificing the lives of his men and who floundered in a presidency rife with corruption.

In the past 30 years, that verdict has changed.

Follow along as Grant goes from Mexican-American war veteran to failed businessman, victorious union general, and eventually president of the United States. Along the way, he'll go nearly undefeated as a general, lead the fight against the Ku Klux Klan during reconstruction, revamp the country's native American policy, bring permanent amity to its relations with Great Britain, and, yes, oversee an administration rife with corruption. But as I think we'll see, the corruption is more of a footnote than a full-length feature.

Bibliography:
1. Grant – Jean Edward Smith
2. Andrew Johnson – Annette Gordon-Reed
3. Abraham Lincoln – David Herbert Donald
4. The Complete Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant – Ulysses S. Grant
5. Embattled Rebel – James M. McPherson
6. Rutherford B. Hayes – Hans. L. Trefousse
7. Destiny of the Republic – Candice Miller
8. The Unexpected President: The Life and Times of Chester A. Arthur – Scott S. Greenberger

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17.A.) The impeachment of Andrew Johnson, an interview with David O. Stewart

Mon, 07 Jun 2021 02:00:00 -0700

Andrew Johnson is the only president to face a Senate impeachment in our first 200 years. What did he do to get impeached? Who were the men out to get him? And how did he beat his conviction and removal from office by a single vote? Join me as I interview David O Stewart, a lawyer, historian, and author of numerous books about presidential history, including Impeached: The Trial of President Andrew Johnson and the Fight for Lincoln’s Legacy, on the trial that some say altered the balance of power between Congress and the president for a generation.

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17.) Andrew Johnson 1865-1869

Tue, 01 Jun 2021 02:00:00 -0700

In the wake of Abraham Lincoln's assassination, former vice president Andrew Johnson was faced with a tremendous challenge: How do you mend relations between the north and south, two regions that had spend the past four years killing each other on the field of battle? And what do you do about the south's 3.5 million newly freed former slaves who owned no land or property and who were surrounded by 5.5 million whites who feared and resented them. And, oh yeah, all those white guys have recent military experience?

It wouldn't have been easy for any president to navigate these challenges peacefully. Unfortunately, when it came to the freedmen Johnson had no interest in that "peacefully" part.

Follow along as Johnson rises from poverty so deep, he was sold into indentured servitude, to city alderman, to the state house, to the White House. Along the way, we'll see how he put himself in a position to replace Lincoln's first-term vice president, how his influence during reconstruction helped cement a post-slavery racist society we're still haunted by today, and how he became the only president in our first 200 years to face an impeachment trial in the senate.

Bibliography
1. Andrew Johnson – Annette Gordon-Reed
2. Grant – Jean Edward Smith
3. Abraham Lincoln – David Herbert Donald
4. Rutherford B. Hayes – Hans. L. Trefousse

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B.) Jefferson Davis, The Confederate President

Sat, 15 May 2021 00:00:00 -0700

Jefferson Davis was never president of all the United States, but he was president of half of them.

Follow Davis as parlays his status as a Mexican-American war hero into a political career as a fiery southern radical, serves as Secretary of War, get's his dream job as general of the confederate Mississippi armies, and days later gets the job he never asked for nor wanted - President of the Confederacy. We'll take a close look at the major decisions he made that helped shape the outcome of the Civil War

While we're at it, we'll also look at the Myth of the Lost Cause - a bit of pro confederate revisionism that has tinted how we remember the Civil War in the friendliest way possible for the confederates who started it.

Bibliography:
1. Embattled Rebel - James McPherson
2. Abraham Lincoln – David Herbert Donald
3. Grant – Jean Edward Smith

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16.E.) Lincoln, the Union Army, and the election of 1864; an interview with Jon White

Thu, 06 May 2021 00:00:00 -0700

Six of the seven presidents who followed Lincoln served in the Union Army during the Civil War. In our final look at Honest Abe, join me as I interview Jon White, an associate professor of American Studies at Christopher Newport University and author of Emancipation, the Union Army, and the Reelection of Abraham Lincoln , on Lincoln's relationship with the army and what its soldiers thought of Lincoln, the GOP, slavery, and the election of 1864.

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16.D.) Lincoln the lawyer; an interview with Brian Dirck

Wed, 05 May 2021 00:00:00 -0700

Abraham Lincoln is the most experienced trial lawyer we've ever elected president, with more than two decades of experience litigating in the courtroom. Join me as I talk to Brian Dirck, a professor of History at Anderson University in Anderson, Indiana, and author of Lincoln the Lawyer, as we discuss how those decades of practicing the law prepared Lincoln for the legal landmines he had to navigate to win the Civil War and free the slaves.

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16.C.) Lincoln and the partisan press; an interview with Harold Holzer

Tue, 04 May 2021 00:00:00 -0700

Think the press is biased today? Take a look at it in the 19th century, when papers were so partisan they were practically departments of their parties. Join me as I interview Harold Holzer, director of the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College in New York City, Chairman of the Lincoln Forum, and author of The presidents vs. the Press: The endless battle between the white house and the media, from the founding fathers to Fake News on the tools Lincoln used to manage the press, and how he flattered, outwitted, and strong armed the media during the four years of Civil War.

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16.B.) The history of the abolitionist movement and Lincoln's place in it; an interview with Kate Masur

Mon, 03 May 2021 00:00:00 -0700

The debate over slavery is was old as independence. What made Lincoln to end it with the emancipation of the slaves? Join me as I interview Kate Masur, an associate professor of 19th-century American History at Northwestern University and author of Until Justice Be Done: America’s First Civil Rights Movement, from the Revolution to Reconstruction, on the history of the abolitionist movement and Lincoln's place in it.

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16.A.) Lincoln's balancing act, emancipation and reconstruction, an interview with Louis Masur

Sun, 02 May 2021 00:00:00 -0700

How did Lincoln keep the slave-holding border states in the union while also advancing the cause of emancipation? Join me as I interview Louis Masur, a distinguished professor of American Studies and History at Rutgers University and author of Lincoln’s Hundred Days: The Emancipation Proclamation and the War for the Union , on the tightrope act Lincoln walked to save the union and end American slavery once and for all.

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16.) Abraham Lincoln 1861-1865

Sat, 01 May 2021 00:00:00 -0700

When Abraham Lincoln was elected, the south didn't take it too well. Before he was even sworn in, seven states had already seceded, and four more joined the confederacy in the months that followed. The fate of the union was at stake.

Follow along as Lincoln goes from country lawyer to U.S. President and then leads the nation to reunification by winning the PR war, finding a general who can win the shooting war, and eventually ending slavery once and for all.

Bibliography
1. Abraham Lincoln – David Herbert Donald
2. Team of Rivals - Doris Kearns Goodwin
3. James Buchanan – Jean H. Baker
4. Polk: The man who transformed the presidency – Walter R. Borneman
5. Embattled Rebel – James M. McPherson
6. Grant – Jean Edward Smith
7. Andrew Johnson – Annette Gordon-Reed

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15.A.) James Buchanan's life, legacy, and sexuality; an interview with Thomas Balcerski

Thu, 01 Apr 2021 01:00:00 -0700

Was James Buchanan secretly the nation's first gay president? Join me as I interview historian Thomas Balcerski, author of Bosom Friends, the intimate world of James Buchanan and William Rufus King, on the 150-year-old rumors about Buchanan's sexuality. We'll also dive into Buchanan's presidency and ask, what can we learn from a man widely considered one of the worst presidents we've ever had?

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15.) James Buchanan 1857-1861

Thu, 01 Apr 2021 00:00:00 -0700

In 1857, the debate over slavery had fractured Kansas, national political parties, and even national churches. It's easy to see why the country turned to James Buchanan, a man with one of the strongest resumes ever put in the white house.

Unfortunately, he inherited 31 states, and left behind 27, as the pre-civil was secession crisis overwhelmed the nation during his final months in office.

Follow along as Buchanan develops an affinity for southern slave culture, then vigorously advances that cause as a congressman, senator, minister abroad, secretary of state, and president, engages in all sorts of corruption to strengthen slavery as a president, and then sits by and does nothing to stop the secession of the south and the rapidly oncoming civil war.

Bibliography
1. James Buchanan – Jean H. Baker
2. Bosom Friends – Thomas Balcerski
3. Polk: The man who transformed the presidency – Walter R. Borneman
4. Millard Fillmore – Paul Finkelman
5. Abraham Lincoln – David Herbert Donald
6. Franklin Pierce – Michael F. Holta
7. Embattled Rebel – James M. McPherson

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14.) Franklin Pierce 1853-1857

Mon, 01 Mar 2021 00:00:00 -0800

"We Polked you in 44, we're Pierce you in 52!"

Franklin Pierce may have my favorite campaign slogan yet. But in terms of presidencies, wow, this guy is a total disaster. I mean, Millard Fillmore just nuked the only major opposition party into oblivion. Governing should be easy, right? Not when you're Pierce, who do his best to one-up Fillmore and wreck the Democratic party on the bloody shoal known as "Bleeding Kansas."

Follow along as Pierce falls hilariously short in his pursuit of military glory in the Mexican-American War, gets elected president anyway when Democratic partisans can't agree on any of the more-qualified candidates, and then triggers a mini Civil War in Kansas after he passes the Kansas-Nebraska act.

By the time Pierce leaves office, we'll be four years away from The Civil War.

Bibliography
1. Franklin Pierce – Michael F. Holt
2. Millard Fillmore – Paul Finkelman
3. Bosom Friends – Thomas J. Balcerski
4. James Buchanan - Jean H. Baker
5. Abraham Lincoln – David Herbert Donald

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13.) Millard Fillmore 1850-1853

Mon, 01 Feb 2021 00:00:00 -0800

When Millard Fillmore became president, the country was on the verge of collapse. President Taylor had just died, the Compromise of 1850 appeared dead, and southern secessionist were organizing a convention to plot disunion. The nation looked to Fillmore to save it.

And he totally whiffed.

Follow along as Fillmore uses the scapegoating of minorities to rise to power, postpones Civil War for a decade with the Compromise of 1850, destroys the Whig party with his overzealous enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Act, and runs for president with the Know Nothings - a nativist secret-society-turned-political-party that dreamt of building an America where immigrants, catholics, and minorities are second-class citizens.

Bibliography
1. Millard Fillmore – Paul Finkelman
2. Zachary Taylor – John D. Eisenhower
3. Heirs of the Founders – H.W. Brands
4. Abraham Lincoln – David Herbert Donald
5. Franklin Pierce – Michael F. Holt

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12.) Zachary Taylor 1849-1850

Fri, 01 Jan 2021 00:00:00 -0800

"Ol' Rough n' Ready" hadn't even been sworn in yet when the discovery of California gold derailed whatever plans he'd held for his presidency. 100,000 Americans flooded west to California In 1849 and quickly began clamoring for statehood - statehood without slavery. The north loved the idea, the south threatened to secede over it, and Zachary Taylor had to bridge the gap or die trying.

Follow Taylor as he participates in four wars and becomes a national hero for his generalship in the Mexican-American War, gets pulled into politics by a Whig party desperate to reclaim the White House, and then shows he won't be bullied by anyone when the California Gold Rush leads to the threat of a secessionist crisis In 1850.

Bibliography
1. Zachary Taylor – John D. Eisenhower
2. Polk: The Man Who Transformed the Presidency and America – Walter R. Borneman
3. Millard Fillmore – Paul Finkelman
4. Martin Van Buren and the American Political System – Donald B. Cole
5. Heirs of the Founders – H.W. Brands
6. Abraham Lincoln – David Herbert Donald

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11.) James K. Polk 1845-1849

Tue, 01 Dec 2020 00:00:00 -0800

No president better captures the spirit of Manifest Destiny than James K. Polk. When he entered office, the United States had a disputed claim to Oregon, and that's about it. When he left office, the United States looked like the continent-spanning empire it is today..

Follow along as Polk revives his dead-end political career to shock everyone and win the White House, manipulates the United States into war with Mexico to steal the American Southwest, acquires the Oregon Territory from Great Britain through bold negotiation, and accomplishes all of his domestic priorities in a single action-packed term.

Bibliography
1. Polk: The Man Who Transformed the Presidency and America – Walter R. Borneman
2. Zachary Taylor – John D. Eisenhower
3. John Tyler - Gary May
4. Heirs of the Founders – H.W. Brands
5. John Quincy Adams - Harlow G Unger
6. James Buchanan – Jean H. Baker
7. Abraham Lincoln – David Herbert Donald
8. Franklin Pierce – Michael F. Holt

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10.) John Tyler 1841-1845

Sun, 01 Nov 2020 00:00:00 -0700

President John Tyler was so hated, he was burned in effigy by his own party before being kicked out of the party and made into a political pariah. And that's BEFORE he committed treason.

Follow along as John Tyler sneaks into the presidency in a fluke, vetoes his own party's agenda to incur their wrath, engages in some of the most ambitious backroom political plotting so far, and then annexes Texas during his final days in office - lighting a 16-year fuse to Civil War.

Bibliography
1. John Tyler - Gary May
2. William Henry Harrison – Gail Collins
3. Polk: The Man Who Transformed the Presidency and America – Walter R. Borneman
4. Sam Houston – James L. Haley
5. Martin Van Buren and the American Political System – Donald B. Cole
6. Heirs of the Founders – H.W. Brands
7. John Quincy Adams - Harlow G Unger

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A.) Sam Houston, The Raven

Thu, 22 Oct 2020 00:00:00 -0700

Sam Houston was never president of the United States, but he was the first president of the Independent Republic of Texas, one of the first senators of the state of Texas, and was ejected from the governorship of Texas for refusing to swear loyalty to the confederacy on the eve of the Civil War.

Follow Houston as he runs away from home to live with the Cherokee, joins the army to fight under Andrew Jackson in the War of 1812, becomes Jackson's most likely heir as governor of Tennessee, flees Tennessee in disgrace when his first wife abandons him after 11 weeks, spends three years earning the name "Big Drunk" in the Indian territory, sobers up to lead Texas to independence from Mexico and then to annexation into the United States, and becomes a presidential hopeful before finally being forced out of office on the eve of the Civil War.

In case you didn't notice, it's going to be a heck of a life!

Bibliography
1. Sam Houston – James L. Haley
4. Heirs of the Founders – H.W. Brands

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09.) William Henry Harrison 1841-1841

Thu, 01 Oct 2020 00:00:00 -0700

When William Henry Harrison pledged to only serve one term as president, he probably expected that term to last more than one month, but a disease lurking in the D.C. sanitation system had other plans, and so history knows him as our shortest-serving president. But Harrison is far more than that. He's also the reason England didn't capture the American midwest during the war of 1812, and his presidential campaign introduced the word "Booze" to American culture.

So, rock on.

Follow Harrison as he joins the army on the frontier, saves midwest from British invasion, defeats the shawnee warrior Tecumseh at the battle of Tippecanoe, and wins one of the wildest presidential campaigns of all time, only to die a month after being sworn in. But hey, you can't knock him for breaking campaign promises.

Bibliography
1. William Henry Harrison – Gail Collins
2. John Tyler - Gary May
3. Martin Van Buren and the American Political System – Donald B. Cole
4. Heirs of the Founders – H.W. Brands

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08.) Martin Van Buren 1837-1841

Tue, 01 Sep 2020 00:00:00 -0700

How does Martin Van Buren rise from being an impoverished child with no education to taking over New York State politics, forging the Democratic Party, and creating the modern two-party system? He does it by being sly. Sly as a fox.

Follow Van Buren, the "Little Magician," as he outwits and manipulates every foe and ally alike to remake the American political landscape, only for it all to collapse on him just four days after reaching the White House when America's first great depression destroys the economy and any dreams Van Buren might have held for what his presidency might have been.

Bibliography
1. Martin Van Buren and the American Political System – Donald B. Cole
2. The Life of Andrew Jackson – Robert V. Remin
3. Heirs of the Founders – H.W. Brands
4. John Quincy Adams – Harlow G Unger
5. Polk: The Man Who Transformed the Presidency and America – Walter R. Borneman
6. William Henry Harrison – Gail Collins

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07.) Andrew Jackson 1829 - 1837

Sat, 01 Aug 2020 00:00:00 -0700

How does an uneducated man with a fiery temper, a treasonous past, and a propensity for murder become president? He does it by winning a famous military victory, of course! Andrew Jackson is the Hero of New Orleans, our seventh president, and a pretty terrible person beyond that.

From his youth as a Revolutionary War orphan to his military victories, war crimes, cruelty toward Native Americans, disastrous economic policies, and that time he almost fought a civil war against his own former Vice President (really!), we'll follow Jackson as he begrudges his way to the top of American politics and an enduring popularity that can be explained only one way - Americans love a winner.

Bibliography
1. The Life of Andrew Jackson – Robert V. Remin
2. Martin Van Buren and the American Political System – Donald B. Cole
3. John Quincy Adams – Harlow G Unger
4. The Last Founding Father, James Monroe and A Nation’s Call to Greatness – Harlow G Unger
5. Heirs of the Founders – H.W. Brands
6. Polk: The Man Who Transformed the Presidency and America – Walter R. Borneman
7. James Madison - Richard Brookhiser

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06.) John Quincy Adams 1825 - 1829

Sat, 04 Jul 2020 00:00:00 -0700

Full disclosure, John Quincy Adams is my favorite early president. Not for anything he did as president - he was a total failure there. But because of what he did after the presidency, when he returned to D.C. as a humble Congressman and became the loudest voice against slavery in Congress. John Quincy will roar so loud, the South will pass a series of unconstitutional gag rules to try and shut him up. They won't succeed.

From his first diplomatic mission at the age of 14, to the Napoleonic Wars, to negotiating an end to the War of 1812 and the acquisition of Florida, to the controversial election of 1824, the White House, and his post-presidential career as a voice against slavery in Congress, we'll follow John Quincy as strives to live up to his father's legacy as a man who always stands up for what is right, no matter the cost.

Bibliography
1. John Quincy Adams – Harlow G Unger
2. The Last Founding Father, James Monroe and A Nation’s Call to Greatness – Harlow G Unger
3. Heirs of the Founders – H.W. Brands
4. John Adams – David McCullough
5. The Life of Andrew Jackson – Robert V. Remin
6. Martin Van Buren and the American Political System – Donald B. Cole
7. John Tyler – Gary May
8. Polk: The Man Who Transformed the Presidency and America – Walter R. Borneman
9. Zachary Taylor – John D. Eisenhower

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05.) James Monroe 1817-1825

Wed, 01 Jul 2020 00:00:00 -0700

James Monroe has been called the Forrest Gump of Founding Fathers - he just keeps showing up everywhere! But that doesn't mean he isn't sharp. Monroe dropped out of college to fight in the revolution, and his life rarely slowed down after that. He'll dine with emperor's, oversee wars, and destroy his political opponents In a globe-trotting career that takes him from nearly being orphaned to the White House.

From his service In Washington's army during the Revolutionary War, to Valley Forge, to his vote against ratifying the Constitution, to his signing of the Louisiana Purchase, to his leadership as Secretary of State and War during the War of 1812, and finally the presidency, we'll follow Monroe as overcomes setbacks and learns from his mistakes to become one of the most influential presidents and Founding Fathers our country ever produced.

Bibliography
1. The Last Founding Father, James Monroe and A Nation’s Call to Greatness - Harlow G Unger
2. James Madison - Richard Brookhiser
3. Thomas Jefferson, The Art of Power - Jon Meacham
4. John Quincy Adams - Harlow G Unger
5. The Life of Andrew Jackson - Robert V. Remin
6. Martin Van Buren and the American Political System - Donald B. Cole
7. The Presidents Fact Book - Roger Matuz

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04.) James Madison 1809-1817

Mon, 01 Jun 2020 00:00:00 -0700

James Madison is known as the father of the Constitution. Unfortunately, he's also the father of the War of 1812 and the Embargo act of 1807. The first was a disastrous conflict that burned down the White House, the second was a well-intentioned policy that totally failed and plunged the American economy into depression.

From his time helping create the modern American government to his year's building the Jeffersonian-Republican Party and his two terms in the (badly burnt) White House, we'll follow Madison as he does his best to advance the country with big, bold ideas, and only sometimes has them blow up in his face.

Bibliography
1. James Madison - Richard Brookhiser
2. The Last Founding Father, James Monroe and A Nation’s Call to Greatness - Harlow G Unger
3. Thomas Jefferson, The Art of Power - Jon Meacham
4. John Adams - David McCullough
5. John Quincy Adams - Harlow G Unger
6. Washington, A Life - Ron Chernow
7. Hamilton - Ron Chernow
8. The Life of Andrew Jackson - Robert V. Remin
9. The Presidents Fact Book - Roger Matuz

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03.) Thomas Jefferson 1801-1809

Fri, 01 May 2020 00:00:00 -0700

Thomas Jefferson was once regarded as the greatest of Founding Fathers, and It's easy to see why. He wrote the Declaration of Independents, founded the nation's first political party, and acquired the Louisiana Purchase.

But in recent years, his standing has taken a hit. There's his embrace of partisan politics, his embargo policy that caused the nation's first economic depression, and his long-running affair with Sally Hemings, his dead wife's half-sister who was 30 years younger than him and, oh yeah, also happened to be his slave.

A mixed legacy, to say the least.

From the Continental Congress to revolutionary France and the Louisiana Purchase, we'll follow Thomas Jefferson as he outmaneuvers his political rivals in pursuit of power to mold the nation's destiny, and does just about whatever else he pleases along the way.

Bibliography
1. Thomas Jefferson, The Art of Power - Jon Meacham
2. James Madison - Richard Brookhiser
3. The Last Founding Father, James Monroe and A Nation’s Call to Greatness - Harlow G Unger
4. John Adams - David McCullough
5. John Quincy Adams - Harlow G Unger
6. Washington, A Life - Ron Chernow
7. Hamilton - Ron Chernow
8. The Life of Andrew Jackson - Robert V. Remin
9. The Presidents Fact Book - Roger Matuz

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02.) John Adams 1797-1801

Sun, 05 Apr 2020 13:00:00 -0700

John Adams is the Devil's Advocate of the Founding Fathers. A revolutionary turned international diplomat turned President who was never afraid to stand alone if he was convinced that standing alone was the right thing to do.

From the Boston Massacre to the Continental Congresses to the Treaty of Paris and the Quasi War with France, we'll follow Adams as he charts the unique path of a man who refused to be carried by the tides of history, and instead sought to control them.

Bibliography
1. John Adams - David McCullough
2. John Quincy Adams - Harlow G Unger
3. Washington, A Life - Ron Chernow
4. Hamilton - Ron Chernow
5. Thomas Jefferson, The Art of Power - Jon Meacham
6. James Madison - Richard Brookhiser
7. The Last Founding Father, James Monroe and A Nation’s Call to Greatness - Harlow G Unger
8. The Presidents Fact Book - Roger Matuz

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01.) George Washington 1789-1797

Sun, 29 Mar 2020 21:00:00 -0700

Everyone knows George Washington was the first president of the United States. But that little phrase, "First president of the United States," hides a big story. Washington entered an office imbued with few clear powers or expectations and responsible for a young nation surrounded by potential enemies. Luckily for us, Washington had nerves of steel.

From his youth as a frontier warrior to his campaigns as a revolutionary general and his two terms in the White House, we'll follow Washington as he learns from his shortcomings and grows into the father of a nation.

Bibliography
1. Washington, A Life - Ron Chernow
2. Hamilton - Ron Chernow
3. John Adams - David McCullough
4. Thomas Jefferson, The Art of Power - Jon Meacham
5. James Madison - Richard Brookhiser
6. The Last Founding Father, James Monroe and A Nation’s Call to Greatness - Harlow G Unger
7. The Presidents Fact Book - Roger Matuz

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0.) Introduction

Sun, 29 Mar 2020 21:00:00 -0700

What can listeners expect from the [Abridged] Presidential Histories podcast? What was the inspiration? And who's hosting it? This brief introduction answers those basic questions.
If you don't care about any of that and just want to get to the presidential history, skip ahead to episode 1 on George Washington!

https://www.patreon.com/AbridgedPresidentialHistories

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