Advertise on podcast: [Abridged] Presidential Histories

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 PresidentsJerry Landry, Presidencies of the United StatesAlycia, Civics & Coffee Support the show

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.  Support the show

"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: [email protected]  Support the show

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 KaganLords of the Sea, by John R. Hale Support the show

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 KaganLords of the Sea, by John R. Hale Support the show

"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 HabermanCDC - for COVID stats and timelinesWHO - for COVID stats and timelinesJan. 6 Committee - for Jan. 6 details and timelinesWashington Post & New York Times - for miscellaneous other details on Trump's presidency.  Support the show

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. Support the show

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. Support the show

"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 Support the show

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. Support the show

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. Support the show

"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 Support the show

"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. Support the show

“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 Support the show

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 PresidentsJerry Landry, Presidencies of the United StatesAlycia, Civics & Coffee Happy Thanksgiving! Support the show