[Abridged] Presidential Histories

"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 misse...

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

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...

"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...

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 sp...

"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...

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

“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 hi...

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 ht...

"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...

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 ar...

"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 interna...