When Money Became Speech

When Money Became Speech

From Landslide by NPR

May 2, 2024 · 18 min · Season 1 · Episode 10

About this episode

Historian Marc C. Johnson discusses the impact of campaign finance laws post-Watergate on political spending and elections.

After Watergate, both parties cracked down on political spending with a new, strict campaign finance law. But instead of money in politics shrinking, it exploded. In this bonus episode, historian Marc C. Johnson joins Landslide host Ben Bradford to talk about what happened, the legal saga that threw open the doors to spending by outside groups, and how it radically changed not just presidential campaigns, but every race for federal office. To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below: See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

People in this episode

Host: Ben Bradford

Guest: Marc C. Johnson

Topics covered

  • campaign finance
  • political spending
  • historical analysis
  • legal changes
  • presidential campaigns
  • federal elections

Keywords

  • campaign finance
  • political spending
  • Watergate
  • Marc C. Johnson
  • Ben Bradford
  • elections
  • federal office

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: NPR

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