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[Abridged] Presidential Histories
117 episodes - English - Latest episode: 9 days ago -From Yorktown to the Civil War, Pearl Harbor to 9/11, discover the pivotal moments that defined each president's life and legacy and the lessons we can draw from them. New episodes available the 1st and 3rd Mondays of each month.
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Episodes
38.) Gerald Ford 1974-1977
April 15, 2024 20:00 - 48 minutes - 33.5 MB"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 q...
37.B) The campaigns of Richard Nixon, an interview with John Farrell
April 08, 2024 18:00 - 46 minutes - 31.8 MBIt 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. Support the show
38.B) The campaigns of Richard Nixon, an interview with John Farrell
April 08, 2024 18:00 - 46 minutes - 31.8 MBIt 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. Support the show
37.A) Nixon's Domestic Agenda, an interview with Luke Nichter
March 18, 2024 17:00 - 55 minutes - 38.3 MBRichard 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 p...
37.) Richard Nixon 1969-1974
March 04, 2024 08:00 - 1 hour - 41.9 MB"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 o...
16.F.) How Lincoln changed American immigration, an interview with Harold Holzer
February 19, 2024 08:00 - 1 hour - 42.1 MBMigrating 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 ...
36.B) LBJ's Great Society, an interview with Mark Updegrove
February 12, 2024 08:00 - 46 minutes - 32 MBLyndon 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. Support the show
36.A) LBJ & Vietnam, an interview with Mark Lawrence
January 15, 2024 08:00 - 49 minutes - 34.2 MBFew 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 auth...
36.) Lyndon Baines Johnson 1963-1969
January 01, 2024 08:00 - 1 hour - 43.1 MB"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 gon...
35.C) JFK & The Press, an interview with Harold Holzer
December 18, 2023 08:00 - 52 minutes - 35.9 MBJFK 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. Support the show
35.B) Joe Kennedy Sr., The Patriarch, an interview with David Nasaw
December 04, 2023 08:00 - 56 minutes - 38.6 MBJoe 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 f...
35.A) The Assassination of JFK, with Stephen Fagin
November 22, 2023 08:00 - 45 minutes - 31.4 MB60 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. Support the show
35.A) The Assassination of JFK, an interview with Stephen Fagin
November 22, 2023 08:00 - 45 minutes - 31.4 MB60 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. Support the show
35.) John F. Kennedy 1961-1963
November 20, 2023 09:00 - 59 minutes - 40.7 MB"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 ...
BONUS! 2023 Friendsgiving History Podcast Spectacular
November 20, 2023 08:00 - 55 minutes - 38.1 MBEarlier 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! Support the show
34.C) Ike, the Last General, an interview with Bryan Gibby
November 06, 2023 08:00 - 1 hour - 51.7 MBEisenhower 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 Support the show
34.C) Isolationism v internationalism, Ike & the election of 1952, an interview with Chris Nichols
October 16, 2023 07:00 - 1 hour - 41.9 MBAs 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 hom...
Bonus. Intelligent Speech Conference: The political double cross that saved American democracy
October 09, 2023 07:00 - 42 minutes - 29 MBBonus episode! Even the seemingly powerless have the power to change history. When the infamously corrupt Chester Arthur became president after the assassination of his predecessor, most Americans feared Democracy was about to go on the auction block. But, in an era when women couldn't even vote, one woman, Julia Sand, put pen to paper and changed history. Her letters imploring Arthur to abandon his corrupt political allies and listen to his long-abandoned better nature moved something in A...
34.B) Ike & the Suez Crisis, an interview with Jim Newton
October 02, 2023 07:00 - 32 minutes - 22.6 MBThere 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 c...
34.A) Ike v McCarthyism, an interview with Larry Tye
September 18, 2023 07:00 - 35 minutes - 24.6 MBDwight 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 a...
34.) Dwight Eisenhower 1953-1961
September 04, 2023 07:00 - 1 hour - 42.1 MB"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 du...
33.D) The blinding of Sgt. Isaac Woodard and the awakening of Harry S. Truman, an interview with Judge Richard Gergel
August 21, 2023 07:00 - 36 minutes - 25 MBAs 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. Wat...
33.C) Truman and the Pendergast Machine, an interview with Jon Taylor
August 07, 2023 07:00 - 51 minutes - 35.6 MBBefore 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. Support the show
33.B) Truman and the Bomb, an interview with D.M. Giangreco
July 24, 2023 07:00 - 53 minutes - 36.9 MB"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 -...
33.A) The Truman Committee: An interview with Steve Drummond
July 17, 2023 07:00 - 48 minutes - 33.1 MB"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 ...
32.) Harry S Truman 1945-1953
July 05, 2023 07:00 - 56 minutes - 39 MB"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 pres...
33.) Harry S Truman 1945-1953
July 05, 2023 07:00 - 56 minutes - 39 MB"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 pres...
Bonus! The Rough Rider and the Professor, an interview with Laurence Jurdem
July 04, 2023 07:00 - 1 hour - 44.5 MB"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...
32.G.) Eleanor Roosevelt, an interview with David Michaelis
June 19, 2023 07:00 - 1 hour - 56 MB"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,...
32.F.) FDR & American Grand Strategy, an interview with Elizabeth Borgwardt and Christopher Nichols
June 05, 2023 07:00 - 1 hour - 68.9 MB"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 ...
32.D.) FDR's policy of Japanese internment, an interview with Paul Sparrow
May 15, 2023 07:00 - 56 minutes - 38.6 MB"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 Japanes...
32.E.) FDR's policy of Japanese internment, an interview with Paul Sparrow
May 15, 2023 07:00 - 56 minutes - 38.6 MB"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 Japanes...
32.D.) FDR's mastery of radio, the press, and persuasion, an interview with Harold Holzer
May 01, 2023 07:00 - 55 minutes - 38.3 MB"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: Th...
32.C.) FDR, Traitor to his Class, an interview with H.W. Brands
April 17, 2023 07:00 - 46 minutes - 32.2 MB"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 F...
32.B.) FDR's death & the history of presidential mourning, an interview with Lindsay Chervinsky & Matthew Costello
April 03, 2023 07:00 - 48 minutes - 33 MB"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 ter...
32.A.) FDR and the New Deal, an interview with Eric Rauchway
March 20, 2023 07:00 - 57 minutes - 39.4 MB"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 Th...
32.) Franklin Delano Roosevelt 1933-1945
March 06, 2023 08:00 - 58 minutes - 40 MB"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 ...
31.C) Herbert Hoover & the origins of The Great Depression, an interview with Robert McElvaine
February 20, 2023 08:00 - 58 minutes - 40.5 MB"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 instru...
31.B) Herbert Hoover, the first businessman president, an interview with David Hamilton
February 06, 2023 16:00 - 56 minutes - 39 MB"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...
31.A.) The political evolution of Herbert Hoover, an interview with Thomas Schwartz
January 16, 2023 08:00 - 58 minutes - 40.2 MB"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-Mus...
31.) Herbert Hoover 1929-1933
January 02, 2023 08:00 - 57 minutes - 39.7 MB"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...
30.A.) Calvin Coolidge turns PR into Presidential Relations, an interview with David Greenberg
December 19, 2022 08:00 - 54 minutes - 37.6 MBHistory 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. Support the show
30.) Calvin Coolidge 1923-1929
December 05, 2022 08:00 - 51 minutes - 35.2 MB"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 preside...
History Podcast Friendsgiving Spectacular
November 21, 2022 08:00 - 57 minutes - 39.7 MBOn 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...
29.A.) Warren Harding's affairs & legacy, an interview with James Robenalt
November 07, 2022 08:00 - 34 minutes - 24 MBPoliticians 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 histo...
29.) Warren Harding 1921-1923
October 17, 2022 07:00 - 57 minutes - 39.5 MBFirst, 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 ...
APH Mailbag Episode!
October 03, 2022 07:00 - 37 minutes - 25.7 MB"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! Support the show
28.E.) Wilson's Wives, an interview with Paul Brandus
September 19, 2022 07:00 - 30 minutes - 21.2 MBWoodrow 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 ...
28.D.) Woodrow Wilson, WW1, and the new world order; an interview with Thomas Knock
September 05, 2022 07:00 - 55 minutes - 38 MBFor 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 suc...
28.C.) Woodrow Wilson's legacy on race; an interview with Eric S. Yellin
August 15, 2022 07:00 - 54 minutes - 37.3 MBNo 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 Ser...