From Yorktown to the Civil War, Pearl Harbor to 9/11, Abridged Presidential Histories explores the successes, setbacks, and scandals that define each president’s legacy, and then asks what lessons we can learn from them.
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2025 Friendsgiving History Podcast Spectacular (01:03:12)
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 the...
20.B) Death by Lightning, an interview on the assassination of James Garfield with Candice Millard (00:34:52)
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
The improbable Victoria Woodhull, an interview with Eden Collinsworth (00:55:02)
"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...
Democricide season 1: Who Killed Athenian Democracy? Episode 2 (00:21:07)
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
Democricide season 1: Who Killed Athenian Democracy? Episode 1 (00:25:22)
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
45.) Donald Trump part 1 2017-2021 (00:52:16)
"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. Fol...
8.A) Martin Van Buren, America's first politician, an interview with James Bradley (00:55:24)
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...
44.A) Obama's 08' Iowa campaign, an interview with Chelsea Waliser (00:41:23)
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
44.) Barack Obama 2009-2017 (00:50:06)
"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...
43.A) An Afghan Story, an interview with Sahba Azami (00:38:35)
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....
45.A) The rhetoric of Donald Trump, an interview with Jennifer Mercieca (00:50:23)
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...
43.) George W Bush 2001-2009 (00:59:22)
"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 Wh...
42.A) Bill Clinton's Economic Legacy, an interview with Nelson Lichtenstein (00:59:17)
"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...
42.) Bill Clinton (01:01:55)
“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 th...
BONUS! 2024 Friendsgiving History Podcast Spectacular (01:01:05)
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
41.A) George Bush & the end of the Cold War, an interview with Jeff Engel (00:40:39)
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 Pres...
41.) George H.W. Bush (00:56:39)
“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...
40.A) Reaganomics and the anti-tax movement, an interview with Michael Graetz (00:55:30)
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...
38.B) The History of the Pardon, an interview with Kimberly Wehle (00:35:51)
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...
2.A) John Adams and the modern presidency, an interview with Lindsay Chervinsky (00:47:39)
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. Support the show
40.) Ronald Reagan 1981-1989 (01:02:41)
"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...
39.B) Jimmy Carter, Stagflation, & Paul Volcker, an interview with Jennifer Burns (00:50:57)
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...
BONUS! The Hail Mary Effect in Presidential Politics, an interview with William Silber (00:48:57)
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...
39.A) Jimmy Carter, the outsider, an interview with Jonathan Alter (00:54:24)
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 be...
39.) Jimmy Carter 1977-1981 (01:01:04)
"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...
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