"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

38.B) The campaigns of Richard Nixon, an interview with John Farrell

8 days ago 46m 17s

It 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, inc

37.A) Nixon's Domestic Agenda, an interview with Luke Nichter

29 days ago 55m 40s

Richard 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

37.) Richard Nixon 1969-1974

Mar 4th, 2024 1h

"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

16.F.) How Lincoln changed American immigration, an interview with Harold Holzer

Feb 19th, 2024 1h 1m

Migrating 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 conscr

36.B) LBJ's Great Society, an interview with Mark Updegrove

Feb 12th, 2024 46m 31s

Lyndon 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 Updegr

36.A) LBJ & Vietnam, an interview with Mark Lawrence

Jan 15th, 2024 49m 48s

Few 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 in

36.) Lyndon Baines Johnson 1963-1969

Jan 1st, 2024 1h 2m

"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 - t

35.C) JFK & The Press, an interview with Harold Holzer

Dec 18th, 2023 52m 11s

JFK 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

35.B) Joe Kennedy Sr., The Patriarch, an interview with David Nasaw

Dec 4th, 2023 56m 9s

Joe 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 t

35.A) The Assassination of JFK, an interview with Stephen Fagin

Nov 22nd, 2023 45m 36s

60 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

35.) John F. Kennedy 1961-1963

Nov 20th, 2023 59m 13s

"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

BONUS! 2023 Friendsgiving History Podcast Spectacular

Nov 20th, 2023 55m 25s

Earlier 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 hi

34.C) Ike, the Last General, an interview with Bryan Gibby

Nov 6th, 2023 1h 15m

Eisenhower 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

34.C) Isolationism v internationalism, Ike & the election of 1952, an interview with Chris Nichols

Oct 16th, 2023 1h

As 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 fear

Bonus. Intelligent Speech Conference: The political double cross that saved American democracy

Oct 9th, 2023 42m 8s

Bonus 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

34.B) Ike & the Suez Crisis, an interview with Jim Newton

Oct 2nd, 2023 32m 46s

There 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

34.A) Ike v McCarthyism, an interview with Larry Tye

Sep 18th, 2023 35m 46s

Dwight 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

34.) Dwight Eisenhower 1953-1961

Sep 4th, 2023 1h 1m

"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

33.D) The blinding of Sgt. Isaac Woodard and the awakening of Harry S. Truman, an interview with Judge Richard Gergel

Aug 21st, 2023 36m 19s

As 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 w

33.C) Truman and the Pendergast Machine, an interview with Jon Taylor

Aug 7th, 2023 51m 44s

Before 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 d

33.B) Truman and the Bomb, an interview with D.M. Giangreco

Jul 24th, 2023 53m 44s

"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

33.A) The Truman Committee: An interview with Steve Drummond

Jul 17th, 2023 48m 7s

"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

33.) Harry S Truman 1945-1953

Jul 5th, 2023 56m 41s

"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 Ro

Bonus! The Rough Rider and the Professor, an interview with Laurence Jurdem

Jul 4th, 2023 1h 4m

"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, 19