Good Citizen

Ted comes to this conversation not just as a host, but as a Roosevelt. And he’s sitting down with two people he’s worked alongside for years: Edward O’Keefe, CEO of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library, and Charlie Melcher, CEO of the Future of Storytelling, as they reflect on what they’ve built together.  The Library opens its doors on July 4th, 2026,  the nation’s 250th birthday, and thes...

Lucas St. Clair grew up off the grid in the woods of northern Maine, with a front-row seat to one of the great entrepreneurial origin stories of our time: his mother’s chance encounter with the beekeeper Burt Shavitz, which grew into Burt’s Bees. With his good friend Ted, Lucas traces that story of selling honey out of pickle jars to building a multi-million dollar company, and his mom’s vision to...

Admiral James Stavridis is a retired four-star U.S. Navy admiral and prolific nonfiction author, but it's his newest work of fiction that cuts the deepest. 2084 , co-written with former Marine Elliot Ackerman, imagines a world ravaged by climate change and torn apart by a global war orchestrated by A.I. Yet beneath the chaos are difficult human choices and the kinds of love and loss that remind us...

Dana Milbank traded the outrage cycle of politics for 60 acres of overgrown Virginia farmland. And as he changed the land, the land changed him. Dana is a political columnist for NOTUS (soon to be “The Star”). He spent 26 years as an op-ed columnist for The Washington Post, where he also wrote about our attempts to "rehumanize" during a time of anxiety and isolation.  He describes to Ted his unlik...

What allows a politician to hold to his principles when almost every incentive pulls the other way? In this memorable conversation with Ted, Senator Mitt Romney traces the formative moments with his father that shaped his moral compass, and the specific ways he guards against self-rationalization. Senator Romney also speaks to the outsized power of presidential leadership, and why his legacy won’t...

What if we prioritized relationships over the chase for success? What if we ignored the siren call of social media in exchange for cultivating a sense of purpose? Dr. Vivek Murthy, the 19th and 21st Surgeon General of the United States, has made it his mission to sound the alarm on one of the defining public health crises of our time: loneliness. In his conversation with Ted, Murthy makes the case...

What's really at stake when a community loses its local newspaper? Civic engagement drops, polarization rises, and corruption goes unchecked. But Sarabeth Berman, CEO of the American Journalism Project, is working to reverse that. Sarabeth believes local journalism should be treated like an essential public good, similar to a museum or a food bank. And with the AJP, the first venture philanthropy...

Adam Met is a musician, climate policy writer, and genuine problem-solver – not your typical celebrity activist. This bass guitarist spent years building a devoted fanbase for his multi-platinum indie-pop band AJR. Now, as co-author of the movement-building manifesto Amplify , he outlines how those same tools can power lasting social change. Adam joins Ted to discuss what a four-hour conversation...

In this candid and searching conversation, George Packer wrestles with what it means to be a patriot in a fractured nation, and Ted presses him on whether shared facts or shared values will really unite us. George distinguishes between love of country and nationalism, and acknowledges a fading empathy for those he feels have betrayed democracy. Drawing on his newly published novel, The Emergency ,...

In a special live taping at The Explorers Club in New York City, presidential historian and Pulitzer Prize-winner Doris Kearns Goodwin joins Ted for a warm, wide-ranging conversation about his great-great-grandfather. Goodwin shares lively anecdotes about TR and other White House occupants, reveals details of her new book on the Gilded Age, and marvels at the upcoming Theodore Roosevelt Presidenti...

Karl Rove cuts through partisan noise to examine deep questions about American democracy. The master political strategist offers a surprisingly optimistic take on our polarized moment, drawing from the divisions of the 1960s, the Gilded Age, and the 1896 McKinley-Bryan race. His rich and dynamic storytelling invites listeners to consider that Americans will ultimately demand unity. Karl is the for...

Jane Carpenter-Rock is the acting director of the Smithsonian American Art Museum. In this conversation with Ted, she draws from her varied experiences to frame art as a tool for diplomacy, debate, storytelling, and social change. Jane previously spent over 2 decades working at the U.S. Department of State. Now at the helm of SAAM during a time of profound political and social division, she faces...

From growing up amid poverty and violence to walking 450+ miles across Arctic ice, Dwayne Fields’ life is a story of resilience and transformation. In this episode, the adventurer, author, and UK Chief Scout reflects with Ted on the moments that shaped him, from a near-fatal encounter on a London street to becoming the first Black Briton to reach the North Pole. A moral reckoning and renewed bond...

Michael Luo exposes the long-ignored story of Chinese Americans, tracing the violence they endured, the resilience they forged, and their ongoing struggle for inclusion. He is an executive editor at The New Yorker and the author of Strangers in the Land: Exclusion, Belonging, and the Epic Story of the Chinese in America. For more, visit goodcitizenpodcast.com . Follow us on Facebook @TRPresidentia...

To mark Native American Heritage Day, we're revisiting this 2023 episode with Secretary Deb Haaland.  It’s a time to honor the history, traditions, and enduring contributions of Indigenous peoples across the country. Few leaders have embodied that heritage more powerfully than Deb Haaland, who made history as the first Native American cabinet secretary. During her time as Secretary of the Interior...

Susannah Cahalan traces her extraordinary recovery from psychosis and her pursuit of untold stories that probe consciousness, sanity, and identity. She is the author of Brain on Fire and The Acid Queen: The Psychedelic Life and Counterculture Rebellion of Rosemary Woodruff Leary . Find her at susannahcahalan.com .  For more, visit goodcitizenpodcast.com . Follow us on Facebook @TRPresidentialLibra...

Amy Bowers Cordalis illuminates how saving nature may save humanity, as she traces her historic battle to un-dam the Klamath River. She is an attorney, Yurok Tribe member, and the author of The Water Remembers: My Indigenous Family's Fight to Save a River and a Way of Life. Find her at: amybowerscordalis.com For more, visit goodcitizenpodcast.com . Follow us on Facebook @TRPresidentialLibrary Inst...

Douglas Brinkley highlights Theodore Roosevelt’s bold use of executive power to protect public lands, and reveals how both civics education and Duke Ellington offer lessons in tolerance. He’s the Katherine Tsanoff Brown Chair in Humanities and Professor of History at Rice University, and the author of The Wilderness Warrior. Find him at: douglasbrinkley.com For more, visit goodcitizenpodcast.com ....

Bradford Fitch insists that Congress’ reputation is worse than its reality. He is a columnist for “Roll Call,” the former CEO of the Congressional Management Foundation, the author of Citizen’s Handbook to Influencing Elected Officials, and host of The Good Congress podcast . Find him at bradfordfitch.com For more, visit goodcitizenpodcast.com . Follow us on Facebook @TRPresidentialLibrary Instagr...

Ruth Whippman shows that our approach to raising boys leaves them isolated and trapped between competing expectations of steely dominance and emotional sensitivity. She is the author of BoyMom: Reimagining Boyhood in the Age of Impossible Masculinity. Find her at: ruthwhippman.com For more, visit goodcitizenpodcast.com . Follow us on Facebook @TRPresidentialLibrary Instagram @trlibrary X @TRPresLi...

Tony Porter redefines masculinity and frames vulnerability as power, challenging a culture that teaches boys to be tough and emotionless. He is the co-founder and CEO of A Call to Men and the author of Breaking Out of the “Man Box”: The Next Generation of Manhood. Find him at: acalltomen.org For more, visit goodcitizenpodcast.com . Follow us on Facebook @TRPresidentialLibrary Instagram @trlibrary...

Jeffrey Rosen insists that self-discipline and reading were central to the Founders’ vision and are not just personal habits but principles vital to democracy. He's the president and CEO of the National Constitution Center and author of The Pursuit of Happiness: How Classical Writers on Virtue Inspired the Lives of the Founders and Defined America.  Find him at: constitutioncenter.org For more, vi...

Emily Oster discusses how communicating data with nuance can rebuild public trust and empower people to make informed decisions about their health. She is a professor of economics at Brown University, the CEO of ParentData, and the author of The Unexpected: Navigating Pregnancy During and After Complications. Find her work at www.parentdata.org For more, visit goodcitizenpodcast.com . Follow us on...

To mark World Nature Conservation Day, we're revisiting this 2024 episode with Benji Backer.  July 28th is World Nature Conservation Day, a day that calls attention to the critical importance of protecting our natural resources for future generations – something President Theodore Roosevelt took very seriously. He set aside more than 230 million acres during his presidency, protecting American for...

Ben Jealous reflects on the personal toll of leadership, how to connect with communities, and what his deep American roots reveal about our shared humanity. He is the Executive Director of the Sierra Club and the author of Never Forget Our People Were Always Free: A Parable of American Healing . For more, visit goodcitizenpodcast.com . Follow us on Facebook @TRPresidentialLibrary Instagram @trlibr...