My History Can Beat Up Your Politics

Grover Cleveland, Woodrow Wilson and William McKinley's midterm elections are not remembered. But each one changed history in its own way. One confined a President, the other changed a party. And the third may have cemented America's place in the world. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Strange, introspective, radical, achieving, protesting, scoffing. These words could all be used in TIME magazine's Men and Women of The Year to describe late Silents and Boomers. We look at this, and then a 90s Atlanta Constitutional article on Generation X. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's oft said that Washington refused a crown. With Richard Lim of This American President, we get real about this topic. His book Refusing a Crown is the first book to place Washington’s decisions within the sweeping Western shift from monarchy to republic, showing why that transition was anything but inevitable. Drawing on the Judeo-Christian moral tradition and the political inheritance fr...

In our final episode, we look at a few historic media that truly sought to tell readers not just the news, but what the news was. From Bennett to Drudge, we look at these innovators. And we talk about today's media innovation. All of us, and our politicians as media. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A talk with Listener Jerry Spencer about Coxey's Army, which marched to DC during a depression in the 1890's. And also about how Hearst and Pulitzer's papers fueled the story. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the past 100 years, over 80% of the first term midterms went badly for Presidents, and their party lost seats.  But in a few cases they did not. And a few times when they did, the result was very little real change or even a kind of win. A look at first term midterms during the Presidencies of Chester Arthur, Harding, FDR, GW Bush, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton.  A comb...

We've talked about who owns media, who writes it. Now will talk about the debates about what is in it? This episode is about bias in the news media. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"To the victor goes the spoils" True of government jobs after a 19th century election. Also true of newspapers. Much of the spoils system perfected during Jackson's time helped newspaper publishers get ads, printing and postmaster jobs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

First rule is: Nobody talks about Giggle Club. Second. When he says no pencils, it's no pencils. Third. Get a buddy. Fourth. Don't take it so seriously, my good man. FDR's Press relationship on this episode, and Wilson before him. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Press has power. Can it be too much? Or is it needed to offset governmental power? We look at some interesting, powerful, and at times problematic press people. The renegade Grant critic Don Piatt, the FDR basher McCormick, Seward's pain and Lincoln's booster Medill, and the man who ran for President, Horace Greeley. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

TV technology arrives on the scene half press and half novelty. Politicians learn they can bring messages on at times that won't be critiqued. Yet twice, in big historic moments, the TV industry realizes it has to stop simply covering and speak for itself. These moments rare but pack a punch. Also, Kennedy, LBJ and their relationship with television and magazines. Mutual dependence and communicati...

The Battle of Chancellorsville. The Union has got the Confederates in their sights. But not for long. All the while, a reporter named Whitelaw Reid is tracking events. He's been kicked out of the coverage pool by the Union Army but that won't stop him. He rents a boat. And his readers love him for it. He won't hold back his opinions, especially about President Lincoln. Not because he's against the...

Eisenhower gets irritated. Lincoln finds a friend. Theodore Roosevelt seeks the truth at lunch. Madison sees talent. Greeley won't miss his dinner, despite the riots. And a man has a simple plan. He'll make a newspaper that won't dirty your table. Part One of Our Mediated Republic: a series on media in America and its role in creating political power. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaph...

It went by fast! Show update. We've reached a milestone. And a few things you can do if you are interested. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Does Protest work? Maybe, with other steps & factors. Looking at the Montgomery Bus Boycott, Freedom Summer, Mothers of the Disappeared and the American Revolution, we look at change, from despair to anger to moderation. These stories are used to answer the question – What does political change take? What numbers does it take? How do you know when it’s happening?  Learn more ab...

A now forgotten incident about an attempt to have a second hostage crisis during the Carter administration, only narrowly averted by heroic of the embassy staff. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Stories of Presidential inflation fighting and fund-raising that seem to have a similar ring to today's events, in this episode. Nixon's plans to cut housing costs by reducing prices on the key element of housing inspires timber companies but riles environmentalist. Johnson uses his air fleet to shuttle the right people around to get the price of electrical wiring down. Eisenhower, Reagan, Hoover...

The history behind a rebellion against a state of the new United States, why it happened, its impact on our Constitution, and what it means today. From a 2014 cast, but it's been a while.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A.B. Farquhar would go on to be an advisor to President Cleveland and run his successful non consecutive re election campaign. But prior to that, he was part of a plan to sell out to Confederate army before they reached York and possibly destroy it. For this he'd get some infamy, until Abraham Lincoln stepped in. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nixon's long buried memo reveals a lot, maybe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

an early project doesn't go so well. A corporate entity finds it can't work well with the Don, and walk away, after court battles. For Trump, it's formative. And other stories. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A brief look at the family legacy of Chester Arthur, his son and grandson. From the White House to San Francisco's hippie scene. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Many know of President Arthur's work on civil service reform. Less known is that he also sought to change his party's position on the use of tariffs. He had been a customs official, the nation's highest. In that job he learned to work with businessmen and merchants. When he became President, he turned his attetnion on the high taxes on imports of his day. As a 19th century Republican this was near...

Officially, as any part of US policy, tiny room in 1982. We tell that story. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From the early attempts to depict Washington, to the first Congressional attempts to block Confederate statues, to today's debate. In this episode Bruce examines the history behind statues in America, and Bruce looks at every debating point and angle he can think of regarding Confederate statues, the dates of their construction and their removal. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaph...