Presidential Chronicles

Presidential Chronicles: Series Pause (after Volume VIII) - August 2026 Announcing a pause in the series. More videos will come to this channel in the future, after the writing of Volume IX, which will focus on the lives of Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George HW Bush, and Bill Clinton. I also introduce the focus of my next book, "Profiles in Courage: Presidential Edition."For more inform...

Gerald Ford #12: A Very Busy Retirement (1977-2006); Topics covered include: Inaugural of Jimmy Carter as President, Ford's retirement including his many lucrative business activities, Betty Ford's addiction and treatment, the establishment and success of the Betty Ford Center for addiction treatment, Ford's memoirs ("A Time to Heal"), Ronald Reagan pursues Ford to be his vic...

Gerald Ford #11: Running for His Own Term (1975-1976); Topics covered include: 1976 presidential election, Ford vs. Ronald Reagan in the Republican Primary, Bicentennial Celebration, Jimmy Carter wins the Democratic nomination, Ford wins the Republican nomination, Swine flu outbreak at Fort Dix and response, Fall campaign, Ford's gaffe re: Soviet domination of Eastern Europe in the second deba...

Gerald Ford #10: End of the Vietnam War, the Mayaguez Incident, and the Helsinki Accords (1975-1976); Topics covered include: Paris Peace Accords, Cambodia falls to the Khmer Rouge, Congress refuses military aid for South Vietnam, South Vietnam falls to North Vietnam, evacuation of Americans and South Vietnamese allies via helicopter from the U.S. embassy, Vietnam refugee crisis, capture of the SS...

Gerald Ford #9: Stagflation, CIA in Crisis, and New York City Going Bankrupt (1975); Topics covered include: Stagflation (high inflation and high unemployment), first State of the Union Address, Cabinet changes, Rockefeller Commission investigating the CIA, the Church Committee, and Ford's response to New York City seeking a Federal bailout ("The New York Daily News": "Ford to C...

Gerald Ford #8: Beginning to Govern: "Whip Inflation Now" to a Soviet Summit (1974); Topics covered include: Economic challenges, Ford introduces his "Whip Inflation Now" (WIN) initiative, changes to the White House operating model, Betty Ford gets cancer and has a mastectomy, Betty's recovery, the Fords get a dog (Liberty), changes for the Ford children, Susan Ford's h...

Gerald Ford #7: Ford Pardons Nixon (1974); Topics covered include: Beginning of Ford's presidency including initial organization and meetings, initial speech to Congress, changes from the Nixon administration, debates about what to do with Nixon's papers and tapes plus many questions about a possible pardon for Nixon, negotiations with the Nixon team, Ford makes the decision to issue to pa...

Gerald Ford #6: Zigzagging through the Vice Presidency (1973-1974); Topics covered include: Ford's service as Vice President of the United States, challenges balancing his desire to support President Richard Nixon while not getting too close to the Watergate scandal, plenty of travel for Ford, the collapse of the Nixon presidency, Ford prepares to take over the presidency, discussions with Al...

Gerald Ford #5: The Unelected Path to the Vice Presidency (1972-1973); Topics covered include: Richard Nixon, the Watergate scandal, Ford's trip to China, Election of 1972, Spiro Agnew scandal over kickbacks from government contractors when he was Governor of Maryland, Agnew was initially defiant but eventually pled guilty and resigned the vice presidency, Nixon considers candidates to replace...

Gerald Ford #4: Minority Leader (1964-1972); Topics covered include: Election as House Minority Leader, partnering with Senate Minority Leader Everett Dirksen, frustration with the Lyndon Johnson administration over spending and the Vietnam War, election of Richard Nixon in 1968, frustrations with the Nixon administration, attempt to impeach Supreme Court Justice William Douglas, and the prospects...

Gerald Ford #3: Congressman Ford: A Workhorse not a Show Horse (1949-1964); Topics covered include: Begins congressional career, joins Appropriations Committee, birth of four children, supports Dwight Eisenhower and Richard Nixon in the 1952 presidential election, consistent supporter of civil rights legislation, move into home in Alexandria, VA, supports Richard Nixon in the 1960 presidential ele...

Gerald Ford #2: Law, War, Politics, and Betty (1941-1948); Topics covered include: Starts law firm, U.S. enters World War II, volunteers for Navy, assigned to the USS Monterey, missions in the Pacific Theater against the Japanese, Typhoon Cobra, returns to the U.S., war ends, back to law and community groups in Grand Rapids, meets Betty Bloomer Warren, runs for Congress against incumbent Barney Jo...

Gerald Ford #1: All American Boy (1913-1941); Topics covered include: Early troubles between Ford's mom and birth father leading to their divorce, Dorothy leaves for Grand Rapids, Michigan, meets and marries Gerald Ford, Fords as a high school football star, meets his biological father, attends University of Michigan to play football, becomes football and boxing coach at Yale, enters Yale Law...

Richard Nixon #18: Resurrection? (1974-1994); Topics covered include: Nixon returns to San Clemente after his resignation, Gerald Ford pardons Nixon, Nixon is treated for phlebitis, the Nixon/Frost interviews, Nixon's memoirs, international travel, relationships with successors (Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and Bill Clinton), student uprising in Tiananmen Square (China), the...

Richard Nixon #17: Resignation (1973-1974); Topics covered include: Resignation of Vice President Spiro Agnew, nominates Gerald Ford to replace Agnew as VP, Yom Kippur War in the Middle East, Appeals Court rules Nixon must turn over tapes, the Stennis Plan, the Saturday Night Massacre (firing of Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox), appointment of Leon Jaworski as the new Special Prosecutor, missing...

Richard Nixon #16: "Watergate had Become a Bottomless Pit" (1972-1973); Topics covered include: Newspaper reports on Watergate, Deep Throat, Watergate defendants found guilt, the establishment of the Ervin Committee, John Dean informs President Nixon of his cover-up activities (March 21, 1973 meeting), includes discussion of hush money payments, defendants begin to cooperate with authori...

Richard Nixon #15: Re-election Landslide and Ending the Vietnam War (1972-1973); Topics covered include: Democrats nominate George McGovern in the 1972 election, Nixon is renominated by the Republicans, breakthroughs in the Vietnam Peace Talks but South Vietnamese President Nguyen Thieu won't sign onto the deal, Nixon wins re-election in a landslide, plans to change the organization of the exe...

Richard Nixon #14: Watergate: The Break-In (1972); Topics covered include: 1972 political pranksterism, Gordon Liddy's Gemstone plan, pressure from the White House to the Committee to Re-elect the President (CRP) to move out on intelligence gathering of political opponents, break-ins (2) at the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office building, the arrest of the burgl...

Richard Nixon #13: Making History in China and the Soviet Union (1970-1972); Topics covered include: Nixon's interest in opening relations with China, realpolitik, "triangulation" strategy, Ping-Pong Diplomacy, agree to Summit with China, agree to subsequent summit with the Soviet Union, Taiwan is replaced by the People's Republic of China in the United Nations, Nixon's succe...

Richard Nixon #12: Leaks and Plumbers (1971); Topics covered include: Faltering economy in 1971 and the response by the Nixon administration, the Huston Plan, the Pentagon Papers, establishing the Special Investigation Unit ("The Plumbers"), the break-in of Daniel Ellsberg's psychiatrist's office, the "Enenmies List," and Nixon's White House taping system Key people...

Richard Nixon #11: Domestic Affairs and Life in the White House (1969-1971); Topics covered include: Domestic affairs including tax reform, ending the military draft, inability to pass welfare reform, success with environmental reform and desegregation of public schools in the South; Nixon fully focused on his job; Pat Nixon as First Lady; entertainment in the White House; Tricia Nixon marries Ed...

Richard Nixon #10: Getting Started (1968-1969); Topics covered include: President-elect, Julie Nixon's wedding to David Eisenhower, selection of Nixon's White House staff and Cabinet, secret bombing of Cambodia and the leak of that story, initial outreach to the North Vietnamese re: peace talks (no progress), mass anti-war protests, and Nixon's appeal to the "Silent Majority"...

Richard Nixon #9: All the Way Back (including the Anna Chennault Affair) (1963-1968); Topics covered include: Family vacation in Europe; move to New York and new law firm; assassination of John Kennedy; 1964 election; 1966 midterm elections; early views on China; 1968 election including Nixon's nomination, divineness with the Democrats, and Hubert Humphrey's nomination; the Chennault Affai...

Richard Nixon #8: Back-to-Back Defeats (1960-1962); Topics covered include: 1960 president election, Republican National Convention, relationship between Richard Nixon and John Kennedy, religion in the campaign, the first televised presidential debates, outcome of the election, Nixon returns to the law and writes his first memoirs, the Bay of Pigs, Nixon runs for Governor of California and loses,...

Richard Nixon #7: One of the More Consequential Vice Presidencies (1953-1960); Topics covered include: Inauguration of Dwight Eisenhower and Richard Nixon, Nixon's primary roles as VP, trip to Asia/Middle East, 1954 midterm elections, Eisenhower's heart attack, election of 1956, Eisenhower's illnesses, trip to Latin America, facing Communist protestors in Peru and violent Communist pro...