unPresidented

Herbert Hoover How can we ever fairly assess a President like Herbert Hoover? While there are plenty of pros and cons to this President, it is tricky to know of any one who would have thrived, or even survived to obtain a second term while first taking office in 1929. At the same time, there are few Presidential candidates in history who could have beaten Hoover, who had such an untarnished reputa...

Jusef gave Niel a three week vacation letting him rest from his research and script duties. On this side-episode we go back to one of our favorite presidential episodes, Lyndon B Johnson. Apparently we aren't the only ones that think LBJ makes for an incredible subject matter - with Hollywood tapping Rob Reiner and Woody Harrelson to tackle his legacy.  From IMDB "Lyndon B. Johnson aligns him...

James Monroe - Part 2 We pick up right where we left off in Part 1 during the year of 1800 with the introduction of Jefferson’s administration, where we really start to see the political career of President Monroe blossom. He is a crucial figure within it as well as  Madison’s administration, and it becomes easy to understand how essentially Monroe is guaranteed the Presidency by the time he...

James Monroe - Part 1 Why would James Monroe, of all Presidents, be worthy of securing our first two part episode? Well, you may be surprised to know that Monroe’s own personal and political story closely mirrors many of the events we think about during the first 50 years of US history. He takes part in critical American Revolution battles, early and foundational Constitutional debates of the role...

Lyndon Johnson Johnson’s Presidency comes at a striking inflection point in US history. People are living through a time where there is an incredible movement with enough momentum to force meaningful legislation to finally end Jim Crow, as there is also declining party polarization taking place in Congress and throughout the country (besides the sturdy minority of southern Dixiecrats). At the same...

Grover Cleveland Everyone loves an anti-corruption candidate, right? Grover Cleveland was shaping up to be a historically accomplished President, rising from Mayor of Buffalo to President in just 3 years. The first and only Democratic to serve as President post-Lincoln in the 19th century, his party affiliation was a tough sell at a time where voter turnout was at a record high. In order to win vo...

William Howard Taft Before we had a Chief Justice Taft, there was President Taft, and those two jobs did not hold an equal value to the man born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio. William Howard Taft may have been the one person to win a Presidential election who never truly wanted to hold the office, and unfortunately for him, served his one term in between two powerhouses -- Teddy Roosevelt and Woo...

John Adams American culture loves to romanticize the founding fathers and the timeline of its revolutionary history. The US puts the faces of their founders on its currency, names thousands of their cities, parks and universities after them, and showcases their quotes all over government buildings throughout all 50 states. Names like Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, James Madison, and Alexande...

Welcome to UnPresidented, a podcast that takes an in depth look at all the American Presidents trying to understand the challenges they face (within context of their era), how they were viewed by their peers and how history looks back at their presidency. My name is Jusef and I am not qualified to explore history or politics - however, luckily my cohost and friend Niel has a bachelor’s in both his...