21.) Chester A. Arthur 1881-1885
Chester A. Arthur is the most corrupt politician to ever become president. For years, he made a fortune making sure enough money disappeared from the New York City customs house to keep his patron in power. When a backroom deal made him vice president and an assassin's bullet ended James Garfield's presidency and began Arthur's, the nation despaired. But then he got an unexpected letter. One woman - a woman he'd never met - believed he was capable of change. Could Arthur complete the most une...
25 Okt 202151min
44.A) The Black President, an interview on Barack Obama with Claude A. Clegg
It's Obama time! We are skipping ahead in the narrative to talk with UNC professor Claude A. Clegg, author of the recently published book The Black President: Hope and Fury in the Age of Obama, about the Obama administration, race, and the challenges and opportunities that come with writing contemporary history. Support the show
18 Okt 202158min
20.A.) Garfield and the Gilded Age, an interview with Todd Arrington
James Garfield has been called, "The best president we never had." What did we lose when he was assassinated? A champion for the abandoned freedmen? A guiding light in an age of corruption? Or just another politician, same as the rest? Join me as I interview to Todd Arrington, a historian and site manager at the James A. Garfield National Historic Site in Mentor, Ohio, and author of The Last Lincoln Republican: The Presidential Election of 1880 , on what the nation lost when Garfield was as...
6 Sep 202148min
20.) James A. Garfield 1881-1881
James Garfield didn't want to be president, but the 1880 Republican Convention nominated him against his will. And do you know what thanks he got for it? Assassinated within six months. But Garfield has a lot to teach us in his fascinating rags-to-riches life and the fierce political battles he waged during his short term in office for, in just a few months, he accomplished what his predecessor could not - the defeat of Lord Roscoe's corrupt New York political machine Follow along as Garfiel...
1 Sep 202150min
19.A.) Hayes' evolving views on slavery, an interview with Dustin McLochlin
Rutherford B. Hayes is known to history as the President who ended Reconstruction, but is that a fair monicker? What did Hayes think of slavery, the freedmen, and Reconstruction, anyway? Join me as I interview to Dustin McLochlin, a historian at the Rutherford B Hayes Presidential Library and Museums in Fremont, Ohio, on Hayes' evolving views on slavery and how to best protect the former slaves, and bring peace, after the Civil War set them free. Support the show
9 Aug 202149min
19.) Rutherford B Hayes 1877-1881
How do you lead a nation when half the country thinks you were fraudulently elected? I'm not talking about 2021, I'm talking about 1877, when Rutherford B Hayes emerged the winner of an election that was so vigorously contested, he wasn't even officially declared the winner until two days before inauguration day. But what did Hayes win? A nation that didn't fully accept him, and a party so rife with corruption that the longest daggers were in his fellow Republicans' pockets. Follow alo...
2 Aug 202156min
18.C.) Grant, Lincoln, and Reconstruction, an interview with Ron White
President Lincoln and General Grant formed one of the most successful president-general partnerships in American history, winning the Civil War and defeating the Confederacy. But before that partnership could turn to the challenge of reconstruction, Lincoln was assassinated, leaving the nation in the incapable hands of Andrew Johnson. Four years later, Grant was elected to pick up where Lincoln and left off and finish Lincoln's mission of healing the divided nation, and he'd lean on everythin...
19 Juli 202132min
18.B.) The evolving myth and reputation of Ulysses S. Grant, an interview with Joan Waugh
Ulysses S. Grant's reputation has been through a lot. While he was still alive, he was very nearly our first three-term president; after he died, the Myth of the Lost Cause repainted him as a drunk and corrupt butcher; in the past 30 years, he's started to become a Civil Rights Icon as historians gave him a long overdue second look. Join me as I interview to Joan Waugh, UCLA professor of 19th-century America who specializes in the Civil War, Reconstruction, and the Gilded Age, and the author ...
12 Juli 202150min
