The Past, the Promise, the Presidency

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S1 E13: The 1920s Dec 17, 2020

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Today’s episode is all about the roaring twenties. It’s a decade often recalled with wistful longing, and more than touch of trepidation. Longing, because that is what Americans largely felt in this era: a longing to move past the pain of the Great War and the great pandemic. Trepidation, for us if not for them, because we know the traumas that 1930s and ‘40s would bring. Sometimes it’s no fun to know what comes next, and if you don’t know what we are referring to…well, then you better stick around for future episodes!

The Presidents of the 1920s are largely not recalled well, if recalled at all. Indeed, we’ve chosen to discuss them en masse to leave a bit more time for more consequential presidents still to come. Our three today, in the order they served, were Warren Harding, Calvin Coolidge, and Herbert Hoover. If you needed a catchphrase to remember each as we go forward today, you could do worse than to say: one of the most scandal-ridden presidencies in American history; one of the intentionally least impactful; and one of the most callous.
Today's guests are Dr. Le'Trice Donaldson and Dr. Deborah Kang.
To learn more about our guests and read show notes for today's episode, visit pastpromisepresidency.com!

S1 E12: Woodrow Wilson Part II Dec 10, 2020

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Today’s episode is all about Woodrow Wilson, the 28th President of the United States and arguably the most consequential. Note, I did not say one of the greats. They aren’t holding a spot on Mt. Rushmore for him. Certainly not lately, as the national reckoning over race during 2020 has landed hard on Wilson, whose reputation has been sullied by the widespread realization that he might just vie for the unenviable title of most racist president of all. That’s a hard list to evaluate, especially given that numerous antebellum presidents owned people of other races, but as our friend Jon Meacham said in an earlier episode when discussing Andrew Johnson, if you are in the discussion for most racist president ever, well that’s a list you’d rather not be on.

Wilson has not fared particularly well as our country rethinks its racial past, and has featured prominently in our national discussion about how to live with the harsh truths of the past in our own present day. There is so much to discuss about this fascinating man. So much indeed, that we’ve decided to break our discussion into two episodes. In Part I, we released an episode following our regular format, which offered a pretty critical view of Wilson’s history on race.

In this episode, we are talking to Professor Thomas Knock, perhaps the preeminent Wilson scholar about Wilson’s life, legacy, and presidency. To be sure, it’s a more complimentary portrayal, but given that Knock has spent so much time thinking about Wilson and how to commemorate this complicated man, we wanted to share the conversation in its entirety.

Visit pastpromisepresidency.com to read more about Wilson, learn about our guest experts, and more!

S1 E11: Woodrow Wilson Part I Dec 10, 2020

Show notes

Today we are learning from two brilliant scholars, Dr. Paul Behringer and Dr. Adriane Lentz-Smith, about this complicated man and presidency. Together our scholars illuminated two points:

First, that one can’t just look at American racial policy, and Wilson in particular, in black-white term—Wilson’s presidency invites us to consider questions of race in India, Africa, China, Japan and beyond;
And second, that yes you can, at least in so far as the U.S. Army’s attitudes and policies were designed to wage and win a war for democracy yes, but precisely, for whom?

Visit pastpromisepresidency.com to read more about Wilson, learn about our guest experts, and more!

S1 E10: William Howard Taft Dec 03, 2020

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Today’s episode is all about William Howard Taft, the 27th President of the United States. The only person on our nation’s history to serve both as Commander-In-Chief and as Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, Taft is one of those people in history with the sad fate of having his name forever recalled…alongside someone else’s. But really, what did you expect would happen to the man Theodore Roosevelt picked to be his successor. As we’ll soon see, with friends like these…..
Today we will hear from two experts, Dr. Christopher McKnight Nichols and Dan Okert, on Taft’s life and era, and how he dealt with the racial issues of his day. Together they highlighted two critical themes:

The national conversation about race no longer focused predominately on African Americans and Native Americans, but turned toward Eastern European and Asian immigrants as well.
The role of science in racial thinking

To learn more about our guests, read show notes, and more, visit pastpromisepresidency.com!

S1 E9: Theodore Roosevelt Nov 19, 2020

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Today’s episode is all about Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th president of the United States. Theodore Roosevelt, TR, or Teddy, was one of the all-time great personalities in American history. Larger-than-life, captured in stone on Mount Rushmore, inspiration for the Teddy Bear and featured in countless movies, he was at once is intriguing, frustrating, thoughtful and blustery, a man ahead of his times, yet also stuck in the rut of arcane thinking. TR left a legacy of economic reform, social reform, environmental reform, and a new standing for the country in the world. But…was he such a reformer on race? We’ll answer that question, and so much more, when we talk with Dr. Michael Cullinane and Dr. Leroy Dorsey on Roosevelt’s life and times. Together, these conversations highlighted two critical themes: First, the importance of the concept of the frontier to American nationalism, and American racial thinking. Second, why the president has an unparalleled bully pulpit—a term Roosevelt coined by the way—for shaping conceptions of race, citizenship, and ultimately, who could rightly claim to be an American.
Visit pastpromisepresidency.com to learn more.

S1 E8: William McKinley Nov 12, 2020

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Today’s episode is all about William McKinley, the 25th president of the United States, the president who brought the country into the twentieth century and whose death left the nation in the hands of one of the all-time-great leaders, and characters, in American history, Theodore Roosevelt. Historians typically view McKinley’s time in office as a moment of, well less transition, than visible transformation, as the country entered the new century more industrialized, urban, and globally powerful than ever before. And even more so by the time he left office. One example: as we’ve discussed in depth so far this season, American historians typically divide our past, and more important our survey courses, with reconstruction at 1877. Foreign policy historians typically use 1898 instead. On this episode you'll learn why this moment is so pivotal, and also why the politics and economics of the McKinley age in many ways starkly resemble our own.
This episode features guests Dr. Daniel Immerwahr and Dr. Richard Maass. Visit pastpromisepresidency.com to learn more.

S1 E7: Grover Cleveland and Benjamin Harrison Nov 05, 2020

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Today’s episode is all about Presidents Grover Cleveland and Benjamin Harrison, the 22nd, 23rd, and 24th presidents of the United States—one of the most unusual transitions in US history. Cleveland served one term from 1885 to 1889, lost the election to Benjamin Harrison, who was in turn replaced by Cleveland in 1892. Whew. And you thought our times were complicated!
Our two experts today will fill in the details of their stories, and how their politics continue to inform our current moment. For this episode, we spoke to two esteemed scholars: Dr. Greg Downs, Professor of History at the University of California, Davis, and Dr. Gordon Chang, Professor of History at Stanford University.

Together our guests highlighted two key stories from this period: First, the ongoing battle, and ultimately the ongoing erosion, of African-American civil rights in the South now a full generation after the Civil War’s end. And second, immigration’s increasingly key role in the fight over who could, in fact, be a citizen, or if you will, a real American.
Visit pastpromisepresidency.com to learn more.

S1 E6: James A. Garfield and Chester A. Arthur Oct 29, 2020

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Today’s episode is all about Presidents James A. Garfield and Chester A. Arthur. Garfield, the 20th president of the United States, was only in office six and a half months before he died from medical complications following a botched assassination. Just sixteen years after Lincoln’s death, Garfield was the second president assassinated. His vice president, Chester Arthur, served the remainder of his term.
We will learn from two experts about why Arthur’s presidency was dominated by civil service reform, debates over immigration, and conflict over Native American policy—and how the administration might have gone differently if Garfield had survived. For this episode, we spoke to two esteemed scholars. Todd Arrington and Dr. Katie Benton-Cohen helped us grapple with three critical themes:

First, the potential for greater civil rights under President Garfield and the opportunity lost with his assassination.
Second, the emergence of the southwest as a site of racial tension.
Third, the increasing role of immigration in racial relations.

Visit pastpromisepresidency.com to learn more.

S1 E5: Rutherford B. Hayes Oct 22, 2020

Show notes

Today’s episode is all about Rutherford B. Hayes, the 19th president of the United States, a man whose name is synonymous with the end of Reconstruction and the rise of Jim Crow in the south. But perhaps his legacy isn’t quite that simple.

Here’s a quick refresher on Hayes. Born in Ohio in 1822, he was trained as a lawyer, prior to enlisting in the Union Army during the Civil War. After serving bravely in the war, he was elected to Congress and then as Governor of Ohio. Although Hayes had been a staunch abolitionist, had defended enslaved individuals in runaway court proceedings before the war, and supported Radical Republican Reconstruction programs, he made a deal with the devil to win the presidency. In the 1877 election, Hayes lost the popular vote, but won the electoral college through a congressional deal that gave him the victory, in return for withdrawing federal troops from the south.

We will learn from two Hayes experts, Dr. Brooks Simpson and Dr. Alaina Roberts, about why Hayes’ election is often seen as a dividing line in our nation’s history—defining the end of federal government intervention on behalf of formerly enslaved people in the South, and the beginning of a prolonged era of state-sanctioned terror for black Americans. This era also ushered in increased encroachment upon Native American lands and sovereignty—and raised new questions about land ownership and citizenship rights—as the nation moved westward.
Visit pastpromisepresidency.com to learn more.

S1 E4: Ulysses S. Grant Oct 15, 2020

Show notes

Today’s episode is all about Ulysses S. Grant, the 18th president of the United States, a man whose story is inextricably intertwined with the history of race in America. He was, after all the, the commanding General of the Union Forces that ultimately won the Civil War, and he was present at every step of the way as the country faced perhaps an even larger task: reconstructing a workable union in the wake of the war.
A national hero, he served contentiously under Andrew Johnson following Lincoln’s tragic death, and succeeded both men when elected President in 1868. He served two terms, until 1877, years that were incredibly consequential for the course of the South, the Union, and in particular for the millions of African Americans freed at war’s end, but uncertain for what the future might hold. He’d fought to save the Union during the war. He’d have to fight again to preserve it long after the guns fell silent.

In today's episode, we speak to Dr. Hilary Green, Associate Professor at the University of Alabama, and Nick Sacco, Park Ranger at the Ulysses S. Grant National Park Service site in St. Louis. We learn from our two Grant experts that we can’t understand his life, his legacy, and certainly not his presidency, without grappling with the biggest event of all: the Civil War.

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