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.

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, we’ll learn why, and also why the politics and economics of the McKinley age in many ways starkly resemble our own.

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!

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. Second, immigration’s increasingly key role in the fight over who could, in fact, be a citizen, or if you will, a real American.

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.

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.

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 today 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.

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.

Last week, President Donald Trump revealed he has tested positive for COVID-19. While receiving treatment at Walter Reed Medical Center, President Trump's staff and doctors released conflicting and confusing information about his health. But 2020 isn't the first time a president and his doctors have kept information about health a secret. In fact, more often than not, presidents keep their health condition private. This emergency episode gives some more information about George Washington, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan, and George H.W. Bush. We also discuss what information presidents owe to the American people and whether they are entitled to privacy about their health like every other average citizen.

Today’s episode is all about Andrew Johnson, the 17th president of the United States, a man whose presidency is synonymous with the missed opportunities of the post-Civil War era. Never elected, Johnson instead became president after Abraham Lincoln’s tragic assassination. Rather than continuing Lincoln’s agenda, Johnson instead undermined black citizenship, and attempted at every turn to thwart the Republican Party’s Reconstruction efforts in the South. He is today remembered as a bitter, angry, and failed president, and the first ever to be impeached by the House of Representatives. But he wasn’t always remembered so harshly. We will learn why today.

Today’s episode is all about Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, a man whose story is at the center of the defining moment in American history. President during the Civil War, Lincoln saved the union and freed enslaved Americans, and thus casts a mighty long shadow over anyone who held office since. Every President since, historians say, has had to “get right with Lincoln.” But perhaps his story is more complex, as we will learn today.

In this introductory episode we're unpacking and unraveling the myriad of issues at play in understanding Americas racial history and in the history of the presidency. We start this season out by discussing why we felt compelled to create this podcast, why 2020 feels different, and what we hope to learn and race and the American presidency.