The Lighthearted Presidency

It’s Election Day, but we’re not talking about the campaign. Shane Harris welcomes Tim Naftali back to the show to talk about Americans’ fascination with the presidency. When did the “modern presidency” begin? When did voters and the press become fixated on presidents’ private lives? And what do we get wrong about the nation’s highest office? 

Naftali, a presidential historian, was last on Chatter in June 2022 to talk about Watergate, a subject on which he’s one of the country’s leading experts. Today’s conversation helps put the momentousness of this year’s election in some historic perspective. Have a listen while you’re standing in line to vote! 

People, plays, and policies discussed in this conversation include: 

• Theodore Roosevelt, the first modern president: https://millercenter.org/president/roosevelt/life-in-brief 
• Oh, Mary! by Cole Escola: https://www.ohmaryplay.com/ 
• The presidential “kill list”: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/newly-declassified-document-sheds-light-on-how-president-approves-drone-strikes/2016/08/06/f424fe50-5be0-11e6-831d-0324760ca856_story.html 
• The Jimmy Carter “running” photo: https://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2025424_2025864_2025986,00.html 
• Teddy White: https://www.nytimes.com/1986/05/16/obituaries/theodore-white-chronicler-of-us-politics-is-dead-at-71.html 
• Read more about Naftali and his work: https://www.sipa.columbia.edu/communities-connections/faculty/timothy-naftali 

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