Examining Public Authorities and Power Dynamics

This is the seventh official episode, breaking down the 1974 Pulitzer Prize winning book, The Power Broker by our hero Robert Caro. 

This week, Roman Mars and Elliott Kalan sit down with Pete Buttigieg, the US Secretary of Transportation. One of his major responsibilities as Secretary is overseeing the implementation of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which has contributed billions of dollars to infrastructure projects around the country.

Secretary Buttigieg was also responsible for several major infrastructure projects when he was mayor of South Bend, Indiana. And he’s talked about the importance of acknowledging and dismantling the racism built into transportation systems around the country — somewhat paraphrasing The Power Broker — and has gotten a lot of pushback for it.

Elliott and Roman also cover the second half of Part 5 and the first section of Part 6 (Chapter 27 through Chapter 32), discussing the major story beats and themes.

The Power Broker #07: Sec. Pete Buttigieg

Join the discussion on Discord and Reddit.

Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of 99% Invisible ad-free and get exclusive access to bonus episodes. 
Start a free trial now on Apple Podcasts or by visiting siriusxm.com/podcastsplus.