129 - Jeremi Suri: The Impossibility of the American Presidency

Jeremi Suri holds the Mack Brown Distinguished Chair for Leadership in Global Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin, where he is Professor of History in the Department of History and the LBJ School of Public Affairs. Jeremi’s selection of topics in his work is sprawling, but he writes largely on modern and contemporary politics and foreign policy. In this episode, Robinson and Jeremi discuss the American presidency and how it has shifted over the past two hundred and fifty years to become an impossible position with impossible demands and expectations. Their conversation focuses on five presidents—George Washington, Andrew Jackson, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt, and John F. Kennedy—though they also touch on Barrack Obama, Donald Trump, and Joe Biden. 

Jeremi’s Website: https://www.jeremisuri.net

The Impossible Presidency: https://a.co/d/1mOgm7Q

Civil War by Other Means: https://a.co/d/19i6Jq1

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode

01:02 Introduction

05:17 What Are the Historian’s Skills?

15:54 Jeremi’s Background

18:58 Did Washington and Trump Have the Same Job?

25:23 How to Measure the Success of a President?

35:11 What Made Washington Great?

55:40 Was Andrew Jackson Actually a Great President?

01:07:29 How Abraham Lincoln Doomed the Presidency

01:17:20 Theodore Roosevelt and Military Imperialism

01:26:38 Was Franklin Roosevelt the Last Great President?

01:37:38 Why Did JFK Fail as President? 

01:42:19 What is Obama’s Legacy?

01:48:08 Was Donald Trump the End of the Presidency?

01:55:06 Jeremi’s Advice for a Future President

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between.