My History Can Beat Up Your Politics

The 72nd Congress of 1931 was, as elected, a very narrow Republican House 218 R - 217 D. Close, but for President Hoover, good enough. That is until, 14 Congressmen-elect died. Not all at once - that would be weird - over 13 months, for all kinds of reasons but heart attacks and pneumonias leading the list. When special elections were held, it went 218 D and 216 R. 1 Farm Laborer supported the Democrats so 219-216.We talk about this curious case. We also talk about the 14 Congressmen-elect who had some interesting biographies. And we talk Herbert Hoover and the spin he (tried to) put on The Great Depression.We are part of Airwave Media Podcast Network. www.airwavemedia.comAdvertise? sales@advertisecast.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One three-second period changed the life of an East German soldier. Stories of freedom and oppression feature heavily on this hodge-podcast episode, the Berlin Wall, the Uruguay dictatorship of the 70's and 80's, a bit about Grover Cleveland and a bit about Charles III. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the world attention focuses on a soccer game, behind the surface is a disturbingly hidden suppression of a previously strong democracy.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The average difference between the two major parties in the House of Representatives at any time in American history is sixty. That being said, there are a few times where one, two or nine seats separated the two major parties in Congress. Sometimes it was Democrats and Republicans. Sometimes it was Whigs and Democrats. You want to be speaker, you scramble. You make a deal with a Socialist, or a Know-Nothing. You find a guy who nobody hates and make him Speaker, hoping that person will listen to. Or you hold out for as long as you can ballot after ballot until people get tired. The record is the 65th Congress in 1917, where one seat separated the two. With a close house arriving in 2023, We look at American history for these times. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Call 2022 the Mick Jagger midterm - neither party got fully what they wanted. Both parties experienced win and losses. It is, so far, largely a "stave midterm" where the President's party lost less seats than expected - we've discussed a few of these on this podcast, and thus for the party expected to have lost seats a kind of win. Yet in this case as opposed to other 'stave' midterms, the President's Party looks like they will lose the house. So when is a win a win and a loss a loss? Is this like the 1970, 1990 or 1994 or 1974 elections? We discuss all this and talk about a midterm in the past. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The race for the Democratic Nomination in 1968 a complicated one, as one candidate would drop out and another die tragically. But for a while, with other candidates choosing not to enter primaries, the '68 Democratic primary became a fight between two concepts of being left in politics and two individuals that couldn't be more different. Robert Kennedy and Eugene McCarthy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

PROGRAM ONE: Ford's Bad Day - Dylan's Troll - Howard Cosell's PoliticsPROGRAM TWO: Skylab's Fall Nixon Shako Warriors - One Hit WonderPROGRAM THREE: High School Riot - Global Cooling and WarmingPROGRAM FOUR: Austin Gets WeirdWe are part of Airwave Media Network Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One reaction to the inflation stagnation and interest rates of the 1970's was to loosen up on a particular 'harmless' form of banking. It didn't work out so well.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the past 100 years, over 80% of the first term midterms went badly for Presidents, and their party lost seats.  But in a few cases they did not. And a few times when they did, the result was very little real change or even a kind of win. A look at first term midterms during the Presidencies of Chester Arthur, Harding, FDR, GW Bush, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton. A combo of new and previously recorded MHCBUYP episodes reveals that while many first term midterms have devastated the President's plans, Presidents don't always do badly, there are 'stave' elections where Presidents have lost so little it's almost a win.  And sometimes, a defeat has positive effects.  Music by Josh Woodward and Lee Rosevere in this episode. Find them on the Free Music Archive website Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A trip to DC inspires me. I try to talk about just about everything going on in this episode from midterms to J6 to Mara Lago to the Republic as it stands, to third parties in US politics, to former Presidents running to a town name in New York that I butchered. And in case we think things are crazy today, we look a bit at how a poet and a writer viewed Washington in 1963 and 1964. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices