[Abridged] Presidential Histories

President Lincoln and General Grant formed one of the most successful president-general partnerships in American history, winning the Civil War and defeating the Confederacy. But before that partnership could turn to the challenge of reconstruction, Lincoln was assassinated, leaving the nation in the incapable hands of Andrew Johnson. Four years later, Grant was elected to pick up where Lincoln and left off and finish Lincoln's mission of healing the divided nation, and he'd lean on everything he'd learned from his late friend to attempt it.Join me as I interview to Ron White, a New York Times best-selling author of presidential biographies, including his recently published Lincoln in Private, and American Ulysses: A life of Ulysses S. Grant, on the impactful friendship between Lincoln and Grant, and Grant's efforts honor Lincoln's legacy by rebuilding a better nation through reconstruction.Support the show

Ulysses S. Grant's reputation has been through a lot. While he was still alive, he was very nearly our first three-term president; after he died, the Myth of the Lost Cause repainted him as a drunk and corrupt butcher; in the past 30 years, he's started to become a Civil Rights Icon as historians gave him a long overdue second look. Join me as I interview to Joan Waugh, UCLA professor of 19th-century America who specializes in the Civil War, Reconstruction, and the Gilded Age, and the author of U.S. Grant, American Hero, American Myth on why Grant's reputation has changed so much, and what's still misunderstood about our 18th president.Support the show

Ulysses S. Grant led an Odyssey of a life. From the battlefields of the Mexican-American War, to the get-rich-quick frontier of the California Gold Rush, to years of poverty in St. Louis, Grant was shaped by a dizzying array of diverse experiences. Join me as I interview Nick Sacco, a park ranger at Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site in St. Louis and an author for The Journal of the Civil War Era, on the experiences that prepared Grant to win the Civil War and lead the nation through Reconstruction as our 18th President.Support the show

They say history is written by the victor. Ulysses S Grant may beg to differ. For nearly 100 years, Grant was derided as an inept and corrupt drunk who won the Civil War by recklessly sacrificing the lives of his men and who floundered in a presidency rife with corruption.In the past 30 years, that verdict has changed.Follow along as Grant goes from Mexican-American war veteran to failed businessman, victorious union general, and eventually president of the United States. Along the way, he'll go nearly undefeated as a general, lead the fight against the Ku Klux Klan during reconstruction, revamp the country's native American policy, bring permanent amity to its relations with Great Britain, and, yes, oversee an administration rife with corruption. But as I think we'll see, the corruption is more of a footnote than a full-length feature.Bibliography:1.     Grant – Jean Edward Smith2.     Andrew Johnson – Annette Gordon-Reed3.     Abraham Lincoln – David Herbert Donald4.     The Complete Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant – Ulysses S. Grant5.     Embattled Rebel – James M. McPherson6.     Rutherford B. Hayes – Hans. L. Trefousse7.     Destiny of the Republic – Candice Miller8.     The Unexpected President: The Life and Times of Chester A. Arthur – Scott S. GreenbergerSupport the show

Andrew Johnson is the only president to face a Senate impeachment in our first 200 years. What did he do to get impeached? Who were the men out to get him? And how did he beat his conviction and removal from office by a single vote? Join me as I interview David O Stewart, a lawyer, historian, and author of numerous books about presidential history, including Impeached: The Trial of President Andrew Johnson and the Fight for Lincoln’s Legacy, on the trial that some say altered the balance of power between Congress and the president for a generation.Support the show

In the wake of Abraham Lincoln's assassination, former vice president Andrew Johnson was faced with a tremendous challenge: How do you mend relations between the north and south, two regions that had spend the past four years killing each other on the field of battle? And what do you do about the south's 3.5 million newly freed former slaves who owned no land or property and who were surrounded by 5.5 million whites who feared and resented them. And, oh yeah, all those white guys have recent military experience?It wouldn't have been easy for any president to navigate these challenges peacefully. Unfortunately,  when it came to the freedmen Johnson had no interest in that "peacefully" part. Follow along as Johnson rises from poverty so deep, he was sold into indentured servitude, to city alderman, to the state house, to the White House. Along the way, we'll see how he put himself in a position to replace Lincoln's first-term vice president, how his influence during reconstruction helped cement a post-slavery racist society we're still haunted by today, and how he became the only president in our first 200 years to face an impeachment trial in the senate.Bibliography1. Andrew Johnson – Annette Gordon-Reed2. Grant – Jean Edward Smith3. Abraham Lincoln – David Herbert Donald4. Rutherford B. Hayes – Hans. L. TrefousseSupport the show

Jefferson Davis was never president of all the United States, but he was president of half of them.Follow Davis as parlays his status as a Mexican-American war hero into a political career as a fiery southern radical, serves as Secretary of War, get's his dream job as general of the confederate Mississippi armies, and days later gets the job he never asked for nor wanted - President of the Confederacy. We'll take a close look at the major decisions he made that helped shape the outcome of the Civil WarWhile we're at it, we'll also look at the Myth of the Lost Cause - a bit of pro confederate revisionism that has tinted how we remember the Civil War in the friendliest way possible for the confederates who started it.Bibliography:1. Embattled Rebel - James McPherson2. Abraham Lincoln – David Herbert Donald3. Grant – Jean Edward SmithSupport the show

Six of the seven presidents who followed Lincoln served in the Union Army during the Civil War. In our final look at Honest Abe, join me as I interview Jon White, an associate professor of American Studies at Christopher Newport University and author of Emancipation, the Union Army, and the Reelection of Abraham Lincoln , on Lincoln's relationship with the army and what its soldiers thought of Lincoln, the GOP, slavery, and the election of 1864.Support the show

Abraham Lincoln is the most experienced trial lawyer we've ever elected president, with more than two decades of experience litigating in the courtroom. Join me as I talk to Brian Dirck, a professor of History at Anderson University in Anderson, Indiana, and author of Lincoln the Lawyer, as we discuss how those decades of practicing the law prepared Lincoln for the legal landmines he had to navigate to win the Civil War and free the slaves.Support the show

Think the press is biased today? Take a look at it in the 19th century, when papers were so partisan they were practically departments of their parties. Join me as I interview Harold Holzer, director of the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College in New York City,  Chairman of the Lincoln Forum, and author of The presidents vs. the Press: The endless battle between the white house and the media, from the founding fathers to Fake News on the tools Lincoln used to manage the press, and how he flattered, outwitted, and strong armed the media during the four years of Civil War. Support the show