Chris Matthews of Hardball joins the program!! He has just finished his book Bobby Kennedy – A Raging Spirit. Chris talks about RFK and how his history and childhood, and his relationship with Joe Kennedy Senior that informed his own politics. Those politics, according to Matthews, were just starting to develop at the end of…
Month: October 2017
Mike Duncan on America and Rome: The Storm Before the Storm
Populism, corruption, citizenship, and immigration. Rome struggled with these issues in its Republic phase. Bruce is joined by Mike Duncan, host of The History of Rome Podcast, to talk about the pre-fall of the Roman Republic, period of 146 to 78 BC and the cast of characters that struggled for power at the time. Mike…
President by Accident: Truman, Atomic Warfare, Russians and Trump w/ A.J. Baime
In a day everything changed and a new President inhabited the chair in the White House. The country and the world were anxious. Russia and Asia Pacific were frightening foreign policy issues. We are speaking of 1945, but as A.J. Baime, author of The Accidental President suggests, there are some similarities to today. A.J. Joins…
Gerry and his “Mander.” A History of Gerrymandering (With Update on recent SCOTUS case)
Elbridge Gerry lent his name to a tricky political maneuver. Not that he wanted to, or perhaps, deserved it. With gerrymandering of congressional districts and state legislative districts on the agenda of the Supreme Court, Bruce discusses the court case Gill v. Whitford and then revisits his cast from 2013 about Elbridge Gerry.
My History Can Beat Up Your Politics 