Monthly Archives: March 2020

Interview with Jon Finkel (Jocks in Chief)

March 22, 2020InterviewAbraham Lincoln, Barack Obama, Calvin Coolidge, George Washington, Gerald Ford, John F Kennedy, Theodore Roosevelt, William Henry Harrisonpresidencies

Year(s) Discussed: 1789-2020

The term “fit for office” is often bandied about when talking about the US presidency, but how exactly does physical fitness relate to the office or to presidential campaigning? To explore that question, I recently spoke with Jon Finkel, author of Jocks in Chief. In our conversation, Jon shared the system that he came up with to rank the athleticism of the 44 individuals who thus far have served as president, and we discussed how various presidents approached exercise in their lives as well as how impressions of the vigor of some presidential candidates impacted their campaigns and historical legacies.

More information about Jon and his work can be found on his website at https://jonfinkel.com/.

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From Me to All of You: A Quick Note

March 19, 2020Uncategorizedpresidencies

With the current global situation, I wanted to send out a quick note to express that my thoughts are with all of you out there and to assure you that Presidencies will continue (including with a new special episode coming out on Sunday, March 22nd!). Take care, everyone!

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3.14 – Source Notes

March 8, 2020Uncategorizedpresidencies

Special thanks to Robin for providing the intro quote for this episode!

Ammon, Harry. James Monroe: The Quest for National Identity. Charlottesville, VA and London: University Press of Virginia, 1999 [1971].
Dangerfield, George. Chancellor Robert R. Livingston of New York, 1746-1813. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co, 1960.
DuBois, Laurent. Avengers of the New World: The Story of the Haitian Revolution. Cambridge, MA and London, England, UK: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2005 [2004].
Ernst, Robert. Rufus King: American Federalist. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1968.
Esdaile, Charles. Napoleon’s Wars: An International History. New York: Penguin, 2009 [2007].
Hilt, Douglas. The Troubled Trinity: Goody and the Spanish Monarchs. Tuscaloosa, AL and London: University of Alabama Press, 1987.
Landry, Jerry. The Presidencies of the United States. 2018-2020. http://presidencies.blubrry.com.
Livingston, Robert R. “To James Madison, 20 May 1803,” Founders Online, National Archives, accessed September 29, 2019, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/02-05-02-0019. [Original source: The Papers of James Madison, Secretary of State Series, vol. 5, 16 May–31 October 1803, ed. David B. Mattern, J. C. A. Stagg, Ellen J. Barber, Anne Mandeville Colony, and Bradley J. Daigle. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 2000, pp. 18–20.] [Last Accessed: 20 Feb 2020]
Lyon, E Wilson. Louisiana in French Diplomacy 1759-1804. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1934.
Malone, Dumas. Jefferson the President First Term, 1801-1805: Jefferson and His Time, Volume Four. Boston: Little, Brown and Co, 1970.
Monroe, James. “To James Madison, 9 April 1803,” Founders Online, National Archives, accessed September 29, 2019, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/02-04-02-0601. [Original source: The Papers of James Madison, Secretary of State Series, vol. 4, 8 October 1802 – 15 May 1803, ed. Mary A. Hackett, J. C. A. Stagg, Jeanne Kerr Cross, Susan Holbrook Perdue, and Ellen J. Barber. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1998, pp. 497–498.] [Last Accessed: 9 Feb 2020]
Monroe, James. “To James Madison, 18 May 1803,” Founders Online, National Archives, accessed September 29, 2019, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/02-05-02-0012. [Original source: The Papers of James Madison, Secretary of State Series, vol. 5, 16 May–31 October 1803, ed. David B. Mattern, J. C. A. Stagg, Ellen J. Barber, Anne Mandeville Colony, and Bradley J. Daigle. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 2000, pp. 12–13.] [Last Accessed: 20 Feb 2020]
Monroe, James. “To James Madison, 7 June 1803,” Founders Online, National Archives, accessed September 29, 2019, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/02-05-02-0086. [Original source: The Papers of James Madison, Secretary of State Series, vol. 5, 16 May–31 October 1803, ed. David B. Mattern, J. C. A. Stagg, Ellen J. Barber, Anne Mandeville Colony, and Bradley J. Daigle. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 2000, pp. 72–77.] [Last Accessed: 20 Feb 2020]
Monroe, James. “To James Madison, 8 June 1803,” Founders Online, National Archives, accessed September 29, 2019, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/02-05-02-0092. [Original source: The Papers of James Madison, Secretary of State Series, vol. 5, 16 May–31 October 1803, ed. David B. Mattern, J. C. A. Stagg, Ellen J. Barber, Anne Mandeville Colony, and Bradley J. Daigle. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 2000, p. 81.] [Last Accessed: 20 Feb 2020]
Schom, Alan. Napoleon Bonaparte. New York: HarperCollins, 1998 [1997].

Featured Image: “Portrait de François, marquis de Barbé-Marbois (1745-1837)” by Jean François Boisselat [c. 1835], courtesy of Wikipedia

3.14 – Can I Make a Purchase?

March 8, 202003 - Thomas JeffersonChancellor Robert Livingston, Charles Pinckney, East Florida, France, Great Britain, Haitian Revolution, James Madison, James Monroe, Jean-Jacques Dessalines, Louisiana, Manuel de Godoy, Napoleon Bonaparte, New Orleans, Rufus King, Spain, Talleyrand, Thomas Jefferson, West Floridapresidencies

Year(s) Discussed: 1803

Despite US Minister to France Robert R Livingston’s best efforts to conclude a treaty with France on his own, the arrival of Special Envoy James Monroe in Paris marked the beginning of a new phase of negotiations which soon led to the acquisition of a large swath of territory for the United States, an event known today as the Louisiana Purchase. Though swift, the diplomatic back and forth in April 1803 proved to be precarious from the first proposal until the signatures were on the final document. Sources used for this episode can be found at http://presidencies.blubrry.com.

Featured Image: “Hoisting of American Colors over Louisiana” by Thure de Thulstrup [c. 1904], courtesy of Wikipedia

Intro and Outro Music: Selections from “Jefferson and Liberty” as performed by The Itinerant Band

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S003 – Source Notes

March 1, 2020Uncategorizedpresidencies

Special thanks to Jessica and Howard from Plodding Through the Presidents, Peter from Badger State: A Wisconsin History Podcast, and Robin for providing the intro quotes for this episode!

Black, Christine M, and Thomas Oliphant. All by Myself: The Unmaking of a Presidential Campaign. Chester, CT: The Globe Pequot Press, 1989.
Brands, H W. Reagan: The Life. New York: Doubleday, 2015.
Busch, Andrew E. Reagan’s Victory: The Presidential Election of 1980 and the Rise of the Right. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 2005.
Cannon, James. Gerald R. Ford: An Honorable Life. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 2013.
Carter, Jimmy. White House Diary. New York: Picador, 2011 [2010].
CBS News Staff. “Super Tuesday At A Glance.” CBS News. 6 Mar 2000. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/super-tuesday-at-a-glance/ [Last Accessed: 12 Feb 2020]
Dole, Robert. “29 Feb 1988, Dole Presidential Campaign Speech.” C-SPAN. https://www.c-span.org/video/?1823-1/dole-presidential-campaign-speech [Last Accessed: 21 Feb 2020]
Edwards, Elizabeth. Saving Graces: Finding Solace and Strength From Friends and Strangers. New York: Broadway Books, 2006.
Germond, Jack W, and Jules Witcover. Blue Smoke and Mirrors: How Reagan Won and Why Carter Lost the Election of 1980. New York: Viking Press, 1981.
Germond, Jack W, and Jules Witcover. Whose Broad Stripes and Bright Stars? The Trivial Pursuit of the Presidency 1988. New York: Warner Books, 1989.
Glenn, John, and Nick Taylor. John Glenn: A Memoir. New York: Bantam Books, 1999.
Mayer, Jane, and Doyle McManus. Landslide: The Unmaking of the President 1984-1988. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Co, 1988.
Meacham, Jon. Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush. New York: Random House, 2015.
Mondale, Walter, and David Hage. The Good Fight: A Life in Liberal Politics. New York: Scribner, 2010.
Reagan, Nancy, and William Novak. My Turn: The Memoirs of Nancy Reagan. New York: Random House, 1989.
Reeves, Richard. President Reagan: The Triumph of Imagination. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2005.
Tarr, David R, et al. Guide to U.S. Elections, Sixth Edition, Volume I. Washington, DC: CQ Press, 2010.
United Press International. “Ford, Carter head into crucial Super Tuesday.” Lodi News-Sentinel. 3 Jun 1976. https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Oe1fAAAAIBAJ&sjid=YzIHAAAAIBAJ&dq=super-tuesday&pg=6816%2C3038734 [Last Accessed: 27 Jan 2020]
White, Theodore H. America in Search of Itself: The Making of the President, 1956-1980. New York: Harper & Row, 1982.
Witcover, Jules. Marathon: The Pursuit of the Presidency 1972-1976. New York: Viking Press, 1977.
Zelnick, Bob. Gore: A Political Life. Washington, DC: Regnery, 1999.

Featured Image: “Republican Debate with Ronald Reagan, Philip Crane, George Bush and John Anderson with moderator Eric Sevareid in Chicago, Illinois.” [13 Mar 1980], courtesy of Wikipedia

S003 – The Super Tuesday Spectacular

March 1, 2020UncategorizedAl Gore, Bob Dole, Dick Gephardt, Election of 1976, Election of 1980, Election of 1984, Election of 1988, Gary Hart, George H W Bush, Gerald Ford, Jack Kemp, Jerry Brown, Jesse Jackson, Jimmy Carter, John Anderson, John Glenn, Lee Atwater, Michael Dukakis, Mo Udall, Pat Robertson, Paul Kirk, Paul Simon, Pierre du Pont, Ronald Reagan, Strom Thurmond, Ted Kennedy, Walter Mondalepresidencies

Year(s) Discussed: 1976-1988

Super Tuesday happens at least once every four years in the modern US presidential election cycle, but how much does anyone really know about this date on the campaign calendar? In this episode, I explore the history of Super Tuesday and how it impacted numerous presidential elections in the past. Sources used for this episode can be found at http://presidencies.blubrry.com.

Featured Image: “Senator Edward Kennedy meets with Jimmy Carter.” [5 Dec 1977], courtesy of Wikipedia

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