John C Calhoun | Presidencies of the United States

Year(s) Discussed: 1800-1801, 1816-1825, 1860-1864

While some presidential elections function in much the same way as others of the time, there are those select few that reshape the process or are noteworthy for being unique in some way. In the next two episodes of the special series, I will be examining four presidential elections that stand out to me as unprecedented. In this episode, I start with the election of 1824 which saw a four way match up between Secretary of State John Adams, Secretary of the Treasury William Crawford, Speaker of the House Henry Clay, and Senator Andrew Jackson. The remainder of the episode is devoted to the election of 1864 which saw President Abraham Lincoln running for reelection against his challenger, General George McClellan. Sources used for this episode can be found at http://presidencies.blubrry.com.

Featured Images: “Abraham Lincoln” by George Peter Alexander Healy [c. 1869], courtesy of Wikipedia and “George Brinton McClellan” by Julian Scott [c. 1888], courtesy of Wikipedia

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Year(s) Discussed: 1786-1868

Political partnerships are nothing new to American politics, but what happens when the domestic world and the political realm overlap? To examine that question and learn more about one of the most significant political partnerships in American history, I recently spoke with Thomas Balcerski, author of Bosom Friends: The Intimate World of James Buchanan and William Rufus King. In our conversation, Tom shared some great insights about the politics, ideologies, and society of antebellum America and not only how Buchanan and King fit in to all of that but what studying their lives and their relationship can tell us in turn about larger historical themes. Additional resources for this episode can be found at http://presidencies.blubrry.com.

Featured Images: Dr. Thomas Balcerski, courtesy of the author, and “James Buchanan” by George Peter Alexander Healy [c. 1859], courtesy of Wikipedia

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Presidencies of the United States

A journey through presidential history from the beginning to the present day

Tag Archives: John C Calhoun

S004 – Unprecedented Part I

Interview with Thomas Balcerski (Bosom Friends)