Podcasts by Presidential
The Washington Post's Presidential podcast explores how each former American president reached office, made decisions, handled crises and redefined the role of commander-in-chief. It was released leading up to up to Election Day 2016, starting with George Washington in week one and ending on week 44 with the president-elect. New special episodes in the countdown to the 2020 presidential election highlight other stories from U.S. presidential history that can help illuminate our current moment. Hosted by Lillian Cunningham, the series features Pulitzer Prize-winning biographers like David McCullough and Washington Post journalists like Bob Woodward. [When you're done, listen to Lillian's other historical podcasts: Constitutional and Moonrise]
Further podcasts by The Washington Post
Podcast on the topic Geschichte
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BONUS | Happy Presidents’ Day! Or … not? from 2022-02-21T14:33:21
Students, teachers and historians reflect on what has changed — and should change — about the way we teach presidential history today. This special episode features presidential experts Barbara Per...
ListenJoe Biden: Triumph, tragedy and the fate of the center from 2020-11-08T04:55:34
Four years later, the “Presidential” podcast adds a new biography to its cadre of American presidents. This special episode explores Joe Biden's decades-long, hard-fought personal and political pat...
ListenBONUS | What books about Trump say about America from 2020-10-23T10:00
Books published in the Trump era reveal the battles over, and changes in, the American presidency today. In this special episode of “Presidential,” Post nonfiction book critic Carlos Lozada shares ...
ListenBONUS | Pandemic, propaganda and the presidency from 2020-09-24T10:00
The 1918 influenza pandemic killed more than 675,000 Americans, but President Woodrow Wilson never made a single public statement about it. Why? Here’s what happens when efforts to promote patrioti...
ListenBONUS | When a VP pick changes history from 2020-08-07T21:52
BONUS | Binding up the nation's wounds from 2020-06-19T17:12:33
LIVE EVENT | 'Unprecedented Presidents' live from WBUR CitySpace from 2020-03-06T15:33:29
Four years after making Presidential, host Lillian Cunningham led a panel examining what's really unprecedented--or not--about Donald Trump's presidency. Historians Alexis Coe, Drew Gilpin Faust an...
ListenDonald Trump: Division and union from 2016-11-09T09:58
In this final episode of the podcast, Library of Congress historians Michelle Krowl and Julie Miller return--along with Washington Post journalist Dan Balz--to reflect on the changing nature of the...
ListenBarack Obama: The pursuit of identity from 2016-10-30T22:30
Political strategist David Axelrod and biographer David Maraniss discuss Barack Obama's search for identity -- and how that quest has paralleled America's own complex reckoning with race.
ListenGeorge W. Bush: Changing course from 2016-10-23T22:46
Peter Baker, author of"Days of Fire"and a journalist with the New York Times, joins historian Mark Updegrove to examine how George W. Bush's presidency marked the beginning of a new era in American...
ListenBill Clinton: The good and the bad from 2016-10-16T14:00
David Maraniss, who won the Pulitzer Prize for his reporting on Bill Clinton, explores how Clinton's core character traits had both a bright and a dark side. And Post reporter Jim Tankersley examin...
ListenGeorge H. W. Bush: Restraint from 2016-10-09T14:23
Historians Jon Meacham and Jeffrey Engel discuss President Bush's unique form of presidential leadership--a vintage combination of public service, conservatism and emotional restraint--and examine ...
ListenRonald Reagan: Myths and truths from 2016-10-02T21:13
Lou Cannon, biographer and senior White House correspondent for The Washington Post during President Reagan's administration, helps us separate the fact from fiction about who Ronald Reagan really ...
ListenJimmy Carter: Keeping the faith from 2016-09-25T16:15
Longtime Carter political adviser Pat Caddell, theologian and biographer Randall Balmer, and Washington Post reporter Robert Costa examine how Jimmy Carter's faith has shaped his leadership in and ...
ListenGerald Ford: It's personal from 2016-09-18T21:29
The president's son Steven Ford joins White House photographer David Hume Kennerly and Berkeley professor Daniel Sargent to talk about how Gerald Ford's experience working across the aisle in Congr...
ListenRichard Nixon: Looking inward from 2016-09-11T21:55
Bob Woodward, one of the Washington Post investigative reporters who helped uncover the Watergate scandal, examines what was at the heart of Richard Nixon's presidential downfall. The Washington Po...
ListenLyndon B. Johnson: Power from 2016-09-04T17:55
The LBJ Presidential Library's director, Mark Updegrove, helps us examine how Johnson worked his will--at times darkly--to get some of the most transformative legislation of the 20th century throug...
ListenJohn F. Kennedy: We are all mortal from 2016-08-28T23:14
Robert Dallek, Michael Beschloss and Fredrik Logevall--three major Kennedy historians and biographers--join us on this week's episode to talk about JFK and death. But not his assassination...
ListenDwight D. Eisenhower: Covert action from 2016-08-21T14:00
Stephen Kinzer, author of"The Brothers,"and historian Will Hitchcock explore President Eisenhower's predilection for covert action--both in foreign affairs and in his own leadership style.
ListenHarry S. Truman: Trying to make the right call from 2016-08-15T03:56
Biographer David McCullough looks at some of the most difficult decisions President Truman made during his time in the White House, and Washington Post polling manager Scott Clement examines the bi...
ListenFranklin D. Roosevelt: Through Eleanor's eyes from 2016-08-07T18:27
Allida Black, editor of the Eleanor Roosevelt papers, along with FDR Library Director Paul Sparrow and White House speechwriter Sarada Peri, examine Franklin Roosevelt's leadership through the lens...
ListenHerbert Hoover: Dealing with disaster from 2016-07-31T19:47
Herbert Hoover entered the White House with an array of high-profile experiences leading disaster relief. So why was his handling of the Great Depression considered a failure? Biographer Charles Ra...
ListenCalvin Coolidge: A tale of two Coolidges from 2016-07-25T03:55
Former politician Michael Dukakis, biographer Amity Shlaes and political scientist Robert Gilbert join Washington Post economics reporter Steven Pearlstein to offer a version of Calvin Coolidge's l...
ListenWarren G. Harding: Love and scandal from 2016-07-18T03:59
Steamy love letters. Jazz. Scandal. Psychics. Newspapers. The Hope Diamond. Historian Nicole Hemmer helps guide us through the wild life and presidency of Warren G. Harding.
ListenWoodrow Wilson: A complicated legacy from 2016-07-11T03:58
Racism, diplomacy, women's suffrage...historian John Milton Cooper and Woodrow Wilson House executive director Robert Enholm lead us through Wilson's complicated personal and presidential legacy.
ListenWilliam Howard Taft: This chief, not that chief from 2016-07-03T13:58
Doris Kearns Goodwin, author of 'The Bully Pulpit,' along with historian Michelle Krowl and Supreme Court reporter Robert Barnes discuss why President Taft made a better chief justice than commande...
ListenTheodore Roosevelt: Exuberance from 2016-06-26T13:57
Biographer David McCullough and historian Michelle Krowl take us inside the wild, unstoppable dynamism of Teddy Roosevelt, whose energy and activism redefined the role of American president.
ListenWilliam McKinley: The modern campaign from 2016-06-20T00:03
Republican political strategist Karl Rove dissects what was so transformative about William McKinley's 1896 presidential campaign. And Washington Post reporter Carol Leonnig discusses how his assas...
ListenBenjamin Harrison: The president as conservationist from 2016-06-12T13:59
Benjamin Harrison was the first U.S. president to use his position to try to save a species, the fur seal. He also set aside more than 13 million acres of forest reserves. This episode looks at the...
ListenGrover Cleveland: Tell the truth from 2016-06-05T16:39
Known for his forthrightness, Cleveland came clean when news broke that he had fathered an illegitimate child; yet he later covered up a cancer surgery at sea. Guests Matthew Algeo, Michelle Krowl ...
ListenChester A. Arthur: Redemption from 2016-05-29T13:58
How does one of the greatest beneficiaries of the spoils system end up being the president who passes civil service reform? Post reporter David Fahrenthold and Stateline editor Scott Greenberger te...
ListenJames A. Garfield: Shot down from 2016-05-23T00:45
Only 100 days into office, President Garfield was shot down in a train station by a disturbed office seeker. 'Destiny of the Republic' author Candice Millard, along with Michelle Krowl of the Libra...
ListenRutherford B. Hayes: The most contested election from 2016-05-15T20:27
How does a vicious, close and disputed election spill over into a presidency? We examine the razor-thin election results for Rutherford B. Hayes, and the equally fine line he then had to tread as p...
ListenUlysses S. Grant: Lover, fighter, writer from 2016-05-08T13:59
Ulysses S. Grant's memoirs are considered the best ever written by a president. In this episode, Washington Post nonfiction book critic Carlos Lozada and biographer David Maraniss discuss what they...
ListenAndrew Johnson: Stitching up a torn country from 2016-05-02T00:15
What kind of president can repair America's deepest divisions? Michelle Krowl of the Library of Congress walks us through Andrew Johnson's time in office right after the Civil War and sheds light o...
ListenAbraham Lincoln: His hand and his pen from 2016-04-24T20:43
Doris Kearns Goodwin, author of 'Team of Rivals,' and Michelle Krowl of the Library of Congress guide us through Lincoln's love for language--and how his gift for writing and oratory became one of ...
ListenJames Buchanan: The bachelor and the bloodshed from 2016-04-18T00:05
America is on the eve of civil war, and James Buchanan is alone in the White House as our first and only bachelor president. Historians Jean Baker and Jim Loewen, and The Washington Post's Jim Tank...
ListenFranklin Pierce: Rolling off the tracks from 2016-04-10T13:55
Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer James McPherson and historian Edna Greene Medford discuss Franklin Pierce's role in the country's progression toward civil war, as well as the personal tragedy tha...
ListenMillard Fillmore: Teaching the obscure presidents from 2016-04-03T16:47
Should we teach the presidency of Millard Fillmore? What do we lose if we don't? Historians Jean Baker and James McPherson, along with Washington Post education reporter T. Rees Shapiro, tackle the...
ListenZachary Taylor: War heroes and conspiracy theory from 2016-03-27T13:55
Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank joins historians Catherine Clinton and Joseph Uscinski to talk about military hero Zachary Taylor and the assassination theories that swirled around his death...
ListenJames K. Polk: Getting it done from 2016-03-20T17:38
They Might Be Giants singer John Linnell and historian Amy Greenberg are guests on this episode. Through hard work and strategic lying, the 11th president managed to accomplish everything on his ag...
ListenJohn Tyler: Ghosts and the vice presidency from 2016-03-13T14:54
When Vice President Tyler took over the White House, he set a precedent that would forever shape the office. This episode features experts Barbara Bair and Joel Goldstein, as well as descendants wh...
ListenWilliam Henry Harrison: Great song, horrible death from 2016-03-06T18:39
Washington Post humor columnist Alexandra Petri, along with Barbara Bair and Dr. Philip Mackowiak, deconstruct Harrison's transformative presidential campaign and debunk the myth of what killed him...
ListenMartin Van Buren: The story of our two-party system from 2016-02-29T03:58
Martin Van Buren did much to create the political party establishments we have today. Experts Barbara Bair and Mark Cheathem, along with Washington Post reporter Chris Cillizza, examine his mark on...
ListenAndrew Jackson: The violence, the fight from 2016-02-21T22:25
Barbara Bair, Steve Inskeep and Jon Meacham examine the tragedy of Andrew Jackson's personal life, the brutality of his battles and his policies against Native Americans, and the conflict that make...
ListenJohn Quincy Adams: The trait that broke a presidency from 2016-02-14T21:00
We're about to witness how the inability to compromise can tank any hope of being an effective president.
ListenJames Monroe: The Forrest Gump of presidents from 2016-02-07T19:00
In the latest episode of Presidential, we look at our fifth president's knack for being present at famous moments in history.
ListenJames Madison: Burning down the house from 2016-01-31T23:34
Though he's our first wartime president, James Madison is usually better remembered for his work on the Constitution rather than his time as commander-in-chief while the White House went up in flam...
ListenThomas Jefferson: On food and freedom from 2016-01-25T01:00
Jon Meacham and Annette Gordon-Reed are among the experts who take us through the best and worst of our third president's complex and controversial legacy.
ListenJohn Adams: The case of the missing monument from 2016-01-18T01:12
In the second episode of Presidential, biographer David McCullough as well as noted art and architecture experts explore why there's no monument to John Adams in Washington, DC -- and how that omis...
ListenGeorge Washington: The man, the myth, the legend from 2016-01-10T21:00
Who exactly was our first president? Bob Woodward, Joel Achenbach and Julie Miller kick off our first episode of Presidential.
ListenIntroduction: Welcome to Presidential from 2016-01-05T17:15
Preview the Washington Post podcast, with clips from upcoming episodes and an overview of the series by host Lillian Cunningham.
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