Jeff discusses the lengthy and consequential public life of James Garfield, ending with his tragic death after being shot shortly after taking office. There’s a lot more to this man than a short presidency, however, and we’re thankful to have been joined by Todd Arrington of the National Park Service. Todd serves as the director of the Garfield his…

Jeff and Rita Koganzon of the University of Houston discuss the background to the current school “censorship” debate, and where supposed “book bans” came from, and why we’re seeing such friction over school readings and library books now. Host: Jeff Sikkenga Executive Producer: Greg McBrayer Producer: Jeremy Gypton Subscribe via popular podcast app…

Jeff discusses the pivotal Battle of Gettysburg with Chris Burkett, marking its 160th anniversary. This video version of the podcast includes maps and images of some of the key individuals from the battle, and puts the battle in the context of Lincoln’s war aims. Host: Jeff Sikkenga Executive Producer: Greg McBrayer Producer: Jeremy Gypton Subscrib…

Jeff is joined by Josh Dunn for a discussion and analysis of the major decisions handed down by the Supreme Court in the last week of June, 2023, including those related to affirmative action, religious liberty, free expression, and executive power. Don’t miss this thoughtful analysis of these major cases.Host: Jeff SikkengaExecutive Producer: Greg…

Jeff is joined by Bob Elder, Professor of History at Baylor University, to discuss John C. Calhoun, an “American Heretic” as Elder explains, given his views on the ideals of the Declaration of Independence and the relationship between the Constitution, national government, and the states. A polarizing figure then as now, Calhoun’s legacy is still i…

Join John Moser as he and Sean McMeekin discuss the complex and little-understood relationship between FDR and Stalin, and how United States assistance to the USSR during World War 2 inadvertently helped contribute to making Russia a world power.Host: Jeff SikkengaExecutive Producer: Greg McBrayerProducer: Jeremy GyptonApple Podcasts: https://tinyu…

John Moser discusses the history of 20th Century bank failures in America with Dr. George Selgin. They look deeply at Federal Reserve regulatory policy and deposit insurance and the unintended consequences – good and bad – of federal government entanglement with the banking sector.Host: Jeff SikkengaExecutive Producer: Greg McBrayerProducer: Jeremy…

Jeff discusses religious liberty, the First Amendment, and the role of the courts in working through this essential element of American political culture, in our history, today, and with forecasts for the future. Host: Jeff SikkengaExecutive Producer: Greg McBrayerProducer: Jeremy GyptonApple Podcasts: https://tinyurl.com/3jcrp73mGoogle Podcasts: h…

Jeff talks with Ad Achorn, author and journalist, about the nearly miraculous nomination of Abraham Lincoln by the then-new Republican Party. Far from a foregone conclusion, the choice of Lincoln almost didn’t happen. Learn about how Lincoln quickly rose to national prominence in the few years before 1860, and how Republican leaders decided on him …

Longtime big-voiced conservative columnist Max Boot has had a fiery conversion on the Republican Party that has so long been his home. It’s Donald Trump’s GOP now, he says in his new book “The Corrosion of Conservatism,” and it has to be “burned to the ground” at the polls to save the possibility of a reasonable center-right party in America. And i…

With military strategist and futurist P.W. Singer. Singer co-authored "Ghost Fleet," the Tom Clancy-style novel of future warfare. But he's a scholar too, and a student of all weapons - including social media. It's been weaponized he says in his new book "LikeWar" in a way that can now decide real wars and real politics. We talk about the fierce ba…

With White House correspondent April Ryan, who asked Donald Trump: "Mr. President, are you a racist?" We talk race, death threats, "living while black," a free press, democracy in trouble, Serena Williams, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, April's epic shouting match with Omarosa, and her new book, "Under Fire." In the White House, she says, "I am warred upo…

With economic historian Adam Tooze of Columbia University. Stocks are up, GDP is strong, unemployment is down... but ten years after the 2008 financial collapse, Adam Tooze sees disenchantment all around. Republicans going protectionist. Democrats going socialist. The collapse, he says, brought us Donald Trump. His new book is "Crashed."…

John Dean was at the heart of the Watergate uproar that drove Nixon from office. Star witness in the Watergate hearings. He knows the law, impeachment, tapes, the works. Where does he see Donald Trump's scandal heading? We asked. And this: John Dean says Nixon would be "horrified" by Trump. Wow.Kirjoittanut Tom Ashbrook

With Eileen Cheng-yin Chow, director of the Cheng Shewo Institute of Chinese Journalism at Shih Hsin University in Taipei, Taiwan and co-director of Story Lab at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. Eileen Chow knows rich Asians. Her grandad was a mainland China newspaper mogul. We look at the grand narratives between the United States and Ch…

The news cycle is gripped by politics. Nature is gripped by climate change, and us. It's a longer cycle, but no less dramatic. Hydrologist Rosario Sanchez Flores studies where border populations of the US and Mexico will turn when the Rio Grande river runs dry. It's happening. And then it's all about aquifers that don't know borders - or walls.…

Open the microphone to former four-star US Navy Admiral and NATO Supreme Allied Commander James Stavridis and you learn a lot in a hurry. About US military readiness facing Iran and North Korea. About military attitudes toward "the parade." About standing for democracy while the president lauds authoritarians, and the risks of a tweet-storm preside…

Race and racism are fiery topics yet again in the USA, with a president who seems more than ready to fan the flames. Artist Steven Locke has his own take on our return to raw racism, and how facing history may yet lead us to a better way. He wants to build a slave auction block memorial in the nation's "Cradle of Liberty" - historic Boston, where s…

With Kori Schake, Deputy Director-General of the International Institute for Strategic Studies, and author of Safe Passage: The Transition from British to American Hegemony.Kirjoittanut Tom Ashbrook

With Salman Habib, entrepreneur, drop-out, and co-founder of the social network HelloFriend. Mark Zuckerberg and Salman Habib both dropped out of Harvard to start social networks. Zuck's network is hitting trouble. Habib's is just revving up. People are calling HelloFriend the Facebook killer. Habib demurs, but he's ready to take social networks to…

With Maya Jasanoff, author of The Dawn Watch: Joseph Conrad in a Global World. The great novelist Joseph Conrad took the world up the Congo River in his classic "Heart of Darkness." Harvard historian Maya Jasanoff finds the dawn of the age of globalization upriver with Conrad. He would well recognize, she says, the great disruptor of our time.…

With Sir John Sawers, former head of MI6, Britain's global spy service. Judi Dench played the role for James Bond. John Sawers sees China eye-to-eye with the US. And soon, the bigger player. "It's not as if we have the superior model that will forever keep us in the lead... America has to share its role in the world with China." And this: "Q is a r…