Suggestion Survey is Open through 9/27
Added 2020-09-15 19:00:03 +0000 UTCOur theme for the month of September is American Presidents
With America's recent surge in distance learning due to Covid-19, we've had a lot more teachers asking us about which of our episodes might be helpful for an American history course. And we came to a bit of a shocking realization as a result—it's been over three years since our last mainline series about American history! As a result, we thought it was time to jump on a topic Rob has been wanting to do for awhile... American Presidents!
There are so many to choose from, whether it's the brilliant but hamstrung John Quincy Adams, the deeply corrupt (but often hilarious) Warren G. Harding, or Ulysses S. Grant going to war against the Ku Klux Klan before trading away the gains of Reconstruction in the Compromise of 1877.
Feel free to think outside the box, too. Want to hear about Lincoln's life before becoming president—serving in the Black Hawk War, and brawling with local gangs in Illinois? Pitch it! What about a focus on Theodore Roosevelt's foreign policy agenda, or William McKinley's imperialist designs in the Spanish-American War and annexation of Hawai'i? Try it out!
Some notes about suggestions:
- Only one suggestion per person please! Multiple suggestions from the same person during any given survey period will be manually removed.
- If a suggestion we encounter only has enough research material/production scope for a one-off episode instead of a full series, we file it in a separate list to reference later when we are planning to schedule a one-off episode between series (this is true for every survey we do).
- Anything that happened or started before 1929 is fair game to suggest. We typically don't cover more recent events, unless we're working with sponsors who can provide more documentation about that historical topic.
Comments
I would highly recommend doing an episode on Lost Cause Revisionism. How it started in the reconstruction, and how a certain Woodrow Wilson's aggressive writing and endorsement of it contributed not only to the fall of the reconstruction, but to many of the issues that crop up in educating about race and slavery in the modern day.
Ramon SL
2020-09-21 22:57:18 +0000 UTCI suggested a look at the early 20th century progressive movement through the lens of the presidencies of Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt. I've heard of both of them referred to as "progressives" despite going on to lead opposing political parties. Both seem to have shaken up their respective parties. Would love to learn more!
Joël Quenneville
2020-09-18 20:45:41 +0000 UTCI don't think it'll be controversial to say that the upcoming 2020 Presidential election will be... a lot, and will likely rank as one of the most... exciting elections in American history. But the title of "Craziest Election" is a hotly contested one. It might be interesting to compare and contrast the most fraught, chaotic, or bizarre Presidential elections of American history: 1800: Jefferson paid a newspaperman to call Adams a hermaphrodite, Hamilton probably didn't actually decide it, first peaceful transition of power between rivals in American history, 1824: there's genuinely too much to pack into one quip, 1860: the one that caused the Civil War 1876: the first election in which a candidate won a majority of the popular vote but did not become President; a largely-forgotten mess that resulted in the end of Reconstruction, 1896: William Jennings Bryan and the beginning of the Fourth Party System 1912: A four-way race resulting in the first Southern president since the Civil War In (almost) every one of these elections, the passions and political convictions didn't spill over into large-scale political violence, as often happens in other countries. How did the United States avoid this?
Joshua Evans-Lowell
2020-09-16 23:04:37 +0000 UTCThe PBS series American Experience did an episode on that a few years ago. I definately came away with the impression that Brazilian explorer Candido Rondon was the real hero. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/into-the-amazon/
Joshua Evans-Lowell
2020-09-16 22:47:18 +0000 UTCWoodrow Wilson as he was a president in one of the most defining times, yet is relatively unknown compared to others such as Lincoln or the Roosevelt(s). His legacy, to my understanding, is also very controversial and his presidency effects the country to this day.
Nimrod
2020-09-16 20:09:37 +0000 UTCWoodrow Wilson; The Controversial Prohibitionist
Billiam Bones
2020-09-16 03:01:34 +0000 UTCThose all sound like good reasons to me, I'd love to see that!
Samuel D Tahami
2020-09-16 01:08:51 +0000 UTCThis 100%, I'd love to see a series on the president that still continued a speech even after an assassination attempt and punched out a guy holding a gun! Gotta see more on Theodore Roosevelt!
Samuel D Tahami
2020-09-16 00:46:29 +0000 UTCTeddy Roosevelt from sickly child to leading an exploration of unknown rainforest and all in between would be an excellent series
Francis DiStefano
2020-09-15 20:51:41 +0000 UTCGrover Cleveland... 22nd and 24th President. First Democrat to be elected since the stain of the Civil War. Almost lost the election when it was revealed he had a child out of wedlock (until he admitted to it). Only President to get married while in office. Only President to serve non-consecutive terms when he failed to be re-elected in 1888, but did get elected again in 1892. Began the modernization of the army and navy, thus laying the groundwork for American expansion in later years. Fought the political machines. Oversaw extensive domestic unrest amidst the labor and populist movements, and an economic depression stemming from the Panic of 1893, that would lead to the progressive reforms under Teddy Roosevelt and later FDR. Here was the President that laid the foundation for America transitioning from the 19th century into the 20th.
The Rogue Chief
2020-09-15 20:01:06 +0000 UTC
