{"id":5936,"date":"2023-07-07T14:25:40","date_gmt":"2023-07-07T14:25:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ltamerica.org\/?page_id=5936"},"modified":"2025-01-07T02:07:29","modified_gmt":"2025-01-07T02:07:29","slug":"listen-2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/ltamerica.org\/listen-2\/","title":{"rendered":"WEEKLY PODCAST"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Embed Player\" src=\"https:\/\/play.libsyn.com\/embed\/episode\/id\/34746115\/height\/128\/theme\/modern\/size\/standard\/thumbnail\/yes\/custom-color\/e8e8e8\/time-start\/00:00:00\/playlist-height\/200\/direction\/backward\/download\/yes\/font-color\/131313\" height=\"128\" width=\"100%\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"\" webkitallowfullscreen=\"true\" mozallowfullscreen=\"true\" oallowfullscreen=\"true\" msallowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border: medium;\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">#1633 The History of Presidential Transitions<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>January 6, 2025<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Clay and frequent guest Dr. Lindsay Chervinsky discuss how an incoming president prepares to govern the United States. In what ways does the outgoing administration advise and guide the one coming in, particularly when the new president wants to make a sharp break with his predecessor\u2019s policies and style? We examine the first four presidencies: Washington, the only unanimous president, who had been preparing for this role his whole life; John Adams, who made the mistake of keeping Washington\u2019s cabinet in place, not knowing until too late that those ministers were betraying him at every turn; Jefferson, whose preparation in 1800 was hamstrung by the constitutional crisis in which the House of Representatives took 36 ballots to certify his election; and the ways in which Jefferson tried to ease the path of his handpicked successor James Madison in 1808.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color\" style=\"color:#266efc\">Subscribe to Listening to America on your favorite podcast player.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Embed Player\" src=\"https:\/\/play.libsyn.com\/embed\/episode\/id\/34664430\/height\/128\/theme\/modern\/size\/standard\/thumbnail\/yes\/custom-color\/e8e8e8\/time-start\/00:00:00\/playlist-height\/200\/direction\/backward\/download\/yes\/font-color\/131313\" height=\"128\" width=\"100%\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"\" webkitallowfullscreen=\"true\" mozallowfullscreen=\"true\" oallowfullscreen=\"true\" msallowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border: medium;\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">#1632 A Survival Guide for the Next Four Years<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>December 30, 2024<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Guest host David Horton and Clay discuss New Year\u2019s resolutions. Never more important than at present. People across the political spectrum are nervous about the next years of American life. But what\u2019s to be done? Clay offers several ways of coping \u2014 taking up a craft that involves one\u2019s hands and not merely one\u2019s brain, reading with discipline and purpose, learning from Aristotle\u2019s dictum that wisdom is knowing which battles to fight and which to leave alone, and much more. Clay and David wind up quoting Reinhold Niebuhr\u2019s Serenity prayer in unison. Read the complete works of your favorite author. And when things really go south, watch Leslie Nielsen films: <em>Naked Gun, Airplane, Naked Gun 2 \u00bd<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Embed Player\" src=\"https:\/\/play.libsyn.com\/embed\/episode\/id\/34594115\/height\/128\/theme\/modern\/size\/standard\/thumbnail\/yes\/custom-color\/e8e8e8\/time-start\/00:00:00\/playlist-height\/200\/direction\/backward\/download\/yes\/font-color\/131313\" height=\"128\" width=\"100%\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"\" webkitallowfullscreen=\"true\" mozallowfullscreen=\"true\" oallowfullscreen=\"true\" msallowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border: medium;\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">#1631 The Annual Christmas Show<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>December 23, 2024<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Guest host David Horton of Radford University and Clay discuss the history of Christmas, especially its modern invention during the mid 19<sup>th<\/sup> century in England and the United States. Thomas Jefferson, a deist, did not celebrate Christmas, but as someone who grew up in the Anglican tradition, he did not shun it the way New England Puritans of the period did. Jefferson was likelier to observe Boxing Day than Christmas, which protestants regarded as another Saint&#8217;s Day. Clay recites Waddie Mitchell&#8217;s cowboy poem about Christmas. Clay and David exchange Christmas memories and their <a href=\"https:\/\/ltamerica.org\/family-favorites-christmas-cookie-recipes\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">favorite recipes for Christmas cookies<\/a>. At the end of the program, Clay reads his favorite Christmas story, a chapter from Laura Ingalls Wilder&#8217;s <em>Little House on the Prairie<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Embed Player\" src=\"https:\/\/play.libsyn.com\/embed\/episode\/id\/34478570\/height\/128\/theme\/modern\/size\/standard\/thumbnail\/yes\/custom-color\/e8e8e8\/time-start\/00:00:00\/playlist-height\/200\/direction\/backward\/download\/yes\/font-color\/131313\" height=\"128\" width=\"100%\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"\" webkitallowfullscreen=\"true\" mozallowfullscreen=\"true\" oallowfullscreen=\"true\" msallowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border: medium;\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">#1630 The Vietnam War: An Interview with Historian Geoffrey Wawro<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>December 16, 2025<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Clay welcomes University of North Texas historian Geoffrey Wawro for a discussion of the War in Vietnam (1961\u20131975), which cost more than 58,000 American lives and hundreds of thousands of deaths in North and South Vietnam. Wawro, the author of seven books on the history of war, explains how a superpower got into a quagmire in a small Asian country. Why did Lyndon Johnson escalate the war between 1964 and 1968, when President John F. Kennedy made it clear that he would wind down America\u2019s involvement after he was re-elected in 1964? As the British essayist Christopher Hitchens insisted, is Henry Kissinger a war criminal? What was Richard Nixon\u2019s role in prolonging the agony? How should we assess Secretary of War Robert McNamara? Absent politics, could the war theoretically have been won by the United States and its reluctant allies?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Purchase Wawro&#8217;s book: <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Vietnam-War-Military-History\/dp\/1541606086\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Vietnam War: A Military History<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Embed Player\" src=\"https:\/\/play.libsyn.com\/embed\/episode\/id\/34356520\/height\/128\/theme\/modern\/size\/standard\/thumbnail\/yes\/custom-color\/e8e8e8\/time-start\/00:00:00\/playlist-height\/200\/direction\/backward\/download\/yes\/font-color\/131313\" height=\"128\" width=\"100%\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"\" webkitallowfullscreen=\"true\" mozallowfullscreen=\"true\" oallowfullscreen=\"true\" msallowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border: medium;\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">#1629 The Declaration of Independence and Conspiracy Theories<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>December 9, 2024<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One of Clay\u2019s favorite guests, Beau Breslin, talks about the early National Period as rife with conspiracy theories. The Declaration of Independence, for example, argued that the ministry and crown of England were engaged in a systematic conspiracy to \u201censlave\u201d the colonists. Beau argues that the Constitutional Convention of 1787 was a conspiracy \u2014 even a cabal \u2014 of self-selected white men aiming to tear up the legitimate Articles of Confederation without authorization and begin again. The existing Articles authorized a few amendments but not a wholesale rewriting of the nation\u2019s social contract. We also discuss the South\u2019s paranoid (but sometimes legitimate) feeling that the faraway national government, dominated by commercial and industrial interests, was destroying Southern state sovereignty and meddling with an institution they could not possibly know enough about. And, at the end, we take a quick look at one of the enduring conspiracy theories in America: the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Embed Player\" src=\"https:\/\/play.libsyn.com\/embed\/episode\/id\/34256460\/height\/128\/theme\/modern\/size\/standard\/thumbnail\/yes\/custom-color\/e8e8e8\/time-start\/00:00:00\/playlist-height\/200\/direction\/backward\/download\/yes\/font-color\/131313\" height=\"128\" width=\"100%\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"\" webkitallowfullscreen=\"true\" mozallowfullscreen=\"true\" oallowfullscreen=\"true\" msallowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border: medium;\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">#1628 Civil Rights Pilgrimage with Russ Eagle<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>December 2, 2024<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Clay and his friend Russ Eagle travel from New Orleans to Shreveport and then to Jackson, Mississippi, Selma, Montgomery, and Birmingham, Alabama, to visit Civil Rights sites and shrines. John Steinbeck witnessed the appalling white response to the integration of the schools of New Orleans in December 1960 and was so repulsed by what he saw that he gave up his journey and bolted home to New York. Clay determined to end his 2024 18,000-mile journey by finding a better way to wrestle with the unresolved race issues in America. The program takes Russ and Clay to Medgar Evers\u2019 home in Jackson, Mississippi, the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, the magnificent new Civil Rights museum in Montgomery, and the Civil Rights Institute in Birmingham. Clay and Russ conclude that every American should make a journey of this sort, that our race history is much more problematic than we knew in a nation whose mission statement is, \u201cWe hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Embed Player\" src=\"https:\/\/play.libsyn.com\/embed\/episode\/id\/34149110\/height\/128\/theme\/modern\/size\/standard\/thumbnail\/yes\/custom-color\/e8e8e8\/time-start\/00:00:00\/playlist-height\/200\/direction\/backward\/download\/yes\/font-color\/131313\" height=\"128\" width=\"100%\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"\" webkitallowfullscreen=\"true\" mozallowfullscreen=\"true\" oallowfullscreen=\"true\" msallowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border: medium;\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">#1627 Clay and Steven Duchrow Talk Chautauqua<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>November 25, 2024<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Clay welcomes fellow Chautauquan Steve Duchrow of Illinois for a conversation about portraying historical characters. Clay does six or seven; Steve portrays the poets Carl Sandburg and Vachel Lindsay. They discuss how to choose a character. How do you prepare for your first performance and the five hundredth? Why is it important not to work from a script? How do you take unscripted questions from the audience in character? Clay and Steve discuss Sandburg, Abraham Lincoln, John Jay, Thomas Jefferson, Meriwether Lewis, and John Steinbeck, among other subjects, about heroism, tragedy, and the intractable contradictions in the human character. What did Oppenheimer mean when he said, \u201cI am become death, the destroyer of worlds?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Embed Player\" src=\"https:\/\/play.libsyn.com\/embed\/episode\/id\/33987527\/height\/128\/theme\/modern\/size\/standard\/thumbnail\/yes\/custom-color\/e8e8e8\/time-start\/00:00:00\/playlist-height\/200\/direction\/backward\/download\/yes\/font-color\/131313\" height=\"128\" width=\"100%\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"\" webkitallowfullscreen=\"true\" mozallowfullscreen=\"true\" oallowfullscreen=\"true\" msallowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border: medium;\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">#1626 America\u2019s Fascination with Conspiracy Theories<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>November 18, 2024<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Clay talks with guest host David Horton about America\u2019s obsession with conspiracy theories, from the notion that the moon landing in 1969 was faked on a Hollywood sound stage to the view that 9-11 was an inside job designed to secure more oil for the United States and justify a war against Islam. What is the psychology of this strange phenomenon? Do the perpetrators believe their assertions, or are they merely seeking fame and profit? What should we make of obviously false claims, such as Marjorie Taylor Greene\u2019s insistence that Jewish lasers touched off the forest fires in California or Alex Jones\u2019 appalling claim that the Sandy Hook school shooting was an inside job perpetrated to lock up America\u2019s guns? Because Clay recently spent a couple of days in Dallas, Texas, exploring the landscape of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963, a considerable portion of the program explores the conspiracy theories around that horrific event. Are Americans more susceptible to conspiracy theories than other people around the world? If so, what does this signify?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Embed Player\" src=\"https:\/\/play.libsyn.com\/embed\/episode\/id\/33890187\/height\/128\/theme\/modern\/size\/standard\/thumbnail\/yes\/custom-color\/e8e8e8\/time-start\/00:00:00\/playlist-height\/200\/direction\/backward\/download\/yes\/font-color\/131313\" height=\"128\" width=\"100%\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"\" webkitallowfullscreen=\"true\" mozallowfullscreen=\"true\" oallowfullscreen=\"true\" msallowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border: medium;\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">#1625 Do We Have an American Narrative?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>November 11, 2024<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In an interview recorded on October 29, 2024, Clay interviews the eminent classicist, Edward Watts of the University of California, San Diego, on the collapse of the American narrative. The old narrative that began when Columbus bumped into the New World and then moved through the colonial period, the American Revolution, the Westering movement, the Indian Wars, and America\u2019s reluctant intervention in the 20th century\u2019s two world wars has been discredited by the cultural revolution of the last 30 years. It is now possible to imagine an American narrative that would satisfy most of the constituencies of the United States. What happens when a nation loses its capacity to understand its mission, values, and history? Professor Watts is one of the world\u2019s leading experts on the collapse of the Roman Republic. How did Rome recover after its disastrous Civil Wars? Can America learn from Rome\u2019s example?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Embed Player\" src=\"https:\/\/play.libsyn.com\/embed\/episode\/id\/33785782\/height\/128\/theme\/modern\/size\/standard\/thumbnail\/yes\/custom-color\/e8e8e8\/time-start\/00:00:00\/playlist-height\/200\/direction\/backward\/download\/yes\/font-color\/131313\" height=\"128\" width=\"100%\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"\" webkitallowfullscreen=\"true\" mozallowfullscreen=\"true\" oallowfullscreen=\"true\" msallowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border: medium;\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">#1624 Thomas Jefferson on American Elections<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>November 4, 2024<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Guest host David Horton welcomes the Third President of the United States, Thomas Jefferson, to the program to talk about what the Founding Fathers had in mind when they designed the system of American elections. Why did the Founders give two senators to each state? How was the controversy between big and little states resolved, and how has it influenced American history? What was the original purpose of the Electoral College, and to what extent should it mirror the popular vote? How did the odious 3\/5 clause impact early American elections, including Jefferson\u2019s election in 1800? Why did Jefferson argue for tearing up the Constitution once per generation, perhaps every 19 years? How important was slavery to the debates in Philadelphia in 1787? Were the Founders really opposed to democracy?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Embed Player\" src=\"https:\/\/play.libsyn.com\/embed\/episode\/id\/33650052\/height\/128\/theme\/modern\/size\/standard\/thumbnail\/yes\/custom-color\/e8e8e8\/time-start\/00:00:00\/playlist-height\/200\/direction\/backward\/download\/yes\/font-color\/131313\" height=\"128\" width=\"100%\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"\" webkitallowfullscreen=\"true\" mozallowfullscreen=\"true\" oallowfullscreen=\"true\" msallowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border: medium;\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">#1623 Reflections on the Nation of Texas<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>October 28, 2024<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Clay discusses his foray into Texas on Phase Three of the great John Steinbeck <em>Travels with Charley <\/em>2024 tour. How is Texas different from other states? Can anyone really eat at the Big Texas Steak Ranch and survive? Is the Cadillac Ranch near Amarillo as worthy as Carhenge in Alliance, Nebraska? Why are Texans nicer IN Texas than when they drive their giant white pickups into other states? The program includes Clay\u2019s interlude in Birmingham, Alabama, where he toured the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, including an encounter with the actual steel bars of the jail where Martin Luther King wrote \u201cLetter from a Birmingham Jail.\u201d Plus, Clay\u2019s guide to the 2024 Presidential Election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Embed Player\" src=\"https:\/\/play.libsyn.com\/embed\/episode\/id\/33557827\/height\/128\/theme\/modern\/size\/standard\/thumbnail\/yes\/custom-color\/e8e8e8\/time-start\/00:00:00\/playlist-height\/200\/direction\/backward\/download\/yes\/font-color\/131313\" height=\"128\" width=\"100%\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"\" webkitallowfullscreen=\"true\" mozallowfullscreen=\"true\" oallowfullscreen=\"true\" msallowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border: medium;\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">#1622 Clay&#8217;s John Steinbeck America Tour Resumes<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>October 21, 2024<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Guest host Russ Eagle interviews Clay about the third phase of his 2024 Steinbeck <em>Travels with Charley<\/em> tour. Russ was in North Carolina, Clay, at an RV park in eastern New Mexico on the legendary Route 66. They discussed Steinbeck&#8217;s purpose for his 1960 truck camper Odyssey. Did he achieve his goal? Why wasn&#8217;t Steinbeck interested in America&#8217;s National Parks, many of which he could easily have visited? What was Steinbeck&#8217;s state of mind as he set out to search for America? How important is his aristocratic French poodle, Charley, to the book&#8217;s success? Clay also covers his recent cultural tour of Literary England and a visit to Arches and Canyonlands National Parks in Utah in search of the legacy of Edward Abbey, the anarchist and wilderness lover who wrote Desert Solitaire in 1968. And Clay&#8217;s so-far unsuccessful search for America&#8217;s best gumbo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Embed Player\" src=\"https:\/\/play.libsyn.com\/embed\/episode\/id\/33458212\/height\/128\/theme\/modern\/size\/standard\/thumbnail\/yes\/custom-color\/e8e8e8\/time-start\/00:00:00\/playlist-height\/200\/direction\/backward\/download\/yes\/font-color\/131313\" height=\"128\" width=\"100%\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"\" webkitallowfullscreen=\"true\" mozallowfullscreen=\"true\" oallowfullscreen=\"true\" msallowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border: medium;\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">#1621 The Caitlin Clark Phenomenon<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>October 14, 2024<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Clay joins sports historian Kurt Kemper of Dakota State University and sports fan David Nicandri of Washington State to discuss the Caitlin Clark phenomenon. Clark of the University of Iowa now holds the NCAA collegiate basketball record for most career points in the men&#8217;s or women&#8217;s league. What is next for her? How does her sudden national celebrity impact the game? Thanks to her example, how many thousands of girls are out on the driveway practicing their dribble and jump shots? What should we make of the game&#8217;s marketing team pitting Clark, who is white, against Angel Reese, an African American?&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Embed Player\" style=\"border:none\" src=\"https:\/\/play.libsyn.com\/embed\/episode\/id\/33369987\/height\/128\/theme\/modern\/size\/standard\/thumbnail\/yes\/custom-color\/e8e8e8\/time-start\/00:00:00\/playlist-height\/200\/direction\/backward\/download\/yes\/font-color\/131313\" height=\"128\" width=\"100%\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"\" webkitallowfullscreen=\"true\" mozallowfullscreen=\"true\" oallowfullscreen=\"true\" msallowfullscreen=\"true\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">#1620 The Hollowing Out of Rural America<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>October 7, 2024<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Clay speaks with Richard Rhodes, eminent author of numerous books, including <em>The Making of the Atomic Bomb<\/em>. The subject: industrial agriculture and the death of rural America. Other countries pass legislation protecting small family farms, but the U.S. government throws its weight behind agribusiness and industrial gigantism. Rhodes believes we need to alter our food production and consumption paradigm for the sake of our health, the planet, and our relationship with the earth and other species. Was Jefferson\u2019s utopian vision of a nation of sturdy and independent family farmers the right one? Was it ever viable? Can we regenerate rural America in the second half of the 21<sup>st<\/sup> century?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Embed Player\" style=\"border:none\" src=\"https:\/\/play.libsyn.com\/embed\/episode\/id\/33270837\/height\/128\/theme\/modern\/size\/standard\/thumbnail\/yes\/custom-color\/e8e8e8\/time-start\/00:00:00\/playlist-height\/200\/direction\/backward\/download\/yes\/font-color\/131313\" height=\"128\" width=\"100%\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"\" webkitallowfullscreen=\"true\" mozallowfullscreen=\"true\" oallowfullscreen=\"true\" msallowfullscreen=\"true\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">#1619 A Conversation With Lindsay Chervinsky<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>September 30, 2024<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Clay interviews author and frequent guest Lindsay Chervinsky about her splendid new book on the John Adams administration:&nbsp;<em>Making the Presidency: John Adams and the Precedents that Forged the Republic<\/em>. In the second of two conversations about the book, Clay asks Lindsay to justify some of her unscrupulous attacks on the life and character of Thomas Jefferson. More to the point, why did John Adams fail to be re-elected for a second term in the year 1800? How much effect did the Constitution\u2019s 3\/5 clause have on the outcome? What were Adams\u2019 greatest contributions to American political life? Why did George Washington betray his deepest principles during the Quasi War with France in 1798? Were the Alien and Sedition Laws of 1798 the reason the Jeffersonians won in 1800 or is it more complicated than that?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Embed Player\" style=\"border:none\" src=\"https:\/\/play.libsyn.com\/embed\/episode\/id\/33178047\/height\/128\/theme\/modern\/size\/standard\/thumbnail\/yes\/custom-color\/e8e8e8\/time-start\/00:00:00\/playlist-height\/200\/direction\/backward\/download\/yes\/font-color\/131313\" height=\"128\" width=\"100%\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"\" webkitallowfullscreen=\"true\" mozallowfullscreen=\"true\" oallowfullscreen=\"true\" msallowfullscreen=\"true\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">#1618 Are We Still a Republic?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>September 23, 2024<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Clay talks with eminent historian Joseph Ellis, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of over a dozen books. Today\u2019s question? Were we ever a republic, and are we now a republic? What did the Founding Fathers mean when they created the American republic? How is a republic different from a democracy? Was Jefferson\u2019s small-r republican idealism realistic? Or was he, as John Adams reckoned, a beautiful but na\u00efve dreamer? When did we cease to be a republic, or are we, in some limited sense, still a republic in 2024? How does the election of 2024 matter from this perspective?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Embed Player\" src=\"https:\/\/play.libsyn.com\/embed\/episode\/id\/33083092\/height\/128\/theme\/modern\/size\/standard\/thumbnail\/yes\/custom-color\/e8e8e8\/time-start\/00:00:00\/playlist-height\/200\/direction\/backward\/download\/yes\/font-color\/131313\" height=\"128\" width=\"100%\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"\" webkitallowfullscreen=\"true\" mozallowfullscreen=\"true\" oallowfullscreen=\"true\" msallowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border: medium;\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">#1617 Clay\u2019s Steinbeck <em>Travels With Charley<\/em> Tour: Phase Two<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>September 16, 2024<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Guest host Russ Eagle interviews Clay about Phase II of his 2024&nbsp;<em>Travels with Charley<\/em>&nbsp;tour. What has Clay learned from retracing Steinbeck&#8217;s famous 1960 cross-country journey? This time from Bismarck to Seattle, then Monterey, Salinas, and Route 66. Clay describes a few mishaps that have occurred. Plus, a visit to the Sylvia Beach literary hotel in Oregon, the annual Lewis and Clark Cultural Tour, the magnificence of the American continent, and people&#8217;s reluctance to discuss our paralytic political situation. Finally, the lingering question: uncovering the best gumbo in America?&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Embed Player\" src=\"https:\/\/play.libsyn.com\/embed\/episode\/id\/32980412\/height\/128\/theme\/modern\/size\/standard\/thumbnail\/yes\/custom-color\/e8e8e8\/time-start\/00:00:00\/playlist-height\/200\/direction\/backward\/download\/yes\/font-color\/131313\" height=\"128\" width=\"100%\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"\" webkitallowfullscreen=\"true\" mozallowfullscreen=\"true\" oallowfullscreen=\"true\" msallowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border: medium;\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">#1616 The Family That Summited Everest<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>September 9, 2024<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Clay\u2019s interview with adventurer Alan Mallory about his family\u2019s ascent of Mount Everest. That\u2019s 29,032 feet, a third of it in the Death Zone, where your body actually starts to die from lack of oxygen and other factors. Mallory walks us through the process \u2014 getting to Nepal, the cost, the outfitters, the journey to base camp, where you stay to adjust to the altitude, and then the slow, steady, and exhausting climb through four camps before attempting the summit. On the basis of his book,&nbsp;The Family that Conquered Everest, Mallory has a vibrant career as a motivational speaker. At the end he shares his adventures are ahead.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Embed Player\" src=\"https:\/\/play.libsyn.com\/embed\/episode\/id\/32868977\/height\/128\/theme\/modern\/size\/standard\/thumbnail\/yes\/custom-color\/e8e8e8\/time-start\/00:00:00\/playlist-height\/200\/direction\/backward\/download\/yes\/font-color\/131313\" height=\"128\" width=\"100%\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"\" webkitallowfullscreen=\"true\" mozallowfullscreen=\"true\" oallowfullscreen=\"true\" msallowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border: medium;\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">#1615 Understanding Lindsay Chervinsky\u2019s New Book<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>September 2, 2024<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Clay interviews regular guest Dr. Lindsay Chervinsky about her new book,&nbsp;<em>Making the Presidency: John Adams and the Precedents that Forged the Republic<\/em>. It\u2019s a wonderfully readable study of the one-term presidency of John Adams. Lindsay sheds new light on some of the most interesting moments of the Adams presidency and examines the first peaceful transfer of power in American political history and the second when Thomas Jefferson displaced Adams in the election of 1800. The book provides fascinating insights into the people and events that set the future trajectory of the great American experiment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Embed Player\" src=\"https:\/\/play.libsyn.com\/embed\/episode\/id\/32753102\/height\/128\/theme\/modern\/size\/standard\/thumbnail\/yes\/custom-color\/e8e8e8\/time-start\/00:00:00\/playlist-height\/200\/direction\/backward\/download\/yes\/font-color\/131313\" height=\"128\" width=\"100%\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"\" webkitallowfullscreen=\"true\" mozallowfullscreen=\"true\" oallowfullscreen=\"true\" msallowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border: medium;\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">#1614 The Native American &#8220;Assimilation&#8221; Movement<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>August 26, 2024<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Clay talks with historian Larry Skogen about his new book, &#8220;To Educate American Indians,&#8221; which examines the U.S. policy of assimilating Native Americans into European-derived white America, including the nightmare of the Indian Boarding Schools. One of the troubling elements of this issue was that many of the people engaged in coercive assimilation were, at least in their minds, &#8220;philanthropists&#8221; who believed they were doing the right thing. It&#8217;s an important, if disturbing, subject, and Larry Skogen is one of the nation&#8217;s premier historians of this period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Embed Player\" src=\"https:\/\/play.libsyn.com\/embed\/episode\/id\/32647177\/height\/128\/theme\/modern\/size\/standard\/thumbnail\/yes\/custom-color\/e8e8e8\/time-start\/00:00:00\/playlist-height\/200\/direction\/backward\/download\/yes\/font-color\/131313\" height=\"128\" width=\"100%\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"\" webkitallowfullscreen=\"true\" mozallowfullscreen=\"true\" oallowfullscreen=\"true\" msallowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border: medium;\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">#1613 Republican Like Me: A Conversation With Ken Stern<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>August 19, 2024<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Clay interviews former NPR CEO Ken Stern, author of a provocative 2018 book,&nbsp;<em>Republican Like Me: How I Left the Liberal Bubble and Learned to Love the Right.<\/em>&nbsp;Weary of living in a liberal cosmos that found the other side \u201cdeplorable,\u201d Ken traveled America to experience rituals that many associate with the political Right. He hunted a pig in Texas, visited evangelical churches, went to a NASCAR race, and spent time with the philosopher of Trumpism, Steve Bannon. Clay asks why Ken did it, what he learned, and how his views of America changed.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Embed Player\" src=\"https:\/\/play.libsyn.com\/embed\/episode\/id\/32553342\/height\/128\/theme\/modern\/size\/standard\/thumbnail\/yes\/custom-color\/e8e8e8\/time-start\/00:00:00\/playlist-height\/200\/direction\/backward\/download\/yes\/font-color\/131313\" height=\"128\" width=\"100%\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"\" webkitallowfullscreen=\"true\" mozallowfullscreen=\"true\" oallowfullscreen=\"true\" msallowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border: medium;\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">#1612 Lindsay Chervinsky\u2019s New Book<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>August 12, 2024<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Clay talks with Dr. Lindsay Chervinsky about her just-published book,&nbsp;<em>Making the Presidency: John Adams and the Precedents that Forged the Republic<\/em>. Lindsay explores how, in the nation&#8217;s early days, John Adams and others pioneered a framework for the American presidency that we now take for granted. One example: The U.S. Constitution was largely silent about the peaceful transfer of power. Chervinsky notes the country was filled with anxiety to see George Washington retire and observe the transfer of power, a new and revolutionary feature of political life.&nbsp;<br>Purchase here: <em><a href=\"https:\/\/800ceoread.com\/coupons\/redeem\/makingthepresidencyps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Making the Presidency: John Adams and the Precedents that Forged the Republic<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Embed Player\" src=\"https:\/\/play.libsyn.com\/embed\/episode\/id\/32452292\/height\/128\/theme\/modern\/size\/standard\/thumbnail\/yes\/custom-color\/e8e8e8\/time-start\/00:00:00\/playlist-height\/200\/direction\/backward\/download\/yes\/font-color\/131313\" height=\"128\" width=\"100%\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"\" webkitallowfullscreen=\"true\" mozallowfullscreen=\"true\" oallowfullscreen=\"true\" msallowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border: medium;\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">#1611 John Adams\u2019 Enemies<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>August 5, 2024<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Historian Lindsay Chervinsky talks with Clay about the enemies of the second president of the United States, John Adams. Somewhat tongue in cheek, Lindsay believes that Jefferson was one of those enemies because he was a disloyal vice president to Adams. Others included Alexander Hamilton, who considered himself the shadow president. Hamilton also wrote that notorious pamphlet in 1800, asserting that he regarded Adams as unfit for re-election. Lindsay also says Abigail Adams was one of the greatest first ladies in American history and a co-president in limited respects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Embed Player\" style=\"border:none\" src=\"https:\/\/play.libsyn.com\/embed\/episode\/id\/32341907\/height\/128\/theme\/modern\/size\/standard\/thumbnail\/yes\/custom-color\/e8e8e8\/time-start\/00:00:00\/playlist-height\/200\/direction\/backward\/download\/yes\/font-color\/131313\" height=\"128\" width=\"100%\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"\" webkitallowfullscreen=\"true\" mozallowfullscreen=\"true\" oallowfullscreen=\"true\" msallowfullscreen=\"true\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>#1610 <\/strong>America at 250 With Beau Breslin<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>July 29, 2024<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Skidmore College political scientist Beau Breslin joins Clay to discuss how America might prepare for its 250th birthday on July 4, 2026. Topics include the collapse of civility and mutual respect and the breakdown of respect for American institutions, from the Supreme Court and the FBI to the media and the church. They discuss the possibility of a new constitutional convention as a way of commemorating America\u2019s 250th anniversary. They also examine what Clay is discovering about the country\u2019s mood as he follows John Steinbeck\u2019s 1960 Travels with Charley journey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator aligncenter has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:16px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-text-color\" style=\"color:#266efc\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/jeffersonhour.bandcamp.com\/audio\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Find past episodes of Listening to America and The Thomas Jefferson Hour<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>#1633 The History of Presidential Transitions January 6, 2025 Clay and frequent guest Dr. Lindsay Chervinsky discuss how an incoming president prepares to govern the United States. In what ways does the outgoing administration advise and guide the one coming in, particularly when the new president wants to make a sharp break with his predecessor\u2019s<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-5936","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>WEEKLY PODCAST - Listening To America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Listen. 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