How have outsider legislators changed American history? On this episode of Now & Then, “The Lure of Political Outsiders,” Heather Cox Richardson and Joanne Freeman discuss the history of the eccentric and anti-establishment members of Congress, from the frontier politics of Jackson-era Tennessee Representative Davy Crockett, to the conspiratorial works of post-Civil War Illinois Representative Ignatius Donnelly, to the headstrong socialism of World War I-era Wisconsin Representative Victor B...
Jan 11, 2022•1 hr 3 min
Who are the most relevant and inspiring heroes from American history? On this year-end episode of Now & Then, “Historians Have Their Heroes,” Heather Cox Richardson and Joanne Freeman discuss their definitions of American heroism and the figures–from Ida B. Wells, to Sitting Bull, to Pete Seeger–who they most admire. What attributes do these political and cultural leaders share? What is the point of having heroes? And how can we honor those who most deserve recognition? This week, Heather an...
Dec 21, 2021•52 min
How have religion and morality shaped the United States? On this episode of Now & Then, “God & Morality in American Politics,” Heather Cox Richardson and Joanne Freeman discuss how politicians and reformers have interacted with faith systems, from Thomas Jefferson’s push for religious liberty, to the 19th-century move for a Christian constitutional amendment, to the rise of the Moral Majority and the religious right. What are the roots of recent calls to bring religion into our governmen...
Dec 14, 2021•59 min
What damage does disinformation cause our body politic? On this episode of Now & Then, “Disinformation and Democracy,” Heather Cox Richardson and Joanne Freeman trace the history of disinformation in America, with an emphasis on how technology has fueled the rise of misleading and outright false political news. They discuss the role of the partisan press in shaping early American disinformation, the development of the telegraph in 19th century information warfare, and the rise of GOP-led dir...
Dec 07, 2021•58 min
As we come out of Thanksgiving and welcome in Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Christmas, and New Years, we revisit Heather Cox Richardson and Joanne Freeman’s look at the American debates that accompanied the creations of July 4th, Columbus Day, and Election Day. Why do Americans celebrate? Why do we fight about our holidays? And what role have economics, popular culture, and governmental politics contoured our national festivities? NOTE: This episode was originally released on July 6th, 2021. Join CAFE Insi...
Nov 30, 2021•54 min
How have Americans fought over Thanksgiving? And what can the holiday tell us about democracy and national styles of celebration? On this episode of Now & Then, “Thanksgiving Wars,” Heather Cox Richardson and Joanne Freeman explore past debates over the holiday, from early congressional disputes during the Washington administration, to writer Sarah Josephus Hale’s advocacy to make Thanksgiving a national holiday, to the various 20th-century battles over the cultural placement of Thanksgiving...
Nov 23, 2021•51 min
How have American experiences of work changed throughout our history? On this episode of Now & Then, “Mill ‘Girls,’ Company Men, & the Great Resignation,” Heather Cox Richardson and Joanne Freeman discuss the evolution of American work, from the emergence of industrial labor, to the development of welfare capitalism, to the current “Great Resignation” and shifting contemporary expectations for labor. How has work reflected American democracy? How has the nature of national labor changed ...
Nov 16, 2021•43 min
What’s the history of associations and powerful internal groups in American life? On this episode of Now & Then, “Associations: From the Masons to the Mob,” Heather Cox Richardson and Joanne Freeman discuss the popularity of the Freemasons and other secret clubs among the early national elite, the growth of political machines like Tammany Hall during the 1800s, and the development of organized crime during Prohibition. Then, Elie Honig, the host of Up Against the Mob and a former mafia prose...
Nov 09, 2021•1 hr 5 min
On this episode of Now & Then, “Democracy Is In the Mail,” Heather Cox Richardson and Joanne Freeman talk about the development of the post office in American culture. They explain why the Framers believed so deeply in a government-backed mail service, trace how Western expansion changed the culture and organizational structure of the Post Office Department, and recount the 1970 postal strike and the impact of the resultant Postal Reorganization Plan. How has the mail bolstered democracy? Sh...
Nov 02, 2021•46 min
This week, Heather and Joanne appeared on the food podcast Gastropod, hosted by journalists Cynthia Graber and Nicky Twilley, to discuss the history of Halloween candy, trick-or-treating, and poison candy paranoia. Listen and subscribe to Gastropod at gastropod.com or wherever you get podcasts! Happy Halloween! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Oct 29, 2021•53 min
On this episode of Now & Then, “Voting Rights: The Big Picture,” Heather Cox Richardson and Joanne Freeman talk about the history of voter suppression with Carol Anderson, professor of African American Studies at Emory University and author of One Person No Vote: How Voter Suppression Is Destroying Our Democracy and The Second: Race and Guns in a Fatally Unequal America. The trio discuss the concept of the “consent of the governed” during the founding period, the emergence of Jim Crow laws a...
Oct 26, 2021•48 min
On this episode of Now & Then, “The Rise of Bully Politics,” Heather Cox Richardson and Joanne Freeman revisit the 1980 presidential election between Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan. They reflect on how the rancorous contest signaled a rise in partisan aggression and dominance politics in American life. They also tie the type of bullying that emerged in full force in 1980 back to the 1850s and the violence that preceded the Civil War. How did Reagan’s extreme comments during the campaign hear...
Oct 19, 2021•47 min
On this episode of Now & Then, “Speakers of the House: Velvet Gloves and Iron Fists,” Heather Cox Richardson and Joanne Freeman revisit significant Speakers of the House and the development of the role in American politics. They reflect on legendary Speakers Henry Clay, Thomas Brackett Reed, and Tip O’Neill. In the process, they examine how Speakers leverage their influence over the legislative process and the culture of congress. How did the Speakership become such a crucial role in Washing...
Oct 12, 2021•53 min
On this episode of Now & Then, “Split Party Politics,” Heather Cox Richardson and Joanne Freeman discuss cycles of in-fighting, tension and collapse in American political parties. They begin with the Federalists and their ill-fated Hartford Convention, explain the reconstitution of both the Democrats and Republicans during the early 1880s, and talk through the current political battles and demographic shifts affecting the Republican Party. Why do political parties collapse? How does partisan...
Oct 05, 2021•50 min
On this episode of Now & Then, “Government Debt Roulette,” Heather Cox Richardson and Joanne Freeman discuss the dynamics of the current political battle over raising the debt ceiling. Then, they offer an overview of debt in American history, from Alexander Hamilton’s belief in using debt to build the country, to how President Lincoln offset Civil War debt, to the politicization of the debt ceiling by Republicans over the last 30 years. What can debt accomplish? What can debt damage? And how...
Sep 28, 2021•48 min
On this episode of Now & Then, “New York, New York,” Heather Cox Richardson and Joanne Freeman discuss the 20th anniversary of September 11th, 2001 attacks and the larger role of New York over the course of American history. How did the Dutch help lend the Big Apple its economic and cultural identity? Why isn’t New York the U.S. capital? How did newspapers transform NYC’s political power? Why are there so many apocalyptic movies set in New York? And what has made the city such a resilient an...
Sep 21, 2021•52 min
On this episode of Now & Then, “Abortion: Whose Choice?” Heather and Joanne discuss Texas’ Senate Bill 8, one of several controversial new “heartbeat” laws that limit access to abortion. They also talk about the history of abortion from the colonial period to the present: the surprising availability of abortion until the mid-19th century, the physician-led campaign to ban abortion, and the GOP’s decision in the early 1970s to embrace the “pro-life” movement. Who gets to decide the future of ...
Sep 14, 2021•46 min
On this episode of Now & Then, “Climate Control,” Heather and Joanne discuss the climate crisis and moments of political conflict over the environment throughout American history. They talk about the impact of climate on colonists, the 19th-century origins of the National Park Service, the causes and effects of the Dust Bowl, and the post-World War II emergence of the environmental movement — from Rachel Carson, to nuclear fall-out fears, to the formation of the Environmental Protection Agen...
Sep 07, 2021•48 min
On this episode of Now & Then, “Attacking and Defending Voting Rights,” Heather and Joanne discuss the history of American voting rights and the antecedents to the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2021. They look at New Jersey’s surprising history of female voting, the violence of the Know-Nothing Party, and the long congressional struggle to secure full suffrage for all Americans. Who has worked to deny the vote to marginalized populations? Which laws have been most effective in ...
Aug 31, 2021•55 min
On this episode of Now & Then, “Afghanistan & American Styles of War,” Heather and Joanne discuss the withdrawal from Afghanistan and the history of how America creates narratives around wars. They look at the divergent framings of the War of 1812, the Spanish-American War, and World War II. How does a democratic society based on consent utilize force? Which wars receive widespread approval? And how do concepts of national interest affect collective identity and the quest for consensus? ...
Aug 24, 2021•56 min
On this episode of Now & Then, “Treason(ish),” Heather and Joanne discuss the competing political narratives over accountability and punishment for the January 6th insurrection. They look back at past moments of conflict and examine the disparate ways in which former combatants integrated into American society: the Loyalists after the Revolutionary War, the Confederates after the Civil War, and a group of Nazi scientists who joined the American quest to reach the moon. Join CAFE Insider to l...
Aug 17, 2021•52 min
On this special episode of Now & Then, “A Backstage Peek,” listeners can hear Heather and Joanne’s conversations that are usually part of the CAFE Insider membership. “Backstage” is a special weekly bonus portion of the podcast where the hosts offer personal reflections on their historical scholarship and behind-the-scenes anecdotes of how each Now & Then episode comes together. In the first installment, released in conjunction with last week’s episode, “Projecting America at the Olympic...
Aug 10, 2021•27 min
On this episode of Now & Then, “Projecting America at the Olympics,” Heather and Joanne frame the current Tokyo Olympics alongside historical examples of American cultural diplomacy. They trace efforts to appeal to France in the Revolutionary Period, the rise of World’s Fairs, and the controversies that accompanied Jesse Owens’ 1936 Olympics dominance in Berlin and the 1968 Black Power salute by medalists Tommie Smith and John Carlos. What do these earlier negotiations say about American sel...
Aug 03, 2021•55 min
On this episode of Now & Then, “The Human Toll of Infrastructure,” Heather and Joanne discuss the historical precedents for President Biden’s infrastructure proposals. What role did river infrastructure play in spurring the Constitutional Convention? What was the revolutionary impact of the Transcontinental Railroad and President Eisenhower’s championing of the Interstate highway system? What were the consequences of the Nixon administration’s veto of national childcare legislation? And turn...
Jul 27, 2021•54 min
On this episode of Now & Then, “Culture Wars,” Heather and Joanne discuss moments of dramatic cultural change in American history: pre-Civil War abolitionism, early 20th-century individualism, to our current reckoning over police brutality and history education. How do our pop cultural artifacts, from Uncle Tom’s Cabin, to P.T. Barnum’s problematic attractions, to Gone with the Wind, show the ways American self-identity and priorities have evolved over time? This episode was recorded before ...
Jul 20, 2021•46 min
On this episode of Now & Then, “Judging the Supreme Court,” Heather Cox Richardson and Joanne Freeman discuss the recently-concluded Supreme Court term, and they place the Roberts Court in the context of other consequential Supreme Courts throughout American history, from the Marshall Court of the early 19th century, to the Taney Court and its infamous Dred Scott decision of 1857, to the progressive Warren Court of the mid 20th century, and finally to the modern era. Join CAFE Insider to lis...
Jul 13, 2021•51 min
On this episode of Now & Then, “Creating Federal Holidays, July 4th to Juneteenth,” Heather Cox Richardson and Joanne Freeman discuss the recent debate over making Juneteenth a Federal holiday. Then, Heather and Joanne look at the earlier debates that accompanied the creations of July 4th, Columbus Day, and Election Day, with a focus on the economic, moral, and political considerations that went into the formations of these iconic American celebrations. Join CAFE Insider to listen to “Backst...
Jul 06, 2021•54 min
On this episode of Now & Then, “Corrupting the Commonwealth,” Heather Cox Richardson and Joanne Freeman discuss recent reporting that the Trump Department of Justice subpoenaed the metadata of journalists and members of Congress. Heather and Joanne then look at three past reckonings over accusations of presidential corruption: Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson’s back-and-forth over the First Bank of the United States, the break in the 1870s Republican Party over President Grant’s enfor...
Jun 29, 2021•48 min
On the fourth episode of Now & Then, “QAnon, Cults, and Cutlery,” Heather Cox Richardson and Joanne Freeman discuss the recent FBI assessment of QAnon as a violent domestic terrorism threat. They also reflect on the historical relationship between cults and the government, from the Salem Witch Trials, to the utopian Oneida Community, to the tragic saga of Jonestown. Join CAFE Insider to listen to “Backstage,” where Heather and Joanne chat each week about the anecdotes and ideas that formed t...
Jun 22, 2021•47 min
On the third episode of Now & Then, “Battling Over Critical Race Theory,” Heather Cox Richardson and Joanne Freeman discuss the current debate over Critical Race Theory and the development of American historical scholarship, from Parson Weems’s fables, to George Washington Williams’ pioneering histories of Black America, to Reagan-era controversies over “Western Civilization” courses, to the influential work of Professor Kimberlé Crenshaw. Join CAFE Insider to listen to “Backstage,” where He...
Jun 15, 2021•1 hr
