検索キーワード： 著者 "Elliott Kalan" すべてのカテゴリー

Presidents Are People Too! transforms American presidents into real-life people - complete with flaws, quirks, and scandals you won't find in history books.

Alexis and Elliott re-examine the legacy of our country’s most famous peanut farmer-turned president, number 39, Jimmy Carter. Carter may have served for only one lackluster term in the Oval Office, but he’s had the longest post-presidential career of any former POTUS. Our hosts take a closer look at Carter's humanitarian work with the Carter Center, and Alexis visits his hometown of Plains, Georgia where she attends a Sunday school class taught by Carter himself.

This episode takes a look at president number 23, Benjamin Harrison, grandson of President William Henry Harrison, and the meat in the Grover Cleveland sandwich. Elliott chats with Harrison biographer Charles Calhoun about Harrison’s impressive legislative advancements, and his role as the missing link between early American politics and the modern presidency. Alexis and Elliott speak with Harrison re-enactor Charles Braun, and reveal two remarkable examples of Harrison’s bravery under fire.

Alexis and Elliott get to know the all-American football star who stepped into office after Nixon’s resignation and served less than a full term, president #38 Gerald Ford. They examine his childhood, imagine his life as a pro-football player, explore his controversial decision to pardon Nixon a month after he left office in disgrace, and peek inside the East Wing with Betty Ford’s White House press secretary.

Alexis and Elliott reexamine the life and presidency of the first President Bush, number 41, George Herbert Walker Bush, current most senior member of the Bush political dynasty and prolific thank-you note writer. Alexis speaks to journalist and unauthorized Bush biographer Kitty Kelley about Bush's surprising association with Planned Parenthood, while biographer Jon Meacham recounts his WWII experience and unrelenting drive to succeed.

This is the episode Elliott has been waiting for: number 16, Abraham Lincoln, his favorite president and personal hero. Elliott speaks to Lincoln scholar and former Rhode Island Supreme Court Justice Frank J. Williams about Lincoln’s 25-year legal career, while Alexis reexamines First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln’s complicated legacy with the help of historian Catherine Clinton. And author Mary Roach takes us behind the scenes of Lincoln's final train journey.

Alexis and Elliott delve into the life of a handsome yet disappointing president, number 14, Franklin Pierce. They speak to a presidential grief specialist about how Pierce dealt with a tragic death two months before his inauguration, examine how the Kansas-Nebraska Act—an act that was meant to defuse tension over slavery—ended up blowing up the country, and explore Pierce’s lifelong friendship with the acclaimed novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne.

Alexis and Elliott explore the life of our oft-forgotten 21st president, Chester Alan Arthur. Author Esther Crain explains why Arthur was the quintessential Gilded Age New Yorker, Elliott digs into a complicated relationship with NY senator Roscoe Conkling, and Alexis investigates his involvement in a significant civil rights case.

Alexis and Elliott attempt to get closer to the man behind the marble facade: our first president, George Washington. Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Joseph J. Ellis explains what made Washington a myth, even in his own time. Reid Mitenbuler, author of Bourbon Empire, sheds light on Washington’s surprising role as a major American whiskey distiller.

Alexis and Elliott explore the life of president number 19, Rutherford B. Hayes, and investigate how a seemingly decent man turned into possibly the worst president ever. Alexis and Elliott speak to author and historian Roy Morris Jr. about the stolen election of 1876, and to David O. Stowell about Hayes’ involvement in the Great Railway Strike of 1877. They also enlist the help of comedian Kristen Schaal, in an attempt to find an entertaining way to talk about the silver coinage debate.

Alexis and Elliott get to know the Vermonter with a maligned legacy, number 30, Calvin Coolidge. Coolidge’s hands-off style of governing has been blamed for paving the way to the devastation of the Great Depression, but personal tragedy may be as much to blame as his fiscal conservatism. Alexis speaks to political scientist Robert E. Gilbert about Coolidge’s long-time struggle with depression.

This week, Alexis and Elliott get to know the sensitive soul behind our portly 27th president, William Howard Taft. They talk to historian H.W. Brands about Taft’s public break from his mentor, Theodore Roosevelt, and journalist Alexandra Robbins takes us back to Taft’s days as a member of Skull and Bones, Yale’s oldest secret society. Elsewhere, Alexis clears up some misinformation, and drops a bombshell on Chicago second grader Isaac Margolis.

Alexis and Elliott get to know our 26th President, Theodore Roosevelt. They speak to biographer H.W. Brands about a peculiar presidential pet peeve, Elliott visits a taxidermist in Queens to learn more about Teddy's appreciation for mounted game, and Thomas Whittington gives voice to our most macho of presidents.

Alexis and Elliott go back to the '90s to look at the president they grew up with. Bill Clinton has been in the public eye for more than a quarter-century, and rather than re-tell his familiar story, they pose three questions: What was it like to share the stage with Clinton when he played the saxophone on The Arsenio Hall Show in 1992? What did Toni Morrison mean when she described Clinton as the "first black president"? And finally, does Clinton really have a photographic memory?

Alexis and Elliott visit The United States Military Academy at West Point to find out more about a mischievous young cadet named Dwight D. Eisenhower, future 34th president. Alexis talks to historian Kevin Kruse about Ike’s religious revival and Susan Eisenhower reveals a lighter side of the man she called "Granddad."

Alexis and Elliott explore the life of president number six, John Quincy Adams, son of John Adams, and member of the first American political dynasty. They follow Quincy’s journey from child diplomat, emerging from under the shadow of his overbearing parents, to the halls of Congress where he spent his last years advocating for causes ahead of his time. But first, Mayor Tom Koch of Quincy, Massachusetts, teaches Alexis and Elliott an important lesson.

Alexis and Elliott take a closer look at the man many consider to be one of the country's worst presidents, #29 — Warren G. Harding. They talk with The New Yorker writer Jane Mayer, former Nixon counsel John Dean, and enlist the help of comedian Paula Poundstone, Radiolab's Robert Krulwich, and others, to bring Harding's raunchiest scandal to life.

Alexis and Elliott begin the series with the largely overlooked 11th president, James K. Polk, and are joined by America's favorite satirist, Jon Stewart, writer and comedian John Hodgman, author Regina Mason, and Barney's Creative Ambassador-at-Large Simon Doonan. Presidents Are People Too!, an Audible Original, recasts each of the American presidents as real-life people, complete with flaws, quirks, triumphs, scandals and bodily ailments.

Alexis and Elliott peek at the man behind the scary Richard Nixon Halloween mask: Richard Nixon. Alexis takes a trip to southern California to visit young Dick’s alma mater, and the hotel where he and Pat Nixon were married. We get a refresher on the Watergate scandal from Quinn and Dev, hosts of the Reductress podcast “Mouth Time.” Elliott and Alexis examine Nixon’s environmental policies, and Cecil Baldwin gives us a glimpse into the mind of Tricky Dick during his twilight years.

Alexis and Elliott visit Hyde Park, N.Y., home of #32, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. While there, they chat with National Park Ranger Francesca Urbin about FDR's bartending skills and examine Eleanor's contentious relationship with her mother-in-law. And Grammy Award-winning violin virtuoso Itzhak Perlman, who survived polio as a child, helps shed light on the challenges of being a public figure with a disability.