History As It Happens

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When John Wilkes Booth assassinated Abraham Lincoln in April 1865, the United States would have its third accidental president.
The Southern unionist and Democrat Andrew Johnson of Tennessee at first seemed to be an ally of Republicans in the monumental task of Reconstruction, for he agreed that the Southern states could not come back unless they ratified the Thirteenth Amendment abolishing slavery. But Johnson's presidency quickly spiraled as he bitterly fought Congress over Reconstruction's control and sought to obstruct all efforts at achieving Black equality.
In this episode, historian Jim Oakes tells us what made Andrew Johnson arguably the worst president in U.S. history.
Further listening:
The Worst President? Meet James Buchanan w/ Jim Oakes

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If any Washington journalist can take us inside President Donald Trump's mind, it's Edward Luce. The Financial Times columnist and astute observer of American politics has frequently talked to Trump over the phone about the Iran war, the U.S. economy, and much else. Does the president have a plan, or is he winging it? Luce explains Trump's thinking as his second term collapses around him.

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On April 4, 1967, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered a powerful address at a New York City church. "Beyond Vietnam — A Time to Break Silence" was a searing indictment of a U.S. war on a poor country. King's expansive critique of militarism and violence explained how the war was "devastating the hopes of the poor at home" by draining resources from LBJ's Great Society programs. The cause of civil rights, argued King, was not separate from antiwar activism.
Where are such voices today? Our guest is historian Michael Kazin.
Michael Kazin is a distinguished historian of U.S. political and social movements at Georgetown University and the author of "What It Took To Win: A History of the Democratic Party."

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The 9/11 families are still awaiting their day in court. In lawsuits, hundreds of victims’ relatives and injured survivors claim that Saudi government employees directly and knowingly assisted Osama bin Laden's hijackers and fueled al-Qaeda’s development by funding Islamic charities that exported a radical strain of Islam to places like Afghanistan.
What did the Saudi government know, if anything, about the plot? Why did Islamic charities export Wahhabism to the Muslim world? Who was Omar al-Bayoumi, a Saudi intelligence asset who befriended two of the hijackers?
Our guest is Peter Bergen, the author of All the Presidents’ Wars.
Bergen is a journalist, documentary producer, and vice president for global studies at New America, a D.C. think tank. He’s a national security analyst for CNN and professor of practice at Arizona State University.
Further listening:
Who Was Osama bin Laden? (podcast w/ Peter Bergen)

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Nicaragua has a dictator for life. President Daniel Ortega, 80, announced the country won’t hold elections anytime soon, underscoring his effort to extend his nearly 20-year rule and dashing the opposition's hopes that he might allow a modicum of democracy, according to the Associated Press. Few expected next year's election to be free and fair, but Ortega won't even uphold the pretense.
Who are Daniel Ortega and the Sandinistas, a leftist revolutionary movement founded in the early 1960s? Why is Ortega, who was first elected in 1984, still on the Central American political scene? Our guest is historian Jeffrey Gould.
Jeffrey Gould is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of Indiana. He's an expert on Nicaragua as well as Central American social movements, ethnic conflicts, and political violence.

Go to historyasithappens.com to learn more.


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