11 facts I learned about presidents
The Washington Post’s Presidential podcast is by far my favorite byproduct of this election. It’s been a regular reminder that our nation’s highest office is a noble and storied institution — which can be easy to forget during our current media circus. It lets me binge listen and tune out the noise for awhile.
The series started in January with weekly episodes examining every president. Post editor Lillian Cunningham, who writes about leadership, has managed to humanize each president, from the forgettable to the legendary. She paints a portrait of complex characters that help you both empathize and see the flaws in our human leaders.
Above all, it’s reminded me that there’s no one right way to lead. Each president relies on their own unique traits that, in certain circumstances, can produce either triumph or tragic failure. After listening to the series, I can’t help but think that the title “Presidential” reflects that there’s no static definition of the term. What we see as presidential is as diverse, changing and evolving as our own democracy.
[I’m exploring 100 podcasts and writing what I learn. This is No. 37]
So here in no particular order are 11 random insights I gleaned from listening to Presidential for nearly a year. I hope you’ll listen and find your own.
1 Eisenhower’s famous warning against the military-industrial complex was really a subtle message in favor of covert action. As a former general, Eisenhower saw the immense cost of war, both in the financial and human sense. So he advocated for using the CIA to subvert, influence, overthrow or even assassinate leaders abroad. He pursued this secret action behind the scenes with mixed results, and set precedents that we’re still dealing with today.
2 Thomas Jefferson hated public speaking and probably suffered from social phobia. He started delivering a letter to Congress for the State of the Union Address instead of being spoken, and gave only two public speeches as president — his inaugural addresses.
3 Calvin Coolidge was probably severely depressed after his oldest son died when he was in office. His personality completely changed and he stopped talking. Historians now think that’s why he became known as Silent Cal.
4 The perfect storm caused that iconic Dewey Defeats Truman mistaken headline from the Chicago Tribune.
Polls at the time were in their infancy and were far from scientific, but conventional wisdom suggested Thomas Dewey’s victory was seen as inevitable. So leading up to the election Dewey took time off while Truman continued a whistle stop campaign, helping him close the gap. Finally, the Tribune’s printers were on strike, causing them to produce an edition hours ahead of time before they had official results. They were also not the only paper to make the same error.
5 George W. Bush had a major change of leadership style in the second half of his second term. He started disagreeing with Dick Cheney on almost everything and they had a big falling out over the issue of pardoning Cheney’s friend Scooter Libby. To this day they still have a rift.
6 George H.W. Bush is an extremely emotional man who cries at the drop of a hat. But as a member of the silent generation never thought that should be public and that’s why he came across as cold in contrast to Bill Clinton.
7 If SNL was around in 1850, Alec Baldwin could have played Millard Fillmore instead of Donald Trump.
8 10th president John Tyler had 15 (!) children and his grandson (yes, grandson) is still living. His lasting contribution is the Tyler Precedent, which made vice presidents the president if the president died. Others thought he should be acting president or there should be a new election when William Henry Harrison died after one month in office. Tyler was like, nope, sorry guys, I’m president now. Then he went and had some more kids.
9 11th president James Polk was basically the Frank Underwood of presidents. He used lying to his own party as a strategy to achieve his goals, including starting a war with Mexico in order to annex California. They Might Be Giants has a catchy song about him, even though they don’t really like him.
10 12th president Zachary Taylor also died in office. There were conspiracy theories that he was poisoned by the pro-slavery state contingent, but what likely happened was the White House water supply was contaminated.
11 Reagan, Clinton and Obama all had alcoholic fathers, and journalist and biographer David Maraniss thinks that caused them to seek their own identity, become adept at navigating complex situations, compartmentalize different parts of their life, and develop a sort of “hero complex.” In fact, Obama talked with Doris Kearns Goodwin about how his upbringing spurred his early ambitions: “You could analyze me and say that my father leaving and being absent was a motivator for early ambition, trying to prove myself to this apparition who had vanished,” he said. “You could argue that me being a mixed kid in a place where there weren’t a lot of black kids around might have spurred on my ambitions. You could go through a whole litany of things that sparked me wanting to do something important.”
You can listen to the episodes of all 44 presidents now, and there’s a new episode coming out this week for the election.
