American Political and History Lectures Everyone who has ever spent time in and around the world of politics and politicians has a favorite definition or quote. Among mine are: • “Politics is the divine right of kings to govern wrong.” [Pope] • “Of all sciences there is none where first appearances are more deceitful than in politics.” [Hume] • “There is no Republican road to safety but in constant distrust.” [W. Phillips] • “A Mugwump is a person education beyond his intellect.” [Porter] • “A politician weakly and amiably in the right is no match for a politician tenaciously in the wrong.” [Whipple] • “I seen my chances and I took ‘em.” [Boss Tweed] • “Politics is the art of the possible.” [Stone] I have been both a practitioner and student of, and lecturer on, politics for more than thirty-five years. In that time, I have come to have a profound respect for the ebb and flow of American political history, and an equally profound sense of bewilderment for those we call politicians. Listed below are a series of stand-alone lectures that explore a wide range of times, issues and individuals that have gone into the shaping of America.
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The Witches of Salem: A notorious flashpoint in Colonial American history, where fear of change was blamed on a “devil-intoxicated” band of women Jefferson and Adams: America's Most Famous Pen Pals: The nation's second and third Presidents. Two men who, despite mutual antipathy, ultimately formed a bond of breathtaking proportions. The Irish-Catholics: In mid-19th century America, fear of newly immigrating Irish Catholics led to the formation of a Nativist political movement called “The Know-Nothings.” In the Beginning: An examination of the origins of American Jewish political history from 165 to approximately 1840. The Scopes “Monkey” Trial: Scopes was put on trial for daring to teach the theory of evolution, thus launching a debate that yet continues. Jackson and Van Buren: The Frontiersman and the Dandy: Diametric opposites, Andy Jackson (the “frontiersman”) was actually an aristocrat, while Martin Van Buren (the “dandy”) was really the son of a saloon-keeper. The Leopold & Loeb Trial: Two incredibly bright young men charged with the murder of young Bobby Franks. This trial made Clarence Darrow a household name. The Elders of Zion: History's most notorious forgery. An attempt to prove that the world was (and to some, still is), dominated by the Tribes of Israel. A Look into the Roaring Twenties: The era of Babe Ruth and bathtub gin, the Charleston, Lucky Lindy and Rudolph Valentino. Harrison, Polk and Taylor: Tippecanoe, Dark Horse and “Old Rough ‘n Ready” three Presidents who, despite compelling biographies, are now almost virtually unknown. The Red Scare: Post World War I America's orgy of fear, in which made a hero out J. Edgar Hoover and a goat out of Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer. The Alger Hiss Trial: Put on trial for perjury, the suave, Harvard-educated Alger Hiss squared off against Whittaker Chambers and a young Richard Nixon. Johnson and Grant: Lincoln's Sorry Successors: One, a barely literate tailor, was impeached, the other, an alcoholic soldier, almost brought down by sensational scandal. H.U.A.C., Hollywood and McCarthyism: Paranoia in the post-atomic age, where a petition you signed in 1935 could get you blacklisted in 1955. The Army-McCarthy Hearings: For three months in 1954, the nation was held spellbound by the world's first televised trial, in which one of America's most powerful (and feared) politicians was effectively destroyed in prime time. Harding, Coolidge and Hoover: Snoozing in the Roaring Twenties: Arguably America's three weakest Presidents, the three oversaw a rowdy, often tempestuous decade. Quips and Bon Mots: Without question, the members of the fabled Algonquin Round Table were America's most captivating wits. What did they have to say? Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle (1921): Accused of the rape/murder of a young starlet, Arbuckle, one of the world's most beloved movie stars, suffered through not one, not two, but three trials. The Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle Trial: Accused of the rape/murder of a young starlet, Arbuckle, one of the world's most beloved movie stars, suffered through not one, not two, but three trials before he was exonerated. Nonetheless, it destroyed both his career and his life. Truman, Johnson and Reagan: The Captain, the Texan and the Actor. Three amazingly successful Presidents – depending on who you talked to . . . |
