Episode 002: Michael Connolly on Presidential History

Michael Connolly of Purdue University North Central talks about presidents and their legacies with Historically Thinking host Al Zambone.

Connolly surveys past presidents, and argues that the way in which we assess them is often mistaken. He argues that presidential history is a very real and necessary sub-discipline. Given public interest in presidential history, Connolly asserts, historians disregard it at their own risk.

Books, Articles, and Links to Things Mentioned in the Conversation

Michael Connollly, Capitalism, Politics, and Railroads in Jacksonian New England

Jordan Michael Smith, “The Letters the Harding Family Didn’t Want You to See.” The New York Times, July 7, 2014.

The Harding-Fulton Correspondence, Library of Congress

The Center for Presidential History, Southern Methodist University

The Miller Center, University of Virginia

Warren Harding House and Tomb

Calvin Coolidge Historic Site

Wheatland, Home of President James Buchanan

 

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