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POLL: Pick the Next Extra History Series! "American Presidents"
🕑 Added 2020-10-02 21:11:57 +0000 UTCHere's an opportunity to get to know some of the unusual aspects around a particular US president. Who do you want to know more about?
Andrew Johnson: Trashing Lincoln's Legacy
Andrew Johnson was never supposed to be president. Raised in poverty, never able to finish school, he became a hero to the Union during the Civil War, when he became the only sitting US senator from a southern state who refused to back secession. It was for that reason Lincoln took him as a running mate in 1864—picking him as an act of unity, since he was a southern Democrat who'd owned slaves until the previous year. But after Lincoln's assassination, Johnson suddenly became the key figure in readmitting southern states to the Union. His positions of conciliation and compromise with the south made him mortal enemies in the Republican-controlled congress, leading to the nation's first impeachment trial.
Ulysses S. Grant: Soldier President
The two things everyone says about Ulysses S. Grant is that he was a good general, but a bad president... but one of those things isn't true. While the political neophyte Grant had difficulty noticing and controlling corruption in his administration—a major error—and stumbled on the economy, he also put forth a robust civil rights platform, extended voting rights for African-Americans, and championed the separation of church and state. However, he would end up trading away the gains of Reconstruction, a move that would have terrible consequences for African-Americans in the south...
Teddy Roosevelt: Trust-Buster
When Theodore Roosevelt came to the presidency, trusts and monopolies were putting a stranglehold on American consumers. Companies like Standard Oil had purchased so many competitors and parts of their supply chain that they ruled over large sections of the economy, driving smaller competitors out of business before buying them or engaging in price-fixing with other large rivals. Roosevelt attacked them, welding as his weapon the 1890 Sherman Antitrust Act. He broke up monopolies, brought regulation to American business, and created what would become the departments of Commerce, Labor, and the Federal Trade Commission. Though he did on occasion overstep... like when he tried to regulate how words were spelled.
Warren Harding: Beyond Teapot Dome
Say what you will about Warren Harding, but the man loved his dog. Laddie Boy got an official portrait, birthday cakes made of dog biscuits, and a seat at the table during cabinet meetings. Which was great for Harding, because the press attention on Laddie Boy distracted from the wanton corruption in his administration. There was the head of the Veteran's Bureau, who defrauded hospitals and sold medical supplies. His Attorney General wrapped up in bootlegger payoffs and guiding seized companies to friends. Then there was the big one, Teapot Dome, where drilling rights to a strategic oil reserve were exchanged for a payoff... leading to the first cabinet member ever to serve prison time. And where was Harding during all this? Already dead, of course.
What series would you like us to air on Extra History? Cast your vote(s) below and let us know!
Friendly reminder: You can vote for as many choices as you want! This style of voting helps us see what people are most interested in without having to make tough decisions between a couple of close favorites. The poll will end at 11:59 PM PT on Sunday, October 11th.
Current Schedule: End of the Samurai --> Saladin --> Your Vote
Comments
Nate Butkus
I mean, Roosevelt got shot with a bullet in the middle of a speech AND THEN HE KEPT GIVING THE SPEECH
Joshua Evans-Lowell
Well, we all know Harding from the biopic that came out a few years ago https://youtu.be/5cBV8KFFasY?t=272
Michael Stefanick
And you didnt consoder the craziest man on the ballot...ANDREW JACKSON?!?!
Chris James
Interesting! Did not know anything about it. When we think of the 1920s we think of bootleggers, gangster, big business and jazz. But there is so much more there. How about the 1924 Immigration Act? A century later we still dealing with the after affects of that law.
Brian Rose
The 1920 Republican Convention was insane enough, and such a major turning point, in its own right, that it could easily be a video by itself.
Chris James
These are all great choices. Harding would be a good one because (a) we know little about him, (b) he was the first president to be voted on after passage of the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote , (c) he was president with the 18th Amendment banning alcohol started hitting with full force, (d) he set the tone for the 1920s for our attitudes toward business and foreign policy.
Clare McDermet
I guess reconstruction is too broad a topic to cover under one president. Do you think you guys could do a series on reconstruction and the KKK insurgency at some point? I was hoping for a series on Roosavelt's role in imperialism, anyway.
Rambles in the Rust Belt
That said, if Teddy wins this vote, would it be possible to see a series on the legacy of Reconstruction? It would sort of combine the Johnson and Grant series above, and perhaps strengthen both of them by putting them in conversation with each other.
Rambles in the Rust Belt
I'm firmly on team Grant here. Teddy was a fine president, but I already know a lot about him. I'm looking forward to learning more about Grant.
Herkles
@The Extra History Team: Perhaps there could be future episodes for other countries in the America, like an episode on a Mexican President, or Leader of Brazil, or President of Chile, etc?
Herkles
I am hoping that Grant wins, though teddy winning is also fine.
Emmanuel Flores
Yes it is Teddy we can’t do teddy justice without his own series.
Martin Verran
Brief chicken update: two of our four chicks who hatched out a couple of weeks ago, bafflingly, have died, so we're now down to two chicks and an assortment of adult hens/roosters. Oh, and I've been told that one of the piglets [the smallest, who we've taken to calling "Runty"] will be staying with us.
Aidan Kriskey
They took my trust buster recommendation! First time I had an idea that was picked
The Deaf Mans Lands
The point is that while he's such a meme of a President, his trust-busting is the lesser-known aspect of his presidency, despite it arguably being the most important part of it.
Jeffrey Chu
"President of the United States" is technically the correct term. However in vernacular English "American President" is perfectly acceptable.
Benjamin Fouty
Harding! Harding!
Benjamin Fouty
I wish I had been as thoughtful in my nomination. Haitian presidents or some of the 1880-1930s Latin American presidents would have been a great series.
Brian Rose
Not saying he wasn't one of the great US presidents, just that we see so much of him these days anyway. If Teddy is voted for a series, at the very least I'd like to see EC to give a nod to this meme status in the videos - maybe Matt can start off the first video yelling "WHAT'S UP, BITCHES?"
Thomas Alfred Weaver
it's like saying Native American when you are referring to American Indians. Both terms are confusing enough as is.
The Deaf Mans Lands
If it wasn't for Teddy Roosevelt's trust-busting forays, we would likely still be under the shackles of lassiez-faire capitalism. The US's government was so rotted to the core by the time Teddy took office that it took a pure stroke of luck for him to even *get* into office in the first place.
Paolo Torelli
@Brandon indeed, tipical Usonian attitude of thinking the world of themselves :)
The Deaf Mans Lands
While there are two whole continents named America, it's extremely common to refer to the US specifically as America, since almost every single other nation in the continents has their own distinct name unrelated to that of the continents.
Extra History
Sorry for the mess up, we'll use United States to be a little more specific next time.
Brian Rose
On Teddy Roosevelt - isn't there enough of the meme-lord on the internet already?
Mitchell Brannon
I’ve already read a book on the Johnson impeachment so my vote goes to Grant and Teddy.
Brian Rose
To start, only a few states - South Carolina, Florida, and Louisiana - were still under military occupation at the time. In those states, and in the rest of the south, the legacy of the Grant Era took decades to undercut. And even at the height of the post-war white supremacist backlash, the state of freedmen and their descendants, and the groundwork for them to fight for their due as American citizens -- even with everything white supremacy was throwing at them to keep them in destitution and oppression, they still stood upon the firm, unyielding ground inherited from their freedmen ancestors, who fought for their status while Ulysses S Grant was president.
Brian Rose
If you guys do end up doing Ulysses S Grant, than allow me to make one correction -- the Compromise of 1877 actually did far less to undo the work of Reconstruction than is generally given credit for. (con. in replies below)
Brian Rose
Andrew Johnson - basically Donald Trump in the mid 19th Century
Clare McDermet
They took my Johnson recommendation!
Foxdoc
Drat, Taft didn’t make it. Ah well. Let’s go Teddy :)
JohnnyElRojo
I don't get it. The survey said "American" presidents, so... why all the options exclusively from the United States? I mean, there are a lot more of countries in America.
