Whistlestop: Presidential History and Trivia
Channel Details
Whistlestop: Presidential History and Trivia
John Dickerson of Slate’s Political Gabfest revisits a moment from the American carnival of politics. Hear about the grand speeches, emergency strategies, baby kissing, and backstabbing that make each presidential cycle so fascinating.
Recent Episodes
95 episodes
The Presidency as a Consumer Experience (Part 2)
This episode of Whistlestop travels to October 19, 2016 as Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio, the defeated GOP aspirant for the presidency, is as...
The Presidency as a Consumer Experience (Part 1)
This episode of Whistlestop travels to October 12, 2012 when Democratic candidate Barack Obama was declared the loser at the first Presidential debate...
Avoiding A Great Re-Recession
This episode of Whistlestop travels to March 12, 2008 as President George W. Bush goes over the text of his speech to address the financial crisis in...
Introducing Charged: A True Punishment Story
For two and a half years, Emily Bazelon has been following people through a special court in New York designed to be a speedy machine for the harsh pu...
The Making of the American Presidency (Part 4)
This episode of Whistlestop travels to December 23, 1783 when the commander in chief of the Continental Army sat before the president of the Confedera...
The Making of the American Presidency (Part 3)
This episode of Whistlestop travels to March 4, 2019 when Senator Rand Paul quoted from Montesquieu on Twitter: “When the legislative and executive po...
The Making of the American Presidency (Part 2)
This episode of Whistlestop travels to June 1st, 1787 when America’s founders faced a challenge: the nation couldn’t depend on the good will of the st...
The Making of the American Presidency (Part 1)
This episode of Whistlestop travels to the spring of 1787 when fifty-five men of property and elite status argued in Philadelphia at the Constitutiona...
A ’90s-Style Government Shutdown (Part 2)
This episode of Whistlestop travels to November 7, 1995, when a long and uncomfortable plane ride helped fire up Speaker Gingrich to deliver a dramati...
A ‘90’s Style Government Shutdown (Part 1)
This episode of Whistlestop travels to April 1995 as President Bill Clinton and Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich battle to define American democracy...
If a Wall Falls
This episode of Whistlestop travels back to November 9, 1989, when East and West Berliners took sledgehammers to the Berlin Wall and President H.W. Ge...
Tip and the Gip Part 2, Social Security
This episode of Whistlestop travels back to December 16, 1981 when President Ronald Reagan signs Executive Order 12335, creating the National Commissi...
Tip and the Gip Part 1
This episode of Whistlestop visits 1981 when Republican President Ronald Reagan, after surviving an assassination attempt, received a warm visit from...
Doing the Midterm Shuffle
This episode of Whistlestop visits 1982, 1986, 1994, 2006 and 2010 when former sitting U.S. Presidents all scrambled to respond to displeasing midterm...
Taking Aim at the New Guy
This episode of Whistlestop travels back to October 18, 1938 when former President Hoover picked on the new President with gusto. Many U.S. Presidents...
The Nomination of Judge Bork Part 2
This episode of Whistlestop travels back to September 15, 1987 and into the Senate Caucus Room where Associate Justice Designee Robert Bork begins his...
Special Re-Air: John McCain's Surprise 2000 Primary Win in New Hampshire
With John McCain's passing, we are republishing this episode about John McCain's surprise win in the 2000 New Hampshire Republican primary.
The Bidding of Biden to Boo Bork
This episode of Whistlestop travels back to June 26, 1987, when President Reagan learned that the swing vote Justice on the Supreme Court, Justice Lew...
Whistlestop Presents: Slow Burn
With John Dickerson out on vacation, we're here to bring you something special: Slow Burn. In each episode of this hit Slate podcast, host Leon Neyfak...
Kennedy and Communism (Part 3)
This episode of Whistlestop travels back to June 1961, in the aftermath of President John F. Kennedy’s meeting Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev in Vie...
Kennedy and Communism (Part 2)
This episode of Whistlestop travels back to June 1961 when President John F. Kennedy sits down with Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev in Vienna.
...
Kennedy and Communism (Part 1 of 2)
This episode of Whistlestop travels back to June 3, 1961 as President John F. Kennedy prepared to hobble on stage for his first high-stakes summit wit...
Nixon Goes to China (Part 3 of 3)
This episode of Whistlestop travels back to February 1972, when President Nixon abandoned a much-needed shower in order to rush off and meet Chairman...
Nixon Goes to China (Part 2 of 3)
This episode of Whistlestop travels back to July 10, 1971 when Henry Kissinger is reported to have had a terrible stomach ache while abroad but was re...
Nixon Goes to China (Part 1)
This episode of Whistlestop travels back to February 21, 1972 when President Nixon, a staunch anti-communist, begins the thawing of relations with Chi...
Roosevelt v. The Gorgon
This episode of Whistlestop travels back to Feb 22, 1902, as Theodore Roosevelt prepares to receive the unhappy company of angry executives hoping to...
The Lighthearted Leanings of Leadership
This episode of Whistlestop travels back to April 30, 2011 when President Obama stepped up to the podium at the White House Correspondents' Dinner to...
Four Score and Seven Years of Presidential Golfing
This episode of Whistlestop travels back to April 13, 1953 when Washington DC’s baseball team, the Senators, hoped the nation’s new President would de...
Griever-in-Chief and Guardian of Common Ground
This episode of Whistlestop travels back to April 19, 1995 when the Oklahoma City Bombing shocked the nation and the President stepped up to offer emo...
Retiring for Peace
When President Johnson delivered his State of the Union speech on January 17, 1968 he surprised those closest to him when he didn’t step down.
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Carter Withdraws From U.S. Olympics
America boycotted the Moscow Summer Olympics in 1980 in response to the Russian occupation of Afghanistan. Here on the eve of the next winter Olympiad...
The 25th Amendment
This episode of Whistlestop travels back to April 4, 1841, the death of president William Henry Harrison, and a flaw in the Constitution that needed f...
Slow Burn: A Podcast About Watergate
Whistlestop presents a preview of Slow Burn, an eight-episode miniseries about Watergate.
People called her crazy, and to be fair she must hav...
Special Re-Broadcast of The Entanglements of the Mega Rich: Vice President Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller
Host John Dickerson visits January 11, 2017 and also the campaign of Gerald R. Ford and Nelson Rockefeller. With it came along concerns of economic e...
The Air Traffic Take Down
This episode of Whistlestop travels back to August 3, 1981 when 12,000 air traffic controllers walked off their jobs.
Whist...
The Partial Truths of the Presidency
Presidents FDR, Bush, Obama and others delivered partial truths to the American people. Were they good leaders?
Whistlestop...
Harry S. Truman's Battles with the Bosses (an encore presentation)
Whistlestop is Slate’s podcast about presidential campaign history. Hosted by our political correspondent and Political Gabfest panelist John Dickerso...
FDR's Purge
This episode of Whistlestop travels back to June 24, 1938, to a fireside chat with President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, as he prepared to attempt to p...
At the Heart of the President's Heart
Whistlestop is Slate's podcast about presidential history. Hosted by political correspondent and Political Gabfest panelist John Dickerson, each insta...
Responder in Chief
Whistlestop is Slate's podcast about presidential history. Hosted by political correspondent and Political Gabfest panelist John Dickerson, each insta...