![[Abridged] Presidential Histories - 21.) Chester A. Arthur 1881-1885](https://storage.googleapis.com/goodpods-images-bucket/episode_images/6525cc0e1e417ed39f762f8124d08715bf80d60045828e7dbdde538ee5b7f9b9.avif)
21.) Chester A. Arthur 1881-1885
[Abridged] Presidential Histories
10/25/21
•51m
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Chester A. Arthur is the most corrupt politician to ever become president. For years, he made a fortune making sure enough money disappeared from the New York City customs house to keep his patron in power. When a backroom deal made him vice president and an assassin's bullet ended James Garfield's presidency and began Arthur's, the nation despaired. But then he got an unexpected letter. One woman - a woman he'd never met - believed he was capable of change. Could Arthur complete the most unexpected transformation in presidential history? Or was American democracy about to be sold to the highest bidder?
Follow along as Arthur goes from inspiring Civil Rights lawyer to not-so-inspiring corrupt political crony, to Vice President, to the White House and ponder the age old question - can people change?
Bibliography
1. The Unexpected President: The Life and Times of Chester A. Arthur – Scott S. Greenberger
2. Destiny of the Republic – Candice Millard
3. Rutherford B. Hayes – Hans. L. Trefousse
4. Grover Cleveland – Henry F. Graff
5. T.R. the last Romantic – H.R. Brands
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44.A) The Black President, an interview on Barack Obama with Claude A. Clegg
October 18, 2021
•58m
It's Obama time! We are skipping ahead in the narrative to talk with UNC professor Claude A. Clegg, author of the recently published book The Black President: Hope and Fury in the Age of Obama, about the Obama administration, race, and the challenges and opportunities that come with writing contemporary history.
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Chester A. Arthur is a 19th-century American politics version of Breaking Bad mashed with Darth Vader's redemption story.
Ok. There's no meth or space sorcery. But there is a seemingly noble man who jettisons his values when they get in the way of making a buck. (Ok, a LOT of bucks). And then, after a lifetime of proving himself a good-for-nothing scoundrel, he turns into a redemption story when thrust into the presidency with the future of the nation on the line.
Join me as I interview Scott Greenberger, executive editor of Stateline, the daily news service of the Pew Charitable Trusts, and author of The Unexpected President: The Life and Times of Chester A. Arthur, on why Arthur fell from grace, and the factors that inspired his redemption at a time when the entire country had given up on him.
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