![[Abridged] Presidential Histories - 42.A) Bill Clinton's Economic Legacy, an interview with Nelson Lichtenstein](https://storage.buzzsprout.com/tl0hd57uzysfc7brkh26z9taoqob?.avif)
42.A) Bill Clinton's Economic Legacy, an interview with Nelson Lichtenstein
[Abridged] Presidential Histories
12/16/24
•59m
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"It's the economy, stupid" - Clinton advisor James Carville, 1992.
Bill Clinton left office with a 66% approval rating. This was in large part because 81% of Americans approved his handling of the economy - 71% said the 1999 was the best economy of their lifetimes (according to Gallup).
But how much credit does a president really deserve for an economy? And how does Clinton's record on free trade, welfare reform, and deregulation hold up today?
Labor historian Nelson Lichtenstein, author of A Fabulous Failure: The Clinton Presidency and the Transformation of American Capitalism, joins me to discuss the economic legacy of Bill Clinton.
Previous Episode
42.) Bill Clinton
December 2, 2024
•61m
“There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right with America.’” — Bill Clinton's inaugural address, Jan. 20, 1993.
Bill Clinton has the highest end-of-term approval rating of any president in modern history - 66%. But that doesn't mean things came easy. It doesn't even mean he succeeded in what he set out to do! Follow along as Clinton rises from Arkansas poverty to become the youngest governor in the country and a dark horse presidential candidate on his way to the White House. Once there, he will contend with a revolution in opposition politics, a government shutdown, and the first presidential impeachment trial since 1868. And then, after all that, he'll try to resolve one of the world's most tragic intractable struggles - the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He won't succeed at that either, but damnit, he'll try.
Bibliography
1. The Survivor: Bill Clinton in the White House - John Harris
2. Bill Clinton - Michael Tomasky
3. Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush – Jon Meacham
4. Bush - Jean Edward Smith
5. His Very Best: Jimmy Carter, a Life – Jonathan Alter
Next Episode
43.) George W Bush 2001-2009
January 6, 2025
•59m
"I can hear you! The rest of the world hears you. And the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon." - George W Bush, World Trade Center Site, September 14, 2001
George W. Bush did not get the presidency he thought he would. He expected to be the tax, entitlement, and education reform guy. Not the war on terror guy.
But the deadliest attack in World History will do that to you.
Follow along as Bush rides a privileged upbringing to the Texas Governorship, wins the White House after the most controversial election of the past 150 years, then struggles with how to keep Americans safe in the years after 9/11 and how to stave off economic armageddon when the 2008 financial crisis sends the global economy into a free fall.
Bibliography
1. Bush - Jean Edward Smith
2. Obama: The Call of History - Peter Baker
3. Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush – Jon Meacham
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