The Preacher & the Presidents

Beyond the Oval Office: The Secret World of Former Presidents

Only a handful of people have ever held the most powerful job in the world—and that shared experience bonds them in ways nothing else can. Today we're pulling back the curtain on the Presidents Club: the relationships, rivalries, and behind-the-scenes partnerships that former presidents have formed across party lines and across history. From Nixon's rehabilitation to the Bush-Clinton bromance, this is the side of the presidency the history books rarely tell. Based on The Presidents Club by Nancy Gibbs and Michael Duffy.

The Preacher & the Presidents

He preached the gospel to an estimated 215 million people in person. He knelt in prayer with presidents in the Oval Office. He took midnight phone calls from Lyndon Johnson, who was drowning in Vietnam and needed someone to talk to who didn't want anything from him. He walked the corridors of the White House for more than fifty years — and paid a real price for it when Richard Nixon's lies unraveled on tape and took a piece of Graham's reputation with them. In this episode, host Michael Bahr digs into The Preacher and the Presidents: Billy Graham in the White House by Nancy Gibbs and Michael Duffy — a remarkable, meticulously researched account of the most unusual relationship in modern American political history. What does it cost a man of God to walk that close to power? Where did Graham get it right — and where did he get it badly wrong? And what did he never stop believing, through all of it, was the only thing that truly mattered? This episode ends with an invitation. Come ready to hear it. History is cool. Let's open the book.

The Forgotten War that Forged A Nation

They called it the forgotten war. But the War of 1812 shaped the United States in ways Americans still feel today. In this bonus episode, host Michael Bahr — drawing on Walter R. Borneman's gripping narrative history 1812: The War That Forged a Nation — breaks down the conflict that nearly broke the young American republic. From the burning of Washington D.C. to the Battle of New Orleans, from British impressment on the high seas to the birth of the Star-Spangled Banner, this is the story of a nation that refused to back down. Why did the U.S. go to war with Britain again so soon after independence? Who actually won — and does the answer depend on who you ask? Tune in and find out. History is cool. This one's for Ruby.

American Sphynx: Thomas Jefferson and the American Contradiction

He wrote "all men are created equal" — and owned more than 600 people over the course of his lifetime. He championed small government — then doubled the size of the nation with a land deal he couldn't constitutionally justify. He claimed to despise political parties — then built one of the most effective political organizations of his era. Thomas Jefferson is America's most contradictory founder, and in this episode, host Michael Bahr digs into American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson by Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Joseph J. Ellis. What do we do with a man whose ideals were genuinely revolutionary and whose personal life was genuinely inexcusable? And what does Jefferson's unresolved contradiction tell us about the unresolved contradictions of America itself? Big questions. Honest answers. Let's open the book.

The Year That Made America: Crisis, Courage & 1776

What does it take to keep a revolution alive when everything is falling apart? In this episode, we dive into David McCullough's 1776 — the story of the year American independence was declared and nearly destroyed in the same breath. From the catastrophic defeat at Long Island to Washington's legendary Christmas crossing of the Delaware, we trace the razor-thin margin between a nation born and a revolution crushed. If you think democracy feels fragile today, wait until you hear how close it came to ending before it ever really began. History, courage, and a lesson for our times — history is cool--learn about it.