Civics In A Year

Memorial Day with Arlington National Cemetery

Memorial Day gets marketed like a party, but the real story is heavier and more human. We’re joined by Allison Finkelstein, Senior Historian at Arlington National Cemetery, to trace Memorial Day back to its first name: Decoration Day. From Arlington’s creation during the Civil War to the first official annual observance of National Decoration Day in 1868, we talk about how public rituals, flowers, and community grief shaped the way the United States remembers its war dead. Then we slow down and look at remembrance, one name at a time. Allison shares the story of Private Sylvester Ducket of the 369th Infantry, the Harlem Hellfighters, and how a headstone can open a door into archives, family choices, and long-delayed recognition. We also discuss Anita Campos, a Spanish-American War nurse contracted before the Army Nurse Corps existed, and what her burial at Arlington says about the service that the government didn’t always fully name or reward. Along the way, we unpack Arlington’s history of segregation by race and rank and why the cemetery’s landscape still helps us see that past. We also get practical about what Memorial Day can look like now: Arlington’s Flags In tradition, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and Flowers of Remembrance, which invites the public to place a flower in a powerful act of collective memory. If you teach civics or history, Alison explains free educational resources from Arlington National Cemetery, including lesson plans, primary source activities, and upcoming virtual visits that bring the site to your classroom. Subscribe for more conversations that make civics feel real, share this with a teacher or veteran in your life, and leave a review so more listeners can find us. What’s one way you plan to observe Memorial Day with intention this year? America 250 [https://education.arlingtoncemetery.mil/Themes/America-250] Memorial Day Lesson  [https://education.arlingtoncemetery.mil/Search/Blog/33?search=memorial%20day'] Arlington Education Hub [https://education.arlingtoncemetery.mil/] Check Out the Civic Literacy Curriculum [https://civics.asu.edu/civic-literacy-curriculum]! School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership [https://scetl.asu.edu/] Center for American Civics [https://civics.asu.edu/]

Lyndon B. Johnson And The Art Of Power

Power rarely looks like a speech. Sometimes it looks like a phone call, a vote count, and a president who knows exactly how the Senate works. We’re joined by LBJ Foundation Chairman and CEO Mark Updgrove for a clear-eyed conversation about Lyndon B. Johnson, the skills that made him so effective, and why his story still belongs in every serious discussion of American civic education. We dig into the Johnson Treatment, LBJ’s legendary ability to persuade, and how his command of the legislative process turned relationships into results. From the pivotal 1964 election to the fleeting nature of political capital, we track how Johnson used a historic mandate to push a progressive agenda at breathtaking speed. The Great Society comes into focus not as a slogan, but as the foundation of modern America: Medicare, Medicaid, the Voting Rights Act, major education funding, immigration reform, environmental protections, and more. Then we confront the shadow that shaped how many Americans remember him: the Vietnam War, the draft, and a country pulling apart. Mark also explains why Johnson’s 1968 decision not to run again still matters, including the personal reality of his health. We close with a defense of presidential libraries as repositories of the public record and as public squares for debate, plus a listener-friendly path into the LBJ telephone tapes [https://lbjtapes.org/] that let you hear history unfold in real time. Subscribe for more deep dives on U.S. history and civic learning, share this with a friend who loves presidential history, and leave us a review with your biggest takeaway. Check Out the Civic Literacy Curriculum [https://civics.asu.edu/civic-literacy-curriculum]! School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership [https://scetl.asu.edu/] Center for American Civics [https://civics.asu.edu/]

Presidential Pets And Public Power

A dog on the White House lawn can do what a policy speech can’t: make power feel personal. We’re taking a sharp, surprisingly civic look at presidential pets and why these “small” stories shape how Americans see leadership, character, and credibility. From carefully curated photo ops to messy headlines that remind us the White House is also a home, pets have become part of modern political communication.  We walk through some of the most telling examples in presidential history, starting with Franklin D Roosevelt’s Scottish terrier, Fala, and the famous moment Roosevelt used humor about his dog to reinforce confidence during wartime. Then we move to one of the most politically important pet stories ever told on television: Richard Nixon’s 1952 Checkers speech, where a family dog becomes the emotional centerpiece of a career-saving argument. Along the way, we connect the dots to the rise of the “public presidency” and how media rewards relatability.  We also explore how the pet narrative evolves through the TV era and into the 21st century with Reagan’s ranch image, George H W Bush’s wildly popular dog Millie, Barack Obama’s promise of Bo, and the constant attention around President Biden’s dogs. And yes, we make room for the weird ones too: John Quincy Adams’ alligator and Calvin Coolidge’s raccoon Rebecca. If you care about civics, presidential history, media influence, and how voters form trust, this is a surprisingly revealing place to look.  Subscribe, share the episode with a friend, and leave a review with your favorite presidential pet story. Check Out the Civic Literacy Curriculum [https://civics.asu.edu/civic-literacy-curriculum]! School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership [https://scetl.asu.edu/] Center for American Civics [https://civics.asu.edu/]

Challenger And The Words That Followed

I can still picture the classroom TV, the countdown, and the way excitement turned into silence 73 seconds after liftoff. The Space Shuttle Challenger disaster wasn’t just a news event for a lot of Americans, it was something we witnessed as kids, especially because a teacher was onboard. When that kind of shock hits a country in real time, the next question becomes painfully simple: what do you say now? That night, President Ronald Reagan made a choice that still matters in civics, leadership, and crisis communication. He set aside the State of the Union and delivered a brief national address that spoke directly to schoolchildren. I walk through what made the Reagan Challenger speech work: clear acknowledgment of grief, restraint on technical details, and a focus on shared meaning instead of easy answers. We also unpack the lines that shaped public memory, including “The future doesn’t belong to the faint-hearted. It belongs to the brave,” and why naming the astronauts shifted the moment from history to human beings. We end with the question Reagan put at the center of the nation’s recovery: do we keep exploring after loss? If you care about public rhetoric, presidential speechwriting, NASA history, or how leaders speak during national tragedy, this is a tight, unforgettable example. Subscribe for more from Civics in a Year, share this with someone who remembers that day, and leave a review with the line from the speech that stayed with you most. Check Out the Civic Literacy Curriculum [https://civics.asu.edu/civic-literacy-curriculum]! School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership [https://scetl.asu.edu/] Center for American Civics [https://civics.asu.edu/]

MLK's I Have A Dream Speech

The I Have a Dream speech is one of the most recognizable moments in American history, but the version most of us carry around is often the shortest and safest one. We sit down with returning guest Dr. Michael Butler to rebuild the speech from the ground up: the Birmingham campaign, the political pressure on President John F. Kennedy, and the urgency created by Medgar Evers’ assassination in Jackson, Mississippi. When you place August 28, 1963 back into its real world, the “dream” lands differently. We also dig into the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom as a feat of coalition-building, not a foregone conclusion. Dr. Butler spotlights Bayard Rustin’s central role, the risks organizers faced, and the way the march was meant to prove broad interracial and interfaith support for a federal Civil Rights Act. Then we talk about what it was like to hear King live at the Lincoln Memorial, including the Black church tradition behind his cadence and the way he weaves the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, the Gettysburg Address, and Scripture into a single moral argument. Most importantly, we don’t skip the reality check that comes before the famous lines. King names police brutality, voter suppression, poverty, and the “bad check” America hands to Black citizens, and he says “justice” long before he says “dream.” We unpack how that fuller meaning gets lost, how King was controversial in his own time, and why the FBI treated him as dangerous enough to intensify surveillance through COINTELPRO. If you care about civic education, teaching US history honestly, or understanding the civil rights movement beyond sound bites, this conversation is for you. Subscribe for more history that keeps its context, share the episode with a friend, and leave a review. What line from King’s speech do you think Americans most need to hear in full today? Check Out the Civic Literacy Curriculum [https://civics.asu.edu/civic-literacy-curriculum]! School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership [https://scetl.asu.edu/] Center for American Civics [https://civics.asu.edu/]