Many people think that politics and elections in the United States are the most controversial they have ever been. History, however, begs to differ.
Perhaps the oddest and most controversial presidential election in American history was the election of 1824. It is an election that doesn’t get a lot of attention given who won and the lack of major issues at stake, but it is one that more people should be familiar with.
On the Gist, sorting out how undemocratic of our democracy is.
In the interview, the Atlantic’s James Fallows contends that while 2020 has been bad, 1968 was actually quite worse. The Vietnam War was raging, young men were being drafted, and in 1968 the North Vietnamese and Vietcong forces launched their Tet Offensive. Not to mention, Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy were both assassinated. Fallows and Mike discuss how the assassinations compounded on the stress of the war, how shooting targets have shifted from politicians to schools, and compare the civil unrest of 1968 with 2020. Fallows’ piece in the Atlantic is “Is This the Worst Year in Modern American History?”
In the spiel, we’re not getting those $2,000 checks...which leads to a Remembrances of Things Trump where the president likes a certain phrase about talking and action.
Podcast production by Daniel Schroeder, Margaret Kelley, and Cheyna Roth.
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Editor’s note: This episode mistakenly identifies Martin Luther King Jr. as having been assassinated “when he was in his early 40s.” King died at the age of 39 on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee.
The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX.
A note on notes: We’d much rather you just went into each episode of The Memory Palace cold. And just let the story take you where it well. So, we don’t suggest looking into the show notes first.
Music
Waltz for Sky by Muriel Botsdorp
A Gathering to Lead me When You're Gone by Brian McBride
Amanda Holmes reads Edward Thomas’s poem “Lights Out.” Have a suggestion for a poem by a (dead) writer? Email us: podcast@theamericanscholar.org. If we select your entry, you’ll win a copy of a poetry collection edited by David Lehman.
This episode was produced by Stephanie Bastek and features the song “Canvasback” by Chad Crouch.
Amber here with a quick plug for Labor Campaign for Single Payer, an organization of unions who are bringing more unions into the fight to win Medicare for All.
Support links below:
https://actionnetwork.org/fundraising/donate-to-labor-campaign-for-single-payer?source=website&
While you're at it, also please give a pitch for our January 23-24 virtual strategy conference: https://www.laborforsinglepayer.org/medicare-for-all-strategy-conference/
It wasn't a big piece of the presidential campaign, but since the election, proposals to bail out student loan borrowers have become dramatically more ambitious. Neal McCluskey explains the folly of more freebies for the well-off.
Will the Republican controlled Senate vote to increase stimulus checks to $2,000 dollars or defy President Trump? Hospitals in crisis as coronavirus and deaths surge. Investigators seeking motive in the Christmas Day bombing in Nashville. Correspondent Deborah Rodriguez has the CBS World News Roundup for Tuesday, December 29, 2020:
Doomsday prepping seems more and more logical to us on the Life Raft team. Climate change-induced weather disasters are only getting worse, and it never hurts to be prepared, right?
Today on the show we’re going to get a glimpse into the world of prepping through the eyes of Sharon Ross, who wanted to be prepared for anything, but later found herself the odd one out.
This story comes to us from our friends at Wyoming Public Media. It’s from a terrific podcast called HumaNature, which tells stories about human experiences in nature.
You can read more about Sharon Ross and her efforts here, and you can follow her on Twitter and Instagram.
Support for WWNO’s Coastal Desk comes from the Greater New Orleans Foundation, the Walton Family Foundation, and listeners like you.
If you like what you hear from Life Raft, consider making a donation to WRKF and WWNO to help keep the show going!
If there is one song almost everyone knows it is Happy Birthday to You (yes, that is the actual title of the song, even though everyone just calls it Happy Birthday).
Not only has the song been sung at countless children’s birthday parties, but it has also been mentioned in Supreme Court decisions and was the subject of one of the most important copyright cases in history.
Learn more about the most famous song in the world on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
