Stan looks at the history of this quadrennial event that goes back 232 years, from the Bible Washington used to the only inauguration held on an airplane, the only president sworn in by a woman, two inaugurals almost cancelled by cold weather, and why there have been 9 “non-scheduled extraordinary” inaugurations.
This week’s guest is Keith Mason, a Gwinnett County native who served as Governor Zell Miller’s Chief of Staff and in President Bill Clinton’s administration. He was instrumental in the passage of the Georgia Lottery and the Hope Scholarship. Keith discusses political figures past and future, including Zell Miller, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, James Carville, Paul Begala, Roy Barnes, Stacey Abrams, Donald Trump, Joe Biden, and more.
In this Dispatch, Dr. Deaton takes a look at another hotly contested election in America’s history that included charges of voter fraud and threats of recounts and legal challenges: the presidential election of 1960 between Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy.
We all remember the contested presidential election of 2000, but the greatest Constitutional crisis we ever faced was the disputed election of 1876, decided four months after the election and just two days before the inauguration.
In our first podcast of the season, Stan talks to Sarah Milov of the University of Virginia about her recent book The Cigarette: A Political History, and about the fascinating history of smoking and anti-smoking in America–including a snippet of the creepy Johnny Smoke PSA from the late ’60s. We also check out “This Week in History,” from Jimmy Carter to Janis Joplin to Tomochichi, “Obituaries You Were Too Busy to Notice,” and this week’s edition of “People You Thought Were Dead but are Still Living.”
