Monday, March 20, 2023

27 William Howard Taft

William Howard Taft is perhaps best known as the fattest president who allegedly got stuck in a bathtub, but this episode will show that he was much, much more than that. Taft followed in his eminent father's footsteps to become a Yale graduate, lawyer, and judge. His highest ambition was to join the U.S. Supreme Court, and President McKinley promised to appoint him--if he first agreed to serve as civil governor of the Philippines. After his friend Theodore Roosevelt became president upon McKinley's assassination, Taft would turn down multiple offers to join the Supreme Court so he could finish his work in the Philippines. As Secretary of War, his masterful administrative skills and lovable personality made him Roosevelt's closest advisor and chosen successor for the presidency in 1908. Though Taft still yearned for the Supreme Court, he found himself as our nation's 27th President. He quietly built an impressive record of tariff reform, fiscal responsibility, conservation, antitrust enforcement, and international economic expansion via "Dollar Diplomacy." But his judicial temperament lacked finely-tuned political instincts, and he lost the confidence of the growing progressive wing of the Republican party--which turned to the increasingly radical Roosevelt to challenge Taft in the 1912 election, splitting the party and handing the presidency to the Democrats. Taft went on to serve as a law professor at Yale until 1921, when President Harding floored him with an offer to become Chief Justice of the United States. Finally ensconced in his dream job, Taft would transform the federal judiciary like no Chief Justice since John Marshall.    

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We're very proud of all of our wonderful Episode 27 sponsors:
Viola Miner funeral – La Crosse Tribune (La Crosse, WI) – March 5, 1909

Edmund J. Neuman funeral – La Crosse Tribune (La Crosse, WI) – July 2, 1910

Louise Dierkop funeral – La Crosse Tribune (La Crosse, WI) – August 12, 1910

William Horne dead – La Crosse Tribune (La Crosse, WI) – November 27, 1909

William Horne’s XXL coffin – La Crosse Tribune (La Crosse, WI) – November 30, 1909

Frank Graf dies using toe knife – La Crosse Tribune (La Crosse, WI) – April 1, 1910

Head crushed by train cars – La Crosse Tribune (La Crosse, WI) – March 25, 1909

Charles Zettel unclaimed – La Crosse Tribune (La Crosse, WI) – March 26, 1909

Charles Zettel buried as pauper – La Crosse Tribune (La Crosse, WI) – March 27, 1909

“The Old Reliable” First National Bank of Comanche – The American (Comanche, OK) – March 4, 1909

$500 Reward for John B. Campbell – The North Star (Britton, OK) – March 18, 1909

Campbell’s drunken note – El Reno Daily American (El Reno, OK) – March 17, 1909

Campbell says he’s sorry – Chickasha Daily Express (Chickasha, OK) – March 20, 1909

Eat and get thin with Marmola Prescription Tablets – La Crosse Tribune (La Crosse, WI) – March 5, 1909

Marmola fixes shiny skin – Leavenworth Times (Leavenworth, KS) – April 18, 1909

$5 reward for purse containing $90 – Cawker City Ledger (Cawker City, KS) – March 4, 1909

$500 if J.B. Brisbois can’t cure your alcoholism – Seattle Star (Seattle, WA) – March 9, 1909


Monday, March 13, 2023

PWF #10 - Reconstruction

Anything can happen in the Presidential Wrestling Federation--especially when all of the belts are on the line! The Reconstruction pay-per-view has an electrifying card of intense title matches:
  • Tag Team Championships: James Madison & James Monroe v. John Adams & John Quincy Adams
  • Women's Championship: Eleanor Roosevelt v. Michelle Obama
  • Transcontinental Championship: Woodrow Wilson v. Barack Obama
  • PWF Championship: George Washington v. FDR


Dead Presidents Podcast Homepage (with links to subscribe on your favorite podcast app!)





Monday, March 6, 2023

Presidential War #21 - George W. Bush Are Learning

Presidential War enters Season 3 with the addition of exciting new categories! When it comes to the nation's premier presidential educational card game, no one ever needs to ask: "is our children learning?" They certainly is. On this episode, we leave no child behind.      

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Monday, February 27, 2023

Top 5 Monroe Doctrine Invocations

2023 is the bicentennial of the Monroe Doctrine, announced by President James Monroe in his 1823 State of the Union address. To celebrate, we've put together a Top 5 that functions as a comprehensive history of this cornerstone of American foreign policy.   

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Monday, February 20, 2023

26 Theodore Roosevelt

In one of American history’s most epic life stories, Theodore Roosevelt began as a sickly child debilitated by asthma and went on to become a Harvard graduate, author, historian, NY state legislator, cattle rancher, big game hunter, conservationist, Civil Service Commissioner, NYC Police Commissioner, Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Spanish-American War hero, NY Governor, and Vice President. When McKinley’s assassination unexpectedly made him the youngest president in American history, his unbounded energy, unmatched press relations, and finely-tuned political instincts helped turn Theodore Roosevelt into one of our most successful, popular, and powerful chief executives. He became known as the Trustbuster for taking on the nation’s biggest corporations while crusading to secure a Square Deal for average Americans and make conservation of natural resources a national priority. On the world stage, he flexed the U.S.’s newfound imperial muscles by securing the rights to build the Panama Canal, aggressively enforcing an expanded Monroe Doctrine, and winning the Nobel Peace Prize for mediating an end to the Russo-Japanese War. Declining a third term, he went on to have perhaps the most eventful post-presidency, which featured: hunting African big game for the Smithsonian, running for president yet again as a third-party candidate, surviving an assassination attempt, nearly dying on an expedition that put an uncharted Brazilian river on the map, and trying to volunteer to fight in two more wars. The Dead Presidents Podcast is thrilled to begin Season 3 with this chronicle of one of our most interesting presidents.

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We're very proud of all of our wonderful Episode 26 sponsors:
Bayer Heroin – American Journal of Pharmacy – December 1901

From Poverty to Competence in Oklahoma – Randolph Enterprise (Randolph, KS) – September 19, 1901

Homes for Boys Wanted – De Soto Press (De Soto, MO) – September 21, 1901

Insist on Coca-Cola! – San Francisco Examiner (San Francisco, CA) – June 10, 1908

Coca-Cola has cocaine – Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles, CA) – February 25, 1902

Coca-Cola now cocaine-free – Macon Telegraph (Macon, GA) – August 1, 1907

Burdick holds stockholders meeting – Buffalo Review (Buffalo, NY – February 11, 1902

Burdick dance party – Buffalo News (Buffalo, NY) – December 27, 1901

Edwin Burdick brutally murdered – Buffalo Times (Buffalo, NY) – February 27, 1903

Monday, October 24, 2022

PWF #9 - PresidentialMania

The biggest pay-per-view event of all time features the most explosive card in presidential wrestling history:

  • Donald Trump vs. George Washington: The championship belt is on the line and so is ownership of the PWF--but if Trump wins, he gets to turn Mount Vernon into a casino.
  • Abraham Lincoln vs. Jefferson Davis: At the Confederate Championship Wrestling's flagship pay-per-view SecessleMania, Lincoln can win back the PWF's southern territory, but he has to put an important constitutional amendment at risk of repeal.
  • Teddy Roosevelt vs. William Howard Taft vs. Woodrow Wilson: The transcontinental championship will be decided in an epic three-way ladder match.
  • JFK and LBJ vs. James Madison and James Monroe for the tag team championship.
  • Eleanor Roosevelt vs. Melania Trump and Ivanka Trump in a handicap match. 


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Monday, October 17, 2022

Presidential War #20 - Jimmy Carter Is Still Alive

The epic season finale of Presidential War is a clash of titans. Who was the better statesman: Thomas Jefferson or FDR? Who would win in a fight: Abe Lincoln or TR? Who was the better-looking president: JFK or Franklin Pierce? Were Andrew Jackson's two vice presidents (John C. Calhoun and Martin Van Buren) more accomplished than William McKinley's (Garret Hobart and TR)? Also, we marvel at the still-aliveness of Nicest Guy category champion Jimmy Carter in the wake of his recent 98th birthday.      

Dead Presidents Podcast Homepage (with links to subscribe on your favorite podcast app!)