Presidential

The Washington Post

The Washington Post's Presidential podcast explores how each former American president reached office, made decisions, handled crises and redefined the role of commander-in-chief. It was released leading up to up to Election Day 2016, starting with George Washington in week one and ending on week 44 with the president-elect. New special episodes in the countdown to the 2020 presidential election highlight other stories from U.S. presidential history that can help illuminate our current moment. Hosted by Lillian Cunningham, the series features Pulitzer Prize-winning biographers like David McCullough and Washington Post journalists like Bob Woodward. [When you're done, listen to Lillian's other historical podcasts: Constitutional and Moonrise]

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20 episodes
Updated Oct 23, 2024

Episodes20

Newest first

Oct 23, 2024 · 44 min
BONUS | The presidents who’ve tried to win back the White House
As former president Donald Trump attempts to return to the White House, host Lillian Cunningham speaks with Library of Congress archivist (and “Presidential” fan favorite) Michelle Krowl about the history of former presidents’ efforts to win back the office after they’ve left.
Sep 26, 2024 · 36 min
BONUS | Women, politics and the presidency
Host Lillian Cunningham speaks with Sharon McMahon, author of “The Small and the Mighty,” about women’s ongoing fight for more political power—examining the arc of progress since 1920, when women across the nation first voted for president.
Jul 25, 2024 · 59 sec
Introducing, "The Sports Moment"
Ava Wallace, sports reporter at The Washington Post, is in France to report on the Summer Games — and eat a lot of croissants. Join her through the entire run of the games, for several episodes a week as she captures the highs, the lows and the Paris of it all, along with other Post colleagues.
Nov 22, 2023 · 51 min
The Empty Grave of Comrade Bishop: ‘Somebody knows’
Forty years ago, the body of a prime minister went missing. The Post’s Martine Powers asks: Who’s responsible?
Oct 13, 2023 · 3 min
Introducing “The Empty Grave of Comrade Bishop”
Grenada’s revolutionary leader was executed in a coup in 1983, with seven others. The whereabouts of their remains are unknown. Now, The Washington Post’s Martine Powers uncovers new answers about how the U.S. fits into this 40-year-old Caribbean mystery.
Jun 28, 2023 · 55 min
Listen to the first episode of “Field Trip”: Yosemite National Park
Lillian Cunningham begins her journey in the place that helped inspire the national parks. As wildfires threaten Yosemite’s giant sequoias, she asks how to ensure the survival of these ancient trees. Follow "Field Trip" to hear the whole series.
Jun 14, 2023 · 3 min
Introducing “Field Trip”
Journey through the messy past and uncertain future of America’s national parks. The Washington Post’s Lillian Cunningham ventures off the marked trail to better understand the most urgent stories playing out in five iconic landscapes today.
Jun 6, 2023 · 56 sec
A sneak peek from Lillian
Exclusively for listeners of “Presidential,” Lillian Cunningham shares news about her new podcast. You don’t want to miss this.
Feb 21, 2022 · 26 min
BONUS | Happy Presidents’ Day! Or … not?
Students, teachers and historians reflect on what has changed — and should change — about the way we teach presidential history today. This special episode features presidential experts Barbara Perry and Julian Zelizer, “How the Word Is Passed” author Clint Smith, and the AP government and politics class of teacher Michael Martirone.
Nov 8, 2020 · 53 min
Joe Biden: Triumph, tragedy and the fate of the center
Four years later, the “Presidential” podcast adds a new biography to its cadre of American presidents. This special episode explores Joe Biden's decades-long, hard-fought personal and political path to the White House, with the New Yorker’s Evan Osnos.
Oct 23, 2020 · 30 min
BONUS | What books about Trump say about America
Books published in the Trump era reveal the battles over, and changes in, the American presidency today. In this special episode of “Presidential,” Post nonfiction book critic Carlos Lozada shares what he’s learned from reading more than 150 of them.
Sep 24, 2020 · 40 min
BONUS | Pandemic, propaganda and the presidency
The 1918 influenza pandemic killed more than 675,000 Americans, but President Woodrow Wilson never made a single public statement about it. Why? Here’s what happens when efforts to promote patriotism and suppress free speech collide with a deadly virus.
Aug 7, 2020 · 39 min
BONUS | When a VP pick changes history
In ’84, a former VP got the Democratic presidential nomination, faced a Republican incumbent and chose the first female running mate in U.S. history. Sound familiar? Go behind history in this special episode, featuring an interview with Walter Mondale.
Jun 19, 2020 · 29 min
BONUS | Binding up the nation's wounds
A special episode of “Presidential” explores how a 1939 concert transformed the Lincoln Memorial into a stage for civil rights protests. Featuring Molefi Kete Asante, Doris Kearns Goodwin and Philip Kennicott.
Mar 6, 2020 · 43 min
LIVE EVENT | 'Unprecedented Presidents' live from WBUR CitySpace
Four years after making Presidential, host Lillian Cunningham led a panel examining what's really unprecedented--or not--about Donald Trump's presidency. Historians Alexis Coe, Drew Gilpin Faust and Julian Zelizer joined for this live event in Boston.
Nov 9, 2016 · 56 min
Donald Trump: Division and union
In this final episode of the podcast, Library of Congress historians Michelle Krowl and Julie Miller return--along with Washington Post journalist Dan Balz--to reflect on the changing nature of the American presidency.
Oct 30, 2016 · 56 min
Barack Obama: The pursuit of identity
Political strategist David Axelrod and biographer David Maraniss discuss Barack Obama's search for identity -- and how that quest has paralleled America's own complex reckoning with race.
Oct 23, 2016 · 46 min
George W. Bush: Changing course
Peter Baker, author of "Days of Fire" and a journalist with the New York Times, joins historian Mark Updegrove to examine how George W. Bush's presidency marked the beginning of a new era in American history.
Oct 16, 2016 · 48 min
Bill Clinton: The good and the bad
David Maraniss, who won the Pulitzer Prize for his reporting on Bill Clinton, explores how Clinton's core character traits had both a bright and a dark side. And Post reporter Jim Tankersley examines a similar duality in his policy legacy.
Oct 9, 2016 · 51 min
George H. W. Bush: Restraint
Historians Jon Meacham and Jeffrey Engel discuss President Bush's unique form of presidential leadership--a vintage combination of public service, conservatism and emotional restraint--and examine why his legacy has grown more positive over time.