For the Ages: A History Podcast (Season 2)
For the Ages: A History Podcast (Season 2)
Listen to season 2 (2022-2023) of the podcast that explores the rich and complex history of the United States and beyond with host David M. Rubenstein.
Episode 39:
The Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America
Release Date: June 26, 2023
Featuring: Douglas Brinkley, David M. Rubenstein (moderator)
Hailed as the founding father of America’s conservation movement, President Theodore Roosevelt championed the protection of the nation's natural treasures and embarked on visionary initiatives to preserve 234 million acres of wilderness for posterity. In conversation with David M. Rubenstein, presidential historian Douglas Brinkley explores Theodore Roosevelt’s complex legacy as one of America’s first environmentalist presidents. Recorded on March 17, 2023
Episode 38:
American Moonshot: John F. Kennedy and the Great Space Race
Release Date: June 19, 2023
Featuring: Douglas Brinkley, David M. Rubenstein (moderator)
In 1961, as the Cold War cast a shadow across the globe, John F. Kennedy inspired Americans to look up to the sky as he announced his goal of putting a man on the moon by the end of the decade. Presidential historian Douglas Brinkley dives into the history of the unprecedented expansion of the American space program under President Kennedy, and how the project aimed to promote science, exploration, and the spreading of democratic ideals back on Earth. Recorded on March 17, 2023
Episode 37:
Flora MacDonald: Journey to the New World and the Revolutionary War
Release Date: June 12, 2023
Featuring: Flora Fraser, David M. Rubenstein (moderator)
Flora MacDonald’s life continued to be marked by dramatic political upheaval following her involvement in the escape of Prince Charles Edward Stuart. In this second conversation with David M. Rubenstein, Flora Fraser details Flora MacDonald’s marriage, her move to the American colonies, and how her family was eventually swept up in the Revolutionary War before she finally returned to the Isle of Skye. Recorded on March 17, 2023
Episode 36:
Flora Macdonald: The Escape of “Bonnie” Prince Charlie
Release Date: June 5, 2023
Featuring: Flora Fraser, David M. Rubenstein (moderator)
Biographer Flora Fraser tells the thrilling story of the young Scotswoman who helped Prince Charles Edward Stuart evade capture following the defeat of the Jacobite army at Culloden, Scotland, which marked the end of the House of Stuarts’ attempts to reclaim the British throne. While the story of Flora MacDonald has become the subject of songs, storybooks, and films in the two centuries that have since passed, in this first of two conversations, Fraser dives into the details of how and why Flora MacDonald helped “Bonnie” Prince Charlie make his midnight escape by sea, disguised as an Irish maid. Recorded on March 17, 2023
Episode 35:
Twilight of the Gods: War in the Western Pacific, 1944–1945
Release Date: May 22, 2023
Featuring: Ian Toll, David M. Rubenstein (moderator)
World War II in the Pacific entered its endgame in June 1944, after the U.S. waged a crushing assault on the Japanese navy in the Battle of the Philippine Sea. In a conversation that explores the conflict’s harrowing final year—from the maritime war front to the halls of power in Washington and Tokyo—historian Ian W. Toll illuminates the grand strategic decisions and naval operations that allowed the Allies to emerge victorious. Recorded on February 8, 2022
Episode 34:
Our Composite Nation: The Reconstruction of American Democracy in the Age of the Civil War
Release Date: May 15, 2023
Featuring: Manisha Sinha, David M. Rubenstein (moderator)
The period of Reconstruction following the Civil War saw a transformation of the United States from a slaveholding republic into an interracial democracy, all alongside the rise of industrial capitalism and the violent and ambitious conquest of the American West. What was the historical significance of this monumental transformation? Manisha Sinha explores the evolution of American democracy during this period with a new historical synthesis of Reconstruction. Recorded on May 17, 2022
Episode 33:
American Happiness and Discontents: The Unruly Torrent, 2008-2020
Release Date: May 8, 2023
Featuring: George Will, David M. Rubenstein (moderator)
For decades, Pulitzer Prize-winning author and journalist George F. Will has been regarded as one of this country’s leading columnists and public intellectuals. In an expansive conversation that encompasses American history, the Supreme Court, and beyond, Will shares his perspective on the political, social, and cultural trends that have shaped the national experience since 2008. Recorded on October 6, 2021
Episode 32:
Hanoi's War: An International History of the War for Peace in Vietnam
Release Date: May 1, 2023
Featuring: Lien-Hang T. Nguyen, David M. Rubenstein (moderator)
Half a century later, the contested history of the war in Vietnam continues to elicit national debate, deep soul-searching, and purported lessons for America's role overseas. In a conversation that visits new historical terrain of the Vietnam War past, award-winning historian and former war refugee Lien-Hang T. Nguyen draws on her personal and professional journey researching that war to offer new insights for its significance today. Recorded on February 2, 2022
Episode 31:
Our First Civil War: Patriots and Loyalists in the American Revolution
Release Date: April 24, 2023
Featuring: H.W. Brands, David M. Rubenstein (moderator)
Long before the first battle of the American Revolution, the conflict between Loyalists and Patriots swept through all facets of American society, with colonists, Native Americans, and the enslaved all forced to choose a side. Would this constitute America’s first civil war, beginning before the Revolution had even been won? Pulitzer Prize finalist H.W. Brands examines this question and looks at the deep-seated divisions that made up the war before the war—between Loyalists and Patriots, families, friends, and neighbors. Recorded on March 16, 2022
Episode 30:
Silent Spring Revolution: American Presidents and the Great Environmental Awakening
Release Date: April 17, 2023
Featuring: Douglas Brinkley, David M. Rubenstein (moderator)
The post-World War II economic boom came at a high cost: smog made breathing difficult in cities, the oceans were dying, wilderness vanished, and species went extinct at alarming rates. Acclaimed historian Douglas Brinkley chronicles how Rachel Carson’s 1962 book, Silent Spring, launched an eco-revolution and inspired the rise of environmental activism during the presidencies of John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, and Richard Nixon. Recorded on November 22, 2022
Episode 29:
The Year of Peril: America in 1942
Release Date: April 10, 2023
Featuring: Tracy Campbell, David M. Rubenstein (moderator)
In the United States, World War II is often regarded as a time of unrivaled national unity and optimism, however in reality this traumatic period tested the American resolve in the most significant way since the Civil War. How did the nation rise to the occasion? Author and historian Tracy Campbell, in conversation with David M. Rubenstein, examines the critical year of 1942, when a series of setbacks and challenges in the war threatened to splinter the nation from within. Recorded May 7, 2021
Episode 28:
Cuba: An American History
Release Date: April 3, 2023
Featuring: Ada Ferrer, David M. Rubenstein (moderator)
Whether you are looking at proxy conflicts during the Cold War, the power of the Cuban-American voting bloc, or how Cuban-American relations are used as a cipher for a president’s foreign policy, the power of Cuba on American politics is undeniable. From the severing of diplomatic relations in 1961 to the hard-won normalization of Cuba–US relations under the Obama administration and the subsequent chipping away of those normalizations under President Trump, Ada Ferrer unravels the complex intertwining of the US and Cuba’s foreign policy and domestic affairs. Recorded March 23, 2022
Episode 27:
The Great War, a Violent Peace, and Democracy’s Forgotten Crisis: Part II
Release Date: March 27, 2023
Featuring: Adam Hochschild, David M. Rubenstein (moderator)
Adam Hochschild, author of American Midnight: The Great War, a Violent Peace, and Democracy's Forgotten Crisis, once again joins David M. Rubenstein to discuss the culture of violence, vigilantism, and censorship that permeated US government and society in the years during and immediately following World War I. In this conversation, they explore the grim economic conditions that followed the war, the wave of major municipal and labor union strikes, inflamed white violence toward Black workers, anti-immigrant sentiment, and the attempts at mass deportations following the Palmer Raids. Recorded on February 17, 2023
Episode 26:
The Great War, a Violent Peace, and Democracy's Forgotten Crisis: Part I
Release Date: March 20, 2023
Featuring: Adam Hochschild, David M. Rubenstein (moderator)
The US’s entrance into World War I marked the beginning of a period in American history characterized by lynching, aggressive union-busting, mass civilian arrests, and stringent government censorship of the press, all amidst the backdrop of the war, a pandemic, and the specter of the Russian Revolution. In this first of two discussions, Adam Hochschild, author of American Midnight: The Great War, a Violent Peace, and Democracy's Forgotten Crisis, illuminates the dark currents of this oft-overlooked historical moment, with a focus on the years immediately surrounding America’s entrance into the war. Recorded on February 17, 2023
Episode 25:
Ways and Means: How the Confederacy Financed the Civil War
Release Date: March 13, 2023
Featuring: Roger Lowenstein, David M. Rubenstein (moderator)
Roger Lowenstein once again joins David M. Rubenstein to discuss the complex financial circumstances of the Civil War. In this episode, he explores the financial challenges faced by the Confederacy; looking at the resources they had available to them compared to the North, how they envisioned global trade impacting their cause, and how the desire to preserve the institution of slavery influenced both their military strategy and economic philosophy. Recorded on February 10, 2023
Episode 24:
Ways and Means: How the Union Financed the Civil War
Release Date: March 6, 2023
Featuring: Roger Lowenstein, David M. Rubenstein (moderator)
For both the Union and the Confederacy, one of the most persistent battles of the Civil War was financing. To meet this challenge head-on both Lincoln and Jefferson Davis attempted a number of strategies to tackle the enormous financial demands of their armies, subsequent gold shortages, and an evolving diplomatic landscape abroad. In this first of two talks, David M. Rubenstein is joined by Roger Lowenstein to explore how the North sought to finance the Civil War. Recorded on February 10, 2023
Episode 23:
American Inheritance: Slavery and the New Republic
Release Date: February 27, 2023
Featuring: Edward J. Larson, David M. Rubenstein (moderator)
How was slavery written into America’s founding? David M. Rubenstein is once again joined by historian Edward J. Larson to discuss this question and explore how legal frameworks around slavery evolved in the new republic. Looking at the battle between the new country’s pro- and anti-slavery leaders, the Treaty of Paris, the Articles of Confederation, the Constitutional Convention, and the Bill of Rights, they delve into the role slavery played in the establishment of the first United States government. Recorded on January 12, 2023
Episode 22:
American Inheritance: Slavery in the Revolutionary Era
Release Date: February 20, 2023
Featuring: Edward J. Larson, David M. Rubenstein (moderator)
While the Revolutionary War was waged as a fight for freedom, slavery was omnipresent in America before, during, and after the war. In this two-part conversation, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Edward J. Larson discusses how the twin strands of liberty and slavery were joined in the nation’s founding and the limits of the Founders’ conception of freedom. In this episode, Larson delves into the origins of slavery in America and the role of free and enslaved Black people during the Revolutionary War. Recorded on January 12, 2023
Episode 21:
How to Invest: Masters on the Craft
Release Date: February 13, 2023
Featuring: David M. Rubenstein, Gary Ginsberg (moderator)
In an age of global economic transformation, what lessons can we learn from the world’s most successful investors? Throughout his career, David M. Rubenstein, co-founder of one of the world’s largest investment firms, has interviewed some of the most internationally respected investors and business leaders to gain insight into their time-tested principles and hard-earned wisdom. From venture capital and real estate to private equity, hedge funds, cryptocurrency, and more, Rubenstein shares the valuable insight he has gleaned on the art of investing. Recorded on December 14, 2022
Episode 20:
The Arc of a Covenant: The United States, Israel, and the Fate of the Jewish People, Part II
Release Date: February 6, 2023
Featuring: Walter Russell Mead, David M. Rubenstein (moderator)
Author Walter Russell Mead joins David M. Rubenstein once again to examine the connections between Israel, the Jewish people, and American political history. In this conversation, they dive into the history of Jewish people in America, including their experience of the Civil War and World War II, and discuss the rise of an Israel lobby in US politics, the influence of the Cold War, and the role of evangelicals in American support for Israel. Recorded on January 6, 2023
Episode 19:
The Arc of a Covenant: The United States, Israel, and the Fate of the Jewish People, Part I
Release Date: January 30, 2023
Featuring: Walter Russell Mead, David M. Rubenstein (moderator)
The nuances of the Israeli-American relationship extend far into the past. Author Walter Russell Mead joins David M. Rubenstein for a two-part conversation to examine the connections between Israeli and American political history. This first of two episodes examines the origins of American support for Israel inside and outside of the Jewish community, the role of antisemitism and American isolationism in rising support for a Jewish state, and the impacts of evolving political affiliations in the United States and Israeli governments today. Recorded on January 6, 2023
Episode 18:
Lincoln and Emancipation
Release Date: January 23, 2023
Featuring: Edna Greene Medford, David M. Rubenstein (moderator)
Edna Greene Medford, professor of history at Howard University, examines the ideas and events that shaped President Lincoln’s responses to slavery, following the arc of his ideological development from the beginning of the Civil War, when he aimed to pursue a course of noninterference, to his championing of slavery’s destruction before the conflict ended. Throughout this conversation, Medford juxtaposes the president’s motivations for advocating freedom with the aspirations of African Americans themselves, restoring African Americans to the center of the story about the struggle for their own liberation. Recorded on December 9, 2022
Episode 17:
And There Was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle
Release Date: January 16, 2023
Featuring: Jon Meacham, David M. Rubenstein (moderator)
A president who governed a divided country has much to teach us in a twenty-first-century moment of polarization and political crisis. Hated and hailed, excoriated, and revered, Abraham Lincoln was at the pinnacle of American power when implacable secessionists gave no quarter in a clash of visions bound up with money, race, identity, and faith. Celebrated historian and writer Jon Meacham joins David M. Rubenstein in a conversation on the power of Lincoln’s story to illustrate the ways and means of politics in a democracy, the roots and durability of racism, and the capacity of conscience to shape events. Recorded on December 9, 2022
Episode 16:
The Bald Eagle Part Two: The History of the Bald Eagle in America
Release Date: January 9, 2023
Featuring: Jack E. Davis, David M. Rubenstein (moderator)
Pulitzer Prize-winning environmental historian Jack E. Davis once again joins David M. Rubenstein to dive deep into the history, and patriotic symbolism of the bald eagle. In this talk, they discuss how the bald eagle came to be tied to American identity and government, the importance of bald eagles in Native American cultures, and how modern conservation efforts arose despite hunting of bald eagles in the early American republic. Recorded on November 16, 2022
Episode 15:
The Bald Eagle Part One: The Improbable Journey of America's Bird
Release Date: December 26, 2022
Featuring: Jack E. Davis, David M. Rubenstein (moderator)
Pulitzer Prize-winning environmental historian Jack E. Davis delves into the story of America’s most famous bird: the bald eagle. In conversation with David M. Rubenstein, Davis explores the story of the bald eagle as a unique and efficient predator predating colonization, a national symbol omnipresent in American art, architecture, and archives, and a species twice pushed to the brink of extinction. This first of two episodes focuses on the natural habitat of the American eagle, its hunting and mating habits, and migratory patterns. Recorded on November 16, 2022
Episode 14:
My Life in Special Operations: Operation Neptune Spear and the Raid on the bin Laden Compound
Release Date: December 19, 2022
Featuring: Admiral William H. McRaven, David M. Rubenstein (moderator)
Admiral William H. McRaven once again joins David M. Rubenstein to discuss some of his most historic military missions as a member of the Navy SEALs and as commander of America’s Special Operations Forces. In this conversation, he outlines his involvement in one of the most famous military missions in recent memory: the raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad. Starting with the discovery of a vital lead in 2010, Admiral McRaven details how he and countless other service men and women worked to reach bin Laden’s compound, and the raid that culminated in bin Laden’s death and burial at sea. Recorded on October 22, 2022
Episode 13:
My Life in Special Operations: The Capture of Saddam Hussein
Release Date: December 12, 2022
Featuring: Admiral William H. McRaven, David M. Rubenstein (moderator)
In the first of two conversations centered on his book Sea Stories: My Life in Special Operations, Admiral William H. McRaven joins David M. Rubenstein to discuss how growing up the son of a fighter pilot and a Texas schoolteacher led to his military career in the Navy SEALs and the capture of Saddam Hussein. Covering his time in the ROTC, his training upon joining the Navy SEALs, his experience of 9/11, and eventually his mission to hunt down the ‘deck of cards’ leading to Saddam Hussein, Admiral McRaven provides an up-close look at the story behind this pivotal moment in American history. Recorded on October 22, 2022
Episode 12:
In That Time: Michael O’Donnell and the Tragic Era of Vietnam
Release Date: December 5, 2022
Featuring: Dan Weiss, David M. Rubenstein (moderator)
New York Metropolitan Museum of Art President and CEO Dan Weiss explores the American experience of the Vietnam war through the lens of Michael O’Donnell. O’Donnell, a musician and poet who served as a soldier and helicopter pilot, never fired a shot in Vietnam but eventually went missing in action following an attempt to rescue fellow soldiers under heavy fire. His poetry and his story survived however, and offer a powerful, personal perspective on this dark chapter in American history. Recorded on October 15, 2022
Episode 11:
Breathless: The Scientific Race to Defeat a Deadly Virus
Release Date: November 28, 2022
Featuring: David Quammen, David M. Rubenstein (moderator)
While COVID-19 caused tragedy and disruption in ways that few had ever seen before, scientists and infectious disease experts had warned of the likelihood of the ‘next big’ pandemic for decades. While political and economic interests often took precedence over the bolstering of resources to fight the spread of new diseases, the scientific community nonetheless rallied to fight the COVID-19 virus even as everyday life came to a standstill. David Quammen, referencing interviews with hundreds of scientists, speaks to David M. Rubenstein about how the virus emerged, how nations responded, and what the future may hold in store. Recorded on October 8, 2022
Episode 10:
The Nation That Never Was: Reconstructing America's Story
Release Date: November 21, 2022
Featuring: Kermit Roosevelt III, David M. Rubenstein (moderator)
There’s a common story we tell about America: that our fundamental values as a country were stated in the Declaration of Independence, fought for in the Revolution, and made law in the Constitution. But, with the country increasingly divided, are cracks in this narrative beginning to show? Law professor Kermit Roosevelt III argues for a reinterpretation of the American story, that our fundamental values, particularly equality, are not part of the vision of the Founders. Recorded on October 15, 2022
Episode 9:
His Truth Is Marching On: John Lewis and the Power of Hope
Release Date: November 14, 2022
Featuring: Jon Meacham, David M. Rubenstein (moderator)
U.S. Congressman John Lewis (1940–2020) dedicated his life to public service and the pursuit of civil rights. A member of Martin Luther King Jr.’s inner circle, Lewis channeled his faith in humanity and in God to champion nonviolence as not only a tactic but a philosophy to achieve positive change and appeal to the best qualities of the American spirit. Drawing on decades of interviews with Lewis, Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer Jon Meacham offers an intimate portrait of a national treasure. Recorded September 11, 2020
Episode 8:
The Peaceful Transfer of Power: An Oral History of America’s Presidential Transitions
Release Date: November 7, 2022
Featuring: David Marchick, David M. Rubenstein (moderator)
The peaceful transfer of power from one U.S. President to another is the most delicate and hazardous period in the entire political cycle. Americans learned the stakes in 2020, when President Donald Trump’s refusal to trigger the formal start of the transition process to President-Elect Joe Biden created perhaps the worst crisis for American democracy since the Civil War. In a conversation with David M. Rubenstein, former director of the Partnership for Public Service’s Center for Presidential Transition David Marchick illuminates the long history, complexity, and current best practices associated with this most vital of democratic institutions. Recorded October 8, 2022
Episode 7:
A Conversation with Tom Brokaw
Release Date: October 24, 2022
Featuring: Tom Brokaw, David M. Rubenstein
Tom Brokaw, one of the most respected and trusted figures in U.S. broadcast journalism—best known for his more than 20-year tenure as managing editor and sole anchor of NBC Nightly News—joins David M. Rubenstein for an in-depth conversation on his prolific life and career delivering the news to millions of Americans. Recorded on November 27, 2017
Episode 6:
A Conversation with Annette Gordon-Reed
Release Date: October 17, 2022
Featuring: Annette Gordon-Reed, David M. Rubenstein
Acclaimed historian Annette Gordon-Reed is renowned for her work uncovering both the political and the private life of one of America’s most celebrated Founders, Thomas Jefferson. In a conversation moderated by American philanthropist David M. Rubenstein, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family looks at the enigmatic third President’s vision of himself, the Revolution, and the American experiment taking shape around him. Recorded on March 19, 2017
Episode 5:
Presidential Elections and the Supreme Court
Release Date: October 10, 2022
Featuring: Linda Greenhouse, David M. Rubenstein
On the evening of December 12, 2000, following weeks of confusion surrounding the outcome of the recent presidential election, the Supreme Court handed down its decision to halt further vote counting in Florida, thus confirming the electoral victory of George W. Bush. What constitutional protections and loopholes exist pertaining to the presidential electoral process? Supreme Court columnist Linda Greenhouse, in conversation with David M. Rubenstein, explores this complex topic. Recorded October 12, 2020
Episode 4
A Conversation with Billie Jean King
Release Date: October 3, 2022
Featuring: Billie Jean King, David M. Rubenstein (moderator)
Billie Jean King—former No. 1 tennis player in the world and the first female athlete and first member of the LGBT community to be honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom—speaks with David M. Rubenstein about her iconic life and career, highlighting pivotal moments including her historic victory in the 1973 “Battle of the Sexes” match and underlining her mission to incorporate equality into the larger fabric of the American story. Recorded on March 7, 2017
Episode 3
Exercise of Power: American Failures, Successes, and a New Path Forward in the Post-Cold War World
Release date: September 26, 2022
Featuring: Robert M. Gates, David M. Rubenstein (moderator)
How has global perception of the United States shifted since the end of the Cold War? Once seen as a dominant international leader, the country’s reputation has evolved into that of a disorganized entity, seemingly unwilling to accept the mantle of leadership. In an insightful discussion with David M. Rubenstein, bestselling author and former secretary of defense Robert M. Gates uses his firsthand knowledge to uncover how this transformation unfolded, how political leaders have wielded American power, and how future leaders can rise to the challenges to come. Recorded on September 18, 2020
Episode 2
Robert E. Lee: A Life
Release Date: September 19, 2022
Featuring: Allen Guelzo, David M. Rubenstein (moderator)
In a tale ranging from Lee’s wealthy but scandal-ridden upbringing in Virginia to his long career in the U.S. Army, award-winning historian Allen C. Guelzo takes a hard look at Lee’s character, including his deceptively genteel demeanor and corrosive insecurities. Discover what led Lee to the treasonous fight for slavery that continues to sow division in American society today. Recorded on March 30, 2022
Episode 1
A Conversation with Eric Foner
Release Date: September 12, 2022
Featuring: Eric Foner, David M. Rubenstein (moderator)
Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Eric Foner discusses his illustrious career, including his work on American icons such as Thomas Paine and Abraham Lincoln. In a wide-ranging conversation moderated by David M. Rubenstein, Eric Foner covers his substantial scholarship on the Civil War, slavery, and 19th-century America. Recorded April 13, 2017
