REALLY great show in the massive sea of podcasts. Ben highlights important moments in our political history that directly created a lot of horrible realities today. Hopefully many of us can learn from this and direct future activities that reverse the course.
It was great to hear the inside story of the campaigns in 1976 and 1980. Very factual, no opinions about either party. I’m puzzled by the one-star reviews then; guess haters just gotta hate.
I learned a lot about both the Democratic and Republican Party along with at least a few reasons we, the American public, are today. It felt objective and while I did not personally fact check the evidence presented felt credible.
Honestly, it is never ending with these people. The global elites running the Left wing of all political parties in the West including the US are constantly on the attack including rewriting our history.
I lived through this history and this guy is lying through his teeth.
Anyone who doesn’t see through this are the useful idiots that Communists rely on to get them to power and keep them there.
America’s current state of polarization and mistrust of government is rooted in its past going back to Watergate. If you’re a political junkie or a lover of history, this podcast is for you. Loved it and look forward to another season.
How dare conservatives want a voice and media that represent it’ values and interview its political figures. This is a sickening perspective. Good lord.
I really loved the review of the presidents that led to Reagan. I only wished they made more content. I forget to check back in knowing there’s not much material….
It’s a great series with the historical clips and sound bites, not so much with the later panelists episodes. I was really turned off with the mispronunciations and malapropisms, however. “Basicer” (as in, more basic) and “magnet” instead of “magnate.” That’s sloppy and amateurish and it took away from what could be a smart and polished show.
I can only imagine the amount of work, research, interviews, reading that must have gone into this podcast. Voices of Republicans and Democrats recounting such a tight presidential race and turning point in American history that have influenced politics today. A must listen no matter what your political alignment may be.
This was a great, informative, and fascinating series. Not to miss. You will better understand the world we live in after listening to this. Please listen and help NPR green light a season 2!!!
This came up as my family planned to go to Gerald Ford’s Presidential Center. We had previously gone to the Carter Presidential Center and found that to be insightful. As we listened to this we all just went I didn’t know that. We had to go to the Bibliography Note page for further reading. The architects of modern conservatism: Paul Weyrich and Richard Viguerie and why we are now in the shape we are in was eye-opening.
This was such a well-researched and reported podcast. I was riveted from the beginning. I was a high school and college student during this period and actually went on to work in the Reagan White House. The back story of the transition of the GOP to a far right ideology is one that needed telling. I’m no longer a Republican, for most of the reasons described in the podcast. But don’t think it’s a GOP hate effort. Bradford does a great job pointing out weaknesses in both major parties, and does so by using facts, not opinion. It’s well worth a listen.
I lived through it. My overwhelming sense was everyone wanted a complete break with the Nixon White House and it’s chicanery. Ford could have walked on water and he would still have lost because of that.
If you’re an American history buff (especially presidential history) this is a podcast for you.
Well told by the narrator, no sense of bias. Lots of information, some drama. History matters! Glad NPR recognizes that and puts out such content.
This podcast goes back in time to explain - with fascinating detail - how US politics has evolved over the past 4 decades to produce our current political reality.
It’s an invaluable lesson for all voters. And it’s a fun and exciting listen!
I turned 18 three weeks after this election. If I was a smidge older, I would have voted for Carter (as I did for my first presidential vote in 1980). This podcast tells the story exactly as I remember it.
The best show to come out of NPR since Trump became president.
As it says in the title. A lot of work needs to be done in cleaning up the history, adding nuance to several sweeping statements, and correcting a lot of bad legal theories presented as fact.
Author has a layman’s understanding of the law and it shows. While he tries to rely on experts, he sometimes does not get what they’re saying and, in others, does not seek the correct scholar for the area of law in question.
Understanding where we are demands a clear picture of where we have come from and what forces are effecting the changes that take place along the way. This amusing, interesting, and well composed view of who we are as a nation, as political parties and as people lets us view where we are much more clearly ! Its a must listen, and it lets us more clearly see how we got to this place in politics. Love it! Great content! I am a huge Gerald Ford fan NOW, most underrated president I know of. Please make more seasons💜
Incredible! One of the best series on political history I have heard in a while. Makes clear something that always befuddled me: how the political parties in the US shifted so radically from what they were in the 70s. Essential listening.
It is so interesting to better understand the way society and politics have moved together over the past several decades to bring us to the polarization that we are experiencing now. This podcast was really well done.
I love political history. I hoped this would be a balanced discussion, but it misses the mark. The segment on the evolution of the abortion debate blames conservatives for all of the current acrimony. Interesting how people can have such divergent views on historic events like the Reagan Revolution. The conservative side is omitted from this podcast, which decreases its value.
I was a teen in the 1976 election and was surprised at how much I didn’t know about how contested the GOP primary was. This I learned much from this whole series. Highly recommended!
I lived through these years, but was too young to understand or know so much of what is revealed. It is a fascinating story, well told, in excellently constructed episodes. Every part of the story leaves you wanting more.
The explanations of the connections and impacts on today’s politics is enlightening — and depressing, as the problems only continue to get worse. I’m looking forward to whatever their next story is.
I thoroughly enjoyed this podcast. I’ve always taken an interest in political history and I learned a lot listening this to this podcast. I’d recommend this series to anyone interested in political history. It was especially interesting to learn how changes in campaigning fifty years ago set the stage for what we see today.
Comprehensive and easy to listen to. I couldn’t stop listening actually. I was too young to understand the world around me in the 70s….and LANDSLIDE really helped me get a grasp not only on what happened then that leads us to where we are now. Its the build up of “how and why it happened” make this show a stand out.
As a second cohort Boomer I was checked out of politics for much of my adult life. Nixon and then Reagan pretty much shut me down. I didn’t check in again until Obama V McCain. Then the 2016 Trump election rang alarm bells for me. Since then I’ve been obsessed with politics and feverishly trying to catch up with all I missed. Podcasts like this one have been invaluable. There is so much I remember and so much I filtered out. Thank you for providing this important public service and for doing it in such an engaging way. I’m hooked!
It just wouldn’t be an NPR podcast without attributing all things in American history to race and racism, no matter how flimsy the evidence. Here, they attribute Reagan’s massive victories to racial dog whistling and the racist backlash by the electorate against civil rights and integration. Remember when NPR once aspired to truth telling, sticking to the facts, and strong evidence? It was a looooong time ago.
This podcast is outstanding. It teaches you about that important part of U.S. history that we rarely know. A must listen if you want to understand party politics in America.
Excellent podcast that really makes history and come alive! More importantly it explains how our politics were reshaped into the division that we have today.
I’m really not one for political podcasts. Just not my cup of tea. Especially given today’s political climate. All this said, for some unknown reason I decided to give this podcast a go and thank goodness I did. What an incredible job they have done describing the birth of the modern day Republican Party and the Religious Reich. Well done. Bravo. Please, please, please keep’em coming‼️
I was always curious about this time period when Nixon transitioned to Reagan through Ford and Carter. Lots of information and the original audio of speech made me live that time.
