Presidential

The 45th episode of Presidential, added after Biden's 2020 election. Cunningham examines Biden's biography: personal tragedy, political resilience, and the question of whether a career politician can heal a divided nation.

The 44th president examined on the eve of the 2016 election. Cunningham and her guests assess Obama's presidency in real time — the Affordable Care Act, the killing of bin Laden, and the significance of the first Black president in a nation built on slavery.

The president who transformed American conservatism. Cunningham examines how Reagan's optimism, communication skills, and ideological conviction reshaped the Republican Party and ended the Cold War — while also beginning the era of exploding federal deficits.

The president who both opened China and destroyed presidential trust. Cunningham examines Nixon's strategic brilliance, his paranoia, Watergate, and how his resignation permanently changed the relationship between the American public and the presidency.

The most consequential domestic president of the 20th century — and the one destroyed by Vietnam. Cunningham examines how LBJ passed the Civil Rights Act, Voting Rights Act, Medicare, and the Great Society, then watched it all overshadowed by an unwinnable war.

The president as myth. Cunningham examines JFK's brief presidency — the Cuban Missile Crisis, the space race, the beginning of Vietnam — and how his assassination transformed a flawed president into an American legend.

The underestimated president. Cunningham examines how Ike's quiet competence was mistaken for passivity, and how his farewell address warning about the military-industrial complex was the most prescient presidential statement of the 20th century.

The accidental president who made the most consequential decisions. McCullough examines Truman's atomic bomb decision, the Marshall Plan, NATO, the Berlin Airlift, and how a failed haberdasher from Missouri shaped the entire postwar world.

FDR and the transformation of the American presidency. Cunningham examines how Roosevelt expanded the federal government, created the modern welfare state, led America through WWII, and fundamentally redefined the relationship between citizens and their government.

Silent Cal: the president who believed the best government is the one that governs least. Cunningham examines Coolidge's minimalist presidency, the Roaring Twenties prosperity, and whether his inaction contributed to the Great Depression.

The president who led America through World War I, proposed the League of Nations, but suffered a debilitating stroke that was hidden from the public. Cunningham examines Wilson's idealism, racism, and the cover-up of his disability.

The most energetic president in American history. Cunningham examines how TR's outsized personality, his trust-busting, his conservation legacy, and his creation of the 'bully pulpit' transformed the presidency into the center of American political life.

The Civil War hero and underrated president. Cunningham examines Grant's extraordinary military leadership, his defense of Reconstruction and Black civil rights, and how his reputation was unfairly destroyed by a narrative of corruption.

The greatest president, examined by Doris Kearns Goodwin. Cunningham explores Lincoln's leadership genius: building a 'team of rivals,' growing morally during the war, and redefining American democracy through the Emancipation Proclamation and the Gettysburg Address.

The tragic presidency of Franklin Pierce: his son was killed in a train accident weeks before the inauguration, his wife never recovered, and his presidency is considered one of the worst — accelerating the path to Civil War.

The most effective one-term president. Polk set four ambitious goals, achieved all four in one term, and left office voluntarily — expanding US territory by a third through the Mexican-American War and Oregon Treaty.

The first professional politician to become president — and the man who invented the modern political party system. Cunningham examines how Van Buren built the Democratic Party machine.

The most controversial founding-era president. Meacham examines Jackson's populist revolution, his destruction of the national bank, his forced removal of Native Americans, and his legacy as both democratic champion and authoritarian bully.

The son of a president who became president. Cunningham examines John Quincy Adams's intellectual brilliance, political ineptitude, and remarkable post-presidential career as a fierce antislavery congressman.

The Era of Good Feelings president and author of the Monroe Doctrine — the foreign policy statement that shaped US-Latin American relations for 200 years.

The Father of the Constitution. Cunningham examines how the smallest president (5'4", 100 lbs) became the architect of American governance through intellectual force rather than physical presence or charisma.

The author of the Declaration and America's great contradiction. Cunningham's guests examine how Jefferson wrote 'all men are created equal' while owning over 600 enslaved people — and what this reveals about America's founding paradox.

How Jefferson doubled the size of the United States with a single purchase — and violated his own constitutional principles to do it. Cunningham examines the tension between Jefferson's strict constructionism and his pragmatic decision to buy Louisiana from Napoleon.

The second president and the most underappreciated founder. McCullough discusses Adams's intellectual depth, his principled unpopularity, and his role in establishing the peaceful transfer of power when he lost the 1800 election to Jefferson.

The first president and the man who defined the office. Cunningham interviews historians about Washington's greatest decision: voluntarily relinquishing power after two terms, establishing the precedent that made American democracy possible.