Who's thinking about what happens next?
Succession planning has never been our strong suit
Welcome back to the This Day In Esoteric Political History newsletter. Each week, a member of our team (or a friend of the show) gathers together bits of America’s past and attempts to find a throughline that might add a little understanding to our current moment.
Today, it’s my turn again to share some thoughts. Here goes…
Here’s what happened over the week ahead in American history…
June 13
1866: The US House of Representatives passes the 14th Amendment, extending liberties and rights granted by the Bill of Rights to formerly enslaved people
1967: President Lyndon Johnson nominates Solicitor-General Thurgood Marshall to become the first black justice on the U.S. Supreme Court
1971: The New York Times begins publishing the "Pentagon Papers," revealing classified government documents about the Vietnam War
1986: The Rogers Commission has issued a report and is conducting a series of hearings on the causes of the Challenger space shuttle disaster earlier that year
June 14
1777: The Continental Congress adopts the Stars and Stripes as the official flag of the United States
1922: President Warren G. Harding becomes the first president to be heard on the radio during the dedication of a memorial site for Francis Scott Key
June 15
1775: George Washington is appointed commander-in-chief of the Continental Army, the day after Congress establishes the force
1877: The first African American graduate of West Point, Henry Ossian Flipper, completes his education
1877: Prominent Jewish businessman Joseph Seligman has been turned away from staying at the Grand Union Hotel, with the hotel claiming a new policy: “no Israelites shall be permitted in the future to stop at this hotel.”
1946: The United States presents the Baruch Plan at the United Nations, proposing international control of atomic energy to prevent nuclear proliferation
June 16
1858: Abraham Lincoln says "A house divided against itself cannot stand," accepting the Illinois Republican Party's nomination for US Senate
1908: The Republican Party convenes in Chicago, where President Theodore Roosevelt picks William Howard Taft as his successor
June 17
1930: President Herbert Hoover signs the Smoot-Hawley Tariff bill into law, raising import duties to protect American businesses and farmers
1972: The Watergate burglars are arrested
1991: The body of Zachary Taylor is exhumed following speculation that Southern politicians arranged to poison the 12th president because he opposed extending slavery to Western territories
June 18
1798: The first Alien and Sedition Acts, which impacted immigration and freedom of speech, are approved by a Federalist-dominated Congress
1912: The Republican National Convention in Chicago splits between President Taft and Theodore Roosevelt; after Taft is nominated, Roosevelt and progressive elements of the party form the Progressive Party (also known as the 'Bull Moose Party')
1968: The Supreme Court upholds a key tool in the fight against racial discrimination in the sale and rental of housing
June 19
1856: The first Republican National Convention ends with John C. Fremont as the nominee
1859: A skirmish on the San Juan Islands over a pig that intruded on a farmer’s potato crops leads to an argument, which leads to a diplomatic crisis, which almost leads to a war between the US and Canada
1953: Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, convicted of espionage during the Cold War, are executed for passing atomic secrets to the Soviets
1964: The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is approved after surviving an 83-day filibuster in the United States Senate
In which we take the above collection of events and find themes, throughlines, rabbit holes and more.
Looking over this week’s events, I can’t help thinking about succession planning. In 1775, colonists put George Washington in charge of a fledging army tasked with revolution. Americans wanted to find out if power truly could be transferred in an orderly fashion if it wasn’t left to monarchs (and their armies) to handle those moments.
For the last 250 years, the US has prided itself on peaceful handoffs—Ronald Reagan said they ought to be viewed as “nothing less than a miracle” in his first Inaugural Address. But that doesn’t mean we’ve mastered them! And it remains unclear just how much thought our Founding Fathers put into what would happen when Washington stepped aside.
One President in, and the Federalist Party was already using the Alien and Sedition acts to suppress publishers affiliated with the party’s opponents. Backlash to those attempts led to our longest single-party reign yet, as Democratic-Republicans held the White House (figuratively if not literally) for 28 years.
In today’s era of weak political parties, succession strategies within factions seem lacking too. Party positioning shifts erratically between elections, controlled by whomever happens to be at the top of the ticket. At this point in 2020, I don’t think people on either side of the aisle would’ve predicted that their standard bearer would still be running things four years later, and yet that’s what a lack of longterm thinking has wrought. Giving people more of a say is great—obviously—but it also means upping the chaos factor a good amount, as it turns out.
The roots of today’s internecine struggles stretch back a century to Theodore Roosevelt and William Taft’s falling out over the future of the Republican Party. Once Teddy’s hand-picked successor, Taft became Roosevelt’s opponent in 1912 as TR threw his hat back in the ring. Backers were forced to decide if they would be loyal to a man, to a party, or to a set of ideals. Roosevelt would beat Taft that November, though both were easily topped by Woodrow Wilson.
As individuals rather than organizations become the center of political power, it’s only reasonable to expect increased uncertainty each time they swap roles. Of course, other Presidents have willingly ceded the big chair only to find their party enveloped in chaos anyway.
No, I’m not saying we should start thinking about 2028 already. But it would be nice to hear that at least someone has a plan for what happens next.
In the meantime, we really should do some more episodes about TR26. Stay tuned.
— Jacob Feldman
A Little More Esoterica
We’ve gotten several notes in response to our recent episode about the sad, strange story of Lester Hunt. Some folks have pointed out that the TV show Fellow Travelers takes place during the “lavender scare” era and features a character based on Hunt. And others noticed that the new season of Rachel Maddow’s ULTRA podcast touches on the story in the first episode. So, a couple things to add to the queue!
Jody here, with some shameless self promotion! First off, if you’re reading from NYC, I’d love for you to come out on Thursday, June 27th for my live show Ask Roulette, a conversation series I host where strangers ask each other questions live on stage. Here’s a little teaser. You’ll see that one of our guests is Radiotopia’s own Avery Trufelman. I’d love to see you there!
Shameless self-promotion item number two: Out today, a new project I’ve been working on for a long time — “Heat Check,” a series of conversations between Steph Curry and his father, Dell. I still pinch myself that I got to spend a full day working with Steph and his team on this project. Here’s a photo to prove it.
You can also see This Day producer Brittani Brown, who produced this project as well. I really love the series, it’s warm and funny and just in time for Father’s Day. It’s on Audible right now.
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