From Theodore Roosevelt to Donald Trump: Exploring the Modern Presidency With Robert Dallek

Air Dates: August 10-16, 2020

The history of the American presidency is full of accomplishments and compromises, successes and failures.  Robert Dallek argues that the giants from both parties in the last 120 years draw a sharp contrast with the characteristics of the Trump presidency. 

Robert Dallek is the author of several bestselling presidential histories, including “Nixon and Kissinger: Partners in Power; An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy, 1917–1963,” and the classic two-volume biography of Lyndon Johnson, “Lone Star Rising” and “Flawed Giant.”  His latest book is “How Did We Get Here? From Theodore Roosevelt to Donald Trump.”  Dallek has taught at Columbia, Oxford, UCLA, Boston University, and Dartmouth, and has won the Bancroft Prize, among numerous other awards for scholarship and teaching.

On this episode of “Story in the Public Square,” Dallek describes Donald Trump’s presidential election as “a departure from what we traditionally saw in American politics,” referring to Donald Trump’s lack of prior experience with public service.  He said it prompted his exploration of past presidencies and the evolution of public sentiment that facilitated Donald Trump’s rise to the presidency. 

“Story in the Public Square” broadcasts each week on public television stations across the United States. A full listing of the national television distribution is available at this link. In Rhode Island and southeastern New England, the show is broadcast on Rhode Island PBS on Sundays at 11 a.m. and is rebroadcast Thursdays at 7:30 p.m. An audio version of the program airs Saturdays at 8:30 a.m. & 6:30 p.m. ET, Sundays at 3:30 a.m. & 11:30 p.m. ET on SiriusXM’s popular P.O.T.U.S. (Politics of the United States), channel 124. “Story in the Public Square” is a partnership between the Pell Center and The Providence Journal. The initiative aims to study, celebrate and tell stories that matter.