Tag: politics

Presidential Medical Secrets and the Real First Female President in US History

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Listen to Ep. 10: “Ohio v. the 25th Amendment” here

It’s Election Day and we’re back with another presidential episode “Ohio v. the 25th Amendment.” We look at two major presidential health emergencies that were covered up prior to the 25th Amendment and the history of presidential infirmity. First is the story of Woodrow Wilson’s massive stroke in the fall of 1919 and how the 1st lady, Edith Wilson, became the first female president. And we look at a secret presidential surgery at sea for Grover Cleveland’s cancer.

Alex is joined by author William Hazelgrove to discuss his book Madam President (2016) about Edith Wilson, our 1st woman president. We analyze their quick courtship and Wilson reaching the heights of global popularity following WWI. The political battle at home over the League of Nations leads Wilson to a cross-country whistle stop tour that ends in a massive stroke. We cover the little-known history surrounding Edith Wilson taking over the executive branch in her husband’s absence and the lengths she went to coverup the extent of his illness.

Our second story covers Grover Cleveland’s emergency surgery at sea for cancer during his second term. Author Annette Dunlap rejoins the program to discuss Cleveland’s health scare and the celebrity status of his wife Frances Folsom Cleveland. Link below to Dunlap’s Frances Cleveland biography Frank: America’s Youngest First Lady (2009). Friend of the pod, Bruce Carlson discusses how Grover Cleveland became the only two, non-consecutive term President in US history (at the time of this recording). Check out Bruce’s excellent political history podcast My History Can Beat Up Your Politics (link below).

City of Buffalo Historian, Lindsey Lauren Visser rejoins the show to outline the coverup of Cleveland’s cancer and the surgery to remove it aboard the Oneida, a yacht in the summer of 1893. Lindsey shares the dangers of the surgery and how the intricate coverup comes unraveled. But Cleveland’s teams efforts to discredit the journalist EJ Edwards who broke the story led to the writer’s career being ruined.

Contact Alex and the show at ohiovtheworld@gmail.com or on the podcasts’ Facebook, Instagram and Twitter page. Check out the Evergreen Podcast Network for Ohio v. the World and hundreds of other great podcasts http://www.evergreenpodcasts.com.

See you on 11/26/24 for Ohio v. the World’s Season 8 finale. Go Vote!

Historian Lindsey Lauren Visser homepage: https://lindseylaurenvisser.com/

Listen to My History Can Beat Up Your Politics here https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/my-history-can-beat-up-your-politics/id169078375

Buy Madam President by William Hazelgrove here https://www.amazon.com/Madam-President-Secret-Presidency-Wilson/dp/162157475X

Buy Frank by Annette Dunlap here https://www.amazon.com/Frank-Cleveland-Americas-Youngest-Excelsior-ebook/dp/B007QWEEXE

The “Other” Assassinations: The Political Murders of Presidents Garfield and McKinley

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Listen to Episode 9: “Ohio v. Assassinations” HERE

Four American Presidents have been assassinated in office. Two of them are among the most infamous moments in US history, the Lincoln and JFK assassinations. The “other” two assassinated Presidents were both from the Buckeye State: William McKinley and James Garfield. Unfortunately, the events of this campaign season have brought presidential assassinations back into the news. Alex looks at the extraordinary events surrounding James Garfield’s killing in 1881 and McKinley’s assassination 20 years later in 1901. We talk with 6 different leading experts on both presidents in new interviews and re-edited interviews from our original McKinley and Garfield episodes from 2020.

We visit with the city historian for Buffalo, NY, Lindsey Lauren Visser, about the death of our 25th president, Canton, Ohio’s own William McKinley. McKinley was shot at the Pan American Exhibition in Buffalo by a deranged anarchist, Leon Czolgosz. Czolgosz’s journey to political murder begins as a factory worker in Cleveland, Ohio who is radicalized following the Panic of 1893 to an ardent anarchist, a popular subculture at the turn of the century. We also revisit conversations with Anthony Greco, the Director of Exhibits at the Buffalo History Museum and the host of the excellent Buffalo History Museum Podcast. Link below for that show and give a listen to their 3-part episode on the McKinley assassination. We also talk to University of Akron history professor Kevin Kern and best-selling biographer Robert Merry. Buy his book President McKinley: Architect of the American Century with link below.

The “other” assassination is the killing of Mentor, Ohio’s James A. Garfield the 20th President of the United States. Garfield was shot by a mentally ill office seeker at a DC train station in the Summer of 1881. His shooting by Charles Guiteau is just the start of the story as Garfield lives for 80 days after the shooting. His terrible and negligent medical care was the cause of his slow, painful death. We replay our great interview with our favorite current historian, Candice Millard, and her excellent 2012 book Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President (2012). Buy this book! Link below as well. We also talked to the former Site Manager of the James A. Garfield National Historic Site, Todd Arrington. Also, check out Todd’s book The Last Lincoln Republican: The Presidential Election of 1880 on President Garfield’s unlikely election victory.

Contact Alex and the show at ohiovtheworld@gmail.com or on the podcasts’ Facebook, Instagram and Twitter page. Check out the Evergreen Podcast Network for Ohio v. the World and hundreds of other great podcasts http://www.evergreenpodcasts.com.

Historian Lindsey Lauren Visser homepage: https://lindseylaurenvisser.com/

Listen to the Buffalo History Museum Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-buffalo-history-museum-podcast/id1532344009

Buy Robert Merry’s President McKinley: Architect of the American Century here: https://www.amazon.com/President-McKinley-Architect-American-Century/dp/1451625448

Buy Candice Millar’s award-winning book Destiny of the Republic HERE! https://www.amazon.com/Destiny-Republic-Madness-Medicine-President/dp/0385526261/

Check out Todd Arrington’s 2020 book The Last Lincoln Republic. https://www.amazon.com/Last-Lincoln-Republican-Presidential-Elections-ebook/dp/B08P3WBWD8/

Ohio’s Last VP: Nobel Prize, #1 Hit Songwriter Gen. Charles G. Dawes

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Ep. 8: “Ohio v. the Vice Presidency” PLAY HERE

Our Presidential mini-season is back for 2024! We start with a bio episode on Ohio’s last Vice President, General Charles G. Dawes (1925-1929), Calvin Coolidge’s running mate from Marietta, Ohio. With JD Vance on the Republican ticket, Ohio may be seeing their first VEEP in 100 years. Charles Dawes is completely lost to history despite being a Nobel Peace Prize winner, songwriter of a #1 pop song, WWI General and a popular Vice President.

Alex sits down with author Annette Dunlap to discuss her excellent biography, Charles G. Dawes: A Life, (2016) of the former VP. Her great book is the only Dawes biography we could find in the last 90 years. Annette takes us through his family history from the Mayflower to the American Revolution and the Civil War to his youth in Marietta and Cincinnati, Ohio. Annette discusses, Dawes first foray into politics helping to run William McKinley’s successful 1896 presidential campaign to his time as an important general in WWI for the American Expeditionary Force.

Bruce Carlson joins the show to discuss Dawes’ time in Nebraska, in politics and the Dawes Plan to ease the global crisis surrounding Germany’s WWI reparations. Carlson the host of the My History Can Beat Up Your Politics podcast and the Vices podcast talks to us about Dawes’ years as Vice President and his rocky relationship with his running mate Calvin Coolidge. We discuss his 1925 Nobel Peace Prize and how did a former Vice President write a #1 hit pop song?

Buy Annette’s book here https://www.amazon.com/dp/0810134195

Check out Bruce’s Vices podcast on America’s Vice Presidents https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/vice-presidents-of-the-united-states-podcast/id1440240504

Ohio and Cancel Culture: A Long History

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Listen to Episode 6: “Ohio and Cancel Culture”

Episode 6: “Ohio v. Cancel Culture”. Seems like everyone is getting cancelled these days from celebrities to political figures, Alex examines five historical examples of cancelled Ohioans to show cancel culture is not just a thing of the present. We sit down to tell 5 stories from the 18th, 19th and 20th Century Ohio that could just as easily been ripped from today’s headlines.

Alex talks with friend and host of the great podcast Whiskey Business, Dino Tripodis, about the famous oddsmaker and TV personality Jimmy “the Greek” Snyder of Steubenville, Ohio. We follow Jimmy the Greek’s improbable rise to stardom and his sudden fall from grace following a racist outburst in 1988. Check out Dino and his show Whiskey Business, also part of the Evergreen Podcast Network, here. http://www.whiskeybusinesspod.com

We head back to the 18th Century with Ohio author and historian, Kevin Kern, to discuss the cancellation of the first Governor of the Northwest Territory, Arthur St. Clair. Kern, author and Univ. of Akron history professor, talks about the St. Clair’s notorious military career and defeat in the Northwestern Indian War and his dictatorial reign as governor of the Ohio Territory in the late 18th and early 19th Century. We follow St. Clair’s career in the Midwest until he’s removed from power and cancelled by the Jefferson Administration. Click link to buy Kevin and Gregory Wilson’s great book on Ohio history, Ohio: A History of the Buckeye State. https://www.amazon.com/Ohio-History-Kevin-F-Kern/dp/1119708478

Kevin and Mark Wagoner take us through the career of controversial Senator William Allen of Chillicothe, OH. Kevin describes Allen’s prominence as one of Ohio’s most famous Democrats of the 19th Century, including becoming Governor in his 70s. Mark Wagoner describes the reasons behind removing Allen’s statue as one of Ohio’s two representatives in Statuary Hall at the US Capitol building and the process by which Allen was permanently replaced in 2016.

Kevin rejoins the show to discuss the sex scandal and cancelling of Rep. Wayne Hays in 1976. Kevin and I discuss his affair and coverup with his “secretary” Elizabeth Ray and the Belmont County natives downfall in the public eye in that bicentennial summer. We discuss why Wayne Hays was one of the meanest members of Congress and why nobody was sorry to see him go.

In a replay of an old episode from 2018, Alex sits down with author Patricia Miller to discuss her hit new book, Bringing Down the Colonel. Miller tells the story of a sex scandal involving a young Cincinnati college student, Madeline Pollard, and a powerful Congressman, William Breckinridge that would grip the nation’s attention in the spring of 1894. The landmark case of Pollard v. Breckinridge is analyzed for its groundbreaking verdict and how this story still resonates today in the mines of the #MeToo Movement. We strongly encourage you to purchase Bringing Down the Colonel: A Sex Scandal of the Gilded Age and the Powerless Woman Who Took On Washington. https://www.amazon.com/Bringing-Down-Colonel-Powerless-Washington/dp/0374252661

Contact Alex and the show at ohiovtheworld@gmail.com or on the podcasts’ Facebook, Instagram and Twitter page. Check out the Evergreen Podcast Network for Ohio v. the World and hundreds of other great podcasts for any interest here http://www.evergreenpodcasts.com.

Broken Rings: Israel, Palestine and the Munich Olympic Massacre

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Episode 3: Ohio v. Terrorism CLICK HERE TO PLAY

Broken Rings: Israel, Palestine and the Munich Olympic Massacre

EPISODE 3: Ohio v. Terrorism. Alex recounts the tragedy of the 1972 Munich Massacre and the murder of Cleveland’s David Berger. We look at the history of the Israel-Palestine conflict and its role in the death of David Berger and his fellow Olympic athletes. 

We’re joined by author and professor David Clay Large to discuss the events of September 1972 and his great book Munich 1972: Tragedy, Terror and Triumph at the Olympic Games. See link below. David takes us through the events of the 20th Summer Olympiad in West Germany and the terrorist attack on the Israeli athletes on September 5-6, 1972. David outlines the attack, the demands and the failed rescue attempt that claimed 9 of the 11 Israeli lives. 

Ori Yehudai, author and professor at The Ohio State University unravels a quarter century of Israeli-Palestinian history from the bloody birth of the State of Israel in 1948 to the Black September terrorists attack at the ’72 Olympics. We discuss the tangled web that is the first 25 years of the Israel-Palestine conflict and the possibility of peace in this never-ending cycle of violence and reprisals. Alex and Ori discuss his book Leaving Zion: Jewish Emigration from Palestine and Israel After World War II. Link below. 

Dr. Sean Martin, the curator for Jewish History at the Western Reserve Historical Society in Cleveland, Ohio. The life of David Berger is discussed, his weightlifting career and his youth in Shaker Heights, Ohio. We analyze the rich history of the Jewish people in Cleveland and how the city mourned and remembered David after his tragic murder at the hands of Palestinian terrorists. 

Subscribe and follow the show wherever you get your podcasts and rate and review Ohio v. the World on iTunes. 

Western Reserve Historical Society: www.wrhs.org

David Clay Large’s Munich 1972: Tragedy, Terror and Triumph at the Olympic Games. Buy it here https://www.amazon.com/Munich-1972-Tragedy-Triumph-Olympic/dp/0742567397

Ori Yehudai’s Leaving Zion. Buy it here https://www.amazon.com/Leaving-Zion-Ori-Yehudai/dp/1108478344

Contact the show at ohiovtheworld@gmail.com or on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Check out the Evergreen Podcast Network for Ohio v. the World and hundreds of other great podcasts here www.evergreenpodcasts.com