Former First Lady Rosalynn Carter Passes On, Age 96

I had an opportunity to meet her a couple of times when I was doing communications work in the mental health field. She was a longtime advocate for people with mental illness. I remember escorting her to a congressional hearing on behalf of the National Alliance on Mental Illness. I can't say we had a …

Jimmy Carter Retrospectives Begin

Jimmy Carter, at 99 has been in hospice since February 2023 and complains good-naturedly that he hasn't figured out how to die yet. But we can figure that his journalistic reckoning is coming as soon as he passes. I have some sympathy for politicians who endure character assassination by hacks. One of the most egregious …

How Jimmy Carter in 1952 Helped Divert a Nuclear Disaster

Rachel Maddow tells the story of a young Navy lieutenant from Georgia named Jimmy who played a key role in helping prevent a nuclear catastrophe in 1952.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8e0ClyvdfNc Jim Guyton: "Some people enter politics for power and fame. A few enter to try and help the world. It's pretty clear Jimmy Carter was not in …

How the ‘Solid South’ Shifted from Reliably Democrat to Reliably Republican

Understanding 20th century Southern political history is essential to comprehending the potential for changes in voting patterns or a realignment of states in presidential and congressional elections in the 2020s. The so-called “Solid South” of White segregationists’ block voting for Democrats existed between the end of Reconstruction in 1877 to the passage of the Civil Rights Act …

Banker Turns Hobby of Reading Presidential Biographies Into Expertise and Creates An Online Community

Stephen Floyd, an investment banker, private pilot and avid fan of American history, has since January 2013 been on a journey or "great adventure" through "the best presidential biographies," which he has reviewed on a blog, bestpresidentialbios.com. In July, he announced that he has completed more than 250 biographies amounting to 125,000 pages read, posted …

1984 & 1988: Landslide Defeats for Democrats. Concession Speeches by Mondale and Dukakis, Reflecting on Liberalism’s Failures

The worst, most boring presidential election concession speech since 1952 of all I've listened to in the last few days was by Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis in 1988. Yes, he made the obligatory acknowledgements of defeat and salute to his opponent, but his address was just passionless, revealing the candidate's fatal weakness. In contrast, Walter …

Humble Concession Speeches: Gerald Ford to Jimmy Carter, Voice Lost, 1976; Carter to Reagan, 1980

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKuwp2wiu7s President Gerald Ford had lost his voice by the time the election was called for his opponent Governor Jimmy Carter of Georgia in 1976, so he asked his wife Betty to concede the election for him, which she did, partially gritting her teeth, and pain in her voice. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQkWga27u6c&feature=youtu.be Four years later, the tables …

Jimmy Carter: First of Neoliberal Presidents

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xr9vX39xZpo PBS American Experience: "One of the greatest dramas in American politics, President Jimmy Carter was overwhelmingly voted out of office in a humiliating defeat in 1980, only to become one of the most admired statesmen and humanitarians in America and the world." While in office, Carter was perceived as weak, unable to tamp down inflation, …

Run-away Inflation in History Has Wrecked Havoc. So Have Bubbles

Run-away or hyper-inflation has been one of the causes of political extremism and instability throughout history. Wikipedia offers a litany. Most famously, hyper-inflation sparked the rise of Nazism in Germany in the 1920s and 1930s, due in large part to the punishing terms the victors, especially France, imposed upon Germany in reparations for "starting" WWI. …

How Laws of Supply and Demand Change History: Crash Course Economics

As you probably know, laws of supply and demand are a basic principle of economics. Prices fluctuate based on the supply and demand of a product or service. This concept can determine your choice of career, your salary as well as your monthly budget. Sudden changes in the supply and demand can wreck your life …