Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Ridiculous History is a production of iHeartRadio. Welcome back to
(00:27):
the show, Ridiculous Historians. Thank you, as always so much
for tuning in. Let's give a big shout out to
our super producer, mister Max Williams. Oh oh, did you
hear that howl over there in the distance? Who's that?
It's young mister Noel Brown.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Who's that boy?
Speaker 1 (00:45):
Men? Brown and I am going by Ben Bollen. Recently
we are.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
In this stunning turn of events, this stunning turn of.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
A riotous plot twist, and we are midway through im
media arrests on our continuing exploration of United States presidents
who did a lot after they got the big job. Right.
So we talked a lot about Carter. You might know him.
(01:16):
He used to mess with the peanut industry guy named
Jimmy out from Georgia, and we wished him a happy birthday.
But Noel, we wanted to dive further into the presidential past.
So folks who like weird presidential history, this one's for you.
(01:41):
Let's talk about John Quincy Adams. And yeah, and I'm
sorry I was whispering off Mike as we were recording.
I don't think Quincy's the best name. It doesn't have
a mouth feel that I love. How do you feel
about the fruit? The humble quints? It's great. I just
don't think about the name while i'm eating.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
It, fair enough, I don't even what is a quince?
Is it like a raisin?
Speaker 3 (02:02):
If you guys want to get really mad, just remember
that John Quincy Adams, the son of John Adams, had
a son and named his son John Adams the Second.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
So yeah, yeah, it's like a Gabriel Garcia Marquez novel
or something. Everybody's got the same friggin names.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
But also, the Adams family was really into interbreeding.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
Yes, yeah, that is diplomatically put and also true.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
As well as the Adams family of television fiction fame.
They also you know, reading now you said your inbreeding. Sorry,
that's the diplomacy part, kay kay, because cousin cousin kissing wasn't.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
As bad back then.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
Cousin it Yeah, I remember, I remember the character.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
Also, Gomez and Mortitia had a really supportive relationship. They
really loved each other.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
True.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
I mean, he was a little PDA, but you know,
came from a little little PDA, little tam, you know,
all the hits.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
So today we're talking about JQA John Quincy Adams, who
already quoted him, so let's noted him and talk about him.
That is, there are three presidents who ran for other
federal positions federal offices, I eat not the president after
being president, and then one those later posts. There's Andrew Johnson,
who was removed from office by his own party, ran
(03:24):
as a third party candidate for the US House in
seventeen eighty two, lost, then ran for usn Aate in
eighteen seventy four and one, and then died.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
You have the aforementioned terrible job Tyler. What did he do? Oh,
he got removed from office by his own party because
of the worst trading. He ran for the Confederate State Congress,
he won, and then he, like Johnson, also died. This
is a very popular trend in the human species. That
(03:54):
seems so. Yeah, And so, as of now, Tyler is
the only US president to have won a political position
in a different country technically because of the Confederacy. But
then John Quincy Adams had the arguably the most successful
(04:16):
post presidential political career. Let's learn more about Adams. He's
born on July eleventh, seventeen sixty seven. He is definitely
a product of nepotism. He is the eldest son of
John Adams, so he's the son of the second US president.
(04:38):
And he is definitely when we said Jimmy Carter was
like a regular dude, this guy is definitely a patrician.
He's definitely landed, gentry, aristocracy. He covid man. Yeah, but
it was way easier to graduate from Harvard back in
seventeen eighty seven. You just had to be a white landowner,
(04:58):
which she had going for him for sure.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
He apprenticed in law with some highly influential and renowned
attorneys while traveling across Europe with his father, who was
a diplomat. He later became a diplomat as well. JQA
would go on to first enter the world of politics
in eighteen o three, being elected as the US Senator
for Massachusetts in that same year, where he served just
(05:24):
a single term.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
Mm hmm, And in eighteen seventeen he becomes the Secretary
of State under then President James Monroe. And secretary of
State still has this kind of shiny connotation to it.
If you are in the back rooms of the two
(05:47):
dominant political parties in the United States, now then you
will often be offered the position of secretary of State
as sort of a door prize slash setup for a
future candidacy if you agree to back somebody else. We
see this again in things like the Clinton dynasty. Right,
(06:10):
We see this in a lot of these things. And
America still make no mistake, is in aristocracy and all but.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Name Jefferson, Madison, right, all big names that went on
to become president who did hold that position.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
And so it turns out that this promise was made
good in eighteen twenty four when Quincy jeez, just to
we'll call them Adams. When Adams, when's the election in
eighteen twenty four, he becomes president. There's not a lot
(06:50):
of agreement. It was not a unanimous decision. There were
accusations of corruption, and those accusations of corruption and followed
that administration like a shadow for all its days. We
have a quote about this from our friends of Britannica.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
His presidency, during which the country prosper, was in most
respects a political failure because of the virulent opposition of
the Jacksonians.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
Supporters of Andrew Jackson, who for the record, should have
won that election.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
That's true, despite you know that guy sucking. He favored,
among other forward looking proposals, creating a national university and
a national Astronomical Observatory. Yeah, that's cool down for that check.
He wished the Western territories to be held in trust
by the federal government and developed only gradually, and he okay,
(07:41):
I don't know about that one. He proposed a vast
expansion of the country's roads with federal aid boom. However,
Congress turned a generally deaf ear just the one ear
to his initiatives. In eighteen twenty eight, Jackson was elected
president over Adams with one hundred and seventy eight electoral
votes to Adams the eighty three electoral college.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
Anyway, Yeah, you're right. They were kind of waiting for Jackson,
and the Jacksonians had a lot of what the Wire
would call suction at that time. So, all right, so
the guy gets to be president once. It's a crazy ride,
it's a long line. He makes it, and he is
(08:21):
for the time pretty elderly. When he retires or when
he loses potus, he is sixty two years old, and
at first he's thinking, I'm gonna fade out of public life.
You know what, I mean, I did my bit. I
had great ideas. Not all of them worked, and I'm
mad at Congress. We'll go back to Britannica where they
(08:44):
say Adams retired to private life in eighteen twenty nine
in the Massachusetts town of Quincy Quincy. It is the
wait a minute, is this is a quinc Is this
a quincyncedence?
Speaker 3 (08:59):
It has to be, I mean, being a Massachusetts town,
it was probably what like sixteen hundred, seventeen hundreds.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
This has been pre.
Speaker 4 (09:09):
Maybe they're named after something else.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
Massachusetts loves terrible names.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
Well, hello, we have a after facts with the Max
with the facts. We'll workshop it later on.
Speaker 4 (09:26):
But turns out that Quincy got its name in seventeen
ninety two when it was named after the Colonel John Quincy.
John Quincy was the maternal grandfather of Abigail Adams, who was,
of course the mother of John Quincy Adams, and the
reports are Quincy Adams. John Quincy Adams probably should specify
(09:49):
here was named after the colonel John Quincy, and John
Quincy Adams was of course born prior to the town
having its name changed to Quincy. But yeah, yeah, play
the sun.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
Qu Quincy is a little kind of coastal town in Massachusetts.
(10:31):
It's it's near Boston. I've actually been there. It's very
idyllic and very very small. Lots of bed and breakfasts
and sailboats and things like that. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
One of the dough Boys is from Quincy. He talks
about it a lot on them the dough Boys podcast.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
And so this guy goes there, right, and he's like,
I'm retired. I'm going to live in a town that,
in a burst of humility, also has the worst part
of my name as the name of the town. And
that's how he said it too. He also hated Quincy.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
He's couldn't stay away. He just couldn't.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
That's why he was there, and never say the name
of the town out loud to him, no eye contact
when he walks down main Street. He couldn't take the
private life. In eighteen thirty, he gets pulled back. Let's
picture this ridiculous history cinematic universe. Members of the anti
Masonic movement, which you talked about in the past, they
(11:22):
come up to him and he's like one of those
old action movie he rose, I like, hey, Quincy, one
last job.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
Right, And so what happens He went out for a
bid for the National House of Representatives, which he won,
and when it was kind of suggested to him that
his acceptance of this position would actually degrade a former president,
I'm not sure I understand the logic behind that, but
(11:52):
let's see what Adams has to say.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
Step down. I think the way that people degrade a
former president, I see I sy it to be a
famous A list film actor.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
You don't want to go into TV something that's yeah,
But that's not the case anymore. And it took people
blazing trails to change the perception of that. Kind of
shout out to Gary Oldman Slow Horses, what a kick
ass show. A new episode just dropped yesterday. I look
forward to watching it. He had this to say of
that sentiment that no person could be degraded by serving
(12:23):
the people as a representative in Congress or a selectman
of his town.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
I absolutely agree. Right, What a dumb thing to that.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
Whoever said that we don't have a direct we don't
have we're not naming names. I don't even think we
have them. But I would argue that's a pretty bone
headed perspective.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
Like you can't be degraded at all. Uh if you.
If you say that you care about public service, then
you should care about it in any possible capacity.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
Yeah, you can't be president again. I mean, go on
and do some more good if if that's your bag.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
Yeah, if it's actually about the public well being and
the public interest rather than about yourself, than any way
to help is a good way to help, you know
what I mean. So I do agree with Quincy on
that when, like you were saying, he gets set up
(13:18):
in Congress House of Reps, he has a long career
in Congress, and he opposes the expansion of slavery. Later
scholars of John Quincy Adams will argue that he is
very much an abolitionist at heart. However, in his legislative
(13:41):
record you don't see a lot of that ideology coming
to paper.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
And again, not being apologist for any of this stuff here,
but we do know that oftentimes concessions have to be
made in order to get things done at all, and
the heartfelt beliefs of whatever they may be, of certain
presidents don't always find their way to law because of
so much opposition and just the tide of the time.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
Right. Yeah, And he introduced he introduced bills that are
still very important and part of American fabric today. Things
like the idea that if you are born in the US,
you are automatically a US citizen, and he fought against
slavery in that regard. He said, it doesn't matter if
(14:30):
your parents are enslaved, if you're born here, you are
a US citizen and should have the rights and responsibilities
outlined as a result, and then bills that tried to
block the addition of states with legalized human enslavement. These
resolutions were similar to Carter. There were great ideas, but
(14:53):
they neither of these were passed. And he did fight
for a lot of anti sl measures, but like we
were saying earlier, it didn't hit the paper right, it
didn't become policy. He also, this is interesting, he fought
there were these things called gag rules that said you
(15:16):
couldn't even bring up the idea of ending human slavery.
How crazy is that? So he fought against those gag rules.
He was like, can we at least say maybe you
shouldn't legalize the enslavement of human beings? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (15:33):
I mean, isn't this supposed to be an open discourse
in government? Don't we have freedom of speech? It just
seems the idea of a gag order seems, a gag
law or whatever seems kind of patently, you know, an
American American.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
Yeah, yeah, and then oh, also shout out to the
excellent film based on a true story, Amistad, and JQA
shows up to represent a group of people who were
enslaved on the Spanish slave ship Amistad. These folks, as
we all know, mute need fought the power, freed themselves.
(16:10):
Spoilers and yeah, sure right. Also the Titanic sinks whatever man,
and they really root and I think it's better to
rip the band aid off that one. And he argued
for the freedom of these people in front of the
Supreme Court. And speaking of spoilers, nol our boy Quincy
(16:35):
won the case.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Yeah, this is like a few good men vibes. You
can't handle the truth, is what he said. No, he
didn't say that, but it's a big deal. Yes, that's cool.
I think this is These are positive things. Perhaps the
most dramatic event in Adam's life was his one could
argue untimely to minds on February twenty first, eighteen forty eight,
(16:57):
in the act of protesting an honorary grant of swords
by Congress to the generals who had won what Adams
considered the most unrighteous war with Mexico, which we should
also know here Max noted is another thing that he's
on the right side of history about he.
Speaker 3 (17:16):
An American war was fed up.
Speaker 1 (17:18):
Yeah, no, not not. Most wars are.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
They are.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
It's true, wars never war never changes.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
But he unfortunately suffered a cerebral stroke, very publicly, fell
unconscious to the floor of the House and passed away
two days later in the Capitol building. His funeral service
and related events took place in Washington and in his
native Massachusetts kind of took on the character of a
(17:43):
national day of mourning.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
He was more or less pretty beloved.
Speaker 3 (17:48):
I would say it's probably similar to like when John
McCain passed away a number of years ago, where it's
just like everyone's like, we may not agree with his
political things, but everyone agreed that he was a good person.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
Yeah and yeah, and they liked just like McCain, they
liked the idea that this guy would listen to people,
you know what I mean. And oh, McCain is maybe
a different episode, but we are moving on again. That's
another amazing post presidential career, but that one is still
involved in politics. We got another one where you can
(18:20):
I get a beat drop Max Taire oh Man used
to be President William Auer daff He his time in
the White House was kind of brief. Uh, he was
a one term president. He had a kind of not
(18:46):
great guy coming in after him, which maybe makes him
look a little better in context because after Taft's one term,
Woodrow Wilson comes in and sort of fails his way
upwards for two terms.
Speaker 3 (18:59):
Spoiler alert, I am working on a Willdrow Wilson brief,
and I'm trying to go as middle of the road
as I podcast.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
Man, you've been working on that one for a while too.
Speaker 3 (19:08):
The mom that's it.
Speaker 4 (19:09):
I just kept put it down yet really angry.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
Working on it. It's like when it's like when I
get to into the writers man, and I remember asking, guys,
what portion of these James Joyce letters can we read?
How much can we say about Oh, God, he loved forts,
(19:31):
he really did, So why do we learn more about Taft?
He is again, honestly, there's a little bit of nepotism
there because when he's born in eighteen fifty seven, he
is the son of a very distinguished judge named Alfonso Taft,
who also served in many other very high level political
(19:55):
roles Secretary of War, attorney General. It's just like, I'm
I'm just saying he wasn't born in the gutter.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
Ben You've made your position on the name Quincy very clear.
What is your take on the name Alfonso.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
I'm okay with Alfonso. What about you? I love it.
You like Alfonso.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
I like it even when people people do the unnecessary
shortening and call the people alphons.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
Oh, Alfons, like Alfie. Alfie's cool.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
I don't know. I guess when I hear Alfi, I
either think of like, what's that, like that Dudley Moore
movie where he's like a spoiled rich kid kind of
I think it's called Alfi. Yeah, and then it was
remade with Jude Law. But also I just think of
alf You know, the space alien puppet, the eight Cats.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
Those are the three facts we have from that sitcom.
And no, I've got another one for you. Yeah, And
I have.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
A a packaged alf action figure somewhere around here. And
he had a he played saxophone in a nightclub under
a pseudonym which was gold on a second, I gotta
look like it's really funny.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
Alf Also, Alf's an acronym, right, alien life form.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
That's right, let's see on earth. He goes by his
real name, Gordon.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
Oh, Gordon Shumway.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
Gordon Shumway, thank you. That's right, that's that's what my
action figures. This is alf and then for this is Gordon.
And he's wearing a Hawaiian sure, and he came with
a little saxophone accessory, so sorry for that aside.
Speaker 1 (21:27):
No, it is ridiculous history. This makes sense.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
We're gonna come for the history, you stay for the asides.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
We're gonna get to some Adams family stuff at the
very end too, from part one. But uh thing, yeah, Wednesday,
Oh Pugsley, Oh oh, I got a question for you
at the end, all right. William Howard Taft, son of
Alfonso Taft, not associated with Gordon Shumway just yet until
just now. Uh. Taft graduates from Yale and he goes
(21:55):
to Cincinnati, Ohio, which was a big deal city at
the time, to study and practice law. Do you like that?
You like that little natty diss there?
Speaker 2 (22:05):
Right? And then he found his way into the road
of politics and rose to the ranks through Republican judicial appointments. Again,
probably a little nepotism there, but it's okay. Through his
own kind of savvy and competence and just you know,
kind of being around. And as he once wrote to
prep Spit sarcastically, he always had his quote plate the
(22:27):
right side up when offices were falling, So I guess
meaning he was there to catch them on his plates.
He was just kind of around to pick up the
pieces just by being there.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
Or like if the table is removed, the plate is
still in the right direction, so still holding the food
or the fairments.
Speaker 3 (22:45):
I think in a lot of ways it's saying it
is like, yes, I've fallen into a lot of things,
but a big thing is I've always I make sure
that I'm always aware and present for when these things
come up, because a lot of times, you know, big
opportunities are just little Tony blips you have to grab
when they're there.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
Yeah, yeah, And this makes sense. It is a kind
of So the guy's a really good writer. We should
also point that out because he is not really He's
not really a politician. He's much more of a litigator.
He's a man of the law, right, And he is
(23:23):
one of those rare exceptions who doesn't originally dream of
being president. He doesn't necessarily want those mountain peaks with
those high and dangerous wins. He's okay being a federal
circuit judge, and he makes it pretty early, thirty four
years old. His big dream is to be a member
of the Supreme Court. Now, for everybody outside of the
(23:45):
United States, although this is a representative democracy, the ultimate
law of the land is nine people who are dressed
just like ring Braiths from Lord of the Rings, and
they are in office until they decide to quit. They
are not directly elected by the public, and their opinions
(24:07):
are ultimately the ones that count. Yeah, literal gospel. It's
pretty wild. Not a huge fan.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
One of the biggest contributions a president can make, long lasting,
well beyond their tenure in the White House, is appointment
of these ring rings that you're talking about.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
I know, you're right, then would want that instead of
the presidency.
Speaker 2 (24:34):
Well, that's right, And he also can't, you know, I mean,
obviously a lot of presidents have a background in law,
but he was really that was kind of his ultimate
goal there.
Speaker 1 (24:42):
Yeah, and his rise in politics is a great note
here was not a result of the glad handing of elections.
It was more his acumen and his competence at various
political positions or legal position. And then President McKinley appointed
(25:03):
him as the Chief Civil Administrator to the Philippines, which
by the way, the US was doing a real number
on back in the day, and he was not like
it wasn't like a Smedley Butler Hadi situation. Taft was
actually helping improve the infrastructure of the country. And then
(25:25):
he becomes Teddy Roosevelt's Secretary of War. Obviously, we did
some rebranding over the decades. We call it Defense now
Department of Defense.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
Ben quick Aside, you've made your positions clear on both
the names Quincy and Alfonso. Where do you fall in
the name Smedley.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
There's one guy that I respect with the name Smedley,
and I'm still on the fence about him. What about you?
Speaker 2 (25:53):
When I hear Smedley, I think of something gross.
Speaker 1 (25:57):
Yeah, it sounds there's something snively about it.
Speaker 2 (26:01):
Yes, snidely. Whiplash's exactly. Yeah, get out of my head.
That's it off myc though I always think of Smegma.
Speaker 1 (26:10):
No, let's stuck it in.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
Okay, well, okay, you don't know what that is, don't
look it up.
Speaker 3 (26:17):
That just sank some of the scores and our internal
rating systems.
Speaker 2 (26:21):
Sorry, guys, it's not a cool name. It's just something
about it runed me the wrong way.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
But he was an absolute pill who probably saved the
American experiment exactly. No important chess tattoo, I know way
too much of what guy of an eagle? My guy? Hey? Okay?
Speaker 2 (26:41):
Did he have like a warship tattooed on his bicep too?
That would come to life when he ate spinach. Also,
was it a bald eagle or just an eagle?
Speaker 1 (26:48):
He didn't let people see his back, and uh I
think he I think when he got tatted up it was,
oh gosh, I'd have to go back to We did
a show with Schoolly Humans called Let's Start a Coup
where you can learn all about Spentley Butler and hear
some Saturday Night live re enactments of his life.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
Guys, I've been playing I think I've mentioned on the
podcast before A big fan of this board game called
Wingspan that teaches you all about different birds. It's just
a really fun game. And it's really changed my relationship
with our fine feathered friends for the better. But one
little fun fact that gets dropped a lot whenever you
play the bald eagle card. And you may know part
of this, maybe not all of it. Ben Franklin was
(27:31):
not a fan of the idea of the bald eagle
as the national bird. He wanted preferring the turkey. But
he wasn't a fan because of a trait that bald
eagles have. They are known for stealing fish. Uh huh yeah,
though in retrospect that's pretty American.
Speaker 1 (27:48):
Oh yeah, man, you guys don't steal fish. I stole
some fish earlier today we pushed off recording and I
saw some you know, I saw a kid with some fish,
and then a kid with some candy. And I took
the fish fish more nourishing than candy. I did. No,
I did get a bagel, though that part is true.
It was not from a child. It was from an adult.
(28:08):
Was it a locks big of course, it was like,
come on, man, you know me, welcome and so our
pal taft is off is kind of seen as a
compromise candidate, which happens increasingly in the United States at
(28:33):
all levels of politics. People who consider themselves more on
the liberal side of ideology at the time say that, look,
this guy is going to continue a lot of Teddy
Roosevelt's liberal policies, and people who identify themselves more with
conservative ideology say, hey, this guy will get rid of
(28:55):
all those liberal policies we hate. So everybody votes for
him for completely contradictory reasons, and as a result of course,
Kobeyashi Maru again, there is no perfect president. Everybody ends
up super peeved with him. Then they're like, come on, man,
you didn't do all the stuff that I told myself
(29:16):
you would do.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
However, he definitely swung a little closer to the conservatives viewpoints,
which really p owed the former President Roosevelt, who didn't
win his party's primary, since the Conservatives were the larger
portion of the party and they already didn't like Teddy,
so they decided to go with Taft caused him to
create his own political party and split the vote and
(29:39):
gave the presidency to a pretty awful guy considered by many,
including Max Williams, to be one of, if not the
worst president of the nineteen hundreds, and who was definitely
proven to be have been a member of the Ku
Klux klam.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
Oh that's a shame. Look at Mitchell and Webb, folks.
They have an amazing sketch about the Ku Klux Klan
the Batties. No, oh, I'll send it together.
Speaker 3 (30:09):
I will say Joe Wilson did do a lot of
actually really good things in his presidency. Will send this unfortunately,
because I want to just hate him. He's polarizing, as
you can only do really good and really bad. He
couldn't do in the middle.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
Well, yeah, I mean it's like, you know, it's the
joke we have in academia about philosophy students or ethics students.
Philosophy students are either super tame or they're absolute wild cards.
There is no middle ground. They're just the extreme ends
(30:43):
of the Bell curve. Shout out to everyone with a
philosophy degree. And you would love to hang with Taft
because Taft was never fond of the somewhat I would say,
ethically fraudulent game of politics. He wanted to be a
nerd like us, and so when he left the White House,
(31:06):
which you know, he kind of I feel like he
I feel like he rolled his eyes when he became
president and he said all right, fine, and he was
excited to leave. So back to our friends of Britannica.
When Taft gets out of the White House, he survives,
he's not assassinated, blah blah blah. He returns to his
(31:27):
alma mater. He goes back to Yale and he becomes
a professor of constitutional law, which is a really cool position,
especially in an ivy league like that and the US,
because all things exist together and nothing occurs in a vacuum.
The US enters World War One and Taft makes the
(31:48):
decision to serve in policy advisory positions, so he's part
of the National War Labor Board, and then he also
pushes and constitutional law botens often do this. He pushes
for tighter international relations. So he's a big proponent of
(32:09):
the League of Nations. And the party that he was
down with, his political gang, was isolationist. They didn't like
the idea of the League of Nations, and as history
would prove, the League of Nations was largely ineffective. The
most important thing it did was to establish a precedent
(32:30):
for the United Nations, which is still you know, doing
its best. That's about all they can do.
Speaker 2 (32:37):
The Unit I appreciate the organization, and I think it
represents a lot of good stuff, but unfortunately it is
often a little bit toothless.
Speaker 1 (32:46):
Right, Yeah, I put that pause in there a little
starkily on fampus.
Speaker 2 (32:50):
But no, no, you said it right, diplomatically, doing the
best they can. I get it now. No, we do
have a good moment here, whether taftause. Remember we said
the way that the way that some of us dreamed
being the first werewolf astronaut on the moon. Taft had
a boyhood dream, and his boyhood dream was Scotus to
(33:13):
become a member of the Supreme Court. I think we
have a happy ending for this episode.
Speaker 1 (33:19):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (33:20):
In nineteen twenty one, Tast's boyhood dream of becoming a
Supreme Court of Justice did in fact come true.
Speaker 1 (33:27):
In fact, exceeded his childhood dreams.
Speaker 2 (33:31):
In fact, not only was he a justice, he was
appointed in nineteen twenty one by President Warren G. Harding,
not of the regulators, regulators, writers, is roughriterers?
Speaker 1 (33:42):
No, is that different? It's different anyway. Warren G.
Speaker 2 (33:45):
Harding appointed Taft chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court,
launching what was probably the happiest time in Taff's long
career being a public service. He took steps to improve
the efficiency of the Supreme Court, which had lagged behind,
as we know oftentimes legislation and lawmaking can They had
(34:09):
not been doing their due diligence in their work, and
he was out to change that. His influence was incredibly
decisive in making sure the Judges Act of nineteen twenty
five got passed, which gave the significant power to the
Supreme Court in discretion in choosing its cases, so that
(34:30):
it could focus more attention on bigger picture constitutional questions
and not get caught up in like the minutia of
stuff that maybe had no business being presented to the
Supreme Court. So that's positive, whatever your take on the
Court itself might.
Speaker 1 (34:44):
Be, Yeah, because pre nineteen twenty five, they were kind
of not even kind of they were restricted in their
own agency, so they would get cases through a certain
process and they didn't have the same lot of or
as you said, no discretion in choosing their cases. And again,
(35:06):
you know, it's always been a small number of people,
so their time and their expertise is limited. Was he
was considered remind me of this. He was considered pretty
conservative right as a scotis.
Speaker 2 (35:19):
I do believe, so, yeah, he is judicial philosophy definitely
leaned in that direction. However, tasked, as I think is
super important for any judge, let alone a Supreme Court justice.
Wasn't like entirely said in his ways. He was not
(35:39):
ideologically rigid. He was willing to look at both sides
and come to a consensus that was based on facts
rather than his own personal beliefs. Although you know, we
know it's it's hard to separate those out sometimes, but
credit where credit is due, especially.
Speaker 1 (35:57):
With his workers' rights opinions right.
Speaker 2 (36:00):
His approval of court injunctions, for example, was limited by
his insistence that injunctions could not be employed to interfere
with the rights of workers to organize and strike. So yeah, conservative,
but relatively open minded and willing to do the work.
So kind of like Calvin Coolidge, but even cooler. That's
(36:21):
max joke, but it holds true here.
Speaker 1 (36:24):
It was pretty good. We we also have to acknowledge,
you know, perhaps unfairly in American discourse, Taft is often
not remembered for his competence and his integrity as a
member of the judiciary. He's often remembered for his lifelong
(36:45):
battle with certain aspects of his health, and he had
heart disease and this forced him to voluntarily resign from
the Supreme Court on February third, nineteen thirty. And he
was making the right decision for his health. At this point,
he had already shed one hundred pounds, he was walking
(37:07):
three miles a day. Unfortunately, due to the heart disease.
He passed away on March eighth in nineteen thirty, just
like the next month. He was seventy two years old.
But what an astonishing Postpotus career. And we've seen Adams,
We've seen Carter, We've seen taff There are more stories.
(37:29):
We're not going to get to them all. Shout out
to former President Barack Obama, who is now a bit
of an internet DJ. He's got a summer playlist that
comes out.
Speaker 2 (37:40):
It's pretty good man, guys, he's got pretty good taste. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:44):
When I first heard it, and no no offense, Barrock.
When I first heard it, I thought, come on, man,
did you pick these or did your daughters tell you
what to put on the playlist? He was always dropping
good rex even when he was president.
Speaker 2 (37:58):
I'm a big shout out to town hero musician artist
Fay Webster, who made one of the former president's.
Speaker 1 (38:07):
Summer playlists Pretty sweet.
Speaker 2 (38:09):
Fay Wester is like this incredibly lovely, almost like Dusty
Springfield as kind of like R and B slash.
Speaker 1 (38:16):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (38:17):
It's got a groove to it. She's got a lovely voice,
but also is like buddies with all of the Atlanta
rappers because her background was like in photography where she
would do like these photo shoots. Is really tight with
Lil YACHTI, who appeared at her recent performance here in
Atlanta that my kid went to.
Speaker 1 (38:32):
Pretty cool and big. Big shout out too to former
President Obama for his Christmas playlist and for his workout
playlist and for his film business, his production company Higher Ground.
He and his spouse Michelle, who obviously runs the joint,
have produced seventeen movies and TV shows so far. Please
(38:56):
mister Obama, missus Obama, if you're listening, boy, howdy, do
we have some pitches for you all? Just give us
give us a tight five minutes. We'll bring our pal
aj Bahamas Jacobs. We got some stuff we know you
will love. The last thing we wanted in with real
quick because I know we got to wrap it up.
(39:17):
We didn't get to it in our conversation about Adams.
But I have a question for you. All right, Adams Family, right,
the TV show Adams Family based off.
Speaker 2 (39:27):
All right, don't forget about the masterpiece film series from
the nineties, the Adams Family and Adams Family Values.
Speaker 1 (39:32):
Yes, yes, good note and based on the comic strip.
Right in the Adams Family, many of the family members
are depicted as monsters or have supernatural entities of some sort.
My question, then, is what kind of monster is Gomez Adams.
(39:53):
I believe I know the answer. Well, I would argue
he's a sexy beast, yes, yes, I agree with that.
I would also argue that he is his monstrosity is
business tycoon. There you go. That's that's what makes him monstrous,
is that he is a unhinged konaire.
Speaker 2 (40:16):
Right, Yeah, that's when I never really clocked that. That's
you know, and funny you say that, like, really, the
only monsters in the crew were Lurch, who was kind
of a Frankenstein asque creature, the hairy one that is
cousin it, and the severed hand. But Wednesday is not
a monster, and Martitia is just a he's kind of
(40:37):
a vampire, kind of a vampire, yeah clear, but she
does it suck blood. They don't really harm people. They
just talk about spooky stuff. They never actually do anything.
Speaker 1 (40:46):
They're like Elvira level spook. That's right, you know what
I mean, just like creepy stuff.
Speaker 3 (40:51):
Ben, you said Elvira, Elvira, Vampira better than al Vira.
Alvira's a knockoff.
Speaker 1 (40:57):
Well better because Vampire is an a dude.
Speaker 3 (41:01):
And you also listened to the Federal episode about Vampiro.
Speaker 2 (41:05):
Also and watch the incredible Such a Bumber to see
his career drop off the way it has Tim Burton
movie ed Wood, which also features Vampire.
Speaker 1 (41:13):
And we are clearly trending into the most wonderful time
of the year, the spooky season. So thank you for
tuning into our series on post presidential careers. We hope
you enjoyed it. We have many more presidents to get to.
The journey continues in the meantime. Folks, First, thanks to
our research associates super producer mister Max Williams. Secondly, and
(41:37):
perhaps even more importantly, log onto ridiculous historians and let
us know your favorite Halloween traditions, films, and costumes. Ooh,
and leave us a happy Halloween.
Speaker 2 (41:48):
Great review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
That would warm our demonic little hearts.
Speaker 1 (41:55):
Yes, beautiful, Ah, that was very well done. Also big
big Speaking of well done, big big thing thanks to
our composer Alex Williams, who was doing well and on
his travels and getting super into improv. Yesayd Alex got
your back.
Speaker 2 (42:09):
Huge thanks to superproducer Max Williams who composed this banging
research Dotsier as well as Chris Fraciotis and Eves Jeff
cots Here in Spirit.
Speaker 1 (42:20):
Gabe Lusier, Rachel, Big Spinach, Lance, our pals over at
Ridiculous Crime. That's Zarin, Elizabeth and Dave. We'll get the
nicknames later. For now, folks, we just want to thank
you for tuning in, and no thank you. I think
a lot of our jokes landed in this week. I
hope so they landed somewhere, Ben, they landed somewhere. Let's
(42:43):
see you next time, folks.
Speaker 2 (42:51):
For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.