Whistlestop: Presidential History and Trivia

4.8 (1.4K)
HISTORY

John Dickerson of Slate’s Political Gabfest revisits a moment from the American carnival of politics. Hear about the grand speeches, emergency strategies, baby kissing, and backstabbing that make each presidential cycle so fascinating.

08/28/2019

The Presidency as a Consumer Experience (Part 2)

This episode of Whistlestop travels to October 19, 2016 as Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio, the defeated GOP aspirant for the presidency, is asking his party not to play by the modern rules of politics. Whistlestop is Slate’s podcast about presidential history. Hosted by Political Gabfest host John Dickerson, each installment will revisit memorable moments from America's presidential carnival. Love Slate podcasts?Listen longer with Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, ad-free versions, exclusive podcasts and more. Start your two-week free trial at slate.com/podcastplus. Email: whistlestop@slate.com. Podcast production by Jocelyn Frank. Research by Brian Rosenwald and Elizabeth Hinson. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

46 min
06/06/2019

The Presidency as a Consumer Experience (Part 1)

This episode of Whistlestop travels to October 12, 2012 when Democratic candidate Barack Obama was declared the loser at the first Presidential debate against Mitt Romney and Twitter won. Whistlestop is Slate’s podcast about presidential history. Hosted by Political Gabfest host John Dickerson, each installment will revisit memorable moments from America's presidential carnival. Love Slate podcasts? Listen longer with Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, ad-free versions, exclusive podcasts and more. Start your two-week free trial at slate.com/podcastplus. Email: whistlestop@slate.com. Podcast production by Jocelyn Frank. Research by Brian Rosenwald and Elizabeth Hinson. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

30 min
05/23/2019

Avoiding A Great Re-Recession

This episode of Whistlestop travels to March 12, 2008 as President George W. Bush goes over the text of his speech to address the financial crisis in the housing market and Treasury Secretary Paulson makes a warning that becomes an unfortunately accurate prediction. Whistlestop is Slate’s podcast about presidential history. Hosted by Political Gabfest host John Dickerson, each installment will revisit memorable moments from America's presidential carnival. Love Slate podcasts? Listen longer with Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, ad-free versions, exclusive podcasts and more. Start your two-week free trial at slate.com/podcastplus. Email: whistlestop@slate.com. Podcast production by Jocelyn Frank. Research by Brian Rosenwald and Elizabeth Hinson. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

44 min
04/18/2019

Introducing Charged: A True Punishment Story

For two and a half years, Emily Bazelon has been following people through a special court in New York designed to be a speedy machine for the harsh punishment of illegal gun possession. Along the way, a strange thing happened — the politics outside the courtroom started to change when a new generation of activists and insiders began challenging the old system the gun court was part of. Season 1 of Slate Presents brought you the story of Ruby Ridge, and Season 2 brings you a fight to transform one big-city justice system. Subscribe to Charged via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn, Overcast, RadioPublic, or wherever you listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

30 min
03/27/2019

The Making of the American Presidency (Part 4)

This episode of Whistlestop travels to December 23, 1783 when the commander in chief of the Continental Army sat before the president of the Confederation Congress and prepared to step away from the job. Whistlestop is Slate’s podcast about presidential history. Hosted by Political Gabfest host John Dickerson, each installment will revisit memorable moments from America's presidential carnival. Love Slate podcasts? Listen longer with Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, ad-free versions, exclusive podcasts and more. Start your two-week free trial at slate.com/podcastplus. Email: whistlestop@slate.com. Podcast production by Jocelyn Frank. Research by Brian Rosenwald and Elizabeth Hinson. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

1h 2m
03/13/2019

The Making of the American Presidency (Part 3)

This episode of Whistlestop travels to March 4, 2019 when Senator Rand Paul quoted from Montesquieu on Twitter: “When the legislative and executive powers are united in the same person or in the same body of magistrates, there can be no liberty.” A statement that helped guide the founders towards a valuable separation of power. Whistlestop is Slate's podcast about presidential history. Hosted by Political Gabfest host John Dickerson, each installment will revisit memorable moments from America's presidential carnival. Love Slate podcasts? Listen longer with Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, ad-free versions, exclusive podcasts and more. Start your two-week free trial at slate.com/podcastplus. Email: whistlestop@slate.com. Podcast production by Jocelyn Frank. Research by Brian Rosenwald and Elizabeth Hinson. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

40 min
02/27/2019

The Making of the American Presidency (Part 2)

This episode of Whistlestop travels to June 1st, 1787 when America’s founders faced a challenge: the nation couldn’t depend on the good will of the states to keep itself unified but there wasn’t a mandate for new rules to be made either. Whistlestop is Slate's podcast about presidential history. Hosted by Political Gabfest host John Dickerson, each installment will revisit memorable moments from America's presidential carnival. Love Slate podcasts? Listen longer with Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, ad-free versions, exclusive podcasts and more. Start your two-week free trial at slate.com/podcastplus. Email: whistlestop@slate.com. Podcast production by Jocelyn Frank. Research by Brian Rosenwald and Elizabeth Hinson. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

37 min
02/14/2019

The Making of the American Presidency (Part 1)

This episode of Whistlestop travels to the spring of 1787 when fifty-five men of property and elite status argued in Philadelphia at the Constitutional Convention for what President John Adams called "the greatest single effort of national deliberation that the world has ever seen,” and soon the American Presidency was born. Whistlestop is Slate's podcast about presidential history. Hosted by Political Gabfest host John Dickerson, each installment will revisit memorable moments from America's presidential carnival. Love Slate podcasts? Listen longer with Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, ad-free versions, exclusive podcasts and more. Start your two-week free trial at slate.com/podcastplus. Email: whistlestop@slate.com. Podcast production by Jocelyn Frank. Research by Brian Rosenwald and Elizabeth Hinson. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

27 min

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Slow Burn illuminates America’s most consequential moments, making sense of the past to better understand the present. Through archival tape and first-person interviews, the series uncovers the surprising events and little-known characters lurking within the biggest stories of our time. Want more Slow Burn? Join Slate Plus to unlock full, ad-free access to Slow Burn and your other favorite Slate podcasts. You can subscribe directly from the Slow Burn show page on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/slowburnplus to get access wherever you listen. Season 10: The Rise of Fox News How a cable news channel became a cultural and political force—and how a whole bunch of people rose up to try and stop it. Season 9: Gays Against Briggs A nationwide moral panic, a California legislator who rode the anti-gay wave, and the LGBTQ+ people who stepped up and came out to try and stop him. Season 8: Becoming Justice Thomas Where Clarence Thomas came from, how he rose to power, and how he’s brought the rest of us along with him, whether we like it or not. Winner of the Podcast of the Year at the 2024 Ambies Awards. Season 7: Roe v. Wade The women who fought for legal abortion, the activists who pushed back, and the justices who thought they could solve the issue for good. Winner of Apple Podcasts Show of the Year in 2022. Season 6: The L.A. Riots How decades of police brutality, a broken justice system, and a video tape set off six days of unrest in Los Angeles. Season 5: The Road to the Iraq War Eighteen months after 9/11, the United States invaded a country that had nothing to do with the attacks. Who’s to blame? And was there any way to stop it? Season 4: David Duke America’s most famous white supremacist came within a runoff of controlling Louisiana. How did David Duke rise to power? And what did it take to stop him? Season 3: Biggie and Tupac How is it that two of the most famous performers in the world were murdered within a year of each other—and their killings were never solved? Season 2: The Clinton Impeachment A reexamination of the scandals that nearly destroyed the 42nd president and forever changed the life of a former White House intern. Season 1: Watergate What did it feel like to live through the scandal that brought down President Nixon?

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4.3 (2278)

DAILY NEWS
Voted “Favorite Political Podcast” by Apple Podcasts listeners. Stephen Colbert says "Everybody should listen to the Slate Political Gabfest." The Gabfest, featuring Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz, is the kind of informal and irreverent discussion Washington journalists have after hours over drinks. Want more Political Gabfest? Join Slate Plus to unlock weekly bonus episodes. Plus, you’ll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. You can subscribe directly from the Political Gabfest show page on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/gabfestplus to get access wherever you listen.

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DOCUMENTARY

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John Dickerson

Host

4.8

out of 5

1,375 Ratings

Delightful

06/17/2020

r0c0r0co

John Dickerson delivers these stories with a great sense of humor and has strong ability to relay the core message to be learned.
Left wing bias

09/14/2024

Truth from the middle

He gives a very left wing view of history. He tries to use his altered historical view to influence your opinion of current events.
Awful and Bias

11/14/2022

otomn j

Awfully biased—they two “things” history should never be
Very interesting

01/03/2020

Ncpalmat

John’s tells great stories in a unique way.