Episode 15 - Bobby and Bernie
 
AJ and Matt talk briefly about how history tends to out and comment on Bernie’s South Carolina speech on August 21st.
 
The opening song is “Wrong Time Wrong Planet” by Does It Offend You, Yeah? mixed with a call between the Kennedy brothers in the aftermath of the Bay of Pigs. For more background, see this excerpt from Red Heat by Alex von Tunzelmann.
The second song is an extended version of Alphaville’s “Forever Young” mixed with audio from a CBS News program in 1967 entitled “Town Meeting of the World,” featuring Robert Kennedy and Ronald Reagan answering questions from an international panel. Link here.

15 - Bobby and Bernie

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Contains two calls, placed by JFK in succession: 1: Sound recording of a telephone conversation held on July 25, 1963, between President John F. Kennedy and Assistant Secretary of Defense Arthur Sylvester. They discuss the purchase of furniture at Otis Air Force Base and wasteful spending. The recording begins in mid-conversation. This sound recording was originally recorded on Dictation Belt 23D, which contains additional sound recording(s) following this one. To hear all of the recordings on the Dictation Belt, see Digital Identifier: JFKPOF-TPH-23D, Title: Telephone recordings: Dictation Belt 23D. 2. A recording of a phone call between President Kennedy and General Godfrey McHugh, the Air Force aide to the President. Ever sensitive to public opinion, President Kennedy was horrified to open the Washington Post to see a photograph of a navy aide standing next to an expensive new naval project -- a hospital bedroom that had been built at a base on Cape Cod, to be ready in case Jacqueline Kennedy went into labor with their son, Patrick Bouvier Kennedy. Song: Com Truise, 'Idle Withdrawal'

22 - JFK To General: "Well This Is Obviously A Fuck-Up"

Telephone conversation between LBJ and George Smathers, 8/1/1964, 11:00AM. Discussing Barry Goldwater's economic policies as antithetical to the "democratic type philosophy of economics" that made Americans (and America's business leaders) prosperous. Smathers, a Florida Senator known for anti-communism, strategizes with Johnson on how and when he will flip from being against medicare to for it after campaigning against it in 1962, and how it's better not to pass it until after Johnson defeats Goldwater as it'll give older voters a reason to support Johnson. Song: "I Can See Through You (Blanck Mass Remix)" by The Horrors

21 - LBJ and George Smathers On Goldwater and Medicare, August '64

Noon on Monday, November 4, 1968. Eve of the 1968 election. LBJ at his ranch, discusses with top advisers, Secretary of State Dean Rusk and Secretary of Defense Clark M. Clifford, how to respond to continued interference in Vietnam War peace talks by figures associated with the Nixon administration. LBJ was forced by Nixon and South Vietnamese diplomats to make a decision similar to one Obama apparently had to make about the 2016 election, about whether to make public intelligence of what might be treason by a Republican presidential candidate. Transcript/more background here: prde.upress.virginia.edu/conversations/4006128   Songs: Boards of Canada, 'Chromakey Dreamcoat' Jamie xx, 'Hold Tight' Trentemøller, 'Shades of Marble'

20 - LBJ, Advisors Discuss Whether to Make Public Nixon's Treason

'Former Justice Department prosecutor: James Comey’s October surprise is “indefensible”' Vox "HAS THE F.B.I. GONE FULL BREITBART?" Vanity Fair A definitive debunking in tweet form of Hillary email bullshit by T. R. Ramachandran (@yottapoint) "More Surprises: FBI Releases Files On Bill Clinton's Pardon Of Marc Rich"  NPR Song Arcade Fire - Porno 8:56am Jan 2, 1973, Nixon and Chief Justice Warren Burger talk instant replay, Miller v California (on legality and definition of pornography) and an promise young justice named Rehnquist. If you live in a swing state, vote for Hillary Clinton.

19 - Election 2016 and the Great FBI Nutjob Mutiny

The second Literary Hangover! Recorded in spring 2016, Kara, Alex, Tyler, and I discuss Sinclair Lewis' novel Main Street, about a reform-minded woman in early 20th century small-town Minnesota. We reflect on the book as four midwestern transplants ourselves.   Sinclair Lewis biographer on CSPAN in 2002 with my man Brian Lamb. Board members of the Sinclair Lewis Interpretive Center and Museum in Sauk Centre, MN. Crappy onboard mic but some bio, and I'm fascinated by small town culture clubs. NBC University Radio Play of Main Street    Here's a good  review by Jane Smiley, 

15 - Bobby and Bernie

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