In 1835 a man ambushed Andrew Jackson outside the Capitol and fired at him with two different pistols from less than 10 feet away—yet Jackson was unharmed. We dig into this failed assassination attempt, the wild trial of would-be assassin Richard Lawrence, and the conspiracy theories that started circulating immediately.

Then we welcome guest David S. Brown, author of The First Populist: The Defiant Life of Andrew Jackson, for a chat about Jackson's image, personality, and his crusades against the National Bank and for the forced migration of Native Americans.

Find show notes, sources, and more at plodpod.com.

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How did James Madison go from being one of George Washington's best friends to someone Washington went to his grave despising? We look at the rise and fall of Washington and Madison's friendship, from their partnership to create the Constitution to their bitter breakup amidst the birth of America’s two-party system. Of all the rifts, rivalries, and betrayals that shaped the nation, this one might be the most personal.

After digging into Madison's ratlike behavior, we read some listener responses to Jess’s strong feelings about possums from our Billy Possum episode.

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We go on a bimetal-curious adventure over the rainbow to dig into the history of L. Frank Baum's American fairy tale The Wizard of Oz and its alleged connections to William Jennings Bryan and the Populist movement of the 1890s. Then, Howard talks with author Peter Shea about Bryan and other presidential candidates who never made it to the presidency—including Aaron Burr and John C. Calhoun—all featured in Shea's book "In The Arena: A History of American Presidential Hopefuls."

Special thanks to finance professional and friend of the pod Martin Smith for his insights on the appeal of the bimetallic standard.

Find show notes, sources, and more at plodpod.com

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Guest Bob Crawford tells us about his new podcast "Founding Son: John Quincy's America" and John Quincy Adams's epic post-presidential battle against the Southern slavocracy and the Gag Rule. Before that, we dig into JQA's battle with solar eclipses and cover some exciting updates about JQA and the mole people—a myth we first discussed in our Season 1 episode "John Quincy Adams vs. The Internet."

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Fearing the Teddy Bear was just a fad, some folks started looking for a successor toy. They settled on the Billy Possum. We dig into the birth of Billy Possum at a lavish Atlanta banquet for William Howard Taft in 1909, the innovative and disturbing promotional efforts of Susie W. Allgood to make Billy Possum happen, and the series of unfortunate events that led to the stuffed marsupial's downfall.

Show notes and more at plodpod.com

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Follow the Southern Gothic podcast at https://www.southerngothicmedia.com/follow

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We dig into the truth behind the chaotic 1902 Mississippi bear hunt that forever linked Teddy Roosevelt to a cute little bear and we explore the competing versions of the teddy bear's origin—and the clear winner. Then we look at the bizarre religious backlash against the teddy bear craze in 1907.

Show notes and sources at plodpod.com—special thanks to "Holt Collier: His Life, His Roosevelt Hunts, and the Origin of the Teddy Bear" by Minor Ferris Buchanan and "Margarete Steiff, Morris Michtom and Teddy Roosevelt - Hunting Down the Origin of 'Teddy Bear'" from the Early Sports and Pop Culture History Blog by Peter Jensen Brown

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Guest Tegan Kehoe—medical historian and author of the fascinating new book "Exploring American Healthcare Through 50 Historic Treasures"—joins Howard for an enlightening and personal discussion about George Washington's dentures, Vitamin D beer, the tragic story of the Kennedy baby, and our firsthand experiences with lifesaving advancements in preemie care. But first, Howard and Jess talk about a medical treatment gone wrong with Thomas Jefferson's nightmarish trip to Warm Springs, Virginia in 1818.

Show notes and sources at plodpod.com

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We dig into the stories behind Benjamin Franklin's notoriously naughty reputation on a quest to determine whether he was a flirt, a feminist, or the philandering father of dozens of children. And we dive into a letter of Franklin's that was considered too obscene to print until 150 years after his death.

Show notes and sources at plodpod.com

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It's a Thanksgiving supergroup of history podcasters when Howard joins Kenny Ryan of [Abridged] Presidential Histories, Alycia from Civics & Coffee, and Jerry Landry from Presidencies of the United States for a special Friendsgiving spectacular to talk about some of their favorite things.

Check them out:

[Abridged] Presidential Histories

Civics & Coffee

Presidencies of the United States

Consider joining our Patreon family at https://www.patreon.com/ploddingthroughthepresidents where you can view the unedited video version of the Friendsgiving chat!

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We delve into the reasons behind John Adams's intense loathing of Benjamin Franklin, from their time as strange bedfellows in the Second Continental Congress to their time in France as diplomats with wildly different methods and work ethics. Even long after Franklin's death, Adams held a grudge against the man he considered a phony, glory-stealing sloth.

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Key source: Evans, William B. “John Adams’ Opinion of Benjamin Franklin.” The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, vol. 92, no. 2, 1968, pp. 220–38. JSTOR

Check out the podcast The Internet Says It's True with Michael Kent.

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