Reframing America

Rutherford B. Hayes, James A. Garfield, and Chester A. Arthur: all Presidents who have been dubbed the "lost Americans." On the other hand, perhaps it was not the Presidents who were lost, but the American political establishment itself. Tony Rydberg and Ryan Rasmussen pick apart the events of 1877-1885, eight years that span these three presidencies. Despite being often overlooked, this era contributed a variety of drastic and irreversible changes to the American story, from America's most controversial election to the assassination of one of its presidents. Tony and Ryan retrace the battle lines that defined the era and determine who (if anyone) came out of the battle a winner.

How should history remember Ulysses S. Grant? As a general, was he a bloodthirsty butcher or a brilliant strategist? As president, was he a beacon of equality or a tyrannical dictator? Tony Rydberg and Ryan Rasmussen explore the best and the worst America's 18th president gave to his country.

The Civil War was over, but the fight had just begun. In the wake of President Lincoln's assassination, the reeling nation needed a steady hand and a unified government for guidance. Unfortunately, America got President Andrew Johnson instead. Tony Rydberg and Ryan Rasmussen sift through the rubble of Andrew Johnson's disastrous presidency, an administration that offered the nation its first impeachment, a no-holds-barred fight between the executive and legislative branches, and an enormous step backward on the path to racial justice.

From the rubble of the Civil War through World War I, Tony Rydberg and Ryan Rasmussen will dissect the history of America and figure out how were the true movers and shakers in American history. The first episode of season 3 will arrive on September 23!

Abraham Lincoln's face is universally recognizable, but do we really know him? His speeches are immortalized, but do we really understand his mind? On the Season 2 finale, Ryan Rasmussen and Tony Rydberg unpack the man, the myth, and the legend known as "Honest Abe" Lincoln. From his birth in a Kentucky log cabin to his assassination in Ford's Theatre, Ryan and Tony tackle the good, the bad, and the ugly of the Illinois Rail-splitter.

What events led to the Civil War? How could America's leaders have allowed things get so out of control? Tony Rydberg and Ryan Rasmussen explore 1853-1861, the eight years immediately preceding America's Civil War, to determine the cause of America's bloodiest crisis. How much blame can be attributed to Franklin Pierce and James Buchanan, two of America's most obscure presidents (and two of the worst)? Were they the cause, or was the country's course already so derailed that no engineer would have been able to steer us back onto the tracks?

Despite having next to nothing in common, Zachary Taylor and Millard Fillmore rose through the American political system to become President and Vice President in 1849. Upon Taylor's untimely death in 1850, Fillmore took the reins of power himself. Overseeing massive migration due to the California Gold Rush and trying to mitigate hostilities between Northern and Southern factions, Taylor and Fillmore rumble, bumble, and stumble their way through a four-year winter of American discontent. Tony Rydberg and Ryan Rasmussen explore this odd pair of presidents to see what good they did - if any at all.

In four short years, James K. Polk transformed the United States into a coast-to-coast behemoth. Through diplomacy, war, and relentlessness, Polk achieved every major agenda item he set out to accomplish, and yet somehow he has fallen short of the mythical status of other presidents -- even less accomplished ones. Tony Rydberg and Ryan Rasmussen explore the administration of James K. Polk, a president who, more than any other, embodies the American obsession with stretching itself from sea to shining sea: an obsession named "Manifest Destiny."

Just when America began to expect eight-year presidencies, the country stumbles from 1837 to 1845 with not one, not two, but three presidents. In quick succession, Martin Van Buren, William Henry Harrison, and John Tyler took their shot at the top spot -- and if you think they came out of it battered and bruised, you should see what they did with the nation.