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Pat Leahy is a giant of the US Senate...the first Democrat elected to the Senate from Vermont...the third longest serving Senator in US history...the Senate President Pro Tem...Chair of Appropriations, Agriculture, and Judiciary...and 8 terms in the US Senate. In this conversation, we talk his roots in small town Vermont, overcoming the state's deep Republican roots in a 1974 upset, entering the Senate in his mid 30s, and his favorite stories, lessons, and proudest moments from nearly 50 years in the US Senate.

IN THIS EPISODE

Growing up in small-town Montpelier with a love of reading...

How his service as District Attorney propelled his successful run for Senate in 1974 as the first Democrat to win a Vermont Senate seat...

Early days in the US Senate in his mid 30s...

How he won 8 terms in what was initially a very Republican state...

The interesting story behind his 1998 re-election, his first true landslide...

The most tense and high-stakes moments during his career in the Senate...

Passing anti-land mine legislation...

A day in the life of the Senate President Pro Tem...

How trust among Senators one late night saved lives during a mid 80s Capitol bombing...

Senator Leahy receives a tip he received from an "anonymous jogger" during the Iraq War debate...

When Vice President Dick Cheney swore at Senator Leahy on the Senate floor...

The Senator who gave the best Senate floor speeches...

The most effective Majority Leader he saw...

When his colleague Jim Jeffords switched parties and changed control of the Senate...

His views on the rise of Bernie Sanders as a national figure...

Why he didn't run for re-election in 2022...

How he received the Order of the British Empire designation...

His connection to the Batman character and appearing in several Batman films...

His status as the Senate's leading Grateful Dead Head...

The status of his wife Marcelle as his political secret weapon...

AND anatomical impossibilities, Howard Baker, James Baker, Leonid Brezhnev, Dale Bumpers, George H.W. Bush, Robert Byrd, George Clooney, DC Comics, designated survivors, Charles Dickens, John Durkin, Jim Eastland, Jerry Ford, Jerry Garcia, John Glenn, holy water, Hubert Humphrey, John F. Kennedy, Ted Kennedy, Heath Ledger, Mike Mansfield, Miranda Rights, Mitch McConnell, Bobby Muller, Christopher Nolan, Sam Nunn, Barack Obama, organic farming, Colin Powell, Quebec City, Hugh Scott, secret weapons, Alan Simpson, Bob Stafford, Ted Stevens, Robert Louis Stevenson, Fred Tuttle, Mark Twain, Vincent Van Gogh, Wayne Industries...& more!