Podcast appearances and mentions of David E Kaiser

There are some topics that historians know not to touch. They are just too hot (or too cold). The assassination of JFK is one of them. Most scholars would say either: (a) the topic has been done to death so nothing new can be said or (b) it's been so thoroughly co-opted by nutty theorists that no sane discussion is possible. Thank goodness David Kaiser believes neither of these things, for if he did we would never have his thought-provoking The Road to Dallas. The Assassination of John F. Kennedy (Harvard UP, 2008). Taking a professional historian's skills to documents old and new, Kaiser provides what is doubtless the best argument available that the assassination was in fact a conspiracy, though not the one you may know from a certain movie by Oliver Stone. He weighs each piece of evidence and builds his case point by point. Conclusions are never forced but follow naturally from the record. Not everyone will agree with Kaiser's position, but it must be taken seriously by anyone interested in the topic. Kaiser has thrown down the gauntlet to those who believe Oswald acted alone. Now it is for other historians to take it up. PS: Read David's blog “History Unfolding.” Please become a fan of “New Books in History” on Facebook if you haven't already. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

David E. Kaiser is a historian and author whose published works have covered a broad range of topics, David is the author of "The Road to Dallas" about the Kennedy assassination,. The book accepts the Warren Commission's finding that Lee Harvey Oswald was the lone gunman, but posits that he was an opponent of Castro used by mafia leaders who wanted Kennedy and Castro dead. David joins me once again to discuss the Silvia Odio incident and other various mob activities in the time of JFK's assassination. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/out-of-the-blank/support

David E. Kaiser is a historian and author whose published works have covered a broad range of topics, from European warfare to American League baseball. He was a Professor in the Strategy and Policy Department of the United States Naval War College from 1990 until 2012 and has taught at Carnegie Mellon, Williams College, and Harvard University. David is the author of "The Road to Dallas" about the Kennedy assassination, was published by Harvard University Press in 2008. The book accepts the Warren Commission's finding that Lee Harvey Oswald was the lone gunman, but posits that he was an opponent of Castro used by mafia leaders who wanted Kennedy and Castro dead. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/out-of-the-blank-podcast/support

In this episode of The Glenn Show, I’m talking to David E. Kaiser, author of many books about American and international political history. As a distinguished professional historian, David has seen many changes in the way history is written both inside and outside the academy, not all of them for the better. In this conversation, David talks about why Ta-Nehisi Coates’s highly influential 2014 essay “The Case for Reparations” and the view of race and American history it represents leaves out many crucial facts about how we came to be where we are.We begin in a slightly counterintuitive place, with a discussion of how many historians’ views of the Cold War changed after Vietnam. In David’s telling, it became more and more common to see historians placing blame for escalating hostilities on the U.S.’s foreign policy rather than the U.S.S.R.’s. David sees a similar sort of revisionism at work in contemporary historians’ perspectives on the New Deal, which is now sometimes described as a purposefully racially discriminatory enterprise. David pushes back against this interpretation, pointing to the South’s pursuit of industry and cheap labor as a better explanation for the New Deal’s flaws than racial animus. We also discuss statistics indicating that, while blacks did earn significantly less money than whites, the years after World War II saw tremendous economic growth in black communities. And, while redlining policies certainly did have a negative impact on the ability of blacks to acquire wealth, those policies alone only tell part of the black economic story. Finally, David ends our discussion by reading from a fascinating 1940 editorial in the black newspaper the Chicago Defender that endorses FDR for a third term. I truly enjoyed this conversation, and I hope you will as well! A New Home for TGSThe video for this episode is hosted on my own new YouTube channel, which is now the home of The Glenn Show. I invite you to subscribe to this channel (and click the bell button!) now so that you don't miss future offerings. This newsletter will continue to publish as usual with the same benefits for subscribers.0:00 Intro 2:35 The post-Vietnam reevaluation of the Cold War 13:12 David: Academic historians largely have abandoned the idea of objective truth 18:23 Were black people really excluded from the New Deal? 32:06 The fortunes of black veterans after WWII 40:19 Why redlining doesn't tell the whole story about the racial wealth gap 49:49 Why the Chicago Defender endorsed FDR in 1940Links and ReadingsDavid’s memoir, A Life in HistoryDavid’s book, No End Save Victory: How FDR Led the Nation into WarDavid’s book, American Tragedy: Kennedy, Johnson, and the Origins of the Vietnam WarGlenn’s conversation with Daniel Bessner, “American Empire before and after 9/11”Ira Katznelson’s book, When Affirmative Action Was White: An Untold History of Racial Inequality in AmericaTa-Nehisi Coates’s essay, “The Case for Reparations”The Chicago Fed’s paper, “The Effects of the 1930s HOLC ‘Redlining’ Maps”Andrew Fenton’s article, “WTF happened in 1971 (and why the f**k it matters so much right now)” This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at glennloury.substack.com/subscribe

For this week’s episode of The Glenn Show, we’ve upped our production game a little. In late August, John McWhorter and I met up for an all-too-rare in-person conversation in Manhattan, and the filmmaker Rob Montz and his crew were on hand to record it. It was wonderful to be able sit face-to-face with John, and Rob did a wonderful job capturing the energy in the room. It wouldn’t have been possible to pull all of this together without the support of the subscribers here: Thank you! We’re hoping to create more special content like this in the future, so your contributions are greatly appreciated. John and I begin by discussing his gig writing for the New York Times, in particular a recent piece about Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer’s Blues Opera. It’s never been produced, and John is assisting in trying to usher it to the stage. We move from the blues to matters that are just plain blue: The word “motherfucker,” which began as black vernacular and has since been absorbed into the English language at large. This naturally leads us to talk about the treatment of sex and money in the TV show Billions. From there we move to more serious matters: The New York City mayor’s race. John is not a fan of the probable winner, Eric Adams, and I press him as to why. We get into it over the squandered opportunities of the Obama years, and we really get into it over Al Sharpton. John is ready to forgive him for the deplorable behavior that defined the first half of his career, and I’m not. And finally, we look at the Jacob Blake shooting a year after the fact. What do we know now that we didn’t know then?We had a lot of fun doing this one, and I hope you have just as much watching it. Let me know what you think here or on Discord.Next week I’ll be posting a conversation with historian David E. Kaiser about the role of “racial justice” in the politicization of historical studies. If you’d like a preview, you can find a previous conversation of ours here. A New Home for TGSThe video for this episode is hosted on my own new YouTube channel, which is now the home of The Glenn Show. I invite you to subscribe to this channel (and click the bell button!) now so that you don't miss future offerings. This newsletter will continue to publish as usual with the same benefits for subscribers.This post is free and available to the public. To receive early access to TGS episodes, Q&As, and other exclusive content and benefits, click below.0:00 Some posh new (temporary) digs for The Glenn Show 1:08 The challenges and liberties of John's New York Times gig 5:24 John's efforts to help mount an unproduced black opera 14:45 The deracialization of “motherfucker” 16:58 The erotics and economics of Billions 20:58 Why John didn't support Eric Adams for NYC mayor 31:04 What undermined the potential of the Obama years? 43:22 Can Glenn ever forgive Al Sharpton? 55:16 Will Eric Adams be able to operate effectively as mayor?59:58 The Jacob Blake shooting, a year laterLinks and ReadingsJohn's NY Times piece, "How 'Woke' Became an Insult"John's NY Times piece, "Can White Men Write a Black Opera?"John's book, Nine Nasty Words: English in the Gutter: Then, Now, and Forever This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at glennloury.substack.com/subscribe

The Impossible Presidency author Jeremi Suri joins No End Save Victory author David E. Kaiser along with the eminent economist James K. Galbraith and KUT’s Rebecca McInroy to talk about the history of the presidency from Washington to Trump, and what’s next for the role of the leader of our democracy.

The Impossible Presidency author Jeremi Suri joins No End Save Victory author David E. Kaiser along with the eminent economist James K. Galbraith and KUT’s Rebecca McInroy to talk about the history of the presidency from Washington to Trump, and what’s next for the role of the leader of our democracy.

There are some topics that historians know not to touch. They are just too hot (or too cold). The assassination of JFK is one of them. Most scholars would say either: (a) the topic has been done to death so nothing new can be said or (b) it’s been so thoroughly co-opted by nutty theorists that no sane discussion is possible. Thank goodness David Kaiser believes neither of these things, for if he did we would never have his thought-provoking The Road to Dallas. The Assassination of John F. Kennedy (Harvard UP, 2008). Taking a professional historian’s skills to documents old and new, Kaiser provides what is doubtless the best argument available that the assassination was in fact a conspiracy, though not the one you may know from a certain movie by Oliver Stone. He weighs each piece of evidence and builds his case point by point. Conclusions are never forced but follow naturally from the record. Not everyone will agree with Kaiser’s position, but it must be taken seriously by anyone interested in the topic. Kaiser has thrown down the gauntlet to those who believe Oswald acted alone. Now it is for other historians to take it up. PS: Read David’s blog “History Unfolding.” Please become a fan of “New Books in History” on Facebook if you haven’t already. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There are some topics that historians know not to touch. They are just too hot (or too cold). The assassination of JFK is one of them. Most scholars would say either: (a) the topic has been done to death so nothing new can be said or (b) it’s been so thoroughly co-opted by nutty theorists that no sane discussion is possible. Thank goodness David Kaiser believes neither of these things, for if he did we would never have his thought-provoking The Road to Dallas. The Assassination of John F. Kennedy (Harvard UP, 2008). Taking a professional historian’s skills to documents old and new, Kaiser provides what is doubtless the best argument available that the assassination was in fact a conspiracy, though not the one you may know from a certain movie by Oliver Stone. He weighs each piece of evidence and builds his case point by point. Conclusions are never forced but follow naturally from the record. Not everyone will agree with Kaiser’s position, but it must be taken seriously by anyone interested in the topic. Kaiser has thrown down the gauntlet to those who believe Oswald acted alone. Now it is for other historians to take it up. PS: Read David’s blog “History Unfolding.” Please become a fan of “New Books in History” on Facebook if you haven’t already. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There are some topics that historians know not to touch. They are just too hot (or too cold). The assassination of JFK is one of them. Most scholars would say either: (a) the topic has been done to death so nothing new can be said or (b) it’s been so thoroughly co-opted by nutty theorists that no sane discussion is possible. Thank goodness David Kaiser believes neither of these things, for if he did we would never have his thought-provoking The Road to Dallas. The Assassination of John F. Kennedy (Harvard UP, 2008). Taking a professional historian’s skills to documents old and new, Kaiser provides what is doubtless the best argument available that the assassination was in fact a conspiracy, though not the one you may know from a certain movie by Oliver Stone. He weighs each piece of evidence and builds his case point by point. Conclusions are never forced but follow naturally from the record. Not everyone will agree with Kaiser’s position, but it must be taken seriously by anyone interested in the topic. Kaiser has thrown down the gauntlet to those who believe Oswald acted alone. Now it is for other historians to take it up. PS: Read David’s blog “History Unfolding.” Please become a fan of “New Books in History” on Facebook if you haven’t already. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices