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On July 4th, we celebrate American Independence. But, as Ben argues in his new intro to this episode, the real gift of the founding generation was more than that: it's the inheritance of the revolution. George Washington is one of the most revered figures in American history. As Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army, Washington led his troops to one of the most unlikely and world-shaking victories in modern history, and his selection as President of both the Constitutional Convention and the new government designed that summer in Philadelphia, demonstrate the unmatched faith that the founders had in General Washington. Today, however, we tend to remember Washington more for the jobs he held than for the personal qualities that made him a remarkable member of the founding generation, but the wisdom left to us by our first President in his farewell address is perhaps more relevant today than ever before. In this episode of The Road to Now we explain why in our discussion with Daily Beast editor-in-chief John Avlon about his book Washington's Farewell: The Founding Father's Warning to Future Generations. Our conversation with John Avlon originally aired as RTN #48 which originally aired on March 13, 2017. This episode includes an updated intro reflecting on the American Revolution by Ben Sawyer, recorded July 1, 2024. This episode was edited by Ben Sawyer.
Email Us:dbahnsen@thebahnsengroup.comwill@calpolicycenter.orgFollow Us:@DavidBahnsen@WillSwaim@TheRadioFreeCAShow NotesWalter Russell Mead, Washington's Farewell: The Founding Father's Warning to Future GenerationsDavid L. Bahnsen, Full-Time: Work and the Meaning of Life
To kick off season three, The Bully Pulpit, we are starting with an episode on what we are affectionally calling The Big Speeches™. Moments when the president has used his unparalleled microphone and those words have left a major imprint on history. We start where it all began, with George Washington. In September 1796, Washington printed an address to the American people and announced he would not seek a third term. Not only did Washington buck almost all political precedent, he also gave warnings and guidance to future generations.Seventy years later, Abraham Lincoln took the oath of office for his second term and delivered a remarkable inaugural address. As the Civil War drew to a close, Lincoln mapped out his vision for the post-war United States and how to win the fight for peace. Finally, the summer of 1979 was, as Jimmy Carter's domestic policy advisor described it, the worst of times. There was an energy shortage, rampant inflation, and widespread unrest. But President Jimmy Carter took to the podium to address something much bigger than a gas shortage — a moral crisis in American life. We have two excellent guests joining us today. John Avlon is senior political analyst and fill-in anchor at CNN, appearing on New Day every morning. He is also the author of two books about our topic for today, Washington's Farewell: The Founding Father's Warning to Future Generations and Lincoln and the Fight for Peace.Dr. Meg Jacobs is a Research Scholar in the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs. She is the author of Panic at the Pump: The Energy Crisis and The Transformation of American Politics in the 1970s, Pocketbook Politics: Economic Citizenship in Twentieth-Century America, and Conservatives in Power: The Reagan Years, 1981-1989.
"Lincoln's prescription was unconditional surrender followed by a magnanimous peace. He combined strength with mercy, and understood if you don't win the peace, you don't really win the war." John Avlon joins the podcast, new book in hand, called Lincoln and the Fight for Peace. What is required for real leadership? Lincoln possessed a unique blend of strength, mercy, and magnanimity. What happened between the end of the Civil War and Lincoln's death? What did Lincoln do and plan that was so crucial to find a lasting peace? Who was the man and what was his character? As we look towards history as our guide in a polarized and divided modern day America, what can Abraham Lincoln teach us today? While we all may wish for a modern day Lincoln, we know there isn't. So can we use his spirit and his wisdom to guide us to better times? If you like what we do, please support the show. By making a one-time or recurring donation, you will contribute to us being able to present the highest quality substantive, long-form interviews with the world's most compelling people. John Avlon is senior political analyst and fill-in anchor at CNN, appearing on New Day every morning. Previously, he was the editor-in-chief and managing director of The Daily Beast between 2013 and 2018, during which time the site's traffic more than doubled to over one million readers a day while winning 17 journalism awards. He is the author of the books Independent Nation: How Centrists Can Change American Politics, Wingnuts: How the Lunatic Fringe is Hijacking America, and Washington's Farewell: The Founding Father's Warning to Future Generations as well as co-editor of the acclaimed Deadline Artists anthologies of America's greatest newspaper columns. In his twenties, Avlon served as chief speechwriter to New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. After the attacks of September 11th, 2001, he and his team were responsible for writing the eulogies for all firefighters and police officers murdered in the destruction of the World Trade Center. Avlon's essay on the attacks, "The Resilient City" concluded the anthology Empire City: New York through the Centuries and won acclaim as "the single best essay written in the wake of 9/11." He's appeared on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Real Time with Bill Maher and The Daily Show. He won the National Society of Newspaper Columnists award for best online columnist 2012. He lives with his wife Margaret Hoover, host of Firing Line on PBS and a CNN contributor, and their two children in New York.
This week, for our first episode after the birthday of Abraham Lincoln, I chat with author and CNN senior political analyst John Avlon about Lincoln's underappreciated plan for post-Civil War peace--and how we can apply its lessons today. Avlon's new book, Lincoln and the Fight for Peace, explores both how Lincoln's character fostered his vision for achieving a just and secure peace after the Civil War and how Lincoln's plans informed future peacemakers.We spoke about popular applied history and why it matters, Lincoln's qualities and their application to issues of war and peace, Andrew Johnson's disastrous turn away from Lincoln's plan for Reconstruction and its effects, and the influence of Lincoln's peace vision on everyone from Woodrow Wilson to Lucius Clay to Douglas MacArthur.Chatter is a production of Lawfare and Goat Rodeo. This episode was produced and edited by Cara Shillenn of Goat Rodeo with engineering assistance from Ian Enright. Podcast theme by David Priess, featuring music created using Groovepad.Among the works cited in this episode:Lincoln and the Fight for Peace by John AvlonWashington's Farewell: The Founding Father's Warning to Future Generations by John AvlonCNN's Reality Check with John AvlonLincoln's Code: The Laws of War in American History by John Fabian Witt Lincoln by David Herbert DonaldAbraham Lincoln, A Life (two volumes) by Michael Burlingame9/11 Memorialization with Marita Sturken, Chatter Podcast, January 25, 2022Wingnuts: Extremism in the Age of Obama by John AvlonAccidental Presidents: Eight Men Who Changed America by Jared Cohen Our GDPR privacy policy was updated on August 8, 2022. Visit acast.com/privacy for more information.
Steve talks with journalist and political commentator John Avlon, author of Washington’s Farewell: The Founding Father’s Warning to Future Generations.
Steve talks with journalist and political commentator John Avlon, author of Washington’s Farewell: The Founding Father’s Warning to Future Generations.
This episode is a reair of RTN #48 (with an updated intro). George Washington is one of the most revered figures in American history. As Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army, Washington led his troops to one of the most unlikely and world-shaking victories in modern history, and his selection as President of both the Constitutional Convention and the new government designed that summer in Philadelphia, demonstrate the unmatched faith that the founders had in General Washington. Today, however, we tend to remember Washington more for the positions he held than for the personal qualities that made him a peerless member of the founding generation, but the wisdom left to us by our first President in his farewell address is perhaps more relevant today than ever before. In this episode of The Road to Now we explain why in our discussion with Daily Beast editor-in-chief John Avlon about his book Washington's Farewell: The Founding Father's Warning to Future Generations.
Author John Avlon talks about his book, Washington's Farewell: The Founding Father's Warning to Future Generations. (Originally broadcast in January of 2018.)
January 30, 2017: Daily Beast Editor John Avlon came to the Nixon Library to talk the vision of America’s first president, the topic of his new book, Washington’s Farewell: The Founding Father’s Warning to Future Generations.
John Avlon talks about his book, Washington's Farewell: The Founding Father's Warning to Future Generations.
John Avlon, editor-in-chief of The Daily Beast, discusses the first president’s momentous and prescient farewell address to the nation and how the address could help reunite America through the lessons rooted in Washington’s experience as described in his new book, Washington’s Farewell: The Founding Father’s Warning to Future Generations. Michael Gerhardt, scholar-in-residence at the National Constitution Center, moderates. the discussion.
John Avlon, editor-in-chief of The Daily Beast, discusses the first president’s momentous and prescient farewell address to the nation and how the address could help reunite America through the lessons rooted in Washington’s experience as described in his new book, Washington’s Farewell: The Founding Father’s Warning to Future Generations. Michael Gerhardt, scholar-in-residence at the National Constitution Center, moderates. the discussion.
John Avlon is is Editor-in-Chief and Managing Director of the Daily Beast and is a CNN political analyst. His book "Wingnuts: How the Lunatic Fringe is Hijacking America" was praised by President Bill Clinton as providing a "clear and comprehensive review of the forces on the outer edges of the political spectrum that shape and distort our political debate." Mr. Avlon discussed his newest book "Washington's Farewell: The Founding Father's Warning to Future Generations" at a Ford Evening Book Talk on February 1, 2017.
Nikolai DiPippa, Clinton School Director of Public Programs, sat down with John Avlon, the Editor-in-Chief and managing director of The Daily Beast and a CNN political analyst. He discusses his book Washington’s Farewell: The Founding Father’s Warning to Future Generations, which describes George Washington’s prophetic letter to his fellow citizens about the forces he feared could destroy our democracy: hyper-partisanship, excessive debt, and foreign wars. Avlon offers a portrait of our first president and his battle to save America from self-destruction.
John Avlon, Editor-in-Chief of The Daily Beast, comes on the podcast to talk about his new book Washington’s Farewell: The Founding Father’s Warning to Future Generations. He’ll discuss the origins of George Washington’s Farewell Address and why he describes it as the most famous speech you’ve never read. He’ll reveal some of the other founding fathers worked as ghost writers on the address, discuss how Washington’s Farewell Address influenced President Eisenhower’s famous Farewell Address, and how it was even misused as a rallying cry for one pro-Nazi organization at the start of World War II. Plus John Avlon debunks the phrase most famously associated with the Farewell Address and shares the dire warning that President Trump and Congress ignore at their peril. If you enjoyed today’s episode then you can order his book Washington’s Farewell: The Founding Father’s Warning to Future Generations on Amazon or you can download the audio version for free through a special offer for our listeners at www.audibletrial.com/kickassnews. Follow John Avlon on twitter at @JohnAvlon or at www.johnavlon.com. You can also read many of John Avlon’s articles and other good stuff covering politics and culture at www.thedailybeast.com. Today's podcast is sponsored by Decode DC, the podcast that gives you an honest look into how politics affects your life. I've been a fan of Decode DC since been before they become a sponsor so I highly recommend checking them out. Subscribe to Decode DC on iTunes, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Please subscribe to Kickass News on iTunes and take a moment to take our listener survey at www.podsurvey.com/KICK. And support the show by donating at www.gofundme.com/kickassnews. Visit www.kickassnews.com for more fun stuff.