Elected While In A Coma (1980)

We continue our conversation about the start of the Civil War with why Fort Sumter was the site of the first battle, and how the fallout from Fort Sumter galvinized both North and South.Join our America250 newsletter community! Subscribe for free to get the latest news and analys ...  Show more

For the fifteenth installment of “50 Weeks That Shaped America” we go to the end of 1860 and the first months of 1861. Lincoln's election made it inevitable that Northern and Southern states would have a showdown over slavery. Despite last-ditch attempts to avert war, tensions mo ...  Show more

President Biden is the oldest U.S. president ever at 80. Donald Trump is 77. Congress is as old as it has ever been. How did we get here and how does it shape our politics?This episode: voting correspondent Miles Parks, political correspondent Kelsey Snell, and senior political e ...  Show more

What can we expect from the 2024 Conventions? Heather and Joanne look at the role of political conventions in American life, from the “King Caucus” era of the early 1800s, to President Lincoln’s ascendance at the 1860 RNC, to the impact of the 1968 DNC on the political process. H ...  Show more

This week David, Helen and our producer Catherine Carr look back at five years of podcasting and five years of crazy politics, to pick our favourite moments and to discuss what we've learned. From the 2015 general election to the current crisis, via the Corn Laws and Crashed, the ...  Show more

We’re finishing off 2021 with what is perhaps Julius Caesar’s greatest legacy. It’s not a military victory or battle, but one of the many political reforms that truly has stood the test of time: the Julian calendar. Before, calendars were largely based on the lunar calendar, a ...