Showing results for "legends" in Presidents & Heads of State

Fidel Castro is one of the most influential and controversial men of the last 50 years, equally revered and reviled by people across the globe. To the West, Castro has long been one of the prominent faces of Communism, and the main reason Cuba has been ostracized by many liberal democracies, particularly the United States. On the other hand, Castro has been admired by those who despised capitalism, and despite the fact the political platform Castro advocated has been almost universally repudiated and only maintains a weak hold even in Cuba.

Leading Athens for upwards of 40 years between the Second Persian War and the Peloponnesian War, Pericles has become an idealized figure over the last millennia, but he was a polarizing figure among his contemporaries. According to some, he was an honest and upstanding politician, while for others he was the lowest kind of demagogue. They thought he was a political opportunist whose ability to wriggle free of criticism was best summed up by the typically pithy comment of his rival Thucydides.

Reagan's name is still relevant in American politics today, with every politician with an R next to his or her name trying to claim Ronald Reagan's conservative mantle. In the Republican presidential nomination debates in 2011, Reagan's name was invoked an average of over five times per debate, more than every other president combined. Meanwhile, Americans of all stripes continue to debate the merits of "Reaganomics" more than 30 years after Reagan was elected.

A lot of ink has been spilled covering the lives of history's most influential figures, but how much of the forest is lost for the trees? In Charles River Editors' American Legends series, listeners can get caught up to speed on the lives of America's most important men and women in the time it takes to finish a commute, while learning interesting facts long forgotten or never known.

Long considered the Democratic Party's greatest spokesman and surrogate, Clinton's presidency was defined by centrist "triangulation." And though he is still publicly popular and considered a great president, Clinton became just the second president to be impeached in the House of Representatives. Regardless of what Americans think of him, one thing Clinton does represent is the American Dream. Born to a single mother in Hope, Arkansas, Clinton used his ambition, hard work, and intelligence.

For a man who grew up to become the "Bull Moose", Theodore Roosevelt was a sickly child, suffering from asthma and other maladies. But his physical weakness actually drove him to be more active, which also fostered an interest in nature. It also helped that Teddy's family was wealthy, allowing him privileges including home school and the ability to attend Harvard, where he was an athlete and took an interest in naval affairs. After finishing at Harvard, Teddy entered politics.

From the beginning, Americans debated how their national government should govern, balancing powers between the federal government and the states. Nobody spent more time in the thick of these debates than Thomas Jefferson, one of the most famous and revered Americans. Jefferson was instrumental in all of the aforementioned debates, authoring the Declaration of Independence, and overseeing the expansion of the United States during his presidency.

The United States of America has had many presidents that Americans agree were either great or awful while some fall into a mediocre category of irrelevance. In many cases a national consensus has been reached on men like Abraham Lincoln and James Buchanan. But the president with the most controversial legacy might be "Old Hickory", Andrew Jackson.

Every American is taught a pristine narrative of the life and legacy of George Washington and can easily recite the highlights of the "Father of Our Country". The remarkable Virginian led an under-resourced, rag-tag army to ultimate victory in the American Revolution before becoming the nation's first president, setting it on its path toward superpower status.

A lifelong statesman, James Madison was the youngest delegate at the Continental Congress from 1780-83, and at 36 he was one of the youngest men who headed to Philadelphia for the Constitutional Convention in 1787. Despite his age, he was the Convention's most influential thinker, and the man most responsible for the final draft of the US Constitution.

American Legends: The Life of Abraham Lincoln humanizes the leader who rose from humble roots to the highest office in the land, discussing lesser-known facts about Lincoln while tracking his rise, his monumental presidency, and his legacy. You will learn about Lincoln like you never have before, in no time at all.

Among America's presidents, Harry Truman's presidency produced some of the nation's most crucial decisions and left one of the nation's most unique legacies. When President Franklin Roosevelt died in April 1945, Vice President Truman, somewhat unprepared for the Presidency, now had to fill some of the biggest shoes in American history.

John Adams was one of his country's seminal Founding Fathers and one of its most experienced, distinguished diplomats and politicians. Few men in American history have a record anywhere near comparable, but one of them happened to be Adams's own son, John Quincy Adams. And yet, few Americans are familiar with him aside from the fact that he was his father's son and the sixth president of the United States.

A lot of ink has been spilled covering the lives of history's most influential figures, but how much of the forest is lost for the trees? In Charles River Editors' Russian Legends series, listeners can get caught up to speed on the lives of Russia's most important men and women in the time it takes to finish a commute, while learning interesting facts long forgotten or never known.

In the 19th century, one of the surest ways to rise to prominence in American society was to be a war hero, like Andrew Jackson and William Henry Harrison. But few would have predicted such a destiny for Hiram Ulysses Grant, who had been a career soldier with little experience in combat and a failed businessman when the Civil War broke out in 1861.

Few have had a political career that can even come close to rivaling Lyndon B. Johnson. Johnson is one of only four Americans to serve as a House Rep, US Senator, Vice President and President, and he made the most out of each experience. The hard-nosed Texas Democrat became one of the legendary strongmen in the Senate, mastering that political body from 1949-1961 and spending six years as Senate Majority Leader, two as Senate Minority Leader, and two as Senate Majority Whip.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt might be America's greatest 20th century president, but there's no question that he was the most unique. A well-connected relative of Theodore Roosevelt, FDR was groomed for greatness until he was struck down by polio. Nevertheless, he persevered, rising through New York politics to reach the White House just as the country faced its greatest challenge since the Civil War, beginning his presidency with one of the most iconic lines ever spoken during an inaugural address.

During the middle of the 20th century, the United States completed its transformation into one of the world's superpowers. Few were as instrumental in this development as Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1969), renowned for being the nation's principal commanding general during World War II and the president who served during the early, tumultuous Cold War years.

Was he "the greatest human being ever to occupy 10 Downing Street"? Or a man whose "brilliant but unsound judgement resulted in detrimental consequences for Britain and for the world"? Nearly 50 years after his death, debate still rages over Sir Winston Churchill's contribution to history. Indeed, now that wartime nostalgia has mostly washed away, in Britain in particular the views on Churchill are more divergent than ever.

Sir Winston Churchill is often cited as Britain's greatest prime minister for leading the United Kingdom against Hitler's Nazi war machine during World War II, and indeed he was the idol of the one person who many think might have surpassed him: Margaret Thatcher. Thatcher not only became Britain's first female prime minister; she also became its longest serving prime minister.