Monthly Archives: July 2017

One Year Anniversary Special Episode



Fourth of July at the Washington Monument, 1986, by SSGT Lono Kollars, courtesy of Wikipedia

In honor of my one year anniversary of podcasting, I did this special episode to run simultaneously on the Presidencies of the United States to share a little bit about how I got started podcasting, some information about our audience, and a chance for you to be entered into a drawing for a gift card to Powell’s Books.

The survey mentioned in the episode can be found at https://goo.gl/forms/AKCJOi0LEOCXv1ce2, but you must complete it as instructed by July 31st and leave your name and email address to be entered into the drawing. Please note: If you haven’t already, I do ask that you listen to at least one episode of either podcast (and this one doesn’t count) before participating in the drawing so that you can give feedback to help make the podcasts better as we go into year two. Thanks so much in advance!


038 – Source Notes



Albert Gallatin [c. 1848], courtesy of Wikipedia
Audio editing for this episode done by Andrew Pfannkuche

  • Burton, Theodore E. “Henry Clay Secretary of State March 7, 1825, to March 3, 1829.” The American Secretaries of State and Their Diplomacy, Volume III and Volume IV. Samuel Flagg Bemis, ed. New York: Pageant Book Co, 1958. pp. 115-158.
  • Dungan, Nicholas. Gallatin: America’s Swiss Founding Father. New York and London: New York University Press, 2010.
  • Graebner, Norman A, and George C Herring. “Henry Clay, Realist.” The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society. 107:4 (Autumn 2009) 551-576.
  • Hargreaves, Mary W M. The Presidency of John Quincy Adams. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 1985.
  • Nagel, Paul C. John Quincy Adams: A Public Life, a Private Life. New York: Alfred A Knopf, 1997.
  • Register of Debates in Congress, Volume I: Comprising the Leading Debates and Incidents of the Second Session of the Eighteenth Congress Together with an Appendix, Containing the Most Important State Papers and Public Documents to Which the Session Has Given Birth, to Which are Added, the Laws Enacted During the Session With a Copious Index to the Whole. Washington: Gales & Seaton, 1825. https://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llrd&fileName=001/llrd001.db&recNum=373 [Last Accessed: 17 Jun 2017]
  • Remini, Robert V. Henry Clay: Statesman for the Union. New York: W W Norton & Co, 1991.
  • White, Leonard D. The Jeffersonians: A Study in Administrative History, 1801-1829. New York: Macmillan Co, 1956.

038 – The Nation’s Chief Diplomat



The State Department Building, c. 1865, courtesy of Wikipedia

Henry Clay takes over the State Department and finds he has big shoes to fill coming in after John Quincy Adams. As he assumes his duties, he is forced to deal with personal tragedy, poor health, and difficult diplomatic negotiations. Though scoring some wins abroad as new treaties are entered into, Clay only meets with frustration when dealing with the British and with folks back home in Kentucky. Listen in as we discuss the period of Clay’s life that one historian calls “the least congenial period of his whole official life.” Source information for this episode can be found at http://whhpodcast.blubrry.com.