Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Hey Guys I'm Meghan and you're watching Bulldog Bites!
I'm here today with history instructor Bruce Allardice, welcome to the
show!
So how long have you been teaching American history classes?
About nine years now. Long time.
Now in your time instructing
how has the office the Presidency changed? Glad you asked that!
One of the things I've really noticed is,
how the Presidency has grown and become more what I say as Imperial,
I explain this in my classroom,
the political pundit Marc Stein has flown
with the King and Queen of England
and he says the King and Queen of England fly coach
and they have like a two-car entourage when they go somewhere but
with the presidency today the president his own
Air Force One, they have a motorcade that literally stretches for a half-mile
sometimes up to a
130 auto mobiles flown in, and it's sort of interesting that we have our
democratically elected government they seem to be a little bit more
royal than the King and Queen of England are. A lot of changes.
Now we celebrate Washington and Lincoln's birthday in February,
can you tell us any other interesting facts about either of those presidents? One of the interesting
things is that President's Day never falls
on either Washington's Birthday or Lincoln's Birthday.
The origin was, it was supposed to be
Washington's Birthday they wanted include Lincoln in, there were too
many federal holidays so they decided to
pass a law to sort of have a universal presidents holiday.
but it won't fall on any of their birthdays.
Very interesting. Washington was an interesting fellow
I like to bring this out in my classes, one of the interesting things was that
after he left the presidency he became the biggest
whiskey distiller in the country. I did not know that. The
distillery he made basically from products on his estate,
sold whiskey to the local farmers in Northern Virginia and you can
that the whiskey distillery has been restored, and today you can still
order George Washington whiskey from the Mount Vernon Distillery.
What President would peak your personal interests and why?
To me the most interesting president is Teddy Roosevelt
he may not be the best president, to me is the most interesting because, this is a
man who
was distinguished in so many fields.
he would have been in the history books even if he hadn't been a politician.
He was a police chief, he was a cowboy, he was a serious historian, he was explorer
an ornithologist, a war hero,
could speak six languages, big game hunter
he would right serious scientific articles in his spare time in the White
House.
One historian Richard Brookhiser said of Teddy Roosevelt,
he had such a personality that he would suck the
air out of any room he was in just by his presence
and is intellectual energy, to me that's the most interesting
person ever to become President. Another President I think is
very interesting on a different level is Calvin Coolidge,
he was known as 'silent Cal' because he never talked too much,
he says his motto was "you can't get into trouble
for what you don't say" but he was a guy
who was the, he rejected that the imperial presidency
and one great story is when he, Coolidge at night he might want to get a sandwich,
he didn't call down wake up the White House staff, the chefs there to make him
a sandwich, he would go down
and get the mayonnaise out, or cold cuts and bread and make this
own sandwiches, and then spend half an hour talking with whoever was down there at
the time. Well thanks, that's great information, thanks for coming on the
show today
for Bulldog Bites, I'm Meghan and we'll see you guys next time!