With the Bark Off: Conversations on the American Presidency
When President Lyndon Baines Johnson dedicated his presidential library in 1971, he declared, "It's all here, the story of our time—with the bark off." Since then, in keeping with his vision, the LBJ Library has been a forum for the biggest names and best minds of our day to address the issues of our time. This season of With the Bark Off offers a critical examination of the 45 men who have led our nation and the evolution of America’s highest office. Preeminent historians and authors take us behind-the-scenes and share revealing insights on presidents from George Washington to Joe Biden. With the Bark Off is a production of the LBJ Foundation and each biweekly episode will be hosted by Mark A. Lawrence, Director of the LBJ Presidential Library, author, and prominent scholar on American politics and foreign policy; or Mark K. Updegrove, President and CEO of the LBJ Foundation, author, and ABC News presidential historian.
Show episodes
New York Times bestselling author A.J. Baime joined us to discuss the famous outcome of the election of 1948. Baime is the author of The Accidental President: Harry S. Truman and the Four Months that Changed the World (2017), The Arsenal of Democracy: FDR, Detroit, and an Epic Quest to Arm an America at War (2014), Go
Last month, Mark Updegrove moderated a discussion at the Baker Institute for Public Policy, at Rice University, entitled "A presidential election with legal issues like no other." There, he interviewed two legal experts about the legal challenges faced by the GOP's leading presidential candidate, former President Donal
Robert Gates served in public life for over 50 years. He began his career as an entry-level CIA analyst and would rise the ranks to become director of the agency from 1991-93. In 2006, he was named Secretary of Defense by President George W. Bush as our nation waged war in Afghanistan and Iraq. He would retain the posi
Heather Cox Richardson is professor of history at Boston College, and author of six major books about US history in the 19th Century. Among her best-known works are To Make Men Free: A History of the Republican Party, and How the South Won the Civil War: Oligarchy, Democracy and the Continuing Fight for the Soul of Ame
Jake Tapper is the chief Washington anchor for CNN, whose shows “The Lead with Jake Tapper” and “State of the Union” are fixtures of broadcast news. Tapper has been covering politics in Washington for over 25 years--from the Clinton Administration through the Biden Administration. He’s also a best-selling author of fi
"He becomes a genuine believer" A conversation about Abraham Lincoln with Josh Zeitz
President Lincoln is perhaps the most analyzed and studied of all America's 46 presidents, the subject of numerous outstanding biographies. Yet some aspects of his life remain difficult to fathom, not least his religious views. In his new book, Lincoln's God, Josh Zeitz teases out Lincoln's complicated religious outloo