The Last Best Hope? Podcast
1) The Federalism Episode
Dividing power between the Federal government and the states may have seemed a good idea in theory to the founding fathers but in practice it's led to confusion and conflict. Donald Trump claims ...Show More
2) Why the Gettysburg Address Matters, Part 2
It is one of the most famous speeches in the English language and one of the most consequential. In this special two-part documentary, we explore Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address – why he gave it,...Show More
3) Why the Gettysburg Address Matters, Part 1
It is one of the most famous speeches in the English language and one of the most consequential. In this special two-part documentary, we explore Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address – why he gave it,...Show More
4) How Will History Judge Joe Biden?
A year on, what does Trump’s comeback say about Biden’s understanding of the country he led? Was his vision of America already obsolete — a relic of the bipartisan consensus forged in the 1950s when y...Show More
5) The Myth of the Frontier
If America is the last, best hope of earth, one reason is the frontier. The frontier has been imagined as the place—or perhaps the process—through which the American character is forged—rugged individ...Show More
6) Trump’s Second Term Foreign Policy in Historical Context
Beneath the chaos of Donald Trump’s second term foreign policy—the bluster, bravado, back-handers and backdowns—is there something else going on? Has the United States reached a turning point in its r...Show More
7) Journalism and Democracy: Lessons from Walter Lippmann
A hundred years ago, Walter Lippmann, one of the great analysts of democratic life, wrote that the present crisis of western democracy is a crisis in journalism. Press barons, Lippmann feared, were so...Show More
8) The Last Best Hope: Series 14
It's been almost a year since The Last Best Hope aired, and in that time, America has changed dramatically. So in the new series, we’ll be attempting to put Trump’s foreign policy in a historical cont...Show More
9) What just happened?
In this special episode of The Last Best Hope, we bring you a recording of a live event at the Rothermere American Institute in Oxford on Thursday, November 7. Adam Smith and guests discussed why the ...Show More
10) The Age of Polarization Election Special Part 4: 2016
The US is in an Age of Polarization. From the 1930s to the 1980s, voter allegiances were more fluid, and presidents sometimes won massive landslides (think Reagan in 1984 or Nixon in 1972). But for th...Show More