When presidents become monarchs

Hours after hijackers crashed planes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, journalist Peter Bergen said on CNN that the “most likely suspect” in the attacks was Osama bin Laden, the leader of al Qaeda.Bergen had good reason for his view. Terrorists linked to al Qaeda detonated a truck bomb in the World Trade Center garage on February 26, 1993, killing six people but failing to bring down the towers. Bergen traveled with a CNN team to the mountains near Jalalabad in Afghanistan to produce the first television interview with bin Laden in March 1997. Bin Laden called for attacks against U.S. military targets. His organization went on to target U.S. embassies and the Navy destroyer USS Cole.Bin Laden’s goal was to drive the U.S. military out of the Middle East. As Bergen makes clear in his comprehensive new book All the Presidents’ Wars, the al Qaeda terror plot turned out to be a huge miscalculation. Instead of driving Americans away, bin Laden lit the spark for a quarter century of U.S. wars in the region.What Bergen does particularly well in his book, which is receiving rave reviews, is to document how four presidents — George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Joe Biden and Donald Trump — made a staggering number of mistakes in prosecuting wars in the Middle East. I worked with Peter as his editor for more than a decade at CNN. In our podcast interview, he speaks incisively about the history his book covers.In the summer of 2001, Bush ignored a series of increasingly urgent CIA warnings that bin Laden planned attacks on the U.S. In the immediate aftermath of 9/11, Bush administration officials began making the case for a war to oust Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein even though he played no role in the attacks on the U.S.Afghanistan’s Taliban regime was hosting bin Laden, and within three months, a force of fewer than 1,000 American troops and CIA operatives ousted the Taliban. The Bush administration failed to commit additional troops to capturing bin Laden when he was hiding out in the mountains near Tora Bora.U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told Bush that it was vital to launch a war against Iraq because there weren’t enough targets to attack within Afghanistan, and “we need to bomb something else to prove that we’re big and strong and not going to be pushed around by these kinds of attacks.” That war of choice, deepened by a series of catastrophic policy mistakes, spawned an insurgency that lasted for years.Bush framed the war as the “global war on terror,” which implied an endless agenda of conflict. The successful raid on bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, in 2011 could have provided an opportunity for the U.S. to exit the wars, but the rise of ISIS drew America back in.Another perceived off-ramp was the agreement with the Taliban reached by President Donald Trump’s first term administration. When President Joe Biden carried out the withdrawal from Afghanistan, it turned into a shambolic exit that triggered a decline in Biden’s approval ratings and arguably led to Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and the return of Trump to the White House.Trump’s continuing war with Iran suffers from even greater strategic mistakes than the wars that preceded it. Unlike earlier conflicts, there were no supportive UN or congressional resolutions.“You actually do want to have a congressional debate about these things,” Bergen told me. “In the end, presidents may choose to ignore congressional resolutions. But the point is, you need a public debate about what are we doing. Why are we sending people into harm’s way? And that never happened with Iran. Trump really never made the case. If he made a case at all, it was on February 28th when the war started, when he made a speech about it in the middle of the night. But, you know, the reason that this is the least popular war since polling on this subject has occurred is there was no public buy-in. 41% of Americans thought the Iran war was a bad idea when the war started.”I hope you enjoy my conversation with Peter Bergen. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.nowitshistory.com/subscribe

Samuel Pisar was 10 years old when Nazi invaders rounded up the Jewish community of Bialystok, Poland. He survived three death camps and, the New York Times wrote in 2009, “was condemned to die at least twice, but managed to slip back into the general prison population, once convincing a guard that he was there only to wash the floor.”When the Germans began fleeing the victorious allied troops near the end of the war, they forced camp inmates to walk for miles to other camps. Pisar escaped and hid in the Bavarian woods. As his stepson U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken recalled in 2020, he heard the rumble of a tank.“Instead of an Iron Cross, he saw a five-pointed White Star,” Blinken said. “He ran to the tank. The hatch opened. An African American GI looked down at him. He got down on his knees and said the only three words he knew in English that his mother had taught him: ‘God Bless America.’”That soldier was Sgt. Bill Ellington, who served in the 761st Tank Battalion, known as the “Black Panthers.” Formed in segregated Louisiana, the unit arrived in Normandy in October, 1944 and engaged in combat for a record 183 consecutive days.Samuel Pisar went on to a career advising presidents and practicing law. His story inspired the remarkable new novel by Steven A. Holmes, a Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist and my former colleague at CNN.Steve joined me at Now It’s History to discuss Black Messiahs. The book wrestles sensitively with the racism that oppressed blacks in America as they joined the fight against the Nazi regime, which murdered six million Jews.In our conversation, we discussed the challenges facing a lifelong journalist who turns to fiction for the first time, the real-life stories behind the novel and the ways Steve relied on his own life experiences to shape its characters. I hope you enjoy the discussion — and go on to read the book. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.nowitshistory.com/subscribe

On June 13, 1936, the German Navy launched a steel-hulled tall ship at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg while Adolf Hitler and other Nazi officials looked on. The 295-foot long ship was one of five such vessels the Nazi regime commissioned to “circumvent the military restrictions imposed by the Treaty of Versailles, using maritime training as a front to quietly rebuild naval strength,” as Will Sofrin’s new book notes. The Germans named the ship the Horst Wessel, after the man who wrote the lyrics for the Nazi anthem and was treated as a martyr after his killing in 1930.After Hitler’s death and the regime’s surrender in 1945, Allied officials began dividing up the German fleet among the victors. The superintendent of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy suggested obtaining Horst Wessel as a sail training ship for the academy’s cadets. Eighty years later, the Eagle will be leading the parade of tall ships from around the world sailing up the Hudson River — as it did for the 1976 bicentennial — to mark America’s 250th anniversary. Sofrin told me he’ll be on board for the occasion.The ship not only trains Coast Guard cadets, but serves as an ambassador for the United States around the world. Sofrin tells the story in his new book, USCG Cutter Eagle: The Legacy of the Coast Guard’s Flagship, published by Lyons Press. As noted in my conversation with Will, the book weaves in the stories of officers and rank and file members of the Coast Guard who have served on the Eagle. When the U.S. acquired the ship, it needed major repairs and a new engine. It also was short of the crew required to take it from Bremerhaven to the U.S., so its commander had to sail with many German crew members. Upon arrival, they were transferred to a prisoner of war camp and returned to Europe. On the final leg of the journey, from Bermuda to New York, a storm brought 60-knot winds and huge seas.As Sofrin recounted, the ship’s commander Gordon McGowan described the sound of the storm:“There was the sharp tearing sound—the ripping of the fabric of the gates of hell. . . . This tapestry of sound bore the pattern of maniacal majesty.” The fore upper and lower topsails were the first to go. They exploded in a flash, leaving ribbons streaming. The ship hit 16 knots at this point…the fastest the ship had ever gone. This speed was estimated based on their observations of the prop shaft’s revolutions when the clutch was released—something they had studied on the voyage. At this point, the foresail and main upper topsail blew out. The mainsail and main lower topsail held.Sofrin describes the risky maneuvers that were needed that day to keep the ship from disaster on its maiden voyage as the Eagle.Sofrin’s book includes a history of the Coast Guard, which traces its roots back to the U.S. fleet of revenue cutters used to collect tariffs during the time of President George Washington. With this antecedent, the Coast Guard is even older than the U.S. Navy. Why does the Coast Guard have a tall ship more than 150 years after the end of the Age of Sail? Sofrin explains: Sail training holds a vital place in the US Coast Guard and other military maritime forces around the world. Rooted in centuries of tradition, it is more than just a means of teaching seamanship; it also serves as a crucible for developing discipline, risk assessment management, teamwork, and leadership. Operating a sailing vessel demands precise coordination, clear communication, and a deep understanding of natural forces and human limitations. These challenges forge proficiencies in cadets and officers that translate directly into their roles aboard modern vessels. For the Coast Guard, sail training aboard Eagle is a rite of passage, instilling respect for the sea and seamanship principles that remain relevant.Life on the Eagle has changed significantly since June, 1976, when the first women cadets were admitted to the Academy. In 1980, 14 women were in the graduating class, along with 140 men. In 1984, several women played key roles in preserving lives when the Eagle was almost knocked down. A storm front struck it during a race of tall ships heading from Bermuda to Halifax, Nova Scotia; remarkably no one was killed aboard Eagle in that episode. The ship righted itself and suffered no damage. Several hours later, a squall capsized the 115-foot British ship Marques. The tall ship sank within a minute. Only nine of the 28 people on board survived. The Eagle has become a symbol of the United States. It sailed to Australia for that nation’s 1988 Bicentenary and to St. Petersburg, in Russia, in 1996.Presidents and world leaders have come aboard. But perhaps the most notable visitor mentioned in the book was a singer and songwriter. The captain of the Eagle, Ivan Luke, “had long been a devoted ‘Parrothead,’ a nickname famously associated with die-hard fans of Jimmy Buffett, his music, and his easygoing, tropical lifestyle,” wrote Sofrin. “From the moment Captain Luke took command of Eagle, he set his sights on a personal goal: to get Jimmy Buffett aboard the ship…After years of reaching out, Luke finally succeeded in bringing Buffett aboard. It was a surreal and meaningful moment for the captain, as he blended his love of the sea with the soundtrack that had accompanied much of his sailing life.” Buffett sailed on Eagle on a short loop from Salem, Massachusetts around Cape Cod. Aboard with his son, Buffett worked the lines, took part in drills and dined with the crew as well as in the officer’s mess. Buffett’s grandfather, James Delaney Buffett, had been a steamship captain out of Newfoundland and was a big influence on Jimmy.So when Buffett joined the Eagle’s captain (on harmonica) and a seaman (on guitar) for a jam session, they sang, among other songs, “Son of a Son of a Sailor.” This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.nowitshistory.com/subscribe

When the New York Times published its annual list of “52 Places to Go” in 2026, traditional travel destinations like Los Angeles, Bangkok, Memphis, Big Sur and Iceland were included. But so was Medora, North Dakota — in the heart of the state’s Badlands. That is where — on July 4, 2026, more than 107 years since Theodore Roosevelt died —the nation’s 26th president will finally be honored with a presidential library. It will also be the day the U.S. celebrates its 250th anniversary.In my podcast with TR Library CEO Edward O’Keefe, we explore why the library is sited in North Dakota and how the Badlands helped shape TR’s character and career. Ed is also the author of The Loves of Theodore Roosevelt: The Women Who Created A President. He talks in this conversation about the profound influence several women had on Roosevelt, including his mother, two wives, two sisters and his irrepressible daughter Alice Roosevelt Longworth. More than most of the presidents of the early 20th century, Roosevelt feels relevant to our time. He presided over the country in an era of extreme inequality in wealth, when immigration stirred controversy and when a muscular foreign policy and the Monroe Doctrine were in the news. As Doris Kearns Goodwin has written, TR took hold of the “bully pulpit” of the presidency, building a strong relationship with journalists that helped him shape the messages he shared with the nation. No longer was the president a distant, dignified figure far away from the lives of most Americans. He now would become a flesh-and-blood personal leader who played a prominent role in the everyday lives of most people and whose idiosyncrasies would become the topic of talk around the dinner tables of families from coast to coast. One of the unforgettable scenes in Ed’s book recounts TR’s first bison hunt in the Badlands, in September, 1883. After days of looking, he and a hunting partner came across the “great beasts.” Roosevelt aimed for the largest animal’s shoulder but instead hit its ribs, and it galloped away. His partner managed to intercept the buffalo. TR fired again and missed. “As I urged the horse still closer — for it was very dark — the bull turned... and charged me,” Roosevelt wrote. “The lunge of the formidable looking brute frightened my pony, and as he went off he threw up his head and knocked the heavy rifle I was carrying against my head with such force that it gave me a pretty severe cut on the crown, from which the blood poured over my face and into my eyes so that it blinded me for the moment.” Then the “infernal beast escaped after all.”As with other reverses in his life, Roosevelt didn’t let this defeat deter him. He kept hunting and returned to New York with the head of a bison and other mounted creatures he would install in Sagamore Hill, his summer home in Oyster Bay, Long Island. On February 14 of 1884, TR suffered the unimaginable loss of his wife Alice and his mother on the same day in the same house in New York City. To cope with his grief, he journeyed later that year to the Badlands, where the epic scale and beauty of the landscape soothed Roosevelt’s mind.So did the women around him, including his childhood friend, second wife and future First Lady, Edith Kermit Carow. Ed O’Keefe, who was born in North Dakota, explains in our conversation how this mix of influences helped mold one of America’s most distinctive presidents. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.nowitshistory.com/subscribe

Through his books and podcasts, constitutional law professor Corey Brettschneider has been a keen observer of how presidents can overturn constitutional safeguards — and how citizens can work together to restore them.I asked Corey where we are on a scale from 1 to 10, with 1 being a normal U.S. government, 5 representing a constitutional crisis and 10 being the end of democracy. His answer: we’re between a 7 and an 8 — in grave danger of losing our 250-year-old democratic form of government. I hope you will listen to our conversation. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.nowitshistory.com/subscribe

Sailing a small boat confidently takes knowledge of how tides and currents, winds and waves can shape your course. So who would have been better than Albert Einstein, the greatest physicist of the 20th century, at piloting a small boat — his 17-foot craft, the Tinef (Yiddish, for junk) — in the waters around Long Island Sound?It turns out that the creator of the Theory of Relativity wasn’t a very good sailor, and had to be rescued numerous times, as Steve Israel writes in his compelling new spy thriller, The Einstein Conspiracy.In August, 1935, the New York Times ran a front-page story headlined: “Relative Tide and Sand Bars Trap Einstein; He Runs His Sailboat Aground at Old Lyme.”Einstein’s sailing problem is far from the only part of Steve Israel’s new book that is based in fact. There really were plots by the Nazis to kill Einstein; there was a substantial pro-Nazi movement in 1930s America, including Camp Siegfried in Yaphank, where one street was named after Adolph Hitler. Crucially, Einstein not only sailed in the waters around Nassau Point on Long Island’s north fork. It was there that he wrote a letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt warning that the Nazis were working on the physics involved in creating a uniquely powerful bomb. That gave FDR the impetus to launch the Manhattan Project that developed atomic weapons.As Steve notes on the back cover of the book, he is the only member of Congress to retire to open an independent bookstore, Theodore’s, in Oyster Bay, Long Island. In my conversation with Steve, he explains how running a bookstore influenced the writing of his new book. I hope you enjoy the conversation. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.nowitshistory.com/subscribe

On so many levels, U.S. democracy is being tested and so is the party named for it. The Democrats are facing tough choices on how to respond to the second Trump presidency, around the upcoming prospect of a government shutdown as well as next year’s midterm elections. It was a great pleasure to chat today with one of the most insightful scholars of democracy and my colleague at New America, Lee Drutman. Lee is the author of Breaking the Two-Party Doom Loop: The Case for Multiparty Democracy in America. His previous book, The Business of America is Lobbying won the 2016 American Political Science Association's Robert A. Dahl Award, given for "scholarship of the highest quality on the subject of democracy." He writes Undercurrent Events on Substack. I hope you enjoy the conversation.Now It's History is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.nowitshistory.com/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nowitshistory.comFrom the Alaska summit to the White House visit of European leaders, the extraordinary events of the last week have been a “masterclass in manipulation,” according to Frida Ghitis. The object: to persuade President Donald Trump to back one side or the other in Russia’s war against Ukraine.We hope you’ll listen to this podcast conversation between Richar…

Corey Brettschneider finished his latest book on presidential power last year, long after Donald Trump left the White House in defeat in 2021. The Presidents and the People: Five Leaders Who Threatened Democracy and the Citizens Who Fought to Defend It won the American Bar Association’s Silver Gavel Award. It tells the stories of such presidents as John Adams, Andrew Johnson and Woodrow Wilson who abused or ignored the limits set out in the Constitution, and it explains how activists, opposition politicians, journalists and lawyers were eventually able to restore some of the safeguards instituted by the founders. But when Trump won last November’s election, Brettschneider’s book of history also became a work of prophecy, describing the kinds of power grabs the new administration has put in place since taking office. It also foreshadowed how many of the traditional “checks and balances” inherent in Congress and the Supreme Court have failed to materialize. (The day after the book was published, the Supreme Court issued its “Trump v. U.S.” ruling, granting absolute immunity to presidents acting in their official capacity during their term in office.)It was a pleasure to chat with Corey Brettschneider on Now It’s History. He is a professor of political science at Brown University and the cohost, with John Fugelsgang, of the podcast The Oath and The Office.I hope you enjoy the conversation.And for more, please check out my recent post, The presidency is a loaded gun, for better or worse, in which I explored the problems with presidential power outlined in Corey’s book.Thanks for reading Now It's History! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.nowitshistory.com/subscribe

As a young commuter, John McPhee would stop by an orange juice stand at New York’s Penn Station. “From late autumn and on through winter and spring,” he wrote, “I noticed a gradual deepening of the color of the expressed juice. December was pale cadmium, April marigold, and June a Persian orange.” That set him to wondering about the different varieties of the fruit. “I didn't linger over the question. I had to get to work.”After he left the staff of Time magazine for a freelance writing career, he remembered the oranges and pitched the topic to the editor of The New Yorker, William Shawn. “While mentioning a number of story possibilities to Mr. Shawn, I uttered the single word ‘oranges?’”The answer was yes, and the magazine article of a few hundred words grew into a book, as McPhee’s insatiable curiosity devoured the entire story of oranges throughout history.John McPhee’s eye for stories and his skill at telling them is at the heart of Noel Rubinton’s new book, Looking For A Story: A Complete Guide to the Writings of John McPhee, published by Princeton University Press. In a conversation with me today, Noel described the detective work he had to do to unearth McPhee’s full oeuvre, including years of compelling but unbylined writing for Time. I hope you enjoy our chat.Thanks for reading Now It's History! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.nowitshistory.com/subscribe