Jon Meacham Interview: The Power of History in Shaping the Present
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- Опубликовано: 3 июн 2024
- Jon Meacham discusses how change in America has happened throughout its history, the power of nostalgia to affect our view of the past, the Founding Fathers understanding of human nature, and why he believes that “the Constitution is fundamentally a religious document.”
Jon Meacham is a renowned presidential historian, contributing writer for The New York Times Book Review, contributing editor at TIME, and a Pulitzer Prize-winning author. A member of the Council on Foreign Relations and of the Society of American Historians, Meacham is a distinguished visiting professor at Vanderbilt University. He has written for The New York Times op-ed page, The Washington Post, Vanity Fair, and Garden & Gun. Meacham is also a regular guest on “Morning Joe” and other broadcasts. Born in Chattanooga in 1969, Meacham graduated from The University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee, with a degree in English literature. He previously worked as a reporter for the Chattanooga Times, an editor-in-chief at Newsweek, and an executive editor at Random House. A trustee of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, The McCallie School, and The Harpeth Hall School, Meacham chairs the National Advisory Council of the John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics at Washington University.
From the HBO / Kunhardt Film Foundation (KFF) Documentary “The Soul of America.” Based on Jon Meacham's bestseller that illuminates our present-day fraught political reality by exploring historical challenges including the women's suffrage movement, the incarceration of Japanese Americans, McCarthyism, and the fight for Civil Rights.
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Jon Meacham, Presidential Biographer and Historian
Interview Date: March 25, 2019
Interviewed by: Katie Davison
© Home Box Office and Kunhardt Film Foundation. All Rights Reserved.
#JonMeacham #kunhardtfilmfoundation 
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BTW, our education system has become increasingly lacking for decades, therefore we need people like Jon to teach.
Great interview with one of America's great historians. Calm, rational and extremely knowledgeable.
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I’m u
Excellent interview with one of Americas foremost and articulate historians.
What a relief from the current plethora of hysterics and screamers.
I love how calm and concise he is in his describing, explaining, and gentle teaching.
I know this is 2 years old but it's timeless. What a great way to wake up. Thanks John.
Jon Meacham A National Treasure
Love John Meacham. 🙏🏾
The deep and thoughtful insight of some of our current historians is so valuable. More people need to shut up, take a deep breath, and listen. We can be better and we must always strive to be.
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Rational reason and intellect is not extinct - yet. Bless you, Jon Meacham 😃
I second, that!!!!
Sheer profundity here, well-spoken in the grand legacy of common sense, pursuit of happiness and striving toward universal justice.
Jon Meacham's thought leadership is always a pleasure. That this interview was recorded in March 2019 without the experience, perspective and reflection of all that we have endured and learned as of January 2023, makes the second and third installments all the more compelling. Looking forward to his evolving analysis and observations.
I want Jon Meacham to be president!
He would bring so much to the country. He is brilliant and compassionate.
I wish we had him for President!
Me too. But, he would never do so. He is a humble man, and not an egomaniac. It would be amazing if we could have a president like him. Obama came closest in his intelligent, well spoken calm, but Meacham is a national treasure.
Historian. Philosopher. Educator. Optimist. Inspiring. Add to all that, a voice I could listen to all day long-- thanks Jon Meacham. You've got an admirer from the Great White North.
i have listensed to this many times, testament to its heft. Jons voice, choice of words, format here is so smooth
Ive gone to sleep by it 😊
Smart and nuanced. As rare as a solid gold unicorn nowadays.
Thank you for FINALLY MAKING AMERICANS KNOW a when they finally got into the 2WW. I’m so sick of there chest pounding.
Excellent discussion 🕊🇺🇸
Many of the ideals in the New Testament "amounts to socialism" and in fact lifesaving programs like Social Security and food stamps come out of the belief in God and in a view of Christian values, that not like Strom Thurmond, does not discriminate against or for poor people based on race.
Henry Wallace invented the food stamp program, also developing a hybrid of corn that is used worldwide to feed millions.
Thank you for this, KFF and Jon Meacham, treasures of the US.
Jon makes most politicians seem so empty and devoid of character. Sad but true.
We need more like him
Thank you for making this content available on RUclips
Meacham's comment on nostalgia being a powerful force, and that things were better in past times, brings to mind another thought...
Memory Lane is not a well-lit road....
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John does a great job as always in storytelling. At @33.03 he talks beautifully of the founders understanding of the Presidency but of course he realizes that in the 1790's none of the founders could predict what the role of the U.S in world affairs would become.
I am novice in, yet I do like to listen to anything about American History.
Jon Meacham, THANK YOU for lifting my spirits up, time after time! I listen to your talks, read your books, hunger for your wisdom... I’ve traveled the world, was schooled at some of the finest schools, best teachers, mentored by legends, but I’ve needed my Meacham perspective talks to keep me going. Thank you always Mr. Jon Meacham.🙏📜
We, as Americans who (enjoy our freedom(s) that we literally thoughtlessly take for granted - have a duty to attempt to guide our world in our time - toward the light of that freedom. Who says we have an exclusive right to it? If others require help in achieving it, then we are bound to help them. For what is the alternative? Tyranny!
The most important point that Jon Meacham consistently makes is that America has always been uniquely complicated in a way that precludes the brand of national unity other countries may have had. We never came together. Over anything. But that's not necessarily a bad thing. He drove this home in his recent book on Lincoln, And There Was Light. The book isn't really about Lincoln. Its focus is the discourse of the time. It makes today's divisions, largely manufactured, seem trivial. And yet we came through that. Partially. We continue to try to come through that.
11:46 "I'm in more need of amendment and adjustment..." SO HUMBLING AND SO TRUE. We are ALL in more need of amendment and adjustment. Because Trump and the GOP refuse to admit that, it will lead them to their doom.
Very incredible interview.
What an awesome thinker.
Mr. Meacham, I applaud you!
There are so many wonderful places to live in this world, not one of them is in America.
I am not an American. I was posted from the U.K. to America, job reasons. I lived and worked there for a few years. Some things I admired, some things I hated, some things were plain crazy. It appeared to me that the majority lived in fear and suspicion of the elected government. The gun mentality I sort of understood. Except for the bit which persuaded many Americans that the possession of a gun was the last bastion between the freedom of the individual and a tyrannical government. That appeared to me as psychotic.
You get 100 million people who each own multiple guns. And a ton of those folks are in our military, law enforcement and government. If the government ever wanted to overrule us like Russias, Chinas or any of the sorts. They’ll never be able to. We have the man power and a lot of those who work for our government would leave it for our sakes. And therefore they’d become even weaker. So our gun owning selves is not psychotic. It’s very reasonable and cautious against past civilizations mistakes. Even if they look and feel far away. It’ll happen.
@@Texasguy316 Simply on nothing more than the logistics. How would a bunch of untrained civilians fare with a bunch of rifles and ammo from Uncle Joes Gun Shop match up against one Bradley? The M2/M3's primary armament is a 25 mm chain gun using either 100 or 300 rounds per minute, accurate to 3,000 m (approximately two miles). It is armed with a TOW missile[a] launcher capable of carrying two loaded missiles. The missiles, capable of destroying most tanks to a maximum range of 4,000 metres (13,000 ft), can only be fired while the vehicle is stationary. The Bradley carries a coaxial 7.62 mm medium machine gun to the right of the 25 mm chain gun? You make yourself sound silly, and would have to be psychologically impaired not to appreciate the fact.
As an observer, avid reader & lifelong learner, it occurs to me that you might have been transferred to an urban/metropolitan area. I grew up in a rural area in the northwest. We were lower middle class, some might call us poor. However, I was never aware of the fear of which you speak nor of the hunger for guns. I knew only people with hunting rifles. While I am becoming fearful about the MAGA and other hard right attitudes, I hope you don't judge all of us on your experience. Thanks for taking the time to listen to Jon Meacham and also to reply.
@@alicehardy9094 Your take is (respectfully) kinda funny to me. I too would consider myself an observer, avid reader & lifelong learner, and I would’ve assumed that this commenter was transferred somewhere rural, perhaps in the Midwest. Because I’ve lived in NYC for over 50 years and I don’t think I’ve come across more than 4 people, in all that time, that own a gun. And even then, we’re talking about 1 hand gun.
I also lived in Boston for about 6 years, and I knew nobody there that owned a gun. I mean, sure, of course criminals probably own guns, in both these cities, but not so much regular law abiding citizens. And let’s face it, criminals are by no means partial to big cities.
As far as the fear thing goes, I can’t relate to that either; there’s not much appetite for fear in NYC, because we find it so distasteful. lol. However, like you, it saddens me that this commenter apparently ended up surrounded by some of the worst of us. But it’s a really big country, with far more great people than baddies; hopefully they’ll visit us again and have better luck.
And lastly, Jon Meacham is a national treasure!😊
@@tomarmstrong1281 100%! What exactly do they think will happen, when Meal Team 6, the Gravy Seals and the Mayonnaise Militia come face to face with Reaper drones, carrying Hellfire missiles?💥🤯😆
I need to express my continued admiration for you, Jon Meacham, for your calm, intelligent insight into America. I wish a majority of people were more like you than not. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
The nobility of America’s involvement in WW2 was less in joining the war than in rebuilding Japan and Germany and other parts of Europe.
Jon Meacham is a great historian and he raises an interesting point in discussing the extreme political nature of the country right now: ''What should people who hate Donald Trump think if he were right about something?'' Here is where a great thinker like Meacham goes astray in his attempt to be objective. It is not that those who call ourselves haven't tried to shake hands with conservatives. We applauded President Nixon when he created the EPA and when he tried diplomacy with the Soviet Union and Communist China. We had a better chance for worl safety because of those movies. When 9/11 happened, many of us backed President Bush. But the seeds of extremism had already been set in the Republican Party going back to Joe McCarthy with HIS witch-hunt. Nixon had his extremist side with his ''Southern Strategy'' for packing the Supreme Court with extreme anti-liberal Justices. President Reagan ignored AIDS for the first six years of his administration. When he finally appointed an AID Commission, it was made up of Reagan campaign donors, not doctors or scientists. At the time, we were told, ''We're not interested in Solving this disease. We just want to know how many beds we need.'' No meds, just beds+. To the credit of Presidents Bush, there WAS effort on AIDS, but that many of us are alive today is due to the work during President Clinton's administration. But let's skip ahead to President Trump. What did he ever do to make us think he was President of all Americans? He aimed for distrust of all brown and black-skinned people in the same way Hitler excoriated Jews. He cozied up to neo-Nazis and praised Vladimir Putin. He considers John McCain a coward. Anyone who served in the military was a ''sucker'' and a ''loser.''I respect you, Prof. Meacham, but we Progressives didn't create this nation's discord. All one has to do is look at the extremism of the current GOP.
Thank you! Your historical insight has always been greatly appreciated. Just syk, I'm a sr. & a veteran ~
I am in analysis of myself. I am Canadian.not really familiar with true American way,honestly sitting back in love. This guy is very smart. I really like the smoke and coke. Ido the smoke and coca cola, too. The smoke and coke. Have tried to quit several times. Think I have been hooked since womb. My father, real heavy smoker. But anyway, thanks. Educational. Xo
Excellent and informative. Thank you!
I truly enjoyed your commentary on US history, past and present. It was balanced and insightful and often extremely erudite… right up until the end when your entire dialogue took a hard turn to the left with a barely disguised jibe at Donald Trump. To make my personal motivations clear, my purpose of voting for him was not out of blind devotion to him as with some others, but simply because I realized that the massive crimes and misdemeanors of Hillary Clinton simply could not continue. Her warlike stance toward so many countries, along with her blatant abuses and apparent collusion with the FBI quickly brought her own election chances to an abrupt end, which never rose from the ashes of her past.
In relation to Trump, I have taken an intense interest of the precise “whys” and “wherefores” for the vast popularity of this populist candidate, as well as the simultaneous hatred by seemingly everyone on Capitol Hill, and they are as follows:
1) First and foremost, Donald Trump was NOT a politician, he was a BUSINESSMAN, an avowed outsider. Meaning, his was not used to compromise, which obviously terrified nearly every member in Congress. The “Old Guard” have an unflattering term for a man like this, “a loose cannon,” one who refuses to be kowtowed by the ambitions of those occupying power, and Trump certainly qualified.
2) Trump was clearly more interested in RESULTS over APPEARANCE, which is no doubt why he adopted his signature “bull in a china shop” attitude that offended many, and continues to. He was clearly against a pro-war stance against Russia, believing that it was a far more productive option to do business with them than enter into a “no-win” war with them, which under the leadership of Joe Biden has done exactly that, a US-led NATO proxy war that only enriches the corrupt Ukraine hierarchy and wealthy arms manufacturers, worldwide. In addition to ending your heretofore balanced commentary as a thinly-veiled sledgehammer against Trump, you simultaneously DEIFIED the of tenure of Barack Obama, whose only actual accomplishments amounted to the bombing of thousands of innocent men, women, and children in Syria (which curiously won him The Nobel Peace Prize and a million dollar prize with which to purchase a second luxury home on Martha's Vineyard ), his direct enrichment of the entire health insurance industry, while never accomplishing a single positive thing for his own people (witness the impoverishment of the black citizens of Chicago, the actual city of his birth). If these errors in your commentary weren't egregious enough, while you vigorously condemned Trump, you never even mentioned the federal crimes of Joe Biden and his criminally complicit son. Curious, indeed.
3) You named “Twitter,” the most popular online forum on earth, as the primary source of so many of our current problems, when in fact the internet remains that last bastion of free and unfettered dialogue left to the average American. I believe in the sanctity of the First Amendment, the right to Free Speech. Apparently, and to your detriment, you do not. Whenever anyone seeks to abridge these fundamental rights, you are standing on perilous ground. In fact, so abundant are these abuses against our essential civil rights, *it would be a miracle of Biblical dimensions if this post even remains up.*
Wonderful.
Reason vs. Passion (thank you)
A commercial interrupts every question just before the answer of given, which disorients the viewer. It lowers the quality of the overall experience.
Thank you for the feedback - we're looking into this.
That 500 people have found this video remarkable is shocking.
Why is it shocking? Because it is too few? With all the screamers out there, it is surprising to me that more people are not commenting in a like manner.
"George H. W. Bush thought Arsenial Hall was a building at Yale." Lol. I love Jon Meacham's dry wit.
So now that this is 2 years old. Do you think we've restarted the conversation between the new deal and Reagan omics?
22:09
Do watch it.
Deep, thoughtful, eye-opening. Yet still lacking and the shining example of just how disconnected from godliness (and humanity) the European is. Out of all the communities of humans, this one - the one with the least experience, like a child - is the dominant cultu. We Are Damn!
Oliver Wendell Holmes famously said Roosevelt had "A first-class temperament, but a second-class intellect." Not a their class intellect If I remember correctly from Jeffery C Ward's book "A First Class Temperament". A really great book on FDR.
Very important to read history. WW 2 we imposed sanctions on Japanese triggering PH
Acceptance of politician's imperfections has limits. Donald Trump is not imperfect he is toxic. We are not past the poison of Trump or of Trumpism.
i wouldn't say that America will not survive the back-up of poisonous politics; but we have not survived it yet. There is much work to do.
I love this guy. Hes legit national treasure. Although, i fear his repeated, " its been worse we've been here b4, " instances that he keeps using that are comparable to the Insurrection where 5-10 ppl throughout the country stopped a constitutional crisis in 2020 being 40, 50, 60 or more yrs ago doesn't help in getting ppl to take seriously whats happening right now with the 2o23 version of The Confederacy, The REPUBLICAN PARTY and their intentions for this country.
I love Jon.
For future interviews, having the question read would make this a better interview to follow. It’s not a visual interview, so having to pay attention here and there is a bit cumbersome
You should pay attention ALL the time
Many of us listen to these RUclips talks and lectures in the dark, with eyes closed. The silent written titles/questions are useless and a poorly conceived notion.
@veritas6335 This was originally a TV series, meant to be watched.
Motions!,.and su cessations! hank you!
The one and only value I have taken from the Trump experience is that he has made us stop taking our Democracy for granted.
Where you get your wording?
We go from newt gingrich to mitchell mcconnell to kevin mccarthy
Not really - Gingrich really substantially changed the way the government worked (or didn't more appropriately ) he turned it into an existential blood sport . Mcconnell is the prototypical backroom power dealer and Kevin Mccarthy - is just a turd leftover in the punchbowl
We want real America back vote out trump GOP
We need an "Immigrants" [Reparations] and a "Hate Crimes" bill
We always think of apartheid as an anti black measure it was an anti colours measure. When ghandi fought in south africa it wasnt for the blacks.
I am a "liberal,' in my case actually a Social Democrat (a system of governance used, for instance, in the Nordic countries). I think Trump was right in re-negotiating NAFTA to make it easier for the USA to abandon a banker/financial sector led globalist enterprise in favor of drawing back into a regional North American economy (Canada, USA, Mexico). This economy will balance the current outsized role of the financial sector with a strong manufacturing as well as technology sector. This will mean the serious diminishment of China as an economy and a military power.Certain foreign countries will be strongly affiliated with the North American economy: Japan, the Philippines, Australia, New Zealand. NATO will continue. Africa will grow and prosper on its own, but linked to Europe and North America. Nuclear power, which now makes France energy independent, will spread through Europe and North America. Getting rid of oil and gas cannot be eliminated unless nuclear is in the replacement mix. The water problem of the US west and Mexico will be solved with desalinization planst and/or water pipelines from nrthern Canda (and a good source of revenue for Canada).
Definitely not the most ancient form of government. The elected form of government is not the most ancient! At least not the way elected has become, or of general voting. There has been many higher forms of chosen leaderships.
The hard part about an appeal to reason is that it doesn't acknowledge our own frailty. For example, if I read pseudohistories, I have no training as a historian at all to dissect those terrible arguments, and so if I were to mistakenly appeal to reason, I'd fall for all of these crackpot theories. So much pseudoscience is being peddled by people telling you to do your own research.
I do not think this is a question of ability, but time. Surely, I could build up a parallel knowledge base of human history and train to become a historian... but I've got other things to do. It is far easier to just go with the majority and listen to the people with fancy history degrees. Are they always right? No. Is an appeal to authority a valid form of argument? No. Is it useful anyways as a shortcut in daily life? Yes.
It's a rather dangerous argument to make, the argument against reason itself as first made by Scott Alexander as he calls it "epistemic-learned-helplessness". But I would call it humility instead. There are certain things that we should recognize we're bad at reasoning because at present, we don't have the tools or knowledge; and we should make the trade off of whether to spend *months* (because that is how long it takes to become an expert in something; look at video game developers or actors trying to learn a subject really quick) trying to learn a subject, or to just go with the sanest sounding opinion.
"Jon Meachem groks America!" - Robert A. Heinlein
What?
Hope is bad. Fear is bad.
Huh?
Foo BallJesus has spoken.
1:02:51 yes a broken clock is right twice a day and even a mad man can occasionally be right. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t all do everything legitimate in our power to prevent such a person from having access to our nuclear codes and national security secrets ever again. And btw Mr Meacham while I do enjoy your calm approach and sonorous male voice as much as anyone else here I find it very disappointing that you apparently are not oriented completely to time and place. Even in 2019, it was plainly obvious that climate change is a clear and present danger and our beloved USA is over the span of history the largest contributor. Hence we have the largest responsibility to correct our course. You not only treat this fact as a minor problem but a nonexistent problem. Wake up please!
The whole time Thurman was bleating about racial segregation, he had a biracial daughter. Her name was Essie and she died in 2013. Hypocrite.
Tuchman’s “March of Folly” is one of the greatest history books ever.
And it really upset the ol boys historian club…..
Ooh wee. This was made b4 tha pandemic. Not that that changes history, obviously.
Also, before the worst of trump.
It was good vs evil and grandpa won - Grandpa was British...
I admit i enjoyed watching this, good production values and very watchable storytelling etc, but it felt like (at least what should be) high school level. It glosses over so much of the less than positive or brave aspects of our history, and if you can’t tell the whole story don’t do it. History is written by the victors. For adults i give it a C-.
Most people don’t know history as they once did, so it is vitally important that he explain everything very clearly.
Listening & Trump is an oxymoron!
So, WTH isn't Jon Meacham's wife at any of this ...
What are you talking about?
Are you stoned or just drunk?
Souls do not exist.
Too bad there are ads with ranting teens with device solutions every 5 minutes. I'm out.
You purposely mentioned Mr. Obama's middle name and didn't mention Mr.. Donald Trump's middle name. I think you did it for the MAGA culture. That wasn't a mistake.
Enjoyed most of this except the under-rated threat to democracy the author holds about a second Trump administration.
This man is pure EVIL!!!!!
What?
@@fsantoro60 Wrong video...oops.
It's easy to be blase' about racism and supremacy when you're a "white" male. His casualness in describing these foundational and ingrained issues are laughable.
PLEASE 🛑 feeding me this !!
Im 67 but not this inactive or lazy.
Go Away !!
Torture.
If you want to drive a person insane, force them to listen to Jon Meacham.
The man is a talking machine with not ONE original idea.
He's an author and historian...that means he writes other peoples ideas, still confused?
@@chef2542 Not confused. You confused? Are you saying every word he speaks is someone else's words?👀
@@jonky5 no, I was just referring to the fact that the majority of his work is reciting ideas and events that have happend at the hands of other people
Hmmm. . . Requires an attention span and the ability to follow an idea for a few minutes. Yep. That’s a tough one. Damned unfair to expect that of an adult who,presumably, votes. If you’re our model? We’re all screwed.
SolidSteele, he’s doing that because most haven’t read the authors at all. Maybe something that might rub off because of him. But hold out there Steel! It’ll make you. less likely in the future to reach out for something tough to grasp. Protect yourself from thought!