Imagine a political outsider who's thin on policy and big on celebrity. He's crude. He draws enormous crowds, and his popularity has party leaders panicking. I'm talking of course about presidential candidate Andrew Jackson. Today, we'll look at some parallels between the elections of 2016 and 1824.
Then, New Englanders are cautiously optimistic about the end of a mild winter - with one devoted group especially keen to see what the spring brings – birdwatchers.
Listen to the full show.
Jackson vs. Trump
Imagine if you can an outspoken political outsider as presidential candidate. He's thin on policy, big on touting his celebrity, and fiercely confrontational. He draws enormous crowds who roar in approval at promises to steadfastly defend the country and vows to fix the corrupt system that's keeping the common man down. His rivals are stunned...party leaders don't know what to do. Oh yes, and he has really distinctive hair.
We are of course talking about Andrew Jackson and the election of 1824. Brady Carlson, NHPR weekend host, our resident presidential historian, and author of the book Dead Presidents join us with some more similarities between Andrew Jackson and Donald Trump.
Ride to Remember
Among the many things president Andrew Jackson is remembered for is signing the Indian Removal Act into law. The Act is a blight on American history, and paved the way for the "Trail of Tears," the forced relocation of the Cherokee nation that resulted in more than four thousand deaths. In 2009, producer Jordan Nelson first met up with a group of young Cherokees retracing the path of removal.
You can listen to this story again at PRX.org.
Spring Birding
It's spring in New England. Always welcome, but after a mild winter, it doesn't feel quite so euphoric or hard won as usual...or as last year, certainly. We wondered how the warming climate affects the natural world - especially birds, the harbingers of spring.
Eric Masterson is author of Bird Watching in New Hampshire.
If you're interested in learning more about bird watching yourself, here are several events being hosted by the Harris Center for Conservation Education.
Surprisingly Awesome: "Pigeons"
American urbanites are well familiar with pigeons - but as we learn in this excerpt from the podcast Surprisingly Awesome’s episode “Pigeons," there's a lot about these city dwellers that we don't know.
Surprisingly Awesome is produced by Adam Davidson and Adam McKay for Gimlet Media.
You can listen to the full episode at GimletMedia.com.
