The Washington Post's Presidential podcast explores how each former American president reached office, made decisions, handled crises and redefined the role of commander-in-chief. It was released leading up to up to Election Day 2016, starting with George Washington in week one and ending on week 44 with the president-elect. Hosted by Lillian Cunningham, the series features Pulitzer Prize-winning biographers like David McCullough and Washington Post journalists like Bob Woodward. [When you're done, listen to Lillian's other historical podcasts: Constitutional and Moonrise]
Introduction: Welcome to Presidential
George Washington: The man, the myth, the legend
John Adams: The case of the missing monument
Thomas Jefferson: On food and freedom
James Madison: Burning down the house
James Monroe: The Forrest Gump of presidents
John Quincy Adams: The trait that broke a presidency
Andrew Jackson: The violence, the fight
Martin Van Buren: The story of our two-party system
William Henry Harrison: Great song, horrible death
John Tyler: Ghosts and the vice presidency
James K. Polk: Getting it done
Zachary Taylor: War heroes and conspiracy theory
Millard Fillmore: Teaching the obscure presidents
Franklin Pierce: Rolling off the tracks
James Buchanan: The bachelor and the bloodshed
Abraham Lincoln: His hand and his pen
Andrew Johnson: Stitching up a torn country
Ulysses S. Grant: Lover, fighter, writer
Rutherford B. Hayes: The most contested election
James A. Garfield: Shot down
Chester A. Arthur: Redemption
Grover Cleveland: Tell the truth
Benjamin Harrison: The president as conservationist
William McKinley: The modern campaign
Theodore Roosevelt: Exuberance
William Howard Taft: This chief, not that chief
Woodrow Wilson: A complicated legacy
Warren G. Harding: Love and scandal
Calvin Coolidge: A tale of two Coolidges
Herbert Hoover: Dealing with disaster
Franklin D. Roosevelt: Through Eleanor's eyes
Harry S. Truman: Trying to make the right call
Dwight D. Eisenhower: Covert action
John F. Kennedy: We are all mortal
Lyndon B. Johnson: Power
Richard Nixon: Looking inward
Gerald Ford: It's personal
Jimmy Carter: Keeping the faith
Ronald Reagan: Myths and truths
George H. W. Bush: Restraint
Bill Clinton: The good and the bad
George W. Bush: Changing course
Barack Obama: The pursuit of identity
Donald Trump: Division and union
BONUS: 'Unprecedented Presidents' live from WBUR CitySpace
Binding up the nation's wounds