While we can't exactly footnote an episode, we can offer you a bibliography of all the books and articles we touch on in the episode. To the best of our ability, these references are organized by topic and by when they are touched on in the show. So, without further ado, the freaks present to you:
Intro Clip
- Adam Jentleson being interviewed by Anthony Scaramucci on SALT Talks. SALT describes itself as “a global thought leadership and networking forum encompassing finance, technology, and geopolitics.” From its website, it appears to be a forum for people too ugly to get on the TedTalk circuit.
Our Founding Fathers and the US Constitution
- Charles Beard, An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States (1913)
- For living conditions in early America, see: Herbert Aptheker, Early Years of the Republic (1976)
- For a discussion of the war bonds windfall and the creation of early American fortunes, see chapter one of Kevin Phillips, Wealth and Democracy: A Political History of the American Rich (2002)
- For a short summation, see Michael Parenti, “A Constitution for the Few,” in Democracy for the Few (1988)
- You can also listen to his short talk on the Founding Fathers here
On the Early Senate
- Robert Caro, Master of the Senate: The Years of Lyndon Johnson, 1949-1960 (2002)
- Cicero, perhaps the most quoted source on Rome’s early history, was also one of Rome’s largest landlords. For a class analysis of early Rome see Michael Parenti, The Assassination of Julius Caesar: A People’s History of Ancient Rome (2004)
- For more on Preston Brooks’ caning of Charles Sumner and the other accounts of violence on the Congressional floor, see: Joanne Freeman, The Field of Blood: Violence in Congress and the Road to Civil War (2018)
- For more on dueling and the comically stupid and violent early 19th century see John Hope Franklin, The Militant South, 1800-1861 (1956) or listen to the segments “The Duel” and “The Dishonor Code” from the Backstory with the American History Guys podcast.
Function of the Senate
- The NYT article on the increasing wealth of members of Congress was: NYT, “The Rich Get Richer and Elected,” 9/24/1985
- For a discussion of how much wealthier Congressional members have become, see Open Secrets, “Majority of Lawmakers in the 116th Congress are Millionaires,” 4/23/2020
- Of particular note is the way in which Congressmen are able to grow their wealth while in office. From 2004 to 2020, Mitch McConnell (R-KY) saw his fortune grow from $3 million to $34 million. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) went from $41 million to $115 million. Lyndon Johnson himself, would enter into Congress virtually penniless and leave the Senate a millionaire.
The Golden Age of the Senate
- Charles Sumner’s 1860 speech “The Barbarism of Slavery” that led to the attack from Preston Brooks
- John C Calhoun’s 1837 speech “Speech on the Reception of Abolition Petitions” that argued “slavery as a positive good.”
- For original documents and commentary on the Antebellum period, see: James Loewen and Edward Sebesta, The Confederate and Neo-Confederate Reader (2010)
Book Recs about Reconstruction
- WEB Dubois, Black Reconstruction in America (1935). This is perhaps the greatest work on American history ever written. Beautiful prose and a groundbreaking thesis that historians are still building off of today. It is perhaps thought of as Capital for the American context.
- Eric Foner, Reconstruction: America’s Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877 (1988)
- Matt Christman discusses Foner’s Reconstruction on his Cushvlog podcast in the “Reconstruction Junction” episodes.
The Gilded Age
- Richard White, Railroaded: The Transcontinentals and the Making of Modern America (2011)
- Richard White, The Republic for Which it Stands: The United States During Reconstruction and the Gilded Age, 1865-1896 (2017)
- Robert Wiebe, The Search for Order, 1877-1920 (1967)
The Supreme Court
- Peter Irons, A People’s History of the Supreme Court (2006)
- For an example of the Gilded Age interpretation of minority rights, addressing the 1894 graduating class at U Michigan Law School, (then) federal judge William Howard Taft states, “If the present movement against corporate capital is not met and fought, it will become a danger to our whole social fabric.” He went on saying, “The poor are the majority. The appeal of the rich to the Constitution and courts for protection is still an appeal by the weak against the unjust aggressions of the strong.” Quoted in: Dianne Avery, “Images of Violence in Labor Jurisprudence: The Regulation of Picketing and Boycotts, 1894- 1921,” Buffalo Law Review, Winter 1988-89, p25-26.
The Rules of the Esoteric Order of the Senate
Benjamin “the Beast” Butler
- Matt Christman’s “Inebriated Past”
The Political Stylings of Teddy Roosevelt
- Roosevelt is frequently cited as the first “imperial president” (a term coined by Arthur Schlesinger in 1973 and bandied about by historians ever since) for his willingness run roughshod over Congress on issues of war. But it should be noted that he had a much more gentlemanly approach to domestic issues that affected his friends in the business community, preferring backroom negotiations and gentleman’s agreements on issues of labor and monopoly. See: Gabriel Kolko, The Triumph of Conservatism: A Reinterpretation of American History, 1900-1916 (1963)
The Spanish Flu as an Explanation for 1920s Excesses
- For a sample of the many people making this idiotic argument, see: The Atlantic, “Prepare for the Roaring Twenties,” 5/21/2020; The Guardian, “Epidemiologist Looks to the Past to Predict Second Post-Pandemic Roaring 20s,” 12/21/2020; “Roaring 20s after the Pandemic? Big Banks Warn be Careful What You Wish For,” from “The Davos Agenda” section of CNBC’s website, 1/27/2021; and the more skeptical Politico, “Post-Covid America Isn’t Going to be Anything Like the Roaring ‘20s,” 3/18/2021.
The Dixiecrat Convention of 1948
- “The Dixiecrats Depart,” from the Backstory with the American History Guys podcast.
- See also: James Loewen and Edward Sebesta, The Confederate and Neo-Confederate Reader (2010)
Closing Song
Devo – Freedom of Choice
Listen to Our Previous Eps
- Jumbo Rising pt 1
- Jumbo Rising pt 2
- Jumbo Intermission pt 1
- On Harry Truman and the Start of the Cold War: Pt 1, Pt 2, Pt 3, Pt 4