Resultados Editorial "Charles River Editors" en Políticos

Citizens of the United States of America are very proud of their heritage; the country is known as the "land of opportunity" because of some self-made men who made a go of themselves in the country. When comparing the country to other places in the world, the United States is still a young country and was built on immigrants and disadvantaged people rising to the top and shaping the country into what it is today.

Best known as the 37th President of the United States, and the only president in American history to resign his office, Richard Nixon's lengthy political career would put him, during various times, at the center of regional, national and international politics for several decades. It was to be a career filled with unexpected twists and turns, high-profile defeats and unlikely resurrections, in which he made exhaustive efforts to reinvent himself in the public eye....

In 1832, 17-year-old Otto von Bismarck had just entered university and was already rejecting the republican indoctrination of his grade school years. Unlike so many of his day who had championed representative government, Bismarck longed for the glory of a nation he believed would only be found under a single, strong leader. Though his early university days showed him he would be isolated by this thinking, he strongly believed not only in the ideal of a national German state, but in its possibility.

Americans have long been fascinated by the Civil War, marveling at the size of the battles, the leadership of the generals, and the courage of the soldiers. Since the war's start over 150 years ago, the events have been subjected to endless debate among historians and the generals themselves. The Civil War was the deadliest conflict in American history, and had the two sides realized it would take four years and inflict over a million casualties, it might not have been fought.

The legend of Francisco Villa is full of heroism, tragedy and romance. It is the story of a poor farmer boy who became a bandit out of necessity, after avenging an injustice on his family; a military genius who flew from an oppressive government to lead the largest revolutionary army in his country's history, and defeated dictatorship to become Mexico's liberator, only to fall again in disgrace when his troops abandoned him or were massacred by the enemy.

A century ago, if one were to come across a manual laborer from the early 20th century or the Roaring Twenties and relayed to them the possibility of one day sticking it to the man, one would probably be laughed out of the century. However, this was exactly what one man with solid-gold aspirations and audacity set out to achieve. Jimmy Hoffa, once described by Bobby Kennedy as the second most powerful man in America, was a union boss who evoked both respect and fear.

Shortly after World War II, Congress' House Committee on Un-American Activities began investigating Americans across the country for suspected ties to Communism. The most famous victims of these witch hunts were Hollywood actors, such as Charlie Chaplin, whose "Un-American activity" was being neutral at the beginning of World War II. By the late 1950s, the hysteria had waned, recognized in large measure as an overreaction.

The late 19th and early 20th centuries in America had no shortage of political graft and powerful politicians, but few were as influential or conspicuous as the Kingfish, Huey P. Long. A populist Democrat who hoped to elevate the lower classes in Louisiana, Long accrued massive amounts of power during his governorship, in the process revolutionizing political campaigning.

One of the most important, and controversial, Confederate generals during the Civil War was Lieutenant General James Longstreet, the man Robert E. Lee called his "old war horse". Longstreet was Lee's principal subordinate for most of the war, ably managing a corps in the Army of Northern Virginia and being instrumental in Confederate victories at Second Bull Run, Fredericksburg, and Chickamauga. Longstreet was also effective at Antietam and the Battle of the Wilderness, where he was nearly killed by a shot through the neck.

A lot of ink has been spilled covering the lives of history's most influential figures, but how much of the forest is lost for the trees? In Charles River Editors' American Legends series, listeners can get caught up to speed on the lives of America's most important men and women in the time it takes to finish a commute, while learning interesting facts long forgotten or never known.

Clergymen rarely make good politicians. There is perhaps no better example of this than Father Charles Coughlin, a Depression-era priest-turned-demagogue who was seen as an angel by some and a devil by others. The same man who cruelly castigated the Jews also spoke eloquently on the needs and rights of the most downtrodden in society. The same orator who said, "Roosevelt or ruin", later cried, "Roosevelt and ruin." In the 1930s, his effective use of the radio revolutionized mass communications, and millions of people listened to his every word.

And what of Francis Scott Key, this brilliant lawyer who was born into slave-holding Maryland and himself held slaves even as he wrote of "the land of the free"? He was, to say the least, complex, as he at times fought in court both for and against slaves seeking their freedom. He was a founding member of an organization seeking to return captured slaves to their homelands, yet he also fought abolition tooth and claw. He seems to have been, like many men of his age, torn nearly to pieces by these contradictions.

Porter Alexander spent 1861 as an intelligence officer, and he served as part of a signal guard, but he soon became chief of ordnance for Joseph Johnston's army near Richmond. Half a year later, Johnston would be injured during the Peninsula Campaign at the Battle of Seven Pines, after which he was replaced by Robert E. Lee. Over the course of 1862, Porter Alexander took on more roles in the Army of Northern Virginia's artillery branch, particularly under James Longstreet's 1st Corps.

Chávez is one of the most divisive and controversial political figures in Latin American history. He has been in power since 1999 and is South America's longest serving head of state. The leader of the movement towards 21st century socialism, Chávez has sought to bring socialist reform to Venezuela through what he calls the Bolivarian Revolution. His goal has been to shift power from the nation's traditional oligarchy to the neglected poor.

While William Tweed was at one point among the wealthiest men in the country during the 19th century, he would die in prison thanks to the illegal accumulation of this wealth. Over the course of his time at Tammany Hall, he would steal millions of dollars from state taxpayers, and he was known for extorting large sums of money for political favors. He was finally brought down by the media in a crusade of sorts that would set the precedent for how the press would deal with political scandals for years to come.

Throughout the history of the Roman Empire, many rulers held the reins of ultimate power. Some of them, like Octavian, Trajan, Hadrian, Constantine, and Marcus Aurelius, are still celebrated and considered among antiquity’s great statesmen, generals and thinkers. Conversely, the Roman Empire also had its fair share of notorious villains, from the sadistic Nero to the debauched Commodus, and all of Rome’s poor rulers pale in comparison to the record and legacy of Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, a young man remembered by posterity as Caligula.

T.E. Lawrence, more popularly known as Lawrence of Arabia, was a seminal figure in the shaping and reshaping of the politics of Arabia in the early 20th century, serving as an expert in Arab affairs in the British military and playing a key role in the Great Arab Revolt of 1916-1918.

For much of the 20th century, South American governments in large part lived under a system of military junta governments. The mixture of indigenous peoples, foreign settlers and European colonial superpowers produced cultural and social imbalances into which military forces intervened as a stabilizing influence. The proactive personalities of military heads and the rigid structures of such a hierarchy guaranteed the "strong man" commanding officer an abiding presence in the form of executive dictator.

By the time Theodore Roosevelt died in 1919, he was an American icon. Today, Teddy is remembered for being an explorer, hunter, author, soldier, president, and safari adventurer, all of which combine into one unique reputation. As with all legends, Roosevelt is often portrayed more as a quintessential man's man, to the point that the legend obscures the actual man. History in 30: The Life of Theodore Roosevelt provides a quick but comprehensive look at the life of the famous president.

The butcher of the Alamo and Goliad. The traitor who sold half of Mexico. The Napoleon of the West. Mr. Fifteen Nails. The Mother Country's seducer. Almost 150 years after his death, a lot of name-calling is still being directed towards Antonio López de Santa Anna, president of Mexico 11 times in the 19th century, and today, the vast majority of his compatriots consider him the greatest traitor in history.