Major funding for backstory is provided by an anonymous donor, the National

Endowment for the Humanities, the University of Virginia, the Joseph and

Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation, and the Arthur Vining Davis foundations.

From the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, this is backstory.

Welcome to backstory, the show that explains the history behind today's

headlines. I'm Brian Ballot, and I'm Ed Ayers. Each week, Brian, Joanne Freeman,

Nathan Colley and I, all historians explore a topic that's been in the news.

Today, we're introducing a new format for backstory, the long form interview.

This is when one of us has an extended conversation with a prominent political

figure, writer, or newsmaker. Our guest this week is Carl Rove, probably the

most influential political strategist of his generation. Rove was the

architect of George W. Bush's successful campaigns for governor of Texas in

the 1990s. Then he ran Bush's two presidential campaigns and served as a senior

White House advisor from 2000s 2007. A Texas reporter who covered Rove actually

called him Bush's brain, but George W. Bush had his own nickname for his

advisor, Turd Blossom. Well, he actually had two boy genius and turd

Blossom and turd Blossom was when he knew I was right and he didn't want to admit it.

Then I would be turd Blossom. But it's a term of endearment if you live in Texas.

I mean, that's the flower that comes up in the middle of the cow patty in the

middle of nowhere. Little rain, little fertilizer, and up at pops. In addition to

his work for Bush, Carl Rove has advised more than 75 Republican candidates for

the U.S. Senate, Congress, and gubernatorial races across the U.S. He's also one

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