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This is Build for Tomorrow, a podcast about the things from history that shaped us and how we can shape the future.

I'm Jason Pfeiffer.

Consider the following details and tell me what year I'm talking about.

An American presidential election is coming, and it feels like the fate of the nation hangs in the balance.

A foreign power wants one of those candidates to win, so it begins to interfere in the election

by cleverly manipulating the greatest technology of the day. The people who run mainstream media

outlets are aware that this is going on, but cannot stop themselves from becoming pawns in

the manipulation

anyway. So, what year is this all happening? Well, 2016, obviously, in 2020 for sure, but also the year

1796. This was the first election after George Washington served his two terms, making it the first

contested election in American history. And it's also the first one in which political parties played a

role. The election was between incumbent vice president John Adams and former secretary of state

Thomas Jefferson. And the country doing the manipulation, the outside force that wanted to tilt the election in the favor of their guy was France.

Jefferson was their guy, and if Jefferson were to win, that that would be very good for them.

This is Jeffrey.

Jeffrey L. Pazley, a professor of history at the University of Missouri, an associate director of the Kinder Institute

on Constitutional Democracy. And Jeffrey says it was no secret why the French wanted Jefferson

to beat Adams. France was in the middle of the French Revolution and at war with much of Europe.

...