Cars, Stars, and Rock 'n' Roll

Sidedoor

Smithsonian Institution

Zoo, National Museum, Postal Museum, Smithsonian, Society & Culture, Art19, National Zoo, Tony Cohn, Natural History, Dc, Exhibits, Museum, American History, Exhibit, History Of The World, African American History And Culture, History, Washington, Air And Space, Pop Culture, The Smithsonian, Sidedoor, Science

4.6 • 2.3K Ratings

🗓️ 22 January 2020

⏱️ 31 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III is no administrative assistant. He’s the head of the largest museum, education, and research complex in the world. He’s also the first historian to lead the Smithsonian. In our season finale, we talk with Secretary Bunch about two stories of people overcoming tremendous obstacles to make a change and explore what the past can teach us about today…and tomorrow.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is Side Door, a podcast from the Smithsonian with support from PRX. I'm Lizzy Peabody. A few weeks ago I sat down with my boss. Actually my bosses, bosses bosses boss
0:28.6	secretary Lonnie G bunch the third. Would you like for us to call you Secretary Bunch?
0:34.4	Lonnie?
0:35.4	Lonnie's OK?
0:36.4	All right.
0:37.2	This was an intimidating interview.
0:39.6	Not because Lonnie is hard to talk to.
0:41.6	He's actually really friendly.
0:42.8	Do you need more? Are you guys okay?
0:44.4	I'm all right, thank you.
0:45.8	And not even because of the location, Smithsonian headquarters on the National Mall in Washington,
0:51.4	D.C. This is the most regal place I've ever conducted in an interview.
0:55.0	Well, I must admit it, it is pretty special.
0:57.0	I mean, there is something about when you pull up and you're like,
1:00.0	okay, it's the castle.
1:02.0	It's an actual castle.
1:04.0	Built for the Smithsonian in the 1850s.
1:07.0	Red sandstone, turrets, flags, and all.
1:10.0	The only thing missing is a drawbridge.
1:12.0	And this interview is intimidating because as you may have begun to suspect
1:16.2	Lonnie is a big deal. So you are the Secretary of the Smithsonian. I think there might be people out there who might assume that a secretary is an
1:24.5	administrative assistant but that is not your job. Can you tell us what your
	...

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