Is Churchill America’s Hero? (ft. Sean McMeekin)

First Things Podcast

First Things

Religion & Spirituality

4.5 • 727 Ratings

🗓️ 23 April 2026

⏱️ 57 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this episode, Sean McMeekin joins R. R. Reno on The Editor's Desk to talk about his recent essay, “Goodbye to the Postwar Consensus” from the April 2026 issue of the magazine.

Transcript

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0:00.0	The truth never goes out of style, and First Things relies on readers like you to keep promoting
0:05.3	the truth in public life. For the price of one cup of coffee per month, you can access all our
0:10.7	subscriber perks and support the important work of First Things. Visit Firstthings.com
0:15.8	slash subscribe to gain full access to all of our articles as well as our prestigious monthly print edition.
0:22.1	That's first things.com slash subscribe.
0:30.3	Hello, welcome to the editor's desk.
0:32.8	This is the podcast where we take a closer look at the essays and articles in the latest print issue of First
0:38.5	Things Magazine. I'm Rusty Reno. I'm the editor of First Things Magazine, and I'm here with you
0:44.4	today at the editor's desk. I'd like to welcome Sean McMeekin to the podcast. He's the author of
0:53.9	Goodbye to the Post-War Consensus from the April 26 issue.
1:00.6	And Sean teaches history at Bard College and is the author of Stalin's War, which I think is the best book of revisionist history of World War II
1:12.2	that's been published certainly in the last decade.
1:16.6	So I strongly recommend Stalin's War to listeners.
1:19.9	That's how I came upon your work, Sean.
1:23.0	Welcome to the podcast.
1:24.4	Thanks for having me on.
1:25.6	It's a great honor.
1:27.3	Okay, so goodbye to the post-war consensus.
1:31.4	I guess the big thing here is the figure who looms so large in the conservative imagination is Winston Churchill.
1:40.8	Do you think that he is not an auspicious role model for American statesman in the 21st century?
1:51.5	What have we got against Winston Churchill?
1:56.2	What do I have against Winston Churchill?
	...

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