Nixon (feat. Nicole Hemmer)
Unclear and Present Danger
Jamelle Bouie
4.7 • 660 Ratings
🗓️ 13 November 2023
⏱️ 86 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
For this week’s episode, Jamelle and John watched Oliver Stone’s 1995 dramatization of the life and career of President Richard M. Nixon, appropriately titled “Nixon.” Like Stone’s other mid-century political film, “JFK,” it stars a murderer’s row of A-listers and character actors: Anthony Hopkins, Joan Allen, Ed Harris, Bob Hoskins, Paul Sorvino, Mary Steenburgen, James Woods, Powers Boothe, Tony Goldwyn, J.T. Walsh and many, many others.
To talk “Nixon” we were joined by the great Nicole Hemmer, an associate professor of history and director of the Rogers Center for the American Presidency at Vanderbilt University, the author of two great books on conservative politics, and one of the co-hosts of the PastPresent podcast.
You can find “Nixon” to rent or stream on iTunes or Amazon Prime. The tagline for “Nixon” is “Triumphant in Victory, Bitter in Defeat. He changed the world, but lost a nation.”
Connor Lynch produced this episode. Artwork by Rachel Eck.
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The next episode of the podcast will be on John Woo’s first American feature, “Broken Arrow.”
And join the Unclear and Present Patreon! For just $5 a month, patrons get access to a bonus show on the films of the Cold War. Our latest episode is on “The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover,” written and directed by Larry Cohen.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | It is the story of two men at war with one another. |
| 0:11.8 | One was an idealistic man. |
| 0:16.2 | The other was cold, vindictive. |
| 0:21.6 | One man always remembered his humble roots. |
| 0:26.6 | The other was blinded by arrogance and ambition. |
| 0:32.6 | One man was twice elected president of the United States. |
| 0:41.3 | The other left the office in disgrace. One man changed the world. |
| 0:45.3 | The other lost a nation. |
| 0:52.3 | Anthony Hopkins in an Oliver Stone film, Nixon. |
| 0:58.0 | Nixon. Welcome to Unclear and Present Danger, a podcast about the political and military thrillers of the 1990s and what they say about the politics of that decade. |
| 1:36.9 | I'm Jamel Bowie. I'm a columnist for the New York Times opinion section. |
| 1:39.7 | I'm John Gans. I write the substack newsletter on popular front, and I'm the author of a book, |
| 1:47.0 | forthcoming book about American politics in the early 1990s. I also have a cold, |
| 1:52.4 | a little bit of a cold, so if I sound strange, that's why. As we keep saying, every time you |
| 1:57.9 | mention the book, if you're interested in reading the book, you should go to your local bookstore. |
| 2:03.7 | If you have a Barnes & Noble nearby, like whatever, and like pre-order it because the pre-orders really, really are important. |
| 2:09.5 | They really count. |
| 2:11.4 | It's buying the book when it's out as nice, but the pre-orders are the things that are really crucial. |
| 2:16.7 | Yeah, please. |
| 2:18.2 | Do it. crucial. Yeah, please. Do it. |
| 2:20.8 | Help. |
| 2:29.8 | For this week's episode, we watched Oliver Stone's 1995 dramatization of the life and career, |
... |
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