By the time he attended New Jersey's Rutgers University, it was clear that Paul Robeson was an academic, athletic, and artistic prodigy. He also had the misfortune of having been born of African ancestry in the USA during 1898, at the low point of American race relations. After his aspiring legal career was scuttled by racism, Robeson participated in the Harlem Renaissance of Black culture, and he went into show business. He made his fame singing "Old Man River" in the musical "Showboat," and went on to become a star of stage and screen. He also became a left-wing political activist, promoting labor militancy and wealth redistribution in pursuit of global human equality. This got him into trouble by the time of the Red Scare. Although he was not a card-carrying Communist, unlike many other leftists of the era, Paul Robeson never stopped defending the Soviet Union. He did not accept reports that the USSR had fallen far short of its stated egalitarian ideals and had engaged in bloody repression of political dissidents. His views on this topic were criticized by both liberals and conservatives. By the end of a life spent dealing with both racial and political persecution, Robeson suffered poor mental & physical health, but his iconic acting and singing performances have left an indelible mark on American culture.

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The fifth episode in our series on the rise of the Kennedy family as a political dynasty begins by contrasting the anti-expert populist image of current HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. with the ethos of the mid-20th Century Kennedys, who were striving to be accepted by the Establishment. We then do a deep dive into the presidency of John F. Kennedy, discussing behind-the-scenes dramas, including: the president's marginalization of VP Lyndon B. Johnson; his attempts to manipulate and pressure the news media; his efforts to present an image of tough-minded pragmatism rather than sentimental idealism; his management of his hidden health problems; his reckless womanizing, including a likely affair with troubled actress Marilyn Monroe; and his schemes to ensure his brother Ted was elected to the US Senate during 1962. We conclude with a discussion of the fact that, although JFK & his administration had many positive accomplishments & legacies, the idealized "Camelot" image that some Baby Boomers maintain about his presidency is unrealistic, as Pres. Kennedy shared many of the flaws & hypocrisies common to other prominent politicians of this era.

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This end-of-year episode examines key US news events from the year 2025 and tries to put them into historical context. Issues discussed include: tariffs & their economic impact, mass deportations by ICE, the DOGE budget cuts, the "MAHA" movement, the Trump Administration's foreign policy, the aggressive use of executive power (including the pardoning of the J6ers), the Fall 2025 government shutdown, political violence (including the killing of Charlie Kirk), the partisan gerrymandering wars, and the Epstein files. We conclude by noting that the year 2025 has been largely a negative one for American society, but there are still a few reasons to keep hope alive.

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