About this episode:
There are some sixteen accounts about the life of the President of the Confederacy. Unlike his counterpart, Abraham Lincoln, this President, from the perspective of most historians, has not fared well. Brittle, ill-tempered, one who held grudges, possessed poor political skills. In short, a second-rate leader who loved bureaucracy and was unable to grow with responsibility. When asked why the Confederacy lost the war, Southern-born David Potter, a professor of history at both Yale and Stanford Universities, commented that this Chief Executive should shoulder much of the blame. Writing some two decades ago, another historian and biographer, William Cooper, Jr., wrote that we should look at a man from his time and not condemn him for not being a man of our time. Though that seems to fly in the face of current sensitivities and agendas, that is what we, now, shall attempt to do. This is the story of a man, like Robert E. Lee, who is a marquee figurehead for a short-lived nation whose Constitution supported states’ rights and slavery. A man subjected to the bolts of lightning flung his way for being its elected leader. This is the story of the first and only President of the Confederate States of America, Jefferson F. Davis.
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Some Characters Mentioned In This Episode:
Joseph Davis
Franklin Pierce
Howell Cobb
William L. Yancey
Leonidas Polk
Braxton Bragg
For Further Reading:
Jefferson Davis, American by William J. Cooper, Jr.
Get The Guide:
Want to learn more about the Civil War? A great place to start is Fred's guide, The Civil War: A History of the War between the States from Workman Publishing. The guide is in its 9th printing.
Producer: Dan Irving
Thank you to our sponsor Bob Graesser, Raleigh Civil War Round Table's editor of The Knapsack newsletter and the Round Table's webmaster at http://www.raleighcwrt.org
073 - The Confederacy's Last First Lady: Varina Howell Davis
072 - The Dawning Of A New Age: The Fight Between The USS Monitor and the CSS Virginia
071 - Edwin McMasters Stanton: Lincoln's "Unloved" Secretary Of War
070 - Combatting The Invisible Enemy: Medicine During The Civil War
069 - Fredericksburg Revisited
068 - The Confederacy’s Last Salvo - The Career of the CSS Shenandoah
067 - Return to the ”Daughter of the Stars” - The Valley Campaign of 1864
066 - Waging War: Strategy, Tactics, Arms and Technology in the American Civil War
065 - The Soldier’s Friend: Clara Barton
064 - Taking Down The Citadel: The Siege of Vicksburg
063 - Then And Now: The Lost Cause
062 - ”...Hell Can’t Beat That Terrible Scene”: Spotsylvania Court House
061 - Duty, Honor, Countries: The West Point Class of 1846
060 - Desperate Times, Desperate Battle: The Battle Of Bentonville
059 - Connecting The Coasts: The Building Of The Transcontinental Railroad
058 - Breaking The Chains: The Passage Of The 13th Amendment
056 - Abraham Lincoln: Commander-In-Chief
055 - Bound To Duty: The Post-War Life Of Robert E. Lee
054 - ”The River of Death”: The Battle Of Chickamauga
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