Matters of Policy & Politics

Lee Harvey Oswald Was My Friend Featuring Paul Gregory

In November 1963 Paul Gregory’s family resided in Fort Worth, Texas. As members of the city’s Russian immigrant community, they befriended Lee and Marina Oswald. Gregory recounts his time in the company of JFK’s assassin, possible motivations for Oswald’s committing the crime, and why he doesn’t buy into the many conspiracy theories surrounding the events in Dallas. Paul Gregory is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution. Did you like the show? Please rate, review, and subscribe! (Playing time: 32:28)

The Future of Germany Featuring Russell Berman

The good news for Angela Merkel is to be re-elected to a fourth term as German chancellor. The bad news is fashioning a working coalition of political parties divided over taxes, immigration, and climate policy. Hoover Institution senior fellow Russell Berman examines the options available to Germany’s chancellor, including any changes to her roles on the European and world stages. Did you like the show? Please rate, review, and subscribe! (Playing time: 37:25)

Hoover Fellow Doug Rivers Breaks Down the Virginia Election

A year after Donald Trump’s improbable win, voters went to the polls in Virginia to elect a new governor—a contest that was, in part, a referendum on Trump’s nascent presidency. Hoover senior fellow and renowned pollster Doug Rivers breaks down the Old Dominion vote and what the results say about the effectiveness of Republican and Democratic messaging on the verge of the 2018 midterm elections. Did you like the show? Please rate, review, and subscribe! (Playing time: 54:47)

Hamilton—the Man, the Myth —the Donald?

Lionized in print and on theater stages, Alexander Hamilton is a curious bookend for a new president who likewise calls Manhattan home, is steeped in capitalism, and uses the media to joust with his rivals. Elizabeth Cobbs, a Hoover Institution senior fellow and author of The Hamilton Affair: A Novel, separates fact from fiction regarding the famed Founding Father. Did you like the show? Please rate, review, and subscribe! (Playing time: 56:19)

Of Patents, Trump, and Trolls Featuring Stephen Haber

The United States is tenth in the world among nations’ protecting intellectual property. In 2016 US patent applications declined by one percent. Stephen Haber, the Hoover Institution’s Peter and Helen Bing Senior Fellow, examines a patent landscape that includes Big Pharma, Big Tech, legal trolls, and Keanu Reeves–like actors. He also offers a few suggestions for how the Trump administration can shield and spur American innovation. Did you like the show? Please rate, review, and subscribe! (Playing time: 43:16)

Let’s Get This Party Started Featuring Lanhee Chen

America’s GOP dominates at all levels of government—state legislative, gubernatorial, congressional, presidential—yet Republicans have struggled, quite publicly, to come to terms with the party’s direction during the era of Trump. Lanhee Chen, the Hoover Institution’s David and Diane Steffy Research Fellow, discusses the Republican identity crisis, the lingering effects on the GOP brand, and the party’s ability to produce change in Washington. Did you like the show? Please rate, review, and subscribe! (Playing time: 50:46)

Trump’s Energy Strategy, the Nuclear Option, featuring Jeremy Carl

Recorded on October 6, 2017 A new administration means a new approach to federal energy approach, in the case of Donald Trump’s presidency, a new look at nuclear energy. Hoover research fellow Jeremy Carl, coauthor of Keeping the Lights on at America’s Nuclear Power Plants, examines the choices available to Trump on clean, green, and fossil energies. Did you like the show? Please rate, review, and subscribe! (Playing time: 41:45)

American Attitudes toward Immigration featuring Tim Kane

Recorded on September 28, 2017 As Congress and the White House wrestle over immigration reform—funding for a border wall, protecting Dreamers—what is the public’s attitude? Timothy Kane, the Hoover Institution’s J. P Conte Fellow in Immigration Studies, highlights the findings of a new Hoover/YouGov survey on immigration and which policy ideas enjoy consensus approval. Did you like the show? Please rate, review, and subscribe! (Playing time: 41:10)

Is Entitlement Reform Possible? Featuring John Cogan

It’s a tradition dating back to the Founding Fathers: the American government financing safeguards, be it retirement (Social Security), health benefits (Medicare), or rewards for military service in the form of federal entitlements. In an age of debt and deficits, when will lawmakers address entitlement reform? John Cogan, Hoover’s Leonard and Shirley Ely Senior Fellow and author of a new book on the long history of federal entitlements, assesses where the Trump administration goes from here. Did you like the show? Please rate, review, and subscribe! (Playting time: 40:41)

The Geopolitics of China and North Korea

Recorded on September 26, 2017 The largest nation on the other side of the Pacific Rim plays an outsized role in economic and geopolitical matters, including trade, global aspirations, and finding a solution to the escalating tensions with North Korea. Michael Auslin, Hoover’s inaugural Williams-Griffis Fellow in Contemporary Asia, discusses just how communist China is, decades after Mao and the changed state of US relations with Donald Trump in the White House. Did you like the show? Please rate, review, and subscribe! (Playing time: 49:45)