It’s March 28th. This day in 1796, President Washington cited executive privilege in refusing a request for documents from Congress. This started a long and messy tradition of presidents shielding their actions from oversight.

Jody, Niki, and Kellie are joined by historian Lindsay M. Chervinsky to discuss why Washington finally drew an oversight line — and how others have tried to move that line over the centuries since.

Lindsay Chervinsky’s book is The Cabinet: George Washington and the Creation of an American Institution. She is co-host of the podcast The Past, The Promise, The Presidency.

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And don’t forget about Oprahdemics, hosted by Kellie, coming soon from Radiotopia.

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Our team: Jacob Feldman, Researcher/Producer; Brittani Brown, Producer; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Julie Shapiro and Audrey Mardavich, Executive Producers at Radiotopia