Warning: This episode contains a brief description of violence. 

Andrew Jackson ascends to the presidency after defeating John Quincy Adams in an 1828 rematch. But Jackson is tested by another rival: his own vice president.  Meanwhile, Adams arrives in Congress and finds himself in the middle of the slavery debate.

Founding Son is a Curiosity Podcast and is a co-production of iHeart Podcasts and School of Humans. 

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A contentious 1824 presidential election and accusations of a “corrupt bargain” by rival Andrew Jackson raise the stakes for John Quincy Adams as he prepares to take the office his father held just two decades earlier.

Founding Son is a Curiosity Podcast and is a co-production of iHeart Podcasts and School of Humans. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As the conspiracy to overthrow the United States government rushes from idea to action, Major General Smedley Butler draws a line in the sand. From what he can tell, the country’s most powerful people have both the money and the political will to betray their own nation. And he knows the plotters' mercenary army could outnumber U.S. forces. Smedley orders a pizza and then blows the whistle, triggering a Congressional investigation.

Yet, it seems, Smedley forgot one important thing: the shadowy forces plotting the coup may have already bought Congress.

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Alex and Ben have done their best to be fair and objective in their exploration of the coup, but one Marine objects. In this week’s episode, Smedley Butler (played by Joe Kinosian) takes the mic to tell the story from his perspective. Looking back on his career as a hard-nosed death-dealer for Big Business, Smedley wonders: What led him to this point? Where will he go next?

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The MySpace era was incredibly influential, and incredibly messy. And it remains largely underexplored. Young people talk about MySpace like a cool scene they wish they could have experienced. Like CBGB, or Studio 54.

But before we get into the experiences that users had — from bored teens to up-and-coming musicians to soldiers stationed abroad — let’s start at the very beginning. Because MySpace does not have a typical Silicon Valley origin story.  Special thanks to our guests Julie Angwin (author of Stealing MySpace) and Taylor Lorenz (author of the forthcoming Extremely Online). You can share your MySpace story with Joanne McNeil on Twitter @jomc.

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You may say time machines don’t exist… but this week iHeart sends Ben and Alex back to the 1930’s for a gut-busting, guided tour of the dark, smoky rooms where a clandestine crew of ultra-wealthy schemers concocted the Business Plot. Our hosts consult with a cavalcade of sketchy historical figures, leading Ben and Alex to begin connecting the dots of the grand conspiracy.

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While history books and Hollywood like their stories in simple black and white, real life is much more complicated. So, what made Major General Butler the ideal candidate to lead a coup? In this week’s episode – against Smedley’s wishes – Ben and Alex dive into the Major General’s dark backstory to explore why the bankers believed he was the man they were looking for.

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Nowadays, most people can agree that fascism is, well, a bad thing. But back in the 1930s, life absolutely sucked for most Americans, and fascism still had a sort of new car smell. Wall Street bankers were convinced they could take their country back from the clutches of ‘class traitors’ like Roosevelt, sink the New Deal and put the United States on a better – meaning more profitable – path. 

They had the money. They had an army. Now all they needed was a leader.

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