For today’s episode in Politics on Trial it’s two trials for the price of one, which between them changed the course of British and Irish history. In 1889 the leading Irish politician Charles Parnell was cleared of any involvement in the notorious Phoenix Park murders by Irish republican terrorists seven years earlier. In 1890 Parnell was found to be the adulterer in a divorce case involving his mistress and her husband. That scandal destroyed him, permanently split the campaign for Irish self-government and upended Liberal politics in Britain. How did Parnell come to have such a hold on British and Irish politics? Why could he survive accusations of terrorism but not of adultery? And what does his fate reveal about the high-wire politics of a highly decorous and extremely dangerous age?
For all the information about our autumn season of screenings and live recordings, 'Films of Ideas', and to book tickets, go to our website: https://www.ppfideas.com/events
Next Time: Now and Then w/Robert Saunders: Whatever Happened to Full Employment?
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58:54
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58:54
Politics on Trial: The Haymarket Eight vs the Police
Today’s political trial is one of the most notorious in American history: eight men charged with and convicted of murder in 1886 for a terrorist outrage that none of them committed. A bomb had been thrown at the police during a workers’ rally in Chicago but this trial was not about punishing the person who threw it. Rather it was a witch hunt of the men and the movement that were thought to have inspired it. Anarchism was put on trial and condemned in the Haymarket case. Who promoted and who resisted the invasion of paranoia and conspiracy theories into an American courtroom? And was it anarchists or was it the forces of law and order that were ultimately responsible for Chicago’s descent into violence and retribution?
For all the information about our autumn season of screenings and live recordings, 'Films of Ideas', and to book tickets, go to our website: https://www.ppfideas.com/events
Next time in Politics on Trial: Charles Parnell vs the English
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57:11
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57:11
Politics on Trial: John Brown vs Slavery
Today’s great political trial concerns the prosecution and execution of John Brown in 1859 for his raid on Harper’s Ferry in the attempt to free America’s slaves, an event that helped precipitate the American Civil War. It was also a trial that produced three of the greatest speeches in American history: by Brown himself, by Henry Thoreau and by Frederick Douglass, which between them constitute an indictment of slavery for the ages. How did one man’s unilateral declaration of war convulse an entire nation? And how did his trial confirm what was becoming increasingly clear: that a house divided against itself cannot stand?
For all the information about our autumn season of screenings and live recordings, 'Films of Ideas', and to book tickets, go to our website: https://www.ppfideas.com/events
Next time in Politics on Trial: The Haymarket Eight vs the Police
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58:23
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58:23
Politics on Trial: Aaron Burr vs the Constitution
For today’s epic political trial, David talks to American historian and PPF regular Gary Gerstle about the treason trial of Aaron Burr in 1807. Why was Burr not put on trial for killing Alexander Hamilton in a duel? Was Burr really planning to invade Mexico or was it a set-up? Why was President Thomas Jefferson so determined to bring Burr down? Why was Supreme Court Chief Justice Thomas Marshall so determined to prevent that from happening? And why did being acquitted of treason still end Burr’s career once and for all?
For all the information about our autumn season of screenings and live recordings, 'Films of Ideas', and to book tickets, go to our website: https://www.ppfideas.com/events
Next time in Politics on Trial: John Brown vs Slavery
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55:25
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55:25
Politics on Trial: Louis XVI vs the People
Today’s epoch-making political trial concerns the interrogation, conviction and execution of Louis XVI at the heart of the French Revolution in 1792-3. For many at the time and since this event had powerful echoes of the trial and execution of Charles I - but in fact the trial of Louis was very different in almost every way. Why and how did Louis choose to defend himself? Was he condemned because he was a king or because he was no longer a king? Was the decision to send him to the guillotine really only decided by one vote out of more than seven hundred? And who won in the court of history?
Out now on PPF+: Part 2 of David’s conversation with Alexander Douglas about the pitfalls of the search for identity, from Silicon Valley to ‘impostor syndrome’. To get this and all our bonus episodes plus ad-free listening sign up now to PPF+ https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus
For all the information about our autumn season of screenings and live recordings, 'Films of Ideas', and to book tickets, go to our website: https://www.ppfideas.com/events
Next time in Politics on Trial: Aaron Burr vs the Constitution w/Gary Gerstle
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Past Present Future is a bi-weekly History of Ideas podcast with David Runciman, host and creator of Talking Politics, exploring the history of ideas from politics to philosophy, culture to technology. David talks to historians, novelists, scientists and many others about where the most interesting ideas come from, what they mean, and why they matter.
Ideas from the past, questions about the present, shaping the future.
New episodes every Thursday and Sunday.
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