A Fun History Podcast, This American President

Links: 

• Podcast Consultation Form 
• This American President Website  
• This American President on Spotify  
• Washington’s Farewell Address Episode 
• Clint Hill Interview Episode 

When I listen to this week’s podcast, it helps me to stretch my thinking muscles and consider history in new ways. It’s called This American President. This history podcast helps you learn about United States history in a way that you may not have in the past.

The American President team describes the show like this, this American President delves into the lives and legacies of us presidents through long form stories and interviews. It will challenge the way you look at American history. The length of each episode is about 45 minutes to an hour.

Podcast Consultations

I’ve been able to talk to some amazing podcasters about their shows while doing interviews for the friendly podcast guide. Along the way, I’ve learned so many tips and tricks on how to start a podcast from personal experience and from the hosts I’ve interviewed. I’ve talked to them about what made their launch successful and what made it more difficult. I for sure know what I would do differently if I could go back and launch my show again.

Now I want to share my knowledge with you. I’m offering podcast consults and I have a couple of spots open in the next month. If you need help nailing down your podcast idea, figuring out your niche, or any other podcast questions, I would love to work with you to make your show’s launch the best it can be.

If you’re interested in working with me, fill out the intake form in the show notes. I can’t wait to make a podcast plan that is tailored to you and your podcast, and we’ll make your launch as smooth and successful as possible.  

Bringing Passion to a Podcast

My name is Richard Lim and I am the host of This American President. I was always that history nerd. I was the person in a group of friends who always throws in something hopefully interesting about history, usually unsolicited historical information. Reading history has been something I enjoyed since my mom took me to a library when I was eight years old. California is where I am originally from and I lived in the Washington D. C. area for many years. I loved seeing all the history out there. I ended up coming back to California and started this history podcast in 2017.  We’ve done pretty well. I would say that it exceeded my personal expectations and led to a lot of great opportunities. 

All of it was really driven by my passion. I had a job about six years ago that I wasn’t very happy in. You try to stay sane in those situations and one way for me was to start a history podcast. It’s one of those things where I thought, what’s the point of learning all this stuff if you couldn’t share it with people? So that’s why I started a history podcast. 

Basketball is another one of my passions. I’m married to the most wonderful woman I know. I’m very blessed and they all support me in this history nerd passion of mine. 

Starting this History Podcast

When I lived in Washington, D. C., I had that I loved and I had jobs that I didn’t like just like anyone else.

The whole time, my passion was always history.  I had a job at one point that I was told I would be doing something  related to my skill set, but it really wasn’t. I had a buddy at the time who listened to a lot of podcasts. He has a really good feel for what is interesting and compelling. He’s very familiar with the podcast landscape and he ended up becoming my producer, Michael Neal. Michael been such a big part of this podcast. He and I rented space at a library and borrowed a microphone from a friend and that’s how it happened.

We started getting this response about our history podcast. People liked it. it’s about history and it’s best to not teach it as names and dates. It’s best to teach it as stories of people because that’s really all it is. Who doesn’t like a good story? All it takes is for someone to convey that story in an interesting way. We’re talking about stories and telling those stories. 

Obtaining Wisdom

One thing that I’m personally obsessed with is the concept of wisdom. Wisdom is something that I think is very valuable. It’s the way we live our lives. Wisdom is something that can improve your life in so many ways. It’s usually hard earned. We go through life and we make mistakes and we get wisdom from that. History, when you think about it, is so full of lessons that can convey wisdom. 

One of my favorite quotes is actually about reading and it says that the person who reads lives a thousand lives. If you read, you are looking at the world through another person’s eyes, and you’re looking at something beyond your own experience. All of us have experiences in life and all of us have just a little sliver of experiences in the universe. No two people’s experiences are alike and yet the same laws of nature and the same laws of physics and all those things apply to everyone.

We all are experiencing similar things and we all can learn from the wisdom that other people provide. Why limit that wisdom just to the people around you? Why not get wisdom from all from the ages. As a country, especially our country, which is a republic and depends on the people making good choices, you need history to be able to make good choices.

I’m not saying that history gives you clear cut answers, but it sure informs you and helps you. It shows you some things that worked and some things that didn’t work. History tells you the meaning behind things. That’s really what’s behind this podcast, all of this is wisdom and just promoting that.

History is Memories

Another quote I love is, history is to a nation, the way memory is to a person. A person can’t function without memory. It’s impossible. If you try to function without memory, you’re essentially blind. For a country to not know its history and make tough choices without having memory of the past, that’s dangerous.

A lot of my episodes are interviews where I like to get a story out of the interviewee. There are also podcast episodes where I just do the speaking. I give the monologue and essentially I try to make it as if I’m talking to the person. When I’m in a group of friends, I love saying, did you know that X, Y, Z? Or I share something surprising about history. 

I hope that’s the vibe I give off in my podcast. A sense of intellectual curiosity and amazement or wonder about history. I want them to feel my passion and enthusiasm for history. 

Connect With Me

Anywhere that you listen to podcasts. We have a website, This American President, you could go there. You can also go into your podcast app and look up This American President, we’ll be there. We have social media accounts and we’re trying to post more. My wife is really good at that stuff. She’s actually having me do more of it. She’s having me do book giveaways because I have tons of books that I use for this podcast. I’m trying to get more followers and doing this book giveaway there too. 

America’s First President

The first one is one that’s personally important to me because it covers the subject I’m most interested in. Our listeners know that I’m obsessed with George Washington, he’s my favorite historical figure. When people say who’s your favorite president, they want to hear someone kind of unique. But George Washington, he’s my favorite.

One thing that always amazed me about him is that he could have stayed in power the rest of his life. He could have been the most powerful man in the United States, but he left power, which is an incredible thing.

I did an episode basically on that story. The story ends with him leaving power, resigning his position. It talks about everything that led up to that and how he prevented a potential coup. The podcast talks about how he upheld civilian authority and  it’s the reason why today we have elections every two to four years. It all started with that. So that’s my favorite. 

Secret Service Stories

The episode that makes me proudest in terms of the guest that I got was with Clint Hill. Clint Hill was the Secret Service agent that was closest to President Kennedy when he was shot.

That was actually how I got interested in presidents in the first place, because there’d been all these documentaries about the Kennedy assassination. When I was a kid, I got hooked on it. To be able to get Clint Hill was amazing. First of all, he’s an American hero. He served our country as a Secret Service agent for years. Being able to interview him was just an incredible honor. It was amazing to be able to tell his story. I hope I showed his story not in a way that rehashes all the usual stuff, cause he’s had to talk about the assassination so much, but I wanted to showcase his whole story, not just that.

A History Podcast That Is Friendly for All Ages

We don’t have any gratuitous language or vulgarity, anything like that. We don’t like to cover explicit topics. The only one I would, I would say that you might be a little careful with a series on the Spanish American War. One of the episodes was a very personal one for me because I’m a proud American person of Filipino descent. That episode covered the war between the United States and the Philippines, the two countries I love most going to war against each other.  In that episode I got a little bit graphic about how bad the war was. It was a horrific war. 

Providing Opportunities

I’m very grateful to anyone that listens to our history podcast. The fact that anyone would care what I have to say or that you would give me an hour of your day to listen, it means a lot.

I’ve been able to enjoy some pretty cool experiences because of the podcast. I got invited to a few different programs to speak and being able to speak here on this podcast. I feel very grateful for that and grateful for the listeners and grateful that you’d have me on.