Understanding America: introducing the RAI’s podcast series

A podcast series from the Rothermere American Institute is seeking to shed light on the United States from the outside in.

In ‘The Last Best Hope?’, the RAI’s Director Professor Adam Smith talks to guests who are doing world-leading research on US politics and history.

Professor Adam Smith is an experienced media commentator on the BBC among other outlets, and the series has quickly developed a loyal following. 

He says: “We ask what forces have shaped the culture and politics of the US, how its role in the world has changed and what it might be in the future. Is America now, or has it ever been, the "last best hope of earth"? Probably not, but plenty of people have thought so. We try to understand why.”

The series’ title, ‘The Last Best Hope?’, is a reference to Abraham Lincoln’s message to Congress one month before the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation. 

The full quote is: "In giving freedom to the slave, we assure freedom to the free – honorable alike in what we give, and what we preserve. We shall nobly save, or meanly lose, the last best hope of earth."

Professor Smith says: “This is the classic formulation of the powerful and enduring idea that America matters because of what it stands for. It is a reminder of the importance of knowing how the rest of the world has seen America, as well as how America has seen the rest of the world, a task that is easier with the sense of perspective and context that is possible from Oxford. The question mark matters: on this podcast we don't swallow the Lincolnian claim to exceptionalism, but we do take it seriously.

Guests have included Annette Gordon-Reed, Eric Foner, Richard Carwardine, Heather Cox Richardson, Rachel Shelden, Ty Seidule, Erik Rauchway, Richard Blackett, Devin Fergus and many others

You can listen to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and Spotify. 

You can also follow the Twitter account, @TLBHpodcast, for updates on new episodes, and read more about the podcast on the RAI's website.