Seeing Purpose in the Lives of Washington and Lincoln | Michael Medved with Stephen Meyer
The focus in this episode of Great Minds with Michael Medved is on a pair of giants, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, who dazzle the student of our country’s history with evidence of a special guidance at work at numerous key junctures in their lives. The outcome of two great conflicts, the Revolutionary War and the Civil War, seem to have turned, in remarkable ways, upon bizarre providential twists. The consequences have been profound not just for the United States but for the world.
An Electrifying Mind
Michael Medved is a nationally syndicated radio talk show host and bestselling author. His daily three hour show reaches 200 stations across the country and an audience of more than 4 million placing him, for nearly two decades, on the Talkers Magazine list of the top ten political talk shows in the United States. Born in Philadelphia, Michael attended public schools in San Diego and Los Angeles before starting Yale at age 16 as a National Merit Scholar. He majored in American History and graduated with honors, before attending Yale Law School, where his classmates included Bill and Hillary Clinton.
Video
Show Notes
Timestamps more closely approximate the audio than the video.
- 00:45 | Providence and the Invisible Hand in Washington’s first inaugural address
- 01:45 | George Washington’s survival in the Battle of the Monongahela at 23
- 02:12 | Samuel Davies sermon foreshadowing Washington’s auspicious future
- 04:18 | The one indispensable, indestructible man of the 18th century
- 05:50 | The twin pillars in the worldview of the Founders
- 06:58 | The single greatest creation by committee in history
- 07:39 | The only successful revolution in human history
- 08:37 | A common commitment to ennobling principles
- 08:50 | A sense of “doing the Lord’s work”, of partnership
- 10:05 | Lincoln’s self-understanding of being an instrument
- 10:45 | A deepening of faith in White House
- 11:05 | A spooky coincidence between the sons of Lincoln and John Wilkes Booth
- 12:30 | Lincoln’s death on Good Friday
- 12:36 | Lincoln’s dreams, and taking dreams seriously
- 13:42 | Lincoln’s (controversial) last words
- 14:17 | The Emancipation Proclamation and waiting for a sign
- 17:15 | “With this paper, I can beat Bobby Lee.”
- 18:04 | Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address
- 19:40 | Lincoln’s theodicy, offering a reason for the suffering of the Civil War