The Serve to Lead podcast includes conversations with a range of thinkers and doers on major issues of the day. The common theme is advancing our shared American national identity and narrative. James Strock writes ‘The New Nationalist’ at Substack. <br/><br/><a href="https://jamesstrock.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast">jamesstrock.substack.com</a>
Serve to Lead® | James Strock
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The Serve to Lead podcast includes conversations with a range of thinkers and doers on major issues of the day. The common theme is advancing our shared American national identity and narrative. James Strock writes ‘The New Nationalist’ at Substack. <br/><br/><a href="https://jamesstrock.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast">jamesstrock.substack.com</a>
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Recent Episodes
June 21, 2026
James Tyson Currie | 'Missouri Mule: How Harry Truman’s Stubbornness and Determination Helped Win World War II and Led Him to the Presidency'
<p>James Tyson Currie combines academic rigor with the savvy garnered from experience in government to illuminate a critical, little-explored turn of American history: <a target="_blank" href="https://amzn.to/4v0JDWe">Missouri Mule: How Harry Truman’s Stubbornness and Determination Helped Win World War II and Led Him to the Presidency.</a></p><p>In four short years Senator Harry Truman ascended from back-bench obscurity to nomination as Franklin Roosevelt’s third and final vice president. Initially dismissed as the product of a notorious political machine, Truman distinguished himself in overseeing the operations of the unprecedented “arsenal of democracy.” His reputation for personal probity was bolstered by savvy in dealing with other political actors. </p><p>In this wide-ranging discussion, Currie discusses Truman’s complicated relationship with FDR, his effectiveness in the Senate, and the enduring role of personal character in our politics. He makes the case for why Harry Truman still matters—eight decades since his consequential presidency played an indispensable role in the creation of the postwar world order.</p><p><strong>Publisher’s Summary</strong></p><p>On February 3, 1940, Harry S Truman, a freshman Senator from Missouri, held a press conference to announce that he would run for reelection. Truman also said that year that President Franklin Delano Roosevelt should not run for a third term as president because, in Truman’s words, “There is no indispensable man in a democracy.” </p><p>Roosevelt ignored Truman’s admonition, secured the Democratic nomination, and ran successfully for a third term. Roosevelt punished Truman by pitting the White House political apparatus against him in the Missouri Democratic Senate primary. His plot to defeat Truman failed, however, and Truman was reelected. </p><p>Four years later, Roosevelt chose Truman as his running mate, a decision that led directly to Truman’s becoming president when Roosevelt unexpectedly died only eighty-two days into his fourth term. </p><p>Why, then, did FDR choose Truman over all others? The answer to that question is the primary subject of Missouri Mule, prize-winning author James Currie’s new book, which traces Truman’s rise from Senate backbencher in 1940 to Roosevelt’s running mate in 1944. </p><p>As secondary—and intriguing—themes, this book draws upon extensive original research in the National Archives to expose massive Army and Navy wartime bungling and wastefulness and reveals how some U.S. corporations were more interested in increasing shareholder dividends and corporate profits than in providing the quality materiel needed to defeat the Nazis and the Japanese. As chair of the primary Senate oversight committee that investigated our country’s World War II defense build-up and expenditures, Harry Truman displayed all the best characteristics of the Missouri mules he had worked with as a young man on his farm: the stubbornness and determination that helped us win the war and made him one of our best presidents.</p><p><strong>Critical Acclaim</strong></p><p>“An amazing job of research and the writing is clear and precise ... scrupulous in not going beyond the evidence and avoiding idle speculation ... I’m sure the book will get a favorable reception.” <strong>—James M. McPherson, George Henry Davis ’86 Professor of American History Emeritus, Princeton University; Pulitzer Prize for History for </strong><strong>Battle Cry of Freedom</strong><strong> (1989)</strong></p><p>“This is an impressive work. James Currie has organized the book around issues where the committee’s investigations led to significant improvements in the American war effort: jolting the Army out of bureaucratic intransigence; compelling the Navy to adopt civilian-designed ships; forcing defense contractors to make improvements to military equipment; and even improving the morale of soldiers in their camps.” <strong>—Donald A. Ritchie, Historian Emeritus of the U.S. Senate</strong></p><p>“A masterful account of a key episode in American history—Harry Truman’s leadership of the key Senate committee investigating government expenditures for World War II. This book provides an important and fascinating addition to our understanding of how the federal government operated during this historic conflict and gives valuable insights into the folkways of Congress, the realities of American politics, the functioning of the media, and the rise of Truman to the top of American politics as he became Franklin D. Roosevelt’s vice president and successor. The research is meticulous; the writing is lucid, and the storytelling is vivid and entertaining.” <strong>—Kenneth T. Walsh, longtime </strong><strong>U.S. News & World Report</strong><strong> White House correspondent, past president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, and author of ten books about the presidency</strong></p><p><strong>About the Author</strong></p><p>James Tyson “Jim” Currie grew up in Jackson, Mississippi, and graduated summa cum laude from the University of Mississippi with majors in history and political science. He then attended the University of Virginia, from which he received his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in history. Dr. Currie is also a graduate of the Army’s Command and General Staff College and the Defense Department’s Industrial College of the Armed Forces, now the Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy. He taught history at Mississippi College, Millsaps College, Jackson State University, and the Industrial College of the Armed Forces at National Defense University. </p><p>He was the first Historian of the U.S. Department of Education and Associate Historian of the House of Representatives. He worked for Senator Lloyd M. Bentsen, Jr. as speechwriter, legislative assistant (defense and foreign policy), and staff member on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. While on the SSCI staff, he also worked for Senators David Boren and John Glenn. Dr. Currie served a total of thirty years, active and reserve, in the U.S. Army, retiring with the rank of Colonel. His military awards include the Legion of Merit, four awards of the Meritorious Service Medal, and the Army Parachute Badge. His last assignment was with the Army’s Office of Legislative Liaison. </p><p>Currie is the author of five books and twenty-five articles, one of which was awarded the Charles Thomson Prize by the National Archives/Southern Historical Association. He is a longtime member of SAG-AFTRA (AFL-CIO) and has appeared as a background performer in the television series House of Cards and Homeland. Currie lives in Fairfax County, Virginia, with his wife Janis. They have one son, Matthew, who practices as a clinical psychologist in Maryland.</p><p><p>The New Nationalist™ is an independent, non-partisan publication advocating political reform. Your support makes this project possible and is greatly appreciated.</p></p><p><strong>Image Credit | </strong>Author photograph, via James Tyson Currie. </p> <br/><br/>Get full access to The New Nationalist at <a href="https://jamesstrock.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4">jamesstrock.substack.com/subscribe</a>
June 4, 2026
Michael Patrick Cullinane | 'Theodore Roosevelt and the Tennis Cabinet'
<p>Michael Patrick Cullinane is acclaimed as at the top rung of Theodore Roosevelt scholars of his generation.</p><p>His latest book, <a target="_blank" href="https://amzn.to/3Sk0fJX">Theodore Roosevelt and the Tennis Cabinet</a>, has garnered enthusiastic reviews, including in the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/books/theodore-roosevelt-and-the-tennis-cabinet-review-backhands-and-bureaucrats-46d53231">Wall Street Journal.</a></p><p>Cullinane combines a scholar’s exacting standards with an entertaining, readable prose style. Recognizing the parallels of Roosevelt’s era with our own, he makes history relevant and vivid. </p><p>In this wide-ranging discussion, Cullinane pulls the curtain back on the extraordinary group of informal advisers that our twenty-sixth president summoned to service as he pulled the presidency and the nation into a new century. As ever, TR’s life and work yield timeless lessons for rising generations facing new challenges.</p><p><strong>Publisher’s Summary</strong></p><p>In his final days in office in 1909, Theodore Roosevelt invited dozens of friends to the White House for lunch. They had never met as a group, but they had one thing in common: Each played tennis with the president and advised on policy matters. Roosevelt half-joked that the public would never know how much these tennis partners did to make his administration a success. Journalists dismissively called them the “Tennis Cabinet,” making light of their contribution, but Roosevelt knew otherwise.</p><p>This inner circle led the administration’s campaigns against corporate greed, investigated public health violations, and formulated consumer protections. They founded environmental conservation policies, prosecuted civil rights violations, and implemented bureaucratic efficiencies that saved the government billions. Roosevelt’s tennis mates shaped the nation’s diplomacy, ending wars and promoting American interests abroad.</p><p>Never had a more eclectic group advised a U.S. president. The Tennis Cabinet included legendary frontier lawman Seth Bullock and the starched-shirt corporate lawyer Henry Stimson, who served in five presidential administrations. Texas wolf wrangler Jack Abernathy played with stuffy bureaucrats like Labor Commissioner Charles Patrick Neill and social activist James Bronson Reynolds. The French ambassador Jean Jules Jusserand spun yarns with football hero George Washington Woodruff and Roosevelt’s college friend and banker Robert Bacon. James Garfield, namesake son of a martyred president, sipped mint juleps with Supreme Court Justice William Henry Moody. And J. P. Morgan’s silver-spooned son-in-law Herbert Satterlee kept company with rugged soldier Luther “Yellowstone” Kelly.</p><p>For all their differences, these men shared a desire to help the president transform the nation from a parochial nineteenth-century republic into an imperial and industrial global power. They have escaped the attention of reporters and historians only because of Roosevelt’s towering celebrity. Turning away from Roosevelt as the singular force behind his administration, it is possible to see how the contributions of his Tennis Cabinet quietly sowed the seeds of the American Century.</p><p><strong>Critical Acclaim</strong></p><p>“The story of the Tennis Cabinet has largely been untold until now—but it clearly had an impact on the development of our Republic.” <strong>—Tevi Troy, </strong><strong>Wall Street Journal</strong></p><p>“What the ‘team of rivals’ was to Abraham Lincoln, the ‘Tennis Cabinet’ was to Theodore Roosevelt. Michael Cullinane brings to vivid life an unusual menagerie of confidants and compatriots who met on the court to reshape a nation. This wonderful book reminds us that while many names are lost to history, no president, perhaps especially the great ones, works alone.” <strong>—Edward F. O’Keefe, author of </strong><strong>The Loves of Theodore Roosevelt: The Women Who Created a President</strong><strong> and CEO of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library Foundation</strong></p><p>“Michael Cullinane has written a lively and perceptive book that will become essential reading for understanding Theodore Roosevelt’s effectiveness as president. TR stands as a towering presence in presidential history because of his modernizing energy and his eagerness to address real-life problems of the American people, but until this book we have not really understood how his many accomplishments came about. Read this book to understand how TR listened to forward-looking experts in his Tennis Cabinet and then debated with them how to get great things done.” <strong>—Kathleen Dalton, author of </strong><strong>Theodore Roosevelt: A Strenuous Life</strong></p><p>“Theodore Roosevelt and the Tennis Cabinet is a prescient book that brings the contributions of certain men surrounding the president into sharp focus. While Roosevelt is often portrayed as the lone ‘man in the arena,’ Michael Cullinane reveals him as someone who regularly sought counsel from dozens of close advisers. . . . Cullinane’s book reveals a president who was far more aware of his limitations than many biographers would have us believe, and although still a strong man, Roosevelt emerges from the pages as a wise man too. This is an important, and eye-opening, book that is both timely and enjoyable to read.” <strong>—Darrin Lunde, author of </strong><strong>The Naturalist: Theodore Roosevelt, a Lifetime of Exploration, and the Triumph of American Natural History</strong></p><p>“The twenty-sixth president was so larger-than-life that Michael Cullinane’s Theodore Roosevelt and the Tennis Cabinet comes as quite a surprise. This delightful study reveals the diverse and complex cast of characters that profoundly but quietly (for the most part) contributed to the long list of activities and accomplishments routinely attributed to Roosevelt alone. Cullinane sheds new and important light on Roosevelt and his administration. In doing so, he also provides a timely reminder of the power and significance of the advisers, official and unofficial, who allow even those presidents who appear to go it alone to, for better or for worse, expand their reach and exercise more control.” <strong>—Nancy C. Unger, author of </strong><strong>Fighting Bob La Follette: The Righteous Reformer</strong></p><p>“Theodore Roosevelt and the Tennis Cabinet is an important examination of Roosevelt’s inner circle, those who helped him implement and carry out his policies. Michael Cullinane writes with flair and clarity, showing that Roosevelt could never have become a legend without his Tennis Cabinet. Highly recommended.” <strong>—Benjamin J. Wetzel, author of </strong><strong>Theodore Roosevelt: Preaching from the Bully Pulpit</strong></p><p>“To say that TR was a ‘people person’ is an understatement. But in particular, Roosevelt loved interesting people. He treasured folks from whom he could learn something new or, even better, who might accompany him on an adventure. That verve for connection is what makes Theodore Roosevelt and the Tennis Cabinet such a treasure. In flowing prose and with deft attention to the ties that bound, Michael Cullinane tells the stories of the men who made up TR’s most important advisory group. What a fascinating bunch! It’s a rare book that can both tell buddy stories and offer exacting political analysis, but Michael Cullinane does it here. Dig in, you’ll be glad you did!” <strong>—Ryan Swanson, author of </strong><strong>The Strenuous Life: Theodore Roosevelt and the Making of the American Athlete</strong></p><p>“Theodore Roosevelt was such a force of energy that he eclipsed others in his orbit. Michael Cullinane’s book brings these individuals to the stage. In compelling portraits, he illuminates the bureaucrats, diplomats, lawyers, and others who stewarded Roosevelt’s vision, fostered alliances, and preserved our nation’s natural heritage. Cullinane has made yet another important contribution to Theodore Roosevelt studies, giving us a necessary and wonderfully written lesson on governance.” <strong>—Gregory A. Wynn, chairman of the Theodore Roosevelt Association</strong></p><p><strong>About the Author</strong></p><p>Michael Patrick Cullinane is a historian, an award-winning author, and the Walton Chair of Theodore Roosevelt Studies at Dickinson State University. He also serves as a Public Historian for the Theodore Roosevelt Association and contributes to the design and curation of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library.</p><p>In addition to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/potomac-books/9781640126893/theodore-roosevelt-and-the-tennis-cabinet/">Theodore Roosevelt and the Tennis Cabinet</a>, he’s the author of <a target="_blank" href="https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-69296-4">Remembering Theodore Roosevelt</a> (2021), <a target="_blank" href="https://lsupress.org/9780807166727/theodore-roosevelts-ghost/">Theodore Roosevelt’s Ghost </a>(2017), <a target="_blank" href="https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-the-open-door-era.html">The Open Door Era: U.S. Foreign Policy in the Twentieth Century</a> (2017), and <a target="_blank" href="https://link.springer.com/book/10.1057/9781137002570">Liberty and American Anti-Imperialism</a>. He has published several scholarly articles and editorials in <a target="_blank" href="https://www.michaelpatrickcullinane.com/press">The Hill</a>, the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/made-by-history/2022/09/12/what-celebrities-get-wrong-about-famous-teddy-roosevelt-speech/">Washington Post</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/why-teddy-roosevelt-is-popular-on-both-sides-political-aisle-180968870/">Smithsonian</a> Magazine, the Conversation, History News Network, BBC History Magazine, and have given commentary on C-SPAN, BBC, History Channel, Sky News, NPR, and CNN.</p><p>A sought-after speaker, Cullinane regularly talks at universities, corporate events, libraries, professional associations, and other public venues.</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.michaelpatrickcullinane.com/">michaelpatrickcullinane.com</a></p><p><p>The New Nationalist™ is an independent, non-partisan publication advocating political reform. Your support makes this project possible and is greatly appreciated.</p></p><p><strong>Image Credit | </strong>Author photograph, Theodore Roosevelt Center.</p> <br/><br/>Get full access to The New Nationalist at <a href="https://jamesstrock.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4">jamesstrock.substack.com/subscribe</a>
March 8, 2026
Derek Leebaert | Lessons from History as US Unleashes War Against Iran
<p>A key element of President Trump’s election victory in 2016 was his robust rejection of the “forever wars” that the United States has elected to wage in in the postwar era.</p><p>In his second term, the president has overseen a hyperkinetic foreign policy. From calling for the annexation of Canada and Greenland, to the extraction of the dictator of Venezuela, Trump has threatened or applied the military might of the United States.</p><p>Without congressional authorization and arguably in contravention of international law, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/articles/2026/03/peace-through-strength-president-trump-launches-operation-epic-fury-to-crush-iranian-regime-end-nuclear-threat/">the president authorized Operation Epic Fury against Iran.</a> On February 28, 2026, <a target="_blank" href="https://media.defense.gov/2026/Mar/03/2003882557/-1/-1/1/OPERATION-EPIC-FURY-FACT-SHEET-260303.PDF">“U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) commenced Operation Epic Fury at the direction of the President of the United States. CENTCOM forces are striking targets to dismantle the Iranian regime’s security apparatus, prioritizing locations that pose an imminent threat.”</a></p><p>There’s no question about the wickedness of the Iranian government. Over the course of nearly half a century, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cfr.org/global-conflict-tracker/conflict/confrontation-between-united-states-and-iran">Iran has not only oppressed its own people but has sponsored terror worldwide.</a> What is unclear are our war aims? The has offered a range of post-hoc explanations. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/06/world/middleeast/trump-iran-war-unconditional-surrender.html">Most recently, President Trump has called for “unconditional surrender” of Iran.</a></p><p>It’s an honor to have historian and national security expert Derek Leebaert to help us sort out this unsettled moment. <a target="_blank" href="https://nationalinterest.org/feature/postwar-delusions-why-america-keeps-making-mistakes-abroad-107766">He has studied the repeated disappointments of US interventions in recent decades.</a></p><p>This episode was recorded on March 4, 2026.</p><p>About Derek Leebaert</p><p>Derek Leebaert is an award-winning author, historian, academic, and technology executive. He’s a partner at effectiveRAI.</p><p>In 2020 Leebaert won the Truman Book Award for <a target="_blank" href="https://amzn.to/47bFB3o">Grand Improvisation: America Confronts the British Superpower, 1945-57.</a> A New York Times “Best Book,” it was reviewed in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Review of Books, and the Times (London).</p><p>His <a target="_blank" href="https://amzn.to/4ufV5NY">Unlikely Heroes: Franklin Roosevelt, His Four Lieutenants, and the World They Made</a> was a Wall Street Journal “Best Book of 2023” and “recommended reading” from McKinsey. Presidential historian Richard Norton Smith praises it as “having done the near impossible--craft[ing] a fresh and challenging portrait of the man and his inner circle. . . .A book to regard in the same breath as the classics of Sherwood, Schlesinger, and Burns.” The Guardian reviewed it as “masterful.”</p><p>In <a target="_blank" href="https://amzn.to/4rcsyWG">Magic and Mayhem: The Delusions of American Foreign Policy from Korea to Afghanistan</a><a target="_blank" href="https://amzn.to/4rcsyWG">, </a>Leebaert warns that many of the mistakes of US foreign policy in the postwar era result from ignorance of the history and culture of other nations.</p><p>Derek Leebaert was a research fellow at Harvard University and managing editor of International Security. He taught in the government and business school departments at Georgetown University.</p> <br/><br/>Get full access to The New Nationalist™ at <a href="https://jamesstrock.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4">jamesstrock.substack.com/subscribe</a>
62 total episodes available
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