In this episode of The David Frum Show, The Atlantic’s David Frum opens with his reaction to the Justice Department’s decision to drop its case against the Olympian David Hearn. He argues that the prosecution was baseless from the start and, using the classic “prisoner’s dilemma” thought experiment, explains why future administrations must hold abuses of power accountable if American democracy is to endure.
Then, David is joined by Margaret Hoover, the host of PBS’s Firing Line and a great-granddaughter of President Herbert Hoover. They discuss the newly renovated Herbert Hoover Presidential Library, Hoover’s remarkable life of public service, and why his presidency deserves a more nuanced place in American history.
David ends the episode with a discussion of The Spy Who Came in From the Cold by John le Carré, exploring the evolution of the spy novel and the moral questions at the heart of the genre.
00:00 Cold Open
00:22 Introduction
00:47 DOJ Drops Hearn Case
02:08 What Now After Injustice
05:23 Consequences for Rule Breaking
06:38 Margaret Hoover
07:55 Presidential Libraries and Trump
09:36 Hoover Papers Belong to Public
13:03 Hoover Early Life to Stanford
21:18 Feeding Russia and Soft Power
31:43 Hoover After Power
36:57 A Descendant’s Mission
41:16 What Economists Didn’t Know
43:50 Could Hoover Have Won
47:30 Gold Standard Tax Trap
49:51 Hoover vs New Deal State
50:28 Administrative Procedure Act
54:49 The Spy Who Came in From the Cold
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