EPISODE 112: Historical Daddy Issues
Added 2025-06-16 17:20:45 +0000 UTC“The thought of him now and always has been a sense of comfort. I could breathe, I could sleep, when he had me in his arms. My father—he got me breath, he got me lungs, strength—life… The best I ever knew. He combined strength and courage with gentleness, tenderness and great unselfishness.” Theodore Roosevelt about his father.
Since my daughter was born, I have been trying my best to be as good a father as I’m capable of. Given this priority, it’s probably not surprising that I’ve given a whole lot of thought about what it means to be a good father, what makes a bad father and everything in between. In this episode, I tackle fatherhood in history: the bad (a lot), the good (considerably less), and the possible consequences. Looking at the evidence makes me wonder if much of history is the product of child abuse coming home to roost. In the course of this exploration, I look at a quite a few case studies (from Churchill to Stalin, from Marcus Aurelius to Alexander the Great, etc.), discuss the field of psychohistory, receive an assist from Dan Carlin, analyze how culture may shape fatherhood, and ponder how much bad fathers may have contributed to the popularity of dictators and cult leaders.
Comments
thank you, Judy!
History on Fire
2025-07-05 23:21:37 +0000 UTCThank you for this episode. There have been many instances where I have read about the influence of bad mothering on historical figures. Those theories included everything from over mothering to indifferent mothering. Your conclusion is excellent. In a world seemingly gone mad, your give hope that ordinary people can and will make all the difference.
Judy Wixted
2025-07-05 10:17:19 +0000 UTCI have no doubts that environmental toxins have had and continue have a major impact on human beings. Which ones and to what degree, I do not know. But it'd be hard to argue that they have no impact--that's for sure.
History on Fire
2025-06-27 09:29:37 +0000 UTCLove the episode and frankly everyone you have ever produced. I will certainly admit that watching my Father impacted the way I chose to live my life and while I thought we did not have enough money, there was literally no violence or corporal punishment in our home. With that said I have incorporated my own bias about the causes of violence, cruelty and shall we say erratic sexual behavior. I come from an environmental pollution background and I am firmly convinced that neurotoxin exposure, especially Lead (Pb) and Mercury (Hg), have been overlooked or undervalued as a driver of human erratic behavior. You have orbited around the subject in the past with your questioning whether the leaded pigments Caravaggio used may have contributed to his violence, but no one has really explored this factor in full. While people scream correlation/causation, I am firmly convinced that the introduction of Leaded gasoline into the world starting in Dayton, Ohio in 1923 began the slow poisoning of human beings that resulted in more murder, rape, violence and lowering the age at which sexual exploration began. IMHO the Rodney King riots were kind of the last gasp of mass leaded violence in Los Angeles. Historically men have worked in far more environments that led to neurotoxin exposure which contributed much more violence coming from males. I have many references to cite as I have read it all. PS Steve Pinker did not like my theory but that is not unusual for a Harvard man that just had his own theories trashed by some BS in Geology.
Greg Hunter
2025-06-26 22:13:41 +0000 UTC
