{"podcast":{"title":"The Road to Now","slug":"the-road-to-now-1065183","podcast_index_feed_id":1065183,"rss_url":"https://roadtonow.libsyn.com/rss","website_url":"http://www.theroadtonow.com/","image_url":"https://static.libsyn.com/p/assets/8/4/8/2/84823a80490190e9/RTN_Logo_Season_2.jpg","author":"Benjamin Sawyer","episode_count":460,"summary":"Bob Crawford (The Avett Brothers) & Dr. Ben Sawyer (MTSU History) share conversations with great thinkers from a variety of backgrounds – historians, artists, legal scholars, political figures and more –who help us uncover the many roads that run between past and present. For more information, visit TheRoadToNow.com If you'd like to support our work, join us on Patreon: Patreon.com/TheRoadToNow","last_synced_at":"2026-07-06T12:20:49.072601+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-road-to-now-1065183"},"episode":{"title":"Martin Van Buren: America's First Politician w/ James M Bradley","slug":"martin-van-buren-america-s-first-politician-w-james-m-bradley","published_at":"2026-03-23T10:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-road-to-now-1065183/martin-van-buren-america-s-first-politician-w-james-m-bradley","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-road-to-now-1065183","url":"https://rtnpod.me/listen","audio_url":"https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/traffic.libsyn.com/secure/roadtonow/324_reair_for_feed_3.23.26.mp3?dest-id=384142","summary":"Martin Van Buren served just one term as President from 1837 to 1841, but as the architect behind the founding of the Democratic Party, his legacy lives on in the US today. In this episode, we speak with James M. Bradley, author of the new book Martin Van Buren: America's First Politician , to learn how Van Buren helped reshape politics in the 19 th century and laid the groundwork for America's two-party system. You can learn more about the work being done to preserve the papers of Martin Van Buren at VanBurenPapers.org . Love history and want to go on a cruise? Join Ben and History That Doesn't Suck's Greg Jackson for a 5-day/4-night cruise of the Caribbean that runs from May 18-22! Visit htdscruise.com for details and enter promo code RTN at checkout for $100 off a cabin! And don't forget that Bob's new book America's Founding Son: John Quincy Adams from President to Political Maverick is now available! Click here to get your copy! This episode was edited by Gary Fletcher and originally aired as episode 324 in January 2025.","meta_description":"Martin Van Buren served just one term as President from 1837 to 1841, but as the architect behind the founding of the Democratic Party, his legacy lives o…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":5120,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-road-to-now-1065183/episodes/martin-van-buren-america-s-first-politician-w-james-m-bradley/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-road-to-now-1065183/martin-van-buren-america-s-first-politician-w-james-m-bradley.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}