In Pursuit Essays Top 1 Million Views as Ex-Presidents Revisit 43 U.S. Leaders
Updated
Updated · Yahoo! Voices · Aug 8
In Pursuit Essays Top 1 Million Views as Ex-Presidents Revisit 43 U.S. Leaders
3 articles · Updated · Yahoo! Voices · Aug 8
Summary
More than 1 million Substack views and 160,000 podcast downloads have lifted the 250th-anniversary “In Pursuit” essay series, which is publishing weekly through December.
43 presidents and 30 first ladies are covered by ex-presidents, historians and public figures, while Donald Trump and Joe Biden were excluded as too recent to judge historically.
George W. Bush’s essay on George Washington and Stanley McChrystal’s on Ulysses S. Grant drew attention for stressing voluntary limits on power and “law over loyalty” without naming Trump.
Colleen Shogan, the former U.S. archivist fired by Trump in 2025 without explanation, said she told contributors to avoid partisanship and sees the response as demand for history without a political slant.
The project, staged by the nonpartisan More Perfect alliance, will also get a PBS documentary in October as debates over presidential power and patriotic history continue.