Simoncast is the official podcast of the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. Hosted by John Shaw. Season One is produced and edited by Alee Quick. This podcast is produced through a partnership with WSIU Public Radio. For more, visit paulsimoninstitute.siu.edu.
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U.S. Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Illinois, talks about how U.S. intelligence officials are monitoring Russia, how the U.S. can help Ukraine mount a successful insurgency, and what we learned from COVID-19.
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Janel L. Forde, director of the Illinois Department of Central Management Services, talks about how her department works behind the scenes to keep the engine of Illinois state government humming.
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William Burns, the director of the CIA, talked with John Shaw in June of 2020, when he was the president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
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Douglas Wilson talks about Abraham Lincoln's evolution as a man and his writing process, which included jotting down writing ideas on scraps of paper and then storing them inside his hat.
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Author and Pulitzer Prize-winning arts critic Margo Jefferson talks with the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute about her memoir "Negroland," which recounts what it was like to come of age in Black Chicago's upper crust at a time when the city -- and the country -- was racially segregated.
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Author and University of Illinois history professor Kristin Hoganson talks with Paul Simon Public Policy Institute Director John Shaw about her book, "The Heartland: An American History," which details how Illinois -- especially Champaign County -- sits at the middle of vital events in American history.
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Author and journalist Bob Hartley talks with Paul Simon Public Policy Institute Director John Shaw about Illinois' two most famous political Pauls.
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Biographer and bestselling author Candice Millard talks with Paul Simon Public Policy Institute Director John Shaw about growing up in the public library, working at National Geographic, and her books about Teddy Roosevelt, James Garfield, and Winston Churchill.
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Karin Olofsdotter, Sweden's ambassador to the United States, talks about her career as an "unlikely diplomat," Sweden's COVID-19 philosophy, how the pandemic has changed world relations, and why Sweden wants the U.S. to succeed.
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Historian and author Margaret MacMillan talks about finding commonalities with historical figures, gaining humility from studying history, and lessons that are likely to come out of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Evanston, Illinois Mayor Daniel Biss talks about what sets his city apart from other Chicago suburbs, including its first-in-the-nation reparations program. He also reflects on his time in Illinois state government and explains why this is a big moment for municipal government.
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Ruth Simmons, a longtime college administrator who was the first African American to lead an Ivy League school and the current president of Prairie View A&M University, talks about why universities must be transparent, seeing herself in her students (especially the rebellious ones), and what it was like to recruit Toni Morrison to work at Princeton.