#4 The Muskie Rule (Part I)

Man-ish

Today’s show is the first installment in a series on men and crying. We will revisit the incident that lead to the Muskie Rule, which is an unwritten maxim in politics that candidates who cry in front of the press will end up like Edmund Muskie, whose 1972 presidential bid imploded when he choked up in public. Oral history recordings were graciously provided by The Edmund S. Muskie Archives and Special Collections Library. Special thanks to John Milne, Jim Witherell, Emily Palena, Brandon Pascal, and Shoshana Walter. Correction: An earlier version misstated that Edmond Muskie was the first democratic Governor of Maine since WWI. Although it was unusual for a democrat to win the governorship, there was in fact a democrat elected to the governor's office in 1933. The episode has been updated to reflect this. Update: No, you're not going crazy. Man-ish (formerly Mannish) got a hyphen. It better captures what the show is about (the social construction of masculinity).