More Perfect

It's great to be here.

In Pursuit is a project of the organization More Perfect, which is a nonpartisan organization dedicated to improving American democracy.

And there are five goals of American democracy that More Perfect is focused on.

This one falls squarely in the civics education component, trying to bring high-quality civics education to all Americans.

And what happened really was after I left the National Archives in 2025, a few weeks later, I got a phone call from a number of people that I know quite well, including John Bridgeland, who runs More Perfect, who is the CEO and founder of More Perfect Inc.

And a few other really notable people.

And they said that More Perfect had raised some resources to do a civics initiative for 2026 that was focused on the presidents and first ladies.

And the idea was to get prominent historians, thought leaders, journalists, perhaps former public servants involved.

Back in 2008, in the Pop Music episode, we talked about the global impact of her music.

We featured a song that she wrote for our sister show, More Perfect, about the 19th Amendment.

And as many of you know, our founder and original host, Jad Abumrad, produced a whole nine-part series about her, her life, her music, and about her uniquely expansive appeal to people of all walks of life around the world.

And one of the amazing things about Dolly Parton is how she was able to connect with so many millions of people in such an intimate and meaningful way.

To read David Blight's essay on Franklin Pierce and to enjoy other great In Pursuit essays and podcasts, visit inpursuit.org.

In Pursuit with Colleen Shogan is a podcast by More Perfect.

The series is written and produced by Jim Embusky.

Production services provided by Stand Together.