Michigan Governor George Romney’s 1967 listening tour of America's ghettos.

Whistlestop: George Romney’s “Ghetto Tour”

Whistlestop: George Romney’s “Ghetto Tour”

Bite-sized stories from presidential campaign history.
March 4 2015 7:08 AM

George Romney’s “Ghetto Tour”

Slate’s new podcast about presidential campaign history revisits Michigan Gov. George Romney’s 1967 listening tour of America’s most disadvantaged neighborhoods.

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Listen to Episode 2 of Whistlestop:

Whistlestop is Slate’s new bite-sized podcast about presidential campaign history. Hosted by our chief political correspondent and Political Gabfest panelist John Dickerson, each weekly installment will revisit a memorable (or even a forgotten) moment from America’s quadrennial carnival.

John Dickerson John Dickerson

John Dickerson is a co-anchor of CBS This Morning, co-host of the Slate Political Gabfest, host of the Whistlestop podcast, and author of Whistlestop and On Her Trail.

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This week’s episode retraces the 1967 steps of presidential candidate George Romney, then-governor of Michigan, as he crisscrossed the country on a tour of what newspapers at the time called America’s “slums” and “ghettos.” Romney wanted voters to get the message that LBJ had neglected domestic affairs in favor of foreign policy and the Vietnam War.

This week’s show is sponsored by The Great Courses and its series “Turning Points in American History.” Get it at 80 percent off the original price by visiting Whistlestop’s page at TheGreatCourses.com.

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