March 20, 2025
SIU’s Paul Simon Institute director to discuss presidential transitions on C-SPAN 2
CARBONDALE, Ill. — John Shaw, director of Southern Illinois University Carbondale’s Paul Simon Public Policy Institute, will discuss presidential transitions Saturday, March 22, on C-SPAN 2 as part of the network’s Presidency Series.
Shaw’s presentation, “Rising Star, Setting Sun,” will be aired at 8:30 a.m. Central on C-SPAN’s American History channel and focus on the transition between President Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy following the 1960 election. The talk is from Shaw’s Jan. 30 conversation “A Presidential Transition for the Ages” with the White House Historical Association.
Shaw wrote “Rising Star, Setting Sun: Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, and the Presidential Transition that Changed America” in 2018. The book chronicles the 10 weeks between Kennedy’s election on Nov. 8, 1960, and his inauguration on Jan. 20, 1961, and depicts the end of the Eisenhower era and the beginning of the Kennedy administration. Shaw appeared on C-SPAN to discuss that book in October 2018.
“This transition was not just a change in the presidency, but a symbolic moment reflecting the tensions between the wisdom of age and the enthusiasm of youth,” Shaw said, noting that Kennedy had defeated Eisenhower’s vice president, Richard Nixon, and the transition was “shaped by deep contrasts in their backgrounds, visions and leadership styles.”