Richard Lim

Richard M. Lim’s love of presidential history began during his childhood in sunny southern California. When he was in the third grade, his mother began taking him regularly to the local public library on Saturdays. There, Richard got hooked on a series of presidential biographies published by Children’s Press. Soon, he was regaling his family and friends with random facts and stories about America’s chief executives. And, at some point during his childhood, he realized it was his dream to work at the White House because he wanted to see history in the making.

Fast forward to Richard’s college years, when he was attending the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) as a history and political science double major. Hoping to attain his dream, he applied three times to the White House internship program. He was rejected each time. Undaunted, during his senior year, he decided to send in one last application. The fourth time turned out to be a charm and he moved to Washington, D.C. in 2005 to participate in the internship of his dreams. For the first time, he was able to see the very places he read about in his favorite history books. After completing his internship, he served as a political appointee and a White House staffer from 2007 to 2009. There, he felt honored to witness the major historical events of the day. He also braved the winter snow in upstate New York to obtain a master’s degree in public administration from the Maxwell School at Syracuse University.

As an adult, Richard continued to share his knowledge of history with his family, friends, and coworkers. Over the years, many of his peers have told him that his passion was infectious and inspired in them an interest in the subject as well. While he has had a multitude of experience working in different government agencies and non-profit organizations, his biggest love continued to be history. This led him to work at George Washington’s Mount Vernon estate as a historic interpreter and to travel to places like Russia, China, Taiwan, Japan, Israel, Europe, and his birth country the Philippines to study comparative history. He has also discussed the lessons of history and their applicability to current events in numerous opinion editorials for the Daily Signal, the Washington Examiner, and the History News Network, and on multiple internet and radio shows.

Richard’s passion led him, along with producer Michael Neal, to launch the podcast This American President in 2017. Thanks to the podcast, Richard is able to share his knowledge with listeners worldwide. After three years and 24 episodes, This American President has garnered over 165,000 downloads and was even mentioned in Newsweek. While most of the episodes feature Richard telling stories in long-form monologues, he has also interviewed several prominent guests. These include former CIA and NSA Director Michael V. Hayden, former assistant to President Reagan Peggy Grande, and historians Nigel Hamilton and Jane Hampton Cook.

Richard is also an experienced op-ed writer. While working for Stand Together, he was the ghostwriter for 81 op-eds that were published in numerous places, including Daily Caller, Financial Times, Fox News, The Hill, National Review, RealClearPolicy, Scientific American, Townhall, USA Today, and Washington Post.

Richard is married to Tammie Lim and lives in Alexandria, VA. He is currently researching a book on George Washington and his correspondence with African-American poet Phillis Wheatley.