Remember when the US had a president who thought deeply about America’s problems and then told Americans they were responsible? That was Jimmy Carter, and Americans were not impressed by the sermonizing in 1979.
Joshua Speed and Abraham Lincoln had a very close friendship, sharing their anxieties. Speed was able to calm Lincoln’s depression.
Is it Queen Lili’uokalani? Or maybe Babe Ruth? No, it’s a bad portrait of Mary Todd Lincoln, brought to you courtesy of the Museum of Bad Art in Somerville, Massachusetts. The Museum …..
Presidents Day is the day we honor our former chief executives by closing banks, pruning roses and selling towels. Find out more with the Who2 grab bag of presidential biographies and facts.
The 20th U.S. president was born 19 November 1831. He was fatally wounded just four months into his presidency.
NationalJournal has posted some photos from during the reconstruction of the White House during the Truman years.
Millard Fillmore was born 7 January 1800 in Cayuga County, New York. Happy birthday, Millard! His presidency isn’t memorable, but his final words are.
Fifty years ago Richard Nixon made his famous speech to the press that included “You won’t have Nixon to kick around anymore.”
With the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis going on, the publication of secret recordings made by President Kennedy get new attention.
Who2 has a new biography of pollster George Gallup, the man who started the Gallup public opinion polls in 1935.
The second presidential debate between President Obama and Governor Romney is over, and the most important takeaway was the phrase “binders of women.”
President Obama answered a handful of questions on Reddit today — and none of them had to do with Chewbacca.
The White House has added Obama-flavored icing to several of the official biographies of former presidents. Doesn’t that make you furious?
Photos from Brendan Hoffman of the Prime photo collective, from behind the scenes of 2011’s early days of the GOP primary.
This is the front of an old silver dollar I found on my bookshelf. The reverse side is even better.
Republican candidate Rick Santorum ended his campaign for the presidency today. See the video.
Jack Ruby was sentenced to death on 14 March 1964 for killing Lee Harvey Oswald, the man who had killed President John F. Kennedy. That was Ruby’s first trial.
I found some drawings of U.S. presidents in the neighborhood. How about a little presidential trivia to go along with them?
From the archives of LIFE magazine, rare photos of John Glenn.
The first Monday of October is the opening day for the United States Supreme Court. Can you name all twelve Supreme Court justices?
This week the blog for Smithsonian.com has an article called “Score One for Roosevelt,” recounting how President Teddy Roosevelt helped “save” American football.
Former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty has announced the end of his campaign for the U.S. presidency. You can read about it here in the Star Tribune.
Pawlenty dropped his bid for the Republican nomination after placing third in an Iowa straw poll. He was beat out by Michele Bachmann and Ron Paul.
Today is the anniversary of the death of Argentenian superstar Eva Perón. “Evita” died from cancer in 1952, at the age of 33.
In a long-overdue show of “I can do the modern world, too,” President Barack Obama has apparently *tweeted* — asking for your opinion:
To celebrate Independence Day, read The Declaration of Independence. Or, as it’s sometimes called, “The Constitution.”
To celebrate The Declaration Independence, visit the exhibit from the Library of Congress on Thomas Jefferson and Establishing a Federal Republic.
This YouTube video is a collection of movie clips of all the communist leaders of Russia, from V.I. Lenin to Mikhail Gorbachev:
On this day in history, two United States presidents died — 46 years apart.
President Martin Van Buren died on June 24th in 1862, and President Steve Cleveland died on June 24th in 1908.
Steve Cleveland? Yes, Grover Cleveland’s real first name was Stephen.
It’s hard to keep track of who is running for president in 2012 among the Republicans. In part because there seem to be so many of them, but also because these days there are a dozen stages of announcing your candidacy before you actually announce your candidacy.
And to think we have 19 months to go! Just this week, the slate of candidates and maybe-candidates have been in the news more for their wacky ideas and missteps than for any policy proposals. Let’s take a look:
Last week, former Congressman Newt Gingrich announced he will seek the Republican nomination for the U.S. presidency in 2012:
Thanks to The Smoking Gun, the military record — such as it is — of Donald Trump can be seen here.
Briefly, it says Donald Trump fudged when he recently told an interviewer that he “got lucky” with a very high draft number, and so avoided service in Vietnam.
First, who the heck was she?
Eliza McCardle Johnson was First Lady of the United States just after the Civil War ended. She was the wife of President Andrew Johnson, the guy who became president after Abraham Lincoln was killed.
On this day in 1865 the man who murdered President Abraham Lincoln was cornered by the Union Cavalry and shot to death.John Wilkes Booth had eluded the long arm of the law for 12 days, but on April 26th he was found in a barn (shed) on the Garrett Farm in Virginia.
Former Massachusetts governor and 2008 Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney announced today that he’s decisively almost to the point of running for the office of U.S. president again.
Today in 1951 United States President Harry S. Truman fired General Douglas MacArthur and relieved him of command of all U.S. forces in Korea.
There was a “police action” going on at the time, which is to say a war.
U.S. President William Henry Harrison made history on this day in 170 years ago. How? He became the first president to die while in office.
The Washington, D.C. branch of the Madame Tussauds Wax Museum franchise has just come out with an exhibit in honor of all the presidents of the United States.Imagine the thrill of seeing a lifelike politician for the first time.They even gathered them all in one spot for a photo shoot, which you can see here (and there’s rock music, so it won’t be boring).
Today is the 279th anniversary of George Washington’s birth. He was born on this day in 1732 in Virginia. Or was he?
Well, not exactly. He was born 11 February 1731. At the time the colonies were using the Julian calendar. When Britain and its colonies switched to the Gregorian calendar in 1752, George Washington’s birthday became 22 February 1732.
Here’s a speech by Martin Luther King, Jr., one said to be the last before he was killed:
According to a report in The Raw Story, former staffers from the administration of President George W. Bush plan to create a social network, Facebook-style, specifically for fans and ex-employees of the former president.
