For Mother’s Day, an appreciation of Mary Ball Washington, the strong-willed mother of George Washington. Male historians have tended to take his complaints about her at face value.
On 17 December 1862, General Ulysses S. Grant issued Order No. 11, expelling all Jews from his military district — parts of Tennessee, Kentucky and Mississippi.
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.
Louisiana’s Huey P. Long died 10 September 1935, two days after being shot at the state Capitol. To some, there are still questions about who pulled the trigger.
William Rufus de Vane King, that is. He took the oath of office on foreign soil, and died 25 days later, on 18 April 1853.
One of the first American war heroes of World War II was an African-American named Doris Miller. Heard of him?
NationalJournal has posted some photos from during the reconstruction of the White House during the Truman years.
At this week’s Coeur d’Alene Art Auction in Reno, Nevada, a “war shirt” that once belonged to Chief Joseph was one of the top-dollar items.
Fifty years after being released from a Soviet prison, pilot Francis Gary Powers has been posthumously awarded the Silver Star.
Join two of the most living of our former presidents in saying happy birthday, to Old Glory. June 14th is Flag Day.
A trial full of crazy lies ends in a mostly hung jury in the John Edwards trial. It was too hard to sift through the parade of shameless acts to determine what was actually against the law.
In Londonderry, Ireland on 21 May 1932, Amelia Earhart landed her plane after flying solo across the Atlantic Ocean.
The White House has added Obama-flavored icing to several of the official biographies of former presidents. Doesn’t that make you furious?
Ernst Lubitsch was a Hollywood legend and rom-com pioneer. Ever heard of him?
Twenty years ago, on 29 April 1992, Los Angeles erupted in riots after the acquittal of the cops who beat up Rodney King. Read what King (and others) have to say about it now.
President James Buchanan was born 23 April 1791, the last U.S. president to be born in the 18th Century. Elected in 1856, he helped his country slide into the Civil War.
John Dean had an important meeting with President Richard Nixon on 21 March 1973 — 39 years ago — and it marked beginning of the end to Nixon’s presidency.
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?
Meet prolific writer and editor William Edward Burghardt Du Bois. He had a topsy-turvey relationship with the NAACP, he was tried for being a foreign agent and he died in Africa.
The Poe Museum in Richmond, Virginia currently has an exhibit that includes a rare photo of his young wife, Virginia. At least they think it’s her.
It was a surprise to everyone when Teddy Roosevelt died on this day in 1919. He was only 60 years old, but he’d had a bad year.
A new poll about Mitt Romney’s real name made me realize none of the leading Republican candidates for president go by the name they were given at birth.
President Barack Obama proclaimed this the month to honor “American Indians and Native Alaskans” for their contributions to the U.S., just like he did last year and the year before that.
A million dollars in loot, a novice thief and his older gentleman friend… and the White House?
What are the four living ex-presidents up to these days?
This week there was an anniversary in the history of the American anti-slavery movement of the 19th century. A minor piece by the great abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison, in his publication The Liberator, made a suggestion that at the time that seemed trivial to white Americans, yet his advice eventually worked its way into our daily language.
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.
Today is Flag Day in the United States. That’s only one part of Flag Week. Did you know there was a Flag Week?
Congress in 1971 asked the president to proclaim Fondue Day as part of Flag Week.
Wait, that’s not true. But then, neither is the story that Betsy Ross is the one who designed and sewed the first flag. Maybe. Who knows. You can read more about it in our Who2 biography of Betsy Ross.