Margaret Chase Smith being sworn into the House of Representatives on June 10, 1940

Declaration of Conscience: Annotated

In June 1950, Senator Margaret Chase Smith criticized Joseph McCarthy's anticommunist campaigns. She was the first of his colleagues to challenge his Red Scare rhetoric.
Lyndon B. Johnson addresses the Nation March 31, 1968

Lyndon B. Johnson’s Decision Speech: Annotated

United States President Lyndon B. Johnson’s televised announcement that he would not run for re-election shocked a nation divided by the Vietnam War.
Richard Nixon photoshopped to be wearing a "Pardon Me! Gerald..." button.

The Pardon of President Nixon: Annotated

President Ford’s unconditional pardon of Richard Nixon created political controversy. It also tarnished Ford’s own reputation with the American public.
The January 1961 cover for Mad Magazine

Mad About Nixon

No other personality appeared more often on the cover of Mad during the first fifty years of the satirical magazine’s life.
Dr Martin Luther King Jr (1929 - 1968) waves to the crowd of more than 200,000 people gathered on the Mall after delivering his 'I Have a Dream' speech at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, Washington DC, 28th August 1963.

“I Have A Dream”: Annotated

Martin Luther King, Jr.'s iconic speech, annotated with relevant scholarship on the literary, political, and religious roots of his words.
Black and white of Eartha Kitt

When Eartha Kitt Condemned Poverty and War at the White House

It was supposed to be a genteel luncheon with the first lady dedicated to discussing crime policy. The chanteuse had other ideas.
Jimmy Stewart in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

How Has Hollywood Shaped the Presidency?

"Acting presidential" can mean fulfilling expectations that have been shaped by TV and the movies.
Presidents Tyler, Fillmore, Andrew Johnson, Arthur, Theodore Roosevelt, Coolidge, Truman, Lyndon Johnson, and Ford

The Accidental Presidents of the United States

How "accidental" world leaders have faced the challenges of leading major democracies without being voted in.
Vice President Hubert Humphrey, circa 1965

Hubert Humphrey’s Vice Presidential Dilemma

Hubert Humphrey was well-respected as Lyndon B. Johnson's vice president--but he failed to capture the imagination of the young Democrats of the late 60s.
President John F. Kennedy fields a question at a press conference on April 14, 1961, in Washington, DC. This press conference took place three days before the failed 'Bay of Pigs' invasion of Cuba and just three months into Kennedy's presidency.

How the Bay of Pigs Invasion Changed JFK

The disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion, early in John F. Kennedy's presidency, led him to reconfigure his foreign policy decision-making process.