by Mike Purdy | Jul 13, 2016 | Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, Assassinations, Campaigns, Chester Arthur, Deaths, Elections, Franklin Roosevelt, George H.W. Bush, Gerald Ford, Harry Truman, James Garfield, John Adams, Millard Fillmore, Richard Nixon, Theodore Roosevelt, Vice-Presidents, William Henry Harrison, William McKinley, Woodrow Wilson, Zachary Taylor
“My country,” a frustrated John Adams once wrote about the vice presidency, “has in its wisdom contrived for me the most insignificant office that ever the invention of man contrived or his imagination conceived.” He has not been alone throughout our...
by Mike Purdy | Feb 21, 2016 | Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Jackson, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Birthdays, Franklin Roosevelt, George W. Bush, George Washington, Inaugurations, James Buchanan, John F. Kennedy, Martin Van Buren, Ronald Reagan, Theodore Roosevelt, Ulysses Grant, William Henry Harrison, Zachary Taylor
As the Founding Fathers labored over the negotiation and drafting of the Constitution in the sweltering heat and humidity of Philadelphia in 1787, they came to the important question of eligibility requirements for the president. In an era when the average...
by Mike Purdy | Feb 15, 2016 | Campaigns, Elections, Harry Truman, Presidential History Roundup, Resources, Theodore Roosevelt, Ulysses Grant, William Howard Taft, Woodrow Wilson
In the last week, I was interviewed and quoted in two online articles about presidential history: Campaign Insults: The news service Reuters published an article on February 13, 2016 entitled “Loser! Jerk! Insults Fly on the Republican Campaign Trail” by...
by Mike Purdy | Jan 11, 2016 | Books, Elections, Theodore Roosevelt, Uncategorized, William Howard Taft, Woodrow Wilson
In the 1912 presidential election, former President Theodore Roosevelt was denied the Republican nomination for president, despite having won nine out of the twelve primary elections. But the power of the party bosses was still too strong in 1912 and they selected...
by Mike Purdy | Sep 21, 2015 | Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Jackson, Barack Obama, Books, Calvin Coolidge, Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, James Madison, James Monroe, James Polk, John Adams, John F. Kennedy, John Tyler, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Rutherford Hayes, Theodore Roosevelt, Thomas Jefferson, Ulysses Grant, Warren Harding, White House, William McKinley, Woodrow Wilson
“Under This Roof: The White House and the Presidency” is a delightful, well-written, and well-researched collection of stories about the White House and our Presidents. The book is highly readable and I strongly recommend it. White House and American...
by Mike Purdy | Jul 6, 2015 | Franklin Roosevelt, James Garfield, John F. Kennedy, Rutherford Hayes, Theodore Roosevelt
In response to my blog last week, here are the answers to identifying these 5 presidents when they were younger. The beardless photos of Hayes and Garfield are tough to figure out, aren’t they? How well did you do?