Ohio’s Lost Presidential Birthplaces

by Mike Purdy | Sep 30, 2018 | Benjamin Harrison, Homes, James Garfield, Presidential Sites, Rutherford Hayes, Ulysses Grant, Warren Harding, William Henry Harrison, William Howard Taft, William McKinley

Ohio boasts it is to home eight presidents. Seven were born in the Buckeye state and one adopted Ohio as his home. But starting with Ulysses S. Grant’s birth in 1822, all the presidential birthplaces have been lost to history in varying degrees, except for the...

Grant’s Race Against Time

by Mike Purdy | Jan 28, 2018 | Deaths, Presidential Sites, Ulysses Grant

After his presidency, Ulysses S. Grant – an international celebrity – took a two and a half year world tour where he was acclaimed by heads of state. Short of Cash: Back in the United States, he needed an income (the trip had deleted most of his savings)...

Who Was the First Woman to Run for President?

by Mike Purdy | Aug 16, 2016 | Elections, Electoral College, Ulysses Grant

We’ve heard a lot in the media lately about Hillary Clinton being the first woman nominated to run for president on a major party ticket.  It’s important to remember that her accomplishment relates to being the first for a major party. First woman to run...

The Curse of Contested Conventions

by Mike Purdy | Mar 27, 2016 | Campaigns, Conventions, Elections, Franklin Pierce, James Garfield, James Polk, Ulysses Grant

It’s certainly not unheard of in our nation’s history that a presidential front runner has been disappointed and lost the nomination after a contested or brokered convention with multiple convention ballots.  Just because a candidate enters a convention...

Does the President’s Age Matter?

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...

Campaign Insults and Presidential Money Problems

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...