Strange-but-true stories about America’s Presidents from the National Archives and Presidential Libraries.
If you thought the Presidential election was over and all the votes were counted, you’re wrong. The formal election is Monday, December 17, when “electors” meet in their respective state capitals to cast their votes for President and Vice President. Although the names Barack Obama and Mitt Romney appeared on the November ballot, you were … Continue reading The Election isn’t over yet…
The Roosevelts had planned for a "more homey" lighting of the National Christmas tree on December 24 in 1941. FDR had directed that the tree be moved from the Ellipse to the White House grounds, just next to the South Lawn Fountain. But after the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, there … Continue reading The 1941 Christmas Tree: A Bright Light in Dark Times
This is part of a series, written by Jim Zeender, devoted to letters written by the Founding Fathers in their own words and often in their own hand. Jim is the Senior Registrar in the Exhibits Division. “It is impossible to increase taxes, disastrous to keep on borrowing, and inadequate to merely to cut expense.” This … Continue reading Jefferson in Paris: The Constitution, Part I
“As soon as I left the session, I knew that this would be a ground-breaking project for us,” said Bettina Cousineau, Exhibits Specialist at the Gerald Ford Library and Museum. Cousineau was at this summer’s Association of Midwest Museums Conference in Indianapolis, IN, and attended the session "Wikimedia: Commons and GLAM" presented by Lori Phillips, … Continue reading Ford Library participates in Wikimedia’s GLAM project
This is what President Harry Truman had for Thanksgiving in 1947. (Click to enlarge.) What dishes are going on your table this year? My favorite holiday is Thankgiving. No dispute. After all, it's a holiday that basically crafted entirely around the consumption of turkey. I'm not entirely sure that this is what Lincoln had in … Continue reading A White House Thanksgiving
Today's guest post comes from Susan Donius, Director of the Office of Presidential Libraries at the National Archives. This post originally appeared on the White House blog. Did you know that before the 1940s, Thanksgiving was not on a fixed date but was whenever the President proclaimed it to be? George Washington issued the first … Continue reading Thanksgiving with the Presidents
Today's post is by Duke Blackwood, Director of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. Follow them on their Facebook page. One normally doesn’t associate turkeys with flying. However, in 1966 they became synonymous with flight during Ronald Reagan’s first race for political office—Governor of California. Covering such a large state was advance man Curtis Patrick’s nightmare, … Continue reading Reagan and the “Turkey Bird”
Today's post comes from Sam Anthony, special assistant to the Archivist of the United States. When President Obama visited Thailand on Sunday, he brought a piece of the National Archives as a diplomatic gift. In preparation for the President's trip to Asia, the Protocol Office of the State Department asked for facsimiles of photographs of … Continue reading The King and (Archives) I
Today's post originally appeared in the 2012 Summer Issue of Prologue magazine, and was written by Archivist of the United States David S. Ferriero. The Electoral College. Established 1787. It isn’t really a college, and the electors aren’t tenured professors. The electors are really voters, and their votes count in a very big way. The … Continue reading To Choose a President
Today's post comes from Nikita Buley, an intern in the National Archives Office of Strategy and Communications. The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum is located in Simi Valley, California—about 40 miles northwest of Los Angeles—and holds over 60 million pages of documents, 1.6 million photographs, hundreds of thousands of feet of audiovisual material, and … Continue reading Archives Spotlight: The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum
