American Presidents Story Briefs

U.S. Presidents have varying backgrounds and political persuasions. Only one was unanimously elected. They can have little or lasting influence. These stories are about individuals with the power to make a difference at home and abroad.

This cartoon, by an unknown artist, depicts Thomas Jefferson attempting to destroy the Constitution.

When Thomas Jefferson became America's third President, the election process was complicated. He won on the 36th ballot, in the House of Representativ...

This image is the original letter - maintained at the Library of Congress - which Thomas Jefferson wrote to Spencer Roane on the 6th of September, 181...

On the 7th of June, 1954, President Harry Truman penned his thoughts regarding the meeting he'd had with his military advisers on the 18th of June, 19...

The general who helped the North win the American Civil War was working in his father's leather store (in Galena, Illinois) when the fighting began. S...

Joseph Hooker was known as an arrogant man. Although he was a leading Union General, President Lincoln had to make a decision whether to keep Hooker i...

This is the Deringer John Wilkes Booth used to assassinate Abraham Lincoln.

One reviewer, writing in The New York Times, has said this book is: "An invaluable record of an unforgettable American calamity."

Why pick Christmas night for this attack? Washington knew that Hessian soldiers, fighting for Britain, liked to celebrate holidays. Maybe the Patriots...

General Washington was nearly fifty-two when he decided to retire from military life and return to his Mount Vernon plantation.

President Nixon always said he didn't know about a massive cover-up, but then a ''smoking gun'' tape was released. It led to the President's resignati...

Image of a political cartoon called Move over We can't stay in a holding pattern forever, by Herb Block and published July 29, 1973.

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