So, today is President’s Day, the day when Americans honor the institution of the presidency and ask that time honored question: “Who is America’s greatest President?” Really? What a waste of time. It reminds me of the classic kid/parent argument: Kid: “Why is there a Mother’s Day and a Father’s Day but not a Kid’s…
Amity Shlaes is out with her latest book, Coolidge, a new take on the controversial presidency of Calvin Coolidge. Conservatives love Silent Cal, giving him full credit for the Roaring Twenties. Liberals hate him, believing his free market policies caused the Great Depression. Shlaes falls firmly in the former camp. Personally, I think he’s partly…
Who’s the better U.S. President? Barack Obama? Or the little-known Rutherford B. Hayes? Battle of the Presidents: Barack Obama vs. Rutherford B. Hayes? In what promises to be the strangest President vs. President battle of 2012, President Obama knocked President Rutherford B. Hayes (1877-1881) yesterday over his apparent dislike of the telephone. “One of my…
In 1893, Teddy Roosevelt published The Wilderness Hunter. In that tome, he told a strange story about an encounter with an “unknown beast creature” that walked on two legs. Did Teddy Roosevelt do battle with the mysterious Bigfoot? Did Teddy Roosevelt Battle Bigfoot? First, thanks to Sean McLachlan over at Civil War Horror for providing the idea…
Who was the Greatest President in U.S. history? Most historians tend to share common ground when it comes to ranking U.S. presidents. George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, or Franklin Delano Roosevelt receive the top honor in practically every single poll. However, recent attention has fallen to a far more unusual candidate…Grover Cleveland. Who was Grover Cleveland?…
Mitt Romney’s net worth is estimated at $190 to $250 million. If he ends up defeating Barack Obama in the 2012 Presidential election, how would his wealth rank against other presidents? Would he be the richest president of all time? Who was the Richest President of all Time? It turns out that Romney’s wealth falls…
On December 14, 1799, George Washington died. A few days later, William Thornton – the architect who designed the U.S. Capitol – visited the widow Martha Washington. Did Thornton offer to turn President Washington into a zombie? Did President George Washington almost become a Zombie? Yes, in a manner of speaking. Richard Thornton did offer…
In 1841, John Tyler became the tenth President of the United States. Now, more than 170 years later, his grandson has stepped into the political limelight. So, what does the Tyler family think of today’s politicians? John Tyler Reenters the Public Eye? The fact that John Tyler still has living grandsons is amazing in its…