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American History

Senators Kenneth Wherry (pictured at left) and J. Lister Hill conducted the first congressional investigation into homosexuality in the federal workforce.

Trending Today

State Department Apologizes for the ‘Lavender Scare’

For decades, the agency purged gay and lesbian workers believing their sexual orientation made them security risks

A plaque outside of the Rosslyn, VA garage where the informant code-named "Deep Throat" met with journalist Bob Woodward during the Watergate investigation.

Cool Finds

The Parking Garage Where Deep Throat Spilled the Beans on Watergate Is Being Torn Down

Demolition is scheduled for early this year

Ned Buntline, Bufalo Bill Cody, Giuseppina Morlacchi, Texas Jack Omohundro (1846-1880)

Murder, Marriage and the Pony Express: Ten Things You Didn’t Know About Buffalo Bill

His adventures were sensationalized in print and the Wild West show, but reality was more complicated—and compelling

A portrait of John D. Rockefeller circa 1900, after he had built Standard Oil into the largest oil company in the United States.

John D. Rockefeller Was the Richest Person To Ever Live. Period

Standard Oil, his company, is one of the biggest reasons we have anti-monopoly laws

British double-agent Guy Burgess was one member of the Cambridge Five ring of spies.

The Student and the Spy: How One Man’s Life Was Changed by the Cambridge Five

An unlikely friendship with Guy Burgess, the infamous British double-agent, brought unexpected joy to Stanley Weiss

A daguerreotype portrait of Samuel Morse by his student, Mathew Brady, circa 1844-1860.

The Innovative Spirit fy17

The Inventor of the Telegraph Was Also America’s First Photographer

The daguerreotype craze took over New York in the mid-nineteenth century

From left to right: Ricky Jackson is finally a free man; Japanese Americans head into internment in 1942; a Maryland boy (in red) has an inmate mom.

American Incarceration

The Far-Reaching Effects of American Incarceration

Three photo essays explore the history and modern-day consequences of the world’s highest incarceration rate

Mount McKinley

Visit These Ten Sites Celebrating Major Anniversaries in 2017

From Jane Austen’s 200th anniversary to the founding of Denali National Park, there are plenty of events to fill your calendar

President Harry S. Truman, addressing Americans by radio in 1945.

We Can Thank Harry Truman for TV Politics

Truman was the first president to regularly appear on television

Mikhael A. Menshikov, new Soviet ambassador, outside White House, going to visit with President Eisenhower

Cool Finds

How Adlai Stevenson Stopped Russian Interference in the 1960 Election

The Soviets offered the former presidential candidate propaganda support if he ran in 1960, an offer he politely declined

An illustration of Topsy from the St. Paul Globe on June 16, 1902.

Topsy the Elephant Was a Victim of Her Captors, Not Thomas Edison

Many believe Edison killed Topsy to prove a point, but some historians argue otherwise

How Disney’s 1942 Film Bambi Came to Be Influenced by the Lush Landscapes of the Sung Dynasty

Chinese-American Artist Tyrus Wong’s Brush With Destiny

Anna May Wong in an undated image.

Happy Birthday to Hollywood’s First Chinese-American Star

She was a leading lady, but racism held her career back

Souvenir Disneyland scrapbook with Frontierland’s iconic symbols from 1955

How Disney Came to Define What Constitutes the American Experience

The entertainment company has been in the business of Americana since its inception

The first-known photograph of the White House, by John Plumbe, Jr.

Cool Finds

The First-Known Photograph of the White House Was Taken by an Immigrant

John Plumbe, Jr. was one of America’s first rockstar photographers

The word “jazz” was first used in print in California sportswriting around 1912.

This Is the “Jass” Record That Introduced Millions of Americans to a New Kind of Music

The record that introduced millions of Americans to a new kind of music

The song made its debut 215 years ago—in a boat.

Inauguration History

Why Do We Play ‘Hail to the Chief’ for the President?

A Scottish rebel features prominently in the anthem

President Franklin D. Roosevelt exits a car during a campaign stop in California. Roosevelt was the first U.S. president with a visible disability, caused by polio.

People Mailed Dimes ‘By The Truck Load’ to FDR’s White House to Cure Polio

He was America’s first and only president with a visible—and known—disability

Every new year is a new opportunity for the "worst year ever."

History of Now

Why 2016 Is Only the Most Recent Worst Year Ever

This year has been miserable for many, but it has plenty of competition from its predecessors in the 20th century

Abraham Lincoln by George Peter Alexander Healy, 1887

The Tradition of Presidential Portraiture, Explained

The transition of office holders includes the official commissioning of the portrait of the outgoing First Lady and President

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