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American Presidents

Bartlett Frost's Declaration of Independence diorama, copy after John Trumbull

America's 250th Anniversary

To Recreate One of the American Revolution’s Most Famous Paintings, This Artist Painstakingly Crafted Miniature Wax Figures of the Nation’s Founders

Bartlett M. Frost’s diorama is modeled after John Trumbull’s depiction of the presentation of the Declaration of Independence. Newly conserved, the work is now on view at the National Portrait Gallery

Rockwell was commissioned to create So You Want to See the President! by Stephen Early, Roosevelt’s press secretary.

Norman Rockwell Captured the Hustle of the West Wing in Colorful Drawings Displayed for Decades in the White House. They’re Now on Public View for the First Time

The works were commissioned to humanize President Franklin D. Roosevelt at the height of World War II

With a full-size basketball court, and conspicuously without any presidential paper documents, the center, in many ways, is a departure from presidential institutions that came before.

Here’s How the Obama Presidential Center Is Different From Other Presidents’ Museums

More than a library and archives, the new Chicago institution is a place for the community to gather, talk and play together

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America at 250: The Revolutionary Spark

Woodrow Wilson’s Legacy Is Loaded With Good and Bad, but His Work to Even the Economic Playing Field Is Often Overlooked

He won the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts in ending WWI and strove to improve the plight of American workers. Today, his blind spots shroud most of his accomplishments

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America at 250: The Revolutionary Spark

Some Presidents Offer More Than Just Policy. Here Are Five Who Brought Their Innovative Spirit to the Office

One president invented campaign buttons so he could just stay home during election season. Another one rallied Americans to go to the moon. And one—only one—holds a patent.

Theodore Roosevelt greeting supporters shortly before the assassination attempt in October 1912

Theodore Roosevelt Survived an Assassination Attempt Because a Speech Tucked Inside His Pocket Slowed the Bullet. He Insisted on Delivering His Remarks Anyway

“I am very much uninterested in whether I am shot or not,” he told an audience in Milwaukee. Newly discovered documents shed light on how the 26th president wanted the incident to shape his legacy

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America at 250: The Revolutionary Spark

At a Pivotal Moment of the Civil War, Frederick Douglass Delivered a Speech That Reframed What Was at Stake if Slavery Stood

In “The Mission of the War,” America’s incomparable orator helped turn public sentiment in favor of the Union and Abraham Lincoln, beginning the process of “national regeneration”

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America at 250: The Revolutionary Spark

When George Washington Decided It Was Time to Leave Office, He Inadvertently Set a Lasting Precedent

While history recorded his refusal to seek a third term as a legendary act of statesmanship, the opinions of the day were actually quite mixed on the issue

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Smithsonian Magazine Presents: America at 250—The Revolutionary Spark

Celebrating the visionary insights & darling innovators that forged a nation.

No likenesses of Ona Judge survive today. The only surviving description of her comes from a runaway ad, which states that she was “a light mulatto girl, much freckled, with very black eyes and bushy black hair. She is of middle stature, slender and delicately formed, about 20 years of age.”

Ona Judge Escaped From Slavery While George Washington Was Busy Eating Dinner Inside. Now, a New Mural Honors Her Legacy

The artwork in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, shows Judge arriving in the city after her journey from Philadelphia in May 1796. She remained a free woman until her death in 1848

Initial excavations last month at Monticello revealed a layer of brick rubble.

Enslaved and Free Workers Built Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello Brick by Brick. Archaeologists Just Discovered One of the Kilns They Used

Researchers think the newly unearthed structure was used to fire and cure bricks during construction of the site’s original mansion in the early 1770s

President William Howard Taft boards the Mayflower in 1909, the year that he supposedly got stuck in a bathtub on board the Oleander steamship.

Popular Lore Claims That William Howard Taft Got Stuck in a Bathtub. New Research Sheds Light on the Legend’s Forgotten Origins

A long-overlooked 1929 account contains the earliest known reference to the anecdote, suggesting that the 27th president found himself trapped in a tub during a Mississippi River voyage

This statue of George Washington on horseback, dedicated in February 1860, is highlighted in silhouette.

Smithsonian Photo Contest Galleries

Commemorate Presidents’ Day With 15 Images That Celebrate the Founding Fathers

See Smithsonian magazine contest photos that honor U.S. presidents and their monuments

Clockwise from top left: John Quincy Adams, William Henry Harrison, James K. Polk, Abraham Lincoln, Jimmy Carter, Herbert Hoover, James A. Garfield and Ulysses S. Grant

One Was a Teenage Diplomat. Another Was a Nuclear Engineer. Here’s How Eight Presidents Made Their Mark Outside of the White House

From Abraham Lincoln’s patent to James A. Garfield’s geometry proof, learn how these 19th- and 20th-century commanders in chief shaped their legacies beyond politics

President Lyndon B. Johnson awards the Medal of Honor to Dwight Hal Johnson on November 19, 1968.

Untold Stories of American History

History Remembered This Black Medal of Honor Recipient for the Two Worst Days of His Life. A New Book Dives Into the Vietnam Vet’s Story

Dwight Hal Johnson received the nation’s highest military honor in 1968. Three years later, he was killed during an attempted robbery at age 23

The Hornet's Nest, Jimmy Carter, 2003

You Can Buy President Jimmy Carter’s Paintings, Furniture, Mementos and a Love Letter to His Wife

Christie’s selected the items with help from the president’s daughter, Amy, for a special sale in celebration of the nation’s 250th birthday

The oil portrait is one of Gilbert Stuart's Athenaeum-type paintings of Washington.

One of the George Washington Portraits That Inspired the Image on the $1 Bill Could Sell for Up to $1 Million

Artist Gilbert Stuart made numerous paintings of the first president. The copy that’s up for sale was commissioned by James Madison in 1804

The South Unit Scenic Loop road offers panoramic views of Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

A Scenic Road Winding Through Theodore Roosevelt National Park Finally Reopens After Six Years

The South Unit Scenic Loop officially welcomed visitors again in late November following $51 million of repairs, in time for the debut of the new Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library next summer

Two new studies involving thousands of participants examined how chatbots can influence political beliefs.

Can Chatting With an A.I. Bot Shift Our Political Beliefs?

New research suggests that chatbots have a greater sway on policy issues than video ads, and that spouting the most information—even if wrong—is the most persuasive strategy

Michael Shannon as President James A. Garfield in Netflix's "Death by Lightning"

Based on a True Story

The Real Story Behind Netflix’s ‘Death by Lightning’ and the Shocking Assassination of President James A. Garfield

The new limited series dramatizes the brief tenure of the 20th commander in chief, who was fatally shot by Charles J. Guiteau, a lawyer who believed he’d secured Garfield’s election

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