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American Presidents

The presidential mask offers Americans a particularly playful—and anonymous—entrance into political humor.

What’s Behind America’s Obsession With Presidential Masks?

From nose-picking Nixon to Trump-kissing-Clinton, Americans have long imitated their political candidates

The Last Living Carver of Mount Rushmore Reflects on the Monument at 75

The 95-year-old looks back at the colossal effort that went into making the American masterpiece

President Barack Obama and Republican Party nominee Mitt Romney broke bread at the 2012 Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner.

Trending Today

The History of Presidential Politics’ Most Important Dinner Date

For decades, the Al Smith Dinner has helped Catholic voters dine and decide

Did John Adams Out Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings?

A scholar makes the intriguing case that Adams gossiped about the relationship years before the news erupted in public

President Lyndon Johnson reviews a speech he will make about the Vietnam War, just weeks before the 1968 election.

The History of the October Surprise

From assiduous editorials to destructive superstorms, the last weeks of presidential elections have seen shocking campaign twists

Richmond, Virginia, USA, 15th October, 1992, President George H.W. Bush at the Town Hall debates

The History of the Town Hall Debate

Its origins go back to America’s earliest days, but its appearance on the national stage is relatively new

MythBusters’ Adam Savage and a team of makers from Baltimore made these letters, which lit up every time someone posted to social media using the hashtag #sxsl.

Here’s What You Missed At the White House’s First-Ever South By South Lawn Festival

On Monday, artists, musicians, tech enthusiasts and other innovators gathered in the president’s backyard to celebrate a bright future

Outside the Winter Palace stands a column honoring Alexander I, who took kindly to the presence of the Adamses when they lived in St. Petersburg.

The Russian-U.S. Relationship Goes Way Back to John Quincy Adams

Before he became president, Adams was the nascent country’s first ambassador to Russia

Dwight Eisenhower and Arnold Palmer smile before a round of golf at the Gettysburg Country Club in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, in 1960.

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How Arnold Palmer and President Eisenhower Made Golf the Post-War Pastime

The charismatic, working-class golfer and beloved president made golf the sport of elites and middle-class duffers for a generation

On September 26, 1960, presidential candidates Richard M. Nixon and John F. Kennedy stood before cameras for the first-ever televised presidential debate.

Debating on Television: Then and Now

Kennedy and Nixon squared off in the first televised presidential debate decades ago and politics have never been the same

07 Oct 1960, Washington, DC, USA --- Presidential candidates John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon shake hands after their televised debate of October 7, 1960. The two opponents continued their debate after the cameras had stopped.

Eight Lessons for the Presidential Debates

What are the key do’s and don’ts the candidates should remember when campaigning for the White House?

Conservationists assess the bell, which was not rung throughout much of the 20th century after it fell into disrepair.

Breaking Ground

Historic Bell Helps Ring in New African American History Museum

Why President Obama won’t cut a ribbon when the new museum opens this Saturday

How the Heated, Divisive Election of 1800 Was the First Real Test of American Democracy

A banner from the Smithsonian collections lays out the stakes of Jefferson vs. Adams

A view of Mount Rushmore under construction, c.1938-1939

The Sordid History of Mount Rushmore

The sculptor behind the American landmark had some unseemly ties to white supremacy groups

CCC workers plant trees at Mammoth Cave National Park in 1938. It's thought that "Roosevelt's Tree Army" planted 3 billion trees during the group's tenure.

Cool Finds

You Can Thank These Depression-Era Workers for Your National Parks

Daily life in the Civilian Conservation Corps is preserved in a new National Park Service archive

Papahānaumokuākea may be a mouthful, but now it's the world's largest marine protected area.

Trending Today

President Obama Just Created the World’s Largest Marine Protected Area

Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument is now twice the size of Texas

Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument in Maine protects over 87,000 acres of land.

Trending Today

Maine Just Got the Nation’s Newest National Monument

Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument could one day become a national park

President Ronald Reagan, just moments before he was shot by John Hinckley

History of Now

The Media Learned Nothing After Misreporting the Reagan Assassination Attempt

As the shooter John Hinckley returns to life outside of imprisonment, it’s worth looking back at every thing the media got wrong that day

Madame President

History of Now

The History of Women Presidents in Film

Why the science-fiction genre was the first to imagine a female commander-in-chief

History of Now

What the Candidates (and Journalists) Can Learn From the 1948 Democratic Convention

The first time television was beamed into millions of homes meant that presidential politics would have to change

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