Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

American Presidents

Eleanor Roosevelt used Val-Kill, located in New York, as a retreat, office and “laboratory” for social change. This is the only national historic site dedicated to a first lady.

Revisiting the First Ladies’ Homes

The oft-overlooked lives of America’s first ladies are on display in house museums across the country

The Lincoln Memorial, Washington, D.C.

The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln

Lincoln’s Contested Legacy

Great Emancipator or unreconstructed racist? Each generation evokes a different Lincoln. But who was our sixteenth president?

Philip B. Kunhardt III, author of Lincoln's Contested Legacy.

Philip Kunhardt on “Lincoln’s Contested Legacy”

As First Dog, Laddie Boy was worthy of an official portrait.

The White House’s First Celebrity Dog

Bo, the Obama’s First Pooch, has a legacy to live up to in Laddie Boy, the family pet of President Harding

U.S. Marine Band on the steps of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.

Inauguration History

After an Inauguration, the Stars Come out to Play

Ever since George Washington danced after his inauguration, the ceremony has brought big names in the arts to the capital city

Wordle is an application that takes text from any source and enlarges words that appear more frequently. Conversely, words that are smaller appear less frequently. Small words, like the or of, are not included in the Wordles above.

Inauguration History

Behind Inaugural Speeches, Meaningful Words

What words do presidents focus on most in their inaugural addresses? Explore speeches, from Washington to Obama

Inauguration History

From Washington to Biden, Inauguration History

Every four years, D.C. celebrates the presidential inauguration

Inauguration of President Kennedy on the East Portico of the U.S. Capitol.

Inauguration History

Inaugural Firsts

When was the first inaugural parade? Who had the longest inaugural address? A look at presidential inaugurations through time

"Montpelier, which lies a few miles south of Orange, Virginia, and about 90 miles southwest of Washington, D.C., is where James Madison grew up and where he retired after his days as president were over."

Montpelier and the Legacy of James Madison

The recently restored Virginia estate of James Madison was home to a founding father and the ideals that shaped a nation

George Washington

Digging Up George Washington

Archaeologists continue to uncover more about the nation’s first president

In the 1800 election, Thomas Jefferson, left, and Aaron Burr each received 73 electoral votes, but public opinion sided with Jefferson.

Thomas Jefferson, Aaron Burr and the Election of 1800

For seven days, as the two presidential candidates maneuvered and schemed, the fate of the young republic hung in the ballots

President John F. Kennedy, First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy and Texas Governor John Connally ride through the streets of Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963, the day of Kennedy’s assassination.

The President’s Been Shot

Forty years ago, the assassination of JFK stunned Americans, who vividly recall the day even as they grapple with his complex legacy

None

LBJ Goes for Broke

None

The Painter and the President

Gilbert Stuart and the Creation of an Icon

None

Recollecting the Presidents

An election year exhibition proudly hails the chiefs

Grace Coolidge with Laddie Boy, an Airedale Terrier, and Rob Roy, a white Collie

All the Presidents’ Pooches

None

The Object at Hand

There was a time when a cane was the exclamation point to a gentleman’s attire, but canes have also been put to a remarkable range of uses

Page 23 of 23