American Presidents

Eugene V. Debs was in a West Virginia penitentiary when he lost the 1920 presidential election.

Has Anyone Ever Run for President While in Prison? And More Questions From Our Readers

You've got questions. We've got experts

"Washington and His Cabinet" lithograph by Currier & Ives

The President's Cabinet Was an Invention of America's First President

A new book explores how George Washington shaped the group of advisors as an institution to meet his own needs

The list includes The Other Madisons: The Lost History of a President's Black Family and The War Queens: Extraordinary Women Who Ruled the Battlefield.

Five New Nonfiction Books to Read While You're Stuck at Home

We're highlighting newly released titles may have been lost in the news as the nation endures the coronavirus pandemic

Charles Lindbergh, Walter Winchell and Franklin D. Roosevelt (L to R) are among the public figures fictionalized in Philip Roth's The Plot Against America.

The True History Behind 'The Plot Against America'

Philip Roth's classic novel, newly adapted by HBO, envisions a world in which Charles Lindbergh wins the 1940 presidential election

Clarence Barnes and Craig Wade with the banner in the Wade family home.

How Two 1950s Kids Playing on the Railroad Tracks Found a National Treasure

Curators at the National Museum of American History talked to the brothers who found a relic of the 1800 Adams and Jefferson election

Washington, who tended to favor surprisingly silly names for his animals—his dogs answered to Sweetlips, Drunkard and Madame Moose—went literal when it came to the mule, who he called Royal Gift.

George Washington Saw a Future for America: Mules

A newly minted celebrity to the world, the future president used his position to procure his preferred beast of burden from the king of Spain

A place of mourning was probably not what Congress had in mind when they established the National Portrait Gallery in 1962, but perhaps they would not be surprised that this is partly what they got.

How One Museum Helps the Nation Mourn

When prominent Americans like Kobe Bryant die, mourners flock to the National Portrait Gallery in search of solace

The Landsdowne portrait of George Washington by Gilbert Stuart

A New Book About George Washington Breaks All the Rules on How to Write About George Washington

Alexis Coe's cheeky biography of the first president pulls no punches

The stretcher bullet (mostly intact) and two fragments of the bullet that fatally wounded Kennedy, as seen from multiple perspectives

Bullets That Killed John F. Kennedy Immortalized as Digital Replicas

The originals remain at the National Archives, but new 3-D scans showcase the ballistics in vivid detail

First Lady Grace Coolidge and Rebecca, the raccoon she and her family kept as a pet

Raccoon Was Once a Thanksgiving Feast Fit for a President

Calvin Coolidge refused to cook the raccoon sent to him, but the critter was a beloved staple for many Americans

Artist Amy Sherald, photographed at the Hauser & Wirth gallery in New York City.

How Amy Sherald's Revelatory Portraits Challenge Expectations

The artist who garnered fame at the Smithsonian and then painted the official portrait of Michelle Obama brings her unique style to ordinary people

Detail of portrait of President James Buchanan by artist George Peter Alexander Healy

The 175-Year History of Speculating About President James Buchanan's Bachelorhood

Was his close friendship with William Rufus King just that, or was it evidence that he was the nation's first gay chief executive?

South Dakota's City of Presidents Unveils Obama Statue

The new life-size bronze depicts the 44th president waving to the crowd and holding his daughter Sasha's hand

The Cooper beech tree during its removal at Sagamore Hill.

A Copper Beech Tree Planted by Theodore Roosevelt Is Being Cut Down

But it will not disappear from Sagamore Hill, the president’s beloved family estate

The hand-tooled leather cover

A Bible Owned by Lincoln, Unknown to Historians for 150 Years, Goes on Display

The relic offers a new opportunity to reflect on Lincoln’s religious beliefs

Rose Cleveland (left) and Evangeline Simpson Whipple (right) exchanged passionate love letters throughout the course of their nearly 30-year relationship

New Book Chronicles First Lady Rose Cleveland’s Love Affair With Evangeline Simpson Whipple

Rose and her longtime partner are buried side by side in the Italian town where they once shared a home

This detail of The Apotheosis of Washington, a fresco painted in the 19th century by Constantino Brumidi in the eye of the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol Building, depicts George Washington rising to the heavens, flanked by the Roman goddesses of liberty (left) and victory (right).

Why No One Can Agree on What George Washington Thought About the Relationship Between Church and State

The first president wanted to unite citizens of all religions without alienating Catholics, freethinkers and Jews

In 1836, both camps in the so-called Bank War—supporters of U.S. president Andrew Jackson, and supporters of the Second Bank of the United States president Nicholas Biddle—lobbed accusations of conspiracy to sway Americans to their sides.

Conspiracy Theories Abounded in 19th-Century American Politics

Rumors of secret alliances, bank deals, and double-crossings were rampant in early American elections

A polar bear walks on the ice of the Beaufort Sea in Arctic Alaska.

Judge Blocks Oil Drilling in Arctic Ocean

The ruling says only Congress—not presidential executive orders—has the authority to reverse bans on oil drilling leases

The years when the teenage Lincoln was an accomplished prankster are retold in an old Smithsonian radio broadcast.

When Abraham Lincoln Played Prankster-in-Chief

Old is new again, as Smithsonian’s Sidedoor podcast revisits a radio drama from 1938

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