Politics

How JFK's Clever TV Strategies Helped Him Win the Election

Seventy million people tuned in to watch America's first televised presidential debate in 1960. They were met with a well-prepared, well-dressed JFK

How Many Ways Can Snake Venom Kill You and More Questions From Our Readers

You asked, we answered

While presidents have the power to pardon, their decision to use it isn't always popular. Just look at this anti-Ford button made in response to his pardoning of Richard Nixon.

A Brief History of Presidential Pardons

The power bestowed upon the chief executive to excuse past misdeeds has involved a number of famous Americans

Gen Xers and Millennials Out-Voted Older Generations in 2016

It's the first time the younger generations have beat out Baby Boomers, Silent Generation voters and Greatest Generation voters

Even the name "Daniel Defoe" was a pseudonym of sorts—born Daniel Foe, Defoe added the first syllable to his last name to sound more aristocratic.

The Author of 'Robinson Crusoe' Used Almost 200 Pseudonyms

Daniel Defoe honed his pen on political writing before he came to the novel

North Korean soldiers carry flags and a photo of late leader Kim Il-sung during a military parade on Saturday, April 15, 2017, in Pyongyang, North Korea.

Why North Korea Needs an Enemy Like America to Survive

The nation’s complicated history hinges on three words that explain the totalitarian regime's behavior

Where Did the Term “Gerrymander” Come From?

Elbridge Gerry was a powerful voice in the founding of the nation, but today he's best known for the political practice with an amphibious origin

Independence Day Celebration in Centre Square by John Lewis Krimmel (1787–1821)

The Brief Period, 200 Years Ago, When American Politics Was Full of “Good Feelings”

James Monroe’s 1817 goodwill tour kicked off a decade of party-less government – but he couldn’t stop the nation from dividing again

Otto von Bismarck addressing the Reichstag

Bismarck Tried to End Socialism’s Grip—By Offering Government Healthcare

The 1883 law was the first of its kind to institute mandatory, government-monitored health insurance

Protestors in London attack the coalition between the Conservative Party and the Democratic Unionist Party from Northern Ireland on June 17, 2017.

Why the New U.K. Political Coalition Could Undermine Peace in Ireland

Theresa May’s deal to control Parliament may endanger the 1998 Good Friday Agreement

Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan Macy at a New York flower show, circa 1913.

Three Big Ableist Myths About the Life of Helen Keller

The simple story that's usually told about her today reflects cultural biases that have nothing to do with her actual life

In this March 13, 1959 file photo, A group of supporters of statehood drive through the street in Waikiki, Honolulu, Hawaii.

The Political Dealmaking That Finally Brought Hawaii Statehood

And what Puerto Rico can learn from the prolonged process

Vice President-designate Gerald Ford holds up a copy of Evergreen Review, a magazine which Ford described as obscene. One of Ford's charges against Douglas was that he had allowed an article he had written to be published in Evergreen.

The History of American Impeachment

There’s a precedent that it's not just for presidents

Mobster Frank Costello testifying before the Kefauver Committee.

How Watching Congressional Hearings Became an American Pastime

Decades before Watergate, mobsters helped turn hearings into must-see television

"The Drunkard's Progress" shows how temperance advocates wanted to position alcohol consumption: as a choice leading, inevitably, to ruin and death.

Why Was Maine the First State to Try Prohibition?

The groundbreaking "Maine law" laid the groundwork for other states to experiment with temperance laws

“We’ve been taxing work, output and income and subsidizing non-work, leisure and unemployment. The consequences are obvious! To Don Rumsfeld,” Arthur Laffer wrote around the graph, signing and dating his work as well.

The Restaurant Doodle That Launched a Political Movement

How one economist’s graph on a napkin reshaped the Republican Party and upended tax policy

Joe Pyne Was America's First Shock Jock

Newly discovered tapes resurrect the angry ghost of Joe Pyne, the original outrageous talk show host

Ukraine's Jamala (right) at the press conference after she won Eurovision 2016 with "1944."

The Eurovision Song Contest Rocks Europe This Week. Here’s How It All Got Started

It was the idea of the European Broadcasting Union, who wanted to put the relatively new technology of television through its paces

Portrait of James Otis (1725-1783)

Why the Colonies’ Most Galvanizing Patriot Never Became a Founding Father

James Otis, Jr. used his words to whip anti-British sentiment into a frenzy—so why isn’t he better remembered now?

Students for a Democratic Society was the largest – and arguably most successful – student activist organization in U.S. history.

What Was the Protest Group Students for a Democratic Society? Five Questions Answered

Todd Gitlin, former president of Students for a Democratic Society, shares his perspective on protest in the 60s and now

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