He came to Florida not just because California was too far, but because he loved it. The only President born in California, Richard Nixon had a lifelong enjoyment of warm climates and life near the ocean. In fact, despite their… Read More ›
History
Miami Golf and UFOs? Why Jackie Gleason Campaigned for Nixon and a Shocking Allegation
It’s absolutely certain that they shared two great passions. Miami, and golf. And, legend has it, actor and performer Jackie Gleason and President Richard Nixon had a mutual curiosity about UFO’s and extra-terrestrial beings. Yet in the public imagination, they… Read More ›
Washington & Monroe: No Love Lost Between the First & Last of the Virginia Dynasty
Except for the one four-year term of New Englander, John Adams, the American Presidency was held by what came to be known as the “Virginia Dynasty,” four Presidents who each, remarkably, were elected to two terms, or eight years each… Read More ›
McKinley & Roosevelt: Teddy’s Crack Behind Mack’s Back, Egotism & Death
William McKinley had seen war. It wasn’t about heroics, it was about blood. So much of his identity was linked to his years serving in the Union Army during the Civil War and he maintained strong ties to all of… Read More ›
Lime, Salt & Peggy Lee: The Texas Margarita Pie
It’s a long, winding trail to the Margarita Pie of Texas, with detours along the Mexican border, intoxicating flights of imagination to Bali, even speculation into the private life of the marriage of singer Peggy Lee and her husband. Among… Read More ›
Red, White & Betsy Ross: No, She Didn’t! (Did She?) Plus Bizarre Betsyabilia
There’s good reason why Pennsylvania not only recognizes Independence Day as a national holiday, but also Flag Day as a state holiday. It ‘s all because of that Elizabeth Claypoole. Mrs. Ross, to you. Like Plymouth Rock and George Washington cutting down… Read More ›
Eleanor Roosevelt’s Mysteriously Missing Grandfather & was she part-Italian?
Despite her being born forty-five years before Jacqueline Kennedy, there is a similar pattern in the story of Eleanor Roosevelt‘s Irish immigrant heritage. It illustrates less the shame of humble origin than how the power of incredible wealth can lead people… Read More ›
Keep Grandma Upstairs: Jackie Kennedy’s Family Secrets & The Lie Her Mother Told
This article is part of an ongoing series about the racial, religious and ethnic identity of First Ladies, beginning with the recent discoveries about First Lady Michelle Obama and her ancestry from both an Irish immigrant family of Georgia slave-owners… Read More ›
Michelle Obama’s Slave Ancestry & Presidential Identity Politics
The recent news, emerging from the new book American Tapestry: The Story of the Black, White, and Multiracial Ancestors of Michelle Obama, by New York Times reporter Rachel L. Swarns, finally provides in a detailed history how the First Lady‘s… Read More ›
What Franklin Roosevelt & Harry Truman Thought of Each Other
Distracted by his efforts to finish World War II in victory, as President Franklin D. Roosevelt headed into his presidential campaign for an unprecedented fourth term in 1944, seemed especially indifferent to who would be his running mate. Everyone around… Read More ›
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