On February 14, 1901, just over three months after he won re-election to a second term and eighteen days before his second inauguration, President William McKinley and his wife, First Lady Ida McKinley hosted the fourth of the five White… Read More ›
Holidays
Different demographics in different regions shaping Holidays with American style.
The Santa Claus You Must Never See, If Yule Dare
It’s the most wonderful time of the year. So the song claims. Family arguments. Memories of emotional loss. Fruitcake. Credit card debt. Office party inappropriateness. Humor gets humanity through the worst of times. And at Christmastime, humor beget from horror seems… Read More ›
The Nixon Family’s White House Halloween Parties of the Seventies: Pumpkin Pictures
In the post-World War II era of consumerism that marked the 1950s, American children began heading out to trick-or-treat on Halloween by the hundreds of thousands, redefining ancient Celtic rituals marking All Hallow’s Eve that were first brought to the… Read More ›
A Dozen First Lady Fourths: Presidential Wives’ Independence Days Radically Diverse
Since that day of July 4, 1776. when its independence was first declared by the American colonies upon the ratification of the Declaration of Independence, the United States has marked Independence Day for 240 years. It was only thirteen years… Read More ›
Presidents Voting Photos: A Clue to Chief Executive Ego
Living before a perpetual public eye, they’re intensely self-conscious. And that’s how most of them have wanted it to be. Before discovering they can literally get the attention of the whole world by slipping on a tarmac, carrying a garment… Read More ›
Merry Christmas vs. Happy Holidays: Facts Bring It Together
Republican and Democratic. Summer and Winter. Science and Religion. Men and Women. Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas. Like so much of the national dialogue, even this festive period of the calendar has been reduced to a winner-take-all Team Red versus… Read More ›
The Two Faces of World War I: Before The Fighting & After
No matter how empathetic a person may be who pauses today to remember the millions of American military forces who served in armed conflict, the experience of war can’t help but remain an abstract one. Those who’ve known what it’s… Read More ›
Pulaski Days in Grand Rapids: Michigan’s Polish-American Holiday
Yesterday, October 11, was once traditionally celebrated in cities with large Polish-American populations as the traditional Pulaski Day, marking the day that Count Casimir Pulaski, a native of Warka, Poland, heroically died in 1779 while fighting for American independence. By the… Read More ›
The Seven Fathers Who Lived to See Sons Become President
There was a homeopath who adored his son and a tanner who exploited his. Two were humble farmers offering practical advice that charmed the nation. Three were diplomats, two being Ambassadors to Great Britain, one of them being the first to serve… Read More ›
Rich Celebrity First Mom: Franklin Roosevelt’s Dominant Mother Sara
Everyday must have seemed like Mother’s Day to Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Sara Delano Roosevelt wouldn’t have permitted it any other way. “Am I proud of being an historic mother?!” she waspishly repeated a question rudely thrown her way by reporters. “Indeed… Read More ›
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