Franklin D. Roosevelt, World War II Even before he was permanently paralyzed by polio in 1921, Franklin D. Roosevelt had been inscrutable. He was sly in manipulating those around him with an infectious charm and wily in foreseeing long-range… Read More ›
For half a century, it was a quadrennial display of the performing arts, a time capsule of the nation’s pop culture, a snapshot too of the varied entertainment tastes of the President about to assume office. It was called the… Read More ›
This is the fourth and final article in the series Christmas at the White House. You can find the previous three at the links at the end of this article. If contemporary observers expect a “theme” each succeeding year of… Read More ›
In the eleventh hour President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign for a second term seems to have unwittingly saved the grand tradition of campaign music from oblivion. At Obama rallies in Virginia, Ohio and Iowa this week and last, Bruce Springsteen… Read More ›
It didn’t start out as his – but like so much else, Franklin Roosevelt claimed it for himself because he saw its value of association. Alice Roosevelt Longworth, his wife’s first cousin, loved telling the story of a couple in… Read More ›
Having won the presidency in 1920 and overcome a post-war economic depression, to then survive the Teapot Dome and other Harding Administration scandals to win the presidency again in 1924, the Republicans went for a third try in 1928, nominating a man… Read More ›
In her later years, Mae West spoke out against nudity in feature films – not on a moral basis but because she felt it didn’t allow the imagination to wander. “Never drop the seventh veil,” she once said about actors… Read More ›
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 ›
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 ›
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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