There was a rivalry between the parties, of course, but in Potter's account, it was more like the rivalry between Cal and Stanford than that between today's Republicans and Democrats. The parties had somewhat different constituencies and pledged fealty to a different set of men, but each attempted to encompass as much of the political spectrum as possible rather than merely half of it. The story of the 1850s, by these lights, is about how this changed.

With reference to David M. Potter's The Impending Crisis, Adam Cadre surveys the four antebellum presidents. [more inside]
posted by Iridic on Oct 22, 2009 - 23 comments

Apparently, The Secret Service's code name for Barack Obama is "Renegade". Former agents told the Washington Post that military officials chose the code names without particular reference to the characteristics of the politician. Sadly, Bush's code name isn't "The Decider" but rather "Tumbler" and, later, (shockingly) "Trailblazer". If you're feeling left out, you budding Junior Secret Service Agents can make up your own.
posted by chuckdarwin on Jun 18, 2007 - 30 comments

Beyond the Playing Field: Jackie Robinson, Civil Rights Advocate. (more inside)
posted by matteo on Jan 16, 2006 - 12 comments

Audio link to the Inaugural Address delivered January 20, 1961.
posted by squalor on Nov 22, 2005 - 18 comments

John Adams is back. In a surprising twist that should amaze pundits, today's prominent politicians turn out to be reincarnations of guys from the Continental Congress. Meanwhile, in an unrelated development, 36 dead presidents are sending messages from beyond the grave. As Bill Clinton said, "Thank you for the engraved copy...It looks fascinating!”
posted by inksyndicate on Apr 20, 2005 - 21 comments

Lyndon Johnson orders Haggar slacks. (via Political Wire)
posted by XQUZYPHYR on Aug 3, 2004 - 29 comments

US Presidents: Lists and Records. For Presidential Historians and Trivia addicts only. More inside
posted by psmealey on Jun 16, 2004 - 5 comments

major ongoing scandals - a list "there have been an amazing number of investigations of Republicans since Bush took office, some of which directly involve the White House." Is this, in fact, an unusually long roster of scandals as compared to the scandal tallies of past presidential administrations?
posted by troutfishing on Mar 23, 2004 - 25 comments

The President Calling: American Radioworks (MPR) explores the secret phone tapes of Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon. AFAIK, the content is all previously available, but online, they've packaged and annotated it for ease of use. It's not exhaustive, but the moments picked out are often illuminating, showing "how each man used one-on-one politics to shape history." You might want to start here.
posted by soyjoy on Nov 20, 2003 - 5 comments

Data Archives from the American Presidency Project Fascinating statistical data about a variety of subjects, and not just trivia either. Includes data, for example, about Congressional concurrence with the President, number of Presidential vetos, number of first-year requests, etc. Good information for acquiring an overall understanding of our current political situation.
posted by oissubke on Nov 6, 2002 - 6 comments

Through rose-tinted spectacles? It's media waffle for a quiet news day, and comes on the back of a wave of nostalgia, but Reagan's "victory" in this latest poll feels like the triumph of selective memory, and of the desire to reassociate the presidency with jelly-bean eating. (FDR trails in fifth, and there's no mention of Woodrow Wilson, though Carter and Nixon get a look-in.) Which makes me wonder: does the US have a clear sense of its history, as far as Presidents are concerned?
posted by holgate on Feb 19, 2001 - 15 comments

NYTimes.com reports (or does it?) Bush winning KY and IN
I think this is some kind of mistake, rather than an off-sides. Explanations?
posted by rschram on Nov 7, 2000 - 7 comments

In the spirit of the American Memory Digital Library or Duke's Digital Scriptorium, the American Museum of the Moving Image has a new exhibit called The Living Room Candidate- a comprehensive collection of presidential campaign ads since the 1950's.
posted by kidsplateusa on Oct 23, 2000 - 6 comments

Presidential election projection, based on likely Electoral College votes. Which is the right way to do it, after all. The guy running the page is the editor of Web, White, & Blue, an online digest of political news from around the Web. Seems very even handed. The projections come from state-by-state polling data, and change as new polls come in. Current leader: Gore, by 34 out of 535 votes.
posted by aurelian on Sep 7, 2000 - 3 comments