Hail to the Chief: One Great Article About Every U.S. President

Toward the end of his second term, Washington was so disliked that the House voted against adjourning for 30 minutes to wish him well on his birthday.

John Adams quietly returned power to where it rightfully rests—with the people.

University of Virginia grad Joshua Adams believes that if you want to understand the violence that erupted there in 2017, look back at history and the school’s complicated founder.

Few of America’s citizens have believed more fervently or optimistically in its promise than James Madison, and yet he fell prey to the same divisiveness and petty grievance that have dogged the country and its stewards since the founding.

An ‘era of good feelings’ followed James Monroe’s inauguration 200 years ago—but shadows loomed.

The making of our sixth president in his own words.

Jacksonian democracy may have been liberating for some, but it was repressive for many others.

How they came to Tennessee—and a chat with the man sifting through the papers a president left behind.

1840 marked the first time American women became openly involved in a presidential campaign.

His party expelled him. His cabinet resigned. He was even hung in effigy on the White House porch. What made America’s 10th president such a political pariah?

Arguably, no one-term president ever accomplished as much as he did.

The Whigs chose power over principles when they nominated Zachary Taylor in 1848. The party never recovered.

Millard Fillmore gets little love from presidential historians, but he’s enjoyed favorite son status in Buffalo for more than 150 years. That's beginning to change.

Why did the famous novelist (pictured left) agree to write a campaign biography for Franklin Pierce, an infamously bad president?

Was his close friendship with William Rufus King just that, or was it evidence that he was the nation’s first gay chief executive?

It seems safe to assume that even the most diligent researcher will not be able to discover significant new material about Lincoln—a diary, say, or previously unknown speeches and letters. Instead the biographer must take an original interpretative approach.

Members of Congress and some in Andrew Johnson’s own Cabinet wanted him gone. They did the next best thing.

The life of Ulysses S. Grant, a nobody who became almost everything.

The 19th U.S. President lends his name to a city, region, school, and annual festival.

Historians have taken Garfield’s doctors to task for not applying sterile technique, and, thus, saving the President’s life. Are they right?

When corruption threatened the administration of Chester A. Arthur, one ordinary woman put pen to paper.

Forget Arnold Schwarzenegger or John Edwards. One of the greatest political sex scandals happened to Grover Cleveland.

Consider Benjamin Harrison’s role in the entirely on purpose “Panic of 1893.”

Grover Cleveland is the one successful presidential Comeback Kid.

In 1896, William McKinley ran for office without having to ever leave home.

At his namesake park in North Dakota, reconciling the president’s conservation successes with his racist views.

One humiliating story is often the only thing people remember him for—a real shame, considering his unique position in American political history.

The 28th president never uttered a single public statement about the 1918-1919 flu pandemic that killed hundreds of thousands of Americans.

Even in the age of Anthony Weiner sexts and John Edwards revelations, it still has the power to astonish.

Near-silent, famously prudish, yet also quite funny and the proud owner of the White House pet raccoon, our 30th president, Calvin Coolidge, makes a pretty strong argument for never ignoring the quiet ones.

He was a brilliant manager, a wizard of logistics, and an extraordinarily effective humanitarian. How come we remember him as a failure?

How an inexperienced New Yorker famous for his name emerged from the contested 1932 convention to win the presidency.

Truman’s dramatic transformation from segregationist to civil rights advocate was nothing short of astonishing.

How Eisenhower reshaped the presidency in the service of the struggle against the Soviets.

John F. Kennedy might not have really written Profiles in Courage, but he certainly promoted it.

On a Presidential paper trail.

While we tend to focus on the bipartisan rebellion that led to Nixon’s resignation, it’s also worth understanding how public opinion and the party eventually turned against the president.

President Gerald R. Ford’s priority was to unite a divided nation. The decision that defined his term proved how difficult that would be.

Ex-presidents are supposed to gently retire. Make a life of lucrative speeches, or stay home and paint. But for nearly 40 years, Jimmy Carter has refused to fade away.

How Ronald Reagan’s eight-year gig as the host of General Electric Theater sparked his conservative conversion and became the genesis of his political career.

Like the hero of a boys’ novel, George Bush moved from the East to the wild and woolly West. He wanted to prove himself, by golly, to Yale, Procter & Gamble, and the old man.

Bill Clinton became the first president to be impeached since Andrew Johnson, in 1868. A recounting by people who played a role.

Can a batch of new books, a documentary, and Donald Trump’s calamitous administration resuscitate the legacy of our 43rd president—and his illustrious family?

A history of the first African American White House—and of what came next.

In the multicultural days of The Apprentice, he rose to a level of popularity with minorities that the GOP could only dream of. Then he torched it all to prepare for a hard-right run at the presidency.

A life marked by missteps and personal tragedy has also been buoyed by a series of remarkably fortuitous events. And the combination hit the moment just right.