The Teapot

I cringe a little bit every time I think about Warren G. Harding.  You see, in the summer of 1994 there was a song called Regulate that played on the radio all of the time This song was by Nate Dogg and Warren G. Knowing that there were scandals in Warren G. Harding’s presidency and
…read more

The Professor

One of the memories that I have of high school history from the year before I started to hate it (some teachers will do that to you), was a discussion of World War 1. It’s not the discussion that I remember so well, but one student’s ardent desire for peace and hope for what could
…read more

The Supreme

William Howard Taft was one of the first presidential biographies that I read when I decided a few years ago to embark upon a project to read a biography of each United States President. There are several things that stood out to me about him then. One of them is that he took dance lessons
…read more

The Rough Rider

There is so much one could say about Theodore Roosevelt. That, I suppose, is something you could say about all of the faces on Mount Rushmore. Roosevelt did so many things. He overcame childhood illness. He overcame losing his mother and his wife on the same day.  You could choose to look at him as
…read more

The Annexation

  President William McKinley is one of those presidents who stands out in a history class not because of who he was, but because his presidency marked one of those pivotal eras in American history. When you get to the McKinley unit, you’re likely to hear about how his administration set the stage for the
…read more

The Reflection

Every time I get my hands on a book, or a set of cards (don’t judge me) that covers all of the presidents, I am very curious about how Grover Cleveland is handled. This whole only-president-to-serve-nonconsecutive-terms business complicates things. Sometimes he gets one entry that covers both of his terms. In this case, there’s usually
…read more

The Sandwich

Whenever I have the opportunity to talk about Benjamin Harrison, I can’t resist the urge to refer to him as the meat in the Grover Cleveland sandwich. Go ahead. Take a minute; unpack that.  Benjamin Harrison could be described as a heritage president. Great, now I sound like I’m talking about turkeys.  His great-grandfather was
…read more

The Ruth

James Buchanan both started and ended his presidency as a bachelor. Grover Cleveland entered the presidency a bachelor and left it a married man. In fact, he was the first sitting president to be married in the White House. That is the factoid about President Cleveland that takes a second place to the other fact
…read more

The Dude

  Chester Alan Arthur never ran for president. One source describes him as being best known for succeeding  James Garfield. Others might think he should be best known for his dapper style and his righteous facial hair. Burnsides! He had burnsides, a facial hairstyle named for Civil War General Ambrose Burnside. Even the White House
…read more

The Pendleton

This is really neither here nor there, but the elementary school I attended was named after President James A. Garfield. I had wondered whether this was the case, but confirmed it in an article that talked about the school’s closing. Garfield is one of those presidents who wasn’t in office very long. Due to an
…read more