presidential history

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• SOURCE: Perspectives on History
  10/19/2020
  

  “If Anybody Says Election to Me, I Want to Fight”: The Messy Election of 1876

  by Jon Grinspan

  The election of 1876 was a disaster for American democracy. 

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• 10/18/2020
  

  Ranking Donald Trump: No Cause for National Happiness

  by James M. Banner, Jr.

  He’s accomplished what no other president has been able to achieve since the first presidential ranking in 1948.  He’s managed to raise James Buchanan, Millard Fillmore, Andrew Johnson, and Warren Harding off the floor.  The sad thing is that this is no achievement we can cheer.

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• SOURCE: History Extra (BBC)
  10/13/2020
  

  Lincoln, Adams and George W Bush: The 6 Most Disputed Presidential Elections in American History

  A presidential historian discusses disputed elections in the past, and explains how they illuminate the possible paths of contestation for the 2020 results. 

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• SOURCE: Smithsonian
  10/8/2020
  

  The Outsized Role of the President in Race Relations

  Lindsay Chervinsky announces a new collaborative podast "The Past, The Promise, The Presidency" to offer an accessible understanding of racism and the presidency.

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• SOURCE: Iowa Public Radio
  10/6/2020
  

  A History Of October Surprises (audio)

  Although Trump's COVID diagnosis was, perhaps, unexpected, October Surprises have historically involved presidents announcing policy initiatives to improve their reelection prospects. Presidential historians Tim Naftali and Tim Walch discuss.

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  10/7/2020
  

  Lyon Gardiner Tyler Jr., Grandson of the 10th President, Dies at 95

  He and his brother, grandsons of John Tyler, were the third of three generations that remarkably spanned almost the entire history of the American experience.

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• SOURCE: Made By History at The Washington Post
  10/8/2020
  

  Politics, not Public Good, Will Guide what We Know about Trump’s Health

  by William I. Hitchcock

  "Should a president choose to hide crucial health details from the public, as Trump and his doctors have done, citizens have little recourse. All they can do is draw their own conclusions about the trustworthiness of the president."

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• SOURCE: NPR
  10/5/2020
  

  Trump's COVID-19 Diagnosis Recalls History Of Secrecy On Presidential Health

  Barbara Perry, Director of Presidential Studies at the University of Virginia's Miller Center, says that secrecy and obfuscation about his health "is one precedent this president is following."

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  10/1/2020
  

  A Brief History of the Taxpayer in Chief

  by Margaret O'Mara

  The revelation, at the height of the Watergate investigation, that Richard Nixon had abused deductions to avoid nearly all of his tax obligations initiated modern interest in presidential candidates' tax returns. 

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• SOURCE: The Atlantic
  10/2/2020
  

  What Happens If a Presidential Candidate Becomes Incapacitated or Dies?

  by Brian C. Kalt

  We know who the decision makers would be, but we have no idea what they would decide—and what voters’ reactions would be.

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• SOURCE: Associated Press
  10/3/2020
  

  Of Presidents and Health, History Replete with Secrecy, Lies

  History is replete with examples of how presidents have kept the American public in the dark about their ailments and medical conditions.

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• SOURCE: Washington Post
  10/3/2020
  

  We Nearly Lost Our First President to the Flu. The Country Could Have Died, Too

  by Gillian Brockell

  Had he died in the 1790 flu pandemic, the United States might have died with him. The new Constitution lacked detailed instructions on how to treat presidential incapacitation and death. (This was remedied in the 20th century by the 25th Amendment).

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• SOURCE: Perspectives on History
  9/29/2020
  

  On the Peaceful Transfer of Power: Lessons from 1800

  by Sara Georgini

  Adams lost the presidency amid violent factionalism, a seething press, rampant electioneering, and the eruption of party politics, yet became a champion for the peaceful transfer of power. 

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• SOURCE: The New Republic
  9/24/2020
  

  Weaken the Presidency—Even If Biden Wins

  The conduct of the Trump administration shows a long trend of increased presidential power must be stopped. 

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• 9/27/2020
  

  Debates Are Unpredictable

  by Ron Faucheux

  In a close election, a debate can matter, and debates are lost more than they are won. Some examples from the television era of campaigning should give viewers a sense of how to judge Biden and Trump on Tuesday night. 

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• 9/20/2020
  

  Dirty Politics, Then and Now

  by George Herring

  Political mudslinging by presidential surrogates is nothing new. But Trump digs in personally to his social media smears in a way that is unprecedented and degrading to the office and the nation.

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• SOURCE: BBC
  9/14/2020
  

  Warren Harding: Grandson of Former US President Asks to Exhume His Remains

  Members of Warren Harding's family have accepted DNA evidence of the paternity of the former president's daughter. Harding's grandson today seeks to have the body exhumed for further testing, possibly to spite the organization that runs the Harding Memorial. 

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• SOURCE: The New Yorker
  9/14/2020
  

  How the Promise of Normalcy Won the 1920 Election

  The Warren Harding presidency promised a return to normalcy after war, pandemic, political unrest and racial violence. The promise proved illusory.

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  9/8/2020
  

  Groomed to Be President: David Kennedy Reviews Fredrik Logevall's JFK Bio

  Fredrik Logevall's new book, the first of two volumes on the life of JFK, pushes back against perceptions of the young Kennedy as an accidental politician or intellectual lightweight, and describes the way world events shaped his worldview.

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  9/1/2020
  

  How Do We Fix the American Presidency?

  Kevin Kruse and Julian Zelizer, along with political scientists William Howell and Terry M. Moe, offer context for growing concerns about the power of the Presidency.