America250 — 250 years since 1776. Explore two and a half centuries of American history. Start the tour

#Presidency

113 entries

People (51)

First Lady, political advisor, and the founding era's most insistent voice for women's rights

Abraham Lincoln

16th President of the United States, who held the Union together through civil war

Frontier general, champion of the common white man, and 7th President of the United States

17th President of the United States and the first to be impeached

44th President of the United States, 2009–2017

Benjamin Harrison

23rd President of the United States, 1889–1893

42nd President of the United States, 1993–2001

Calvin Coolidge

30th President of the United States, 1923–1929

The Kaw Nation senator who rose to the vice presidency

Chester A. Arthur

21st President of the United States, the machine politician who became an unlikely reformer

The First Lady who saved Washington's portrait and defined the social power of the presidency

45th and 47th President of the United States

Dwight D. Eisenhower

Supreme Allied Commander, 34th President, and the man who warned America about itself

Eleanor Roosevelt

First Lady, diplomat, and the human rights conscience of the 20th century

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Four-term president who led America through the Great Depression and World War II

Franklin Pierce

14th President of the United States, 1853–1857

George H.W. Bush

41st President of the United States, 1989–1993

43rd President of the United States, 2001–2009

George Washington

Commander of the Continental Army and First President of the United States

38th President of the United States, 1974–1977

Grover Cleveland

22nd and 24th President of the United States

Harry S. Truman

The haberdasher from Missouri who dropped the bomb, integrated the military, and contained the Soviets

31st President of the United States, 1929–1933

First Lady whose grace under catastrophe defined a generation's image of the American presidency

15th President of the United States, 1857–1861

20th President of the United States, who was killed not by a bullet but by his doctors

11th President of the United States and the architect of continental expansion

Father of the Constitution and fourth President of the United States

5th President of the United States and the last of the Founding Fathers to hold the office

39th President of the United States, whose post-presidency eclipsed his time in office

46th President of the United States, 2021–2025

Second President of the United States, 1797–1801

John F. Kennedy

35th President of the United States, 1961–1963

John Quincy Adams

6th President of the United States, diplomat, and antislavery congressman

10th President of the United States, 1841–1845

Lyndon B. Johnson

The Texas dealmaker who built the Great Society and broke himself on Vietnam

Martha Washington

The first First Lady — a wealthy widow who built the presidency alongside her husband

Martin Van Buren

8th President of the United States, 1837–1841

Millard Fillmore

13th President of the United States, whose compromise bought a decade and cost a nation

The 37th President who opened China, ended the draft — and became the only president to resign

40th President of the United States, 1981–1989

Rutherford B. Hayes

19th President of the United States, whose disputed election ended Reconstruction

Theodore Roosevelt

26th President who broke trusts, conserved millions of acres, and remade American power

Thomas Jefferson

Author of the Declaration of Independence and Third President of the United States

Ulysses S. Grant

Commanding general of the Union Army and 18th President of the United States

Warren G. Harding

29th President of the United States, 1921–1923

William Henry Harrison

9th President of the United States, 1841

William Howard Taft

27th President and 10th Chief Justice of the United States

William McKinley

25th President of the United States, who led America into empire and was killed for it

Progressive reformer, World War I president, and architect of the modern international order

12th President of the United States, a war hero who died before the crisis could break

Places (17)

Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library

The Abilene, Kansas campus on the prairie where Ike grew up

Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library

The Hyde Park archive that invented the presidential library

George H. W. Bush Presidential Library

The Texas A&M library of a one-term president and lifelong public servant

George W. Bush Presidential Library

The SMU library that lets visitors face the decisions of 9/11

Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and Museum

The only presidential library split across two cities

Harry S. Truman Presidential Library

The Independence, Missouri library where the former president kept an office

Herbert Hoover Presidential Library

The library at the birthplace of the president who preceded the New Deal

Jimmy Carter Presidential Library

The Atlanta library joined to the center that defined his later life

John F. Kennedy Presidential Library

I. M. Pei's white tower on Boston harbor

Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library

The travertine monolith on the University of Texas campus in Austin

The Black Hills monument that carved four presidents into Lakota sacred land

Obama Presidential Center

The Chicago campus that broke with the federal library model

Richard Nixon Presidential Library

The Yorba Linda library that started private and became federal

Ronald Reagan Presidential Library

The hilltop library in Simi Valley with a retired Air Force One

The White House

The presidential residence that became the symbol of American power

Washington, D.C.

The designed capital of the United States, seat of federal power since 1800

William J. Clinton Presidential Library

The cantilevered "bridge to the 21st century" over the Arkansas River

Events (26)

Assassination of James Garfield

The 1881 shooting that ended a presidency and broke the spoils system

Assassination of JFK

The Murder of a President, Dallas, November 22, 1963

Assassination of Lincoln

The murder of Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre, April 1865

Assassination of William McKinley

The 1901 murder that handed the presidency to Theodore Roosevelt

Battle of New Orleans

Andrew Jackson's lopsided 1815 victory — fought two weeks after the war had already ended

Election of 1800

Jefferson's "Revolution of 1800" — America's first peaceful transfer of power between parties

Election of 1828

Andrew Jackson's populist landslide reshapes American democracy

Election of 1860

The presidential election that dissolved the Union before the winner took office

Election of 1876

The disputed election that ended Reconstruction and handed the White House to Hayes

Election of 1896

McKinley vs. Bryan — gold, silver, and the soul of American capitalism

Election of 1932

FDR's landslide gives the New Deal its mandate

Election of 1968

Nixon's narrow victory amid assassination, riots, and the collapse of the New Deal coalition

Election of 2000

Bush v. Gore and the 36-day Florida recount that decided the presidency

Election of 2008

Barack Obama defeats John McCain to become the first Black president

Election of 2016

Donald Trump's upset of Hillary Clinton remakes American politics

Election of 2020

Joe Biden defeats Donald Trump in a pandemic election

Impeachment of Andrew Johnson

The first presidential impeachment — and a referendum on who would control Reconstruction

Impeachment of Bill Clinton

The 1998–99 impeachment over the Lewinsky affair

Impeachments of Donald Trump

The first president impeached twice, in 2019 and 2021

Iran-Contra Affair

The Reagan administration's secret arms deal that illegally funded Nicaraguan rebels

January 6 Capitol Attack

The 2021 storming of the U.S. Capitol that interrupted the certification of the presidential election

Reagan Assassination Attempt

The 1981 shooting that nearly killed a president and reshaped gun law

Teapot Dome Scandal

The 1920s bribery scheme that sent a Cabinet secretary to prison and defined political corruption for a generation

The Burning of Washington

The only time since the Revolution a foreign power has occupied and burned the U.S. capital

Trump Assassination Attempt (2024)

The July 2024 Butler, Pennsylvania shooting during the presidential campaign

The 1972–1974 political scandal that ended a presidency and shook American democracy

Documents (13)

Emancipation Proclamation

Lincoln's 1863 executive order that transformed the Civil War into a war for human freedom

FDR's First Inaugural Address

Franklin Roosevelt declares war on the Great Depression, March 4, 1933

Gettysburg Address

Lincoln's 272-word speech that redefined the purpose of the Civil War

Indian Removal Act

The 1830 law that authorized the forced relocation of Indigenous peoples east of the Mississippi

Kennedy's Inaugural Address

Ask not what your country can do for you, 1961

Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address

"With Malice Toward None" — Abraham Lincoln, March 4, 1865

Monroe Doctrine

The 1823 declaration that the Western Hemisphere was closed to further European colonization

Twelfth Amendment

The overhaul of how the Electoral College elects a president

Twentieth Amendment

The "Lame Duck" Amendment moving up Inauguration Day

Twenty-fifth Amendment

Presidential succession and disability

Twenty-second Amendment

The two-term limit on the presidency

United States v. Nixon

The unanimous 1974 ruling that forced the White House tapes and ended a presidency

Washington's Farewell Address

The 1796 letter in which the first president warned against the dangers that would define American history

Concepts (5)

Big Stick Diplomacy

Roosevelt's doctrine of speaking softly while projecting American power across the hemisphere

Electoral College

The constitutional mechanism for electing presidents — and the perpetual argument about it

Executive Order

The presidential tool the Constitution never named — and no president has stopped using

The Great Society

Lyndon Johnson's legislative program to end poverty and expand opportunity

Franklin Roosevelt's 1933–1939 legislative program to combat the Great Depression

Organizations (1)

The Presidential Libraries

The archive system FDR launched in 1939 to preserve the records of the modern presidency

All Tags

Politics 169 Economy 147 Military 115 Presidency 113 Civil Rights 112 Reform 111 Law & Justice 99 Founding Era 95 Foreign Policy 90 Race 82 Constitution 74 Industry 71 Science & Technology 71 Cold War 62 Civil War 61 Protest 58 Westward Expansion 57 Arts & Culture 56 Revolution 55 Slavery 54 Women 51 War 49 Modern America 46 Indigenous 42 Diplomacy 41 Media & Press 38 Labor 33 Immigration 31 Supreme Court 30 Religion 29 Environment 28 Congress 28 World War II 28 Exploration 24 Disaster 22 Reconstruction 22 Abolition 21 Progressive Era 21 Finance 20 Democracy 19 Assassination 15 Education 14 Colonial America 13 Gilded Age 12 Public Health 12 Suffrage 11 World War I 8 Sports 8 Corruption 8 Prohibition 1