About Presidents

To protect FDR, the U.S. Secret Service assigned code names to the president, his staff, and even certain objects that may have disclosed his location.

Roosevelt believed America should prepare for war. President Wilson wanted to keep America out of it.

A timeline of significant dates and events in the life of Franklin D. Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States.

In 1953, the Eisenhower Administration entered office pledging to clean up the government. As seen with Executive Order 10450, this had devastating effects for thousands of innocent and faithful civil servants. Many LGBTQ Americans were persecuted and faced repercussions from this. Explore this story here.

Dwight Eisenhower, Painter-in-Chief? That's right, in addition to being a soldier, a general, and President of the United States, Dwight Eisenhower was also a painter. In 1948, at the age of fifty-eight-years-old, Eisenhower took up painting as a hobby. With a lifetime of stresses and pressures, Eisenhower turned to canvas and easels to ease his troubles and find relaxation. Explore this fascinating side of our 34th President in this article.

This research guide includes primarily letters written by United States presidents and first ladies, as well as documents notable primarily for containing signatures of presidents and documents created outside the term of the presidency and commentary on presidents by Fanny and Henry Longfellow.

The home and farm of President James A Garfield, nicknamed "Lawnfield," remains significant for its association with President Garfield and for its distinctive design. In 1880, visitors and reporters traveled to Congressman and presidential candidate Garfield's Mentor, Ohio farm to hear him deliver campaign speeches from his porch. After President Garfield’s assassination in 1881, his widow, Lucretia Rudolph Garfield, made many improvements to the buildings and landscape.

In May 1960, an American U-2 Spy Plane was shot down over the Soviet Union, setting off an international incident that was a great embarrassment to the Eisenhower Administration. Discover this story of Cold War espionage, high altitude surveillance, and international tension here.

Franklin D. Roosevelt employed at least six valets between 1922 and 1945, all of them men of color, but they have largely been forgotten or overlooked. These men were essential to FDR’s life and so much a part of who he was. Through the service they rendered and the crucial role they played in FDR’s private and political life, their stories rightly belong at the forefront of history.

Each year during the Christmas season, two icons of disability came together for a Roosevelt family holiday tradition: FDR’s annual readings of "A Christmas Carol" from the Roosevelts’ well-worn copy of Dickens’ story.