Calvin Coolidge became President on August 2, 1923, following the death of Warren Harding. He was sworn in initially by his father, who was a justice of the peace, but he later retook the oath when he arrived in Washington. Coolidge won election to the office of President in the 1924 presidential contest, and his inauguration following that ( Read more... )

On January 5, 1933 (92 years ago today) John Calvin Coolidge Jr., the 30th President of the United States, died at his home in Northampton, Massachusetts (known as "the Beeches") from coronary thrombosis. He was 60 years old.


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The inaugural address of John Quincy Adams is fascinating for a number of reasons. He was the first President who did not take the oath of office on a bible (but quoted scripture in his address.) His speech was forward thinking and was worthy of the reputation of being a great intellectual that Adams had earned throughout his life. Though his ( Read more... )

Abraham Lincoln gave two inaugural addresses and both were magnificent for their rhetorical brilliance and eloquence. While it might make sense to deal with them in chronological order, the second of the two, delivered on March 4, 1865, is especially interesting. Lincoln was beginning his second term as President of the United States, a term that ( Read more... )

On the 20th of this month, Donald Trump is scheduled to be become the 47th President of the United States. He will give his inaugural address following a tradition that first began in 1789, when on April 30th of that year, George Washington took the same oath, the first president to do so. The first presidential term was supposed to start on March ( Read more... )

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2024 was an eventful year, with a Presidential election, which turned out to be one of the most unique in history. Not only did the nominated candidate, the incumbent President, withdraw his name from nomination well into the campaign (and after he had been formally nominated by his party), but for the second time in history one of the two major ( Read more... )

While 2024 turned out to be a very good year for new books on Presidents and their administrations, 2025 does not appear as if it will repeat this trend so far. That's not necessarily a bad thing. At first it looked as if 2024 might not have as much to offer, but in the end this turned out wrong, and in o ur post on this subject last year, many of ( Read more... )

James Earl Carter Jr., the 39th President of the United States, and the first and only President thus far to live to the age of 100, died today (December 29, 2024) at his home in Plains, Georgia. Better known as "Jimmy," he was the longest-lived president thus far and served as President from 1977 to 1981. A Democrat, Carter had also served in the ( Read more... )

On December 29, 1808 (216 years ago today) Andrew Johnson, the 17th President of the United States, was born in Raleigh, North Carolina. He's one of the most controversial presidents for a number of reasons, including his personal problems (i.e. his drinking), his stance on reconstruction in which he undid much of the good planned by Abraham ( Read more... )