Potus Geeks in 2022: The Year in Review
Soon it will be time to flip the calendar over, sing Auld Lang Syne and kiss someone special at the stroke of midnight as the old year ends and the new one begins. It is traditional in this community at this time of year to look back on the subjects we considered in the past year, and this year was another active one. Here are some of the subjects we considered in 2022.
January: 2022 was a year of coming mid-term elections, so we used the first month of the new year to look back at some of the past mid-term elections in history to see if the past might offer some guidance in predicting the future and how the 2022 mid-terms might turn out. It didn't, but it was still interesting to look at. Our January 31st post reviewed the lessons learned from mid-terms past.
February: February was Black History Month and we looked at some of the epic moments in African-American Presidential history and some of the prominent figures in history from Dred Scott and Frederic Douglass to Shirley Chisholm and Barack Obama.
March: As Russia invaded Ukraine, and the world pondered the end game of this reckless move, we looked at the history of US Presidents and Russian leaders from Czar Alexander I and his relationship with Minister (Ambassador) John Quincy Adams, to Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden. Our March 31st entry summarized that relationship as we examined where we had come from to where we are today and the cold war that looked like it was over was suddenly on again. On March 26th this community celebrated its 12th birthday with a look back at the past dozen years.
April: Our theme in April was Women of Influence, as we profiled some of the most influential women in Presidential History from Abigail Adams and Victoria Woodhull to the suffragettes like Alice Paul and Susan B. Anthony, to the feminists like Bella Abzug to the women who came within near reach of the Presidency, such as Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris.
In May we profiled 31 of the Presidents from the best (George Washington, the Everything President) to the worst ( James Buchanan).
June was the month in which we looked at the relationship that presidents have cultivated with celebrities in order to boost their own popularity. These included Thomas Jefferson's courting of artist Maria Cosway, Al Jolson's stumping for Warren Harding, JFK's special interest in Marilyn Monroe, the unexpected friendship between George W. Bush and Bono, and even Joe Biden's calling in teen popstar Olivia Rodrigo to promote vaccination against Covid-19.
In July, as Americans began to travel again, we recommended a number of Presidential sites of interest for people to visit, including our own trek, in the previous month, to Mount Rushmore. We also reviewed an advance copy of David Pietrusza's new book on the 1936 presidential election entitled Roosevelt Sweeps Nation as well as Wondrium's terrific new course called Reconsidering JFK.
Like every year, August is Summer Reruns month in which we repost some of the articles in this community from previous years.
In September of this year, our series of articles was entitled Antebellum America. We looked at the history of the nation between the Revolutionary War and the Civil War, with a view to considering what caused the Civil War and whether it was purely caused by slavery or if that was too much of an oversimplification. Our conclusion can be found here.
With the passing of Queen Elizabeth II the previous month, October seemed like a good time to look at the history of past relationships between Presidents and Monarchs, from the two Georges (Washington and George III) to Elizabeth's many meetings with US Presidents starting with Harry Truman. We also looked at US Presidents and their relationships with monarchs of other nations including Russian Czars, Arabian Kings, Japanese Emperors and the Shah of Iran.
In November we looked at some of the biggest mistakes Presidents have made, including Warren Harding and Ulysses Grant trusting the wrong people with power, James Madison taking an unprepared nation to war, and weak-kneed presidents who failed to support civil rights and enabled white supremacists and Jim Crow advocates. Then there were also those who left a Trail of Tears and those who failed to speak out against insurrection.
December was once again a time to look back on how Presidents celebrated the Christmas season, as well as a time to review the past year and anticipate what is ahead in 2023.
We hope that 2023 will bring more interesting takes on Presidential History. We welcome your suggestions for any areas that you would like to see explored in the New Year, remembering as always this community's mantra that our focus is on history, not politics, and that all are welcome regardless of their political or ideological stripe. All we ask is an openness to diversity of thought and ideas.
January: 2022 was a year of coming mid-term elections, so we used the first month of the new year to look back at some of the past mid-term elections in history to see if the past might offer some guidance in predicting the future and how the 2022 mid-terms might turn out. It didn't, but it was still interesting to look at. Our January 31st post reviewed the lessons learned from mid-terms past.
February: February was Black History Month and we looked at some of the epic moments in African-American Presidential history and some of the prominent figures in history from Dred Scott and Frederic Douglass to Shirley Chisholm and Barack Obama.
March: As Russia invaded Ukraine, and the world pondered the end game of this reckless move, we looked at the history of US Presidents and Russian leaders from Czar Alexander I and his relationship with Minister (Ambassador) John Quincy Adams, to Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden. Our March 31st entry summarized that relationship as we examined where we had come from to where we are today and the cold war that looked like it was over was suddenly on again. On March 26th this community celebrated its 12th birthday with a look back at the past dozen years.
April: Our theme in April was Women of Influence, as we profiled some of the most influential women in Presidential History from Abigail Adams and Victoria Woodhull to the suffragettes like Alice Paul and Susan B. Anthony, to the feminists like Bella Abzug to the women who came within near reach of the Presidency, such as Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris.
In May we profiled 31 of the Presidents from the best (George Washington, the Everything President) to the worst ( James Buchanan).
June was the month in which we looked at the relationship that presidents have cultivated with celebrities in order to boost their own popularity. These included Thomas Jefferson's courting of artist Maria Cosway, Al Jolson's stumping for Warren Harding, JFK's special interest in Marilyn Monroe, the unexpected friendship between George W. Bush and Bono, and even Joe Biden's calling in teen popstar Olivia Rodrigo to promote vaccination against Covid-19.
In July, as Americans began to travel again, we recommended a number of Presidential sites of interest for people to visit, including our own trek, in the previous month, to Mount Rushmore. We also reviewed an advance copy of David Pietrusza's new book on the 1936 presidential election entitled Roosevelt Sweeps Nation as well as Wondrium's terrific new course called Reconsidering JFK.
Like every year, August is Summer Reruns month in which we repost some of the articles in this community from previous years.
In September of this year, our series of articles was entitled Antebellum America. We looked at the history of the nation between the Revolutionary War and the Civil War, with a view to considering what caused the Civil War and whether it was purely caused by slavery or if that was too much of an oversimplification. Our conclusion can be found here.
With the passing of Queen Elizabeth II the previous month, October seemed like a good time to look at the history of past relationships between Presidents and Monarchs, from the two Georges (Washington and George III) to Elizabeth's many meetings with US Presidents starting with Harry Truman. We also looked at US Presidents and their relationships with monarchs of other nations including Russian Czars, Arabian Kings, Japanese Emperors and the Shah of Iran.
In November we looked at some of the biggest mistakes Presidents have made, including Warren Harding and Ulysses Grant trusting the wrong people with power, James Madison taking an unprepared nation to war, and weak-kneed presidents who failed to support civil rights and enabled white supremacists and Jim Crow advocates. Then there were also those who left a Trail of Tears and those who failed to speak out against insurrection.
December was once again a time to look back on how Presidents celebrated the Christmas season, as well as a time to review the past year and anticipate what is ahead in 2023.
We hope that 2023 will bring more interesting takes on Presidential History. We welcome your suggestions for any areas that you would like to see explored in the New Year, remembering as always this community's mantra that our focus is on history, not politics, and that all are welcome regardless of their political or ideological stripe. All we ask is an openness to diversity of thought and ideas.