In October of 2013, former Nixon speechwriter Ben Stein was a guest on the Late Show with Craig Ferguson. Asked about the role of the Republican party in the then current US government shutdown because of their objection to the Affordable Care Act, Stein said that his old boss, Richard Nixon, had proposed similar legislation and Stein had written a ( Read more... )

As a candidate for President, then-Senator Barack Obama called for Congress to pass legislation reforming health care in the United States. It was one of his key campaign promises and his top legislative goal. He proposed an expansion of health insurance coverage to cover the uninsured, to cap premium increases, and to allow people to retain their ( Read more... )

Dorothea Dix was was an antebellum American activist who lobbied for the humane treatment of the indigent mentally ill. She famously lobbied state legislatures, the United States Congress, and two Presidents, in support of her cause, and is credited with bringing about the creation of the first American mental asylums. Born in Hampden, Maine, Dix ( Read more... )

Barack Obama came was elected President in 2008 with all the aura of a rockstar. He had won a decisive victory over the well-respected former Vietnam POW and "Maverick" Arizona Senator John McCain, winning 52.9% of the popular vote and 365 of the 538 electoral votes. In the Congressional elections, Democrats added to their majorities in both houses ( Read more... )

Barack Obama won the 2008 Presidential Election decisively, winning almost 53% of the popular vote and 365 of the 538 electoral votes. The victory was the result in part of Obama's personal charisma, but more so the result of dissatisfaction with incumbent government's handling of the economy (which led to the sub-prime mortgage crisis and its ( Read more... )

Originally posted on April 1, 2020 as this first in a series on Presidents and Past PandemicsThe Spanish flu was an unusually deadly influenza pandemic that lasted from January of 1918 to December of 1920. It infected 500 million people, roughly about a quarter of the world's population at the time. The death toll from the pandemic was estimated to ( Read more... )

On July 30, 1965 (56 years ago today) President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Social Security Act of 1965 into law, establishing Medicare and Medicaid.President He did so under the watchful eye of a former President. Johnson wanted the centerpiece of his legacy to be what he termed "the Great Society." Included in this vision was Johnson's "war on ( Read more... )

1993 was a transitional year in Presidential history as it ushered in the start of the nation's first Democratic Presidency in 12 years. William Jefferson Clinton defied the odds and was inaugurated as the 42nd President of the United States on January 20, 1993. He began his presidency in decisive fashion as just two days after taking office, ( Read more... )

President Lyndon Johnson wanted the centerpiece of his legacy to be what he termed "the Great Society." Included in this vision was Johnson's "war on poverty", which Johnson began in 1964, while completing the term of his assassinated predecessor President John F. Kennedy.


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In November of 2002 an outbreak of SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) outbreak was reported, leading to the spread of the virus throughout the world. No Americans died from SARS in the outbreak, and only 27 cases were reported. North of the border in Canada, there were 43 deaths and 251 cases, mainly in the Toronto area. The outbreak was ( Read more... )