Former Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter was elected as President in the aftermath of the Watergate scandal. He came into office as a Washington outsider and during the 1976 presidential election campaign, Carter attacked Washington's political culture in his speeches. He used his own strong Christian beliefs to offer the nation a moral alternative as ( Read more... )

It was 61 years ago today, on November 22, 1963, that John Fitzgerald Kennedy died in Dallas, Texas, the victim of an assassination by gunshot. Today, many years later, conspiracy theories abound as to whether or not he was the target of a lone gunman or whether there were multiple parties involved. Two congressional commissions have come to ( Read more... )

As the election of 1960 approached, the Cold War was heating up. The nation's most experienced cold warrior, former General and current President Dwight Eisenhower, was precluded from seeking a third term in office because he was the first to hold the office of President since the 22nd amendment to the Constitution came into effect.

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Lyndon Johnson, who had won the 1964 election by a huge margin (486 to 52 in the electoral college) would not have that same good fortune in 1968. The escalation of the War in Vietnam translated into a decline in popularity for Johnson. By late 1967, over 500,000 American soldiers were fighting in Vietnam. Draftees made up 42 percent of the ( Read more... )

Whoever the next President of the United States is, it is putting it mildly to say that he or she will not have an easy task ahead. As veteran Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward explains in his new book, simply titled War, the ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and in Gaza present the next President with a pair of perplexing and frightening no-win ( Read more... )

In 1952, the popular General Dwight D. Eisenhower was elected president, defeating the professorial Illinois Governor Adlai Stevenson by a margin of 442 to 89 in the electoral college. Eisenhower was a popular President in his first term, but showed some vulnerability in his re-election potential after suffering a heart attack near the end of his ( Read more... )

In 1976, voters wanted a Washington outsider after the Watergate scandal and the subsequent pardon of Richard Nixon, so they rejected Gerald Ford in favor of Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter. But after four years of Carter, things weren't going much better. In fact the economy has taken a turn for the worse, with interest rates reaching record levels ( Read more... )

Today is the 134th birthday of President Dwight David Eisenhower. He was born on October 14, 1890. He is one of my favorite Presidents, and the Eisenhower Presidential Center in Abilene, Kansas, is also one of my favorite Presidential Libraries and Museums. I've been there four times (so far).


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In 1960, John F. Kennedy overcame what was then the political obstacle of his Catholicism when he won the Democratic Party's nomination for President of the United States. His opponent was incumbent Vice-President Richard Nixon, who won his party's nomination with much less opposition.


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n 1976 the odds were stacked against Gerald Ford in his bid to be elected as President of the United States in his own right. Ford had become President following the resignation of Richard Nixon on August 9, 1974. At first there was considerable public support for Ford, who was perceived as an honest breath of fresh air after the many ( Read more... )