November 2nd is the birthday of two of my favorite Presidents. One is James K. Polk, the 11th President of the United States, and probably the most effective one term president. Polk was born on November 2, 1795 (229 years ago today*).


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Millard Fillmore was born and raised in a cabin in upstate New York. His only reading material was said to be a Bible and a hymnal, but despite the paucity of reading material accessible to him as a child, Fillmore grew up with a love of books, an fact often overlooked when consideration is given to the 13th President. When Fillmore became ( Read more... )

On August 27, 1908 (116 years ago today) Lyndon Baines Johnson, the 36th President of the United States, was born in Stonewall, Texas in a small farmhouse on the Pedernales River. His parents were Samuel Ealy Johnson, Jr. and Rebekah Baines. His father served five terms in the Texas legislature.


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Jean Lafitte was a French pirate and privateer. He operated in the Gulf of Mexico in the early 19th century and accounts of his life are the stuff of legends and mystery. It is unclear where or when he was born. Some say he was born in Basque-France and other claim it was in the French colony of Saint-Domingue (the island where present day Haiti ( Read more... )

William Henry Harrison has the distinction of having the shortest time on the job as President of the United States. Counting the day he was inaugurated and the day he died, Harrison was president from March 4 to April 4, 32 days by my count (28 in March and 4 in April). He had run for President twice against Martin Van Buren, losing the election ( Read more... )

Alternate Presidents is a collection of 28 short stories edited by Mike Resnick, speculating on what history might have been like if the outcome of 28 presidential elections would have been different. This anthology was released on February 15, 1992. This book is a delight to read. Resnick, a Hugo Award winning science fiction writer, also ( Read more... )

On January 30, 1835, the first recorded attempt to kill a sitting President of the United States took place just outside the United States Capitol. When Andrew Jackson was leaving through the East Portico after the funeral of South Carolina Representative Warren R. Davis, Richard Lawrence aimed a pistol at Jackson, which misfired. Lawrence then ( Read more... )

The Hidden History of the White House: Power Struggles, Scandals, and Defining Moments is a 2024 publication presented by the American History Tellers podcast and written by Cory Mead, an associate English professor at the University of New York. The book selects fifteen events from Presidential history, with a look at how each of these fascinating ( Read more... )

On July 24, 1862 (162 years ago today), Martin Van Buren, the 8th President of the United States and the first President from New York, died in the same community where he was born, Kinderhook, New York, at the age of 79.


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Millard Fillmore was the second Vice-President to become President upon the death of the incumbent. He would turn out to be the last President from the Whig Party and despite his desire to hold on to the job and run for re-election, his party had ideas. The Compromise of 1850 that Fillmore had supported made him unpopular in the north, especially ( Read more... )