William Howard Taft suffered the indignity of not only losing his bid for re-election, but of finishing third in the contest, behind the victor Woodrow Wilson and also behind third party candidate Theodore Roosevelt, who had once been Taft's friend, and who was now his biggest critic.


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Three presidents died on the 4th of July, but only one has a birthday today. John Calvin Coolidge Jr., the 30th President of the United States, was born on July 4, 1872 (152 years ago today).


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In the summer of 1927 Grace Coolidge was the central figured in a so-called “scandal” which was sensationalized in the press at the time. The incident occurred during the presidential vacation in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Grace Coolidge went on a hike deep into the woods with her unmarried Secret Service agent James Haley. The two got lost ( Read more... )

Seventy-nine years ago today, on April 12th, 1945, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt died at Warm Springs, Georgia at the age of 63. He looked much older. He died just over a month into his fourth term as President, and about four months before the end of the second world war.


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Calvin Coolidge was a New Englander through and through. He was born in Vermont, but moved to Massachusetts where he was a lawyer who climbed the ladder of Massachusetts politics, service as a mayor, a state legislator and eventually becoming Governor of the state. While in that office, he forcefully addressed a strike by Boston police officers ( Read more... )

Warren Harding is yet another example of a President whose legacy has changed over time, in his case for the better. Once ranked near the bottom of rating of the Presidents because of the many scandals that came to light following Harding's sudden death, recent biographers have come to appreciate Harding for his presiding over a strong economy, for ( Read more... )

This article has been reposted every Valentine's Day in this community for a number of years now.

Several years ago, potus_geeks polled its members about which first couples loved each other most. Here are the top five in reverse order:

5. Rutherford Hayes and "Lemonade Lucy" HayesThese two lovebirds first met in 1847 when both lived in Delaware, Ohio. His ( Read more... )

On January 30, 1882 (142 years ago today) Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the 32nd President of the United States, was born at Hyde Park, New York, the son of James and Sarah Roosevelt. Describing the life of the man known by his initials FDR in a few paragraphs is no easy task. FDR is unique for spending the longest amount of time with his bottom in ( Read more... )

Calvin Coolidge was succeeded by his Commerce Secretary, Herbert Hoover. Although many regarded Hoover, a self-made millionaire, as some sort of genius and whiz kid, Coolidge did not share that opinion. Coolidge was quoted as saying that Hoover had given him an abundance of unsolicited advice, "all of it bad" according to Coolidge. Nevertheless, ( Read more... )

In the election of 1924, Calvin Coolidge, who had become President upon the death of Warren Harding, sought the office in his own right. Theodore Roosevelt had done the same thing two decades earlier, making him the first "accidental president" to go on to win the office. The dutiful Coolidge wanted to be the second. His opponent would John W. ( Read more... )