Before Ulysses Grant became President, some made comparisons to George Washington, and how one great general became a great president, though this wasn't always the case. The esteem that many held Grant in lessened when it became known that many of Grant's friends, who had been appointed to positions of responsibility in his administration, were ( Read more... )

On June 24, 1908 (116 years ago today) Steven Grover Cleveland, who was both the 22nd and 24th President of the United States and the only president to serve two non-consecutive terms, died at his home in Princeton, New Jersey at the age of 71. Cleveland ended a 16 year string of Republican Presidents by winning the presidential election of 1884 ( Read more... )

The 1884 election was a vicious one in which each party launched attacks on the personal character of the other party's candidate. Maine Senator James G. Blaine had won his party's nomination after having failed to do so in the two previous elections. He came to the nomination with some baggage. Firstly, he had been the leader of one of two ( Read more... )

Another one of the forgotten Presidents, Benjamin Harrison fit the mold of many of the late 19th century presidents. He was Republican, he had fought in the Civil War, he had been an opponent of slavery and he believed in high tariffs, a measure intended to protect the American worker from foreign competition. He had been a lawyer, and by most ( Read more... )

Grover Cleveland is the guy who messed up the numbering system for Presidents. He won the popular vote in three consecutive elections, but only won the electoral vote in two of them, the first and the last. Because of that, he is counted as the 22nd and the 24th President of the United States. He also has the distinction of being the first Democrat ( Read more... )

On March 18, 1837 (187 years ago today) Grover Cleveland was born in Caldwell, New Jersey. He is the only President to serve non-consecutive terms, and is counted as both the 22nd and 24th President of the United States. Although Joe Biden is considered to be the 46th President, only 45 people (all men so far) have served as President and our old ( Read more... )

Happy St. Patrick's Day to all of you who have some Irish ancestry. Apparently there were 23 Presidents who had some Irish ancestry, some of whom will surprise you. For three of these (Taft, Harding and Truman), I have been unable to locate which ancestor of theirs lived in Ireland. Here is the list:


( Read more... )

On March 13, 1901 (123 years ago today) Benjamin Harrison, the 23rd President of the United States, died at his home in Indianapolis, Indiana at the age of 67. Harrison was the grandson of the ninth President, William Henry Harrison, and the great grandson of Benjamin Harrison, one of the signers of the Declaration of independence. Harrison had ( Read more... )

The potus_geeks library (my personal collection of books about the Presidents) has grown to over a thousand volumes, though I would be less than truthful if I said that read every word in every volume. They are organized on shelves in a small room that's supposed to be a small bedroom, starting with generic volumes about all of the presidents, and then going ( Read more... )

Booker Taliaferro Washington was a prominent African-American educator, author and orator in the last decade of the 19th century and the early part of the 20th century. Presidents of the United States sought his advice on matters affecting the African-American community and he was considered as perhaps the most widely respected leader within the ( Read more... )