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A photo of documents seized during the Aug. 8 FBI search of former president Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate.
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Harry Truman Illuminates Why Trump Having Classified Documents Is Illegal

Presidents used to own their personal papers — but there were real security reasons for changing that.
by Paul J. Welch Behringer via Made By History on November 11, 2022
Herbert Hoover in January 1933

Herbert Hoover Did Something Donald Trump is Unwilling to Do

While Herbert Hoover was deeply critical of his successor, he put aside his differences to ensure the peaceful and democratic transition of power.
by Meg Jacobs via CNN on January 20, 2021

Why Do American Presidential Transitions Take Such a Ridiculously Long Time?

Horseback travel time is only part of the story.
by Sara Georgini, Rebecca Onion via Slate on December 2, 2020
Bush and Obama

The GOP Test

History is asking only one question right now as Trump refuses to concede. Will the Republicans decide they are no longer an American political party?
by Sean Wilentz via Democracy Journal on November 12, 2020
Trump

Biden's 2020 Election Win Over Trump is Step One. But 'Lame Ducks' Can Do Damage.

Biden will take over a country facing myriad challenges. And Trump's lame-duck period could be one of the most treacherous in American history.
by William Adler via NBC News on November 8, 2020
Drawing of Lincoln with his hand on a Bible during a swearing-in with two other people

The Presidential Transition That Shattered America

A Trump-Biden transition is sure to be scary. But it’d be hard to beat Buchanan-Lincoln.
by Rebecca Onion, Susan Schulten via Slate on October 28, 2020

The Bitter Origins of the Fight Over Big Government

What the battle between Herbert Hoover and FDR can teach us.
by Kim Phillips-Fein via The Atlantic on January 31, 2019
The inauguration of Abraham Lincoln in 1861.
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The Most Contentious Presidential Transition in American History

Was Abraham Lincoln's the most tumultuous presidential transition in American history?
by Jon Grinspan, James M. McPherson, Peter Feuerherd, Frederic Bancroft via JSTOR Daily on November 22, 2016
Photoshopped image of a smiling President Richard Nixon wearing a white cartoon sticker that reads "Pardon ME! Gerald"
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The Pardon of President Nixon: Annotated

President Ford’s unconditional pardon of Richard Nixon created political controversy. It also tarnished Ford’s own reputation with the American public.
by Liz Tracey via JSTOR Daily on September 8, 2022
Portrait of Thomas Jefferson

Sunrise at Monticello

Jefferson and his connection to partisanship in early America.
by Michael Liss via 3 Quarks Daily on July 19, 2021
White House staff vacuuming

The Secret Life of the White House

The residence staff, many of whom have worked there for decades, balance their service of the First Family with their long-term loyalty to the house itself.
by Susannah Jacob via The New Yorker on February 24, 2021
The Oval Office as redecorated for President Biden

A Look Inside Biden’s Oval Office

The oval office looks different now that President Biden is its occupant.
by Annie Linskey via Washington Post on January 20, 2021
Mail-in ballot in a mailbox.
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Holding an Election During the Civil War Set the Standard for Us Today

On-time elections are a key part of ensuring the promise of American democracy.
by Jonathan W. White via Made By History on October 5, 2020
Graffiti on a wall spelling "vote"
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Refusing to Accept the Results of a Presidential Election Triggered the Civil War

The danger of President Trump's rhetoric.
by Aaron Sheehan-Dean via Made By History on October 2, 2020

Can History Prepare Us for the Trump Presidency?

Twenty-one historians explain which moments in history are closest to the Trump election - and what we can learn.
via Politico Magazine on January 22, 2017
Inaugural oath being sworn by President
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Four More Years: Presidential Inaugurations

An hour of stories about a few high-stakes inaugurations from the past.
via BackStory on January 11, 2013
Side-by-side presidential portraits of George Washington, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush

The Presidents Who Hated Their Presidential Portraits

Theodore Roosevelt said his made him look like “a mewing cat.” Lyndon Johnson called his “the ugliest thing I ever saw.” Ronald Reagan ordered a do-over.
by Ronald G. Shafer via Retropolis on September 7, 2022
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump tosses a paper with polling statistics during a town hall event on Oct. 6, 2016, in Sandown, N.H.

‘He Never Stopped Ripping Things Up’: Inside Trump’s Relentless Document Destruction Habits

Trump’s shredding of paper in the White House was far more widespread and indiscriminate than previously known.
by Ashley Parker, Josh Dawsey, Tom Hamburger, Jacqueline Alemany via Washington Post on February 5, 2022
Socialist deputies march with strikers on February 12 1934.

Feb 6 1934/Jan 6 2021

What do the two events really have in common?
by John Ganz via Unpopular Front on July 15, 2021
Donald and Melania Trump waving from airplane.

How America Changed During Donald Trump’s Presidency

Donald Trump's four-year tenure in the White House revealed extraordinary fissures in American society but left little doubt that he is a unique figure.
by Michael Dimock, John Gramlich via Pew Research Center on January 29, 2021
Man with a pistol at his hip carries the retired flag of Mississippi with a confederate battle emblem in it, and a Trump 2020 flag.
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Yes, Wednesday’s Attempted Insurrection Is Who We Are

While Wednesday's images shocked us, they fit into our history.
by Gregory P. Downs, Kate Masur via Made By History on January 8, 2021
Ted Cruz.

The Dangerous Historical Precedent for Ted Cruz’s Shameless Electoral College Gambit

The Texas senator claims to be moved by the spirit of 1876, but he’s just another huckster playing a risky game with democracy.
by Matt Ford via The New Republic on January 5, 2021
President Richard Nixon and Vice President Gerald Ford in the White House, along with their wives, First Lady Pat Nixon and Betty Ford

Gerald Ford and the Perversion of Presidential Pardons

In pardoning Nixon, the 38th president opened the floodgates to boundless executive power.
by James Bovard via The American Conservative on December 29, 2020
painting of Henry Adams

What Henry Adams Understood About History’s Breaking Points

He devoted a lifetime to studying America’s foundation, witnessed its near-dissolution, and uncannily anticipated its evolution.
by Dan Chiasson via The New Yorker on November 30, 2020
A picture of Trump going through a shredder.

Will Trump Burn the Evidence?

How the President could endanger the official records of one of the most consequential periods in American history.
by Jill Lepore via The New Yorker on November 16, 2020

The American Presidents—Washington to Lincoln

Who were Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Lincoln, and the rest of the first 16 US presidents, what did they do, and what do they hope history has forgotten?
by Tim Urban via Wait But Why on February 19, 2014

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