Dead Presidents

A journey through Presidential history with compelling stories, intriguing facts, original writing, and answers to your questions about the Presidency, Presidential politics, and each of the American Presidents.

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Former First Lady Barbara Bush helps apply sunscreen to the nose of former President George H.W. Bush while attending a Houston Astros game at Minute Maid Park in Houston, Texas, May 3, 2015.

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Former President George H.W. Bush giving his wife, Barbara Bush, bunny ears during a photo opportunity that also included former Presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter and former First Ladies Lady Bird Johnson, Betty Ford, and Rosalynn Carter, prior to an event at the Gerald Ford Presidential Museum in Grand Rapids, Michigan, April 16, 1997.

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I made my monthly trip to the Friends of the Library sale and bought 64 (yes...SIXTY-FOUR) books for the price of two hardcover new releases from Barnes & Noble. And it's all for a good cause that benefits local public libraries.

[ploddingthroughthepresidents]

Attention Houston!

I’m doing a public lecture on the Founding Frenemies on June 13 and I’d love to see you there!

More info here: https://calendar.houstonlibrary.org/event/16693436

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Rough day in court(s) for Trumpmenbashi.

He's really gonna need that $250 bill now to feel better about himself.

[deadpresidents]

(Via the front page of the Drudge Report)

I'm not losing my mind over the South Lawn because the cranes and the staging and production scaffolding under construction are for the UFC show next month and obviously temporary. But what has been done to what used to be the East Wing is a travesty. The White House is the President's home while he's in office, but that doesn't mean he should be able to unilaterally tear it down. History was just mindlessly destroyed because Donald Trump wants a ballroom so he can play the Village People louder.

I wish younger Americans understood that we used to have a thing called "Congress" that jealously protected their co-equal Constitutional powers -- especially those having to do with Oversight and Appropriations -- no matter what party the President belonged to. They were a separate but equally powerful branch of the government, and it turns out that they were really important to making sure this ridiculous country's system worked smoothly in case the stupid people who live in this country elected a narcissistic grifter as their President. Twice. (Including after he incited an insurrection that attacked the Capitol in an attempt to overturn an election he had lost.)

At least there's not any sort of major national anniversary or significant worldwide athletic competition that might inspire tourists to want to visit the nation's capital while it's in the midst of being bulldozed....

[deadpresidents]

In your opinion, what are some of the less obvious reasons as to why we should be fans of Pope Leo? I mean other than his winning the feud with the current American administration? (Please don't mention the White Sox.)

I feel like it's important to note that I don't think you should be fans of anyone just because someone else encourages you to do so -- especially if that someone is a dude on the Internet. I'm also agnostic, not Catholic, so my reasons for liking or appreciating a Pope is usually for different reasons than a believer.

My personal opinion about Pope Leo XIV is positive so far. He's obviously significantly more cautious and reserved than Pope Francis, but Francis was a one of one, so that's to be expected. I respect Pope Leo for not hesitating to speak out against some of the things that have been said or are being done by President Trump and the Trump Administration. And the fact that Leo is seemingly fluent in every language in human history is always impressive.

I had much stronger feelings about Pope Francis because he never wavered from his determination to shape the Catholic Church into -- as he often said -- a field hospital after a battle whose focus was on healing and supporting individuals as opposed to zealously protecting ancient rituals and enforcing ecclesial dogma. Francis was a pastor first and foremost, who happened to be elected late in life to govern the Church. He always challenged the leaders of the Church -- from parish priests in the smallest of dioceses to Cardinals who spent most their careers as administrators in the Roman Curia -- to be "shepherds with the smell of sheep." He lived his life under that code and we saw examples of that from the very beginning of his Papacy when he did something as simple as making sure to personally go pay his hotel bill after the Conclave where he was elected.

I was energized by the vivid imagery of the language that Francis used (phrases like "spiritual Alzheimer's", "osteoporosis of the soul", "varnished rot", and "terrorism of gossip"). And I was genuinely inspired by his constant devotion to the poor, which was backed up by actions big and small, and his innovative attempts at spotlighting how so many people around the world are crushed by the evils and inefficiencies of the global economic system (or "the globalization of indifference" in the Argentine Pope's powerful phrasing). Francis understood the strength of his words and the impact of his position when it came to speaking out, and I think Pope Leo is slowly and cautiously finding his footing when it comes to that.

Compared to many of his predecessors in the Papacy, Francis was a revolutionary, and I personally find inspiration in the actions of revolutionaries, so that's why I was such a supporter and admirer of Pope Francis. From what we've seen to this point, I don't think Pope Leo XIV is a transformative figure like Francis was, but so far, so good? I don't know if that's worthy of fandom or not, but like I said at the beginning, you should form your own opinions when it comes to how you feel about people and shouldn't listen to strangers on the Internet. Especially me (even though I just spent five paragraphs giving my opinions).

[deadpresidents]

the lowkey connor roy reference in the tags of your oman post is why you are the best

Thank you. Believe me, if I could find a way to squeeze a Succession reference into every answer that I post, I would do so.

[publicdomainreview]

Portraits of professionals made from the tools of their trade (ca. 1800). More here: https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/arcimboldo-esque-composite-portraits-of-trades-ca-1800 @ExploreWellcome

[deadpresidents]

"Oman will behave just like everybody else, or we'll have to blow them up."

-- President Trump, threatening Oman -- one of the oldest and dependable allies of the United States -- during a Cabinet meeting, May 27, 2025.

President Trump threatened to "blow up" Oman if the tiny Arab nation, which is perched along the Strait of Hormuz in what is, even in the best of times, arguably, the most dangerous stretch of coastline in the world, works out a deal with Iran to reopen and help control the Strait.

Oman has had diplomatic relations with the United States for nearly 200 years. The United States and Oman have had economic ties since the first half of George Washington's first term as President. The late Sultan Qaboos was one of America's most loyal allies -- not only in the Arab world, but anywhere in the world -- during the nearly 50 years that he ruled Oman, and his successor, Sultan Haitham has continued that connection and maintained stability in the world's most turbulent region without a hiccup following the death of Qaboos in 2020.

The Omanis have selflessly and skillfully managed the role of mediator between Iran and many Western nations -- most frequently the United States -- for decades. And they've done so despite being the geographical equivalent of a nose piercing on the Arabian Peninsula -- a tiny country sticking out into the Persian Gulf that easily could be a target for any and all of America's many, many, many enemies who might decide to take out their anger on the Omanis for assisting, promoting, and protecting our interests in the region for half of a century.

And the President of the United States is now threatening to "blow them up," too.

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The Bangladeshis should hold a worldwide auction for the honor of sacrificing this buffalo for Eid al-Adha. I imagine a lot of people would be willing to pay a lot of money for that opportunity.

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This forgotten and remarkable debate between California Governor Ronald Reagan and Senator Robert F. Kennedy of New York was held on May 15, 1967 for a CBS News program called "Town Meeting of the World" and watched live by over 15 million people.

Reagan, who was just five months into his first term as Governor of California, demonstrated his skill as a public communicator and made it clear that he was a force to be reckoned with in national politics by definitively winning the debate according to practically everybody who watched it. Newsweek would declare that "political rookie Reagan...left old campaigner Kennedy blinking when the session ended" while the journalist and legendary historian David Halberstam recalled "the general consensus" was "Reagan...destroyed him."

Most people don't realize that Reagan and Kennedy ever crossed paths and even forget that they were actually contemporaries -- in fact, Reagan was nearly 15 years OLDER than Kennedy -- so it's fascinating to see them face-to-face (although they were in different studios) in this type of scenario. After the debate ended and the broadcast went off-the-air, RFK reportedly asked his aides,"Who the fuck got me into this?" and demanded that he never be put on stage with "that son-of-a-bitch" again.

[deadpresidents]

I wonder what color their skin was?

(Via the Washington Post)

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My passport keeps falling to the ground. Maybe it's trying to tell me something.

Sam Shepard, "Taos" (From the limited edition book, Sam Shepard: New Mexico, 2020)

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Stories about Pablo Escobar's hippos exploding in population and becoming an invasive species in Colombia over 30 years after Pablo's death will always get a reblog from me.

Here's a gift link from me to bypass the New York Times paywall and read a story on the latest efforts to attempt to control the hundreds (and soon projected to be thousands) of hippos that have escaped from Escobar's former Hacienda Nápoles estate and multiplied while roaming the Colombian countryside and waterways since Pablo Escobar was killed in 1993.

(I understand that hippos are one of the most dangerous animals on the planet and that their presence in Colombian waterways and wetlands have the potential to cause an ecological disaster, but I can't be the only person rooting for them, right? I think we should move a bunch of them to Florida.)

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Okay, Dan Sickles. Wow. Is he in your library? src: https://www.reddit.com/r/CIVILWAR/comments/1qvurrn/who_had_the_most_plot_armor_during_the_civil_war/

Brought prostitutes to the New York assembly and to London while his wife was pregnant at home

Shot the grandson of the man who wrote the Star Spangled Banner in broad daylight across the street from the White House

Worked with Edwin Stanton, Lincoln's future Secretary of War to invent "Temporary Insanity" as a legal defense

Played the public so well that they forgot the murder, but were furious he forgave his wife for cheating with the man he murdered

Bonded with Joe Hooker over their shared love of, well

Reached division command at Fredericksburg, where his command suffered zero casualties

Lincoln recommends him for Corps command

At the Battle of Gettysburg, he stretches his corps across 2x its original front in a jagged mess of bent lines and salients a mile away from the rest of the army because uhhhhhhhhh the ground is a little better

His Corps is destroyed as an organization, with his 12,000 men doing nothing but bleed the 15,000 attackers of some momentum and organization as if they were 2,000 skirmishers

Meade has to use up most of his reserves (20,000 men) to restore the situation, the biggest single reason attacking Lee after Pickett's Charge would have been a bad idea

Becomes a celebrated hero after surviving the loss of his leg at Gettysburg

He lobbies so hard that he saved the day to the point he gets the Medal of Honor, and some people today actually believe this

Attacks George Meade continuously after the former's death and outlives him by decades, dying a largely beloved figure in 1913 at the age of 92

His leg remains on display in a museum he founded to this day

Of course! This is the type of story that the History Channel should be making documentaries about, by the way.

•The book is Sickles the Incredible by W.A. Swanberg, published in 1956.

There are a couple of others somewhere in my collection that are newer and also worth checking out:

•Star Spangled Scandal: Sex, Murder, and the Trial That Changed America (2019) by Chris DeRose [BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO]

•American Scoundrel: The Life of the Notorious Civil War General Dan Sickles (2002) by Thomas Keneally [BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO]

[deadpresidents]

As a man what is something that makes you cry other than when your sports team wins a championship?

I'm a fan of the Sacramento Kings and Oakland/Los Angeles/Oakland/Las Vegas Raiders. I don't know what it feels like for my sports team to win championships.