Retropod

John Adams was eulogized before his son even knew he died 05.12.2018 5:59 ↓

News traveled so slowly in 1826 that the former president was buried days before his son, sitting president John Quincy Adams, got word of his death.

George H.W. Bush was a president and a prankster 04.12.2018 6:09 ↓

Bush, who died last week, is being fondly remembered for his cool demeanor and a boundless sense of humor.

The unlikely friendship between George H.W. Bush and Dana Carvey 01.12.2018 5:12 ↓

George H.W. Bush had a lot of humility. So much that he developed a friendship with the comedian who impersonated him on SNL, Dana Carvey.

William Howard Taft’s housekeeper kept track of his weight 30.11.2018 4:39 ↓

White House maid Elizabeth Jaffray not only cleaned up after presidents, she had an amazing insight into their appetites.

The National Christmas Tree 29.11.2018 4:27 ↓

One of the grandest events the president presides over every year is the lighting of the National Christmas Tree.

The trials and tribulations of being a cat 28.11.2018 2:57 ↓

Cats have endured some really mean stuff throughout history. Dogs should be thankful.

Then they came for me 27.11.2018 4:32 ↓

Martin Niemoller's simple and haunting words are often quoted in moments of intolerance. The story behind them is much more complicated.

A brief history of presidents visiting troops in combat 26.11.2018 5:39 ↓

Presidents throughout history have visited battlefields to better grasp conditions, reverse public doubt and signal that the country took war efforts seriously.

Benjamin Franklin’s complicated relationship with turkeys 21.11.2018 5:56 ↓

Benjamin Franklin, the most colorful of America's Founding Fathers, had a misunderstood, electrical and ultimately homicidal relationship with turkeys.

The Green Book 20.11.2018 5:01 ↓

In the 1930s, traveling the nation's highways while black was fraught with peril. One postal worker, Victor Green, wrote a guidebook for African Americans after he faced discrimination on a road trip.

The origins of the Unknown Soldier 19.11.2018 6:08 ↓

The story of how the anonymous soldier came to rest inside the famous tomb is almost as unknown as his identity.

Mark Twain's complicated relationship with the typewriter 16.11.2018 5:41 ↓

Mark Twain first laid eyes on a “newfangled typing machine,” as he called it, sometime in the early 1870s.

Food stamps were born out of a surplus of food 15.11.2018 6:06 ↓

The idea of food stamps was born out of a complicated paradox.

William Rehnquist's proposal to Sandra Day O'Connor 14.11.2018 5:00 ↓

Rehnquist proposed. O'Connor said no.

The first lady who couldn’t get her memoir published 13.11.2018 5:27 ↓

Julia Grant didn't a have particularly good experience in the world of publishing. In fact, her memoir wasn’t even published in her lifetime.

Joachim Ronneberg, the saboteur who crippled Nazi atomic bomb project 12.11.2018 5:02 ↓

Ronneberg started speaking about his experience in history in recent years.

America and warfare were never the same after World War I 09.11.2018 4:55 ↓

Along with staggering death tolls, the "Great War" generated memorable literature, geopolitical upheaval, hope, disillusion, the Russian Revolution and the seeds of World War II.

Wong Kim Ark's Supreme Court fight for birthright citizenship 08.11.2018 6:25 ↓

In 1895, the United States tried to deny an American citizen entry to the country even though he was born on U.S. soil.

How the Greeks once used a lottery system to select government officials 07.11.2018 5:30 ↓

Some believed that a lottery was more democratic than a vote.

The makings of an electoral heist 06.11.2018 6:48 ↓

Gerrymandering became a real electoral cudgel with a project called REDMAP.

Rahm Emanuel, Howard Dean and the midterm elections of 2006 05.11.2018 5:37 ↓

Rahm Emanuel, the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and Howard Dean, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, had two different approaches to taking back the House of Representatives. Their feud wasn't pretty.

Fall back, spring forward 02.11.2018 3:00 ↓

Why, oh, why is daylight savings a thing? It's because for roughly two decades after World War II, no one had any clue what time it was.

Mary Ann Van Hoof and the Marian apparitions 01.11.2018 6:04 ↓

Van Hoof said she also has seen George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Joan of Arc.

Close encounters with the Capitol’s Demon Cat 31.10.2018 4:22 ↓

From the mid-1800s to well into the 20th century, the Capitol’s Demon Cat was the top dog of Washington ghost stories.

How Pittsburgh's Mister Rogers talked to children about tragedy 30.10.2018 6:42 ↓

Mister Rogers’s approach to dealing with grief began with an American tragedy.