Visiting the Presidents

"Send Mike immediately!" the last words of Lyndon Johnson, 36th President of the United States after a sad post-Presidency. Learn about the end of his administration, his death, funeral, and burial, as well as the gravesite!  Check out the website at VisitingthePresidents.com for visual aids, links, past episodes, recommended reading, and other information! Episode Page: https://visiting...

“You certainly can’t say that the people of Dallas haven’t given you a nice welcome,” Nellie Connolly said to John F Kennedy, and he responded, "No, you certainly can't." The last words of Kennedy, 35th President of the United States before three shots rang out and ended his life. Learn about his murder, his funeral, and burial, as well as the gravesite!  Check out the website at Vi...

"I want to go. I'm ready to go. God, take me." The last words of Dwight Eisenhower, 34th President of the United States and hero of World War II. Learn about the end of his term, his post-Presidency, health struggles, death, and burial, as well as the gravesite!  Check out the website at VisitingthePresidents.com for visual aids, links, past episodes, recommended reading, and other...

"Give 'em Hell, Harry!" reflected the fighting style of Harry S Truman, 33rd President of the United States, an irascible man to the end. Learn about the end of his term, his post-Presidency and relationships with other Presidents, his death, burial, and legacy!  Check out the website at VisitingthePresidents.com for visual aids, links, past episodes, recommended reading, and other...

"I have a terrific headache!" Franklin Roosevelt exclaimed, right before slumping over, and ending the longest and one of the most consequential Presidencies.  Learn about the end of our 32nd President's administration, his health concerns, decline and death, and burial, along with his legacy!  Check out the website at VisitingthePresidents.com for visual aids, links, past episodes,...

"We'd like to thank you, Herbert Hoover!" the song goes, the result of a rough Presidency followed by a stellar post-Presidency. Learn about the end of our 31st President's administration, his long retirement, his decline and death, and burial, along with his legacy!  Check out the website at VisitingthePresidents.com for visual aids, links, past episodes, recommended reading,...

Keep cool with Coolidge...but not too cool! A President renowned for his brevity, Calvin Coolidge, 30th President, masked great pain and real ambivalence about his office. Learn about the end of his administration, his brief retirement, his decline and death, and burial, along with his legacy!  Check out the website at VisitingthePresidents.com for visual aids, links, past episodes, recommended re...

"That's good. Go on; Read some more," the last words of Warren Harding, 29th President of the United States, and our sixth to die in office. Learn about Harding's scandal-plagued Presidency, his health concerns, sudden death, burial, and legacy! Check out the website at VisitingthePresidents.com for visual aids, links, past episodes, recommended reading, and other information!...

"When the machinery is broken...I am ready," the last words of Woodrow Wilson, 28th President of the United States. Learn about his difficult final years as President, including his fateful incapacity, his brief post-Presidency, death, burial, and commemorations!  Check out the website at VisitingthePresidents.com for visual aids, links, past episodes, recommended reading, and other info...

BONUS episode featuring my summer of presidential travels as I fit in as many birthplaces, gravesites, homes, and other sites into one history professor's summer break. My trip to New York, Boston, Georgia, and Texas, with side jaunts to Oregon and Ohio!  Links to Previous Episodes Mentioned: Birthplaces " John Adams and Braintree " "John Quincy Adams and Quincy" "The...

The second (and final) diversion from the Presidents content: BONUS episode featuring my trip to Rome, seeing the sites and enjoying the Eternal City, a dream trip for me! Hear about how I planned and executed a trip abroad!  Back to Presidential content in a few weeks!  Part 1: How I Spent My Summer of International Travels, 2025! PARIS!  Support the show Also, check out “Visiting the Presidents”...

A brief diversion from the Presidents content, though I do Visit some Presidents in the City of Lights! BONUS episode featuring my trip to Paris, where I fit statues of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson and a bust of Abraham Lincoln between museums and cathedrals and a lot of walking! Hear about how I planned and executed a trip abroad!  Back to Presidential content in a few weeks!  Support t...

"I don't remember that I was ever President," William Howard Taft once said, a decade removed from his tumultuous tenure as 27th President. Learn about his post-Presidency; the real joy of his life, his tenure as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court; his death, burial, and commemorations!  Check out the website at VisitingthePresidents.com for visual aids, links, past episodes, recomm...

"Please put out the light, James." The last words of a larger-than-life leader, Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President, whose time after the White House was also full of adventure and excitement. Learn about his action-filled post-Presidency, his illnesses, death, and burial, as well as his gravesite! Check out the website at VisitingthePresidents.com for visual aids, links, past episodes, r...

"It is God's will, not ours." William McKinley, 25th President of the United States, died after a week of suffering from an assassin's bullet, our third President killed in office. Learn about his brief second term, his shooting and death, funeral, and tomb in Canton!  Check out the website at VisitingthePresidents.com for visual aids, links, past episodes, recommended reading,...

We are back for more! More questions and more answers about Presidents, their sites, and all of the fun along the way! Be sure to check out Part I, but here we will answer:  What crimes have occurred at Presidential sites? Which President had the worst hygiene? Which President threw the best parties? Which President needs MORE statues? What Presidential legacies have improved over time, and why? W...

Who says you can't have a second chance? Grover Cleveland did, since joined by Donald Trump, as our only Presidents to serve non-consecutive terms! We won’t do his gravesite in Princeton Cemetery over…Check out Episode 22, "Grover Cleveland's Tomb" for that info!  Instead, Episode 24 is a Question and Answer with questions submitted by listeners of the “Visiting the Presidents”...

"Are the doctors here?" With those words, the second President Harrison died.  Learn about the difficult end of Benjamin Harrison's Presidency, his second marriage, his failing health, death, and burial, as well as his gravesite in Indianapolis!  Check out the website at VisitingthePresidents.com for visual aids, links, past episodes, recommended reading, and other information! Epis...

"I have tried so hard to do right." Thus ended the extraordinary rise and unprecedented life of Grover Cleveland, 22nd and 24th President of the United States. Nobody had ever served in two non-consecutive terms before, and Cleveland experienced the hard way how harsh things could be during a financial collapse. Learn about the difficult end of his second term, his more joyful post-Presi...

Few Presidents had as breezy a time getting to the Executive Mansion, and as horrible a time once he arrived than Chester Alan Arthur, 21st President of the United States. Learn about his difficult Presidency, his failing health, brief post-Presidency, death, and burial, as well as his gravesite in Albany Rural Cemetery!  Check out the website at VisitingthePresidents.com for visual aids, links, p...

Few Presidents had more potential than James Garfield, 20th President of the United States, and nobody was tortured more in the lead-up to his death. Learn about Rutherford's assassination, his shooting, grisly death, and burial, as well as his gravesite in Lake View Cemetery in Cleveland! Check out the website at VisitingthePresidents.com for visual aids, links, past episodes, recommended re...

Rutherford Hayes' life naturally led to the Presidency...what he did with that office might not have represented that, but he was always capable and upright. Learn about Rutherford's post-Presidency, his activism, his death, and burial, as well as his gravesite! Check out the website at VisitingthePresidents.com for visual aids, links, past episodes, recommended reading, and other inform...

A Visiting the Presidents Bonus! When it comes to Presidential sites, especially birthplaces and gravesites, Louis Picone wrote the book on them...Literally! Join me for a talk with Louis, author of "Where the Presidents Were Born," "The President is Dead!" and "Grant's Tomb," and his ideas about Presidential sites, historical commemorations, and much more!  Chec...

What a rise to the Presidency! What a wild post-Presidency! Few Presidents had a quicker rise to power, and a shocking, tragic demise than Ulysses Grant, 18th President of the United States. Learn about Grant's post-Presidency, including his world tour, his tragic illness and death, burial, and legacy! Check out the website at VisitingthePresidents.com for visual aids, links, past episodes, r...

Few Presidents had as many lives as Andrew Johnson, 17th President of the United States, serving in every elected position possible from Tennessee, treated as loyal hero and hated traitor, our first impeached President, and our only to return to the Senate after his term! Learn about Johnson's post-Presidency, his death, burial, and legacy! Check out the website at VisitingthePresidents.com f...