Menu Close
The Conversation

Articles on Presidents' Day

Displaying all articles
A statue of Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, sits in the Lincoln Memorial in Washington. Historians consistently have given Lincoln, the Great Emancipator, their highest rating because of his leadership during the Civil War. Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Presidential greatness is rarely fixed in stone – changing attitudes on racial injustice and leadership qualities lead to dramatic shifts

George R. Goethals, University of Richmond

Historians change their views of presidents over time, often because of the country’s changing views on race and moral leadership.
Mary Washington helped her son develop into the leader he became. While her son was the subject of several portrait artists, there is no record that Mary ever was. Stock Montage/Getty Images

Mary Ball Washington, George’s single mother, often gets overlooked – but she’s well worth saluting

Martha Saxton, Amherst College

Mary Washington raised George and his four siblings mainly alone, imbuing in George many of his best traits. Historians have focused instead on George’s complaints about her.
‘Farewell, to all my greatness’ — President Andrew Johnson’s departure from office was lampooned by Harper’s Weekly. Library of Congress

Andrew Johnson’s failed presidency echoes in Trump’s White House

Donald Nieman, Binghamton University, State University of New York

A historian looks back at Andrew Johnson’s unlikely and unsuccessful presidency and why he wasn’t cut out for the job.

Related Topics

  1. Barack Obama
  2. Donald Trump
  3. Franklin Delano Roosevelt
  4. George Washington
  5. Grover Cleveland
  6. Thomas Jefferson
  7. Ulysses S. Grant

Top contributors