Presidential history – News, Research and Analysis – The Conversation

Former President Donald Trump and former Vice President Mike Pence appear together in November 2020. Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

June 9, 2023

Mike Pence is jockeying against Donald Trump for the Republican presidential nomination – joining the ranks of just one vice president who, in 1800, also ran against a former boss

Shannon Bow O'Brien, The University of Texas at Austin

Pence’s announcement that he will run for president brings to mind how rare it is for a vice president to compete against a former running mate.

Catherine Cortez Masto, a Democrat, celebrates her re-election to a U.S. Senate seat representing Nevada in November 2022. AP Photo/Ellen Schmidt

December 22, 2022

How Democrats won the West

John A. Tures, LaGrange College

Democrats have ridden the West to presidential electoral success since 1992, reversing their poor performances from the 1950s through the 1980s.

The White House never provided the National Archives with an official transcript of what Trump said at this rally in Louisville, Kentucky, on March 20, 2017. John Minchillo/AP Photo

April 14, 2021

Trump, defying custom, hasn’t given the National Archives records of his speeches at political rallies

Shannon Bow O'Brien, The University of Texas at Austin College of Liberal Arts

All presidents must deposit transcriptions of their public statements with the National Archives. But in the case of Donald Trump, there’s something missing.

Ronald Reagan with his Democratic challenger Walter Mondale soon after a debate in 1984. AP Photo

November 6, 2020

How Reagan’s notions of a ‘good society’ resonate with Trump supporters today

Diane Winston, USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism

A religion scholar explains how Ronald Reagan invoked religion and shifted the American notion of a good society – a vision that might resonate with the politics of today.

In 1978, President Jimmy Carter spoke at a Northern Virginia high school about civil service changes underway. AP Photo/Jeff Taylor

July 12, 2019

The Trump administration wants to dismantle the agency overseeing 2 million federal workers – and weaken safeguards against partisanship

Matthew May, Boise State University

It’s dismantling the Office of Personnel Management and relocating hundreds of USDA research jobs on short notice.

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