“Launched midst a thousand hopes and fears; Damned by a thousand hostile sneers.” Part of a poem written by head bridge engineer Joseph Strauss about the building of Golden Gate Bridge.
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt is remembered as an icon, sometimes mentioned in the same breath as Lincoln and Washington. Over the decades, most polls place Roosevelt in the top ten and usually in the top five most effective Presidents. His...
Young men registering for military conscription, New York City, June 5, 1917. Library of Congress. Before the war, the small forest in France known as Belleau Wood was not memorable in any sense. The United States Marines had that in...
“Margaret Chase Smith follows in her husband’s footsteps. Washington, D.C., June 10, 1940. Margaret Chase Smith, wife of the late Rep. Clyde Smith, Republican, of Maine, was sworn in today to fill the vacancy left by her husband. Left to...
The end of the Civil War officially freed the four million enslaved persons in the South. Still, it left unanswered what and how to help former slaves become useful and independent citizens. Reconstructionists worked to develop a plan that created...
Many Americans thought their sons and daughters would be home by Christmas. It was an anxious time for World War II families. There were many Americans at home who thought the war was over, or would be over, by Christmas....
An illustration of a U-boat attack during World War 1. The steamer is sinking in the background, while the German crew on the U-boat watch. Painting by Willy Stöwer,1864–1931) Most Americans do not realize just how close the Germans were...
