History Buzz February 20, 2012: Presidents’ Day Quiz: How well do you know our chief executives?

  HISTORY BUZZ: HISTORY NEWS RECAP HISTORY BUZZ: HISTORY NEWS RECAP Presidents’ Day: How well do you know our chief executives? Source: LAT, Chicago Tribune, 2-20-12 At the funeral of President Richard Nixon in 1994, from left: Then-President Bill and First Lady Hillary Clinton; former presidents and first ladies George H.W. and Barbara Bush, Ronald [...]

History Buzz February 20, 2012: Presidents’ Day Gallup Poll: Americans rate Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton best of recent presidents — Richard Nixon & George W. Bush rated worst

HISTORY BUZZ: HISTORY NEWS RECAP HISTORY BUZZ: HISTORY NEWS RECAP Presidents’ Day Gallup Poll: Americans rate Reagan, Clinton best of recent presidents Source: LAT, 2-20-12 Former President Ronald Reagan presents then-President-elect Clinton with a jar of red, white and blue jelly beans in November 1992. (Paul Richards / AFP) Presidents Day — or Washington’s Birthday, [...]

History Buzz February 17, 2012: George Washington still tops as most favorable President in Presidents’ Day Public Policy Polling survey

HISTORY BUZZ: HISTORY NEWS RECAP HISTORY BUZZ: HISTORY NEWS RECAP Poll: George Washington still tops Eighty-nine percent of Americans say they see George Washington favorably. | AP Photo Source: Politico, 2-17-12 George Washington still ranks as Americans’ number one president, according to a new poll out Friday. A whopping 89 percent of Americans say they [...]

History Buzz January 16, 2012: Celebrating Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Past & Present at the White House

HISTORY BUZZ: HISTORY NEWS RECAP HISTORY BUZZ: HISTORY NEWS RECAP President Obama and Dr. King Source: WH, 1-16-12 President Barack Obama tours the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial in Washington, D.C., Oct. 14, 2011. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza) It’s been 29 years since President Reagan signed the law to create a [...]

Featured Historians Gil Troy: Wanted: A President Who is Tougher Than Terrycloth

FEATURED HISTORIANS By Gil Troy, 8-8-11 The downgrading of America’s credit rating just days after the debt ceiling fight ended risk branding Barack Obama’s presidency as an historic failure. The S and P analysts made it clear that they were passing political judgment on the United States, not just making an economic assessment. While Republicans [...]

Political Buzz August 4, 2011: Happy Birthday Mr. President! President Barack Obama Celebrates 50th Birthday at Chicago DNC Fundraiser & at White House Rose Garden BBQ

POLITICAL BUZZ By Bonnie K. Goodman Ms. Goodman is the Editor of History Musings. She has a BA in History & Art History & a Masters in Library and Information Studies from McGill University, and has done graduate work in history at Concordia University. OBAMA PRESIDENCY & THE 112TH CONGRESS: IN FOCUS: PRESIDENT OBAMA CELEBRATES [...]

Featured Historians Gil Troy: Obama at 50 Should Have More Faith in America

FEATURED HISTORIANS By Gil Troy, 8-4-11 Barack Obama turns fifty today, August 4th.  Both he and his country appear battered these days, as Obama’s White House recuperates from the bruising debt ceiling showdown and the United States remains stuck combating two wars along with one long-lasting recession.  But the progress Obama and America have made [...]

Scholar Craig Shirley: Reagan Would Have Handled Debt Crisis Differently Than Obama

HISTORY BUZZ: HISTORY NEWS RECAP Source: US News, 7-29-11 President Ronald Reagan would have handled the current debt ceiling crisis much differently than President Obama, according to Reagan scholar and author Craig Shirley. “First of all, Reagan would’ve had a plan,” he says. “We haven’t had a plan from Obama in 800 days, haven’t seen [...]

Reagan Centennial: Ronald Reagan to be honored across Europe

Reagan to be honored across Europe Source: USA TODAY, 5-23-11 President Ronald Reagan gives a thumbs up to a crowd Jan. 20, 1981, while first lady Nancy Reagan waves from a limousine during the Inaugural Parade in Washington. CAPTION, AP Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and the United Kingdom are joining in the year-long centennial [...]

Douglas Brinkley: Mining Ronald Reagan’s one-liners

RONALD REAGAN CENTENNIAL President Ronald Reagan prepares a speech at his desk in the Oval Office for a Joint Session of Congress on April 28, 1981. Photo by Michael Evans/The White House/Getty Images. Take note of the file cards by the telephone, the ones rubber-banded together on top of the black binder. Yes, those cards [...]

Douglas Brinkley: Ronald Reagan’s note card collection being published

HISTORY BUZZ: HISTORY NEWS RECAP Source: USA Today, 5-8-11 “When the music of a nation becomes fast, wild & discordant it shows the nation is in confusion.” — Chinese Proverb 400 B.C. Ronald Reagan LibraryThe Reagan Library found a box of hundreds of note cards on which President Reagan had written things he would use [...]

Budget Showdown 2011: Q & A – How Many Times in US History has the Government Shutdown Over the Budget?

HISTORY Q & A: How Many Times in US History Has the Government Shutdown Over the Budget? By Bonnie K. Goodman Ms. Goodman is the Editor of History Musings. She has a BA in History & Art History & a Masters in Library and Information Studies from McGill University, and has done graduate work in [...]

Gil Troy: Reagan’s Magic Mandate Gave Americans Just what They Ordered

bY gIL tROY, 4-4-11 Amid the claims and counterclaims regarding Ronald Reagan’s 1980 electoral victory, one clarifying contradiction emerges. Yes, Reagan exaggerated, alleging a mandate for his Reagan Revolution which never existed. Yet, when Reagan implemented a more muscular, more flamboyantly patriotic, up-with-America, down-with-the-Communists foreign policy, he was doing what the American people hired him [...]

Del Quentin Wilber: ‘Rawhide Down’: The (almost) death of a president

Source: Politico, 3-11-11 A new book documents decisions to downplay the severity of Ronald Reagan’s wound. | AP Photo Close Ronald Reagan barely survived in 1981. A book out Tuesday paints a much direr picture of the president’s prognosis in the hours after John Hinckley shot him than the White House or his doctors acknowledged [...]

Revolutions in the Middle East: Libya in Chaos

POLITICAL HIGHLIGHTS By Bonnie K. Goodman Ms. Goodman is the Editor of History Musings. She has a BA in History & Art History & a Masters in Library and Information Studies from McGill University, and has done graduate work in history at Concordia University. REVOLUTIONS IN THE MIDDLE EAST: LIBYA IN TURMOIL President Barack Obama [...]