Mr. New Year's Eve

December 31, 2015 - Before Dick Clark, Guy Lombardo presided over New Year's Eve for nearly 50 years. Until 1976, Lombardo's Royal Canadian...
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An Army of Irregulars

December 30, 2015 - As much as one-fifth of the fighting men of the Civil War were actually boys under the age of 18. Many were even younger...
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Dangerous at the Top

December 29, 2015 - Some of the most dangerous weather in the United States happens among the peaks of the Presidential Range in New Hampshi...
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Saved by the Ladies

December 28, 2015 - One of the most historic sites in the United States could have fallen into complete ruin if not for the efforts of the M...
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Change for a Ten Thousand

December 27, 2015 - Until 1969, it was possible to get change for a $10,000 bill. On its face was Salmon P. Chase, in charge of creating the...
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The Almost File

December 26, 2015 - Many people think "almost" is the saddest word in English. Several former presidents would not agree. Two would-be presi...
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Potato for Christmas

December 25, 2015 - The potato was not esteemed among the French when Benjamin Franklin lived there, having once been banned for causing lep...
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War on Christmas ... Trees

December 24, 2015 - As an ardent environmentalist, Theodore Roosevelt did not want a Christmas tree inside the White House. At the turn of t...
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Massachusetts Forbids Christmas

December 23, 2015 - The Puritans who settled in Massachusetts were decidedly against Christmas celebrations, associated with a pagan holiday...
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Yet Another Harding Scandal

December 22, 2015 - First Lady Florence Harding leading cause was the plight of the injured soldiers of WWI. When her husband created the Ve...
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A Most Successful Spy

December 21, 2015 - The most successful spy is the one we know the least about. During the Civil War, a spy inside the Confederate White Hou...
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The Great Big Breakup

December 20, 2015 - More than one thing goes wrong before the breakup happens. So it was with the South. Although fearing federal interferen...
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"Cump" Sherman

December 19, 2015 - General William Tecumseh Sherman is known for the scorched earth "March to the Sea" made from Atlanta to Savannah Georgi...
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The In-Laws from Hell

December 18, 2015 - Mary Todd Lincoln, wife of President Abraham Lincoln, has a reputation as a difficult woman, yet loyalty to her husband...
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Truth and the Legend

December 17, 2015 - The most enduring legend about the remarkable woman Sojourner Truth is probably not true. The Ain't I A Woman speech for...
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The Other Hamilton Duel

December 16, 2015 - Three years before the famous duel that killed Alexander Hamilton, his oldest son died in the same place and in the same...
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The American Black Chamber

December 15, 2015 - Do gentlemen read each other's mail? Henry L. Stimson thought not. On the orders of Stimson, President Herbert Hoover's...
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The Assassin's Death

December 14, 2015 - Did Lincoln assassin John Wilkes Booth die a violent death in a Virginia barn after 12 days on the run? Or did he live a...
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Washington Starts a War

December 13, 2015 - Before the colonies had yet thought of independence from the British, a young soldier named George Washington engaged th...
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"History is More or Less Bunk"

December 12, 2015 - As a historian, Henry Ford was a great automobile entrepreneur. He told a reporter that what happened in the past had no...
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Russia's Lincoln

December 11, 2015 - Tsar Alexander II was a friend of the Union during the Civil War. A reform minded monarch, he grappled with a problem si...
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Washington's Gay Rights Pioneers

December 10, 2015 - Beginning in 1950, during the Lavender Scare, any federal worker suspected of homosexuality could find themselves out of...
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Three Weeks in Washington

December 09, 2015 - Among the famous visitors to the Willard Hotel in Washington, DC, was Emily Dickinson. She spent three weeks in town in...
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The Third Challenge

December 08, 2015 - Aaron Burr had challenged Alexander Hamilton to meet him on "the field of honor" twice before the fatal duel of 1804. Th...
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The Father of the Underground Railroad

December 07, 2015 - Much of what is known about the Underground Railroad, the system of safe houses that conveyed escaped slaves to freedom,...
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Battle of the Three-named Sculptors

December 06, 2015 - Daniel Chester French might be the best known sculptor of Washington's monumental art, because he made the best known sc...
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The Woods of New York

December 05, 2015 - Fernando Wood was a canny and corrupt politician during the Gangs of New York days. As mayor during the Civil War, he su...
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A Swindler's Moniker

December 04, 2015 - Motley H. Flint seems like the name of a swindler from a novel, but he was a real life character. His brother Frank P. F...
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Honest Abe, Bartender?

December 03, 2015 - Recently, blogs have uncovered Abe Lincoln's days as a bartender. But Honest Abe himself denied it in a debate with Step...
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Father of Prohibition

December 02, 2015 - Richmond P. Hobson is still more influential than his current name recognition would suggest. Called The Father of Prohi...
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Citizen Spies of World War I

December 01, 2015 - Carrie Phillips was pro-German and vocally against the US entering the war. She was also the lover of a US Senator and f...
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