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Winning the Battle After Losing the War

January 31, 2016 - Confederate forces won the last battle of the Civil War in May of 1865. In the month after General Robert E. Lee surrend...

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FDR's Benefit Birthday Balls

January 30, 2016 - On President Franklin Roosevelt's first birthday in that office, January 30, 1934, parties were held across the nation t...

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Wounds of War

January 29, 2016 - One need not to be killed or physically scarred in combat to be a casualty of war. Soldiers who lost their sanity during...

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The Tribe at Washington's Side

January 28, 2016 - When the British occupied Philadelphia in the fall of 1777, General George Washington was forced to retreat to nearby Va...

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The Mysterious Sickness at the National Hotel

January 27, 2016 - Before its demise, the National Hotel in Washington DC rivaled it's famous peer, the Willard, in status and the stature...

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Elvis on the Shores of the Potomac

January 26, 2016 - Hillbilly music was popular in Washington DC of 1956. Fans of country music came out on a blustery March night in 1956 t...

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The End of Mr. Means

January 25, 2016 - Gaston Means had already gotten away with a lot: a lot of money, and possibly murder, when he landed in Washington and w...

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Double Zero

January 24, 2016 - Bruce Springsteen's song Nebraska tells the events of the bleak January of 1958 in Lincoln, Nebraska, when 19-year-old C...

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Free Love On Trial

January 23, 2016 - Preacher Henry Ward Beecher had done as much as his sister, Harriet Beecher Stowe, to bring abolitionist ideas into the...

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The Great White Hurricane

January 22, 2016 - A massive amount of snow combined with high winds made the blizzard of 1888 into the Great White Hurricane. For two days...

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The Franklin's War

January 21, 2016 - Ben Franklin spent almost two decades in London as a representative of the Pennsylvania colony, but after his return in...

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The Yellow Brick Road

January 20, 2016 - As the century turned from the 19th to the 20th, William Jennings Bryan was one of the nation's most influential men. He...

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A New Fad Comes to the White House

January 19, 2016 - In 1891, among those able to afford it, a new technology was gaining converts: the electric light bulb was now brighter,...

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Racing into the Auto Age

January 18, 2016 - In 1903, most Americans hadn't yet seen a car, much less driven one. Roads, such as they were, accommodated horse traffi...

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The Final Plunge of the Market Master

January 17, 2016 - The Boy Plunger, Jesse Livermore, earned that name by plunging his money all in when he sensed a win. He made a fortune...

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Grand Central Station on the Underground Railroad

January 16, 2016 - After the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, federal law required free states to aid in the capture of escaped slaves. It becam...

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The German Invaders

January 15, 2016 - In 1942, Germany successfully landed eight men on US shores. They were instructed to blow up bridges, tunnels and power...

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By the Light of the Moon

January 14, 2016 - The turning point of the Civil War in favor of the Union is often said to be the battle of Gettysburg in July 1863. In M...

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The Revolt of the Wives

January 13, 2016 - Peggy O'Neale Timberlake Eaton committed several unpardonable social sins in Washington, DC. The original one was simply...

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A Traitor's Reasons

January 12, 2016 - Benedict Arnold was already a hero on the American side of the War for Independence, having been instrumental in the vic...

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Blackmail to the Chief

January 11, 2016 - When the GOP found out Carrie Phillips had proof of her affair with presidential candidate Warren G. Harding, she agreed...

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The Long Arm of the Shortest President

January 10, 2016 - William Henry Harrison is famous today for the longest inaugural speech at the start of the shortest presidency. Yet by...

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Nixon's Happy Birthday

January 09, 2016 - Rowan and Martin, as hosts of the hugely popular television show, Laugh In, brought youth culture into the living rooms...

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Old and In the Way

January 08, 2016 - In the years just after WWII, historic was just another name for old. Huge sections of Washington DC were deemed obsolet...

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The Lost Colonists

January 07, 2016 - At the behest of " The Virgin Queen " Elizabeth I, Sir Walter Raleigh tried three times to establish an English colony a...

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Shades of Green in a Dry Town

January 06, 2016 - " The Man in the Green Hat " was the most famous bootlegger in the capital, and perhaps the country, after his five-part...

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How Much to Get the White House?

January 05, 2016 - If you want to live in the White House but not go to the trouble of being elected president, there is another option: on...

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Everyone Loves a Villain

January 04, 2016 - After the Titanic went down on April 12, 1912, J. Bruce Ismay became the man everyone loved to hate. He had survived whe...

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An Atomic Cocktail

January 03, 2016 - The atom bomb brought with it both fear and a new kind of fun. Going to Vegas to have a blast could be taken literally i...

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The Lamest Duck

January 02, 2016 - President James Buchanan often is found near or at the top of the list of worst presidents. He is accused of standing by...

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Shaking Hands With the New Year

January 01, 2016 - Until 1933, ordinary citizens could shake the hand of the President of the United States at the White House on the first...

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