#POTUS History

[deadpresidents]

God damn your god damned old hellfired god damned soul to hell god damn you and goddam your god damned family's god damned hellfired god damned soul to hell and god damnation god damn them and god damn your god damn friends to hell.

Letter from a citizen to President-elect Abraham Lincoln, November 25, 1860.

I can't prove it, but I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that this citizen didn't vote for Lincoln.

[mysharona1987]

[bonnieura]

"I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth."

president john f. kennedy touring NASA's launch operations center with wernher von braun 1962 at what is now called kennedy space center. (KSC). [pt.1]

[vintonvalens]

rare and unique photoshoot of john f. kennedy

[starredpoet]

first presidential gamer girl

[oneofthosecrazycatladies]

Reminder that the President of the United States has complete, unilateral control over America’s nuclear weapons.

Back in 1945, Harry Truman had a bunch of trigger-happy generals who weee overexcited about the new technology that was the nuclear bomb and they basically wanted to bomb everyone so Truman decided that the President, alone, should have the power to decide when to use nuclear weapons and on whom. And that hasn’t changed to this day.

Just something to keep in mind when you’re deciding who to vote for.

[jacks-weird-world]

🪖Jack and Kathleen Kennedy Townsend at Arlington Cemetery, Virginia. Oct 17, 2024

[davidaugust]

"But the Constitution says he can't do that!"

I know, he knows. That's why he is trying.

Unitary executive theory (advanced by project 2025): make potus able to rule through decrees. The Enabling Act in Germany in 1933 did this, lead directly to deaths of ~50 million and burning 2 continents down.

Technically German constitution from 1919 was “in effect” until 1949. Enabling Act made constitution de jure only (by law, not practice); it was technically there the whole time.

History can rhyme.

[kindest-little-fella-in-town]

it’s my favourite american national holiday again!

[roanokesunset]

Picture of JFK sleeping on the campaign trail on the plane Caroline. JFK can also be seen wearing his wedding ring, which those close to him say he seldom wore.

[deadpresidents]

"I'm sure that the Presidents who stand out in our history and in our memory are those who led the nation through times of great trial and challenge...Washington, Jackson, Lincoln, Wilson, Roosevelt, Truman. On the other hand, these very same Presidents would not be regarded now as great if their reactions and their responses had been weak, or if they had failed to achieve some of their major goals of if they had run away from the challenges...Greatness is an elusive thing and the judgment of history is sometimes different from that that is made when a President's in office or just after he leaves office. Wilson died a broken and disappointed man because he failed to win approval of the League [of Nations]. Yet history has judged that he was right in that fight and the willful men of the Senate who opposed him were wrong...There are a great many misconceptions about the Presidency...Some people think the President is a man who welcomes visitors to our country, who signs the laws that Congress sends him, who occasionally makes a speech about one of our problems, a kind of father or figurehead. Others see him as a manipulator or as an arm twister who is interested in power and how to use it. Others see him as a solitary figure surrounded by yes men, insulated from all [counselors], isolated from the real world. But very few people have any idea of the long and tedious and grinding work that goes into every Presidential day. I doubt that there was a single day of the Presidency, Sundays included, that I didn't give two or three hours to just solitary reading. There was hardly a night that I was President that I didn't read two or three hours. Even if it were a State Dinner or dancing...when I retired for the evening, I would have two hours of night reading ahead of me...No President in history has been able to do all the things that he or the people hoped he could accomplish at the time of election. But that doesn't mean that the job is impossible and that doesn't mean it's doomed. It's doable."

-- Former President Lyndon B. Johnson, on some of the unseen work of the Presidency.

Here's a great photograph taken by White House photographer Robert Knudson of some of LBJ's "night reading" homework, waiting for the President on his bed in the White House on October 12, 1966:

(I want to thank the incredible archivists at the @lbjlibrary and the National Archives ( @usnatarchives on Tumblr) -- especially, in this case, Chris of the Audiovisual Archives at the LBJ Library -- for tracking down a high-quality version of this specific photo for me. Without having any specifics on when or where the photo was taken, I reached out to the LBJ Library and vaguely described seeing this photo in the past and they quickly found a high-quality file that they sent me. The LBJ Library has done this numerous times for me over the years and I cannot express how grateful I always am for their help. The archivists at the National Archives and the NARA's Presidential Library system are incredible public servants and one of the very best examples of our federal government providing services to and for the American people.)

[mysharona1987]

[bonnieura]

"I'm proud of you for what you've done."

president john f. kennedy delivered the keynote address at the Whiskeytown Dam on september 28th, 1963. Whiskeytown Dam and Lake are part of the Trinity Diversion, a critical piece of Reclamation's Central Valley Project (CVP). [x].

[dick-nixon]

after a night swim at Miami Beach, 1952

[vintonvalens]

misc b&w jfk photodump