Presidential conventions at which no candidate won on the first ballot have produced some of our best Presidents including Abraham Lincoln and Franklin D. Roosevelt. Three U.S President didn’t win a single vote on the first try at their convention.
John Nicolay and John Hay were Lincoln’s two closest aides in the White House, and helped to craft the image of the President we have today.
Working closely with President Lincoln, Secretary of War Stanton was indefatigable in laboring to win the Civil War. But his abruptness could sometimes be counterproductive.
First Medical Report on Lincoln's Assassination Uncovered
The Emancipation Proclamation opened the door for Pennsylvania's African-American soldiers
In one momentous decision, Robert E. Lee spared the United States years of divisive violence
Lincoln’s bid for reelection in 1864 faced serious challenges from a popular opponent and a nation weary of war
Even though he had no military training, Lincoln quickly rose to become one of America’s most talented commanders
The Washington, DC, cottage where the 16th president escaped to weigh such matters as the Emancipation Proclamation has been faithfully restored
Only hours after being sworn in, Lincoln faced the most momentous decision in presidential history
A story that the Confederate president donned a petticoat to evade capture emerged right after Union cavalrymen apprehended him in Georgia at war’s end. But is it true?
An impetuous and sometimes corrupt Congress has often hamstrung the efforts of the president since the earliest days of the Republic
Lincoln came out a victor in the 1860 presidential election despite winning only 2 percent of the Southern vote
A tall stranger, told to keep out of the general’s tent, turns out to be Lincoln
Theodore Roosevelt, his widow recalled, watched Lincoln’s funeral from his grandfather’s house
A famous educator reviews 100 years of service by the land-grant colleges
A new picture of prairie lawyers coping with bad roads and worse inns on the Illinois frontier, drawn from David Davis’ letters
Lincoln’s oration at New York’s Cooper Union showed that the prairie lawyer could play in the big leagues
Would the disastrous Reconstruction era have taken a different course?
Our most talented writer-president always wrote his own material and sweated hours over it
The president takes charge and directs a successful amphibious landing at Hampton Roads
The prairie lawyer president and outspoken abolitionist formed an unusual friendship
As we approach the bicentennial of his birth, leading historians look at the man and his achievements
The Washington, DC, cottage where the 16th president escaped to weigh such matters as the Emancipation Proclamation has been faithfully restored