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President Johnson shocked the nation when he ended his bid for reelection in 1968. As early as 1964, Lady Bird had suggested that he might not want to run for a second term.

Enormous crowds greeted the Marquis de Lafayette, the French hero of the American Revolution, during his visit to all 24 states nearly 40 years after the war ended.

In a momentous couple of years, the young United States added more than a million square miles of territory, including Texas and California. 

We can’t let the home of one of the great heroes of the American Revolution be demolished.

Classic Essays from Our Archives

Did Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson Love Each Other? | Fall 2008, Vol 58, No 5

By Annette Gordon-Reed

To call it loaded question does not begin to do justice to the matter, given America’s tortured racial history and its haunting legacy.

hemings jefferson

Range Practice | Februrary 1968, Vol 19, No 2

By Dean Acheson

Our former Secretary of State recalls his service fifty years ago in the Connecticut National Guard—asthmatic horses, a ubiquitous major, and a memorable

horse-drawn artillery

Alice Paul: “I Was Arrested, Of Course…” | February 1974, Vol 25, No 2

By Robert S. Gallagher

An interview with the famed suffragette, Alice Paul

alice paul

Growing Up Colored | Summer 2012, Vol 62, No 2

By Henry Louis Gates Jr.

The noted writer and educator tells of his boyhood in the West Virginia town of Piedmont, where African Americans were second-class citizens, but family pride ran deep.

Henry Louis Gates and family

The Treasure From The Carpentry Shop | December 1979, Vol 31, No 1

By David McCullough

THE EXTRAORDINARY ORIGINAL DRAWINGS OF THE BROOKLYN BRIDGE

bridge drawing

"The Sparck of Rebellion" | Winter 2010, Vol 59, No 4

By Douglas Brinkley

Badly disguised as Indians, a rowdy group of patriotic vandals kicked a revolution into motion.

boston tea party

    Today in History

  • Henry Hudson discovers Manhattan and the Hudson River

    English explorer Henry Hudson, sailing for the Dutch East India Company, sails into New York Harbor and discovers Manhattan Island.

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  • Continental Army defeated at Battle of Brandywine

    British soldiers under General William Howe win a decisive victory over George Washington and the Continental Army at the Battle of Brandywine.

  • 911 attacks

    Terrorists hijack four airplanes and attack the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, killing almost 3,000 people. A fourth plane, United Flight 93, was heroically retaken by the passengers but tragically crashed outside Shanksville, Pennsylvania. 

    More »

  • Battle of Plattsburgh

    In the final day of fighting, the Battle of Plattsburgh, also known as the Battle of Lake Champlain, sees a combined American land and naval force gain control of Lake Champlain and halt the British invasion of New York and Vermont.

    More »

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