April 2026

Editor's Note: George W. Bush was the 43rd President of the United States This essay appeared In Pursuit, a series of posts on Substack edited by by Dr. Colleen Shogan, former Archivist of the United States. In Pursuit is an initiative of More Perfect, a bipartisan alliance of over 43 presidential centers and many of the country’s leading educational and civic initiatives.

As America begins to celebrate our 250th anniversary, I’m pleased to have been asked to write about George Washington’s leadership. As president, I found great comfort and inspiration in reading about my predecessors and the qualities they embodied. Abraham Lincoln’s resolve, Harry Truman’s decisiveness, Ronald Reagan’s optimism, and others reminded me of the challenges America has faced – and of the values that have helped us overcome them.

It’s hard to think of a structure in New York City that is more integrated in the life of the metropolis than Rockefeller Center. There are other instantly recognizable skyscrapers – the Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building – but they lack the sprawling and varied spaces provided by what was once seen as Nelson Rockefeller Jr.’s folly. There is nothing to compare with Radio City Music Hall at the various World Trade Centers, which are devoted to office space. And then there is Citicorp (now Citigroup) Center, which is perhaps best-known for having been at risk of falling over.

Editor’s Note: John Ghazvinian is an Iranian-born historian and former journalist. His recent book American and Iran: A History, 1720 to the Present offers a rich, fascinating overview of U.S.-Iran relations going back to America’s founding. Ghazvinian’s scholarship shows that the current rivalry between Iran and the U.S. was not inevitable; indeed, there was a time when relations between the two countries were “animated by a spirit of common respect and mutual understanding.” The following was adapted from that book.

Editor’s Note: Richard Wade Vague is an American businessperson and author who previously served as the Secretary of Banking and Securities for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. His latest book is THE BANKER WHO MADE AMERICA: Thomas Willing and the Rise of the American Financial Aristocracy, an illuminating and original study of the life of one of early America’s dominant financiers. We often remember Robert Morris as a leading funder of the Revolution, but as Vague makes clear, Willing deserves as much attention, if not more, for his role in financing the cause. The following has been excerpted from that book.

Editor's Note: Mike Bezemek is a journalist and the author of Mysteries of the National Parks: 35 Stories of Baffling Disappearances, Unexplained Phenomena, and More, published by Sourcebooks in 2025. The following essay comes from chapter one of the book. 

Editor's Note: Edwin Grosvenor is Editor-in-Chief of American Heritage. He covered the launch of Apollo 8 for National Geographic as a freelance photographer early in his career.

As Artemis II lifted off on April 1 from the launch pad at Kennedy Space Center, I recalled watching Apollo 8 blast off nearly 58 ago before from almost the same spot. Both Artemis II and Apollo 8 were on a similar mission: leave the bounds of earth and travel a quarter million miles to the Moon, circle it, and return.