A federal judge on Wednesday sentenced a self-proclaimed presidential historian who once claimed to have moved among White House circles to seven years in prison for conspiracy and theft of historical documents worth more than a million dollars.
It never fails, put out a list of favorite whatevers and it will ignite a firestorm of flaming opinions. What sparked the frenzy this time? A list of five cool destinations for airplane geeks and roto heads -- um, I mean aviation enthusiasts.
A priceless piece of American presidential history will go on sale next week in New York.
The wars over campaign spots have begun.
For all the headaches on the campaign trail, you would not think a candidate would be hounded by his own dog.
There's a long history of presidential pets in the White House and with reason. CNN's Tom Foreman reports.
Cinco de Mayo -- the unofficial U.S. holiday long believed to have been imported, with celebratory beer, from Mexico -- isn't a Mexican holiday at all but rather an American one created by Latinos in the West during the Civil War, according to new research by a California professor.
May we spend a few minutes discussing a major part of American life where there has been a shocking lack of diversity?
President Franklin D. Roosevelt reacted with fury when major legislative pillars of his New Deal were declared unconstitutional by a Supreme Court anchored by four ideological conservatives. He lashed out at the justices, accusing them of practicing crass politics disguised as constitutional law.
With its early colonial portraits, depictions of grand historical battles, transcendentalist landscapes and intimate, turn-of-the-century paintings of the elite classes, the collection of American art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York ranks as one of the finest in the world.
Lawyers for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals will face off against those with SeaWorld in a Southern California federal court Monday after the animal rights group filed a lawsuit to declare that five killer whales are being held in slavery or involuntary servitude in violation of the 13th Amendment.
Thad Lacinak, former SeaWorld employee, responds to a PETA lawsuit claiming SeaWorld is enslaving killer whales.
In the early 20th century, there were almost no mentions of the contributions of African-Americans in U.S. history textbooks. That is what inspired historian and educator Dr. Carter G. Woodson to start "Negro History Week" in 1926. Woodson choose the month of February for this focus because it was the birth month of two leaders who fought to end slavery: Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass.
Mitt Romney has made much of President Barack Obama playing what he considers an inordinate amount of golf. I've even read blogs likening it to Nero fiddling while Rome burned.
President Dwight David Eisenhower's family wants to put the brakes on the development of a memorial honoring the 34th U.S. president along the National Mall in Washington. The groundbreaking is scheduled for late 2012.
On Tuesday night, it will be time to meet the candidates.
The clock is ticking in Washington on the bipartisan super committee, those 12 members of Congress tasked with finding at least $1.2 trillion in deficit reduction by Thanksgiving.
Can killer whales sue SeaWorld for enslavement?
It's only fitting that during the week we were to dedicate the memorial in Washington to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., an earthquake would hit the region and the entire East Coast would be bracing itself for a hurricane.
In the debate over raising the debt ceiling, Democrats and Republicans now agree that failure to act will be a disaster for the country. President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner made their anxiety clear in their dueling speeches to the nation Monday night.
CNN's Christine Romans explains the differences between the competing U.S. debt plans.
With the August 2 deadline approaching, and multiple plans being considered, politicians are heating up their rhetoric.
America's political leaders are paralyzed. The government is reeling from debt. Corrupt bankers foreclose on people's homes as a brutal recession sweeps the land.
Larry King and historian Doug Brinkley remember the life and legacy of Betty Ford.
Betty Ford, the widow of late President Gerald Ford and a co-founder of an eponymous addiction center in California, has died at the age of 93, according to the director of the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and Museum.
The New York Times store is selling an exceptionally rare version of the Declaration of Independence, a broadside printed about July 13, 1776, in Salem, Massachusetts. One of only six copies in existence, it can be yours for $1.6 million.
In 36 states and more than 200 cities, Americans on Sunday will have something more to celebrate than their fathers.
Historians describe the 1846 Battle of Monterrey as one of the first to involve door-to-door urban fighting. The Mexican city was among the key cities that fell to American hands during the 1846-1848 Mexican-American War.
An interest in history led Terry Hancock to the world of civil war reenacting, and introduced him to his future wife.
Sex, lies and murder. Americans seem to love conspiracy theories and too-good-to-be-true rumors -- type "George W. Bush IQ" into Google and watch what you get -- especially when it comes to politics.
This week marks the 150th anniversary of the outbreak of the U.S. Civil War, a war that redefined national and regional identities and became an enduring tale of noble resistance in the South and, for the rest of the country, a mighty moral struggle to erase the stain of slavery.
One-hundred-fifty years ago Tuesday, Confederate batteries opened fire on Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor. Thirty-four hours later the siege ended with the surrender of the fort. Major Robert Anderson, a Kentuckian -- and the Federal commander of the fort -- reported no deaths from the bombardment.
He stood 5-foot-8 and weighed 145 pounds. His face was gaunt and sunburned. Ticks, fleas and lice covered his body.
Beneath a hand-stitched Confederate flag, Terry Hancock prepared for battle.
Ronald Reagan was shot 30 years ago Wednesday. His grace under fire helped him solidify the support and affection of the American people. It also helped propel his economic policies through a Democratic-controlled Congress and put American politics on a different trajectory.
After President Reagan was shot, it was unknown if he'd been hit. See how CNN covered the breaking news 30 years ago this month.
Ninety-five acres of farm land where young men in blue and gray fought and died during the epic Civil War battle is being added to Gettysburg National Military Park, federal officials said.
Two former presidential candidates, former Gov. Bill Richardson and Sen. Lamar Alexander, dissect presidential politics.
Republicans are looking ahead -- some with glee and others with fear -- to the presidential election in 2012.
Everybody has to start somewhere. That includes all of the celebrities, billionaires, executives and CEOs of the world -- even U.S. presidents.
It's February and the chocolate factories went into overdrive. It was a bad month to be a rose, too. This month, millions of dollars were spent to express love and friendship.
Since the late 1940s, it has been an American custom for pollsters and publications to release a ranking of U.S. presidents.
So there is Abraham Lincoln -- Henry Fonda, actually, in a stovepipe hat -- walking toward the horizon as the gorgeous strains of an orchestra swell up behind him. Soon the orchestra is joined by a choir, the strings and the voices blending into a beautiful, almost ethereal, rendition of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic." Thunder crackles in the cinematic sky.
A Mississippi proposal wants to honor a Ku Klux Klansmen with a specialty license plate.
The Mississippi NAACP has called on Governor Haley Barbour to publicly denounce an attempt by a Confederacy group to honor a Ku Klux Klan leader, the organization said Monday.
The 100th anniversary of the birth of our 40th president, Ronald Reagan, is Sunday. On that day and during the year ahead, there will be many celebrations of the life of a man who remains one of the most beloved and respected of our modern presidents.
"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." -- Second Amendment to U.S. Constitution
John Fitzgerald Kennedy becomes the 35th president of the United States of America on January 20, 1961.
Dave Taylor, a Civil War antiques dealer in Sylvania, Ohio, was excited about the possibility of buying a "top-notch," genuine .36-caliber Spiller & Burr revolver that had belonged to a Confederate officer from North Carolina.
A publisher has deleted the N-word from two Mark Twain classics. Right move, or unjust censorship?
The vapid, smiley-faced effrontery of it corrodes the foundations of respect for American literature.
October 2010: Have technology and globalization killed the American dream? CNN's Fareed Zakaria reports.
Here's a New Year's resolution for the nation in 2011: Stop predicting the death of the American Dream.
A panel of historians has found an "appalling" number of factual errors in a new fourth-grade history textbook used in many Virginia school districts, one of the experts said.
It's tough being brilliant. It's even tougher when you hate your own masterpieces.
The first date is over. Not much happened. President Obama and his new governing partners, the House and Senate Republicans, met at the White House along with the Democratic leaders and discussed the unsolvable issues between them.
Sen. John McCain says he thinks Sarah Palin is doing a great job and compares her to Reagan in terms of divisiveness.
Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair's memoir, "A Journey," is sparking all sorts of picketing and protesting around the U.K., so we thought it might be a good time to take a look at a few presidential memoirs from this side of the pond.
On March 25, 1863, in the heat of the U.S. Civil War, Pvt. Jacob Parrott and six other Union soldiers received the Medal of Honor for going 200 miles behind enemy lines to hijack a Confederate train. He became the first U.S. service member to receive the medal. Parrott survived the Civil War and, according to several websites, went on to become a cabinetmaker.
Will Bunch's CNN.com tirade earlier this week against television host Glenn Beck and David Barton -- the founder and president of WallBuilders, a national pro-family organization that emphasizes history's "moral, religious and constitutional heritage" -- for allegedly creating "pseudo history" reveals more about Mr. Bunch than it does about what Mr. Beck and Mr. Barton are presenting.
CNN iReport showcases past and present images of Hurricane Katrina's destruction from the people who lived in its wake.
"We are on the right side of history! We are on the side of individual freedoms and liberties and, dammit, we will reclaim the civil rights moment. We will take that movement -- because we were the people who did it in the first place." -- Glenn Beck, on his nationally syndicated radio program, May 26.
One American president's legitimacy was questioned because he was accused of wearing women's underwear.
The discovery of the exact location of a stockade and dozens of personal artifacts belonging to its Union prisoners is one of the biggest archaeological Civil War finds in decades, federal and Georgia officials said Monday.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt's grandson, Curtis Roosevelt, recently gave this speech about the presidents at an event in Washington, DC.
A flag that accompanied Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer and his 7th Cavalry into their final battle 134 years ago will be put up for auction, the auction house that will handle the sale said Friday.
The Smithsonian Institution weighs in on the Gulf spill and its long term effects. CNN's Kate Bolduan reports.
The president was young, a Harvard-educated intellectual admired for his charisma and skill with the written word.
There are typically two types of comic book movies -- movies like "Ghost Rider" and movies like "Batman Begins."
Josh Brolin talks about working with John Malkovich and Megan Fox in his new movie "Jonah Hex."
Gerry-what?
updated: Tue Jun 08 2010 09:14:00
An early 19th century political term yields a variety of definitions.
The man known for one of the most partisan practices in American politics had once quit government for a time because of partisanship.
It has been eight years since people in my state of Virginia got a chance to debate the meaning of the Civil War in front of the nation, and the comments posted on CNN and other news Web sites suggest our passion over the topic has not dimmed.
CNN's Joe Johns looks at the group that got Virginia's governor to issue a proclamation honoring the Confederate legacy.
"I'm a big history buff," President Obama said in an interview with ABC News" George Stephanopoulos. "And I think that understanding the history of the Confederacy and understanding the history of the Civil War is something that every American and every young American should be part of."
Newt Gingrich called President Obama "the most radical president in American history" at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference last week.
Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell calls omitting any reference to slavery when declaring Confederate History Month a mistake.
Based on the hundreds of e-mails, Facebook comments and Tweets I've read in response to my denunciation of Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell's decision to honor Confederates for their involvement in the Civil War -- which was based on the desire to continue slavery -- the one consistent thing that supporters of the proclamation offer up as a defense is that these individuals were fighting for what they believed in and defending their homeland.
Virginia's proclamation of Confederate History Month without any reference to slavery was unacceptable, President Obama said in an interview broadcast Friday.
Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell apologized Wednesday for leaving out any reference to slavery in his recent proclamation designating April as Confederate History Month, calling it a "major omission."
A rare letter evincing a display of affection between President Theodore Roosevelt and his youngest son is up for sale by a dealer who obtained it from a Roosevelt family friend.
My unscientific poll of people who have visited or lived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, revealed three top must-dos for a first-time visitor: Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell and cheese steak.
This Saturday, millions of Americans will watch the annual spectacle of Charlton Heston acting the part of a Cold War hero in Cecil B. DeMille's "The Ten Commandments." The TV air date is no accident.
As a co-author of an American history textbook that was effectively banned in Texas eight years ago, I get a strong feeling of déjà vu all over again as I follow the state's latest curricular wars.
It was a balmy March day in Washington as the Irish ambassador to the U.S. headed to the White House. He carried a small gift for the president: a box of Irish shamrock in honor of St. Patrick's Day.
CNN's Kyra Phillips talks with a panel on why America is still struggling to end hunger.
What does it mean when 86 percent of the Americans surveyed last week by CNN/Opinion Research Corp. say they believe that their system of government is broken?
Sixteen-fifty-one Pennsylvania Avenue isn't quite as famous as the address right across the street.
Folklore says that George Washington was known for never telling a lie.
Republicans have accelerated their attacks on President Obama's performance on national security. A few weeks ago, House Republican Minority Leader John Boehner accused the White House of having a "pre-September 11" mentality.
Albert Einstein is often quoted as saying, "In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity." Planning a road trip is hardly nuclear science, but perhaps the professor had learned that a well-chosen overnight stop can yield treasured memories.
Less than a month before the Civil War's start, a newly inaugurated President Lincoln took time from his frantic schedule to write to an Illinois boy whose classmates didn't believe he'd met the president.
No offense to the nation's capital, but the landmarks of our heritage extend far beyond the District of Columbia.
Perhaps we got too used to living in a nation where the president inevitably becomes persona non grata.
Perhaps your history teachers failed to alert you to these Civil War facts: Jefferson Davis nearly got mugged by an angry female mob; Abraham Lincoln loved the Confederate anthem "Dixie," and Paul Revere was a Civil War casualty.
Carl Azuz explores how a day to decorate the graves of Civil War troops became a day honoring all of America's fallen.
Memorial Day is more than just a three-day weekend and a chance to get the year's first sunburn. Here's a handy 10-pack of facts to give the holiday some perspective.
© 2013 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
|