George Washington

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Historians Say 11 Presidents Were Better Than Obama

But he's still the best since Ronald Reagan: poll

(Newser) - Barack Obama was the best US president since Ronald Reagan, but he's got nothing on Abraham Lincoln. That's the takeaway from a C-SPAN survey of 91 historians who helped rank the best presidents in US history based on 10 criteria, including administrative skill, moral authority, crisis leadership, and...

She Was George Washington's Slave—Until She'd Had Enough

Oney Judge escaped and remained free the rest of her life

(Newser) - It appears the world is about to get familiar with the fascinating story of Oney Judge. As the New York Times explains, Judge (also known as Ona) was one of George Washington's slaves until she managed to escape. The president took this as a personal affront—he huffed at...

Scholastic Pulls Kids Book on Washington Slaves, Cake

'Oh, how George Washington loves his cake!'

(Newser) - Scholastic is pulling a new picture book about George Washington and his slaves amid objections it sentimentalizes a brutal part of American history. A Birthday Cake for George Washington was released Jan. 5 and had been strongly criticized for its upbeat images and story of Washington's cook (the slave...

Washington, Lincoln, Nixon Were Gay: New Book

Larry Kramer's new book is ruffling feathers, dividing critics

(Newser) - George Washington and Abraham Lincoln were gay. So were Alexander Hamilton, Herman Melville, and Richard Nixon—at least according to a new book that the author considers true but his publisher is selling as fiction to avoid legal problems, the Guardian reports. Needless to say, Larry Kramer's 800-page The ...

Washington Counties Battle for Title of First

And Maryland may be the winner

(Newser) - The US has no shortage of Washington Counties. There's one in Maryland, one in Pennsylvania, another in Georgia, and one in Tennessee, to name just a few. And all of those claim to have been the first named after the first president, the Wall Street Journal reports. A monument...

America Is Home to 1,513 George Washingtons

But he's not even close to claiming top spot for most popular founding father name

(Newser) - George Washington, America's first president, can claim 1,513 namesakes alive in the US today, according to a new WhitePages analysis , but that actually ranks fourth on the list of most popular Founding Father names. Second president John Adams tops the list with 9,893, while Revolutionary War financier...

Here Are the 10 Most Popular Americans

Johnny Depp manages to make the list

(Newser) - MIT researchers recently released Pantheon , which analyzes data (including Wikipedia page views, among other things) in order to determine the "global popularity of historical characters." From that, the San Francisco Chronicle compiled the study's top 25 Americans. Here are the top 10, though Pantheon warns that data...

Attic Find: 'One-of-a-Kind' 1775 Revolution Letter

A Continental Congress plea to the British people for reconciliation

(Newser) - A "one-of-a-kind document" James Madison once raved about has been discovered in the attic of George Washington's headquarters during the Revolutionary War. Emilie Gruchow of Manhattan's Morris-Jumel Mansion stumbled upon the yellowed, 12-page plea from the Continental Congress to the British people for reconciliation last summer in...

Man Thinks He's Found NYC's Oldest Building

And it's slated for demolition

(Newser) - In 1783, after the British soldiers left New York City, George Washington is believed to have stopped for a celebratory drink at the Bull's Head tavern. Now a preservationist thinks he's found the historic site—and if he's right, it could be the oldest building in Manhattan....

George Washington's Presidential Library Opens

Includes dozens of Washington's own books

(Newser) - George Washington finally has his own presidential library . After years of planning and a $100 million fundraising campaign, George Washington's Mount Vernon estate has formally opened a new library dedicated to the study of America's first president and the Founding Fathers. A ceremony today dedicated the 45,000-square-foot...

George Washington Finally Gets a Presidential Library

It'll open at Mount Vernon in September

(Newser) - Pretty cool: George Washington is finally getting what so many other presidents already have —a presidential library. The 45,000-square-foot library, which will be erected at a cost of $106.4 million that was ponied up by 7,000 donors, is slated to open Sept. 27 at Mount Vernon...

Did Washington Name Our Country?

Aide's 1776 letter calls it 'United States of America'

(Newser) - It makes sense that the father of our country would have named it, too—and new evidence suggests that may just be the case. History hasn't quite settled on who coined the term "the United States of America," though in 1998, experts announced that it was Thomas...

George Washington's 'Bad' Whiskey Going on Sale

It costs $95 a bottle, but one blogger uses the word 'rotgut'

(Newser) - Mount Vernon is making 1,100 bottles of rye whiskey using a recipe from none other than George Washington himself. The booze will go on sale next month for $95 a bottle, reports AP . Must be great stuff, right? Eh, "what the liquor peddlers at Mount Vernon aren’t...

10 Weird Thanksgiving Facts
 10 Weird Thanksgiving Facts 
Nov 22, 2012 4:48 PM CST

10 Weird Thanksgiving Facts

It was supposed to be a day for fasting...

(Newser) - Thanksgiving feasts and TV dinners may seem like polar opposites, but in fact, the holiday gave birth to the prepackaged meals. Swanson bought way too much turkey in 1953—an extra 260 tons of it—so a salesman suggested packing the leftovers into 5,000 aluminum trays, accompanied by sweet...

Obama Now Faces the '2nd-Term Curse'

Ever since George Washington, it's been a tough 4 years

(Newser) - The election is in the bag, but the fight isn't over for President Obama. Now he must fend off the so-called "second-term curse" that has dogged presidents from George Washington to George W, writes Adam Clymer in the New York Times . Washington faced protests over a post-Revolutionary War...

What&#39;s the White House Worth?
 What's the White House Worth?
Oct 21, 2012 2:16 PM CDT

What's the White House Worth?

Real estate experts look at value of presidential homes

(Newser) - Just for fun, the Wall Street Journal asked a housing expert to appraise three famous DC-area residences that have hosted at least one of our presidents. The history makes them priceless, but that aside, here's what they found:
  • George Washington's Mount Vernon: To move into this elegant estate,
...

George Washington's Book Sells for $10M

223-year-old volume includes Bill of Rights and Constitution

(Newser) - A 223-year-old book once owned by George Washington has raked in nearly $10 million at auction. The 106-page leather-bound edition of The Acts of Congress was printed for the first president in 1789 and includes a copy of the Constitution and a draft of the Bill of Rights. Washington's...

'George Washington' McNugget Sells for $8K

Mom put it on eBay

(Newser) - You may want to examine your next Happy Meal more closely. A Chicken McNugget bearing a resemblance to our first president has sold on eBay for $8,100, the Sioux City Journal reports. An Iowa mom observed the similarity in a McDonald's while picking up after her kids. She...

Bush More Popular Than Obama: Poll

Plus: Guess who's the most popular president ever?

(Newser) - In honor of Presidents' Day, pollsters have ranked the most popular presidents ever—and it turns out George W. Bush is slightly more popular than our current leader, at least by one measure. Some 46% of Americans see President Obama favorably, and 49% have a negative view of him, marking...

Misquoting Founders Is a Political Epidemic

You can't believe all you read online

(Newser) - Between the current interest in America’s founders and a “willingness to believe” the Internet, political misquotes are flying these days, writes David A. Fahrenthold in the Washington Post . A look over the past two years of C-SPAN and the Congressional Record shows that politicians—including congressmen, senators, and...

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