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White House Ghost Stories

1862-1863: Mary Todd Lincoln, grieving over her son Willies death in February, began to participate in spirit circles or seances in the Red Room at the White House and the presidential cottage at the Soldiers Home. Spiritualism was wildly popular during the height of the Civil War as families sought comfort for the loss of loved ones. 1901-1904: Jeremiah Jerry

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The Life and Presidency of Calvin Coolidge

John Calvin Coolidge (he rapidly let go of "John") was born on the Fourth of July in 1872 to an old New England family. His father John Calvin Coolidge farmed in Windsor County, Vermont. The young Calvin lost his mother Victoria Josephine Moore to what may have been tuberculosis when he was twelve; when he was seventeen, his younger sister and

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The Hidden White House: The Truman Renovation, 1948-1952

When Earvin Ruddick's family took him on the White House tour on his 90th birthday two years ago, he became one of the millions who troop through the mansion to marvel at the sumptuous Federal interiors with their marble mantels and hand-tooled paneling. But unlike the wide-eyed masses, Ruddick's glance at the fine woodwork was both knowing and familiar. After