History First

Today, we’re going to delve into Calvin Coolidge’s 1928 trip to Cuba. At the time, it seemed like a rather serene affair. The wild truth about the trip didn’t come out until thirty years later.

Conventions are historically pretty wild. (This has changed in the last several election cycles…they’ve become much more predictable). We look back at four memorable convention moments from the 20th-century—from the battle of Bull Moose in 1912, to a moment of Hollywood oddity in 2008.

These days, all anyone can talk about is coronavirus. Our conversations are consumed with social-distancing, quarantine measures, and questions about testing. Many have drawn similarities between the pandemic of today to the 1918 influenza pandemic.

So how did Woodrow Wilson respond to the Spanish flu?

Joe Biden has officially picked Kamala Harris to be his running mate. This came after some grumbling within Biden's circle that Harris was "too ambitious" and "lacked remorse" for her attacks on Biden during the primaries. So, we looked back at a few other campaign rivals who became running mates. Kamala Harris is in good company—although we hope that she and Biden develop a better working relationship than some of the examples here.