History of the USA


Only one Member of Congress, Representative Jeannette Rankin, voted against the resolution that brought the United States into the Second World War. Astonishingly, she had also voted against American participation in the First World War.   A clear, steady and solitary voice ‘In a clear, steady voice, Rankin voted “No,”. The packed House Chamber erupted with boos and jeers’. President Roosevelt had just addressed the joint […]

Give peace a chance? Congress’s lone World War pacifist


On 23 April 1863, President Lincoln took time away from the campaigns and politics of the US Civil War to attend a séance. Lincoln was a man famous for his pragmatism and he eschewed ostentatious religious devotion. So why did Lincoln allow a series of séances to be held at the White House? And did he ever attend one of them? Abraham Lincoln has always been […]

President Lincoln and the White House séances