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Achieving independence as the United States of America was a lengthy and unlikely struggle for the 13 original colonies. Over the centuries, the territory of the 13 colonies was contested by several European powers before the British established control of the Atlantic coast of North America. Even under British rule, the 13 colonies had their own unique geographic, cultural, religious, political, and economic attributes. It was not a straightforward task for these disparate entities to come together to resist efforts by the British Parliament to impose greater control over its North American colonies in the 18th century.Early Exploration and SettlementLanding of Chirstopher Columbus by David Edwin, date unknown. Source: Smithsonian InstitutionBritains control of the original 13 colonies, which came into being with the founding of Georgia in 1732, took place in the context of competition among European powers to colonize North America. The European colonization of the Americas began after Christopher Columbus first voyage of 1492. While Columbus never set foot on what is now American soil, his expeditions on behalf of the Spanish Crown encouraged further Spanish exploration of the Americas, leading to the foundation of St. Augustine in Florida, the first permanent European settlement on what is now the United States.Other European nations simultaneously explored North America by staking their respective claims. Frenchman Jacques Cartier, for example, navigated the St. Lawrence River in the 1530s, and his compatriots founded colonies in Canada by the early 17th century. Simultaneously, the Dutch and Swedish established their own colonies in the present-day states of New York, New Jersey, Delaware, and Pennsylvania.While the original 13 colonies were initially divided amongst European nations, they eventually all ended up under British control. In 1607, England established its first permanent colony in Jamestown, Virginia. This was followed shortly by the settlement of the Pilgrim Fathers in Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1620. While these colonies naturally spread rapidly, military superiority in conflicts such as the Anglo-Spanish, Anglo-Dutch, and King Philips War enabled English and later British forces to establish control of all 13 original colonies from both European rivals and indigenous peoples.Geography: Mapping the ColoniesThe 13 Original colonies in 1774 by McConnell Map Co., 1919. Source: Library of CongressThe original 13 colonies were divided into three distinct regions confined by French and Spanish territories to the north and south respectively. The northernmost New England colonies of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Connecticut were defined by mountainous terrain and natural harbors. The port of Boston in Massachusetts was an important economic hub and symbol of early patriotism following the Boston Massacre and Boston Tea Party. Well-known Americans from New England included Revolutionary War spy Nathan Hale and the cousins Samuel Adams and John Adams.South the New England colonies lay Americas middle colonies. Composed of the current-day states of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware, these territories enjoyed a more balanced climate, a mix of plains and rolling hills, and extensive waterways including the Hudson and Delaware Rivers. Alexander Hamilton, the first Secretary of the Treasury, and John Jay, Founding Father and Americas first Chief Justice, are two notable figures of the middle colonies.Lastly, the colonies of Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia made up Americas southern territories to the north of Spanish Florida. The regions hot summers, fertile soil, and coastal plains served as excellent agricultural land. However, these characteristics encouraged wealthy landowners to exploit the land with slaves. The slave economy in the south was a primary factor driving sectional tensions between the northern and southern states for decades after American independence. Virginia, the largest and most populous of the 13 colonies, was the birthplace of renowned Americans including future presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison.Colonial Life, Society, and EconomyOld North Church in Boston, symbol of early American religion and site of Paul Reveres legendary warning, by Ernest C. Peixotto, date unknown. Source: Smithsonian InstitutionWhile early American society was characterized by traditional gender roles, professions, and values, the New England, middle, and southern colonies each exhibited unique cultural and economic differences. In the north, large-scale agricultural pursuits proved futile, and families relied on subsistence farming, fishing, maritime trade, and hunting to endure harsh winters. Society in New England was influenced by the Puritanism of the Pilgrim Fathers, leading to a devout and highly educated society. Some of the United States most prestigious centers of higher education such as Harvard (Massachusetts) and Yale (Connecticut) are still based in New Englands original colonies. The northern colonies valued their political autonomy under the British Crown and quickly became a major hub for the American revolutionary movement in the years preceding the Revolutionary War.On the other hand, Americas middle colonies experienced cultural and economic diversity in cities like Philadelphia and New York City. The regions history of colonization by different European powers left a patchwork of Dutch, English, German, and Swedish families living alongside each other. The greater degree of tolerance meant that the middle colonies would play a key role in facilitating the movement of freed slaves escaping southern oppression via the Underground Railroad in the 1800s. Economically, middle colonies were collectively known as the breadbasket because of its fertile soil used to make wheat and barley delivered to other colonies. The souths economy and culture, however, mainly revolved around its agrarian lifestyle with tobacco, indigo, rice, and cotton as its main crops. These colonies were organized in a hierarchical, aristocratic society where slavery flourished, in direct contrast to its northern neighbors.Government and PoliticsPortrait of King George III by Robert Pollard, 1782. Source: Smithsonian InstitutionWhile they were all subjects of the British Empire, the original 13 colonies witnessed varying degrees of involvement from the Crown. For example, while governors were appointed in royal and proprietary colonies, corporate colonies elected their own executive representatives. Legislative bodies among the colonies, however, were more standardized. Typically, Governors Councils advised colony-level decision-makers, and colonists were only allowed to participate in Representative Assemblies, the lower house, if they met a certain property requirement.Due to the dispersed nature of the original 13 colonies, perhaps the most important form of government to everyday colonists was local authority. In New England, town meetings facilitated shared understanding for families to participate in community decision-making. In the south, county systems performed similar roles with slightly less participation from everyday citizens due to ingrained hierarchies. These small gatherings allowed like-minded groups of individuals to control local laws and taxes.While mostly unconcerned with local matters, the British government exercised clear control over colonial economies. Under the mercantilist system, the colonial economy primarily benefitted Britain by restricting the flow of overseas trade to European countries other than England, demanding more exports than imports, and limiting the manufacture of goods that jeopardized English supply. Over time, early American colonists began to challenge this structure. Grievances over economic policy and taxation without representation encouraged revolutionary sentiment in the decades before the Revolutionary War.Pre-Revolution Conflicts and WarsGenerals of the French and Indian War by John Rogers, 1850s. Source: Smithsonian InstitutionAside from smaller skirmishes between European powers and Native Americans in North America, the original 13 colonies participated in several major conflicts before the American Revolutionary War. Queen Annes Warwhich served as the American theater of the War of Spanish Successionwitnessed intense conflicts between British colonists against Spanish and French subjects and their respective Native American allies in the continent from 1702 to 1713. From northern fronts in Canada to southern fronts in Florida and Alabama, Queen Annes War impacted all 13 original colonies. After one decade of fighting, the Treaty of Utrecht marked an end to combat, granting Britain considerable territorial gains in Canada including the regions of Arcadia, Newfoundland, and Hudson Bay.Almost four decades later, Britain and France and their Native American allies once again squared off in North America for control of the Ohio Valley. Part of the wider Seven Years War fought between European powers, the French and Indian War offered combat experience to key leaders of the American Revolutionary War including future Commander-in-Chief George Washington, who was directly involved in initiating hostilities.After nearly ten years of fighting, the Treaty of Paris of 1763 finalized terms that saw France cede vast territories, specifically in Canada and French possessions east of the Mississippi River, to Britain. The French and Indian War left Britain with a sizable amount of debt, prompting Parliament to increase taxes on its American colonies to pay for their defense. These revenue-raising efforts inspired political opposition that would lead to the American Revolution.American Revolution and IndependenceGeneral George Washington by Robert Pollard, 1782. Source: Smithsonian InstitutionAfter the Stamp and Townshend Acts of the 1760s burdened an already strained American economy, American colonists were disgruntled by increases in the prices of everyday items. Americans in the 13 colonies argued that as subjects of the British Empire they enjoyed full political rights and could not be subject to taxation without its representatives having a vote.Although the British authorities sought to moderate the initial taxes, escalating tensions about the powers of the British government in the 13 colonies led both sides along the road to hostilities. The Boston Massacre of 1770 further inflamed Patriot sentiment across the 13 colonies, while the Boston Tea Party three years later led Britain to double down on political and economic sanctions against its New England colonies via the so-called Intolerable Acts. As a result, key American figures including Patrick Henry, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson rushed to consider the fate of the colonies at the First and Second Continental Congresses.The Betsy Ross flag, with 13 stars and 13 stripes representing the 13 states. Source: Wikimedia CommonsBy April 1775, the American Revolutionary War broke out with fighting in the Battles of Lexington and Concord. One year later, the colonies officially drafted and signed the Declaration of Independence after decades of political and economic tensions, and the United Colonies became the United States. Ultimate triumph, however, would not prove easy. The Continental Army, led by George Washington, recruited soldiers from each of the original 13 colonies. After six years of intense fighting which took place across the 13 colonies the United States achieved independence after forcing Lord Cornwallis to surrender at the Siege of Yorktown.In 1781, the 13 colonies were brought together into a single political entity under the Articles of Confederation. Federalists such as Alexander Hamilton and James Madison believed that the federal government was too weak under such arrangements and campaigned for the ratification of the Constitution of the United States in 1789, which enabled closer integration between the 13 states. Over the centuries, with major land acquisitions such as the Louisiana Purchase, the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, the purchase of Alaska and annexation of Hawaii, the original 13 states have now become 50.

Bunker Hill, Saratoga, Lexington, and Yorktown are all famous battles that serve as examples of the conflict of the American War of Independence. North America was, of course, the main theater of the war, and specifically, the northeast of the United States is home to virtually all the battle sites of the war.It is, therefore, quite surprising that one of the wars biggest battles was not fought in America at all, and it didnt involve any American forces!The Great Siege of Gibraltar was the longest siege British forces ever endured. It took place on the tiny peninsula of Gibraltar on the southern coast of Spain.How Is the Siege of Gibraltar Part of the US Revolution?The Defeat of the Floating Batteries at Gibraltar, September 1782 by John Singleton Copley, c. 1783. Source: Wikimedia CommonsAs the American War of Independence raged on, Spain and France allied themselves with the Americans and took opportunities to fight against the British where they could find them. Both empires had lost colonial possessions in North America to the British and were eager to recover them.After the war between the American colonies and Britain began, Spain and France used the opportunity to support the efforts against Britain. They began supplying the American colonists before joining in a pact to help each other recover lost territories. They formally joined in an alliance with the Americans and began military actions against the British, with Spain formally declaring war on June 16, 1779.Defeating the British across the Atlantic in North America, however, was not an easy task. Taking the fight to the British in Europe was of utmost importance, and Gibraltar was a British possession on Spains doorstep.Taking Gibraltar would open up new strategic possibilities, reducing Britains control over the Mediterranean and weakening its military options. The chance to invade Britain was even considered.First, however, The Rock of Gibraltar would have to fall.The Rock of GibraltarMap of Gibraltar from the 10th edition of Encyclopaedia Britannica, c. 1900. Source: Encyclopaedia BritannicaGibraltar, a tiny peninsula in southern Spain, was the focal point. Captured by the British in 1704 and formally ceded to Britain by Spain in 1713, Gibraltar and its commanding heights proved an incredibly important strategic asset. From here, Mediterranean traffic could be monitored, as it was the only point of transit in and out of the sea until the building of the Suez Canal in 1869.It is no surprise that Spain wanted it back. So when Spain allied itself with France and declared war on Britain on June 16, 1779, they laid siege to Gibraltar. For over three and a half years, the British garrison would be pushed to the limit as they tried to retain control of this strategic asset.The British were not taken by surprise, however. They were aware of potential political developments and had prepared for the real possibility of siege. The 1770s saw significant additions to the defenses, including the creation of the Artificer Corps, the forerunners of the Royal Engineers today. These were skilled soldiers capable of feats of engineering relevant to military matters.The Fighting BeginsA painting of a model of the HMS Enterprise by Joseph Marshall. Source: Wikimedia CommonsJune 24, 1779 (which was also the birthday of King George III) marked an opening to the hostilities. With considerable forces at their command, the French and Spanish were confident of victory. They had clear superiority in numbers. Initially, the ground forces numbered around 14,000, while the British garrison numbered 5,382 soldiers under the command of General Augustus Eliott as Governor-General. Defensive measures were taken in earnest, and Eliott ordered the strengthening of Gibraltars walls, increasing the number of cannons to 412.The Spanish had considerable naval assets. Over the course of the siege, no fewer than 47 Spanish ships of the line would take part in the siege. The British naval assets at Gibraltar consisted of an old ship-of-the-line converted to a stationary battery, as well as the frigate HMS Enterprise and 12 gunboats.General Augustus Eliott, attributed to Antonio de Poggi, c. 1783. Source: National Army MuseumIn charge of blockading Gibraltar was Martn lvarez de Sotomayor, with Antonio Barcel in command of the naval forces. For the duration of the siege, Spanish vessels patrolled the waters around Gibraltar, intercepting with varying degrees of success any British ship trying to run the blockade. Despite the Spanish efforts, General Elliot was able to send numerous dispatches to London, continually updating the government on the situation in Gibraltar.While the Spanish tried to keep up the blockade, the British fired their guns continuously throughout the siege. The Spanish ships were under constant fire, but there was little chance of being hit. Meanwhile, Spanish soldiers continued their work of dealing with the siegeworks.Supplying GibraltarMap of the fire ship attack in June 1780. Source: britishbattles.comFor the British trapped in Gibraltar, there was the constant threat of disease and starvation. The difficulty in getting fresh supplies resulted in a few outbreaks of scurvy. Nevertheless, British morale remained high under the effective leadership of General Eliott.Back in Britain, huge efforts were made to relieve Gibraltar. In December 1779, a large convoy set sail, escorted by 21 ships of the line under the command of Admiral George Rodney. On January 8, 1780, the convoy encountered a Spanish convoy en route to supply the Spanish forces in Cadiz. Rodney attacked the convoy and captured the entire fleet, which included seven warships. A few days later, the convoy outmaneuvered the blockade, delivered much-needed supplies and troops, and managed to evacuate some of Gibraltars civilian population.On the night of June 6/7, the Spanish attempted to sink British ships in the harbor by using a flotilla of fire ships. This action proved ineffective and only boosted British morale after nine of the fire ships were sunk.Vice-Admiral George Darby by George Romney. Source: Royal Museums GreenwichBy the next winter, supplies were again running low, and scurvy had reappeared. Another convoy was sent to resupply Gibraltar. The Spanish blockade had worked for an entire year, and few ships had managed to slip through.As such, the Spanish were intensely disappointed when the second convoy of 29 ships-of-the-line escorting 100 store ships under the command of Vice Admiral George Darby slipped through the Spanish lines and resupplied Gibraltar on April 12, 1781. Upon sighting their failure, the Spanish opened up with a massive barrage, causing much damage, but their guns were out of range of where the stores were being unloaded. The barrage, however, did destroy houses and revealed that the civilians had been hoarding supplies, including large amounts of alcohol. British troops showed a significant lack of discipline and that night, the town was full of drunken soldiers in the streets. Soldiers caught looting were hanged, and order was restored.On the evening of April 21, 1781, the British fleet then left their moorings and again slipped past the blockade, taking with them 1,000 civilians. With fresh supplies and fewer mouths to feed, the British were once again in a commanding position.The SortieReferences to the print of the Sortie made by the Garrison of Gibraltar in the morning of the 27th of Novr 1781 by Antonio de Poggi, 1792. Source: Royal Museums GreenwichIn November 1781, Spanish deserters informed the British that the Spanish were preparing for a major ground assault on the British defenses. Armed with this information, General Elliot decided to surprise the Spanish by launching an assault of his own. The Spanish had been building trenches to try and get their cannons closer to the British walls and were unprepared for the sudden attack.On November 27, the British force of 2,500 soldiers, organized into three columns, struck out and marched on the Spanish positions. Once the Spanish realized they had been taken by surprise, there was little in the way of any effective resistance. The British spiked 28 pieces of artillery, burned and looted stores, and blew up magazines. In all, they did approximately two million pounds of damage to the Spanish and destroyed earthworks, representing many months of preparation.The Tide Turns?Duc de Crillon by Desrais, Claude Louis; Dupin Esnauts and Rapilly. Source: Royal Museums GreenwichThe sortie against the Spanish granted the British a reprieve, but it was not enough to stave off the continued threat. In February 1782, the British-controlled Menorca (or Minorca as the British insisted on calling it) fell to the French besiegers under the command of Duc De Crillon. This meant that the French forces that had been involved in the siege would be transferred to Gibraltar, where they could bolster the Spanish.Of major importance were the French engineers and pioneers who had skills in laying siege to fortified positions. When the French arrived, Duc De Crillon took over command from lvarez de Sotomayor.With the arrival of the French came the design of a new plan to take Gibraltar. At the suggestion of Crillons aide, Colonel DArcon, the French and Spanish started building huge floating batteries to take the fight to the walls of Gibraltar.The French and Spanish AttackDestruction of the Floating Batteries at Gibraltar, 4 September 1782 by Thomas Whitcombe, 1782. Source: Royal Museums GreenwichThe new plan to take Gibraltar involved building a number of floating batteries designed to get as close to the British seaward defenses and create breaches, followed by an infantry assault across the isthmus by Spanish and French troops.The floating batteries were essentially floating hulks. All their cannons were put on the port side, and they were reinforced with wooden armor packed with layers of wet sand to make them fireproof.On September 13, 1782, De Crillons plan was put into action. Supported by the Spanish and French navies, ten floating batteries operated by a total of 5,500 French and Spanish men began their attack on the British positions. Meanwhile, 42,000 Spanish and French soldiers awaited orders to march on Gibraltar once the defenses had been breached. Tens of thousands of spectators gathered in the countryside, expecting to see the fall of Gibraltar.The floating batteries, slowly and with difficulty, moved into position. They were unwieldy and difficult to maneuver, but they inched closer to the British positions and opened fire. The British fired back, but their guns did little damage. Meanwhile, allied guns on land were proving more effective than the floating hulks, as the latter were having difficulty moving into positions favorable for applying maximum damage.Study for The Defeat of the Floating Batteries at Gibraltar by John Singleton Copley. Source: National Gallery of Art, Washington DCThe artillery crews on land, however, soon ran out of gunpowder. Back in Gibraltar, the exchange carried on for several hours, and by midday, the furnaces of Gibraltar had achieved enough heat to employ red-hot shot in their cannons. These proved effective.Having been fired at the hulks, some of the shot landed on the decks and were doused with water. The French and Spanish sailors were unaware, however, that the intense heat of the shot continued to smolder, burning holes in the decks and starting fires.The battle continued throughout the day and into the night. Fires on the batteries reached the magazines and exploded one by one.The 12 British gunboats that had sailed out to attack the batteries instead ended up on a rescue mission to extract the Spanish and French soldiers from the water.By one in the morning, the floating batteries had been completely abandoned. By daybreak, only two remained afloat. The Spanish sent a ship to rescue the sailors, but they came under British fire and were sunk.In total, over 700 French and Spanish sailors had been killed, and another 350 had been taken prisoner. British bombardments on the siege lines had killed another 500.During the action, the British lost just 15 killed and 68 wounded.Result of the Siege of GibraltarRelief of Gibraltar by Earl Howe, 11 October 1782 by Richard Paton, c. 1783. Source: Wikimedia CommonsBy the time the action at Gibraltar had concluded, the Americans had already defeated the British at Yorktown and destroyed any chances of the British winning the war in North America. Peace had yet to be formalized, and the British victory at Gibraltar helped the British cause in determining the limits of American territory in the peace negotiations that were to follow.France had been financially exhausted from the war, and Spain eventually sought an exit from the war after a third relief convoy arrived in Gibraltar in October. On February 2, 1783, a truce was signed. Britain ceded Menorca, parts of the West Indies, and Florida, and in return, the Spanish agreed to let Britain keep Gibraltar.The British and the Americans finally made peace, signing the Treaty of Paris on September 3, 1783. The Great Lakes, rather than the Ohio River, were to form the border between the United States and the British Empire.The Biggest Battle?Gainst Elliot the French, & the Spaniards, Combind / Are Throwing their Stink Pots you see from behind / That the Garrisons Safe you must own is no Wonder / For all that they do is but Ftg at Thunder. c. Oct. 1782. Source: Public Domain, British Museum via picryl.comUltimately, the siege lasted longer and involved more soldiers than any battle in North America during the war. However, these numbers were inconsistent throughout the lengthy engagement, so it could still be argued what the biggest battle was during the American War of Independence.Furthermore, as military historian James Falkner points out, months passed with brief spurts of danger and excitement, but the chances to display valor and gain advancement were few.It could also be argued that the battle itself wasnt part of the war in that the belligerents involved were not fighting over American independence but rather Spains claim on Gibraltar.Study for The Siege of Gibraltar by John Singleton Copley. Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New YorkHowever, the political events in Europe were undeniably connected to those in North America. Spain and France had allied with the Americans and were trying to defeat Britain everywhere they could.The Battle of Camden is usually quoted as the deadliest battle of the war, but the total killed was probably fewer than a thousand in total. In Gibraltar, the British lost 333 killed, and several hundred dead from disease. The Spanish and French took 6,000 casualties, although the exact number that were killed is difficult to determine. In addition to these figures, 196 civilians were killed by direct enemy action, while another 800 died from disease.Men dressed in late 19th-century British uniforms marching through the streets of Gibraltar. Source: thetravelmagazine.netFor three years, seven months, and two weeks, Gibraltar was under siege. French and Spanish hopes had been dashed by the difficult task of taking this British possession. For the British, the efforts that went into holding Gibraltar were monumental, and far more resources were put into defending Gibraltar than in helping Cornwallis at Yorktown.

The President of the United States is widely considered to be the most powerful person in the world. Since the ratification of the Constitution of the United States and the election of George Washington in 1789, 45 men have served as US President, including two who were elected to non-consecutive terms. Read on to find out how each of these presidents impacted the history of the United States and the rest of the world over more than two centuries.Presidents of the United States (in Chronological Order)YEARPRESIDENTPARTYVICE PRESIDENT1789-1797George WashingtonNoneJohn Adams1797-1801John AdamsFedThomas Jefferson1801-1809Thomas JeffersonDem-RepAaron Burr, George Clinton1809-1817James MadisonDem-RepGeorge Clinton (d. 1812), Elbridge Gerry (d. 1814)1817-1825James MonroeDem-RepDaniel D. Tompkins1825-1829John Quincy AdamsDem-RepJohn C. Calhoun1829-1837Andrew JacksonDemJohn C. Calhoun (res. 1832), Martin Van Buren (1833-1837)1837-1841Martin Van BurenDemRichard M. Johnson1841William Henry HarrisonWhigJohn Tyler1841-1845John TylerWhigVacant1845-1849James K. PolkDemGeorge M. Dallas1849-1850Zachary TaylorWhigMillard Fillmore1850-1853Millard FillmoreWhigVacant1853-1857Franklin PierceDemWilliam R. King (d. 1853)1857-1861James BuchananDemJohn C. Breckinridge1861-1865Abraham LincolnRepHannibal Hamlin (1861-1865), Andrew Johnson (1865)1865-1869Andrew JohnsonDemVacant1869-1877Ulysses S. GrantRepSchuyler Colfax, Henry Wilson (d. 1875)1877-1881Rutherford B. HayesRepWilliam A. Wheeler1881James A. GarfieldRepChester A. Arthur1881-1885Chester A. ArthurRepVacant1885-1889Grover ClevelandDemThomas A. Hendricks (d. 1885)1889-1893Benjamin HarrisonRepLevi P. Morton1893-1897Grover ClevelandDemAdlai E. Stevenson1897-1901William McKinleyRepGarret A. Hobart (d. 1899), Theodore Roosevelt (1901)1901-1909Theodore RooseveltRepCharles W. Fairbanks (1905-1909)1909-1913William Howard TaftRepJames S. Sherman (d. 1912)1913-1921Woodrow WilsonDemThomas R. Marshall1921-1923Warren G. HardingRepCalvin Coolidge1923-1929Calvin CoolidgeRepCharles G. Dawes (1925-1929)1929-1933Herbert HooverRepCharles Curtis1933-1945Franklin D. RooseveltDemJohn N. Garner (1933-1937), Henry A. Wallace (1937-1945), Harry S. Truman (1945)1945-1953Harry S. TrumanDemAlben W. Barkley (1949-1953)1953-1961Dwight D. EisenhowerRepRichard M. Nixon1961-1963John F. KennedyDemLyndon B. Johnson1963-1969Lyndon B. JohnsonDemHubert Humphrey (1965-1969)1969-1974Richard M. NixonRepSpiro T. Agnew (res. 1973), Gerald Ford (1973-1974)1974-1977Gerald R. FordRepNelson Rockefeller1977-1981Jimmy CarterDemWalter F. Mondale1981-1989Ronald ReaganRepGeorge H. W. Bush1989-1993George H. W. BushRepDan Quayle1993-2001Bill ClintonDemAl Gore2001-2009George W. BushRepDick Cheney2009-2017Barack ObamaDemJoseph R. Biden2017-2021Donald J. TrumpRepMike Pence2021-2025Joseph R. BidenDemKamala Harris2025-Donald J. TrumpRepJD Vance1. George Washington, Independent, 1789-1797George Washington by Gilbert Stuart, 1796. Source: National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian InstitutionA wealthy landowner from Virginia, George Washington served as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. After the ratification of the US Constitution in 1789, Washington was unanimously elected the first President of the United States.While Washington rejected party labels as divisive, his administration favored the Federalists, who wanted to strengthen the federal government. The driving force behind Washingtons administration was Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton, who steered the country through its financial challenges by establishing the US national debt and founding the First Bank of the United States.Washington was inaugurated in New York but moved the seat of the federal government to Philadelphia in 1790. Construction work began on a new permanent capital on the banks of the Potomac River named Washington DC in his honor.In April 1793, Washington responded to the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars in Europe by issuing the Neutrality Proclamation. In 1796, Washington announced his intention to step down from the presidency after two terms, setting a precedent for over a century and a half.2. John Adams, Federalist, 1797-1801John Adams by John Trumbull, 1793. Source: National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian InstitutionMassachusetts lawyer John Adams was one of the most eloquent champions of American independence during the American Revolution. After serving as Washingtons vice president, Adams defeated Thomas Jefferson in the 1796 election to become the second President of the United States.Having been close friends and associates during the Revolution, Adams and Jefferson became bitter rivals in the 1790s. As a Federalist, Adams sought to strengthen federal institutions and favored closer relations with Britain, while Jefferson defended states rights and was sympathetic to France.The major event of Adams presidency was the undeclared Quasi-War with France between 1798 and 1800. Adams created the Department of the Navy and raised an army under the nominal command of George Washington to face a potential French invasion. Adams controversial Alien and Sedition Acts were criticized by Jeffersonians as an attack on free speech.In November 1800, Adams became the first president to live in the White House in Washington DC, then known as the Executive Mansion.3. Thomas Jefferson, Democratic-Republican, 1801-1809Thomas Jefferson by Rembrandt Peale, 1800. Source: White House Historical AssociationThe author of the US Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson served as Secretary of State under George Washington and Vice President under John Adams. He was elected president by the House of Representatives after receiving the same number of votes as his running mate Aaron Burr of New York in the Electoral College.Jeffersons greatest achievement as president was the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, in which the United States acquired the Louisiana Territory from France for $15 million, effectively doubling the size of the country. After the purchase, Jefferson commissioned the Lewis and Clark Expedition to explore the newly acquired territory.With Europe embroiled in the Napoleonic Wars, the British Navy was known to kidnap American sailors and force them into British service. In response, Jefferson placed an embargo on European trade in 1807 in an effort to assert American neutrality. However, the policy harmed the American economy, and Jefferson was forced to repeal the embargo in 1809 shortly before leaving office.4. James Madison, Democratic-Republican, 1809-1817James Madison by Thomas Sully, 1809. Source: National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian InstitutionA protg of Thomas Jefferson, James Madison worked with Alexander Hamilton to promote the US Constitution in the Federalist Papers but became an anti-Federalist in the early 1790s. After championing Jeffersonian causes in the House of Representatives, Madison went on to serve as Jeffersons Secretary of State.The major challenge of Madisons presidency was the War of 1812 against Britain, caused by territorial disputes in Canada and the continued impressment of American sailors into the British Navy. Although American forces saw success in Canada and sacked York (present-day Toronto) in April 1813, Madison was forced to flee from Washington DC on August 24, 1814 as British troops briefly occupied the American capital and sacked the city, including the White House.Madison allowed the charter of the First Bank of the United States to expire in 1811, but financial difficulties during the War of 1812 led him to recognize the importance of greater federal control of the economy. In 1816, he chartered the Second Bank of the United States.5. James Monroe, Democratic-Republican, 1817-1825James Monroe by James Herring, c. 1834. Source: National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian InstitutionJames Monroe played a key role in Madisons administration as Secretary of State and Secretary of War. After becoming president in 1817, he presided over the Era of Good Feelings, a period of political consensus that saw the demise of the Federalist Party at the national level. Monroe championed infrastructure projects to promote interstate commerce, and his presidency witnessed the construction of the Erie Canal between the Hudson River and Lake Erie, linking the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean.Although Monroe won re-election unopposed in 1820, tensions between Northern and Southern states over westward expansion and the status of slavery flared up over the inclusion of Missouri as a slave state. The Missouri Compromise temporarily diffused tensions by restricting further expansion of slavery to the south of Missouris southern border.In his State of the Union Address in 1823, Monroe articulated the Monroe Doctrine, a foreign policy statement warning European powers against interfering in the American continent. He supported an initiative to establish the colony of Liberia in West Africa for formerly enslaved people and gave his name to the Liberian capital of Monrovia.6. John Quincy Adams, Democratic-Republican, 1825-1829John Quincy Adams. Photograph by Philip Haas, 1843. Source: National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian InstitutionThe son of second president John Adams, John Quincy Adams became president in 1825 after a fiercely contested four-way election in 1824. Despite coming second to Andrew Jackson in the popular and electoral votes, support from Speaker Henry Clay was enough to deliver him the presidency in the House of Representatives.Adams had an ambitious program to strengthen federal power over public infrastructure projects and proposed the creation of a Department of the Interior. He also planned to establish a national university, a national observatory, and a naval academy, but his agenda was mostly shut down by his opponents in Congress.After his defeat to Jackson in the 1828 election, Adams co-founded the Whig Party alongside Henry Clay and became a vocal champion for the abolition of slavery in the House of Representatives until his death in 1848.7. Andrew Jackson, Democrat, 1829-1837Andrew Jackson by Ralph Eleaser Whiteside Earl, c. 1817. Source: National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian InstitutionAndrew Jackson came to prominence in 1815 after winning the Battle of New Orleans during the War of 1812. After losing the 1824 election to John Quincy Adams, Jackson led a political movement that would become the Democratic Party and won the rematch in 1828.A populist leader who presented himself as the champion of the common man, Jackson supported Western expansionism. He was responsible for the Indian Removal Act, which forced Native Americans to leave their ancestral lands and move west of the Mississippi in the harrowing Trail of Tears.While Jackson sympathized with states rights, he faced down opposition from John C. Calhoun, who resigned as vice president to lead South Carolinas campaign to strike down Jacksons Tariff of 1832. Jackson threatened to use military force during the Nullification Crisis, and Calhoun backed down.Jackson was suspicious of financial interests in New England and vetoed the recharter of the Second Bank of the United States, which he blamed for fueling land speculation by issuing paper money. However, the state banks championed by Jackson printed even more paper money and created a bubble.8. Martin Van Buren, Democrat, 1837-1841Martin Van Buren by George Peter Alexander Healy, 1857. Source: National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian InstitutionA political organizer from New York who helped Andrew Jackson found the Democratic Party, Martin Van Buren served as Vice President during Jacksons second term and succeeded him in the presidency in 1837.Van Burens tenure in office was marred by the Panic of 1837, a prolonged economic depression caused by Jacksons efforts to put an end to the credit boom by issuing the Specie Circular to require payments for government land in gold and silver. The policy caused many state banks to fail as credit dried up.A supporter of limited government, Van Buren did little to respond to the crisis at the federal level, though he recognized that the federal government had to manage its own funds rather than commercial banks. Before he could implement his independent treasury system, Van Buren was soundly defeated by General William Henry Harrison in the 1840 election.9. William Henry Harrison, Whig, 1841William Henry Harrison by Albert Gallatin Hoit, 1840. Source: National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian InstitutionA hero of the War of 1812 who defeated Tecumsehs Confederacy at the Battle of Tippecanoe and the Battle of the Thames, General William Henry Harrison ran an energetic campaign alongside his running mate John Tyler to lead the Whig Party to victory over Van Buren in the 1840 election.After delivering a lengthy address at his inauguration on March 4, 1841 on a cold and windy day, Harrison fell ill in late March and died on April 4 after a month in office. His tenure remains the shortest of any American president.10. John Tyler, Whig/Independent, 1841-1845John Tyler by George Peter Alexander Healy, 1859. Source: National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian InstitutionA supporter of Southern states rights, John Tyler had been a Democrat before falling out with Andrew Jackson during the Nullification Crisis. After being elevated to the presidency following Harrisons death, Tyler clashed with congressional Whigs and was expelled from the party after vetoing Henry Clays national bank bill. Most of his cabinet resigned, and he was nicknamed His Accidency.During his final days in office in March 1845, Tyler signed the Texas annexation bill offering to admit the Republic of Texas into the United States.11. James K. Polk, Democrat, 1845-1849James K. Polk by George Peter Alexander Healy, 1846. Source: National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian InstitutionA Tennessee Democrat and protg of Andrew Jackson, James K. Polk was the original dark horse candidate, emerging victorious at the Democratic Convention of 1844 after former President Van Buren failed to secure the partys nomination.Polk was a champion of Manifest Destiny and completed the process Tyler initiated by admitting Texas as the 28th state of the Union in 1846. The Mexican-American War of 1846-1848 broke out after Mexico asserted its claim over Texas.American forces won a crushing victory and captured Mexico City in September 1847. Under the terms of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo signed in February 1848, Mexico recognized American sovereignty over Texas and was compelled to cede a vast amount of territory, including the present-day states of California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico.12. Zachary Taylor, Whig, 1849-1850Zachary Taylor by James Reid Lambdin, 1848. Source: National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian InstitutionZachary Taylor served with distinction as a general in the Mexican-American War before winning the presidency in 1848 as the Whig Party candidate. A Southern slaveholder himself, Taylor was keen to preserve national unity at a time of great tension about the expansion of slavery into the territories recently annexed from Mexico.Taylor died unexpectedly of stomach disease on July 9, 1850, supposedly after having consumed cold milk and cherries during the Fourth of July celebrations. While he encouraged settlers in California to seek statehood in the wake of the California Gold Rush of 1849, he accomplished little during his 16 months in office.13. Millard Fillmore, Whig, 1850-1853Millard Fillmore by George Peter Alexander Healy, 1857. Source: National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian InstitutionMillard Fillmore succeeded Taylor as president and inherited a political crisis around the status of slavery while California sought admission to the Union. Fillmore used his influence as president to promote the 1850 Compromise, which led to Californias entry into the Union as a free state in exchange for a more punitive Fugitive Slave Act that appalled the Northern states.A New Yorker, Fillmore supported the development of national infrastructure projects and rode on the newly completed Erie Railroad, which connected New York City and Lake Erie by rail. His major achievement in foreign policy, realized after the end of his term, was to open Japanese markets to international trade after dispatching Commodore Matthew Perry to sail to Japan.14. Franklin Pierce, Democrat, 1853-1857Franklin Pierce by George Peter Alexander Healy, 1853. Source: National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian InstitutionSlavery continued to dominate American politics during the presidency of Franklin Pierce, who defeated General Winfield Scott in the 1852 election to win the White House for the Democrats. The passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act in May 1854 repealed the Missouri Compromise and included provisions for the status of slavery to be decided by popular sovereignty in the proposed states. This encouraged a civil war between pro- and anti-slavery factions in Kansas known as Bleeding Kansas.In 1854, Pierce completed the Gadsden Purchase, the acquisition of a narrow strip of territory from Mexico for $10 million to enable the construction of a transcontinental railroad. The relatively high price tag went some way to compensate Mexico for its extensive territorial losses in the recent war.Pierce sought renomination for the 1856 presidential election but was denied by fellow Democrats for his poor handling of the Bleeding Kansas affair.15. James Buchanan, Democrat, 1857-1861James Buchanan by George Peter Alexander Healy, 1859. Source: National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian InstitutionJames Buchanan is remembered as the president who failed to prevent the outbreak of the American Civil War. Buchanan came to office shortly before the Supreme Court ruled in Dred Scott v. Sandford that not only were enslaved people non-citizens and could not bring cases to federal courts, Congress could not restrict slavery in federal territories.The Dred Scott Case appalled anti-slavery Northerners and strengthened the Republican Party, founded in 1854 in opposition to the further expansion of slavery. In October 1859, radical abolitionist John Brown led a raid on a federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, in an attempt to trigger a slave uprising. Although Brown was quickly captured and executed, his memory served as an inspiration for anti-slavery campaigners.Buchanan did not seek renomination in the 1860 election as his Democratic Party split into Northern and Southern factions, enabling Republican candidate Abraham Lincoln to win the presidency. When South Carolina seceded from the Union in December 1860 motivated by fears that Lincoln sought to abolish slavery, Buchanan asserted the federal governments authority by supplying US forces at Fort Sumter.16. Abraham Lincoln, Republican, 1861-1865Abraham Lincoln. Photograph by George Studios, 1860. Source: National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian InstitutionAbraham Lincolns victory in the 1860 presidential election led to the secession of several southern states. Although keen to prevent the outbreak of the Civil War, Lincoln proved an able war leader after the outbreak of hostilities at Fort Sumter in April 1861.After a shaky start to the war, Union victory at the Battle of Antietam in September 1862 gave Lincoln the opportunity to issue the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing enslaved people in the Confederate states. Although Union forces could not yet enforce the Emancipation Proclamation, it encouraged enslaved people to flee to Union lines, while Union victories at Gettysburg and Vicksburg in early July 1863 proved the decisive turning point in the Civil War. In November 1863, Lincoln visited the Gettysburg battlefield and delivered his famous Gettysburg Address at the opening of the Gettysburg National Cemetery.After Union forces forced the Confederate government to evacuate from Richmond, Virginia, Lincoln visited the abandoned Confederate capital on April 4, 1865. Five days later, the American Civil War effectively came to an end with General Robert E. Lees surrender at Appomattox Court House. On April 14, 1865, Lincoln was assassinated at Fords Theater in Washington DC.17. Andrew Johnson, Democrat, 1865-1869Andrew Johnson by John Sartain, 1865. Source: National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian InstitutionTennessee Democrat Andrew Johnson served as Lincolns running mate on a National Unity ticket in the 1864 election. After becoming president following Lincolns assassination, Johnson favored the readmission of former Confederate states into the Union on lenient terms, provoking a hostile response from Republicans in Congress.While ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment in 1865 officially abolished slavery, radical Republican leaders Senator Charles Sumner and Representative Thaddeus Stevens seized control of the Reconstruction agenda from Johnson after the 1866 midterm elections and championed the passage of the Fourteenth Amendment to protect citizenship rights of newly liberated slaves.Johnsons Secretary of State, William Seward, negotiated the purchase of Alaska from Russia in 1867. Initially derided as Sewards Folly, the deal was seen more positively after the Klondike Gold Rush of 1896.In February 1868, House Republicans impeached Johnson for violating the 1867 Tenure of Office Act by dismissing Secretary of War Edwin Stanton without consulting the Senate. Johnson survived impeachment in the Senate by a single vote and served out the remainder of his term.18. Ulysses S. Grant, Republican, 1869-1877Ulysses S. Grant by unknown photographer, 1876. Source: National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian InstitutionAfter leading Union forces to victory over the Confederacy as commander-in-chief in 1864 and 1865, General Ulysses S. Grant became president in 1869. He supported congressional Republicans efforts to enact the Fifteenth Amendment to protect the political rights of formerly enslaved people. In response to the lynching of freedmen in the South by the Ku Klux Klan, Grant created the Department of Justice and deployed federal troops to crush the Klan.Despite winning re-election in 1872, Grants administration was plagued by corruption. He spent his second term dealing with the economic fallout from the Panic of 1873. The administrations focus on economic issues allowed Democrats to reassert political control in the South and continue discriminating against the Black population.19. Rutherford B. Hayes, Republican, 1877-1881Rutherford B. Hayes. Photograph by David H. Anderson, 1882. Source: National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian InstitutionRutherford B. Hayes came to the presidency in 1877 after a closely contested 1876 election campaign, defeating his Democratic opponent Samuel J. Tilden by a single Electoral College vote. As part of the Compromise of 1877, the Democrats dropped their challenge to the election results in return for the withdrawal of federal troops from Southern states. As president, Hayes promoted reconciliation with the former Confederate states, who failed to honor promises to enforce civil and voting rights for the Black population.In 1880, Hayes was gifted a desk by Queen Victoria made from the timbers of HMS Resolute. With some exceptions, the Resolute desk has been used by American presidents from Hayes to the present day and currently sits in the Oval Office.20. James A. Garfield, Republican, 1881James A. Garfield. Photograph by Napoleon Sarony, 1881. Source: National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian InstitutionOhio Republican James Garfield served as a general during the American Civil War, seeing action during the Union victory at Shiloh in April 1862. Garfield entered the House of Representatives in 1863 and served eight terms before becoming the first and, to date, only sitting member of the House to be elected president.Although an ally of President Hayes, Garfield pursued a more proactive policy in favor of African Americans and called for universal education of formerly enslaved people to overcome the literacy requirements that Southern states had adopted to limit the franchise.On July 2, 1881, Garfield was shot by disgruntled office-seeker Charles Guiteau. Although he survived more than two months, his doctors did not sterilize their fingers and instruments as they sought to locate the bullet, infecting the wound in the process. Garfield finally succumbed to his injuries on September 19.21. Chester A. Arthur, Republican, 1881-1885Chester A. Arthur by Ole Peter Hansen Balling, 1881. Source: National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian InstitutionGarfields vice president, Chester Arthur, succeeded him as president in September 1881. Garfields assassination strengthened calls to reform government appointments. Despite having previously been an opponent of civil service reform, Arthur signed the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act into law in 1883, which led to the creation of a Civil Service Commission that ruled that large numbers of posts in the Post Office and Customs Service should be awarded by merit.Immigration was a key issue of Arthurs presidency in the wake of an influx of Chinese workers into California during the 1870s and 1880s. In May 1882, Arthur signed the Chinese Exclusion Act into law, banning immigration from China for ten years after vetoing an earlier version of the legislation, which envisaged a 20-year ban.Arthur continued his predecessor Garfields efforts to strengthen the US Navy and pursued a naval construction program that saw the construction of four new steel ships for the American fleet.22. Grover Cleveland, Democrat, 1885-1889Grover Cleveland by Joseph Keppler, 1886. Source: National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian InstitutionIn 1884, Grover Cleveland became the first Democrat to win a presidential election after the Civil War.Cleveland was a fiscal conservative who resisted calls by Western Republicans and Southern Democrats in the Free Silver Movement to adopt a bimetallic gold and silver standard to stimulate a deflating economy by issuing silver coinage.In response to concerns about monopolistic practices in the railroad industry during the Industrial Revolution, Congress passed the Interstate Commerce Act, which Cleveland signed into law in April 1887. The legislation established the Interstate Commerce Commission to regulate railroads and later cars, barges, and airlines.23. Benjamin Harrison, Republican, 1889-1893Benjamin Harrison. Photograph by Joseph Gray Kitchell, 1897. Source: National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian InstitutionA grandson of ninth president William Henry Harrison, Benjamin Harrison defeated Cleveland in the 1888 election despite having a lower popular vote share. Harrison was sympathetic to Congresss efforts to take action against trusts such as John D. Rockefellers Standard Oil Company, which monopolized the oil industry. In 1890, Harrison signed the Sherman Antitrust Act into law, though it took time for the federal government to proactively enforce the legislation against the robber barons who enriched themselves during the Gilded Age.Harrison was more enthusiastic about silver than his predecessor Cleveland, and signed the Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890 to inflate the economy. The same year, he supported the McKinley Tariff to protect American corporations and increase consumer prices.In October 1889 the first Pan-American Conference took place in Washington as Harrisons administration sought to replace Great Britain as the dominant trading partner in Latin America, but the meeting adjourned in April 1890 without any major progress.24. Grover Cleveland, Democrat, 1893-1897Grover Cleveland by Jacques Reich, 1906. Source: National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian InstitutionIn 1892, Grover Cleveland defeated Harrison in the rematch of the 1888 election to become the first president in American history to serve non-consecutive terms. According to convention, he is considered the 22nd and 24th president of the United States.Cleveland spent his second term addressing the Panic of 1893, a sharp economic downturn that drained US gold reserves. Cleveland responded to the crisis by persuading Congress to repeal the Silver Purchase Act. While this stabilized the US Treasury, it did little to address the impact of the crisis on ordinary Americans.In May 1894, Eugene Debs of the American Railway Union led a strike against the Pullman Company. Although Cleveland conciliated the labor movement by designating Labor Day as a national holiday, he sent federal troops to break the strike in July. A unanimous Supreme Court decision in May 1895 ruled that the federal government had the authority to intervene to protect interstate commerce and the transportation of mail.25. William McKinley, Republican, 1897-1901William McKinley by William Thomas Matthews, 1900. Source: National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian InstitutionA pro-business Republican from Ohio, William McKinley defeated populist Democrat William Jennings Bryan in the 1896 election. His first term was dominated by the Spanish-American War of 1898, triggered by the explosion of the USS Maine in Havana Harbor in February.A decisive American victory in the war led Spain to recognize the independence of Cuba and cede Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines to the United States. Theodore Roosevelt, who had served as McKinleys Assistant Secretary of the Navy, resigned from his post to lead his Rough Riders to victory at San Juan Hill in July.After the death of Vice President Garret Hobart in 1899, McKinley picked Theodore Roosevelt as his running mate in his successful 1900 re-election campaign. Six months into his second term, he was assassinated by the anarchist Leon Czolgosz and died on September 14, 1901.26. Theodore Roosevelt, Republican, 1901-1909Theodore Roosevelt by Jacques Reich, 1900. Source: National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian InstitutionAt the age of 42, Theodore Roosevelt became the youngest president in American history upon succeeding McKinley. A progressive Republican, Roosevelt challenged monopolistic business practices by setting up the Federal Bureau of Investigation within the Department of Justice to investigate breaches of the Sherman Antitrust Act. He hoped to balance the interests of capital and labor and ran for re-election in 1904, promising a Square Deal for the American people.A lover of the natural world, Roosevelt championed conservation and designated five national parks, established the first 18 national monuments, and created the US Forest Service in 1905.Roosevelt pursued a proactive foreign policy, which saw the United States become a major player on the global stage. In 1903, he dispatched gunboats to Panama to support Panamanian independence and facilitate the construction of the Panama Canal. His mediation of the 1905 Treaty of Portsmouth to end the Russo-Japanese War won him the Nobel Peace Prize in 1906.27. William Howard Taft, Republican, 1909-1913William Howard Taft by Jacques Reich, 1910. Source: National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian InstitutionAlthough more moderate than his predecessor, William Howard Taft continued Roosevelts policy of cracking down on trusts and brought 70 antitrust cases in four years. Most notably, the Standard Oil Trust was broken up into 34 separate entities in 1911 after a Supreme Court ruling.Taft alienated the progressive wing of the Republican Party. While his control of the party apparatus allowed him to defeat Theodore Roosevelt to the Republican Party nomination in 1912, the latter ran as a candidate for the Progressive Party. Taft was beaten into third place and won only two states, registering the worst performance of an incumbent president running for re-election.In 1921, Taft was appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, becoming the only person in American history to date to have served as President of the United States and Chief Justice.28. Woodrow Wilson, Democrat, 1913-1921Woodrow Wilson by Jacques Reich, 1917. Source: National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian InstitutionA political scientist who served as President of Princeton University between 1902 and 1910, Woodrow Wilson proved an energetic progressive reformer as governor of New Jersey in 1911-1913. After becoming president, Wilson created the Federal Reserve system in 1913 and strengthened antitrust laws with the Clayton Antitrust Act and the creation of the Federal Trade Commission in 1914.Born in South Carolina in 1856, Wilson was the first president from the South since Zachary Taylor and the only president to have been a subject of the Confederate States of America. While the number of Black officeholders in federal positions had already been falling under Roosevelt and Taft, Wilson was responsible for segregating the federal bureaucracy.In April 1917, the United States entered World War I. Wilson favored a just peace, as communicated in his Fourteen Points in January 1918. He attended the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 and was instrumental in founding the League of Nations, although his failure to secure ratification of the Versailles Treaty in the Senate meant that the United States never joined the organization.29. Warren G. Harding, Republican, 1921-1923Warren Harding by Jacques Reich, 1922. Source: National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian InstitutionAfter winning a landslide in the 1920 election, Warren G. Harding worked with Republicans to eliminate wartime controls, slash taxes, and impose high protectionist tariffs. He also sided with business interests in crushing the Great Railroad Strike of July-September 1922.While Harding may have laid the foundations for the economic boom of the 1920s, his administration was mired in scandal. In 1922, Hardings Interior Secretary Albert Fall leased oil production rights at the Teapot Dome Oil Field in Wyoming to Harry F. Sinclair on very generous terms. Fall had received generous bribes in the process and was compelled to resign from office in March 1923.During an extensive Western tour, Harding died of heart failure in San Francisco on August 2, 1923. The Teapot Dome Scandal had not yet become public knowledge at the time of Hardings death, but the affair tarnished the legacy of his administration.30. Calvin Coolidge, Republican, 1923-1929Calvin Coolidge. Photograph by Doris Ulmann, c. 1924. Source: National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian InstitutionCalvin Coolidges reputation for honesty and fair dealing served him well as he came to office looking to restore the reputation of the American presidency after the Teapot Dome Scandal. His presidency coincided with the strong economy of the Roaring Twenties and he easily won election to a full term in 1924.Coolidge was known for being a man of few words, and his formula for success appeared to involve doing as little as possible. He championed free markets and rarely intervened in the economy while pursuing an isolationist foreign policy. Nevertheless, he promoted initiatives such as the Dawes Plan of 1924 to diffuse tensions between France and Germany by having American banks provide loans to help the German government pay reparations.31. Herbert Hoover, Republican, 1929-1933Herbert Hoover by Edmund Charles Tarbell, 1921. Source: National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian InstitutionAs Commerce Secretary during the Harding and Coolidge administrations, Herbert Hoover received much of the credit for the economic boom of the 1920s. When boom turned to bust with the Wall Street Crash in November 1929, Hoover struggled to revive the economy as it slumped into the Great Depression.Hoover gave his name to the Hoover Dam in Colorado, built between 1931 and 1936. In 1932, he belatedly took a more proactive approach to managing the crisis by establishing the Reconstruction Finance Corporation to provide loans to US banks and businesses to carry out public works and the Federal Home Loan Bank to make it easier for Americans to buy homes. In July 1932, Hoover expanded public relief with a $2 billion Emergency Relief and Construction Act to create jobs and reduce unemployment.32. Franklin D. Roosevelt, Democrat, 1933-1945Franklin D. Roosevelt. Photograph by Leon A. Perskie, 1944. Source: FDR Presidential Library and MuseumA fifth cousin of Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt responded energetically to the Great Depression after coming to office in March 1933 by stabilizing the American banking system and enacting his New Deal, creating a number of federal agencies such as the Federal Emergency Relief Administration and the Public Works Administration to stimulate the economy. In 1934, Roosevelt created the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to protect Americans savings and the Securities and Exchange Commission to regulate securities markets. Some of his more ambitious programs were deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.After being re-elected to an unprecedented third term as president in 1940, Roosevelt took the United States into World War II following the Japanese attacks on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Roosevelt worked with British prime minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin to defeat Japan in Asia and Nazi Germany in Europe, meeting his Big Three counterparts in Tehran in 1943 and Yalta in 1945. He died in April 1945, a few months into his fourth term.33. Harry S. Truman, Democrat, 1945-1953Harry S. Truman. Photograph by Harris & Ewing Studio, c. 1945. Source: National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian InstitutionThe only American president to have served in World War I, Harry S. Truman was chosen as FDRs running mate in 1944. Truman rarely met Roosevelt before the latters death and had limited experience in foreign affairs.Trumans decision to authorize the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in September 1945 helped to bring World War II to an end. He supported postwar economic recovery in Western Europe by providing aid through the Marshall Plan. In response to Soviet actions in Eastern Europe, in 1947, Truman announced the Truman Doctrine, intended to limit the expansion of communism around the world during the early stages of the Cold War.After unexpectedly defeating his Republican opponent Thomas Dewey to win the election to a full term in 1948, Truman signed the North Atlantic Treaty in July 1949 to create the NATO alliance. His opponents criticized him for failing to prevent communist victory in the Chinese Civil War, and in 1950, he sent US forces to Korea to prevent communist North Korea from taking over the whole Korean peninsula.34. Dwight D. Eisenhower, Republican, 1953-1961Dwight D. Eisenhower. Photograph by Harry Warnecke, Robert F. Cranston, 1945. Source: National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian InstitutionAfter serving as Supreme Allied Commander in Europe during World War II, General Dwight D. Eisenhower was courted by both the Democrats and Republicans before heading the Republican presidential ticket in 1952 and succeeding Truman in the White House.Eisenhower pushed for an armistice in Korea with the 1953 Treaty of Panmunjom. He cut defense spending, and his New Look defense policy relied heavily on nuclear weapons to deter Soviet aggression.Domestically, the Eisenhower administration is known for launching the construction of the Interstate Highway System following the passage of the Federal-Aid Highway Act in 1956. The system was completed in 1992, though new interstate highways continue to be built. The infrastructure project displaced more than a million Americans from their homes and had a major impact on American culture by placing private cars at the center of individualist American identity.The Eisenhower administration witnessed the landmark Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court ruling in 1954, which desegregated public schools. While Congress passed a Civil Rights Act in 1957 intended to strengthen federal enforcement of voting rights, the legislation was watered down by Southern Democrats.35. John F. Kennedy, Democrat, 1961-1963John F. Kennedy by Aaron Shikler, 1971. Source: White HouseThe 44-year-old Senator John F. Kennedy from Massachusetts became the youngest person elected to the presidency after defeating Richard Nixon in the closely fought 1960 election. Although prone to extramarital affairs, Kennedy and his wife, Jacqueline, presented the image of a young glamorous family in the White House.Within months of coming into office, Kennedy authorized the failed Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in April 1961. The event prompted Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev to send nuclear missiles to Cuba, leading to the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962. Kennedy responded by blockading Cuba and bringing Khrushchev to the negotiating table. In an effort to restore American prestige, Kennedy expanded the American space program and set an ambition to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade.Kennedy was sympathetic to the civil rights movement but was afraid of alienating the solidly Democrat South, and he struggled to enact his reform agenda due to Republican opposition in Congress. On November 22, 1963, Kennedy was assassinated on a visit to Dallas, Texas.36. Lyndon B. Johnson, Democrat, 1963-1969Lyndon B. Johnson. Photograph by Arnold Newman, 1964. Source: LBJ Presidential LibraryAn experienced political manipulator who had dominated the Senate, Lyndon B. Johnson served as Kennedys vice president and succeeded him after his assassination. He became an unexpected champion of civil rights legislation and passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with Republican support. Johnsons support for civil rights changed American political geography overnight. In the 1964 election, he won a landslide but lost the South to his conservative Republican opponent, Barry Goldwater.Johnson embarked on an extensive social reform program known as the Great Society. The Social Security Act in 1965 created Medicare to provide government-funded healthcare to Americans over 65. The same year, Medicaid was founded to provide healthcare to Americans on lower incomes.On the foreign policy front, Johnsons presidency is known for the escalation of American military involvement in the Vietnam War. Johnsons claims that the Vietnamese communists were on the brink of collapse were refuted by the January 1968 Tet Offensive, and in March, he announced that he would not seek re-election.37. Richard M. Nixon, Republican, 1969-1974Richard M. Nixon. Photograph by Arnold Newman, 1972. Source: US National ArchivesRichard Nixon had come to office promising to end the Vietnam War and began to withdraw American personnel. However, his aggressive bombing campaigns and US involvement in the 1970 invasion of Cambodia provoked a series of student protests within the United States. After secret negotiations in 1972, the United States withdrew from Vietnam in January 1973. Nixons efforts to strengthen South Vietnamese military and political capabilities failed when North Vietnam defeated South Vietnam in 1975.Although he had made his reputation as a hardline anti-communist, Nixon became the first US president to visit China in February 1972. He met with Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou Enlai, thus paving the way for the normalization of relations with the communist Peoples Republic of China.Despite comfortably winning re-election in 1972, Nixons second term was rocked by the Watergate Scandal, after Nixons supporters broke into Democratic campaign headquarters in the Watergate Building in Washington DC in June 1972. Despite claiming repeatedly that he had not been involved in wrongdoing, Nixon was forced to resign on August 9, 1974.38. Gerald R. Ford, Republican, 1974-1977Gerald Ford. Photograph by David Hume Kennerly, 1974. Source: Gerald Ford Presidential Library and MuseumCongressman Gerald Ford of Michigan was appointed vice president in December 1973 after Nixons vice president, Spiro Agnew, was forced to resign on suspicion of tax fraud while governor of Maryland. After Nixons resignation in August 1974, Ford became the only person to date to become president without winning a presidential (or vice-presidential) election.In September 1974, Ford made the controversial decision to pardon his predecessor Nixon for any crimes he may have committed in office. The unpopularity of the Republican Party after the Watergate Scandal led to significant gains for the Democrats in the midterm elections that November.Fords tenure in office witnessed high inflation and high unemployment, and he narrowly lost the 1976 presidential election to Democrat Jimmy Carter.39. Jimmy Carter, Democrat, 1977-1981Jimmy Carter. Photograph by Naval Photographic Center, Department of the Navy, 1977. Source: Wikimedia CommonsA peanut farmer and World War II veteran from Georgia, Jimmy Carter came to the presidency by placing human rights at the heart of US foreign policy. Although he signed up to several UN international human rights agreements, none were ratified during his presidency.Carters major foreign policy success was the mediation of the Camp David Accords between Egypt and Israel in September 1978, but US foreign policy suffered a setback with the Iranian Revolution of 1979, which overthrew the Shah of Iran in favor of an Islamic theocracy led by Ayatollah Khomeini.Carters failure to secure the release of over 50 hostages during the Iran hostage crisis of 1979-1981, together with high inflation in the United States, contributed to a slump in his popularity. Despite seeing off a primary challenge from Ted Kennedy, Carter was defeated by Ronald Reagan in the 1980 election.After leaving the White House, Carter remained active in leading diplomatic and humanitarian missions and won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002. Carter celebrated his 100th birthday on October 1, 2024, becoming the first US president to do so.40. Ronald Reagan, Republican, 1981-1989Ronald Reagan. Photograph by Michael Evans, 1981. Source: Ronald Reagan Presidential LibraryA former Hollywood actor, Ronald Reagan became president after defeating Jimmy Carter in the 1980 election. He responded to the economy affecting the country by pursuing a package of economic deregulation, inflation control, and reductions in taxation and government spending, known as Reaganomics.A hardline anti-communist, Reagan labeled the Soviet Union an evil empire and escalated the Cold War during his first term by increasing defense spending. Despite aggressive rhetoric towards Iran, in 1984, Reagan secretly sold missiles to Iran in exchange for the release of hostages in Lebanon and used the proceeds to fund the anti-communist Contras in Nicaragua.After Mikhail Gorbachev became general secretary of the Soviet Union in 1985, Reagan welcomed the Soviet leaders efforts at political and economic reforms and pursued a more conciliatory foreign policy, memorably asking Gorbachev to tear down this wall during a 1987 speech in Berlin.41. George H. W. Bush, Republican, 1989-1993George H. W. Bush by Herbert Abrams, 1994. Source: White House Historical AssociationAfter serving as Reagans Vice President, George H. W. Bush came to the presidency in 1989, a year that marked the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe. The end of the Cold War was accompanied by a sense of optimism about the liberal democratic world order led by the United States.In 1990-1991, American forces led an international coalition to invade Iraq in response to Saddam Husseins invasion of Kuwait. Coalition forces were 240 miles from Baghdad when Saddam announced a withdrawal from Kuwait in February, bringing the Gulf War to an end.In spite of his foreign policy successes, Bush faced a poor economy at home and was forced to break his 1988 campaign promise Read my lips: no new taxes in 1990 after agreeing on a budget deal with congressional Democrats to raise taxes.Bushs re-election chances in 1992 were hindered by third-party candidate Ross Perot, who split the Republican vote and enabled Democrat Bill Clinton to become president.42. Bill Clinton, Democrat, 1993-2001Bill Clinton by Simmie Knox, 2004. Source: White House Historical AssociationBill Clinton enjoyed comfortable majorities in Congress after becoming president in 1993. He appointed his wife, First Lady Hillary Clinton, to lead a taskforce on healthcare reform, but the wide-ranging proposals were rejected by the Senate. After Republicans took control of both houses of Congress in the 1994 midterms, Clinton was compelled to moderate his domestic agenda.Clintons foreign policy reflected the optimism of the post-Cold War years. The North American Free Trade Agreement came into force in 1994. The Clinton presidency witnessed a rapid increase in US trade with China, though China did not formally join the World Trade Organization until 2001.Clinton dispatched special envoy George Mitchell to chair peace talks in Northern Ireland to end The Troubles, resulting in the Good Friday Agreement of April 1998. In 1999, US forces led a NATO bombing campaign in Yugoslavia to stop the ethnic cleansing of Albanians in Kosovo.In December 1998, Clinton was impeached for perjury and obstruction of justice in relation to personal indiscretions with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. He was acquitted by the Senate, and despitethe personal controversies, Clintons presidency coincided with a period of low inflation and low unemployment, and he left office in January 2001 with 65% approval ratings.43. George W. Bush, Republican, 2001-2009George W. Bush. Photograph by Eric Draper, 2003. Source: Library of CongressThe son of 41st President George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush defeated his Democratic opponent, Vice President Al Gore, in a tight election race that was determined by a few hundred ballots in Florida.After coming to office promising to cut back on military spending, Bush launched the War on Terror following the September 11 terrorist attacks by al-Qaeda on the World Trade Center in New York. After invading Afghanistan to topple the Taliban in 2001, Bush was responsible for the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Despite a successful military operation that removed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein from power, the failure of American forces to maintain order in Iraq caused the war to become unpopular.During Bushs second term, the US financial system was hit by the subprime mortgage crisis in 2007, which in turn led to the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September 2008, triggering the Great Recession. The Bush administration responded by creating the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) to bail out struggling financial services firms.44. Barack Obama, Democrat, 2009-2017Barack Obama. Photograph by Pete Souza, 2009. Source: Library of CongressBorn in Hawaii to a Kenyan father and an American mother, Barack Obama became the first African-American president of the United States after defeating Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primaries and John McCain in the 2008 general election.After coming to office during the Great Recession, Obama signed a $800 billion stimulus package in February 2009. The Dodd-Frank Act of 2010 strengthened financial services regulation to address the weaknesses in the financial system that caused the crisis.Healthcare reform was at the center of Obamas domestic agenda, and the Affordable Care Act of 2010 expanded the Medicare and Medicaid programs while guaranteeing that Americans with preexisting conditions would have access to health insurance. After Obama announced his support for same-sex marriage in 2012, the Supreme Court ruled in favor in 2015.Despite withdrawing US forces from Iraq and authorizing the raid that killed Osama Bin Laden, Obama has subsequently been criticized for failing to take action against Bashar al-Assad for using chemical weapons in Syria and for a timid response to Russias annexation of Crimea in 2015.45. Donald J. Trump, Republican, 2017-2021Donald J. Trump. Photograph by Shealah Craighead, 2017. Source: Library of CongressNew York businessman Donald Trump unexpectedly defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election. After running a populist campaign promising to Make America Great Again, Trump took steps to build a border wall on the US-Mexico border to prevent illegal immigration.With the support of congressional Republicans, Trump appointed three conservative justices to the Supreme Court, strengthening the conservative majority on the body. This led the Supreme Court to overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that guaranteed the constitutional right to abortion in a 5-4 vote in June 2022.After running on an isolationist platform, Trumps major foreign policy initiatives included putting pressure on NATO allies to contribute 2% to defense spending, meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un in 2018, and negotiating the withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan with the Taliban.In 2020, the Trump administration faced the Covid-19 pandemic, estimated to have killed more than 200,000 Americans. After the 2020 presidential election, Trump claimed that the election had been stolen. On January 6, 2021, Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol Building in an effort to prevent the certification of the election results. This caused Trump to be impeached for a second time after he had been acquitted in an earlier impeachment trial over claims that he put pressure on Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy to investigate his political rival Joe Biden by withholding an aid package passed by Congress.46. Joseph R. Biden, Democrat, 2021-2025Joe Biden. Photograph by Adam Schultz, 2017. Source: White HouseAt the age of 78, Joe Biden became the oldest person to take office as President of the United States in January 2021. As the Covid pandemic continued to affect daily life, Biden passed a $1.9 trillion stimulus package in March 2021, building on the $2.2 trillion CARES Act and the $2.3 trillion Consolidated Appropriations Act passed during the Trump administration.The Biden administration pursued an ambitious program to support the post-Covid economic recovery. In November 2021, it passed a major bipartisan infrastructure law and a landmark climate investment bill that became the Inflation Reduction Act of August 2022.Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the Biden administration has provided significant military aid to the Ukrainian government. Biden has been criticized by Democrats on the left for failing to restrain Israels aggressive military response to the October 7 attacks carried out by Hamas.Biden had intended to run for re-election in 2024, but following a poor debate performance against Donald Trump on June 27, 2024, the 82-year-old president withdrew on July 21 in favor of Vice President Kamala Harris.47. Donald J. Trump, Republican, 2025-Trump-Vance 2024 general election campaign logo. Source: Wikimedia CommonsDespite being charged in several criminal cases in 2023 and being found guilty of hush money payments to an adult entertainment actress in 2024, Donald Trump secured the Republican nomination for the 2024 presidential election. On July 13, 2024, he gained widespread sympathy after surviving an assassination attempt during a campaign event in Butler, Pennsylvania.Trump defeated Vice President Kamala Harris in the presidential election on November 5, 2024, and is set to become the second individual in history after Grover Cleveland to serve non-consecutive terms as President of the United States.

In November 1963, US President John F. Kennedy was tragically assassinated by a sniper. His death renewed questions about presidential succession and removal for incapacitation. What if both the president and vice president were killed at the same time? What if a president was seriously wounded and unable to handle the rigors of office but not killed outright? The 25th Amendment was crafted to clarify both areas of questioning. It formalized the order of presidential succession and created a plan for removing a president who was still alive but was incapacitated. Since its ratification in 1967, the 25th Amendment has never been invoked but stands ready if a tragedy renders it necessary.Setting the Stage: The Assassination of James GarfieldAn illustration of the mortal wounding of US President James Garfield on July 2, 1881, leading to a long and painful succumbing to infection. Source: American College of SurgeonsOn July 2, 1881, US President James Garfield was shot twice in the back by a mentally ill man who felt that his political support should merit him a federal job. Garfield received quick medical treatment, but it involved crude methods and unwashed hands. An early X-ray machine was given a cursory attempt to find the bullets, but one was hidden by the metal coils of the mattress upon which Garfield was laying. The president recovered a bit after receiving morphine for his pain and managed to attend a Cabinet meeting. Unfortunately, Garfields condition steadily worsened beginning on July 23.Hoping that a better climate would help heal the president, Garfield was placed on a train to Long Branch, New Jersey. Volunteers helped extend the railroad track to the shore, and an anxious public waited to see how the president fared. Sadly, Garfield passed away thirteen days later. He was succeeded by Vice President Chester A. Arthur, who continued with Garfields initial plan to replace the spoils system with a meritocracy as part of civil service reform. But, during the month-and-a-half of Garfields bedridden suffering, did the United States truly have a president at all?Setting the Stage: The Incapacitation of Woodrow WilsonUS President Woodrow Wilson visiting Pueblo, Colorado on September 25, 1919 for a speech promoting the League of Nations. Source: Colorado Public Radio (CPR)A second bout of presidential incapacitation occurred less than forty years later. US President Woodrow Wilson was in a state of distress in 1919, trying to pass the Treaty of Versailles and its requisite League of Nations through Senate ratification by appealing to the American public. Wilson barnstormed the country and gave many speeches, hoping to hype up enough citizens that senators would not reject his treaty. On the evening of September 25, 1919, after giving a speech in Pueblo, Colorado, Wilson was discovered having suffered a serious stroke. The speaking tour was canceled, and the president was rushed back to the White House.Controversially, the presidents condition was kept secret, especially from the public. Days later, the president suffered a second stroke, which rendered him almost paralyzed. Months later, the commander-in-chief was still barely functioning, and the press was beginning to report on Wilsons suspicious condition. The Senate had rejected the Treaty of Versailles, undoubtedly worsening Wilsons resolve, and the Democratic Party chose a different nominee in 1920. Less than three years after the end of his presidency, Wilson passed away. During his final year and a half in office, who had been making presidential decisions?1963: The Assassination of John F. KennedyA photograph of US Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson taking the presidential oath of office shortly after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Source: University of North TexasAbout forty years after Wilsons death, US President John F. Kennedy was felled by a snipers bullet in Dallas, Texas. Although Kennedys death was instantaneous, the rapid pace of Cold War automation and mechanization meant that policymakers wanted plans in place in the event that a president was incapacitated. A lack of a succession plan meant that enemies of the United States might have a window of opportunity within which to cause great chaos. Fortunately, the Soviet Union did not attempt to take advantage of the situation and sent condolences to Kennedys replacement, Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson.Johnson took the oath of office swiftly after Kennedys death and ensured that it occurred before cameras to assure the public that there was a commander-in-chief and chief executive. Congress felt that the time was ripe to work on a plan of presidential succession, especially since Kennedys predecessor, Dwight D. Eisenhower, had experienced significant bouts of illness while president. President Johnson supported the proposal of an amendment regarding presidential succession, and Congress began working on it shortly after Johnsons inauguration to a full presidential term in January 1965.1965-67: The 25th Amendment Crafted and RatifiedA joint resolution of both chambers of Congress on July 6, 1965 to create the 25th Amendment and formalize presidential succession and removal. Source: National ArchivesThe crafting of the 25th Amendment took only a few months. Part of the amendment, particularly Section 1, merely formalized precedents that had occurred for over a century. Although vice presidents had been replacing deceased presidents since 1841, this was not actually specified in the Constitution itself. The 25th Amendment finally did so, preventing unexpected action by Congress or the Cabinet to install someone other than the vice president to replace a deceased chief executive. One implication of the amendment was that the government should be aware of the presidents health, which had begun with Eisenhower a decade earlier.In July 1965, the amendment was accepted by both chambers of Congress and sent to the states for ratification. Nebraska was the first state to ratify the amendment, and the thirty-eighth necessary stateNevadaratified it on February 10, 1967. Having cleared the three-quarter ratio of states needed for ratification, the 25th Amendment became part of the Constitution on February 23. President Johnson heralded the amendment, which detailed how a new president could appoint a vice president. Johnson himself had served out the 14-month remainder of Kennedys term without his own vice president.Order of Presidential SuccessionA photograph of US President Joe Biden (front row, left) with his Cabinet (second row and further back) in 2021. Source: Citizens for Responsibility & Ethics in Washington (CREW)Perhaps contrary to popular belief, the 25th Amendment did not actually create the order of presidential succession. This had been done with the Presidential Succession Act of 1947, but the 25th Amendment gave it additional weight and protection from last-minute changes. After the US vice president, succession to the presidency goes to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, then the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, and then through the Cabinet secretaries in order of the creation of those Cabinet departments. The eighteenth and final member of the order of presidential succession is the Secretary of Homeland Security, with the Department of Homeland Security established in 2002.Presidential succession has been invoked four times since the passage of the 25th Amendment, with presidents briefly giving up commander-in-chief powers to their respective vice presidents during medical procedures. The president formally cedes power in the form of a letter and then retakes it with another letter when his faculties return. With most presidential succession falling to the vice president, Section 2 of the 25th Amendment states how a new vice president is chosen in the event that the current vice president cannot complete their term: the president appoints one, who must be confirmed by a simple majority of both chambers of Congress. All other presidential appointments only require Senate confirmation.Role of Designated SurvivorAn image promoting the 2024 State of the Union Address, given by the president before a joint session of Congress, which requires a designated survivor be chosen. Source: PBS North CarolinaThe order of presidential succession covers eighteen individuals but could all eighteen be incapacitated in the same catastrophe? During the Cold War, this became a real possibility due to the horrors of nuclear warfare. On a smaller scale, there was the possibility that a large terrorist attack or insurrection could incapacitate the president, his Cabinet (which includes the vice president), and congressional leadership. To prevent the entire line of presidential succession from being at risk during major political events like the annual State of the Union Address, a designated survivor is chosen from among the Cabinet secretaries.Begun in the 1950s but only formally recognized since the 1980s, the role of designated survivor ensures continuity of government in the event of a disaster. The designated survivor, sometimes along with some senior members of Congress, is kept in a separateand hiddenlocation away from the major political event. Should disaster strike, the powers of the presidency will automatically transfer, and the nation will suffer less chaos. On a more routine basis, the line of presidential succession is protected by keeping large numbers of these eighteen individuals from traveling together, especially the president and the vice president. Even if disaster strikes, most of the line of presidential succession will not be harmed.Removal of an Incapacitated PresidentA graphic explaining the prevalence of mental illness in the United States. Source: The Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence (EFSGV)The most novel portion of the 25th Amendment was its provision for presidential incapacitation instead of death. Section 4 of the amendment states that the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet may remove the president by declaring, in writing, to the Speaker of the House and the President Pro Tempore of the Senate that the president is unable to fulfill the duties of their office. Should the president disagree and state to those same congressional leaders that they are fit to lead, Congress must convene within 48 hours to settle the dispute. After convening, Congress has twenty-one days of the receipt of the presidents declaration of fitness to render a decision.If, within the twenty-one days, Congress decides by a two-thirds majority of each chamber that the president is unfit to retain office, the vice president will remain acting president until the next election. Section 4 of the 25th Amendment has never been invoked, but there are historical examples of chief executives who had acute mental illness. King George III of England, who fought against America during the Revolutionary War, was mentally unfit to rule during his last decade, leaving his son, King George IV, to act as prince regent. Some clinicians consider multiple US presidents to have suffered from substantial mental illness, including Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard Nixon, while still in office.2021: January 6 Leads Some to Invoke the 25thA photograph of protesters storming the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. Source: Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under LawBarring a severe mental breakdown, it would likely be difficult for the vice president and Cabinet to decide when a presidents mental state passed the invisible border into unfitness for office. This likely subjective nature renders invoking Section 4 of the 25th Amendment controversial: when does one become unfit for high office? Would Congress expect the vice president and allied members of the Cabinet to provide medical evidence of their assertion of unfitness? Given medical privacy laws, how would this evidence be legally obtained? As Section 4 has never been invoked, nobody knows these answers, and such a legal battle would likely end up at the US Supreme Court.In a real-life controversial maneuver, some members of the Cabinet of president Donald Trump allegedly considered invoking Section 4 in the hours after the January 6 storming of the US Capitol. This would have been more rooted in the belief that Trump committed insurrection by encouraging the rioters on January 6, 2021 rather than actual mental illness. However, even if committing insurrection or treason, could Trump have been considered unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office? Some would consider the invocation of Section 4 over illegal presidential behavior to be unconstitutional, regardless of noble intent.Increasing Importance of the 25th: Growing GerontocracyA graphic detailing the age of members of the 118th Congress upon inauguration in 2023, with the average age being much older than the nation as a whole. Source: Pew Research CenterWhile many may feel that it is very unlikely for a US president to succumb to serious illness, given their elite medical care and decades of hard work and experience in high-stress positions, the increasing age of American politicians may negate these advantages. Famously, the two most recent US presidents are the two oldest in history. Both Donald Trump and Joe Biden have been accused of declining mental health, particularly in regard to dementia. Leading members of both major political parties are often similarly aged, which can have real effects on policymaking due to the role of the seniority system in most legislatures.If Americans continue to elect US presidents in their seventies, it will remain statistically more likely that a commander-in-chief will become incapacitated due to illness or injury. This is not unlikely, given the aging of the national population as a whole and the fact that older voters have proportionally greater turnout than younger voters. It is also likely that fewer politicians will pursue a traditional retirement, as a majority of Baby Boomers report feeling insecure about their financial ability to stop working. Across all industries, including government, there may be greater incidences of people working beyond their physical and mental abilities over the next several decades.Debate Over the 25th: Is It Effective?A photograph of the Oval Office in the White House, symbolizing the power and authority of the US president. Source: Center for Presidential TransitionDue to the pre-existence of the Presidential Succession Act, references to the 25th Amendment typically mean Section 4 of the amendment: replacing a living but unfit-for-service president. How likely would Section 4 work as intended in the event of a crisis? Critics worry that it would be almost impossible for a vice president and Cabinet to objectively take power from an unfit president. Presidents largely have the capacity to remove appointed executives, including Cabinet secretaries, at will.Justices of the US Supreme Court under Chief Justice (and former president) William Howard Taft (front row, center), which increased presidential powers, in the late 1920s. Source: OyezThe US Supreme Court decision in Myers v. United States (1927), under the leadership of Chief Justice (and former US president) William Howard Taft, ruled that presidents can fire executives at will. Combined with the fact that these executives are appointed by the president in the first place and very rarely are held over from previous administrations, it is unlikely that any Cabinet secretary would show any disloyalty. The vice president and a majority of Cabinet members would have to act swiftly and secretly to depose an unfit president, which is unlikely given the presidents control of the White House staff. At any suggestion of invoking Section 4 of the 25th Amendment, the president is likely to dismiss all suspected Cabinet secretaries.

For almost 250 years, the Bolshoi Ballet has remained synonymous with the art of dance. As one of the most celebrated companies, the Bolshoi Ballet has roots in eighteenth-century imperial Russia. Beloved by Romanov tsars and Soviet leaders, the Bolshoi Ballet has a reputation for skilled technique and dramatic style. The Bolshoi has evolved to survive wars, revolutions, defectors, and even acid attacks. Read on to discover the Bolshoi Ballets history and enduring popularity as a jewel of art, a cultural export, and a symbol of Russian power.One of the Top 5 Ballet Companies in the WorldOlga Smirnova performing in the Bolshoi Ballet. Source: The GuardianToday, the Bolshoi Ballet ranks among the top ballet companies worldwide, along with the Royal Ballet, the Paris Opera Ballet, and the American Ballet Theatre.However, the Bolshoi Ballet did not always hold this spotlight.Until the Russian Revolution in 1917, the Mariinsky Ballet in St. Petersburg overshadowed the Bolshoi Ballet. When the Soviets rose to power, they moved the capital to Moscow, where the Bolshoi Ballet developed under the Kremlins watch. During the Cold War, the Bolshoi Theater took center stage as the premier Russian ballet school.The Bolshoi Ballet performs the jazz-age ballet Jewels in the scene Rubies, with music by Igor Stravinsky, photographed by Marc Hageman, 2019. Source: The GuardianBolshoi dancers are known for their athletic prowess, high lifts, and bold productions that range from classical pieces to historical spectacles. With its prestigious standing, the Bolshoi Ballet has performed all over the world. Its reputation demonstrates how recognized ballet has become on an international scale.Bolshoi Ballet: Survival Through Fires & WarsThe Bolshoi Theater in Moscow. Source: PixabayLocated in the heart of Moscow near the Kremlin, the Bolshoi Theater has represented a political tool and a central sphere of cultural life. Bolshoi simply means big in Russian. The name fits this theater, which has served as a backdrop to significant moments in Russian history. Thanks to its dramatic architecture and proximity to the Kremlin, the Bolshoi has served as a stage for speeches, rallies, and announcements such as Vladimir Lenins death.It is one of the iconic landmarks in Moscow.In 1775, Prince Pyotr Urusov, a provincial prosecutor and patron of the arts, created the first Bolshoi Ballet, known as the Petrovsky Ballet. The Petrovsky Ballet gained success under Empress Catherine the Great. With imperial privilege came hard work. The companys first dancers mostly came from the Moscow Orphanage. An Italian ballet master was given three years to whip the new company into shape. Prince Urasov had five years to build a stone theater to grace Moscow.Urasov joined forces with English tightrope-walker and engineer Michael Maddox. In 1777, they purchased a spot on Petrovka Street. The first theater building appeared in just five months. Its grand auditorium held twenty rows of stall benches, a gallery, and three tiers of theater boxes. Standing room could accommodate up to 1,000 people.Scene from the Ballet by Ilya Repin, 1875. Source: WikiArtOn January 10, 1781, the Petrovsky Theater opened to the public for the first time. By the nineteenth century, the theater had a distinctive style, blending ballet with Russian folk dancing, drama, and comedy. In 1805, the Petrovsky Theater burned to the ground. In the wake of this disaster, the ballet came under the Directorate of Imperial Theaters. After three nomadic years, the ballet troupe settled in a classical Greek-style theater. Unfortunately, this new building was completely made of wood.Four years later, tragedy struck again.In 1812, Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Russia with over 600,000 French soldiers. A gigantic fire erupted in Moscow as Russian troops withdrew from the city. The fire forced Napoleon to evacuate the Kremlin. The flames also consumed the wooden Bolshoi Theater just two days after the companys last performance. Both sides blamed each other for the disaster.Fire of Moscow by A. F. Smirnov, 1813. Source: Wikimedia Commons; with Napoleon Crossing the Alps by Jacques Louis David, 1801. Source: Belvedere Museum, ViennaThe new theater erected on the site became known as the Bolshoi Petrovsky Theater due to its larger size. On opening day in 1825, crowds swarmed the Bolshoi Theater, and even the huge building could not accommodate all the eager theatergoers.Then, on March 11, 1853, a fire broke out again at the Bolshoi. For three days, the blaze devoured everything in its path, including costumes, scenery, instruments, sheet music, and theater machines. The building became a charred shell, with only the walls and portico columns left standing. Within two years, the rubble disappeared, and restoration work began.The Bolshoi Petrovsky Theater on fire, March 11, 1853. Source: The Bolshoi TheaterThis time, architect Albert Calvos designed the Bolshoi auditorium with the acoustic capacity of a gigantic instrument.It boasted a chandelier lit by 300 oil lamps, a lavish crimson and gold interior, and a circular ceiling painting of Apollo and the Muses. The stalls and boxes could accommodate almost 2,300 people. Above the entrance, a bronze Apollo and his chariot took flight from the Bolshois roof. The tsars box took center stage. Artisans worked to complete the theater with extraordinary speed in time to celebrate Tsar Alexander IIs coronation in 1856.The Bolshoi Theater also managed to survive the Second World War. Despite Soviet attempts to camouflage important and historic buildings in Moscow, the German Luftwaffe still managed to target Moscow during Operation Barbarossa. On October 22, 1941, the Nazis dropped a high-explosive bomb on the Bolshoi. The blast slammed between the theaters columns, smashed the faade, and damaged the vestibule. Despite wartime hardships, restoration work began in the winter of 1942. By the wars end, the Bolshoi regained its former glory.Bolshoi dancers Alexandra Gostemilova, Elena Adamovich, and Lydiya Lenskaya dressed in costumes for the Little Humpbacked Horse or the Tsar Maiden ballet, by Karl Fisher Photo Atelier, c. 1914-1917. Source: The Bolshoi TheaterAfter surviving repeated fires during the nineteenth century, the Bolshoi Ballet School grew during the 1850s. Operas and ballets replaced drama, comedy, and folk productions. In 1877, Pyotr Tchaikovskys Swan Lake ballet appeared in its world premiere at the Bolshoi. This event marked a long history of critically acclaimed productions recognized worldwide.Bolshoi Ballet: Favored by the Tsars and StalinA Performance at the Moscow Bolshoi Theater on the Occasion of the Coronation of Alexander II by Mikhail Alexandrovich Zichy, 1856. Source: The Bolshoi TheaterSince 1776, when a Russian prince enlisted an English entrepreneur to jumpstart his provincial theater, the Bolshoi Theater has captured audiences from Romanov tsars to Soviet leaders. The Bolshoi Ballet also has a complex history as a space for politicized art.With the new building completed to celebrate Tsar Alexander IIs coronation, the Bolshoi became the epicenter for imperial performances when the tsars came to Moscow. One of the most significant events occurred on May 17, 1896, when the Bolshoi Theater threw a glittering gala to celebrate the coronation of the last crowned tsar, Nicholas II.Coronation of Nicholas II and Alexandra Feodorovna, 1896. Source: The Russian History MuseumThe performance opened with Mikhail Glinkas patriotic historical opera A Life for the Tsar, which had first premiered in 1836. The story revolves around Ivan Susanin, a peasant who saves the life of Mikhail, the first Romanov tsar, during the Time of Troubles in the early seventeenth century. A one-act ballet called The Pearl followed. The best ballerinas and dancers from the Moscow and St. Petersburg ballets kicked off the premiere.Ticket to the coronation gala at the Bolshoi Theater, 1896. Source: The Russian History MuseumAfter the October Revolution in 1917, the Bolshoi faced a new threat. At first, the Bolshevik government toyed with the idea of shutting down the Bolshoi Theater. Then, in 1919, the government awarded the Bolshoi academic status. Days later, the Soviets debated shutting down the theater again. By 1922, the Soviets agreed that closing the Bolshoi would result in financial loss.With Moscow restored to the nations capital, the Bolshoi Ballet regained its status. From its dramatic stage, the Bolsheviks proclaimed the founding of a new country: the USSR. At first, the Bolshois troupe and directors protested the state nationalization of the theater and the controls imposed on art. Many artists fled abroad.The Bolshoi Theater celebrates its 100th anniversary, 1925. Source: The Bolshoi TheaterBy the 1920s, the Bolshoi had demonstrated its right to exist as an art center. Like all Soviet culture, ballet became a state tool. Ballet at the Bolshoi became a way to mass audiences and promote Soviet realism.While a few critics debated the quality of party-approved works (often at the risk of the gulag), the Bolshoi made ballet relatable to the masses. To attract the average theatergoer, Soviet composers created ballets with timely topics such as womens liberation and colonization. While Vladimir Mutnikh, the head of the Bolshoi, was executed during the 1930s purges, most ballet dancers actively supported the Soviet cultural plan.Josef Stalin (center) watching a performance at the Bolshoi Theater during the 1930s. Source: The Russian State Archive of Literature and Art, Moscow / Princeton NewsIn 1936, just months before Josef Stalins Great Purge began, Dmitry Shostakovichs Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk played at the Bolshoi. With dissonant music and themes that dealt with blood and guilt, Lady Macbeth did not please Stalin, who condemned it in a scathing Pravda review. The review ended with a terrifying verdict that the avant-garde composers fidgety, screaming, and neurotic music trifled with difficult matters and warned that such games can only finish badly.Instead of repenting, Shostakovich wrote his volatile Fourth Symphony, which did not see the light until the post-Stalinist years.After the 1949 Chinese Revolution, the USSR sought an alliance with the new Communist Party of China when Stalin went to Beijing to meet Mao Zedong. Source: BBCIn 1950, the Bolshoi accidentally caused a diplomatic incident with The Red Poppy ballet. Despite Soviet efforts to rewrite the ballet as a leftwing criticism of British imperialism in China, it fell short of understanding the complexities of Chinese history, culture, and the Communist Revolution. Dancers wore a queue, or braid, which the Chinese considered a symbol of Manchu oppression, while the ballets title referred to the complicated history of Chinas forced role in the opium trade.Olga Lepeshinskaya dances The Red Poppy at the Bolshoi Theater in 1951 after being proclaimed a Peoples Artist of the USSR. Source: BBCMao Zedong, who was in Moscow to sign the Sino-Soviet Treaty with Stalin, turned down an invitation to see the ballet. The Chinese ambassadors wife saw a preview of the Soviet version and reported that it distorted the Chinese Revolution. Other Chinese representatives also found the ballet offensive. In 1957, the Soviets rewrote the ballet as The Red Flower to pacify Mao Zedong.During the Cold War, the Bolshoi Ballet held center stage. Today, it continues to display national pride and promotes Russias cultural brand.Known for Distinguished Dancers, Scandals, and DefectorsAt the Dance Lesson by Leonid Zhdanov, 1972. Source: Library of CongressOver the years, the Bolshoi Ballet has had its fair share of stars and scandals. In the 1830s, dancing master Thomas Guerinot received a fine after he kicked a ballerina backstage. During an 1848 performance, someone threw a dead cat with an insulting note attached to its tail at a ballerina dancing the pas de trois. Other incidents involved ground glass found in rivals shoes, an alarm clock set to go off during a dance sequence, and a media firestorm that erupted in 2003 when the Bolshoi fired dancer Anna Volochkova for allegedly being too heavy.After 1917, many dancers emigrated to dance with Sergei Diaghilevs Ballets Russes. Some ballerinas became Soviet icons, while other high-profile dancers defected to the West on tours outside the Iron Curtain.The Stalin years brought no shortage of surveillance, denunciations, and executions. During the post-Stalin thaw, however, even stars like Maya Plisetskaya had to grovel before Nikita Khrushchev for disrespecting KGB surveillance and talking to foreigners without permission.Svetlana Zakharova plays Mekhmene Banu in A Legend of Love at the Bolshoi, 2014. Source: The Moscow TimesDespite a new era, dancers still faced political restrictions on art. In 1974, Mikhail Baryshnikov defected to the West while on tour with the Bolshoi. Five years later, Aleksandr Godunov also defected to the United States during the companys tour in New York City.The phenomenon of dissident dancers did not stop with the Cold War. When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, dancers such as Olga Smirnova, the Bolshois prima ballerina, defected to the West to protest the war.Bolshoi ballerina by Sergei Gavrilov, 2018. Source: UnsplashOver the years, the company has experienced attacks on directors, sex scandals, and controversy. A Soviet ballerina, Lyudmila Semenyaka, once said that a dancer needed the teeth of a tiger and the hide of a dinosaur to survive at the Bolshoi.According to Simon Morrisons Bolshoi Confidential, the Bolshoi plunged into scandal again when two ballerinas decided to die by suicide mid-performance in 1928. They jumped together from the top of the stage at the height of a death scene. To the audiences horror, one of the women did not die right away. A 1928 New York Times article identified the women as two dancers in love with the same man. According to reports, the Soviets promptly arrested and imprisoned the man over the failed affair.In 2013, scandal rocked the Bolshoi again when Sergei Filin, the companys ballet director, was attacked by a masked man who threw acid into his face. The attack left Filin with third-degree burns. In the aftermath, a dancer named Pavel V. Dmitrichenko was accused and sentenced to six years in prison for his role in the plot. As the case made national headlines, many believed that higher forces behind the attack represented the struggle for money and power in Russia.The Bolshoi: A Symbol of International Influence and PowerSwan Lake performed by dancers from the Bolshoi Ballet. Source: CNNWithout the Ballets Russes, the influence of Russian ballets such as The Nutcracker and Swan Lake, innovative choreographers, and talented dancers, the American ballet tradition would look much different.During the twentieth century, many artists, directors, and dancers fled the Soviet Union. Some of the biggest names included Mikhail Baryshnikov and George Balanchine. Russian ballet brought bold, precise, and athletic techniques to the international ballet sphere and had a substantial impact on the development of the American ballet scene.Russia remains an epicenter of ballet, influencing international ballet forms via Bolshoi tours and dancers and choreographers who defected to the West during the Cold War. Source: The Moscow TimesDuring the tense days of the Cold War, the Bolshoi Ballet toured the West as part of a high-stakes cultural export program.During the Cuban Missile Crisis, President John F. Kennedy headed to see the Bolshoi Ballets Swan Lake at the Soviet Embassy. After the performance, he clapped louder and longer than anyone else nearby. It was the presidents first social outing since the crisis. Impresario Sol Hurok, who worked to bring the Bolshoi to American soil, remarked, As long as they keep dancing and the diplomats keep talking, well have no war.At times held captive to ideology, subject to scandal, and transformed by art, the Bolshoi Ballet has survived centuries of wars, fires, and totalitarian regimes to become a cultural jewel. Since its birth, the Bolshoi Ballet has represented a performative space where dance and politics meet in a complex symbol of art and power.

The rise of Islam across India, the Middle East, and Spain kindled intellectual achievements that are still relevant today. The Islamic Golden Age, lasting some five hundred years from the 8th to 14th centuries, saw important discoveries especially in physics.What Was the Foundation for Physics?Thales of Miletus. Source: Encyclopedia BritannicaCenturies before this Golden Age, Greek philosophers started their quest to understand their world. First, Thales of Miletus (circa 600 BCE) declared water a fundamental substance of the universe. Thus, a shift started from supernatural beliefs to a pragmatic view of the world.Other philosophers who created the basics of physics include Aristotle, Heraclitus, and Zeno of Elea. This knowledge, preserved during later Roman times, spread into the Levant and Egypt. Byzantine monks later methodically copied old manuscripts, preserving this knowledge. Islamic scholars in the Abbasid Caliphate incorporated this scientific base, translating Greek into Arabic. These scholars next made their own significant contributions.Other vital sources for physics included Kanada (atoms) and the Indian philosopher Pakudha Katyayana (6th century BCE), who theorized the world formed from invisible atoms. The Abbasid Caliphs funded the studies of Islamic scholars, building centers like The House of Wisdom in Baghdad. Other knowledge centers existed in Cairo and Cordoba (Spain).How Did These Islamic Scholars Expand Physics?Library scene in Baghdad from The Assemblies, by Hairiri, drawn by Al-Wasit, 13th century. Source: Wikimedia CommonsThe Islamic scholars took a practical approach to physics. They used empirical observation and experimentation, notably different from their predecessors theoretical approach. Ancient Greek philosophers considered earth, water, air, and fire the earths basic elements. They observed events and causes, drawing conclusions from reasoning and logic.The Golden Age scholars went further, both observing and experimenting. This experimentation would lead to the scientific method, a systematic approach of observing, testing, and tweaking the original thought. The philosopher Ibn Sina first proposed the law of inertia, one of the fundamental principles of physics.The law of inertia states that if a body is at rest or moving at a constant speed in a straight line will stay that way until something changes. With this newer knowledge, Islamic scholars incorporated Greek, Indian, and Persian sources.Which Branches of Physics Did the Scholars Advance?Excerpt from Kitab al-Manazer (Book of Optics). Source: In LibrisIslamic scholars, via experiments and using the older philosophers knowledge, enhanced or improved specific laws of physics. The most significant advance came in optics or the properties of light. Examples are the reflection (bouncing) or refraction (bending) of light from different objects. The treatise Kitab al-Manazer (Book of Optics) from circa 1021 is now considered equal to Isaac Newtons work from centuries later.Mechanics, the study of forces, motions, and inertia, became the second with critiques or refinement of older sources. One scholar proposed that an object moving in a vacuum wont stop. A practical invention from experimentation became the crankshaft.Who Were the Notable Islamic Scholars for Physics?Ibn Al Haytham. Source: muslimheritage.comCertain Islamic scholars stood out in advancing the study of physics. Their accomplishments via experimentation or theories led to significant findings. One, Ibn al-Haytham, has been called the Father of Modern Optics. His treatise, Book on Optics, resulting from experimentation, created a new understanding of light and vision. Al-Haythams organized approach, which used experiments to answer scientific questions, helped to develop the scientific method.Al-Biruni, born in 973, began his studies at twenty-two. He made advances in mechanics and astronomy using his knowledge of geometry and algebra. In mechanics, his studies on density and gravity led to measuring objects in air and water via hydrostatic balance (the push from a liquid going up matches the pull of gravity).Islamic scholar Al Biruni. Source: ankaramasasi.comAl-Birunis genius continued into astronomy (later astrophysics). He determined methods for calculating distances between planets and planetary movements. Plus, he could explain this fluently in five languages! A second noted scholar became known through his book, The Book of Healing, Ibn Sina, from around 1020 BCE. His tome delved into more than healing, demonstrating Sinas knowledge in different areas. He connected his study of causal necessity with physics; causal necessity, or things that happen in nature because theyre supposed, like fire burns. This helped him and others understand natural forces that emphasize the behavior of particular objects.The Islamic Golden Age also produced inventions while developing physics. The Father of Optics, Ibn al-Haytham, invented the pinhole camera. He sent light through his experiments into a dark room through a small opening. He found images displayed inverted on a screen or wall in the room through that tiny hole. Not bad for the 11th century!What Islamic Physics Knowledge is Still Current?This illustration by Persian astronomer Al-Biruni (973-1048) depicts the different phases of the moon. Source: space.comThe Islamic Golden Age advanced physics way past its ancient Greek roots. Renowned scholars advanced mechanics, astronomy, and optics into useable forms for the future. These scholars translations and preserving ancient knowledge were later read by Western thinkers, leading to modern physics.

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