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Jerry Smith

Jeremiah “Jerry” Smith worked at the White House through eight presidencies. Government documents listed him as a laborer, but he took on a variety of unofficial roles, including valet, footman, custodian, and most notably, duster. Throughout his thirty-year tenure, Jerry witnessed three White House weddings, the aftermath of two assassinations, the installation of electricity, the construction of the West Wing, and

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The Life and Presidency of Richard M. Nixon

Richard Milhous Nixon was born on January 9, 1913, in Yorba Linda, California. The second of five sons, he graduated from Whittier College and Duke University School of Law and returned to California to practice law. Around this time, he met Patricia Ryan, and the couple began dating. They were married on June 21, 1940, and raised two daughters together—Patricia (called “Tricia”) and Julie.

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George DeBaptiste

President William Henry Harrison’s famously brief month-long tenure at the White House makes it difficult to research the inner workings of the Executive Mansion during his administration, and an 1858 fire at his family’s home in North Bend, Ohio, destroyed many documents related to this particular period of Harrison’s life.1 However, obituaries and recollections reveal a fascinating individual who wo

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Dan Jansen

Speed skater Dan Jansen’s gold medal victory is one of the most inspiring Olympic stories in American history. The four-time Olympian and seven-time World Cup champion won a gold medal in his final Olympic race in the 1994 Winter Games in Lillehammer, Norway. Jansen’s road to the gold was riddled with disappointments, family illness, and personal challenges, yet he pers

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The Tale of Two White Houses: Espionage during the Civil War

In the nineteenth century, two mansions sitting approximately one hundred miles apart were both called the “White House.” The White House in Washington, D.C., was constructed to serve as the executive seat for the President of the United States. During the War of 1812, British troops burned the building but it was quickly rebuilt and re-occupied by 1817. The following year, a sm