Political Dorks Rejoice!

C-SPAN has placed its entire video library on-line. For free. Hundreds of thousands of shows. For free. It is an amazing digital library and historical archive.

Who can forget Senate Foreign Relations Chair Jesse Helms (R-NC) blocking fellow Republican William Weld's (R-MA) nomination to become ambassador to Mexico in 1997? I've been retelling the story to my students for years. Now I can actually show them. (I'd like to show the video but am having problems embedding it. No matter, here is the link).

Bravo C-SPAN.

Hat Tip: Political Wire

D-Day, 65 Years Later

Today is the 65th anniversary of the Allied invasion of Normandy Beach in France, a turning point in World War II. The successful allied invasion did not come without huge costs: the Allies suffered 215,000 casualties on D-Day and the Normandy campaign which followed (9000 on D-Day alone), though exact numbers are impossible to figure out.

Anyone interested in reading more about D-Day and the Normandy campaign should check out John C. McManus' The Americans at D-Day: The American Experience at the Normandy Invasion and The Americans at Normandy: The Summer of 1944--The American War from the Normandy Beaches to Falaise. McManus is an associate professor of history at the Missouri University of Science and Technology and a prolific writer on American military history. McManus appeared this morning on C-SPAN's Washington Journal to discuss D-Day.

Full disclosure: Professor McManus and I are close personal friends but he did not ask me to plug his books. The guy is a true expert--move over Stephen Ambrose.

C-SPAN's Presidential Rankings Version 2.0 Released

C-SPAN has released the second version of its ranking of American presidents. 64 historians, political scientists, and other professional observers of the presidency participated in the survey. The first version of the survey was released in 2000.

Some observations:

• Lincoln, Washington, the Roosevelts, and Truman continue to occupy the top five positions in the rankings.
• Thomas Jefferson holds steady at 7. As one of my former students emailed to me the other day regarding Jefferson's ranking: "What does a brother have to do to get some love for the writer of the Declaration of Independence?" How does Truman rank in the top 5 and Jeff can't squeeze in?
• Ronald Reagan cracked the top ten.
• George H.W. Bush is creeping up the rankings moving two spots to 18.
• Bill Clinton moved up six spots since the 2000 survey to 15.
• U.S. Grant had the steepest climb of any president from 33 to 23.
• Grover Cleveland dropped four slots to 21, the steepest drop of any president, followed by Woodrow Wilson's drop of three slots to 9 and Jimmy Carter's three slot drop to 25.
• George W. Bush begins his ranking at 36--not terribly surprising given his weak standing with the public upon exiting the White House. It will be interesting to see if he will enjoy a Trumanesque ride up the rankings or continue to lag near the bottom with the likes of Warren G. Harding, Andrew Johnson, and James Buchanan.
• Speaking of Harding, Johnson, and Buchanan, they continue to compose the bottom three once again.
• William Henry Harrison is ranked 39th. I'm not sure what he could have possibly done in is one month of office, most of it lying on his back dying from pneumonia, to justify any ranking.
• Same goes for James Garfield ranked 28. Garfield was shot only four months into his first term and died from his wound two months later, not long enough to have any real impact on the country.

C-SPAN's White House Week

For all White House aficionados, C-SPAN is broadcasting a week long series of documentaries about the White House this week. So pop the popcorn or program the DVR if you are fascinated by that famous home at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.