The Presidents

From George Washington, who defined the presidency, to James Monroe, the last of the Revolutionary War heroes, the office of president evolves as the fledgling United States undergoes growing pains.

America's leadership changes hands from the Founding Fathers to a new breed of Founding Sons in a period marked by rapid growth and contentious politics, and the bitterest election in U.S. history.

A fractious era of the presidency bookended by polar opposites Taylor and Lincoln becomes one of the most turbulent in U.S. history when the issues of states' rights and slavery erupt in civil war.

During America's Age of Reconstruction, the ruptured nation faces the difficult task of rebuilding a union after four years of civil war and a presidential assassination.

From Grover Cleveland to William Howard Taft, the Gilded Age of the American presidency features a new breed of men in the White House and a new era of unbridled economic growth.

A challenging period of U.S. history marked by financial depression and two world wars ultimately sees America's emergence as a superpower on the global stage.

Between the dropping of the first atom bombs and the first presidential resignation, an seemingly blissful era turns into a period of total political disenfranchisement.

Presidents from Jimmy Carter to George W. Bush grapple with a new world order defined by the fall of the Berlin Wall and shattered by the specter of global terrorism