10 Myths about American Presidents

Nowadays, whoever holds the presidency of the United States (POTUS for short) is not only the most powerful person in America, but the entire world. Of course that hasn’t always been the case. As such, there are many myths and misconceptions surrounding the office. People want to tell stories about the presidents and the more they simplify, alter, and outright lie about it. Much of our political beliefs are entangled with who we admire or despise, and that’s how myths are born. So let’s dispel some of these before they corrupt our perceptions any further, and even hit some inconsequential ones along the way.

Check out Mr. Beat's episode about POTUS control of the economy

List of myths, starting with silly small ones

-Washington cherry tree and wooden teeth

-Lincoln wrote Gettysburg Address on an envelope

-Teddy rode a moose

-Taft got stuck in a bathtub

-Edith Wilson was the first woman president

-TV/radio reacted differently to 1960 debate

1. Washington was uncontroversial

2. Lincoln was an abolitionist

3. Presidents control the economy

4. Presidents were powerless before “the war”

5. Conspiracy theory peddling is new

6. Morality of “bully pulpit” changes culture

7. New Deal ended with WWII

8. Political parties remain the same

9. “Reagan Revolution” was a sudden change

10. Election fraud changed results

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*Bibliography*

Eric Foner, Battles for FreedomThe Use and Abuse of American History (LondonI.B. Tauris & Co. Ltd, 2017).

Myth AmericaHistorians Take On the Biggest Legends and Lies About Our Past, edited by Kevin M. Kruse and Julian E. Zelizer (New YorkBasic Books, 2022).

Harriet F. Senie, Monumental ControversiesMount Rushmore, Four Presidents, and the Quest for National Unity (Lincoln, Neb.Potomac Books, 2023).

Andrew M. Schocket, Fighting over the FoundersHow We Remember the American Revolution (New YorkNew York University Press, 2015).

Richard Slotkin, A Great DisorderNational Myth and the Battle for America (Cambridge, Mass.Belknap Press of Harvard University, 2024).

A more general biblio that I keep for everything, though perpetually incomplete

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Connected videos

Mr. Beat's episode

Mythbusting playlist

Moral Panics

WILSOOOON!!!

Hamilton review

Reconstruction lecture

POTUS tyranny

Afghanistan

Insurrections

Culture War

Political polarization series

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