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John Hay was President Lincoln's personal secretary, a position that began nearly five decades of public service. A diplomat who served multiple Administrations from Lincoln to Roosevelt, he was a central figure in defining the U.S. foreign policy that would be the basis of the United States role on the world stage in the twentieth century.This is original content based on research by The History Guy. Images in the Public Domain are carefully selected and provide illustration. As very few images of the actual event are available in the Public Domain, images of similar objects and events are used for...

A few years ago, I got interested in President Rutherford B. Hayes. His presidency came to my attention because the 19th president is a huge hero in Paraguay. Why? He supported Paraguay's territorial claims and saved the country. He got a province, a school, and several streets named after him way south of the border. As my friend from Paraguay said, you'll get a free lunch in Asuncion if your last name is Hayes!President Hayes was also famous for the 1876 election and the compromise that put him in the White House. Though Samuel J. Tilden won the popular vote,...

Earlier today The Washington Times reported that President Obama quoted former President Rutherford B Hayes as saying something he never did. Inevitably a hilarious hashtag game mocking Obama’s knowledge of former presidents sprung up on Twitter shortly after. Here are the top 20 tweets from that hashtag game!

March 15, 2012 RutherfordGate part of a pattern for Obama Zombie By now you’ve probably already heard about RutherfordGate — in which President Obama thoughtlessly repeated a bogus quote falsely attributed to President Rutherford B. Hayes in order to slander his opponents and (almost as an afterthought) Hayes himself: “One of my predecessors, President Rutherford B. Hayes, reportedly said about the telephone: ‘It’s a great invention but who would ever want to use one?’” Obama said. “That’s why he’s not on Mt. Rushmore.” A quick bit of fact-checking uncovered that the quote — as has been long known to anyone...

Hayes, in fact, was such a technology buff that he installed the first telephone in the White House. A list of telephone subscribers published in the article “The Telephones Comes to Washington,” by Richard T. Loomis, shows that the White House was given the number “1.”...

While excoriating his Republican rivals for not having sufficient faith in alternative energy earlier today, President Obama threw a historically inaccurate elbow at a presidential predecessor. (snip) The president decried the “naysayers” who “don’t believe in the future, and don’t believe in trying to do things differently.” He then cited President Rutherford B. Hayes whom, he said, “reportedly said about the telephone, ‘It’s a great invention, but who would ever want to use one?’” (snip) Those students need to run back to history class, because Mr. Obama’s lesson about the 19th president seems wrong, at least according to

President Obama got a laugh out of a Maryland audience on Thursday when he mocked the Republican Party in a speech, comparing their skepticism of alternative energy to the “Flat Earth Society” in Christopher Columbus’ day and President Rutherford B. Hayes’ apparent dismissal of the telephone. But while Obama thinks the GOP is in need of a science lesson, he may need to bone up on history himself. In mocking the GOP, Obama cited an anecdote about Hayes in which, upon using the telephone for the first time, he said, “It’s a great invention, but who would ever want to...

On front page of website, no registration required.Shockingly, neither Carter nor the present occupant of the White House are choices...

VILLA HAYES, Paraguay – As the U.S. celebrates Presidents Day on Monday, citizens of this small South American country wonder why anyone would overlook Rutherford B. Hayes.

Why is it that so many people view the Republican party, and conservatives as raceist? If it weren't for the Republican party the civil rights movement would never have even started. Ulysses S. Grant was preaching about social and racial equality, way before John F. Kennedy was even born. Without furthure Lets take a look at the evidence. In his 1st Inaugural Address Grant said, "The question of suffarage is one which is likely to agitate the public so long as a portion of the citizens are excluded from it's privledges in any state. It seems to me very desirable...

The new "taglines" after people's usernames are really distracting to me. Is it the intense pressure to think up something too cute? Is it the odd little eye-pulling font that makes it less comfortable to read the article? I can't say for sure. It just doesn't seem to detract from the message board format, at least for me. Does anyone else think so? I love FR but find this new tagline thing a little annoying. Maybe Jim could give us the option to view or not view taglines as part of our user preferences.