Exciting news!

ISSUE NO. 42 // I DID IT!

I had some news I couldn’t wait to share with you…

BUT THEN I GOT SOME NEW NEWS!

The new news pushed my old news below the fold.

Guess what?! I applied to speak at a history conference this summer and just found out my proposal was accepted.

[insert happy dance]

In the next couple of weeks, I’ll have more details to share. For now, I’ll stick to being just a little bit cagey and secretive.

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MY ORIGINAL (NOW LESS EXCITING) NEWS

After droning on and on for months about adding a new landing page to my website (so people know how to work with me!) I finally did it and I was excited to share it with you.

Until I realized how lame my home page was. Womp-womp. It needed a little refresh first. Both are ready for you now! Hooray!

Take a peek at my new home page and explore the freelance services I offer.

Keep scrolling to see what they’re saying…

Thanks for being here!

America’s Preeminent Presidential Doodler

PS Since I’m already bragging, I might as keep going. I was right about something and of course I tooted my own horn about it.

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What they’re saying

I collected a slew of testimonials for new page. Here’s a bit more context:

Lewis Allen on Rose Cleveland

Lewis F. Allen acknowledged that his niece Rose (Grover Cleveland’s sister) “inherited the brains of the family”. Rose:

• served as First Lady before President Cleveland married.

• passed time while welcoming guests by conjugating Greek verbs in her head.

• was in a long-term relationship with Evangeline Simpson Whipple. It lasted decades, interrupted briefly when Evangeline remarried.

• lived with Whipple in Italy until 1918, when Rose died of the flu.

A Man of Iron: The Turbulent Life and Improbable Presidency of Grover Cleveland, by Troy Senik

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Winston on Eleanor

Winston Churchill to Eleanor Roosevelt: “You certainly have left golden footprints behind you.”

The First Lady of World War II: Eleanor Roosevelt’s Daring Journey to the Frontlines and Back, by Shannon McKenna Schmidt

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Anonymous biographers

Unnamed biographers called President Zachary Taylor’s military career “mundane and boring.”

(Reading about his military career was mundaner and boringer. The easiest way to bore me in a biography is to throw a bunch of military maps at me. Or any maps, if I’m being completely honest.)

Zachary Taylor: Soldier, Planter, Statesman of the Old Southwest, by K. Jack Bauer

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Nixon on Rose

Richard Nixon grumbled that he didn’t want his long-time secretary Rose “coming in here every five minutes” because “she’s a pain in the ass.”

(Maybe she should have read my post: 10 quick tops to get along with your boss better)

The Last of the President’s Men, by Bob Woodward

RIP, Richard Nixon

Coincidentally, I published this post on the anniversary of Nixon’s death in 1994 at 81 years old, on Earth Day … which was first celebrated during his presidency… is a thing I learned from Learning Plunge this morning after I’d already posted this Nixon/Earth Day doodle!

Lady Bird Johnson: Hiding in Plain Sight, by Julia Sweig 

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PS This quote isn’t about me!

If you’re intrigued by my mysterious speaking engagement, don’t let this quote deter you. H.L. Mencken said it about Dr. Francis Townsend.

Roosevelt Sweeps Nation: FDR’s 1936 Landslide and the Triumph of the Liberal Ideal, by David Pietrusza

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