#Presidential Library

[todaysdocument]

Harry S. Truman at Groundbreaking for Truman Library

Collection HST-PHC: Photograph CollectionSeries: Photographs Relating to the Administration, Family, and Personal Life of Harry S. Truman

President Harry Truman smiles for the camera as he digs a shovel into the dirt.  He’s surrounded by a smiling crowd.

The Independence Lions Club donated a gold-plated shovel for former President Harry S. Truman (center, foreground) to use at the Harry S. Truman Library groundbreaking at Slover Park in Independence, Missouri. Members of Local 34 of the American Federation of Musicians played at the event. Others in the background are unidentified. Copied from original photographs loaned to the library by Harry Barth. Originals were returned to Mr. Barth.

[deadpresidents]

"I'm sure that the Presidents who stand out in our history and in our memory are those who led the nation through times of great trial and challenge...Washington, Jackson, Lincoln, Wilson, Roosevelt, Truman. On the other hand, these very same Presidents would not be regarded now as great if their reactions and their responses had been weak, or if they had failed to achieve some of their major goals of if they had run away from the challenges...Greatness is an elusive thing and the judgment of history is sometimes different from that that is made when a President's in office or just after he leaves office. Wilson died a broken and disappointed man because he failed to win approval of the League [of Nations]. Yet history has judged that he was right in that fight and the willful men of the Senate who opposed him were wrong...There are a great many misconceptions about the Presidency...Some people think the President is a man who welcomes visitors to our country, who signs the laws that Congress sends him, who occasionally makes a speech about one of our problems, a kind of father or figurehead. Others see him as a manipulator or as an arm twister who is interested in power and how to use it. Others see him as a solitary figure surrounded by yes men, insulated from all [counselors], isolated from the real world. But very few people have any idea of the long and tedious and grinding work that goes into every Presidential day. I doubt that there was a single day of the Presidency, Sundays included, that I didn't give two or three hours to just solitary reading. There was hardly a night that I was President that I didn't read two or three hours. Even if it were a State Dinner or dancing...when I retired for the evening, I would have two hours of night reading ahead of me...No President in history has been able to do all the things that he or the people hoped he could accomplish at the time of election. But that doesn't mean that the job is impossible and that doesn't mean it's doomed. It's doable."

-- Former President Lyndon B. Johnson, on some of the unseen work of the Presidency.

Here's a great photograph taken by White House photographer Robert Knudson of some of LBJ's "night reading" homework, waiting for the President on his bed in the White House on October 12, 1966:

(I want to thank the incredible archivists at the @lbjlibrary and the National Archives ( @usnatarchives on Tumblr) -- especially, in this case, Chris of the Audiovisual Archives at the LBJ Library -- for tracking down a high-quality version of this specific photo for me. Without having any specifics on when or where the photo was taken, I reached out to the LBJ Library and vaguely described seeing this photo in the past and they quickly found a high-quality file that they sent me. The LBJ Library has done this numerous times for me over the years and I cannot express how grateful I always am for their help. The archivists at the National Archives and the NARA's Presidential Library system are incredible public servants and one of the very best examples of our federal government providing services to and for the American people.)

[joansiesbeloved]

jackuno: STEALING HISTORY from the PEOPLE — our government is using PROPAGANDA TO CHANGE THE PAST —

Today DOGE SHUT DOWN the JFK LIBRARY — welcomes thousands of students ever year to learn about US HISTORY —

the DIRECTOR OF PRES. LIBRARIES (from White House / DOGE) instructed the JFKLIBRARY to fire probationary staff effective immediately and until further notice.

THE PEOPLE WHO WERE FIRED 1) generate REVENUE FOR THE GOVT 2) are NECESSARY to keep the institution open.

This isn’t about me — but I have worked with the JFKL staff for decades and they are truly amazing. Thank you to them , to Rachel day Flor , to the ARCHIVISTS OF THE US never thought they’d be on the frontlines of battle but here we are !!

[fdrlibrary]

The elves had a helper today for decorating the President's Study 🎄

[macaron-n-cheese]

I went to the Nixon and Reagan Presidential Library and Museums today!

I have a migraine from reading in the car so I'm not going to write a lot.

Nixon. I love his signature anime girlie pose :)

WOOF WOOF

THE JASON HEUSER PAINTING IN THE CORNER

I can now say that I am a Richard Nixon fan, he's just silly. The intro video actually called him a loser since he's always lose before he won 😭

Reagan

NOOOO NOT CUSTER 🤢🤮

It's still so cool that Reagan acted and was even President of the Actor's Guild.

President fandom:

MARX 'S THUMBS-UP IS SO FUNNY. Teach your kids about the wonders of communism RIGHT NOW. 👍

Horse :)

the glare is horrendous...BEAN PORTRAIT

*😐 among us WHOHMP tat tat tat* uh....

[mickmathersartblog]

"Trinity #106 - The Eisenhower Library Trinity"

digital collage & digital painting by Mick Mather

(click image to view actual size)

[floridabills]

Florida Senate Bill 118: Regulation of Presidential Libraries

Passed Senate on Mar 19, 2025.

Sponsor Jason Brodeur

Summary: Regulation of Presidential Libraries; Preempting to the state all regulatory authority over the establishment, maintenance, activities, and operations of presidential libraries; defining the term “presidential library”; prohibiting counties, municipalities, or other political subdivisions from enacting or enforcing any ordinance, resolution, rule, or other measure regarding presidential libraries unless authorized by federal law, etc.

Link to bill information: https://www.billsponsor.com/bills/624404/florida-senate-bill-118-session-2025

[todosmispostales]

[usnatarchives]

Bess Truman, born on February 13, 1885.

The future First Lady loved hats even as a child. According to her best friend, Mary Paxton, Bess “always looked more stylish than anyone else in the crowd…. Bess had more stylish hats than the rest of us did, or she wore them with more style.”

[diemelusine]

Hand-tinted photograph of Alice Roosevelt Longworth (1903) by Frances Benjamin Johnston. Library of Congress.

[deadpresidents]

"My name is Lyndon Baines Johnson! I'm your goddamn President and I'm here to tell you my office and the people of the United States are behind you!"

-- President Lyndon B. Johnson, shouting to evacuated citizens as he walked through a shelter in New Orleans with a flashlight following Hurricane Betsy, September 1965.

[daddy-bush]

This message is a warning.

Chat did I cook with this...be honest.

[fdrlibrary]

Schedule Update

The Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum exhibits will have a delayed opening for deep cleaning on the following days:

Wednesday January 22

Friday January 24

Thursday February 6

Friday February 7

On these days the exhibits will be open from 12-5 and the Research Room will be open regular hours by appointment.

[thashining]

Octavia Butler - Parable Of The Sower 1993

[girderednerve]

so glad to be back from trip to see my beautiful girlfriend's family. i love my beautiful girlfriend but her family so obviously just like finds her incomprehensible and they don't listen to her and i hated it. and also two of them are cops who are so self-satisfied about it, gross. but we walked around joshua tree national park together + i'd never been in a desert before + i was overcome + wept quietly at the rocks and the yucca and the vast unbroken sky and the vibrant pulsing life around us. so it was worth it