The US Constitution never established a presidential cabinet―the delegates to the Constitutional Convention explicitly rejected the idea. So how did George Washington create one of the most powerful bodies in the federal government? On November 26, 1791, George Washington convened his department secretaries―Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, Henry Knox, and Edmund Randolph―for the first cabinet meeting. […]

Join the Miller Center and Southern Methodist University for a special screening of the director's cut of the VPM/Miller Center documentary "Statecraft: The Bush 41 Team." A discussion will immediately follow the screening featuring two experts from the film: Jeffrey A. Engel, director of SMU's Center for Presidential History, and Barbara Perry, director of presidential […]

While on his frequent business trips around the United States in the late 1950s and early 1960s, Bob Damron wanted to find bars and other locales to meet other men like him. A gay man, Damron sought friends, companions, and safety at friendly businesses in the various cities he visited. He began jotting down the […]

A gripping and true story about five boys who were kidnapped in the North and smuggled into slavery in the Deep South—and their daring attempt to escape and bring their […]

UPDATE, 1/8/2021: With regret, we must postpone this upcoming webinar with Derek Chollet. Derek is deeply involved with the foreign policy transition team for President-Elect Biden and can no longer […]

A Preview Interview with Thomas Balcerski: How will the election of 2020 be remembered by history? What, if any, are its historical antecedents, and to what degree is it unprecedented? […]

A new biography published about George Washington is unlike any other. Described as “form-shattering and myth-crushing,” “keen and savage,” as well as “spirited and engaging,” historian Alexis Coe’s “You Never […]

A Preview Interview with Marcia Chatelain From civil rights to Ferguson, Franchise reveals the untold history of how fast food became one of the greatest generators of black wealth in America. […]

A Preview Interview with Dr. Maria K. John The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed major, sometimes fatal shortcomings in the U.S. healthcare system. Through a conversation about the recent history of healthcare, historians George Aumoithe and Maria K. John will shed light on today’s crisis. They will discuss what the history of healthcare policy can teach […]