Harry S. Truman became President of the United States with the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt on April 12, 1945. During his nearly eight years in office, Truman confronted enormous challenges in both foreign and domestic affairs.

Perhaps the most surprising thing to modern Americans about the 1860 presidential campaign—the historic election that sent Abraham Lincoln to the White House—is how little actual campaigning the presidential candidates that year did.

John Quincy Adams, son of John and Abigail Adams, served as the sixth President of the United States from 1825 to 1829. A member of multiple political parties over the years, he also served as a diplomat, US Senator, and member of the US House of Representatives.

The United Nations was established October 24, 1945 in the aftermath of World War II, inspired by Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Winston Churchill. The forerunner of the UN was the League of Nations, which had been created immediately following the First World War but failed to prevent WWII due to the refusal of the United States to join the organization and the body’s lack of enforcement capability.

Monroe Doctrine, statement of United States policy on the activities and rights of European powers in the western hemisphere. It was made by President James Monroe in his seventh annual address to Congress on December 2, 1823; it eventually became one of the foundations of U.S.