LibGuides: U.S. Presidents: Home

Books in the Library

Search the library catalog for books and documentary films at KUA. Try a subject or keyword search for your president's name (try last name, first name and first name last name). Use the "Power" search to narrow down: for example, search "civil rights" AND "kennedy" to find JFK's position and influence on the civil rights movement.

The double-edged sword : how character makes and ruins presidents, from Washington to Clinton by Robert Shogan
Call Number: 973 SHO
Publication Date: 2000
Discusses how American society's beliefs about the competency of the President of the United States are largely influenced by their perceptions of the President's character and personality.
Leadership in Turbulent Times by Doris Kearns Goodwin
Call Number: 973.099 GOO
ISBN: 9781476795928
Publication Date: 2018
Offers an exploration of the early development, growth, and exercise of leadership. The author draws up on the four presidents she has studied most closely -- Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Lyndon B. Johnson -- to show how they recognized leadership qualities within themselves and were recognized as leaders by others.
America's First Families by Carl Sferrazza Anthony
Call Number: 973.09 A628a
Publication Date: 2000
The first book to take a close look at the real lives of America's own "royal families" in the White House, from John and Abigail Adams in 1800 to Bill and Hillary Clinton in the twenty-first century. Vivid anecdotes and revealing facts are drawn from diaries, letters, newspaper and magazine stories, and the author's own vast archive of research and interviews.
A Documentary History of the United States by Richard C. Heffner
Call Number: 973 HEF
Publication Date: 2002
This collection of historical documents includes J.F.K.'s inaugural address and George W. Bush's speeches after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, among other presidential writings.

Off campus?

For access to the databases from off campus, email the librarians for passwords.

Getting started

These resources are good starting points to look for general, background information on your president's life and political career.

U.S. Presidents (University of Virginia)
A great overview of each president's life and work. Includes in-depth information about each president, including facts at a glance, key events, impact and legacy, etc.
The Presidents (The White House)
Biographical and historical summaries of each presidency, provided by the White House.
Britannica Online Academic
The online encyclopedia has articles covering many aspects of individual presidencies, including supplementary materials and links to outside resources.
*(Library resource; off-campus access requires password)
Oxford Reference Online
A collection of 100+ Oxford reference works covering many subjects. You can search by keyword across all e-books in the collection, or choose a specific e-book to browse, such as The Oxford Companion to Comparative Politics, The Oxford Companion to Politics of the World, or A Dictionary of Contemporary World History.
*(Library resource; off-campus access requires password)

Secondary Sources

Once you've gathered some basic factual information from the reference sources above, take the next step with these secondary sources. The articles and reports you find in these databases or websites will provide deeper levels of analysis, to help you answer the more nuanced questions about a president's political career and legacy.

American Heritage
A long-running popular magazine covering all aspects of the history of the United States and featuring articles by prominent historians.
CQ Researcher
A great starting point for researching current events or a particular issue. Reports include timelines, graphs and charts, and pro/con debate sections. Reports date from as far back as 1960. Instead of searching a president's name, search for a policy or topic relevant to their presidency. For example: "war on drugs" or "no child left behind".
*(Library resource; off-campus access requires password)
Academic Search Premier (EBSCO)
Find articles here from magazines and scholarly journals. Using the advanced search will help you narrow your results (for example, roosevelt franklin AND election*)
*(Library resource; off-campus access requires password)
JSTOR
Search for articles from scholarly journals. Try combining several keywords for the most successful search. For example: (president AND "bill clinton" AND legacy)
*(Library resource; off-campus access requires password)

Primary Sources

Primary sources are original, "raw" material from history without any secondary analysis or interpretation. In the following resources you will find actual documents -- speeches, letters, photographs, etc. -- from the time period you are studying.

The American Presidency Project
An online archive of primary sources created and hosted by the University of California, Santa Barbara. Contains letters, speeches, radio and television transcripts, audio and video files (when available for the more recent presidents), and other documents relating to the presidents. You will also find some interesting data sets, such as polls and results for elections throughout the years.
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At the bottom of the home page, you will find a box with three options for searching. If you want to focus on a particular president, leave "Document Category" blank and choose from the "President" pull-down menu. Then click submit.

If you'd like to see, for example, all the inaugural addresses from all presidents through history, you would choose "Oral: Address - Inaugural" from the Document Category menu, and leave the "President" menu blank. Then click submit.
Chronicling America
A broad range of U.S. newspapers from 1836 to 1922. The actual pages of newspapers from the past are displayed. Browse topics related to US history, taken from local and regional newspapers of the time.
American Memory (Library of Congress)
Primary sources related to all aspects of American history. This web site and the related American Memory Initiative include everything from images of historical documents and portraits of U.S. presidents and other notable people, to sheet music and correspondence. For example, find letters between Leonard Bernstein and Aaron Copland.

Videos in the Library

The presidents: the lives and legacies of the 43 leaders of the United States. by The History Channel.
Call Number: DVD 923.1 PRE
Publication Date: 2005
Based on the book To the Best of My Ability, The Presidents features insight from journalists, scholars, and politicians, as well as rare and unseen photographs and footage.
The Presidents Collection. by PBS
Call Number: DVD 923.1 AME
Fifteen-disc set includes the American Experience documentaries "TR: The Story of Theodore Roosevelt," "Woodrow Wilson," "FDR," "Truman," "The Kennedys," "LBJ," "Nixon," "Jimmy Carter," "Reagan," and "George H.W. Bush."
The three branches of government: how they function.
Call Number: DVD 342.044 THR
Take a close look at the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches of the United States government and how they function and work together. Begin to understand the roles and duties, the checks and balances, and the framework of our federal government created by the Constitution.

Citing Sources

Noodletools
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Purdue OWL: Research and Writing
MLA In-Text Citations (Purdue OWL)
Sample MLA Works Cited List (Purdue OWL)