Calvin Coolidge was a Cosmo Girl

Former President Bush's much-anticipated Decision Points hits the shelves tomorrow, adding one more post-presidential memoir to a long line of presidential autobiographies. With the exception of Taft, Wilson, Harding, Kennedy and FDR, every President of the 20th Century has published their own version of the events during their administration. 

One which was exceptionally hyped at the time of its release was Calvin Coolidge's autobiography, which was serialized in Cosmopolitan magazine before it's publication. The project was shrouded in secrecy as Cosmo went to great lengths to keep the manuscript from the public eye. TIME Magazine reported at the time that a "dummy" article was planted as the cover story to serve as a placeholder before the Coolidge transcript was substituted in its place. In fact, the final article was assembled by unknowing editors in "meaningless segments" so as to further protect the full transcript from being stolen in advance of its release (story continued below). 

The final story in April of 1929 was "Part One" of Coolidge's autobiography and was described by Cosmopolitan Editor Ray Long as the "most warmly human document it has ever been my good fortune to publish." He must have been grateful for the privilege to print a President's autobiography in what was, for all intents and purposes, a women's fashion magazine. But what's more fascinating and/or amusing is that it appears that Cosmo did some early "photoshopping" on a photograph of Mr. Coolidge. In the below image, the magazine points out that Coolidge has a copy of the magazine tucked under his arm but upon further inspection it appears that the title must have been painstakingly transcribed onto the image -- a harmless marketing maneuver:

Whether or not President Coolidge actually read Cosmo is up for debate but in the end the PR tactic succeeded: the big story was announced only three days before the magazine hit the newsstands and only a month after Coolidge had left office.

President Washington's House in New York City

Once upon a time DC was a barren swampland, the US capital was New York City and congress met at Federal Hall on Wall Street. For several months during this 2 year period before 1790, George Washington lived at 39 Broadway near Bowling Green, which was considered a posh neighborhood in the late 18th Century. Residents included the Jays, Livingstons and Hamiltons and at the time the President's house was owned by Alexander Macomb, a prominent merchant who later found himself in debtors prison. While lower Broadway has been subsequently developed many times over in the last 220 years, a plaque marks the spot at 39 Broadway where our first President once lived. 

Donald Trump Mulls Presidential Bid at "The Wall" Concert

Last night, Donald Trump was spotted in the audience of Roger Waters' preformance of his Pink Floyd opus -- "The Wall" -- at Madison Square Garden. 

This comes as Trump's name is being floated as a potential contender for the Republican Nomination, and a month after an anonymous poll questioned New Hampshire Primary voters about his possible candidacy. The business and TV icon later confirmed on Morning Joe that, "for the first time in my life, I am absolutely thinking about it," however he denied that he was behind the poll. 

It has also created speculation amongst Pink Floyd fans as to what was going through his head when he heard the famous line "mother, should I run for President" a lyric in the song "Mother".

Far out.

When the Third Time is NOT the Charm

In American political history, only two presidential candidates have ever received a major party nomination on three occasions and lost every time: Henry Clay, who ran and lost the elections of 1824, 1832 and 1844 and William Jennings Bryan, who lost the election of 1896, 1900 and 1908. 

Both men were tenacious firebrands, fierce orators and accomplished in their respective political careers. Yet, perhaps their most apparent similarity was that they were both opportunists, whose pursuit of the Presidency bordered on the pathological. How else could each have come so close to the White House three times?

Although they were of two different eras, Bryan revered Henry Clay and featured a portrait of him in the living room of his home. Bryan, who lost to William McKinley twice in 1896 and 1900, would run for his third time in 1908 against Teddy Roosevelt's hand picked successor, William Howard Taft -- the below cartoon from '08 depicts his yearning for the Presidency as TR interrupts Bryan's daydream.