American History Documents

This image depicts LBJ's daily diary for March 31, 1968 - the day he announced to the American people that he would not seek, and would not accept, th...

This image depicts the text of a "marriage bond" between Edgar Allan Poe and Virginia Clemm. The document contains an error.  Virginia's age is ...

During America's years of chattel slavery, people could be bought and sold.  If an "owner" of slaves died, the slaves would be inventoried as "pr...

Mary Todd Lincoln's letter to her husband, the President, notes discussions in Washington D.C. regarding the slow reactions of General McClellan. ...

Mary Todd Lincoln wrote a letter to her husband, the President, advising him to replace General McClellan. Click on the image to enlarge it.

Did people around the world know what the Nazis were doing in Poland before the end of the war? In 1942, the Polish government-in-exile sent a pamphle...

On the 14th of September, 1963, McGeorge Bundy - a special assistant to President Kennedy - wrote a memo about "World Reaction to Developments in Viet...

Image of a draft copy of President McKinley's speech on March 4, 1901.  Maintained by the U.S. Library of Congress. Click on the image for a bet...

The McNamara-Taylor Report, dated 2 October 1963, was formerly a top-secret, classified document prepared for the President of the United States. ...

This is page 4 of the McNamara-Taylor Report - dated 2 October 1963 - which these two JFK advisers prepared for President Kennedy's review.  The ...

When Robert McNamara and Maxwell Taylor returned from their fact-finding trip to South Vietnam - in the early fall of 1963 - they advised President Ke...

As early as October 2, 1963, the United States government knew that the people of South Vietnam did not want to endure a civil war.  This fact is...