On August 27, 1881, then vice president Arthur had received the first of several dozen letters from a mysterious pen pal named Julia Sand.

Inauguration day, March 4, 1865, was a miserable day, but nonetheless an extraordinary scene. Abraham Lincoln had won re-election and the Civil War was all but won. His second inaugural address would later be regarded as one of the great speeches of his career, but not before his soon-to-be vice president made a drunken fool of himself.

February 28, 1844, was the worst day in presidential history. But the story of that day has one happy ending.

Given how loosely we throw around the term “constitutional crisis,” it is worth reflecting back on April 14, 1865, when the U.S. came dangerously close to one.

We can learn a lot from the triumphs and failures of the eight men who became president upon the death of their predecessors.

If Abraham Lincoln’s assassination opened the door to segregation, it was James Garfield’s murder that cemented that path.

Selecting the vice president is arguably as consequential as selecting the president. Eight times in America’s history the president has died in office, and history was changed in a heartbeat.

There is much about today's politics that is unusual and even more that is frustrating. But we are nowhere near politics at its worst.