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Showing posts with the label william howard taft

This Day in History: November 5

In this post, I touch on the election (or reelection) of U.S. presidents who guided the country through two bloody, destructive global wars. November 5, 1912: Woodrow Wilson beats two ex presidents in a landslide victory Democrat Woodrow Wilson is elected the 28th president of the United States, with Thomas R. Marshall as vice president. In a landslide Democratic victory, Wilson secured 435 electoral votes against the eight won by Republican incumbent William Howard Taft and the 88 snagged by Progressive Party candidate Theodore Roosevelt. It remains the only election in American history where two former presidents were defeated by another candidate. During his two terms in office, Wilson oversaw U.S. entry into World War I; proposed the Fourteen Points, a statement of principles that was to be used for peace negotiations in order to end the global war; and championed the League of Nations, an international organization formed to prevent future armed conflict. Because of opposi...

Travel Tip: A place you don't want to miss

Next time you're in Virginia, The Omni Homestead Resort in Hot Springs is one property you certainly don't want to miss. The charming property encompasses 2,300 acres with 483 guestrooms that boast elegant fabrics and furnishings, a slew of fine restaurants, an award-winning spa, a full-service fitness center, and more. It boasts over 45 acres of activities, including two hot springs. Guests take to the slopes for snowboarding and skiing in the winter and enjoy world-class golf, tennis, and horseback riding in the summer. But the main draw has to be the property's rich history. Ten years before the country was founded, The Homestead opened as an 18-room lodge in the mountains. George Washington awarded a land grant to Thomas Bullitt on which the first hotel was built. In 1818, Thomas Jefferson spent three weeks here, and, since then, over 20 other presidents have been guests at this lovely resort, from Teddy Roosevelt to George W. Bush. For more than 100 years, the ...