After 44 presidents and well over two centuries, Americans have spent a great deal of time ranking their current and former leaders. Names like George Washington and Abraham Lincoln naturally rise to the top after benefiting from the kindness of history and a sense of mammoth achievement. But what of the last eight decades or so?
The year began with a shooting in Tucson, Ariz., that left six people dead and 14, including U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, injured, and it ended with the last troops coming home from Iraq. It began with Congress deadlocked over spending and taxes and ended with Congress, well, deadlocked over spending and taxes.
Every now and then - for better or for worse - a new presidency ushers in a new American era.
Ron Paul's 2012 run represents the best anti-Obama hope America has. Paul and Mitt Romney polled the best against President Barack Obama in a recent CNN / ORC poll. Paul polled best against Obama in an earlier NBC News / Marist Poll.
JibJab's Elf Yourself holiday greeting card has proven itself to be an insurmountable (and hilarious) Christmastime staple.
Barack Obama won an upset victory in Virginia in 2008, and many people believe he has no chance to win it again in 2012 with his approval ratings so low. But a new Quinnipiac University poll shows that Obama's position is stronger than one might think.
While reports of the highly publicized divorce of Kim Kardashian begin to fizzle, the spotlight is on Reggie Bush after he finally made a public statement about his ex-girlfriend's divorce after 72 days of marriage and failed to mention his new girlfriend.
The International Business Times has compiled comprehensive profiles of the top seven Republican presidential candidates, with complete rundowns of their political positions, from Rick Santorum on abortion to Newt Gingrich on taxes. These profiles will be updated as the primary campaign continues.
Whether it involves embarrassing tweets, tone-deaf CEOs or even the disappearance of money, some oops moments need be relived just one more time.
Reportedly, the first defector from the hermit state arrived in the U.S. in the spring of 2006.
Prosecutors have been aggressively enforcing the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act over the last several years to combat overseas bribery, hitting a peak of 48 lawsuits in 2010. Now the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is leading the effort to narrow the scope of the law.
Why has Bill Clinton finally agreed to be interviewed by Bill O'Reilly on The O'Reilly Factor? Perhaps it's a last-minute push for his recent book, Back to Work, as a Christmas gift?
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, revered at home by a propaganda machine that turned him into a demi-god and vilified in the West as a temperamental tyrant with a nuclear arsenal, has died, North Korean state television reported Monday.
Rick Santorum is struggling to convince Republicans that he is a viable all-around candidate and not just a stalwart social conservative. Here are his positions on a wide range of topics, from social issues to the economy to foreign policy.
British-born journalist and atheist intellectual Christopher Hitchens, who made the United States his home and backed the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, died on Thursday at the age of 62.
Environmental activists may suffer a major loss at the hands of an omnibus spending bill winding its way through Congress, as lawmakers moved to defund new Energy Department standards for incandescent light bulbs.
Christopher Hitchens, an Anglo-American author, journalist and pundit, died Thursday night at the age of 62, after fighting a long battle with esophageal cancer.
The Iraq War's end was celebrated at Baghdad International Airport with a few thousand troops on hand for a symbolic ceremony in which the flag of U.S. Forces-Iraq was officially retired, or cased, according to Army tradition. U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and several other military leaders, including Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey and Gen. Lloyd Austin, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, made remarks.
Militants are also charged with making threats against Riccardo Pacifici, the head of Rome’s Jewish community.
Christine O'Donnell may think a lawn gnome can beat Barack Obama next year, but a new Reuters/Ipsos poll says otherwise. If the general election were held today, the poll found, Obama would beat Newt Gingrich by 13 percentage points and Mitt Romney by 8 points.
A new attack ad on Massachusetts U.S. Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren mistakenly frames the well-known liberal as a friend to Wall Street bankers.
As U.S. troops prepare for departure from Iraq, President Barack Obama and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki met at the White House Monday for talks focusing on the future relationship between the two countries.
