“A republic, if you can keep it.” Benjamin Franklin reportedly said these now-famous words when a woman asked him, as he emerged from the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in the summer of 1787, whether the Framers had given the new country a monarchy or a republic.

On July 2, 1964, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act into law, banning discrimination and segregation in public accommodations. In remarks at the White House that day, Johnson said, “Let us lay aside irrelevant differences and make our nation whole.”

🗃️ Today, Mel Brooks turns 100. In 2016, President Barack Obama awarded the legendary filmmaker and comedian the National Medal of Arts, where Brooks pretended to pull down the President’s pants. ───────────── Subscribe for daily presidential history: everythingbriefing.substack.com/subscribe

The Oval Office on this day in 2012. ────────────── Subscribe for more snapshots from the Obama presidency: everythingbriefing.substack.com/subscribe

In June 2015, the White House was illuminated in rainbow colors to celebrate the Supreme Court’s landmark Obergefell v. Hodges ruling that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide. ───────────── Subscribe for more daily history: everythingbriefing.substack.com/subscribe

The Oval Office on this day in 2012. ────────────── Subscribe for more snapshots from the Obama presidency: everythingbriefing.substack.com/subscribe

On the eve of the 1960 presidential election, Senator John F. Kennedy said, “I want the United States to have the best educated citizens in the world. That's the way we maintain democracy; that's the way we keep our freedom.” ─── Subscribe for daily history: everythingbriefing.substack.com/subscribe

“In the end, that’s what being a parent is all about – those precious moments with our children that fill us with pride and excitement for their future.” — President Barack Obama ────────────── Subscribe for daily presidential history: everythingbriefing.substack.com/subscribe

In June 2021, President Biden signed a bill into law establishing Juneteenth as a national holiday, saying, “Great nations don't ignore their most painful moments.” ───────────── Subscribe for daily presidential history: everythingbriefing.substack.com/subscribe

Former Presidents Biden, Bush, and Clinton are in attendance at the dedication ceremony of the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago today. ───────────── Subscribe for daily presidential history: everythingbriefing.substack.com/subscribe

On June 16, 2016, President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden visited Orlando, Florida, to console the families of the 49 victims killed at the Pulse nightclub just days after the deadly shooting there. At the time, it was the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history.

The Obama Presidential Center, which opens this week, has unveiled the first commissioned portrait of Barack and Michelle Obama. ────────────── Subscribe for daily presidential history: everythingbriefing.substack.com/subscribe

Speaking on the importance of journalism, Walter Cronkite once said, “Our job is only to hold up the mirror, to tell and show the public what has happened.” ───────────── Subscribe for daily historical snapshots: everythingbriefing.substack.com/subscribe

In June 2008, Tim Russert, the longtime host of NBC’s Meet the Press, died at the age of 58 after suffering a heart attack while preparing for a broadcast.

At the groundbreaking ceremony for the Kennedy Center in 1964, President Lyndon Johnson said, “This center will brighten the life of Washington, but it is not, as I have said, just a Washington project. It is a national project and a national possession.”

On June 13, 1967, President Lyndon Johnson nominated Thurgood Marshall to serve as an associate justice of the Supreme Court. Two months later, the Senate confirmed the nomination in a 69 to 11 vote, making Marshall the first African American to serve on the high court.

On June 11, 2012, President Barack Obama hosted actress Betty White in the Oval Office. Months before, Obama had filmed a video for White’s 90th birthday, joking that he did not believe how old she was and that she would have to show her birth certificate to prove it.

“Our problems are man-made; therefore, they can be solved by man. And man can be as big as he wants. No problem of human destiny is beyond human beings.” — President John F. Kennedy, American University, June 10, 1963

On June 8, 2011, White House photographer Pete Souza captured a photo of President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden in the Oval Office before their weekly lunch.

On June 6, 1944, Allied forces launched the largest-ever seaborne invasion on the beaches of Normandy, France, as part of their effort to liberate Western Europe from Nazi occupation.

“Freedom of the press is not just important to democracy, it is democracy.” — Walter Cronkite ────────────── Subscribe for free for more daily history: everythingbriefing.substack.com/subscribe

During his last days in office, President Barack Obama said that the sight of his children playing on the swing set just outside of the Oval Office “made the presidency a little bit sweeter.” ─────────────── Subscribe for free for more daily history: everythingbriefing.substack.com/subscribe

In June 1979, President Jimmy Carter installed 32 solar panels on the roof of the White House.

Quoting from the play Back to Methuselah, Robert F. Kennedy would often say, “Some men see things as they are and ask why. I dream of things that never were and say, why not.”

On May 30, 2024, former President Donald Trump became the first U.S. president to be convicted of a crime, with a New York jury finding him guilty on all 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in connection with hush-money payments he made during the 2016 presidential campaign.

On May 30, 2015, Beau Biden, the son of Joe Biden, died at the age of 46 after a battle with brain cancer. In his book, Promise Me, Dad, Joe Biden said he recalled the moment in his diary that day, writing, “My God, my boy. My beautiful boy.”

On May 29, 1917, John Fitzgerald Kennedy was born in Brookline, Massachusetts. He would go on to become the 35th President of the United States, challenging Americans to “Ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country.”

In his speech at the Democratic National Convention in 1980, President Jimmy Carter said, “The life of every human being on Earth can depend on the experience and judgment and vigilance of the person in the Oval Office.”

On May 27, 2016, President Barack Obama became the first sitting president to visit Hiroshima, Japan, where the United States dropped the first atomic bomb used in warfare. Following his remarks that day, the president embraced Shigeaki Mori, who survived the bombing as an eight-year-old boy.

On May 26, 2009, President Barack Obama announced his intention to nominate Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court to succeed Justice David Souter.

🗃️ On May 25, 1961, President John F. Kennedy addressed a joint session of Congress, where he said the United States “should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to Earth.”

🗃️ In his Memorial Day message in 2014, President Barack Obama said, “I believe that taking care of our veterans and their families is a sacred obligation,” adding that it was “one of the causes” of his presidency.

In May 1964, President Lyndon Johnson unveiled his vision for a “Great Society” in his commencement address at the University of Michigan.

On May 22, 1971, the Lyndon Johnson Presidential Library and Museum was dedicated in Austin, Texas. In his remarks that day, Johnson said, “There is no record of a mistake, nothing critical, ugly, or unpleasant that is not included in the files here.”

🗃️ In an interview in 1996, former President Jimmy Carter said that he would like the United States to be looked upon as the “foremost proponent of peace” in the world, in addition to the “foremost proponent and protector of liberty, freedom, and democracy.”

🗃️ In an interview in 1996, former President George H. W. Bush said that he had a “majesty” for the office of the presidency and that he wanted children to have “stars in their eyes” when visiting the White House.

🗃️ In an interview on Face the Nation toward the end of his time in office, President Barack Obama said that the Oval Office is “the property of the people and the United States of America.”

On May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court ruled in Brown v. Board of Education, declaring schools established to separate Black and white children unconstitutional.

On May 16, 2014, President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden visited a Shake Shack in Washington, D.C.’s Dupont Circle, where White House photographer Pete Souza captured a photo of Obama sliding across the counter to greet the restaurant’s staff.

🗃️ In an interview with C-SPAN's Brian Lamb in 2010, President Barack Obama said he had not made significant changes to the Oval Office due to “very difficult economic times.”

1/ On May 10, 2010, White House photographer Pete Souza captured a photo of President Barack Obama straightening a painting frame in the Oval Office.

“In a democracy, the public has a right to know not only what the government decides, but why and by what process.” — President Gerald Ford

On May 8, 1961, President John F. Kennedy presented the NASA Distinguished Service Medal to astronaut Alan Shepard, just three days after he became the first American to travel to space.

Speaking at Vanderbilt University in May 1963, President John F. Kennedy said, “The ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of all.” —— Subscribe for more daily history: everythingbriefing.substack.com

On May 6, 1935, President Franklin Roosevelt signed an executive order establishing the Works Progress Administration (WPA), a New Deal program that would employ millions as the country sought to emerge from the Great Depression.

On May 5, 1961, Alan Shepard became the first American to travel to space. President John F. Kennedy, along with his wife, First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, Vice President Lyndon Johnson, and others watched television coverage of the historic NASA flight that day from the White House.

On May 4, 2011, President Barack Obama met with Prince Charles in the Oval Office, where they reaffirmed the “special relationship” between the United States and the United Kingdom.

On May 3, 2024, President Joe Biden awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to South Carolina Congressman Jim Clyburn.

“We want democracy to survive for all generations to come, not to become the insolvent phantom of tomorrow.” — President Dwight Eisenhower

On May 1, 2014, President Barack Obama hosted former President Bill Clinton in the Oval Office for private talks.