History of the US Democratic Party

Over at the Travel and History blog is an article about the history of the democratic party of the USA, noting among other things how party power tends to swing back and forth over fairly long eras.

Over the next few months we'll profile several US presidents - both Democrat and Republican, and pull in some historical context as well.

The US President has been among the most important people in the world, especially since the 1940's when America rapidly assumed the role of global superpower and economic powerhouse.

The ravages of World War II left much of the world in a shambles, most notably five former powerhouses of Europe: Germany, Italy, England, France, and Russia. England's colonial empire was crumbling as pressures from inside the countries and internationally forced England's hand. Churchill was not happy with this development, but even his great WWII ally US President Franklin Roosevelt was a sharp critic of England's colonialism, and Roosevelt enouraged Churchill to grant English territories greater autonomy and/or independence.