Briefing Room
First Year project releases two books
Key learnings from the project and a Trump evaluation via UVA Press
Trump’s first 100 days
Scholars discuss the Trump presidency with 100 days down, 265 to go
An unprecedented presidency
Senator Mark Warner, Miller Center scholars, and the New York Times’ Peter Baker assess Trump’s early days
The First Year Project on CSPAN
American History TV featured the Miller Center's First Year Project on a recent broadcast
Supreme Court appointments in the president’s first year
Trump's pick is unprecedented, but there are many and varied stories behind first year nominations
First year essay contest winners
Congratulations to the students who won the essay contest!
The spike in Ike
President Eisenhower rises in C-SPAN poll ranking U.S. presidents
American Cauldron: First Year project panel on race
Sally Yates gets hero’s welcome at Atlanta race discussion
Coming around to a carbon tax
Two former Republican secretaries of state recommend a carbon tax
American Forum tackles first year issues
The Miller Center's syndicated TV show teams up with the First Year Project
Governing by surprise is not a recipe for success
Why "no surprises" helps the president and the cabinet
Presidential communications in 2017
Will the Trump administration behave differently than the Trump campaign?
Carter Library to host First Year summit on race
Eric Holder will headline our national summit on race and the presidency, Feburary 15th in Atlanta
Inaugural memories
From the Presidential Oral History Program, we bring you some inaugural memories
Presidential constraints
How the president's success is limited by structural and institutional realities
Why media relationships matter
Past presidents offer Trump lessons on communications strategy
Speechwriting in the first year
A roundtable of former White House speechwriters offers lessons to the next president
First Words: James Garfield, March 4, 1881
The inaugural address of James Garfield certainly falls into the category of “speeches lost to history”
First Words: Rutherford B. Hayes, March 4, 1877
Rutherford Birchard Hayes is perhaps one of the most underappreciated presidents
First Words: James Buchanan, March 4, 1857
History has not been kind to James Buchanan or his inaugural
First Words: James Polk, March 4, 1845
Not many Americans know James P. Polk but they should
First Words: William Henry Harrison, March 4, 1841
The Inaugural Address of William Harrison is possibly the most popular and least examined speech
What history can teach an unprecedented president-elect
The director of the Miller Center reflects on the next presidency
Presidential Transition: Jimmy Carter
The Jimmy Carter oral history project looks at the new president's "outsider" status
Navigating the first year, from top White House alumni
Watch all or part of our half-day seminar at the Brookings Institution
Presidential Daily Briefs
What the creation of the PDBs can teach the next president about working with the intelligence community
Presidential transition: Somalia
The George H. W. Bush oral history project examines Somalia and the transition from Bush to Clinton
The long road
The next president should build upon existing infrastructure projects such as the interstate highway system
Presidential leadership in the first year
On December 12, the First Year Project teams with the Brookings Institution for a half-day conference in D.C.
The environment of opportunity
Leif Fredrickson argues that the next president should focus on eradicating lead poisoning
End of the honeymoon?
Prospects for White House-congressional relations in 2017
Reasserting the importance of cities
David Dagan explores problems that “city power” will need to address to be successful
Launch event for volume 7
The Miller Center launches communications volume at Reagan Library
Maximizing power with diminished presidential control
How the next president can better use the appointment and agenda-setting powers
What voters want most from the next president
It's a pretty surprising quality that dates back to Dwight Eisenhower
Debate promises: defense (1980)
Looking back at defense spending as a debate promise made by Ronald Reagan
A view from the inner circle
The Miller Center joins with Longwood to host a panel on the vice presidency
Debate promises: Medicare (1960)
Looking back at Medicare legislation as a debate promise made by John Kennedy
Debate promises: education (2000)
Our look at past debate promises continues with education
Debate promises: health care reform (1992)
Our look at past debate promises starts with health care
Moving up
Melody Barnes talks about ideas for how the next president can address economic inequality
How much will the presidential debates matter?
Carah Ong Whaley examines why the debates might matter more for this election
Tales of transitions past
Five past-presidential transition leaders on what to do before inauguration
Hispanics and mobility in America
Why the next president needs to act
Volume 6: Opportunity & upward mobility
Coming on Sept. 19: how the next president can revive confidence in the Great American Dream
David Martin in The Washington Post
Here's why local police don't enforce immigration laws
Winning over Capitol Hill
An insider’s account of congressional relations in the first year
First Year powers WNYC’s “The Takeaway”
A in-depth look at immigration from WNYC, WGBH, and Public Radio International
The Chinese riddle
History teaches the next president that friendly initial overtures can backfire
Immigrants and insecure workers
Populism and scapegoating on both sides of the Atlantic
Healing the fractures
U.S. News & World Report on the First Year project's efforts to help the next president
Managing dissent
Boris Heersink explains how the next president will have to manage relations internally and externally
Scenario planning in extraordinary times
Nicole Mellow argues that although Trump is no Goldwater, there may be a political realignment on the horizon
Building the party
Laura Blessing argues that the next president should strengthen their party using message, money, and policy
Flexibility won’t go far enough
Benjamin Holtzman argues that the national crises of homelessness and affordable housing require federal solutions
Xenophobia’s unlearned lesson
Daniel Tichenor explains why Republicans will pay a steep political price for playing the nativist card
The promise and perils of going local
Tracy Steffes cautions that going local can exacerbate inequalities
By the Book: Grover Cleveland
Our First Year team of experts offers essential readings on the 22nd & 24th president.
Which first year?
Saladin Ambar tries to make sense of successful (and not-so successful) presidential first years
Whose job Is it anyway?
Anna O. Law examines how the government has managed immigration
Block parties
David Dagan explains the partisan edge of the "new American localism"
Beyond partisanship
Emily Baer discusses how to fix strained congressional-presidential relations
Philadelphia lessons for the next CEO of the USA
Democratic leaders consider what private sector transitions can teach our next president
By the Book: Franklin Pierce
Our First Year team of experts offers essential readings on the 14th president
Federal fuel for New American Localism
Three ways our next president can facilitate local growth
GOP leaders ponder a CEO in chief
What private sector transitions can—and cannot—teach the next president?
By the Book: Franklin D. Roosevelt
Our First Year team of experts offers essential readings on the 32nd president
Empowering cities
Bruce Katz says the federal government should bypass states to interact directly with cities and metropolitan areas
“Never Trump” pushes convention test vote
History shows it can change the dynamic of a political convention
By the Book: Thomas Jefferson
Our First Year team of experts offers essential readings on the 3rd president
By the Book: James Garfield
Our First Year team of experts offers essential readings on the 20th president
Toward a more holistic approach
How our national discourse is preventing comprehensive immigration reform
Trump and immigration
How the issue of immigration needs Trump
Making amends for past wrongs
Democrats should fix the broken immigration system they helped create
Harding, Coolidge, and immigration
How did these two president approach immigration policy in the 1920s?
By the Book: John Adams
Our First Year team of experts offers essential readings on the 2nd president
First Words: Abraham Lincoln, March 4, 1861
Abraham Lincoln powerfully argued for the preservation of the Union in his first inaugural address
American cauldron: Race relations
What advice do Michael E. Dyson and Elizabeth Hinton give to the next president about easing racial tensions?
What was the Bracero program?
The Bracero program and its effects on immigration to the United States
Promises and price tags: A fiscal guide to the 2016 election
The impact of the fiscal policies proposed by Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump
By the Book: Warren G. Harding
Our First Year team of experts offers essential readings on the 29th president
The Supreme Court’s real message
The Supreme Court wants immigration resolved in the political arena
By the Book: Ulysses S. Grant
Our First Year team of experts offers essential readings on the 18th president
Ted Kennedy, LBJ, and immigration reform
Ted Kennedy works with President Johnson to reform America's discriminatory immigration laws
By the Book: Herbert Hoover
Our First Year team of experts offers essential readings on the 31st president
First Words: Herbert Hoover, March 4, 1929
Herbert Hoover's first speech as president bristled with optimism
The first year as an outsider: President Carter remembers
President Carter remembers what it was like to try to govern after winning the election as an outsider
By the Book: Chester Arthur
Our First Year team of experts offers essential readings on the 21st president.
UVA’s Illimitable focuses on the First Year
Explore the presidents' first years through this interactive piece
First Words: John F. Kennedy, January 20, 1961
John F. Kennedy delivered one of the most memorable inaugural addresses ever
Millennial Caucus: national security threats facing country
UVA students say ISIS is top national security threat, disagree on proper response
By the Book: James Monroe
Our First Year team of experts offers essential readings on the 5th president
First Words: George Washington, April 30, 1789
As with so much, George Washington's Inaugural Address set the stage for all that followed
By the Book: Calvin Coolidge
Our First Year team of experts offers essential readings on the 30th president
HBO’s “All the Way” a striking portrayal of Lyndon Johnson’s First Year
Our Guian McKee looks at HBO's historical drama
First Words: Bill Clinton, January 20, 1993
In his first speech as president, Bill Clinton sought to acknowledge frustration and project hope
Ted Kennedy and the Troubles, part 2
Kennedy works with newly elected President Bill Clinton to help start peaceful negotiations in Northern Ireland
Ted Kennedy and the Troubles, part 1
Read about Kennedy's work with newly elected President Jimmy Carter on the conflict in Northern Ireland