describe the important political connections between a "modern" president and a "pre-modern" president. Although scholars debate this question fiercely, let's set Franklin Delano Roosevelt (the 32^nd President) as the first "modern" president. You'll need to do some independent research and provide evidence to back up your claims.

1. Identify the modern president and the pre-modern president that have an important political connection, in your view. (A political connection means that there is something about their politics, their policies, the tricky political circumstances, or their leadership challenges that mark these two presidents as having something in common, in your view. Sharing a birthday or belonging to the same political party is not enough!)
2. Analyze the politics of the situation(s). Give us some context about what's going on for these two presidents.
3. Describe how both presidents dealt with these political issues. What similarities and differences do you see? Why do you see these two presidents as being connected?
4. Finally, do you view both presidents as successful? Why or why not? In what ways could one or both presidents have done a better job dealing with these political issues?Are you overwhelmed with your choices? Start with your favorite president, and see if that president, himself, has mentioned whether he feels a connection to a predecessor. In a few Google searches, you'll quickly find that comparing presidents to each other is a national pastime! You'll have no shortage of information.

Want a challenge? Read about some of the less popular presidents. Challenge yourself to learn more about a president that you haven't already studied in school. (For example, personally, I have been blown away by how interesting Ulysses S. Grant's presidency wasI had never studied him before!)