Abe, a research assistant here at Timeplots, has been conducting research for our upcoming print visualizing the history of the American presidency. In our efforts to present contextual data while telling the presidents’ stories, Abe tackled the compilation of an index detailing relative scale of U.S. involvement in military conflicts since 1789. His thoughts on the ongoing research are below:

As the story goes, the first day of the Battle of Shiloh was a bloody day for Union troops. Pushed back towards the Tennessee River, Union troops awaited reinforcement in a precarious position. The night after that first day, Brigadier General William Sherman approached Ulysses S. Grant and said, “Tough day today, Grant.” Grant responded, “Yes, but we’ll whip ‘em tomorrow.” Grant, as most know, would become Abraham Lincoln’s handpicked choice to lead Union forces. He was elected president in his own right in 1872, and is one of many presidents who has led the nation during conflict.

In doing this research, it’s become clear that much of American military involvement in conflicts has been relatively low-intensity and encompasses wars that most don’t remember: for example, the Barbary Wars during the early days of the Republic, and the Indian Wars during the late 19th century following Indian Removal. In the 20th century, these low-intensity conflicts moved overseas as the frontier closed, mainly into the Caribbean and Latin America. Our stacked graph charts U.S. involvement alongside that of other countries with developed militaries: as this transition unfolds, the spike of U.S. involvement in conflicts decreases and multilateralism causes straighter, more parallel and uniform lines. In this snapshot of an early version of the graph, the buildup to World War II is evident.

The significance of today’s conflicts are emphasized in the public consciousness due to increased reporting and global media coverage, but their scope doesn’t come close to the hard-fought, often game-changing U.S. military involvement in wars of the past. Charting this involvement over time puts current conflicts in perspective. Most Americans have lost sight of the Barbary Wars of the early 19th century; one hundred years from now, one wonders whether the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq will be similarly forgotten.

Stay tuned to see the final version of the chart– if it makes it through the final cuts, that is– in Timeplots’ soon-to-be-released A Visual History of the American Presidency.

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We work hard to make sure every data set in one of our visualizations tells a compelling story. In these last few months, we’ve been collecting data and finalizing design for our next print, A Visual History of the American Presidency. Liz, one of our hardworking and fabulous research assistants, recently collected a data set relating to presidential vetoes. The research quickly became much more complicated (and interesting!) than we predicted; Liz’s thoughts on the subject are below.

As I began to conduct in-depth research regarding the political and social context of high-profile presidential vetoes, it struck me how similar the past debates are to current controversies over policies like bank bailouts, economic stimulus plans, and the role of government in the free-market economy. In looking at the data and its context, it’s possible to clearly trace the progress of arguments for and against government intervention in economic affairs—arguments that are now at the forefront of our political culture.

Struggles between Congress and the executive have often centered on fiscal policy: President Monroe was the first to veto spending on infrastructure; Andrew Jackson used the veto to dismantle the federal bank established by his rival, Alexander Hamilton; Grover Cleveland, citing corruption in the request system, actually vetoed more than 200 (!) congressional requests for pensions for veterans.

Perhaps the most revealing vote, at least for those following the current economic debate, is Ulysses S. Grant’s veto of the 1874 Inflation Bill. In 1873, the banking and financial system collapsed after speculators in railroad schemes caused several major banks to fail. Grant, a believer in limited government, expected the economy to right itself without government intervention. With unemployment at 25 percent, Congress disagreed; it introduced the Inflation Bill to stimulate the economy and ease the frozen credit market by releasing nearly $44 million in paper money from the treasury.

Grant did not take the decision to veto lightly, wavering before finally sending the bill back to Congress (which was unable to override the veto). The 1873-1896 era following the veto featured high unemployment and a series of financial panics leading to severe, long-lasting recessions. The nation’s significant corporate and technological expansion during this time, however, is a reminder of the strength of America’s entrepreneurs and innovators—even during trying economic times.

Congressman Benjamin Butler is pictured here as an evil genie threatening "The cradle of liberty" with the Inflation Bill.

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