Jesse Greenspan

Jesse Greenspan

Jesse Greenspan is a Bay Area-based freelance journalist who writes about history and the environment.

Latest from this author

Ronald Reagan as a lifeguard.

From a 19th-century president who killed a man in a duel, to a 20th-century leader who once worked as a lifeguard, learn surprising facts about each U.S. president.

An antique oval-shaped wall clock with a wooden frame and a white dial displaying the time.

Bones, water, sand, incense, candles and stone monuments were among the items people used to track time.

Defeat of the Spanish Armada

The scourge of mariners from antiquity to the modern era, wood-boring shipworms were purportedly more feared than pirates.

Albie Pokrob fights minus-20-degree temperatures at Mount Washington Observatory in 1982.

In 1934, wind gusts of 231 miles per hour roared over the top of Mount Washington, rattling the weathermen who managed to record it.

The procession of the Sacred College of Cardinals file into the Sistine Chapel where they will be locked inside to begin the conclave to elect a successor to Pope John Paul I.

The famously secretive papal conclave, with its ceremonies and traditions, is informed by hundreds of years of history.

Ancient Civilizations that Mysteriously Collapsed: Indus

From the Maya to Greenland’s Vikings, these six civilizations seemingly disappeared without a trace.

The 1978 Camp David Accords secured a lasting peace between two longtime enemies in the Middle East.

Beer Hall Putsch Commemoration German Chancellor Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945), Hermann Goering and Werner von Blomberg lead a procession of Nazis to the Munich Burgerbrau Cellar, to commemorate the Munich Beer Hall Putsch of 1923, Germany, 10th November 1937. (Photo by Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Hitler’s failed 1923 coup and his short term in prison ended up helping the future dictator reset and find his path to power.

Veterans Day Quotes

Tens of millions of Americans have served in the armed forces since the country’s founding. Read quotes by and about U.S. servicemembers.

The Vietnam War

How eight countries got bogged down in the Vietnam War's Cold War proxy battle.

The Chernobyl nuclear disaster was made worse when Soviet authorities initially denied the event and then acted slowly to contain it.

A group of child survivors behind a barbed wire fence at the Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau in southern Poland, on the day of the camp’s liberation by the Red Army, 27th January 1945.

For centuries—and especially since World War II—countries have attempted to define the rules of war and determine punishment for violators.

'Iolani Palace, Honolulu, Hawaii.

Sugar barons and businessmen ousted Hawaii’s longstanding monarchy, setting the stage for US annexation.

A Viking burial ship.

For high-status Vikings, a ship burial offered an extravagant path to the afterlife.

A wheat field in Mykolayiv, Ukraine.

Ukraine has long endured battles, with Russia’s 2022 invasion only the latest in a series of wars, rebellions, raids and pogroms to take place there.

During the Battle of Fort Niagara, a pair of uniformed soldiers and two civilians (one a woman) load and fire a cannon during the War of 1812, Fort Niagara, New York, December 18, 1813.

The United States’ invasion of Canada 200 years ago went awry from the start.

Augustus Caesar

Explore eight illuminating facts about the first Roman emperor.

John and Jacqueline Kennedy ride through Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963.

President John F. Kennedy was just one of a handful of people hit in downtown Dallas on November 22, 1963.

Navajo Code Talkers

An overheard conversation between three Choctaw Indian soldiers serving in World War I led to a code strategy that confounded enemy forces.

Tennis player Billie Jean King is shown in action during the "Battle of the Sexes" against Bobby Riggs, not pictured, in their winner-take-all $100,000 match in the Astrodome.

Billie Jean King’s straight-set victory over self-proclaimed male chauvinist Bobby Riggs reverberated far beyond the world of tennis.

President Lincoln was not the only high-ranking government official that John Wilkes Booth slated for assassination.

7 Things You May Not Know About the Spanish Civil War

Explore seven fascinating facts about this bloody prelude to World War II.

A screenshot from the 'Daisy' 1964 campaign ad by Lyndon B. Johnson's campaign team.

Though it only aired once, the so-called “Daisy” ad played on fears of nuclear war in the race between Lyndon B. Johnson and Barry Goldwater.

John F. Kennedy delivers a speech to a massive crowd in Berlin, Germany, June 26, 1963. (Credit: PhotoQuest/Getty Images)

President John F. Kennedy thrilled a huge West Berlin crowd by declaring, 'Ich bin ein Berliner.'

With a few clicks of the mouse, it’s now possible to view thousands of the civil rights icon’s papers and photographs.

The children involved in the landmark Civil Rights lawsuit Brown v. Board of Education, which challenged the legality of American public school segregation: Vicki Henderson, Donald Henderson, Linda Brown, James Emanuel, Nancy Todd, and Katherine Carper.

Take a look back at the landmark school desegregation ruling.

The 1839 mutiny, led by an African rice farmer known as Cinqué, galvanized the abolitionist movement.

James Dean poses for a Warner Bros publicity shot for his film 'Rebel Without A Cause' in 1955 in Los Angeles, California.

Get the facts on the actor who epitomized coolness and youthful angst.

British mystery author Agatha Christie autographing French editions of her books.

Explore some illuminating facts about the so-called Queen of Crime.

Kilauea volcano

Active volcanoes abound in Hawaii, Alaska and the western United States, including several that have erupted in recent times.

8 Key Contributors to the Underground Railroad; On to Liberty, 1867, Artist Theodor Kaufmann

These eight abolitionists helped enslaved people escape to freedom.

On Christmas Eve 1968, Apollo 8’s astronauts captivated the world with a live broadcast from lunar orbit.

How the Declaration of Independence Was Printed—and Protected

America’s earliest founding document survived war, fire, mistreatment, insects and the ravages of time prior to landing at its current home in the National Archives.

Actor Charlie Chaplin looks though a movie camera on April 22, 1935. He is directing, as well as acting in, a comedy tentatively titled Production No. 5.

From his challenging childhood to his stolen coffin, the silent film star's story was anything but ordinary.

Pablo Picasso in his mansion "La Californie" in Cannes.

Check out seven surprising facts about the prolific and influential artist.

Color illustration from the fairy tale "Little Red Riding Hood" depicting the character, Little Red Riding Hood, sitting on the grass and cowering as a wolf approaches her. Part of "Grimm's Fairy Tales" by the Brothers Grimm.

Check out six sinister themes in his work you likely wouldn’t find in a modern-day children’s story.

24-year-old American actor Christopher Reeve plays the comic-book hero as he mends a broken railway track in a scene from the film 'Superman'.

Explore eight surprising facts about the Man of Steel.

A dust storm approaches Stratford, Texas in April 1935.

The Dust Bowl’s worst storm blotted out the sun and terrified the Great Plains’ already struggling population.

U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno testifies to a House subcommittee on Capitol Hill in Washington about the 1993 raid on the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Texas. (Credit: DAVID AKE/AFP/Getty Images)

Find out what happened to the key players in the siege of the Branch Davidian cult compound on February 28, 1993.

A view of the Chernobyl Nuclear power after the explosion on April 26, 1986 in Chernobyl, Ukraine.

From the Dust Bowl to the BP oil spill, explore some of the most notorious environmental disasters of the last century.

Check out some facts about the raucous annual affair.

Richard Overton

World War II veteran Richard Overton enjoyed his whiskey and cigars until the end.

How Was the US Involved in WWII Before Pearl Harbor?

Get the facts on America’s longest-serving president.

Photograph of Vladimir Lenin (1870-1924) a Russian communist revolutionary, politician and political theorist. Dated 1901.

Take a closer look at the world’s first communist head of state.

Jimmy Carter's Life in Photos

The legacy of America's 39th president extends far beyond his four years in the White House.

Family dinner for the celebration of the Chinese New Year on February, 1999 in Heihe, China.

Check out eight facts about how the Lunar New Year is celebrated in China.

Benito Mussolini (1883-1945) circa 1940

Explore nine things you may not know about “Il Duce” and his 21 years in power.

A general view of the Olympic Rings in front of the Bolshoy Ice Dome prior to the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics

These athletes didn’t let a disability deter them from going for gold.

Even as millions of Nazi troops massed on his border, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin remained convinced that Adolf Hitler wouldn’t betray him.