When Historic Figures Throw Shade

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines shade as “a subtle, sneering expression of contempt for or disgust with someone–sometimes verbal, and sometimes not.” Though its first recorded use was in the 1990s, “throwing shade” is a much older concept. From Mark Twain speaking his mind about President Theodore Roosevelt to Roosevelt, in turn, ripping into Wilson, this curated collection of shade also has some less brutal and more wry observations from Harry Truman on John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, and Dwight Eisenhower.