Few couples have written letters to each other more extensive, and more compelling, than John and Abigail Adams, America’s second president and first lady. The pair met in 1759, when Adams accompanied his friend Richard Cranch to see Cranch’s fiancée Mary Smith, and her younger sister, Abigail. Although unimpressed by the 15-year-old Abigail on this occasion, calling the sisters neither “fond, nor frank, nor candid,” Adams found himself smitten two years later by the young woman. Thus began a correspondence that spanned more than three decades, and offers a rare glimpse into the founding of the United States. 

The early letters between the two lovers document their courtship; Adams addressed letters to “Miss Adorable,” requesting “as many Kisses, and as many Hours of your Company after 9 O’Clock as [I] shall please to Demand.” Even after the couple married in 1764, they continued to exchange letters regularly, as John was frequently away for work. In later years, the correspondence often turned to political matters, as John valued his wife as an intellectual equal and trusted adviser. In one 1776 letter, in the throes of the American Revolution, Abigail famously urged her husband to “remember the ladies, and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors.” The 1,160 letters the couple exchanged offer an incredible insight into this chapter of American history. All but one of the letters are kept in the archives of the Massachusetts Historical Society and are available online. 

Though he was married to his second wife when he took office in 1981, Ronald Reagan had previously been divorced, making him the first divorcé to serve as president of the United States. A former actor, Reagan met his first wife, actress Jane Wyman, while the two were co-starring in the 1938 movie Brother Rat. They started dating soon after and eventually married on January 26, 1940. Their union lasted nine years; the two strong personalities eventually grew apart, divorcing in 1949.

Reagan wasn’t single for long: He met Nancy Davis, the future first lady, just a few months later. Davis was an aspiring actor at the time who discovered her name was on the Hollywood blacklist — a career-killing list of actors suspected of having communist ties. She contacted the Screen Actors Guild president — Ronald Reagan — for help getting her name off the list. The pair met for dinner on November 15, 1949, and Davis was assured that it was a different actor of the same name who had been blacklisted. The two kept talking anyway, and started dating, leading to their wedding on March 4, 1952. They remained together until Reagan’s death in 2004. 

Though the outcome of any given presidential election is always in doubt, one thing is not: Whoever wins will almost certainly be named TIME magazine’s Person of the Year. The tradition dates back to 1932, when Franklin D. Roosevelt became the first president to be so honored. The title itself was established in 1927, with TIME naming aviator Charles Lindbergh its first Man of the Year (the name was changed to Person of the Year in 1999). President Calvin Coolidge, who was in office in 1927, was passed over by the magazine, as was Herbert Hoover, Coolidge’s successor. Since then, Gerald Ford is the only U.S. president who has not been named Person of the Year.

In a way, that’s fitting, as Ford is also the only commander in chief to never actually be elected vice president or president. He was appointed to the former office after Richard Nixon’s original VP, Spiro Agnew, resigned in disgrace, and he became president after Nixon avoided a likely impeachment over the Watergate scandal by likewise resigning. Ford’s controversial decision to immediately pardon his predecessor is widely considered a black mark on his record that doomed his reelection chances. Jimmy Carter, who defeated Ford in the 1976 election, was named TIME’s Person of the Year shortly after his victory.