Some presidents were great, some were not. All of them were important. American presidents shape the course of history. But their portraits shape the way they are remembered. Painstakingly coaxed from oil on canvas or captured through the lens of a camera, every portrait shapes a president’s legacy. Everyone expects a lot from a presidential portrait—the artist, the public, even the presidents themselves. And, as always, both the presidents and their portraits elicit strong and varied opinions.

These historical portraits, housed at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Portrait Gallery in Washington , D.C. , keep alive our memories of not only the U.S. presidents themselves but our idea of the American story.

Is image everything? Join Smithsonian Channel’s 'Picturing the Presidents' and decide what you think is presidential.

If you would like to win your own copy, just answer this easy question: Who ran for President with the campaign slogan "Vote Yourself a Farm"?!

Send me your answers and if you're correct you'll be in the running to win one of these wonderful new DVDs. Just send us an e:mail here before February 28th with your answer and the subject title CONTEST: PICTURING THE PRESIDENTS DVDs to:

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