Index/People/Gwenda Blair

Gwenda Blair

American journalist, university teacher and biographer

Fact-Checks

11 results
Dec 11, 2025
Most Viewed

Which Trump ancestors were born in Germany and what records exist about their activities in the 1930s and 1940s?

Donald Trump’s paternal ancestors trace to Kallstadt in the Palatinate (then Bavarian) region of Germany: his grandfather Friedrich (Friederich/Frederick) Trump was born there in 1869 and emigrated to...

Oct 29, 2025
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Are there reputable historians or peer‑reviewed works that assert Friedrich Trump operated brothels or sex‑trade businesses?

Reputable historians and several well-sourced journalistic accounts report that Friedrich (Frederick) Trump ran restaurants and hotels in the Pacific Northwest and Yukon during the Klondike era that r...

Nov 27, 2025
Most Viewed

Why did Donald Trump leave Fordham and transfer to Penn—was it academic, personal, or family reasons?

Donald Trump attended Fordham University from 1964–1966 and then transferred to the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, graduating in 1968; reporting and biographical sources attribute the mo...

Dec 14, 2025

What records exist about Donald Trump's grandfather’s entry and naturalization status?

Records show Friedrich (Frederick) Trump emigrated from Kallstadt, Bavaria, to the United States in 1885 and appears in U.S. immigration and census records under anglicized names; biographers and publ...

Nov 17, 2025

Why did Donald J. Trump transfer from Fordham to Wharton in 1968

Donald J. Trump transferred from Fordham University to the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in 1966 and graduated from Wharton with a BS in economics in 1968; contemporaneous and later...

Dec 15, 2025

When did Friedrich Trump emigrate to the U.S., and through which port did he travel?

Friedrich (Frederick) Trump emigrated from Kallstadt, Bavaria, to the United States in 1885 at age 16 and arrived in New York in mid-October of that year; contemporary accounts and family memoirs plac...

Jan 21, 2026

Which country did the Trump family originate from and when did they arrive in America?

traces to y); , — commonly dated to October 7, 1885 — as a 16‑year‑old immigrant . The family also includes on the maternal side: , was born in Scotland and became an American citizen in 1942 . The wi...

Jan 17, 2026

What do Kallstadt parish and civil registers show about the Trump/Drumpf surname variants in the 18th and 19th centuries?

Kallstadt’s parish and civil registers record multiple spellings of a local surname—forms such as Trum/Trump/Trumpff and related variants appear in village archives—supporting the view that the family...

Jan 11, 2026

How did the Trump family name evolve across generations from Friedrich to Donald Trump?

The Trump surname traces to a long German lineage that scholars and records show was once spelled "Drumpf" in Kallstadt but had become "Trump" at various points before and after emigration; Friedrich ...

Dec 18, 2025

Which biographers provide the most detailed corrections to Trump’s memoir stories, and what primary sources do they cite?

Three mainstream biographers—Michael Kranish and Marc Fisher (Trump Revealed), Michael D’Antonio (Never Enough), and Gwenda Blair (The Trumps)—are most frequently cited in coverage as providing detail...

Dec 15, 2025

How have historians verified discrepancies in records about Friedrich (Frederick) Trump’s birth details?

Historians resolve discrepancies about Friedrich (Frederick) Trump’s birth details by triangulating German church/baptismal records, U.S. immigration and census entries, and later secondary biographie...