NOTE: I had hoped to publish an earlier version of this post on Veterans Day, November 11, 2025, but I failed to meet that self-imposed deadline. This version is adapted and expanded from comments I delivered at my brother Bob’s June 7, 2025 memorial celebration in Bellows Falls, Vermont, where he was born on May…Continue readingOn the front lines of the Cold War: One young soldier’s “unusual perspective”
Category: History
In 1977, I was working as a reporter and “associate editor” (a rather grandiose title, considering my modest responsibilities) for The Harvard Post, a weekly newspaper in the small town of Harvard, Massachusetts. Jimmy Carter, only two months into his presidential term, came to the nearby industrial town of Clinton, population of about 13,000, for…Continue reading“Your Man in Clinton”: Covering Jimmy Carter, 1977
Journalists and historians will soon set to work documenting the yet-unfinished story of Joe Biden’s consequential one-term presidency. (Some authors have likely signed book contracts already.) Their accounts should feature one of the first, and among the most notable, actions of his tenure: appointment of Deb Haaland as Secretary of the Interior. When President Biden…Continue reading“The problem of the race”: Interior Secretary Deb Haaland faces the tragic legacy of federal Indian boarding schools
NOTE: This post is Part 1 of a two-part series. Patriots – or traitors? “He’ll start throwing people in jail, and I’d be on the top of the list,” predicts U.S. Army General Mark Milley (retired), former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, according to a recent article, “The Patriot,” by Atlantic editor Jeffrey…Continue reading“Let’s you and him fight”: Evolving standards of American manhood during troubled times (Part 1)