History: The Berlin Airlift
At the conclusion of World War II, both the western Allies and the Soviet Union wanted Germany under their sphere of influence. The defeated country was divided into four sections (French, British,...
View ArticleHistory: Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
Several years following World War I, Congress approved the burial of an unknown soldier at Arlington Cemetery. The process for selecting the soldier to be honored has remained essentially the same...
View ArticleHistory: VJ Day in Times Square
It’s a thing of wonderment when a photographer can capture the mood of an entire nation in a moment of spontaneous excitement. When a great photographer like Alfred Eisenstaedt accomplishes it and...
View ArticleHistory: Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima
Five Marines and a Navy corpsman raised the American flag on the worthless island of Iwo Jima near the end of World War II, and the image resonated with a home front that clamored for good news from...
View ArticleThe Alamo
General Antonio López de Santa Anna finally captured the Alamo on March 6, 1836. Tony thought he was putting an end to the battle for Texas independence, but he was wrong. Texas had declared its...
View ArticleThe Nixon-Kennedy Debates
If you’re tired of the Republican Debate-o-the-Day (and who isn’t?), you can blame the incredible impact of the 1960 debates between John Kennedy and Richard Nixon. It was a time when most American...
View ArticleThe Jazz Singer, the First “Talkie”
Let’s clear up one common misunderstanding up front. When Al Jolson said, “Wait a minute, wait a minute, you ain’t heard nothin’ yet,” he was not speaking the first words in film history. He was...
View Article“Tear Down This Wall”
This week marks the 25th anniversary of the speech President Ronald Reagan made at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, calling for the removal of the Berlin Wall. “Tear down this wall” has been said to be...
View ArticleD-Day
The size and scope of the D-Day operation grows more amazing as time goes on, and as the nature of warfare changes. In this age of guerrilla action, of drones and smart bombs and surgical airstrikes,...
View ArticleOmaha Beach
We have a phrase that we throw away lightly: “Hell on earth.” We have to wait in an airplane on the tarmac for two hours? Hell on earth. We have to change three smelly diapers in the church nursery?...
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