History
I’ve finally started to watch Ken Burns’ “The War” and just completed the first episode, “A Necessary War.” It’s an interesting social history to be sure and, not surprisingly, inspires comparisons between how war was perceived then and now, especially on the homefront. The centerpiece of the first episode was the battle for Guadalcanal and…
September 17, 1862 remains the bloodiest day in American history. On that day near Sharpsburg, Maryland, the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia and the Union Army of the Potomac suffered combined casualties of nearly 26,000, including nearly 5500 dead. Although tactically a draw, the fact that Robert E. Lee had been turned back after a…
Providence firefighter (and Rescuing Providence blogger) Michael Morse spoke to the assembled crowd at today’s 9/11 memorial service at Providence Police and Fire headquarters… Michael Morse: It is vitally important that we come together on this date to honor those who lost their lives on September 11th, 2001. It’s hard to believe, but six years…
The opening of President George W. Bush’s address to the nation, delivered about a week after the September 11 attack on America, remains the best assessment of how the nation responded six-years ago today…Mr. Speaker, Mr. President Pro Tempore, members of Congress, and fellow Americans: In the normal course of events, Presidents come to this…
Mac puts Gen. Petraeus in his historical military context in today’s Walll Street Journal: Events have vindicated the claims of those who argued that President Bush’s “surge” strategy in Iraq could work. Security, the sine qua non for ultimate success, has improved. This is especially true in Anbar and other Sunni-dominated provinces where the Sunni…
In a ProJo story about the annual reading of George Washington’s Letter to the Touro Synagogue in Newport, Brown University President Ruth Simmons is quoted thusly: She touched upon the moral contradictions underlying the noble desires of past leaders who were eager to uphold freedom, despite an indifference to the injustice of slavery. “We all…
Over at Spinning Clio (two mentions in a week!), I’ve posted about the Post-Modernism of Russell Kirk. I know, I know…but if your interest is pique, please take look.
Believe it or not, there has never been a movie made about Calvin Coolidge. [Cue laughtrack.] OK, that is ENTIRELY believable. Over at Spinning Clio I post about a new documentary that looks at the presidency of “Cool Cal” and attempts to revise some of the impressions we have about him. In short, it is…
