For 3 long days, the battle raged. The following night, in a heavy rain, General Lee withdrew his troops from the battlefield of Gettysburg. The union had won a costly but critical battle and turned the tide of the Civil War. Four months later, Lincoln, a Republican, standing in the midst of a crowd, summed the words that would be...

Last Friday, Colonel Ralph Puckett, Jr. was awarded the Medal of Honor in a White House ceremony. “I’m incredibly proud,” President Biden said, “to give Col. Ralph Puckett’s act of valor the full recognition that he always deserved. Colonel, I’m humbled to have you here today.” The White House statement reads, in part: “Then-First Lieutenant Ralph Puckett, Jr. distinguished himself...

“In a democracy, every citizen, regardless of his interest in politics, ‘holds office’; every one of us is in a position of responsibility; and, in the final analysis, the kind of government we get depends upon how we fulfill those responsibilities. We, the people, are the boss, and we will get the kind of political leadership, be it good or...

Sportscaster Bob Costas has arguably been the best in the business since Jim McKay. Combining a likable manner with a near-encyclopedic knowledge of football, Costas speaks to both fans and non-fans alike. And his range of sports coverage is unequaled by anyone of his generation: boxing, NASCAR, golf, baseball, basketball, hockey, thoroughbred horse racing, and from 1988 to 2016, the...

Only historians are likely to recall Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar, the Mississippi Representative who, in a speech that brought tears to the eyes of many battle-hardened House members, spoke passionately of “the South’s most implacable enemy, the Radical Republican who helped make the Reconstruction Period a black nightmare the South never could forget,” Kennedy wrote in Profiles in Courage. In...

Looking back over the past year we have faced the challenges of a lifetime. During that past year, Pew Research has been asking American’s their views and reactions to the COVID-19 virus. How the virus has affected their lives. The results show a mix of the depressed, fortunate, money-savers, readers, angry, happy and more… Here is just a small sampling...

Embed from Getty Images In 1941, as President Roosevelt remained reluctant to enter the war in Europe, Prime Minister Winston Churchill was dining with U.S. Ambassador John Gilbert Winant discussing England’s fate. Listening to the BBC, the radio station announced that the Japanese had attacked American ships at Pearl Harbor. Within minutes, Churchill received a phone call from FDR confirming...

According to folklore, a man approached the Jewish sage Hillel the Elder with a proposal: If he could explain the principles of his faith in a single sentence the man would convert to Judaism. Hillel responded, “What is hateful to thee, do not unto thy fellow man; this is the whole Law the rest is mere commentary.” During the attack...

Among the books in my library is a series from TIME/LIFE entitled, The Decades. In words and images from 1910 to the 1990s, editors have distilled each decade’s most notable events. For example, the ’60s: Vietnam, racism, assassinations, Woodstock, the space program – each volume memorializes the triumphs and tragedies of the American landscape. If the series continues, editors are...

“This building is dedicated by his colleagues to the memory of Philip A. Hart with affection, respect, and esteem. A man of incorruptible integrity and personal courage strengthened by inner grace and outer gentleness, he elevated politics to a level of purity that will forever be an example to every elected official. He advanced the cause of human justice, promoted...