In 1998, at the height of Independent Counsel Ken Starr’s investigation into President Clinton, Starr wanted to compel Secret Service agents on the President’s Protective Detail to testify about what they may have seen or heard regarding the president’s relationship with Monica Lewinsky. Secret Service Director Lewis Merletti argued that having agents talk about anything other than criminal acts would...

In the twenty-one years I have been writing and speaking on ethics, I have not encountered a more compelling story of integrity than that of former Director of the United States Secret Service Lewis Merletti – a story largely unknown to most Americans. In John F. Kennedy’s “Profiles in Courage,” U.S. Representative George Norris fittingly points out: “History asks, ‘Did...

Paul Ryan missed his moment, a seminal moment, a “come-to-Jesus” moment. It could’ve been a Reagan moment: “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” As the leader of the House and his party, Ryan should’ve called Trump out, by name, as a misogynist, bully, bigot, demagogue, inciter of violence. Instead, the man whose name was raised as a possible presidential candidate...

Last month, I wrote about Elaine Harmon who was one of many women who served in the Women Air Force Service Pilots, (WASP) during World War II. Thirty-eight of them died in service to their country. Despite Harmon’s wishes to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery, along with other service veterans and their spouses, Arlington maintains that a technicality in...

The Fortune Cookie is a desperately funny Billy Wilder film about an equally desperate con man by the name of “whiplash” Willy, a lawyer (brilliantly played by Walter Matthau), and his schnook brother-in-law, (the equally brilliant Jack Lemmon). Lemmon is a TV cameraman who is accidentally sidelined by a football player while covering a game. After Gingrich learns from his...

Just when you thought the Republican race for the presidential nomination could not possibly get embarrassingly worse, it does. Last night, billionaire huckster Donald Trump had already won 7 of 12 state primaries and looked to increase his lead before the night was over. Forty-eight hours earlier he was interviewed on CNN’s State of the Union (Feb. 28), by Jake...

While Thomas Jefferson has been revered as perhaps the greatest literary force of all American presidents, by virtue of  having written the Declaration of Independence, I connect more closely with the words and thoughts of Abraham Lincoln owing to his singular range: his address at Cooper Union, Emancipation Proclamation, Gettysburg Address, as well as his second inaugural address. Lincoln’s clarity...

Okay, I missed Lincoln’s birthday on Friday, but this is good. In light of the fiery attacks GOP candidates have thrown at each other, it’s interesting to consider a question presented by FlackCheck.org, the political literacy site: Could Lincoln be elected today if his opponents used today’s political tactics? The concept was developed into a 2012 social studies lesson plan...

(Note: This commentary was written and posted in January, 2016. It was based on then-candidate Trump’s statement of December 7, 2015, calling for “a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on,” as pointed out in the 12th paragraph, below. Comments to this post are now closed.)...

13 Hours, a feature-length movie about the 2012 terrorist incident in Benghazi, Libya begins with a title card: “This is the true story you were never told…” Movies are different from documentaries. While a documentary aspires to offer the most accurate account possible of people and events, a movie works to tell the essential truth in a format that allows...