“I still believe that the mildest and most obscure of Americans can be rescued from oblivion by good luck, sudden changes in fortune, sudden encounters with heroes. I believe it because I lived it.” Those words come from Ted Sorensen, advisor, counselor and speechwriter for President John Kennedy.  Sorensen died Sunday at the age of 82. In 1961, I clearly...

The Wall Street Journal’s Peggy Noonan had an interesting take this weekend (July 17) on President Obama’s poll numbers and problems with the economy and other issues. “…you know what I think people miss when they look at Washington and our political leadership,” Noonan asks. “They miss old and august. They miss wise and weathered. They miss the presence of bruised...

Edith Shain, the nurse who became something of an icon along with the sailor who kissed her in a very crowded Times Square on V-J Day in 1945, died last week. Both the sailor and the nurse remained anonymous for years until Shain wrote a letter to Life Magazine photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt. “Thirty-five years later,” The New York Times wrote, “Mrs. Shain,  » Read more about: Hope,...

Major John Baldwin served as chief of thoracic surgery with the 24th Evacuation Hospital in Viet Nam.  For his extraordinary service, he received the Bronze Star.What follows is John’s own Memorial Day message offered to a home town crowd. It’s a message of remembrance, frustration and hope. “Welcome to Twain Harte’s Memorial Day Flag Dedication, Parade, and Picnic.  We are most...

Memorial Day originally called Decoration Day, was established as a day of remembrance to honor all those who fought on either side of the War of Secession or Civil War. In 1868, General Commander in Chief of the Grand Army of the Republic John Logan, designated the thirtieth day of May as the day on which graves of dead Union soldiers should...

At the lowest point in America’s war for independence from Great Britain, General George Washington read an inspiring essay written by British-born sympathizer Thomas Paine.  Entitled, The American Crisis, it began like this – “These are the times that try men’s souls: The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but...

“Just because the microphone in front of you amplifies your voice around the world is no reason to think we have any more wisdom than we had when our voices could reach only from one end of the bar to the other.” —Edward R. Murrow During the pioneering days of broadcast journalism, Ed Murrow was the gold standard of journalists. Known...

It’s interesting to note that the recent incarnation of the Tea Party bears little similarity to the original activists of 1773 and that supporters who carry the flag, “Don’t Tread on Me,” are using it in an historically, inaccurate context. The original Tea Party was a first response protest by Boston colonists protesting Britain’s Tea Act – a tax levied...

Tuesday night I was transported back to the 60s via the concert, RAIN – A Tribute to the Beatles.  It was a spectacular hard day’s night! In addition to the live music performed with look-a-likes and sound-incredibly-alikes, the stage work included multiple images from the decade – Ed Sullivan, shampoo commercials, car commercials, even the Flintstones… smoking Winston cigarettes! In the magical...

In 1940, journalist Edward R. Murrow stood in a church in England while the country endured German bombers night after night. Inside the church was a crudely written sign which read, “If your knees knock, kneel on them.” I don’t know about you, but my knees have been knocking a lot over the last several months. Within the last year,...