Heavy snow fell the night before the inauguration. On Friday, January 20, 1961, I sat in my seventh grade homeroom class while the teacher rolled in a black and white television and announced that we would all be watching history take place today.  (Me, I always liked a good excuse to watch TV.) What I was unprepared for was how...

One of my earliest memories of school days was reading and working on reports from the World Book Encyclopedia. These hard-bound, red-covered books came in a 19-volume set produced by the Quarrie Corporation.  The copyright on my edition is 1941, but the copyright dates back to 1917! These highly-readable, illustrated books were the primary source for any and all questions and reports...

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…” Listening, last night, to Senator John McCain and President-Elect Barack Obama, the first words from Dicken’s Tale of Two Cities flashed before me. “…it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness; it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity; it was the...

Dear Mr. President-elect, An economy in crisis, rising unemployment, needed reform in healthcare and energy, housing foreclosures, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, a global reputation as unilateral bullies, and a Congress immobilized by special interests and partisan gridlock. The American people are not just fearful of the current state of our union, Mr. President-elect, they’re angry. They’re not only resentful...

I’ve been bothered lately, not just by the recklessness by certain members of Congress, but by the blatancy of it all. Florida Representative Tim Mahoney defiantly telling reporters that the issue of extramarital affairs he had while in office is a “private matter.” Louisiana Representative William Jefferson indicted on 16 corruption-related charges, unashamedly telling constituents that, in spite of $90,000...

In explaining the importance of a $700 Billion dollar plan to shore up the economy, Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson said in an interview that, in affect …the American people don’t understand this. Mr. Paulson is a finance guy, not an education guy. Moments before the House was due to vote on a very complex and highly contentious bill,...

Visiting the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston I was struck by the wisdom and relevance to today’s issues some of our 35th president’s words carry. After announcing his candidacy for the presidency on January 2, 1960, in a speech at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, Kennedy laid out the role of the president in his time. “…the...

“These are the times that try men’s souls.” At a time when the country’s spirit had been all but crushed by fear and despair; when “our affairs were at their lowest ebb and things in the most gloomy state,” British writer and American patriot, Thomas Paine rehabilitated America’s spirit through an essay entitled, “The American Crisis.” Strapped with a war...

In 1914, so the tale goes, the following ad was placed in a London newspaper: “Men Wanted for Hazardous Journey. Small Wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in case of success.” It’s still not known whether those words were truly those of Irish explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton or just another...

If I had the opportunity to speak to Congress on the importance of trust, it might sound something like this – The first time I became aware of political leadership it was 1961. Our 7th grade homeroom teacher wheeled in a big television set so that the entire class could watch the inauguration of John Fitzgerald Kennedy. We all sat...