As I write this commentary, I’m watching Chief Justice John Roberts ask all 100 Senators to stand and take a special oath for the Impeachment Trial of President Trump. “Do you solemnly swear that in all things appertaining to the trial of the impeachment of Donald John Trump, president of the United States, now pending, you will do impartial justice according...

(With apologies to Stephen Vincent Benét) It’s a story they tell about a land that occupied the smallest place in a once powerful nation. Now, all that power was concentrated in one spot and one group whose fear of losing their authority was so great that they succumbed to the most corrupt individual between heaven and earth. So powerful, they...

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”   — George Santayana, Spanish philosopher At the most critical juncture of the Cuban Missile Crisis, President Kennedy was facing the very real possibility of nuclear war with Russia. In a speech to the American people, Kennedy details the crisis and expresses his desire for full and complete denuclearization....

As a New York Times editorial (Jan. 3), cogently puts it: “The real question to ask about the American drone attack that killed Major General Qassim Suleimani was not whether it was justified, but whether it was wise.” Several years ago at Christmas time, I gave some money to a homeless man sitting in front of the local post office....

We’re all looking for positive stories. This editorial — from The New York Times, Sunday March 7, 1954, under the title, “The ‘Positive’ Story” — is more a warning to President Eisenhower, and offers many parallels to today’s headlines. What many were unaware at the time, Eisenhower had already begun a stealth campaign against the demagogic Senator Joseph R. McCarthy,...

In my 2005 book, What Do You Stand for? – Stories About Principles That Matter, I began tobacco insider Jeffrey Wigand’s story with these words: What do you do when you discover something wrong? What do you do with what you know? Do you remain silent or come forward? Do you remain loyal to the company or expose the truth?...

This is not about Democrats vs. Republicans; this is about Right vs. Wrong. America used to be the standard of moral behavior: liberty; justice for all; freedom of religion, press; human rights. While we haven’t always been perfect, we constantly strive toward a more perfect union. On the other end of the continuum, we have one individual who — abetted...

The whistleblower was not in on the call. It was hearsay. “Everything Trump says was in the best interests of the country.” No due process. Secret basement meetings (with Republicans in attendance). “The Ukrainian president didn’t do the investigation… No quid pro quo.” “Was there a quid pro quo?” E.U. Ambassador Gordon Sondland asked rhetorically, testifying before the House committee....

“So, he’s going to do the investigation?” – President Donald Trump, in a phone call to Gordon Sondland in Ukraine Why is this man smiling? Gordon Sondland, the man literally in the middle of the president’s impeachment inquiry, appears happy as he walks to a joint House committee not long ago. How will he feel walking to the House Intelligence...

In January 1972, John Dean, White House Counsel to President Richard Nixon, met with Attorney General John Mitchell and others to hear a plan proposed by G. Gordon Liddy for intelligence-gathering for Nixon’s re-election campaign. After the plan met with resistance, Liddy scaled it back and Mitchell approved a scheme that called for a break-in of Democratic Headquarters in the...