One appointee, Secretary of War Henry Stimson, (that’s him with Gen. George Marshall) had actually served as Secretary of State in the...

Harrison – everyone called him Pat – wouldn’t recognize the U.S. Senate today and I’m guessing he’d be appalled by the current leaders,...

statesman/writer of the 20th – or perhaps any – Century. Over his long life he made serious money as a writer, won the Nobel Prize for...

Charles Dickens, with his enduring 1843 tale A Christmas Carol, invented much of what we consider the traditions of Christmas – the...

In 1963 when the young black activist, John Lewis, who later became the distinguished Congressman from Georgia, was nearly beaten to...

The after massacre reports speculate that the mass murder of 20 six and seven year olds may prompt a serious national discussion of what...

Daniel Day-Lewis once again establishes himself as film’s finest living actor. Before Day-Lewis’ Lincoln, every film version of the life...

In the first blush of political defeat the tendency of many partisans – this is true on the right and on the left – is to take the wrong...

Five initial takeaways from the voting yesterday: 1) In Idaho the controversial effort by top GOP leaders to “reform” education received...

The Obama campaign and its Super PAC allies spent all summer, as the favorite catch phrase of politics now holds, advancing that...

The San Francisco Giants (happily for we Giants fans) clearly have what George H.W. Bush once called “The Big Mo.” The dejected St. Louis...

The news this week that former South Dakota U.S. Senator George McGovern is in the last days of his 90 years is a reminder once again...

The man who had twice been Prime Minister of France, an international statesman, a friend of Herbert Hoover and TIME’s Man of the Year in...

The astute political analyst Charlie Cook nailed the essence of Mitt Romney months ago when he said the GOP nominee is “unencumbered by...

Americans, by most accounts, consider themselves the hardest working people in the world. Well, maybe. But, at what cost and at what...

More importantly, every week is fashion week in Siena; a city that is to style what Boston is to baseball meltdowns. The old city,...

The author and historian Shelby Foote, his narrative history of the Civil War  – all 1.5 million words of it – remains one of the...

Today no analysis – historic or otherwise – just seven rules collected over 35 years of reporting on politics, working on two statewide...

Of course the great and terrible American Civil War – across the country we are commemorating its 150th anniversary – eventually became a...

Thomas E. Dewey, of course, lost to the supremely unpopular Harry Truman in 1948 and is now remembered as perhaps the worst major party...