The Bravest of the Brave
Written by John White
We are the land of the free for one reason and one reason only — because we are the home of the brave. — Peter Collier author, Medal of Honor
That Significant, Sensational Signing
Written by Becky Akers
You might think that defying a powerful government, convening an illegal Congress, and signing one of liberty’s most lyrical documents would be exciting enough for anyone. But no. Over the decades, folks have embellished the history of the Declaration of Independence and its signers. They’ve neatened the chronology: Congress approved and signed the text on the Fourth of July, then read it publicly that evening while gentlemen removed their tricorns, ladies wept, and fireworks lit the skies. They’ve written quips for the ever-witty Ben Franklin, who certainly needed no help in that department. And they’ve invented heartbreaking fates for the signers at the hands of the vengeful British.
The Great Depression
Written by Charles Scaliger
On October 29, 1929, the world turned upside down. For more than a month, stock prices, which had risen to giddy new levels throughout the decade now known as “the Roaring Twenties,” had been faltering. Since early September, when stock prices peaked, the market had lost about 17 percent of its value, and the previous Thursday, October 24, the decline turned into a free fall, prompting leading U.S. financiers like Thomas Lamont to place bids substantially higher than market prices on large blocks of blue-chip stocks in a last-ditch effort to restore confidence and stave off a market meltdown.
Hitler and Christianity
Written by Selwyn Duke
Long ago, during the darkest chapter of the 20th century, a movie was released entitled Hitler’s Children. While the film is virtually forgotten, I cannot forget a certain scene involving some words a Nazi official uttered to a dissident, a heroic Catholic bishop. Dripping with contempt, the officer said (I’m paraphrasing), “In a few years, the churches will be empty.” It was a thought he obviously relished. Ah, Hollywood and its fiction … or, is this a snapshot of history, a rare case in which Tinseltown’s art imitated life?
Spreading Liberty With a Bayonet
Written by Becky Akers
The United States has embroiled much of the world in its War on Terror, occupied Iraq since 2003, and bombed Afghanistan — all to “spread liberty.” Karl Rove alleged in 2006 that George W. Bush “is committed to something no past president has ever attempted: spreading liberty to the broader Middle East.” Bush himself insisted last January that “our strategy is to spread liberty.” Apparently, freedom spreads around as easily as peanut butter.
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The Story of the Pueblo
Written by W.W. “Chip” Wood
Several years ago, my youngest son and I were watching a program on the History Channel when the program’s narrator mentioned the capture of a Naval vessel by Communist North Korea back in 1968.
“That didn’t really happen, did it, Dad?” my son asked me. When I replied that it had, he was stunned. “Do you mean to tell me that North Korea seized one of our ships, beat and tortured the crew for most of a year, and we didn’t do anything about it?”
America’s North Star
Written by Charles Scaliger
Georg Steller thought he was seeing a mirage. After weeks at sea on the frigid, storm-tossed waters of the north Pacific, Steller, along with his 70-odd shipmates on the Russian exploratory vessel the St. Peter, was beginning to despair of finding land. Weeks earlier, after years of arduous preparation that included the transport of men and equipment across the Siberian wilderness, the St. Peter, along with her sister ship, the St. Paul, had at last set off, under the direction of Danish captain Vitus Bering, from the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia’s almost-unexplored Far East in search of the northwestern coast of the American continent. Days earlier the two ships had become separated in bad weather and the St. Peter, low on water, food, and morale, had continued northeast into the unknown ocean.
Ron Paul and Guy Fawkes
Written by Dennis Behreandt"Yesterday," MSNBC reported on November 6, "Ron Paul’s campaign raised more than $4 million in a grassroots push tied to the Guy Fawkes plot to blow up the British Parliament in the 17th Century." The record online campaign haul that day stemmed from an effort developed by Paul’s always energetic grassroots supporters rather than by the campaign itself. As Paul pointed out on his Website two days later, the historic fundraising "event was created, organized, and run by volunteers."
As WWII proceeded, Soviet and British intelligence operatives and American private interests sought to infiltrate and influence American operations.
Tyranny and Posse Comitatus
Written by William Norman Grigg
General Robert E. Lee knew the South had lost the war. He was also vividly aware that many, perhaps even most, of his troops were willing to continue the fight with vengeance, not victory, as the primary objective.
Duranty’s Lethal Lies
Written by Dennis Behreandt
Using terror and famine, Josef Stalin murdered millions in the Ukraine. Walter Duranty, the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, and the New York Times covered up the massacre.