Every once in a while, the #stampoftheday marks something odd. Today is one of those days, as the #stampoftheday is a 3-cent stamp, issued on November 20, 1948, that commemorated the 100th anniversary of the American Turners Society. Until I saw the stamp, I had never heard of the American Turners Society. And unlike some […]
The Byrds Were Not American Turners Read More »
On November 19, 1863, Edward Everett, one of America’s great 19th century orators, gave a more than two-hour speech at the ceremony dedicating a new cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. When he was done, President Abraham Lincoln, who had been asked by the event’s organizers to give “a few appropriate remarks,” stood up to speak. According
Lincoln Understood Freedom Read More »
For reasons I can’t really explain, I really like the image of large propeller plane that’s on today’s #stampoftheday, a 6-cent airmail stamp issued on November 18, 1949. The stamp depicts a DC-4, America’s first large four-engine plane and one that had both significant military and commercial uses in the 1940s and early 1950s. The
An Iconic Stamp For an Iconic Airplane Read More »
Sometime in the mid-1920s, a Washington socialite seated next to the President Calvin Coolidge, supposedly turned to the famously taciturn president and said, “I made a bet today that I could get more than two words out of you.” Coolidge, whose nickname was “Silent Cal,” allegedly replied, “You lose.” While it doesn’t appear that this
Calvin Coolidge Kept His Ego In Check Read More »
Around the time she turned 60, writer Nina Shengold decided to walk the path around New York’s Ashokan Reservoir every day for a year. Last spring, she published “Reservoir Year,” an edited account of the journals she wrote after each walk. I heard about the book this summer when, thanks to Facebook, I reconnected with
George Washington Meet Nina Shengold Read More »
The third time (on a stamp) was not a charm for William Tecumseh Sherman, who, on November 15, 1864, sent his troops out from Atlanta on their famous (or infamous) March to the Sea. Issued in February 1937, the 3-cent stamp, which was part of a 10-stamp series honoring the US Army and Navy, pictured
The South Finally Beats William Tecumseh Sherman Read More »
“Everyone,” Daniel Patrick Moynihan famously s said, “is entitled to his own opinion.” “But, he added, “they are not entitled to their own facts.” Moynihan’s words are particularly appropriate in the current fraught moment when, in my opinion, the current President of the United States and his supporters refuse to acknowledge basic facts about the
Higher Education, Opinions, and Facts Read More »
On November 13, 1937, when today’s #stampoftheday was issued, Alaska was a territory, not a state. The stamp, which pictures the mountain formerly known as Mt. McKinley, was part of a four-stamp series celebrating Alaska and three other US territories: Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands. Today, Alaska and Hawaii are states. About
Why Isn’t Puerto Rico a State? Read More »
In the midst of current trade disputes with—and heated pandemic fueled rhetoric about – China, it’s easy to forget the strange long history of US relations with China. Today’s #stampoftheday, a 4-cent stamp depicting Sun Yat-Sen issued on November 12, 1961, reminds me of that history, particularly America’s more than two-decade long refusal to recognize
Sun Yat Sen and America’s Complicated Relationship with China Read More »
In the spring of 1944, General George S. Patton, gave a series of profanity-filled, inspirational speeches to soldiers in the newly formed US Third Army, was preparing to be part of the Allied invasion of France. “No bastard ever won a war by dying for his country,” he famously said. “He won it by making
What to Make of General George Patton? Read More »