The use of military force - or at least the threat of military force - to force the opening of a sovereign nation that wanted to keep outsiders away is celebrated in today's #stampoftheday. At least that's one way to look at the stamp, a 3-cent stamp issued on July 14, 1953 commemorating the 100th …
Topic: Historical Figures & Events
Delving into the people and events that shaped history
Today's #stampoftheday is an object lesson in what you can see when you look just a little closer. In this case, it's a story that not only features mediocre (at best) political and military leadership but also a famous sculptor whose work includes the largest of the many controversial monuments to the Confederacy. The stamp itself …
The instance of land being set aside specifically for preservation and public use by the U.S. federal government is honored in today's #stampoftheday, a 1-cent stamp issued on July 16. 1934 featuring a picture of Yosemite National Park. The stamp was the first of ten stamps issued in the latter half of 1934 picturing notable …
John Bell Hood, the Confederate general who is the namesake of the most populous U.S. military base in the world (and who apparently wasn't much of the general) is the focus for today's #stampoftheday. Hood isn't on the stamp itself, which is an 8-cent stamp, issued in 1893, picturing General William Tecumsah Sherman, the Union general …
Two timely policy questions—"make or buy?" and "can public-sector employees innovate?" - are conveyed by the two seemingly prosaic stamps that make up today's #stampoftheday offerings. The stamps are a 6-cent stamp picturing James Garfield issued on July 18, 1894 and a 1-cent stamp picturing Benjamin Franklin issued on July 18, 1924. In earlier posts, I've …
The Seneca Falls Convention, an historic gathering that produced one of the most important documents in the long fight for women's rights, is the focus of today's #stampoftheday, a 3-cent stamp celebrating "100 Years of Progress of Women" issued on July 19, 1948, the 100th anniversary of that 2-day gathering in western New York State. …
Today is one of those days when the #stampoftheday provides an uncanny connection to current events. The stamp is a 22-cent stamp from 1942 picturing Grover Cleveland, the only man to serve two non-consecutive terms as president from 1884-1888 and 1892-1896. The connection to current events is that in July 1894, Cleveland, against the wishes of …
The once settled question of whether and how America should provide military support for democratically elected governments in western Europe is highlighted in today's #stampoftheday, a 3-cent stamp issued in 1952 celebrating NATO (the North Atlantic Treaty Organization). The treaty establishing NATO, which was the first peacetime military alliance the United States entered into outside of …
Ulysses S. Grant, who died on July 23, 1885 days after he finished writing his widely acclaimed autobiography, today makes an encore appearance in today's #stampoftheday, which is an 18-cent stamp issued in 1938. While I wrote about Grant in May, I'm returning to him because in mid-June, protestors in San Francisco tore down a statue …