On this day, March 30, in 1981, President Ronald Reagan was shot by the deranged John Hinckley, Jr. As news came into the school, all of us kids were lined up in the hallway outside our second floor classrooms to be led downstairs to the cafeteria for parental pick up. As we waited to go, … Continue reading Reagan Shot: “Don’t you dare say I told you so” →

In late 1864, London Telegraph reporter George Augustus Sala, that paper’s Washington correspondent, interview the Lincolns in the Blue Parlor of the White House. In his article about that interview, Mr. Sala described his impressions of the president in great detail. More on that soon. Here is a key section that stood out in light … Continue reading Abe Lincoln: Great Joker of Jokes, the Sancho Panza Made Governor →

I don’t pretend to have much knowledge of the first Crimean War, except to observe that it: (a) involved Britain, France, Russia, and the Ottoman Empire; (b) featured the Charge of the Light Brigade made famous by Lord Tennyson; and © made Florence Nightingale famous. Russia went to war against the Ottomans in late 1853 … Continue reading 160 Years After First Crimean War: Into the Valley of Death Again? →