history
President Garfield is having a moment. It’s about time!
He was the 20th president, whose short time in office was cut even shorter by an assassin’s bullet. President James A. Garfield has long been forgotten and ignored — until…
Read More166 years later, John Brown’s soul goes marching on.
One hundred and sixty-six years ago this weekend, abolitionist John Brown led a small band of 18 men to the federal arsenal town of Harpers Ferry at the confluence of…
Read MoreMy Lai, William Calley, Pete Hegseth, and Donald Trump
More than half a century ago, the military prosecuted and convicted Lt. William Calley for the murder of “not less than 22” unarmed Vietnamese in the hamlet of My Lai…
Read More“Pioneers of the Press”
Pioneers of the Press. A book–and a legacy to honor and uphold Sixty-five years ago, my father Gerard Previn Meyer wrote a book called “Pioneers of the Press.” The publisher…
Read MoreHiroshima, the Enola Gay, Paul Tibbets and Me
December 7, 1941, was, declared President Franklin D. Roosevelt, “a date which will live in infamy,” when Japanese planes attacked and destroyed the U.S. naval fleet anchored at Pearl Harbor,…
Read MoreMorton Mintz, R.I.P. and Washington Post Buyouts Then and Now
My friend Mort Mintz died this week at 103. Fittingly, the Washington Post, where we were colleagues for many years, gave him a nice obit, starting on the Metro news…
Read MoreThe Conscience of a Conservative
“Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. Moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.” This declaration seems uncannily relevant today, when our liberties are under assault…
Read MoreJuneteenth Is Still Relevant
Lest We Forget! The slogan, invoked by unreconstructed rebel defenders of “the lost cause,” referring to the defeat of the Confederacy by the Union 160 years ago, has suddenly taken…
Read MoreA Biographer’s Craft
“Having a project is a gift, Not having a project is when you are in trouble.” — various These pearls of wisdom were recalled at the recent conference of the…
Read MoreD-Day+81 – Why they fought
D-Day – the 6th of June, 1944: “The Longest Day,” as it was called in the classic 1962 film of that name. Then came “The Americanization of Emily” (1964 –…
Read More