I’m speaking with Ruth. We’re at a birthday celebration of a mutual friend. She tells me she didn't start college until she was...

December 12th is John Jay’s birthday. As one of the seven most influential founders of our country, Jay’s contributions are not as well...

It’s a memorable scene from a memorable movie. Actor Spencer Tracy—portraying a wealthy industrialist running for president—is looking...

October 30 is the birthday of John Adams, our second president. John Adams was one of America’s greatest statesmen--and one of its worst...

The influential jurist with the unlikely but appropriate name Learned Hand served as a presiding judge of the Second Circuit Court of...

After buying tickets and waiting almost a year, we finally got to see “Hamilton,” the smash Broadway musical. It was midweek, and the...

The two-party system was not written into the plan. Indeed, the framers of the United States Constitution worked hard to create a...

Two reviews: THE MONEY GAME, by Adam Smith Putting your money in the stock market: is it a gamble, or is it an investment? Does the...

Mastering Self: Three Reviews I CAN IF I WANT TO, by Arnold Lazarus and Allen Fay “We are not disturbed by things—external events—but by...

It was like a religious conversion—a profound altering of thought, a decided charge of heart, and a rechartering of course. For Supreme...

“There’s America, there’s the South, then there’s Mississippi.” So said President Lyndon Johnson. He might have added, “And then there’s...

They’re the bearded presidents—or, if you will, the Great Emancipator and the Seven Dwarfs. No president before or after these...

In this time of commencement addresses, I recall one in particular given by ABC news anchor Ted Koppel at Duke University in 1987. While...

It’s the most famous dinner in U.S. history. It was hosted by Thomas Jefferson at his well-appointed townhouse on Maiden Lane, a stone’s...

When women assume power in government, the world will become a kindler, gentler place. Says who? Well, Frank Capra for one. In his 1948...

It’s amazing how little politicians know. What they say often amounts to half-truths: yes, there is some truth in what they’re saying,...

What makes a great president? “Great presidents possess, or are possessed by, a vision of an ideal America,” say the editors of the...

It was an eye-opening experience. In my last year of college I took two courses on Constitutional Law (Con Law I & II) and discovered...

It was George H.W. Bush who made the expression famous, mainly because his critics said he lacked it. His predecessor Ronald Reagan had...

“This summer, when you become inundated with all the American bicentennial Fourth-of-July brouhaha, don’t forget you’re celebrating the...