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American History and Heroes
70 posts, newest first (page 1 of 3).
What Caused the Civil War, Who Won It and Why, Answered From the RecordTwelve plain questions about the Civil War answered from the record, from the secession declarations to Appomattox, the dead and what Emancipation did. The Pilgrims Tried Common Property and Went Hungry Until Bradford Changed ItPlymouth's common storehouse bred shortage and resentment, Bradford's 1623 land assignment brought plenty, and skeptical historians get a fair hearing. A Thought Experiment Where Washington Needs a Permit to Cross the DelawareSatire: George Washington's Christmas 1776 crossing run through modern permitting, then the real crossing and why free people cannot wait for permission to act. How to Judge the Founders Fairly Without Excusing Slavery or Erasing ThemMany Founders held slaves and also wrote the principles that ended slavery; a numbered argument for holding both truths and answering the charge of hypocrisy. Was America Founded in 1619 or 1776 and What the Historical Record ShowsThe claim that protecting slavery was a primary reason for independence, stated at its strongest and then tested against the record, point by point. The Cherry Tree, the Flat Earth and Other History Myths Traced to Their SourceEight famous American stories that never happened as told, each traced to the person who made it up, with a verdict, because the true record needs no help. How to Find an Ancestor Who Served in an American War Using Public RecordsSeven steps to trace a family member's military service through draft cards, the National Archives, the VA gravesite locator and ABMC, then write it down. How to Mark America's 250th Birthday in Your Own Town and With Your Own FamilySix steps for any family: read the Declaration aloud, find a local Revolutionary veteran, visit a park site, interview a vet, fly the flag right, ask your town. America at 250 and What the Centennial and the Bicentennial Can Teach UsPhiladelphia in 1876, Operation Sail in 1976 and the 250th commission of 2016 compared, with a plain argument about what an anniversary ought to teach. Constitution Day and How Americans Marked the Charter's Great AnniversariesFrom the 1887 centennial to the 1987 bicentennial and the 2004 law on schools, how each anniversary of the Constitution showed what Americans thought of it. The Firefighters Who Climbed the Towers and the 343 Names the FDNY Still ReadsThe New York firefighters who climbed the stairs on September 11, the failures the Commission found and the later cost to responders, told with the 343 names. Flight 93 Passengers Voted to Fight Back and Saved a Target in WashingtonHow the passengers and crew of United 93 learned by phone what had happened, decided to act and charged the cockpit, and why they stand with the Minutemen. September 11, 2001 Hour by Hour From the First Plane to the Last RescueA timed account of September 11, 2001, drawn from the 9/11 Commission Report, from the hijackings to the collapses and the last survivor pulled from the rubble. Tear Down This Wall Read Closely as the Speech Diplomats Tried to SoftenReagan's 1987 Brandenburg Gate speech read passage by passage, with the drafting history, the objections to its central line and how it read after 1989. The Night the Berlin Wall Fell and the Press Conference Slip That Opened ItHow a misread note at a live press conference opened the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989, and why it took forty years of containment to make the slip fatal. The POWs of the Hanoi Hilton and the Code They Tapped Through the WallsHow American prisoners in North Vietnam kept faith and chain of command alive for years with a tap code, a blinked word on television and a code of conduct. The Miracle on Ice in 1980 and Why a Hockey Game Meant So Much to the CountryA timeline of Herb Brooks's 1980 team, the 10-3 loss to the Soviets, the 4-3 win at Lake Placid and the gold two days later, and why it meant so much. Was the Moon Landing Faked and Other Space Race Myths Tested Against the RecordEight stories about the space race, from the faked landing to the waving flag and the million-dollar pen, tested against the record with a verdict on each. Apollo 11 From Liftoff to Splashdown in Dated Steps With the Words SpokenEight days from Launch Complex 39A to the Pacific in dated, timed entries, with the words spoken and a reason each moment mattered. We Choose to Go to the Moon Read Closely as a Speech About Doing Hard ThingsKennedy's 1962 Rice speech read passage by passage as an argument that a free people can choose a hard goal, set a date and pay for it in the open. The Chosin Reservoir and the Marines Who Attacked in Another DirectionSurrounded by far larger Chinese forces in brutal cold in 1950, the 1st Marine Division fought out of the Chosin Reservoir in good order with its wounded. Inchon in September 1950 and the Landing Everyone Said Could Not WorkMacArthur's gamble at Inchon on September 15, 1950 saved a collapsing front and shows both the reward of boldness and the price of overreach. The Berlin Airlift Fed a City by Air for Eleven Months Without Firing a ShotIn 1948 Stalin cut off West Berlin and America chose neither surrender nor war, keeping two million people alive by air and teaching a lesson in deterrence. What the Medal of Honor Is, Who Awards It and How a Citation Is WrittenHow the Medal of Honor began in 1861 and 1862, the 1917 purge, the standard of valor, the three versions, the review process, and how to read a citation.
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- The Constitution and the Founders
- First Principles
- The Courts and the Rule of Law
- Economy, Taxes and Free Markets
- Big Government and the Administrative State
- Border, Immigration and Sovereignty
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- Education, Parents and Kids
- Culture, Media and Free Speech
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