Category Archives: history

John F. Kennedy

Posted on June 27, 2026 by smellincoffee

Despite only serving most of two years, JFK has loomed large in the memories of Americans, and his brutal assassination has much to do with that. His presidency was potential cut short; hope, aborted. In John F. Kennedy, Brinkley writes: … Continue reading →

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Thirteen Days

Posted on June 26, 2026 by smellincoffee

The Cuban Missile Crisis is the closest time the Cold War came to turning into a hot war, and (presumably) a global holocaust. RFK served the President most immediately not as his attorney general, but his confidant and advisor. Thirteen … Continue reading →

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The Unfinished Odyssey of Robert F. Kennedy

Posted on June 25, 2026 by smellincoffee

David Halberstam was already a seasoned reporter when he began covering RFK’s fatal 1968 bid for the presidency. The bid itself was almost dead on arrival; RFK dragged his feet on deciding, and continually probed those around him as to … Continue reading →

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Bad Blood

Posted on June 24, 2026 by smellincoffee

When LBJ mentioned that Joe Kennedy’s son Robert would be excellent at leading something like NASA, RFK recorded this in his diary. The master of the Senate thought he had potential! Only a few years later, however, RFK and LBJ … Continue reading →

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1960: The Election that Forged Three Presidencies

Posted on June 22, 2026 by smellincoffee

As the Eisenhower administration began drawing to a close and a new decade loomed, America had a choice: stay the course, or shake things up? Although JFK would claim in his 1961 inaugural that the torch had been passed to … Continue reading →

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Kennedy and Nixon

Posted on June 18, 2026 by smellincoffee

President Richard Nixon was a sweetie-pie who wrote letters so tender to Jackie Kennedy she cried, and she wrote him gracious letters back. The idea of Nixon being sweet and caring does not sit easily with modern readers, but that … Continue reading →

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To Rescue the American Spirit

Posted on June 6, 2026 by smellincoffee

While I hadn’t planned to read Thedore Roosevelt until I’d finished off Garfield, etc,  the ladyfriend bought this for me and I  found it fairly absorbing – as in hey, why not spend two hours after work each day reading … Continue reading →

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A Radical Exercise in Liberty

Posted on June 5, 2026 by smellincoffee

The Declaration of Independence: A Radical Exercise in Liberty  is a unique work,  as it is a history of how the Declaration came to be – not only politically, but philosophically. It begins as formal history,  recounting the early 1770s … Continue reading →

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The Lettahs of JFK

Posted on June 1, 2026 by smellincoffee

Having finished listening to George H.W. Bush’s family read his personal letters and diary entries across fifty years in All the Best,  I could not very well refrain from the temptation of reading JFK’s letters.  The Letters of JFK, however, … Continue reading →

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All the Best, George

Posted on May 29, 2026 by smellincoffee

. All the Best is a collection of Bush Sr’s letters, diary entries and emails, prefaced by him and read to varying degrees by his family — including “Bar” whose first particular entry is heartbreaking. As a 1990s kid, there … Continue reading →

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