I Lift My Lamp
In the context of a world where everything is partisan, everything is divided, everything pushes us to make an affirmative choice between...
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- Feb 24
- 13 min
Breaking Records
[A dear friend recently invited me to address a luncheon meeting of retired members of the NC Bar at the NC State University Club. A...
- Feb 3
- 6 min
Hooray for Hollywood
My first real job out of college was with a division of the National Archives called the National Audiovisual Center. The director was a...
- Oct 14, 2022
- 6 min
Bosses II
Dr. Trudy Huskamp Peterson, Dr. Michael Kurtz, Adrienne Thomas Michael Kurtz Michael Joseph Kurtz was born on March 8, 1949, in Leesburg...
- Aug 18, 2022
- 6 min
Don't Mess With the Archivists
(Movie Poster, National Treasure, Walt Disney Pictures) I couldn’t be prouder of my old ship, the National Archives. Events in recent...
- Aug 9, 2022
- 8 min
Silver Bullet?
(Capitol Reflections, photo by John Constance) Congress is broken. Politics is a vicious blood sport. There is no such thing as a...
- Jul 15, 2022
- 7 min
Eye of the Tiger
Among the first words I ever heard uttered by Congressman Tom Lantos of California were, “Mr. Constance, if you dare to take this action,...
- May 20, 2022
- 3 min
Strom
Some figures in the world of entertainment only need one name, not two like mere mortals. Prince, Bono, Ringo, Madonna, Sting, and...
- Mar 19, 2022
- 3 min
Mr. Capra Goes to Washington
John Houseman, Frank Capra, Pare Lorenz I often associate my intersection with famous people as limited to my days as Director of Public...
- Mar 4, 2022
- 7 min
Tapping Into History
If the idea is good, sometimes plans effortlessly fall into place. Such was the case one magical night in the rotunda of the National...
- Feb 26, 2022
- 4 min
The Famous Little Portraitist
One Friday afternoon early in the tenure of Governor John Carlin as Archivist of the United States, I heard a voice in the outer office...
- Feb 5, 2022
- 7 min
This Land is Your Land
There were two reasons that John Carlin, Archivist of the United States, and I were travelling to the FDR Library and Museum in Hyde...
- Jan 29, 2022
- 10 min
I Believe in Science - Political Science
Senator Charles (Mac) Mathias (R-MD) Governor Theodore R. McKeldin (R-MD) Ok folks, the topics today are political patronage and...
- Jan 22, 2022
- 6 min
Church with 41
During my tenure at the National Archives, I got into the habit of attending St. John’s Lafayette Square each year on Good Friday. As an...
- Jan 15, 2022
- 2 min
The Boy from Troy
I think the first time that I met Congressman John Lewis was at the opening of the Eyewitness exhibit at the National Archives in June...
- Jan 8, 2022
- 4 min
Turd Blossom
Karl Christian Rove, or “Turd Blossom” as he was christened by George W. Bush, is probably the most well-known Republican political...
- Jan 1, 2022
- 5 min
The Senator from Searchlight
As I emerge from my writing hiatus, I am channeling my dad who was an early riser and read two newspapers before my mom had opened her...
- Dec 12, 2021
- 4 min
Filial Piety
It is xiào in Mandarin, haau in Cantonese, hiêu in Vietnamese, and Kō in Romanized Japanese. It traces its roots to ancestor worship back...
- Dec 7, 2021
- 4 min
Bob Dole
We lost another political giant this week. Robert Joseph “Bob” Dole. 98 years old. He was a son of Russell, Kansas, war hero, longtime...
- Nov 21, 2021
- 14 min
A President's Casket
As a long-time employee of the National Archives in Washington, DC, I had learned to never utter the words, “well, now I’ve seen it all”....
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