American Tradition
One Thing We All Can Do to Save America
How did you spend Constitution Day on September 17th? At our house, we started with a family tradition—reading the Constitution aloud. Yes, the whole thing. And it only takes about half an hour to cover all seven articles and the Bill of Rights. Most people don’t like this idea—sounds like a job for a lawyer. But here’s the secret: The Founders wrote this document for everyone not just the legal experts. They wanted you, me, and your next-door neighbor to know exactly what was in it. Reflecting on that very challenge, Thomas Jefferson wrote that “Laws are made for men of ordinary understanding and should, therefore, be construed by the ordinary rules of common sense” (1823 Letter to William Johnson). John Adams expressed the same, telling a friend in 1776, “The laws ought to be made as plain and intelligible as possible” (Letter to James Sullivan) So, there it is. ...
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American History
When the Beast Wears a Smile
In 1985, as a CIA intelligence officer on rotation to the White House Situation Room, I had a front-row seat to history—or at least as close as one could get without being in the room. The Situation Room, nestled in the West Wing, just down the stairs from the Oval Office, remains the most secure location in the White House for good reason. It was here that President Ronald Reagan met with his closest advisors, grappling with crises and shaping policy in a sealed-off, private space shielded from prying eyes and ears. The layout of the Situation Room reflected its purpose. The polished wood of the conference table gleamed under the subdued lighting, surrounded by ten thickly padded chairs reserved for the vice president, the National Security Advisor, military leaders, and other top officials. Even the small peepholes in the sliding wooden doors hinted at the room’s secrecy. They allowed ...
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American Figures
Quaker Potts and the Sentinel in the Snow
The obscure Quaker Isaac Potts, an otherwise unknown and insignificant figure in history, told of a poignant moment he personally witnessed during the ravages of the early days of America’s War for Independence. It was a scene at Valley Forge—amply recreated in paintings, drawings and popular media—of George Washington, the general of the American army, a bowed man whose shoulders carried the burdens of freedom through that grist mill of defeat and deprivation, dropping to his knees in final desperation to lay his petition for relief before God. Quaker Potts is the sole source of the details of this event, telling it to family and associates. It’s a tale of lasting endurance drawn from the frozen mud of stark discouragement and death among the dwindling hovels of troops who then sustained the cause of freedom on that wintry day. Seldom mentioned about this lowest point in their slogging struggle is ...
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