If you pay attention to sports then you might have heard today that Rafer Johnson has passed away.  Johnson is one of the truly great American athletes having won gold in the decathlon in the 1960 Olympic games, the decathlon probably being the toughest sport there is.  There has been a lot said today about … Continue reading Class Notes →

Will we ever change the Electoral College? This is not a normal article that I am sending to papers, but I have been asked by a couple online readers if I ever see the possibility of the Electoral College going away. I thought it would be easier to just make a post rather than answer … Continue reading Class Notes →

In 1975, violence began to escalate in Lebanon between the Christian Government leaders and the Muslim majority. Seeing an opportunity, the PLO got involved and Lebanon broke out into Civil War. To help fight the two groups the government asked Syria to help driving out the PLO and putting down the Muslim uprising. Syria helped … Continue reading Class Notes →

During the Great Depression, as weird as it sounds, movies became a vital part of people’s lives. Movies were cheap enough that most could scrap together a few cents to catch a movie now and then. The two most popular genres were gangster films and comedies. Movie gangsters and even some real-life criminals became celebrities. … Continue reading Class Notes →

The most important player in the modern Middle East is Egyptian leader, Gamal Nasser.  He had the difficult task of trying to find a balance between Egyptians and the British, as well as between peace with Israel and looking strong to other Arab nations.  During his life he launched several attacks against Israel, but also … Continue reading Class Notes →

On Oct 24, 1929, there was an unprecedented wave of sell orders on the NYSE.  Around noon prominent investors, like JP Morgan and others, pooled their money to buy stocks to stabilize the drop. Stocks did stabilize, but public confidence was shaken.  Prices held on Friday but slipped some the next day.  It was Tuesday, … Continue reading Class Notes →

One of the consequences of WWI for America was serious race issues.  Black soldiers had been treated relatively well by the French and many of the returning veterans thought their service to the US would help their status.  It did not.  Also, during the War thousands of Blacks migrated from the South to the North … Continue reading Class Notes →

Before the US joined WWI, we did our best to stay out of the conflict.  One of the reasons was because economically it made sense.  While Europe was tearing themselves apart, the US could sit back and trade with all sides.  It was WWI that finally made the US a leading economic power in the … Continue reading Class Notes →

In many ways WWI turned into a stalemate, as both sides stared at each other from their trenches and occasionally sent men over the top to certain slaughter.  The Germans tried to break the stalemate at the Battle of Verdun.  Their idea was to launch such a vicious attack and continue to attack until the … Continue reading Class Notes →

In the Election of 1912, Teddy Roosevelt was upset that his handpicked successor, President Taft, had not followed his progressive plan the way he had wanted.  He decided that he would come back and push Taft aside and run again on the Republican ticket.  The problem was that the conservatives in the party supported Taft … Continue reading Class Notes →