Chance and Circumstance: Pearl Harbor in History

History is strange.  It has a perverse way of folding back on itself like a Mobius strip.  I once listened to an entire lecture by a seasoned historian who, after years of research and thought, ascribed the cause of the 1967 Detroit riots to chance and circumstance.  Really?  Can we resolve complex events to such … Continue reading Chance and Circumstance: Pearl Harbor in History

Writing Christmas Cards Under Fire

By Thomas F. Schwartz December 7, 1941 was, as President Franklin Roosevelt aptly stated: “a date which will live in infamy.”  The surprise attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese plunged America into World War II.  At the time of the attack, Lou Henry Hoover’s sister, Jean Henry Large and niece, Janet Large, resided on … Continue reading Writing Christmas Cards Under Fire