On January 30, 1933, Adolf Hitler was appointed chancellor of Germany. The Nazi regime quickly moved to restrict the civil and human rights of Jewish people, gradually excluding them from professions, businesses, and public spaces. Propaganda campaigns created an atmosphere tolerant of violence and prepared the population for mass deportations and genocide. Between 1933 and … Read more
On January 30, 1933, Adolf Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany. The Nazi regime aimed to lead the German “master race” to victory in a racial struggle against those it deemed inferior, especially Jews. The German medical profession played a central role in shaping and implementing Nazi policies, and many doctors became involved in the … Read more
The Battle of the Little Bighorn remains one of the most studied and debated conflicts of the American Indian Wars. The treatment of the dead left on that Montana battlefield reveals a great deal about the attitudes of the era toward life, death, and the respect afforded to fallen soldiers. In 1876, the Great Plains … Read more
In 1836, Samuel Colt secured a patent for the first practical revolver mechanism, a design that allowed multiple shots without reloading. Produced in Paterson, New Jersey, the Colt Paterson debuted as a .28 caliber sidearm featuring a revolving cylinder system. It became the first commercially successful repeating handgun, combining a fixed barrel with rotating chambers … Read more
The Battle of the Little Bighorn, fought on June 25 and 26, 1876, remains one of the most studied and debated moments in American history. While the broad strokes of the conflict are well known, the details of what happened on the grassy hills of Montana are often pieced together through the objects left behind. … Read more
The discovery of George Armstrong Custer’s body on June 27, 1876, did not match the heroic image later cemented in American memory. He was found naked except for his socks, propped against fallen soldiers as if sleeping. The reality was far grimmer. Chest and head wounds indicated he had been shot, and his brother Tom … Read more
Universal executives were nervous about the script from the moment it landed. The National Lampoon brand was sharp, profane, and built on humor that made studios uneasy. When the company finally committed to a low-budget college comedy, nobody on the lot expected a hit—they were bracing for a curiosity that might turn a small profit. … Read more
On July 2, 1863, Confederate forces smashed into Union lines near the Peach Orchard at Gettysburg, and in the chaos of that brutal engagement, Private Richard Baxter Smart of the First Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry vanished. His comrades searched the bodies scattered across the field. His family waited weeks for word. No one could find him. … Read more
On the morning of February 3, 1997, the United States Ambassador to France entered the pool at the Ritz Hotel in Paris and began her daily swim. She was 76 years old. Two hours later, she was pulled from the water by a hotel employee, unconscious. By the standards of her extraordinary life, it was … Read more
On June 25, 1876, the Battle of Little Bighorn unfolded across the green plains of Montana. Five companies of the U.S. 7th Cavalry, led by General George Armstrong Custer, were annihilated in a fierce fight against combined forces of Lakota Sioux, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho warriors. For the Native peoples involved, it was a desperate … Read more