In December 1944, the Battle of the Bulge was in its second week. The Third Army was pushing north toward Bastogne in conditions that had exhausted the men fighting and moving without rest since the offensive began. General George S. Patton was doing what he always did during critical operations. He moved between his front-line … Read more
The image of Mamie and Dwight Eisenhower at the 1953 inauguration is one of the most enduring in American political history. He finished the oath, turned, and kissed his wife, the first president ever to do so. The country decided they were the perfect couple. Mamie wore pink, and buttons read, "I like Ike, but … Read more
In the winter of 1934, an 82-year-old man named Absalom Rutledge arrived by rail in the small Wyoming town of Bellefry Springs. He signed the boarding house register with a slow, careful hand. Under "purpose of stay," he wrote: "to die here." The widow who kept the house, Vera Holston, initially thought he was joking. … Read more
The patrol crossed into Sonora on April 11, 1886, under the terms of a treaty that allowed American forces to pursue Apache renegades up to 50 leagues into Mexican territory. Captain Garrick Voorssen commanded 16 men, including two Mexican civilian packers, three Indian scouts, and a young corporal named Wendell Crane. Their objective was a … Read more
The body of Francesca Hilton, the only daughter of hotel magnate Conrad Hilton, lay unclaimed in the Los Angeles County morgue for days after she died of a massive stroke on January 5, 2015, a silent testament to a lifetime of deliberate exclusion from the family dynasty her father built. The 67-year-old collapsed at a … Read more
In February 1996, the world watched as the Kennedy fairy tale appeared to shatter in a New York City park. Paparazzi cameras captured a physical fight between John F. Kennedy Jr. and his fiancée Carolyn Bessette, with John reportedly ripping her engagement ring from her finger. The footage went nuclear. The National Enquirer paid a … Read more
In the summer of 1976, a princess stepped out of her car and did what she had always done. She smiled. She shook the hands that were offered. She asked shy people their names and made them laugh. All the while, at every newsstand she passed, her husband’s name was in the headlines about the … Read more
In January 1933, Adolf Hitler’s appointment as Chancellor of Germany marked the end of the country’s democratic era. A key force behind his rise was the Sturmabteilung, or SA, a paramilitary organization that had grown to over three million members. Known as the Brownshirts, the SA played a central role in Nazi political violence and … Read more
On the evening of July 16, 1999, John F. Kennedy Jr. took off from Essex County Airport in New Jersey. He was flying his wife, Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, and her sister, Lauren Bessette, to Martha’s Vineyard. The plan was to drop Lauren off before continuing to Hyannis Port for a family wedding the next day. … Read more
Oskar Dirlewanger was born on September 26, 1895, in Wörburg, then part of the German Empire. The son of a merchant, he served in the German invasion of Belgium during World War I and later fought in France. He was wounded six times and received the Iron Cross, second and first class, despite being classified … Read more