American political parties are coalitions of local and regional segments.  As recent elections have shown the strongest elements  in an election are the independent voters not affiliated with one of the major parties. In some cases, the independents form fifty-percent of the voters. Sometimes the independents do not pay much attention to local candidates compared [...]

The Freeman has a long and distinguished history in the cause of liberty.
One finds its origins deep in the classical liberal movement. In 1865 William Lloyd Garrison closed his famous The Liberator with passage of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution. But, a number of leading figures felt that the War Between the States had [...]

The University of Virginia was founded by retired president Thomas Jefferson about 1819 near his home in Charlottesville. The traditional college, which Jefferson had attended, was William and Mary College established in 1701 as an Anglican university in the then capital, Williamsburg. Over the almost two centuries, the University [...]

January 19 the voters of Massachusetts administered a severe defeat to the Democratic Party. The special election was held to fill the US Senate seat of the late Sen. Edward Kennedy who had held it for 47 years after his brother, John F. Kennedy, had held it for eight years. The state is viewed as [...]

A newly published novel, Wolf Hall by Hilary Martel, concerns Thomas Cromwell who rose from assistant to Cardinal Wolsey, Lord Chancellor of Henry VIII, to the monarch’s chief minister noted for his efficient confiscation of the properties of the English monasteries. Many will recall Cromwell’s portrayal in the film of Sir Thomas More, A Man [...]

When I was studying at Columbia University Law School, I read Henri Pirenne’s classic study, Mohammed and Charlemagne (it was an eye-opener and contributed to my studying history in graduate school). Henri Pirenne (1862-1935) was the famous professor of medieval history at the University of Ghent (1886-1930). His analysis showed that the expansion of Islam [...]

Bela Kiraly was someone who I knew and respected as a history colleague in New York.

Kiraly was a hero of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. That autumn I had begun my graduate studies in the history of international relations at Fordham University in The Bronx. I had a lecture course and a seminar with Professor [...]

The special summer book review supplement of the Washington Post (June 14, 2009) contained a review by Christopher Buckley of a post-presidency auto trip by Harry and Bess Truman (Matthew Algeo, Harry Truman’s Excellent Adventure). Truman was succeeded in the White House in January, 1953 by Dwight Eisenhower. Truman had a 22% approval rating which [...]

The 45th annual meeting of The Philadelphia Society was held in New Orleans, March 27-29, 2009. The board of trustees elected Professor Leonard P. Liggio, Executive Vice-President of the Atlas Economic Research Foundation as a Distinguished Member. There are five other living Distinguished Members. The most recent to pass away was Francis A. O’Connell, Esq. [...]

Paul Harvey, the radio commentator, died recently at age 90. He grew up in straightened circumstances in Oklahoma where his police officer father was killed when Paul was an infant. For about the past five decades Paul Harvey was the voice of the American Heartland. Broadcasting each morning from Chicago to 22 million listeners, he [...]