My official headshot as the new Executive Director of the Jamestown Rediscovery Foundation (@jmstownrediscovery.bsky.social). I think the angle makes me look like I’m starting to lose my hair a little, but otherwise not too bad.

I'm excited to share great job news: I started this week as Executive Director of the Jamestown Rediscovery Foundation (a Preservation Virginia site)! Everyone has been very kind, welcoming, and, thankfully, patient this week. Jamestown was the first permanent English settlement in North America.

“Death by Lightning” fans on @netflix.com: James Garfield became President of the United States on 3/4/1881. Interested in how he came to the presidency? If only there were some excellent, peer-reviewed book that explained it. kansaspress.ku.edu/9780700636037/ Image: Architect of the Capitol.

I spent 15 years at James A. Garfield NHS in Ohio. I love that place, the history, & the people. Park Ranger Allison Powell (in this photo) is still one of my closest friends. I'm so happy & proud they got this important project done! I visited last week and got a sneak peek...and it looks great!

Here’s me at the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone on May 7, 2023. I was working a temporary promotion as Acting Superintendent of Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument at the time. And still repping the Pittsburgh @pirates.com, of course.

On this day 154 years ago-Mar. 1, 1872-President Ulysses S. Grant signed legislation creating Yellowstone National Park. It was the world’s first national park. Today, over 100 countries have national parks or similarly protected areas. Image: Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone by Grastel.

Hat addiction is real! Especially among bald men. I hear. I mean, I would have no way of knowing for sure. Obviously. Literally dozens of people worldwide suffer from this affliction every year. Please give whatever you can to stop this scourge.

“Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith, let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it.” ~Abraham Lincoln at Cooper Union, New York City, Feb. 27, 1860. The speech (& press coverage of it) made many view Lincoln as a viable presidential candidate. Image: LOC.

“The good we secure for ourselves is precarious and uncertain, is floating in mid-air, until it is secured for all of us and incorporated into our common life.” ~Jane Addams, “The Subjective Necessity of Social Settlements,” 1893. Image: Jane Addams Papers Project.

“Democracy means not ‘I am as good as you are,’ but ‘You are as good as I am.’” ~Rev. Theodore Parker. Image: Public domain.

“It does not require many words to speak the truth.” ~Chief Joseph (Nez Perce), Jan. 14, 1879. Image: Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture.

“The struggle of today, is not altogether for today—it is for a vast future also.” ~President Abraham Lincoln, Annual Message to Congress, Dec. 3, 1861. Image: National Portrait Gallery.

“When I want to find the vanguard of the people, I look to the uneasy dreams of an aristocracy and find what they dread most.” ~Wendell Phillips, in a speech entitled "On the Labor Question," 1871. Image: Library of Congress.

Hiram R. Revels, first Black person to serve in US Congress, took his seat representing Mississippi in the US Senate on this day in 1870. That state’s legislature elected him to serve remainder of a Senate term (through 3/3/1871) interrupted by the state’s secession & the Civil War. Image: LOC.

Honus Wagner, one of the all-time great Pittsburgh @pirates.com (my team!), born on this day in 1874. A shortstop, he played 1900-17 for the Pirates, winning a World Series & multiple Nat’l League batting titles. In 1936, inducted into Hall of Fame as one of first 5 members. Image: Public domain.

On this day in 1868, Andrew Johnson became first US president to be impeached. Violation of Tenure of Office Act (later ruled unconstitutional) and disagreements w/ Radical Republicans over Reconstruction policy led to impeachment. He was acquitted by 1 vote in May 1868. Images: LOC; public domain.

Did you know Charles Sumner’s first day in the Senate was also Henry Clay’s last day in the Senate? That fascinates me for some reason. Currently reading and loving this excellent Sumner biography. Well done, @ztameez.bsky.social. Image: Macmillan Publishers.

Paul W. Tibbets born OTD in 1915. Joined US Army in 1937, qualified as a pilot in ‘38. On 8/6/1945, Col. Tibbets piloted B-29 Superfortress “Enola Gay” (named for his mother) that dropped atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Retired from Air Force as a Brig. Gen. in 1966. Images: UK Imperial War Museum; USAF.

"If you are going to keep the colored world in the position of exploitation in which it is today, then you are going to have war. And not necessarily war between colored and white people, 1/2

Team USA goalie Connor Hellebuyck played junior hockey for the NAHL’s Odessa Jackalopes. My son currently plays junior hockey for the NAHL’s Odessa Jackalopes. So dad math tells me my son should at some point play in the NHL and win a gold medal for Team USA in the Olympics. Math doesn’t lie.

Episode 7 of the Battle of the Bulge video series I’ve been working on with @hcrichardson.bsky.social and her team is now available! We’ve gotten a ton of wonderful comments from people about this series, including from many whose relatives or family friends fought in the Bulge.

On this day 80 years ago, Deputy Chief of US Mission in Moscow George Kennan wrote the “long telegram,” a 5,000 word cable to State Department arguing Soviets were expansionist & US should pursue a policy of containment against communism. This became a major part of US Cold War policy. Image: LOC.

On this day in 1889, outgoing President Grover Cleveland signed legislation admitting North & South Dakota, Montana, and Washington to the Union as new states. See today’s @hcrichardson.bsky.social “Letters from an American” for more on the significance of this. Image: Washington State University.

Feb. 22, 1980: Miracle on Ice (USA men defeat USSR to advance to gold medal game). Feb. 19, 2026: Miracle on Ice II (USA women defeat Canada in OT for gold). Feb. 22, 2026: Miracle on Ice IIb (USA men defeat Canada in OT for gold). Image: Team USA defeats the Soviets, Feb. 22, 1980. Getty Image.

“First in war, first in peace, first in the hearts of his countrymen.” George Washington born on this day in 1732. His is a complicated legacy, including fighting for liberty of some while enslaving & displacing others. But one of the most important Americans ever. Image: White House Hist. Assoc.

Great start for us this year. Obviously we’re destined to win the World Series this season. Please just leave me alone and let me dream.

“Evil is unspectacular and always human, and shares our bed and eats at our own table.” ~W.H. Auden, “Herman Melville” (1939). Auden was born in the UK on this day 119 years ago: Feb. 21, 1907. He became a naturalized American citizen in 1946. Image: Library of Congress.

Washington Monument dedication ceremony was held 141 years ago today on Feb. 21, 1885. President Chester A. Arthur accepted the monument on behalf of the nation. The first phase of construction (1848-54) likely included enslaved laborers. Image: Washington Monument in 1900. Library of Congress.

As the former Director of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum, I am bound by law to see this movie when it comes out. Good for Brendan Fraser. From Encino Man to Eisenhower in just 34 years.

“We are always getting ready to live, but never living.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1834. Image: Public domain.

On this day in 1792, President George Washington signed the Postal Service Act, which established the United States Post Office Department. Since then, Washington himself has appeared on more postage stamps than any other American. Image: Smithsonian National Postal Museum.

Battle of Iwo Jima began when 30,000 U.S. Marines stormed beaches of the Japanese island on this day in 1945. This battle produced the famous Joe Rosenthal photo of Marines raising American flag on Mount Suribachi. Casualties: approx. 26,000 American; approx. 21,000 Japanese. Image: Public domain.

Let’s not pretend that every moment of American history since July 4, 1776 has been wonderful for everyone. We dishonor those who preceded us when we only discuss the good and ignore the bad. This was an ugly moment in our history. Instead of pretending it didn’t happen, let’s learn from it.

Look for this new book from @ohiounivpress.bsky.social sometime in autumn 2026. It features chapters on each Ohioan who has served as First Lady of the United States, including my chapter on Lucretia Rudolph Garfield. I look forward to seeing it in print! Image: Ohio University Press.

“Where you see wrong or inequality or injustice, speak out, because this is your country. This is your democracy. Make it. Protect it. Pass it on.” ~Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, University of Virginia commencement speech, 1978. Image: Library of Congress.

“Our flag is red, white, and blue, but our nation is a rainbow—red, yellow, brown, black, and white—and we’re all precious in God’s sight.” ~Rev. Jesse Jackson, 1984. Image: Library of Congress.

“O let my land be a land where Liberty is crowned with no false patriotic wreath, But opportunity is real, and life is free, Equality is in the air we breathe. ~Langston Hughes, “Let America be America Again,” 1938. Image: Public domain.

“Life is never easy. There is work to be done, and obligations to be met—obligations to truth, to justice, and to liberty.” ~President John F. Kennedy, Jun. 26, 1963. Image: Getty Images.

Hey @bsky.app, I now have 4,700 followers. I don’t think you can get me to 5,000 by the end of the week though. You just don’t have it in you. You’re not made of the right stuff. You’ll come up short. It’ll be close but no cigar. You get the point. You can’t do it is basically what I’m saying here.

“I do not wish to think, or speak, or write, with moderation…I am in earnest—I will not equivocate—I will not excuse—I will not retreat a single inch—AND I WILL BE HEARD.” ~William Lloyd Garrison, “The Liberator” abolitionist newspaper, 1/1/1831. Images: Library of Congress; State Library of MA.

“Justice requires us to remember that when any citizen denies his fellow, saying ‘His color is not mine,’ or ‘His beliefs are strange & different,’ in that moment he betrays America, though his forebears created this nation.” ~President Lyndon B. Johnson, 1965. Image: National Portrait Gallery.

It’s Presidents’ Day (yeah, it’s really “Washington’s Birthday,” okay, fine). Some of my favorite POTUSes relate to places I’ve worked. Lincoln, Garfield, Eisenhower, Truman, FDR, JFK, T. Roosevelt, Grant, Arthur, Washington, J.Q. Adams, are some I enjoy reading about. Image: Library of Congress.

Lots of my recent posts have been straight bangers. I can’t understand why I don’t have like a billion followers by now. Or even 5K. I’d like to speak to the manager, @bsky.app.

“No terms except an unconditional and immediate surrender can be accepted. I propose to move immediately upon your works.” ~Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant to Confederate commander Brig. Gen. Simon Bolivar Buckner at Fort Donelson, Tenn., Feb. 16, 1862. Images: Smithsonian; Library of Congress.

Here’s the latest installment of the Battle of the Bulge video series I’ve been working on with @hcrichardson.bsky.social and her team. This is part 6 of 10.

“I shall never pay a dollar of your unjust penalty.” ~Women’s rights & suffrage advocate Susan B. Anthony, after being fined $100 for illegally voting in the 1872 presidential election. She died in 1906 never having paid the fine. Anthony was born on this day in 1820. Image: Public domain.

Here’s a piece I wrote several years ago about Col. Lewis Millett, veteran of three wars and a Korean War Medal of Honor recipient. He was the honorary colonel of the 27th Infantry Regiment, in which I served in the mid-1990s. He loved to be around soldiers and was, quite simply, a badass.

The battleship USS Maine blew up in Cuba’s Havana Harbor on this day in 1898. Though likely an accident, many assumed Spain had sabotaged the ship. “Remember the Maine!” became a rallying cry for those eager for war with Spain. The Spanish-American War began in late April. Image: Associated Press.

If you think you’re having a terrible Valentine’s Day, remember that Theodore Roosevelt’s mother and his first wife both died on the SAME DAY: Feb. 14, 1884. “The light has gone out of my life,” he recorded in his diary that day. Image: Public domain.

Frederick Douglass never knew his own date of birth but chose Feb. 14 as his birthday. Check out this excellent video featuring @hcrichardson.bsky.social explaining this history while @lizadonnelly.bsky.social creates artwork about it. What a creative way to educate & engage people with history!