My Brush with History

<p>The author was a press researcher in 1964 when he tagged along to watch Lyndon B. Johnson sign the 1964 Civil Rights Act outlawing discrimination.</p>

<p>In his last time at the plate, Ted Williams crushed a 440-foot home run deep to right field.</p>

<p>Only those of us who were there know what Ike was really saying when the famous photograph was taken.</p>

<p>The Japanese had made my tune their own.</p>

<p><span class="body">A great man never loses his sense of humor.</span></p>

<p>Uncle Max Ran the Union?</p>

<p>Tom Mix, my all-time hero, lifted me up and sat me on Tony.</p>

<p>Not all the Germans of the Third Reich agreed with Hitler on the “Jewish question,” he wanted me to know.<br />
 </p>

<p>The first Soviet conductor to tour in the United States had been accused <span class="body">with “anti-democratic tendencies.”</span></p>

<p>As the war was coming to an end, we asked the German guards if we could hold a ceremony in Roosevelt’s honor.</p>

<p>What were the protocols for deploying nearly two thousand people?</p>

<p> “This is the White House calling,” the voice on the phone told the language teacher. </p>

<p><span class="body">“You know who Nebuchadnezzar was, don’t you?” Truman asked.</span></p>

<p><span class="body">That’s General MacArthur! Clear the port wing of the bridge!!</span></p>

<p>I played with the knobs and dials, not knowing I might have blown up Chicago.</p>

<p>I had a special reason for covering myself with Alf Landon campaign buttons.</p>

<p><span class="body">Many of us had ghastly wounds or missing limbs from shrapnel, bullets, or fire. “I know just how you boys feel,” the president announced.</span></p>

<p><span class="body">“Shut up!” I blurted out at the voice behind me while I was trying to hear a critical weather report on the <em>U.S.S. Missouri.</em></span></p>

<p>Will Rogers might not have died if Wiley Post had taken my advice about his airplane.</p>

<p>I asked one of the guests to take the helm while I went to check the engine.</p>

<p>In the Navy, we found parts to make a color television in 1946. Anything to watch the heavyweight championship.</p>

<p>The super-secret atomic bomb made a giant, bright yellow fireball like a super-sun that hurt the eyes.</p>

<p>My would-be pen pal asked for photos of my home and school, and of the local <span class="body">Strategic Air Command base.</span></p>

<p>Even admirals can swear like old salts.</p>

<p> “Everything I ever needed to know I learned from Abbie Hoffman.”</p>

<p>When the Japanese government vehicle came to a stop, I saw an elderly and frail-looking man in the back seat. It was Emperor Hirohito.</p>

<p>Why were 20 wounded American soldiers released on Thanksgiving in 1950, days before the Chinese attacked in Korea?</p>

<p>General MacArthur designated the author as engineer of the Marine invasion at Wonsan, and told him to accompany the first wave. This would sharpen his mind, MacArthur said, "like an imminent hanging."</p>

<p>I was a writer on the staff of the Hunter College newspaper when Eleanor Roosevelt, completely alone, would stop by looking for someone to talk to.</p>

<p><span class="deck">THROUGH AN APOCALYPSE WITH TENT, SLEEPING BAGS, AND CAMERA</span></p>

<p><span class="deck">GETTING A STRANGE PICTURE AT CARLISLE BARRACKS</span></p>

<p><span class="deck">A FRONT-ROW SEAT—AND MORE—AT A CLASSIC RADIO DRAMA</span></p>

<p><span class="deck">Our platoon was probably the only group of Allied soldiers to witness the final degradation of Mussolini.</span></p>

<p><span class="deck">Two cheerleaders and a Secret Service man's corpse</span></p>

<p>My mom's possible role in the immolation of the Hindenburg</p>

<p>Who knows what would have happened if we kids had seen Jane Russell's boobs in that Boston movie theater?</p>

<p><span class="deck">A Spirit Forged In Fire</span></p>

<p><span class="deck">An incidental, oddly enduring acquaintance</span></p>

<p><span class="deck">From the commune to the prep school</span></p>

<p>My chat with President Reagan in the Oval Office about term limits</p>

<p><span class="deck">Life at an office that was not quite an embassy</span></p>

<p>Why Harry Truman refused to sign a photo which had Dick Nixon in it</p>

<p><span class="deck">Prelude to a symphony and a scandal</span></p>