The Blaisdell Blog

  In truth, I had forgotten about this anniversary until I saw the story in the paper.   In that instant my coffee cup was suspended before my lips, my eyes looked without seeing and I realized that, had I had my way, I would be looking at the anniversary of my death.              On January 28, 1986 the Challenger space shuttle lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida at 11:38 a.m.   Seventy-three seconds later it blew up in a starburst of destruction, killing all the crew members on board.   They did not die instantly, and were probably alive during the ever accelerating plunge toward the ocean.   It is the impact with the water that killed them—that would have killed me. On board was a crew as diverse as American itself.   Included in the group were America’s first teacher in space, Christa McAuliffe, a 37-year-old teacher.   As far as I was concerned, she had taken my place.   I had applied for the Teacher in Space Program and had been sorely disappointed when I was not chose

  Every President, including George Washington, has been sworn to office in a public venue and before the people whom that President serves.                   In traditional (blessedly boring) times the inauguration of a new President has acquired a set of traditions that are all typically American.   We want ceremony but we don’t want majesty.   We like tradition but eschew pomp.   We want a little dignity but nothing stuffy.   We admire evidence of good sportsmanship, which means being a gracious loser and a generous winner.   We also seem to like a good party.                  This is what we see in a normal inauguration:                The day begins with a morning prayer service.   The incoming President is then welcomed to the White House by the outgoing President.   A breach of this tradition occurred when Eisenhower refused to be entertained by Harry and Bess Truman because he wanted to enter the White House for the first time as President.   Truman did not take well to

  In 1917 two anti-war activists were found guilty of attempting to cause insubordination among soldiers who had been drafted to fight in World War I.    They had circulated leaflets urging draftees not to “submit to intimidation” by fighting in a war being conducted on behalf of “Wall Street’s chosen few.”   The case, Schenck v. United States , went to the Supreme Court.   Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes rendered the verdict, noting that “…the character of every act depends upon the circumstances in which it is done.”   As an example, he gave what has become an oft misquoted statement: “The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man in falsely shouting fire in a theater, and causing a panic.   It does not even protect a man from an injunction against uttering words that may have all the effect of force. ”   [Emphasis added by author.]   Justice Holmes upheld the conviction of Schenck in the context of a wartime draft, holding that the pamphlet created “a clear an