Elyse Graham - Book and Dagger - How Scholars and Librarians became the unlikely Spies of WWII Elyse Graham will discuss the untold story of the academics who became OSS spies, invented modern spycraft, and helped turn the tide of the war. At the start of WWII, the U.S. found itself in desperate need of […]

David S. Foglesong - From Allies to Enemies: Truman, Stalin and the Start of the Cold War In April 1945, not long after Harry Truman succeeded Franklin Roosevelt as President, US, British, and Soviet troops met at the Elbe River and celebrated their impending victory over Nazi Germany. Two years later, just a month after […]

Ron Janowski – The Cold War: Decades of Division and Diplomacy “The Cold War,” a broadbrush, but comprehensive presentation covering the major events of the Cold War from 1947 – 1989. Highlighting the long timespan and complex interplay between The United States and the Soviet Union spanning 4 decades. Lieutenant Colonel (US Army Retired) Ron […]

Dr. Rowland Brucken - The Bretton Woods Conference  The Bretton Woods Conference, formally known as the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference, was the gathering of 730 delegates from all 44 allied nations at the Mount Washington Hotel, in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, to regulate what would be the international order after the conclusion of […]

Edna W. Cummings - 6888th, Central Postal Directory Battalion The U.S. Army’s 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion was the only all-minority, all-female Women’s Army Corps (WAC) unit to serve overseas during World War II. The primary mission of the “Six Triple Eight,” as the unit was popularly known, was to sort the two- to three-year […]

Robert O'Connor - The Jeep Show In late 1944 the American military was advancing through Western Europe so fast that entertainment units could not keep up with them. Major Joshua Logan, then an officer in Special Services, noted that the advancing G.I.s were "never in one place long enough to see a show". He was […]

Dr. Edward Gordon - Fireball in the Night: The Fire-Bombing of Japan and the Atomic Bomb Controversy On April 18, 1942, Lieutenant-Colonel James H. Doolittle led a clandestine bombing raid of sixteen B-24 Mitchell bombers that flew from U.S. aircraft carrier Hornet to Tokyo, a distance of more than 650 miles. The damage inflicted was […]

Shannon McKenna Schmidt - The First Lady of World War II In August 1943, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt set out in secret for the Pacific on an arduous journey that was part goodwill tour, part fact-finding foray, and part informal diplomatic mission. She returned five weeks and 25,000 miles later, having trekked to Hawaii, New […]

Arthur Krulewitz, MD CM - The Cuban Missile Crisis The Cuban missile crisis was a major confrontation in 1962 that brought the United States and the Soviet Union close to war over the presence of Soviet nuclear-armed ballistic missiles in Cuba. During a thirteen day period in October 1962 the world teetered on the verge […]

Dr. Fred Johnson, III - The Heroism of Ben Salomon By law, only U.S. Service members who distinguish themselves “ through conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of life above and beyond the call of duty” can receive the Medal of Honor - Captain Benjamin Louis Salomon was one of these brave men. Learn […]

The Freese Brothers Big Band Eighty years ago this summer, World War II came to an end. As members of the Greatest Generation began to return home, they and their families listened to the music that was the soundtrack of the war years. Join the Freese Brothers Big Band for an 80th anniversary salute to […]

Dennis Vachon - Unfaltering Courage: The Diaries of TSGt. Raymond Vachon, a World War II Army Air Corps Flight Engineer  The Diaries of TSgt. Raymond Vachon, a World War II Army Air Corps Flight Engineer and B-24 Top Turret Gunner in the Mediterranean Theater, tell the gripping story of surviving 50 bombing missions in the […]