Curated playlist

Burials at Arlington National Cemetery

John F. KennedyJohn F. Kennedy spent hours in the water towing a burned crewman after a destroyer cut his boat in half.
Pete ConradPete Conrad's first words on the Moon were a joke he had bet $500 on.
Roger B. ChaffeeRoger Chaffee passed his Navy pilot's eye exam only because a doctor let him retake it the next morning.
Donn F. EiseleDonn Eisele was in a hospital on January 27, 1966, exactly a year before the Apollo 1 fire.
Robert F. KennedyRobert F. Kennedy won the California Democratic primary on the 5th of June 1968, and around midnight a gunman shot him. Kennedy died 25 hours later. The shooter was Sirhan Sirhan, a 24-year-old Palestinian who acted in retaliation for…
Colin PowellOn the 5th of February 2003, Colin Powell addressed the United Nations Security Council. He told the council: "there can be no doubt that Saddam Hussein has biological weapons and the capability to rapidly produce more, many more." The…
Stuart RoosaStuart Roosa orbited the Moon 34 times alone while two crewmates walked on it. He also carried tree seeds in his pocket.
Gus GrissomDoctors nearly cut Gus Grissom from astronaut selection because he had hay fever.
Jacqueline Kennedy OnassisJacqueline Kennedy Onassis appeared 27 times on the annual Gallup list of the ten most admired people of the second half of the twentieth century. Only Billy Graham and Queen Elizabeth II appeared more often. No American president matched…
Henry KissingerHenry Kissinger made a secret trip to China in July 1971. It helped end 23 years of diplomatic isolation.
John Foster DullesJohn Foster Dulles ran U.S. foreign policy while his brother Allen ran the CIA.
John Young (astronaut)John Young walked on the Moon and later commanded the first Space Shuttle mission. He is the only person to do both.
Ted KennedyEdward Moore Kennedy had just lost the fight for his party's presidential nomination. On the 12th of August 1980 he stepped to the podium at Madison Square Garden. His closing words stayed with the hall: "the work goes on, the cause…
David Dixon PorterDavid Dixon Porter first stood watch on a Navy frigate at age ten. He served 62 years on active duty.
Alfred WordenIn 1971, Alfred Worden orbited the Moon alone, farther from any other person than anyone before.
Michael Collins (astronaut)Michael Collins orbited the Moon thirty times and never set foot on it.
Alan BeanAlan Bean walked on the Moon, then quit NASA to paint it. He pressed Moon dust from his suit patches into canvases.
Thurgood MarshallThurgood Marshall won 29 of the 32 cases he argued before the Supreme Court. He later became a justice there.
Caspar WeinbergerBudget cutter Caspar Weinberger became "Cap the Ladle" once he ran the Pentagon.
L. Sprague de CampL. Sprague de Camp turned the word extraterrestrial into a noun. He also coined E.T. in a 1939 magazine article.
John SchofieldIn 1892, General John Schofield awarded himself the Medal of Honor. He was then Commanding General of the U.S. Army.
James IrwinAfter walking on the Moon, astronaut James Irwin spent years searching for Noah's Ark.
Richard F. Gordon Jr.Richard Gordon orbited the Moon 45 times on Apollo 12 but never walked on it.
Philip SheridanUnion general Philip Sheridan rose from captain to major general in six months.
George CrookThe Apache called General George Crook Nantan Lupan, meaning Chief Wolf. He testified for the Ponca tribe in court.
Walter Bedell SmithWalter Bedell Smith signed Italy's armistice under an olive tree in Sicily. It was September 3, 1943.
Richard E. ByrdRichard E. Byrd, an American naval officer, spent 13 minutes circling a patch of Arctic sky on the 9th of May 1926. Then he turned for home. By his own account, he had just reached the North Pole. The round trip took 15 hours and 57…
Frederick W. SmithFred Smith once walked into a Las Vegas casino carrying the last $5,000 his young company owned. A crucial business loan had just been refused. A fuel bill of $24,000 was due, and the planes could not fly without paying it. At a blackjack…
William Babcock HazenWilliam Babcock Hazen, a United States Army officer who lived from 1830 to 1887, was summed up by the writer Ambrose Bierce as "The best hated man I ever knew." Bierce did not mean it as a compliment, and the record suggests he had…
William RosecransGeneral William Rosecrans lost his command after one badly worded order at Chickamauga.
Daniel Patrick MoynihanDaniel Patrick Moynihan once shined shoes in Penn Station, which now has a train hall named for him.
James E. WebbJames Webb left NASA on his 62nd birthday, days before Apollo's first crewed flight. He had run it since 1961.
Grace HopperGrace Hopper hung a clock on her office wall that ran counterclockwise. She wanted code in plain English.