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Curated playlist

United States Army officers

  • F. Scott FitzgeraldF. Scott Fitzgerald died in 1940 believing his work was forgotten. The Great Gatsby later sold millions.
  • Ronald ReaganRonald Reagan preached small government, then signed California's largest tax hike.
  • Theodore RooseveltTheodore Roosevelt was shot in the chest, then gave a 90-minute speech. It happened in Milwaukee in October 1912.
  • William McKinleyWilliam McKinley won the presidency in 1896 campaigning from his front porch. Crowds came by train to Canton, Ohio.
  • Samuel AlitoSamuel Alito was twenty-two when he wrote his hopes into his Princeton yearbook. In 1972, the graduating senior said he wanted to "eventually warm a seat on the Supreme Court". Few yearbook jokes have aged so literally. Alito is an…
  • Richard WintersRichard Winters, the United States Army officer at the center of the miniseries Band of Brothers, ended its final scene with words that were not his own. In an interview that also appears in the HBO companion documentary We Stand Alone…
  • John Foster DullesJohn Foster Dulles ran U.S. foreign policy while his brother Allen ran the CIA.
  • Jefferson DavisWhy was Confederate president Jefferson Davis never tried for treason? Prosecutors feared an acquittal.
  • John F. MarszalekIn July 2008, historian John F. Marszalek took charge of Ulysses S. Grant's papers.
  • Caspar WeinbergerBudget cutter Caspar Weinberger became "Cap the Ladle" once he ran the Pentagon.
  • Pete HegsethOn the 24th of January 2025, the United States Senate divided evenly on whether Pete Hegseth should lead the Department of Defense. Vice President JD Vance broke the tie, and the confirmation passed 51-50. Only one earlier Cabinet nominee,…
  • James LongstreetAt Gettysburg, Confederate General James Longstreet could not speak the order for Pickett's Charge and only nodded.
  • Earl Van DornConfederate general Earl Van Dorn was shot at his own desk by a doctor. The doctor accused him of seducing his wife.
  • Shelby FooteShelby Foote wrote every page by hand with a nib pen, then typed up a clean copy. He thought of himself first as a novelist. Yet he is remembered for a three-volume history of the American Civil War. He expected that history to take nine…
  • Edwin HubbleEdwin Hubble studied law at Oxford because of a promise to his dying father. He still became an astronomer.
  • Stonewall JacksonStonewall Jackson, born Thomas Jonathan Jackson, came close to losing his teaching post at the Virginia Military Institute. In 1856, a group of alumni tried to have him removed. His students had already nicknamed him Tom Fool. They…
  • Adolphe MenjouAdolphe Menjou, an engineer from Pittsburgh, became Hollywood's ideal of Parisian elegance.
  • Robert EttingerA 1931 Amazing Stories tale about a frozen professor stayed with 12-year-old Robert Ettinger.
  • P. G. T. BeauregardBeauregard fired the Civil War's first shots at his own former teacher. Robert Anderson had taught him at West Point.

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