I know, I know, what kind of history examiner does no post on the 4th of July! Well sometimes you have to take a time out and live life (or history) to enjoy it. I did that this weekend. I could have spent time putting together a post about our storied revolution. I could have waxed nostalgic about how our founders drew a line in the sand and said no more to the tyranny of King George. I could have written about how on July 4 1863, the smoke had cleared from the fields of Gettysburg where brave men gave the "last full measure of devotion" turning the tide of a war, which would decide whether or not our form of government would "perish from the earth."

Those tales have been told, and will be told again and again. I'm sure I will tell them sometime in future. However, this Fourth of July provided a bit of personal history for me. You see it was the first one for my daughter Mattie, and really, the first one for me as a father. Mattie is almost three now, and our last two 4ths were rained out. This one came close as well. This was the first time she was going to see fireworks. As an adult I've been kind of jaded when it comes to fireworks. After all, how new and exciting can they be for a 34-year old!

As we get older the things that excited us as children no longer hold the same joy. Jaded maybe too strong a word, but the feeling that Christmas or your birthday, are just not the same, is palpable. All that changed last Friday night. The joy came not from the fine performance of the BSO or the dazzling fireworks display. Rather it came from the joy they provided my daughter. Seeing the starbursts reflected in her widened eyes, and her fists clenched up to her chest in excitement allowed me to capture a glimpse of the joy I had once felt.

The Fourth of July is about remembering our declaration of independence from Great Britain, and that there are brave men and women who put their lives on the line to defend our right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Yes it is all about those big things, but it is also about the small things, like the gleam in your child’s eyes at the rocket’s red glare.

Topics: Fourth of July

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History Made

6 Comments

POSTED August 29, 8:39 AM

Mark Newgent - Baltimore History Examiner

No matter your politics, Barack Obama made history last night accepting the Democratic nomination for the presidency of the United States. He is the first African-American to be nominated for president by a major political party in the United... Read More
Topics: Barack Obama

Obama the heir to JFK? Not so much.

14 Comments

POSTED August 26, 12:31 PM

Mark Newgent - Baltimore History Examiner

Heir to a myth, not the reality.Watching the Democratic National Convention last night with its homage to Ted Kennedy and the concomitant comparisons, by the media between Barack Obama and John F. Kennedy, I had to ask myself, what history are these... Read More
Topics: Obama , JFK

"Trying to reason with hurricane season*"

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POSTED August 22, 7:46 AM

Mark Newgent - Baltimore History Examiner

Photo credit to Mark LundinI’m down in the Outer Banks town of Duck North Carolina, on vacation with the family. We were very worried about early forecasts that had tropical storm Fay tracking up the Atlantic seaboard toward us and possibly... Read More
Topics: Chesapeake-Potomac Hurricane of 1933

Julia Child: Chef, American Spy

2 Comments

POSTED August 14, 5:53 AM

Mark Newgent - Baltimore History Examiner

Is there microfilm in that fish?Julia Child, in addition to being a world renowned chef, was also an agent of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). The OSS was the United States intelligence agency during World War II ,and precursor to the Central... Read More
Topics: Julia Child , OSS

"Prompt and Utter Destruction"

2 Comments

POSTED August 6, 10:50 PM

Mark Newgent - Baltimore History Examiner

Sixty-three years ago this week, the B-29 Superfortresses Enola Gay and Bockscar dropped the world’s first atomic bombs, Little Boy and Fat Man, on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The bombings caused untold damage, and... Read More
Topics: World War II , Hiroshima , Nagasaki , Downfall

Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn

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POSTED August 5, 12:07 PM

Mark Newgent - Baltimore History Examiner

Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn died Sunday in Moscow at the age of 89. Solzhenitsyn will bee forever remembered for his Nobel Prize winning “literary investigation,” The Gulag Archipelago. Gulag is an acronym... Read More
Topics: Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

The KGB's Source at the Baltimore Sun

2 Comments

POSTED July 29, 8:30 PM

Mark Newgent - Baltimore History Examiner

A Pulitzer Prize winning Baltimore Sun reporter was a Soviet dupe and a source of information for the KGB. Researching the history for my series on the MSP story, I came across some interesting historical nuggets. In Christopher... Read More
Topics: Baltimore Sun , KGB

Historical Context to the Maryland State Police Surveillance Operation Part Three

1 Comment

POSTED July 28, 12:48 PM

Mark Newgent - Baltimore History Examiner

Sorry for the long delay, but family comes first and my daughter’s birthday was this weekend so everything else took a back seat. This post ties together Parts One and Two So why is this history important? How does it connect with... Read More
Topics: Soviet Union , Stalin , Whittaker Chambers , Espionage , Albert Blumberg , local history , Cold War , Baltimore History , Maryland Communist Party , Maryland State Police

Historical Context to the Maryland State Police Surveillance Operation Part 2

2 Comments

POSTED July 21, 2:36 PM

Mark Newgent - Baltimore History Examiner

This is Part Two of Historical Context to the MSP Surveillance Operation. You can read Part One here. After the signing of the Nazi-Soviet Pact and the Dies Committee investigations, the FBI began close surveillance of the Maryland communists (District34... Read More
Topics: Soviet Union , Stalin , fellow travellers , Whittaker Chambers , Espionage , Albert Blumberg , Cold War , Maryland Communist Party

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