How a major political party crumbled — in 1852
Few if any parties last forever, especially the political kind. After years of success, the Whig Party trudged toward the presidential election of 1852 beset by the kinds of woes...
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Confessions of an ‘as if’ believer of religion
After decades of alternately wrestling with the question and avoiding it, I've figured out my religious denomination. Should a census taker or hospital social worker ask, I'd reply: "as if."...
History of the Ferris wheel; 1893 original was taller than Navy Pier’s
George Washington Ferris Jr. was a civil engineer specializing in bridges and other structural-steel designs when Chicago announced a competition for a centerpiece for its 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. Paris...
Grandfather of 11 says: ‘Bernie, Hillary, stop that squabbling!’
As a father of six and a grandfather of 11, I have refereed more than my share of sibling squabbles. My ears echo with denouncements and epithets like: "You brat!...
On Holocaust Remembrance Day: What could be enough?
How do you mark Holocaust Remembrance Day? The question has long perplexed me. It's a holiday, beginning this year on Wednesday evening and continuing to sundown Thursday. In fact, it's...
The GOP convention that took 10 rounds to pick a candidate
Through a sweltering June night in 1920, a group of Republican Party big shots, huddling in a room at the Blackstone Hotel, gave birth to a classic political metaphor —...
On May Day, remembering those For Whom the Bell Tolled
Sunday marks the first May Day when none of the roughly 3,000 Americans who once fought for democracy in Spain is left to tell the tale. Delmer Berg, the last...
On immigration, did Obama break the golden rule of politics?
Touting his immigration policy at a Chicago rally in 2014, President Barack Obama came under heavy flak from activists who accused him of not doing enough for the nation's estimated...
Floyd Gibbons: War correspondent with flair
"I have serious doubts whether this is a real story," wrote Tribune correspondent Floyd Gibbons in a Feb. 27, 1917, dispatch. "I am not entirely certain that it is not...
Nostalgia — and jokes — for the free-spirited shopkeepers of yore
My old buddy Jerry and I keep in touch by phone, rarely hanging up without sharing a Jewish joke. Not any old joke, mind you. It has to be about...