His Favorite Guest

Edwin Trinka, the doorman at New York’s fabled Plaza Hotel 46 years, is about to retire. In his decades there he’s met countless folks who were rich, famous, or just looking for a good room for the night. His favorite guest of them all? “Richard...

Roger Morris On Obama In Wartime

Since January 16, the New York Times has had on its site a group blog, “100 Days,” in which five presidential biographers take turns comparing the initial stages of the Obama Administration to five presidencies.  Jean Edward Smith does the comparing to the...

Obama’s Speech And Nixon’s Ghost

There is no escaping Richard M. Nixon. He did so much to shape the politics and policy of the last half-century that every president will end up echoing his words. Take President Obama’s address last night. The president spoke of reducing dependence on foreign...

Apologies to Mssrs. Little, Aykroyd, Frye

Last night Frank Langella lost the Best Actor competition in the Academy Awards to Sean Penn.  But the veteran’s sterling performance in Frost/Nixon is still gaining accolades, not least from those who knew and worked with the 37th President.  This weekend the...

Watch What We Say Not What We…Dooops

The intrepid Detroit News has tracked down the automobile registrations of the eight members of the Presidential Task Force on the Auto Industry appointed last week to save the American automobile industry.  The paper also checked out the auto info of  the ten White...

Socks   1989 – 2009

Socks, who served as the  White House Cat from 1992-2001, died on Friday near his waterfront home in Hollywood, Maryland.  The former First Feline was believed to have been twenty, although there are some discrepancies involving his date and place of birth.  He had...