"My delay...is due to involvement in hold-up and murder trials."

My analysis of John F. Kennedy’s handwriting: Bad. At the time, Elizabeth McCarthy, a professional handwriting analyst, did not disagree. But that’s for another time. I love her excuse for, in the letter below, belatedly confirming receipt of payment:

“My delay in acknowledging it is due to involvement in hold-up and murder trials.”

My excuse for delaying next week’s newsletter is not quite as dramatic:

I’m going to kick off Ohio State University’s America250 series, celebrating the 250^th anniversary of the founding of the United States in 1776.

For my 8th “How Should a President Be” event, I’ll be discussing National Security with OSU Professor of History and Woody Hayes Chair in National Security Studies Christopher McKnight Nichol. It’s somehow my first time in Ohio!

Nothing makes or breaks a presidency like National Security, and Chris is my favorite contemporary thinker on the subject. I’m also excited about private events: A lunch with OSU graduate and undergraduate students, as well as a faculty dinner after the event.

Thanks to the Mershon Center for International Security Studies and the OSU History Department, the event on April 3, 2024 (4:30PM - 6:00PM, Journalism Building, Room 360) is free and open to the public.

In the meantime, catch-up on the many newsletters I sent in March. ICYMI:

I’m Not Really Here: A dispatch from the front lines of historical memory. (I love all my newsletter babies equally, but I’m proud of this one!)

Carol Doesn’t Like to Wear Shoes.

A Brief History of the Itty Bitty Titty Committee.

Campaign Promises and White House Possibilities: 80th Congress v 118th Congress.

Young and Restless: A Q&A with Mattie Kahn on the girls who sparked America's Revolutions.

See you soonish! Until then, you can find me on Twitter and Instagram. If you’d like a personalized copy of my books, please order them from Oblong.