President and Jackie Kennedy in Dallas, Texas, minutes before his assassination, November, 22, 1962.
While in Dallas, Texas, on his Steinbeck Travels with Charley Tour, Clay revisits places and memories connected with President John Kennedy’s tragic assassination on November 22, 1963.
Teddy Roosevelt at Yosemite Valley, CA. 1903.
Imagine America if Theodore Roosevelt had never been president. During his tenure, the “Cowboy President” set aside an astounding 230 million acres of U.S. public land as National Parks, National Monuments, National Forests, National Wildlife Refuges, and National Game Preserves.
I’ve read Lindsay Chervinsky’s new book Making the Presidency: John Adams and the Precedents that Forged the Republic. It’s outstanding. 
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Lindsay Chervinsky’s new book closely examines the dramatic events that shaped America’s pattern for the peaceful transfer of power.
A Distant View of the Falls of Niagara by American artist, John Vanderlyn, 1804.
Thomas Jefferson said it is worth a trip across the Atlantic to see Niagara Falls. Although he never got there.
President John Kennedy announcing the goal of putting a man on the moon by the end of the decade.On May 25, 1961. (NASA)
The inverted landing of the $125 million Japan Space Agency lunar probe makes us realize not what can go wrong but how many things must go exactly right for one of these incredibly complicated space missions to succeed.
Astronaut Buzz Aldrin stands on the moon facing a US flag during the Apollo 11 mission in July 1969. (NASA)

My Life as a Space Junkie

I’ve been captivated by humanity’s exploration of the heavens since I was a boy growing up on the plains of western North Dakota.
Allegiant stadium

Sports as American Metaphor

The Super Bowl has become an unofficial American holiday. Though it may not be as important as Christmas or the Fourth of July it fixes everyone in the country on a single monumental event.
The Spymasters by Chris Whipple, Scribner 2021.
We are excited to welcome Lindsay Chervinsky, a regular guest of Clay’s weekly podcast as an ongoing contributor to Listening to America. In her first installment she reviews The Spymasters.
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