John F. Kennedy (JFK)

Lodge was governed by a WASP devotion to American interests and to democratic fair play that drove his role toward displacing the autocratic Diem.

Paul Matzko’s The Radio Right reveals how pioneering radio fundamentalists set in motion events that would transform both American political and religious life.

What may come as a surprise to those of us who have learned about the great victory of America winning the space race is that the race was won amid critical bombardment about the money being spent and the rationale behind space exploration.

Formal religious adherence is declining, but America’s longtime religious self-identity as a lodestar of democratic responsibility in the world continues unabashed.

In the midst of the Vietnam War and the struggle for civil rights and a decade scarred by assassinations, Apollo 11 reminded the world—and the American people—that America, while imperfect, is a great and good nation that can do great and good things.

Two Christian schools of thought might support covert operations and espionage: the just war tradition and a kind of “dirty hands” moralism. The dirty hands view says all those in political power must unavoidably resort to evil for the common good. The just war tradition has a different approach.

Defined as sparkling, giving off shafts of light, “coruscatingly brilliant” applies in every sense to the writing and the personal demeanor of Charles Krauthammer.

Just war theorizing has typically left the issue of national honor untouched, although warriors and statesmen routinely emphasize the importance of vindicating the sacrifice of the fallen. Does prolonging a war in order to assuage or vindicate national honor comport with the just war tradition?

Jesuit priest and author Thomas Reese wrote a Religion News Service column critical of the US missile strikes on Syria’s…