Richard Nixon

Deep State Theology

Claims about a dark “deep state” 50 years ago or now distract from addressing an always more challenging reality.

PBS’s “The Movement & The Madman”

Reinhold Niebuhr would recognize the nuances that this documentary chose to ignore.  

The Wisdom of Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative

Ronald Reagan expanded upon the doctrine of Mutually Assured Destruction to strengthen American nuclear deterrence

Leadership: Six Studies in World Strategy by Henry Kissinger

Henry Kissinger has done it again with the publication of this outstanding book on leadership. 

Taliban Surge & Nebuchadnezzar

Presumably the consequences in Afghanistan will be tragic as in Indochina.

America’s Afghanistan Withdrawal: The Rhymes and Lessons of History
America’s Afghanistan Withdrawal: The Rhymes and Lessons of History

History may not repeat itself, as Mark Twain is credited with saying, but it does indeed rhyme sometimes. Sadly, the American people and their leaders are not interested in the rhymes or lessons of history.

WASP Brahmin & Killing Diem

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

Canceled… But Not for Long: A Review of Paul Matzko’s The Radio Right
Canceled… But Not for Long: A Review of Paul Matzko’s The Radio Right

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

Covert Operations: Just War or Dirty Hands?
Covert Operations: Just War or Dirty Hands?

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.