This new series in Journey to American Democracy comes to you thanks to that odd way history has of braiding the past and the present. Do you remember that in October the head of the Eisenhower Library in Kansas, a military veteran, was forced to resign after he refused to hand over to President Donald J. Trump a sword that had been given to General, and later President, Dwight D. Eisenhower? The man’s name is Todd Arrington, and he told news outlets he was blindsided by the demand that he resign. He couldn’t give them the sword, he told a reporter, because it belonged to the American people. But he and his staff worked with officials from the administration for two months to locate a sword that they could give instead, and found a replica Eisenhower sword from West Point. “We felt very good about the way that everything worked out,” he said. But then he found out that, after almost 30 years of service to the U.S., he was being fired. This is where the braiding starts. I knew Todd slightly from giving him some advice on his dissertation decades ago. We were on each other’s radar screens enough that when a friend and I started the online magazine We’re History a decade or so ago, Todd began to write for us, and later he helped us out by coming on board the magazine as an editor. After the magazine went on hiatus, we largely lost touch. But as soon as I learned Todd might have some free time on his hands, I plotted to bring him onto the Journey to American Democracy project. In our first meeting on what topics he might like to cover, fresh from his time at the Eisenhower Library, Todd noted that 2025 was the 80th anniversary of World War II’s Battle of the Bulge. I loved the idea of covering military history in a smart way. And so we began this series last November. But now that the time to drop the videos is here, their meaning has changed. In just the past week, the illegal extraction of a foreign leader without consultation with Congress, the seizure of Venezuela’s oil and placement of its proceeds into Trump’s own hands, the threatening of other countries, the open flouting of the Epstein Transparency Act, the shooting of Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis, and the government’s attempt to smear Good and to justify the state murder of a citizen exercising her constitutional rights have made it clear that officials in the Trump administration have fully embraced the same fascism that underpinned the Nazi government that American soldiers were fighting 80 years ago. Thanks to the contingency of history, Todd Arrington and I met twenty years ago and became friends. Thanks to Trump’s demand for loyalists, Todd had to leave the Eisenhower Library and was free to contribute to our video team. And, now, thanks to Todd, we are able to tell the harrowing story of the fight of the inexperienced and underequipped young American soldiers in the Ardennes Forest to defend democracy against the forces of fascism, and to remind today’s Americans that they won. Here is the first video in the Journey to American Democracy series “The Battle of the Bulge”:  You’re currently a free subscriber to Letters from an American. If you need help receiving Letters, changing your email address, or unsubscribing, please visit our Support FAQ. You can also submit a help request directly. For the full experience, upgrade your subscription.
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Friday, January 9, 2026
Journey to American Democracy: The Battle of the Bulge
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