Matt Ortega

Started to read Counselor: A Life at the Edge of History, the book authored by former speechwriter to President John F. Kennedy, Ted Sorensen, thanks to a generous colleague.

The book is a fascinating read — even just a few dozen pages into it.

Sorensen authored some of the most beautifully written speeches delivered by President Kennedy, and even penned an incredible speech for the nominee to accept the nomination of the Democratic Party this summer. It, too, was beautifully written, as was the then-Senator Kennedy’s nomination acceptance speech delivered forty-seven years prior on July 15, 1960 in Los Angeles, California.

Listen:

It turns out that the Nebraska-native Sorensen, who was such a trusted aide and close confidante of the President that he routinely called him his “intellectual blood bank,” recently turned 80 on May 8.

Cinco de Mayo marks the Mexican army victory over the larger, better trained and better equipped French forces at the Batalla de Puebla in 1862.

The holiday is often mistaken for Mexican Independence Day which actually falls on September 16 and celebrates Mexico’s independence from colonial Spain. In fact, Cinco de Mayo is more popular and widely celebrated in the United States than in Mexico.

The History Channel updates visitors on historic events throughout world history with “This Day in History.” There were a number of notables for April 30:

1789: President George Washington was sworn in as the first President of the United States in New York City and delivered the nation’s first inaugural address.

1803: The land deal between the United States and Napoleonic France known as the “Louisiana Purchase” was concluded. The purchase doubled the size of the U.S. at the cost of $15 million. The Louisiana Territory “comprised most of modern-day United States between the Mississippi and the Rocky Mountains, with the exceptions of Texas, parts of New Mexico, and other pockets of land already controlled by the United States.”

1945: Adolf Hitler committed suicide in his underground bunker in Berlin days before Nazi Germany’s formal surrender to Allied forces. Hitler’s Third Reich was proclaimed to last 1,000 years but collapsed after a dozen under Nazi rule.

1948: Organization of American States (OAS) was officially established with the United States and twenty Latin America nations signed on.

1975: South Vietnam surrendered to communist forces.