Author: Kevin Nye

If there’s one thing we can all agree on, it’s that every position in the U.S. government is awarded to the most qualified person available. When in our nation’s rich history can you think of a single time someone was appointed to a high-ranking position of power because they were a political ally to someone else in power? Or try to envision a world in which a wealthy donor helped fund a political campaign and could be rewarded with status and titles from the elected politician. Surely that has never happened. What’s more, that would be borderline illegal thanks to the Pendleton Civil…

First, an apology: Whatever pop culture “Scott” you’re thinking of, this is not about that person. It’s not about any person, in fact. It’s about the State of Scott – a county in Tennessee that declared itself a free and independent state when Tennessee seceded from the Union and joined the Confederacy, kicking off the Civil War. While there’s a pretty rich history of Union safe spots in the southern states, Scott County, Tennessee might have the most interesting history among them. The short version of its backstory is that in the eastern portion of Tennessee, secession was unpopular. With very…

Any time a person takes a deep look into U.S. history, that person is bound to find things that will make them squirm. It’s an unpleasant history, and frankly it’s only a moderately pleasant present-day. And yet, for all the flag-waving and nuanced idiocy of “proud Americans” waving the Confederate flag, there have been plenty of other “attempts” at secession. Of course, they all seem to share that one factor. Racism: the tie that binds. The list of secession movements includes things like American Redoubt, which is a “safe haven for conservative Christians” in the Idaho/Montana area; Deseret, which is…

It would be nice to think that as human-inspired interstellar exploration occurs, we come together as a species, rather than just as a single nation. While there is considerable cooperation – the International Space Station often has astronauts from multiple countries within its six-person rotating teams – it’s just hard to coordinate efforts across language and distance. With this in mind, let’s talk about the Voyager spacecrafts. For those who don’t know, Voyager I and Voyager II launched in August of 1977 under NASA’s care. They are unmanned space probes traveling at incomprehensible speeds (about 34,000 mph) and have now…

Just about every children’s author wrote their books as an adult. That means the author had a full life of experience, which may include addictions, sex, marriage, divorce, lots of bad decisions, and (most likely) parenthood. But it sure is hard to separate the myth from the figure. Nowhere is the line blurrier than Shel Silverstein. Silverstein, who died in 1999, published three of the definitive poetry books for children of the last century with Where the Sidewalk Ends, A Light in the Attic, and Falling Up. He wrote about 20 other books over the course of his career, with target audiences of…

Military legends come in all shapes and sizes, dating back as long as records exist. A person with a moderate interest in military history may know about Achilles and Odysseus in the Trojan War (which may or may not have ever happened), or the Japanese soldier Hiroo Onoda, who refused to surrender until hearing a direct order from a superior in 1974. Aficionados of this site may even remember General Pickett of both the Pig War and the Civil War. But the story of Lauri Törni is unusual, even when compared to those stories. You might see the name Lauri…

If you’re reading this outside the USA – particularly if you’re in, say, Europe – the idea that there are only six major holidays that Americans get off from work is absurd. We don’t have bank holidays, and even the six major holidays are not guaranteed as time off, particularly for those who work in retail. But that’s a tangent in the first paragraph. What we’re really here to talk about is one of those six holidays: Independence Day, aka the Fourth of July. It’s obviously an important holiday: It’s the only one that falls in the summer, meaning it’s (arguably) the…

While it’s easy to assume that getting into the White House to cause trouble is nearly impossible, free tours are still offered to the public. This is a service that has been provided for decades; any U.S. citizen can reach out to their congressperson and request a tour, and if you’re lucky enough to make the cut, you must have a government-issued photo ID. For non-residents, contacting the appropriate embassy is the way to go about this. And while it would be riveting to go through the step-by-step process of how to get a free White House tour, this article is about…

It’s difficult to overstate how often the phrase “land of opportunity” gets bandied about in regards to the USA. It’s true that the states make up a huge land area, and with almost 350 million people in that land area, there are bound to be stories of all kinds (after all, that’s kind of what we do here at AIW). But there is only one story in the USA’s eclectic history that involves an elementary school student becoming friends with a fearsome drug lord turned dictator in central America. This is that story. Manuel Noriega is best known for his…

Benjamin Franklin may be the most famous Founding Father who was never a president. An incomplete list of things named after ol’ Ben include: 24 U.S. counties, two mountain ranges, seven colleges, dozens of schools – including one elementary school in Barcelona – bridges, a zoo, multiple Navy ships, and a crater on the moon. And that’s to say nothing of his face being on the $100 bill and being the subject matter of one of the most mid-90s rap videos you could ever imagine. (youtube link to All About the Benjamins would go here but YT is blocked on…