It is July 4, 1861.

Lincoln has been in office for four months.

Eleven states have seceded from the Union,

formed the Confederate States of America,

selected a provisional president,

adopted a constitution,

established a seat of government in Richmond, Virginia,

seized federal arsenals

and fired on Fort Sumter.

Lincoln responded militarily,

calling for the marshaling of 75,000 federal troops,

ordering the blockade of Southern ports

and suspending habeas corpus along key rail corridors in Maryland.

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During her time as First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt traveled the country gathering information for her husband on economic conditions and the impact of New Deal legislation.

During these trips, she asked people to write to her, telling her about their life.

She repeated this request on the radio and later, in her daily newspaper column.

And the people responded, sending Mrs. Roosevelt more than 300,000 letters each year while she was in the White House and hundreds of thousands more after she left.

Some letter writers viewed Mrs. Roosevelt with kind admiration.

Others disliked her, finding her progressive activism outside the bounds of propriety.

Here’s a sampling:

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Today, a story about different paths.

More than three million American babies were born in 1946.

Among them were Donald Trump and Joseph Ewing Smith.

Trump was born and raised in suburban New York.

Joe grew up in Corsicana, Texas, a small town near Dallas of about 19,000.

Both graduated from high school in 1964.

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It is December 31, 1939.

And, to the two million gathered in a windy, twenty-two-degree chill in New York’s Times Square, it looks pretty good.

And they’ll roar their approval when the illuminated ball drops and “1940” lights up each side of the Times Building marque.

And why shouldn’t they?

The Depression, Prohibition, the drought, Hoovervilles, long ladies’ skirts — all those miseries of the 1930s were gone.

People had jobs and money again.

And the 1940s looked good.

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It is September 1934.

The journalist William Shirer is in Nuremberg to cover the six-day Nazi rally.

As he writes in his diary, Shirer explains how an ordinary, somewhat clownish man has captivated a grievance-filled people and convinced them that his cruel path will lead to a restoration of their rightful national greatness.

From Shirer’s diary:

September 4, 1934

Like a Roman emperor Hitler rode into this medieval town at sundown today past solid phalanxes of wildly cheering Nazis who packed the narrow streets.

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Reading the paper on December 28, 1941.

Japanese aircraft have bombarded Manila despite General Douglas MacArthur’s declaration that it was an ‘open city’ which would not contest Japanese occupation.

MacArthur’s declaration was a tacit acknowledgment that he lacked the resources to defend Manila, and was made in an effort to spare the city’s cultural landmarks and civilian population from Japanese attack.

MacArthur has withdrawn US and Philippine troops to the Bataan Peninsula and Corregidor Island on the far side of Manila Bay.

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It is April 1861.

America’s democracy is in great peril.

Seven states have seceded from the Union and formed a new government.

Four more will soon join.

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It is June 28, 1940.

France has capitulated after Nazi Germany’s six-week assault.

An armistice ending the fighting was signed six days ago.

The signing took place in the train carriage in which German officials had signed the armistice ending World War I.

An intentional humiliation.

Now, Hitler strolls down the Trocadéro, in the heart of Paris, and poses for a picture in front of the Eiffel Tower.

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1968.

Exuberant pop culture.

An anguished world.

Those who were alive then remember 1968 more vividly than the years which came just before or after.

Who alive then could forget…

The Beatles.

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Today: a perspective on gifts.

It is Tuesday, June 6, 1944.

Norman Brown, a B-17 radio operator, is writing in his diary:

Tuesday, 6th

This is it.

D-day.

We were in the first wave of heavies [B-17s] over the coast.

It was the greatest sight a person could see

and if I lived to be a thousand

I could never forget it.

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