Posted February 23, 2022. Updated February 25, 2022.
Our classmate Winston Lord received many requests for interviews on the 50th anniversary of Richard Nixon’s groundbreaking visit to China in February, 1972. Winston, then a key aide to Henry Kissinger, Nixon’s national security adviser, played an important advisory role on that trip, having already gone along on Kissinger’s secret trip to China in 1971 that laid the groundwork for the President’s historic visit the next year. Winston’s interview with the German publication, Der Spiegel, is particularly enlightening. Herewith the transcript. (Click title below to read it in its entirety.)
“Xi Is, Along with Putin, the Most Dangerous Man in the World”
Fifty years ago U.S. President Richard Nixon made his historic visit to China accompanied by Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and ’59 classmate Winston Lord. Nixon referred to his visit as having taken place during the “week that changed the world.”
Nixon, Kissinger and Lord met with then Chinese Premier Mao Zedong during their visit. Winston’s fascinating firsthand recollections of that meeting as broadcast on NPR can be heard by clicking the light blue and white ‘play’ button below.
Posted August 13, 2020
Ernst/Ernie Schoen-René sends in a note on the nuances of plays and re-writes… click to read
For those items below which have underlined links, please click the links to read the remainder of each.
Posted February 10, 2020
The writing craft is for a good number of our classmates a resourceful way to keep mind and spirit alive and productive, as we become more and more limited in ability to climb up and down mountains and cross oceans. Here are two titles forwarded by Don Watson:
John Macauley Smith’s autobiography: Curious Events Occurred On The Way To My Funeral: A Retired Journalist’s Report on his Earth Odyssey Plus Encounters with Both Known and Unknown Worlds – by John S. M. Smith (Author)
Herb Hallas’s Guardians of the Record: The Origins of Official Court Reporting and the Shorthand Writers Who Made It Possible
Posted October 1, 2019
Mike Whitney sent in a warm remembrance of John “Suis” Suisman. Click here to view it.
Posted January 7, 2019
Please head on over to our Class Projects and Fellowships page for recent news of the Hopper College Fund for Excellence awardees!
Posted January 2, 2019
Jim Cowperthwaite writes: “Hi Everybody,
“Many of us will remember our JE classmate Frank Porter as a smart, witty and ferociously satirical guy. Now he’s written a book (see below), and I bet it’s a good one. I’m giving it to myself for Christmas and look forward to a good read. My guess is he’s a terrific writer and that it might be hot enough to be banned in Boston.
Further, Alex Ercklentz’s sister Hildegard Mahoney (remember her on campus as Miss Rheingold in Freshman year?) has written a memoir of her family’s harrowing experiences as ex-patriates during World War II. It’s called Journey Interrupted and Alex, although only 12 years old at the end, proves himself as stalwart as any in this brave family. It’s truly an amazing saga and a fine tribute to Alex’s admirable character.
Merry Christmas and all the best for 2019,
Jim
We asked Frank Porter about his book and received the following reply:
Greetings All:
My name is “Semper Fee.” I am a novel written by Frank Porter. I would make a perfect holiday (or any day) gift.
I am just right for you if: (a) you have a law degree, (b) you considered law school but thought better of it, or (c) you are, at best, ambivalent about lawyers.
Attached to this pushy email is the URL to my Amazon page. It contains a brief synopsis and two effusive reviews. Neither reviewer was coerced or is related to me (or Frank Porter) by blood or marriage.
Should you decide to buy me online and desire prompt delivery, make sure to order from Amazon directly, not from any of the third party sellers loitering on my page.
All the best,
Semper Fee
By: Frank Porter, Author
And here is the Amazon description of the book by Hildegarde Mahoney nee Ercklentz:
In the midst of World War II, a German-American family finds themselves stranded in Japan in this inspiring tale of an extraordinary family adapting to the hazards of fate, and finding salvation in each other.
In the spring of 1941, seven-year-old Hildegarde Ercklentz and her family leave their home in New York City and set off for their native Germany, where her father has been recalled to the headquarters of the Commerz & Privat Bank in Berlin. It was meant to be an epic journey, crossing the United States, the Pacific, and Siberia—but when Hitler invades Russia, a week-long stay in Yokohama, Japan becomes six years of quasi-detention, as Hildegarde and her family are stranded in Japan until the war’s end. In this spellbinding memoir, Mahoney recounts her family’s moving saga, from their courage in the face of terrible difficulties—including forced relocation, scarce rations, brutal winters in the Japanese Alps—to their joyous reunion with their German relatives in Hamburg, and their eventual return to New York City in 1950. Richly detailed and remarkably vivid, Journey Interrupted is a story unlike any other—the inspiring tale of an extraordinary family adapting to the hazards of fate, and finding salvation in each other.
Posted January 2, 2019
Dick Bentley has sent us more news of his books. Click to view.
Posted March 19, 2018
Celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Peace Corps, John Stickler has a unique tale to tell. Click to read it.