Wrench in the Machine: The Shapp Gubernatorial Campaign’s Media Blitz of 1966

Posted by on Nov 11, 2019 in | Comments Off on Wrench in the Machine: The Shapp Gubernatorial Campaign’s Media Blitz of 1966 Pennsylvania and machine politics were synonymous for years, even into the 1960s when reformers and direct primaries thwarted old-style machine politics in other states. Political machines with their control over patronage and nominations had dominated Pennsylvania’s politics since the Civil War, but even the direct primary failed to usher in a new, more open system. That changed suddenly when...
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Pennsylvania Stories – Well Told by William Ecenbarger

Posted by on Aug 22, 2017 in | 0 comments Pennsylvania Stories – Well Told by William Ecenbarger Temple University Press, 244 pp., cloth $25 Ecenbarger has earned well-deserved praise and admiration for his work as a newspaper staff writer and freelance writer over the course of a Pennsylvania-based career of nearly 50 years. His previous book, Kids for Cash (New Press, 2012), detailed the corrupt juvenile justice system in northeastern...
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Lackawanna County: The Last Shall Not Be Least

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Lackawanna County: The Last Shall Not Be Least The history of the Key­stone State’s sixty­-seven counties is often quite similar to family histories. Its portrait is a rich composite of Native American legend and lore, early trans­portation, marine and mari­time heritage, industry and industrialists, pioneers, capitalists and the working classes, religious communes, inventors and the Industrial Revolution …. And the county, whose...
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A Century of Conservation: The Story of Pennsylvania’s State Parks

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on A Century of Conservation: The Story of Pennsylvania’s State Parks Pennsylvania’s state park system is celebrating its centennial as one of the country’s largest and most popular recreational attractions. Each year, thirty-six million people visit one (or more) of the Keystone State’s one hundred and fourteen parks to picnic, hike, swim, boat, camp, ski, snowmobile, fish, hunt, or raft white water rapids. This sprawling collec­tion of open...
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Homeward Bound: An Interview with David McCullough

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Homeward Bound: An Interview with David McCullough David McCullough is a familiar name – and face. Known to millions as the author of bestselling books, including The Great Bridge, The Path Between the Seas, Truman, Mornings on Horseback, and Brave Companions, and as host of the popular PBS television series “Smithsonian World” and “The American Experience,” he is noted for his remarkable gift of writing richly...
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From the Peace Corps to Americorps: An Interview with Harris Wofford, Torchbearer for National Service

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on From the Peace Corps to Americorps: An Interview with Harris Wofford, Torchbearer for National Service In an inaugural address that has become a poignant reminder of the idealism of the mid-twentieth century, President John F. Kennedy chal­lenged Americans to “ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.” By throwing down the gauntet, he inspired a strong sense of national purpose and pride among the American people. His New Frontier programs...
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David L. Lawrence, the Deft Hand Behind Pittsburgh’s – and Pennsylvania’s – Politics

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on David L. Lawrence, the Deft Hand Behind Pittsburgh’s – and Pennsylvania’s – Politics David Leo Lawrence (1889-1966), governor of Pennsylvania from 1959 to 1963, and mayor of Pittsburgh from 1946 to 1959, during the city’s first heralded renaissance, was a professional politician to the very core. Ranked as one of America’s great chief executives among big cities, Lawrence immersed himself in politics, beginning at the age of fourteen when he became a city Democratic...
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Governor Tom Ridge’s Letter of Resignation

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on Governor Tom Ridge’s Letter of Resignation The peaceful, orderly transfer of political power is a hallmark of a mature democracy, occurring every year at various levels of government. In nearly every instance, it has become uneventful and routine; however, several transfers of power in the history of the Keystone State have been prompted by unusual circumstances. Since the creation of the office of governor, as required by Article II,...
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Letters to the Editor

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on Letters to the Editor Pure Escapism Hess’s was more than a department store [“Max Hess Jr. Puts Allentown on the Map” by Liz Armstrong Hall, Fall 2004]. It was part magic, part fantasy, part enchantment – pure escapism! When you were young, you didn’t need more than a dollar (for the candy counter) to feel like a million dollars. I’ll always remem­ber the women who tended the...
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Pennsylvania Heritage Society Newsletter

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on Pennsylvania Heritage Society Newsletter Topics in the Winter 2010 Newsletter: Friends of the State Museum Launch Major Campaign: Buy-a-Bone Columbia Gas Hosts School Groups for Special Energy Tour Calendar for January – March 2010 In the Next Edition Pennsylvania Governors Speakers Series Teaching American History Grant New Wind Exhibit Welcome New Membership Coordinator Holiday Marketplace 2009 Welcome New PHS Members Annual...
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