Historically Speaking: The Founding Father with the loudest voice

Tom Morrow • July 4, 2026

John Adams was born in the British colony of Massachusetts on Oct. 30, 1735. He was a farmer and a somewhat successful lawyer who later became an American statesman and diplomat, and a leading advocate of American independence from Great Britain.

Historically Speaking: Merry holiday song was composed by artist with local ties

Tom Morrow • December 31, 2024

One of the great friendships I made during my half-century of covering entertainment personalities was with Hall of Fame song writer Hugh Martin, who lived for many years in North San Diego County, including Encinitas. His most memorable work was for the 1945 Warner Brothers’ Judy Garland film “Meet Me in St. Louis.”

Historically Speaking: Christmas of yesteryear in the Middle West

Tom Morrow • December 24, 2024

Today’s anticipated Christmas booty would never appear on the dreamscape of most youngsters during the 1940s or early ’50s. What toy land wonders we didn’t know about in those days weren’t missed. Comparatively speaking, post-World War II vintage toys were, at best, primitive.

Historically Speaking: Olympic gold and what ‘could have been’

Tom Morrow • July 31, 2024

The 2024 Olympics opened last week in Paris, but a lot of history has taken place during the last century that is worthy of note. Here are two stories I told you about in past columns.

Historically Speaking: The night one magic master met another

Tom Morrow • April 10, 2024

For those who don’t know it, the late KGTV Channel 10 news anchor Jack White not only was a class act as a news reporter, but he was a master magician as well.

Historically Speaking: Christmas of yesteryear in the Middle West

Tom Morrow • December 14, 2023

Thoughts of the approaching 2023 Christmas take me back more than eight decades of my life. I recall the anticipated booty that never appeared on the dreamscape during my 1940s and early ’50s. Of course, in those days, what toy land wonders we didn’t know about weren’t missed.

Historically Speaking: Danny Thomas, a man behind the fight against cancer

Tom Morrow • June 3, 2023

For television viewers, the name “Danny Thomas” appears on-screen at least once daily. The name appears during St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital commercials in a plea for donations. You’ll see his name on the side of the hospital building as “Danny Thomas, Founder.”

Historically Speaking: The nation’s first mail order general stores

Tom Morrow • May 10, 2023

Before there were roads connecting the Atlantic to the Pacific and Mexico to Alaska, you could buy goods delivered via railroad freight and/or the U.S. mail. This was more than a century before the Internet, all courtesy of the mail-order catalogs of the Montgomery Ward and Sears & Roebuck companies. It was the Amazon of yesteryear.

Historically Speaking: Confessions of a writer

Tom Morrow • April 16, 2023

Each of us has or will experience a good amount of history as life takes us from one day to the next. Do an assessment of your own life ... you might be surprised.

Historically Speaking: The banker who saved America 

Tom Morrow • March 22, 2023

In lieu of today’s current financial climate in Washington, D.C., reviewing a bit of national banking history seems to be in order. Today, as it was yesterday, there always seems to be light at the end of a very long financial-ladened tunnel.

Historically Speaking: From riches to rags to world leadership

Tom Morrow • March 11, 2023

As “dire” as you think things are today in 2023 with our inflation-ridden life, in general could be worse ... and they were just throughout the 1930s. Hopefully, we won’t repeat those days, but somehow history has a way of repeating itself.

Historically Speaking: The mansion above Arlington National Cemetery

Tom Morrow • February 23, 2023

High on a bluff overlooking Arlington National Cemetery is the southern mansion of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. As Union casualties mounted during the Civil War, officials in nearby Washington, D.C., thought it fitting that fallen Federal soldiers be laid to rest on General Lee’s estate. However, the story is a bit more involved.