As a regent, I hope to bring that important perspective of a typical family visitor in combination with my background as a Member of Congress and a proponent of the Smithsonian's efforts to reach all Americans.
The fact that President-elect Kennedy would be the first Catholic president did not sit well with many Americans. There was a fear that, as president, Kennedy's decisions would be based on his religion and dictated by the pope.
Many Americans genuinely fear that God is preparing to remove his hand of protection and blessing from our country, or perhaps already has.
Fear is the major cargo that American writers must stow away when the writing life calls them into carefully chosen ranks.
Notwithstanding these setbacks, the dream of a beautiful American orchestra goes on, and I share Dr. King's faith that each year we move inexorably closer to a magnificent opening night.
Used to be, conservatives revered the Average American, that Norman Rockwell oil painting of diner food, humble faith, honest toil, and Capraesque virtue.
We're Americans. We shape our own future. Let's start by standing up for President Barack Obama.
My hunch is that pop culture began to stagnate the moment Americans started to love the past more than they did the future.
Every single immigrant we have, undocumented or documented, is a future American. That's just the truth of it.
Rather than waiting for future trials to determine rules that will impact every citizen, Congress should step in and write a law that takes every American's rights into consideration.
If you look at military and intelligence positions from the 1950s, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has always been against American national interests.
I feel a little schizophrenic because my life is so totally different from here, obviously. And the French values are so different from American values.
The problem in Hollywood is that they try to become the only kind of cinema in the world, okay? The imposition everywhere of a unique culture, which is Hollywood culture, and a unique way of life, which is the American way of life.
What I liked about American movies when I was a kid was that they're sort of larger than life and I think I'm still suffering from that reaction.
Diversity has been written into the DNA of American life; any institution that lacks a rainbow array has come to seem diminished, if not diseased.
I won't stop fighting to make life better for working Americans and give those who are just trying to find a decent job the opportunity to do so.
The thing is, and Americans are starting to realize this now, that while street gangs are violent, the Democrats and Republicans are worse. They are worse because their decisions affect your life.
It was quite a European war until 1917, when the Americans joined up. They don't have the same sense of the loss of innocence and the cataclysmic loss of life. A whole generation was wiped out.
The president, just as any other American, deserves a legal defense against personal lawsuits not related to his office. But the costs of that defense should be borne by him and not the taxpayer.
I've always considered making it legal for Americans to import their prescription drugs a free-trade issue. Imports create competition and keep domestic industry more responsive to consumers.
I love contemporary North American fiction and short fiction. My favorite writer is Jonathan Franzen, and my favorite writers of short fiction are George Saunders and Alice Munro.
