Category Archives: History

Once More into the Breach: Shakespeare, History, and Olivier’s 1944 Henry V.

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Feature Image: Movie poster in Spanish for Laurence Olivier’s 1944 Technicolor adaptation of William Shakespeare’s play, Henry V (1599). Produced in Ireland to serve as a British morale-boosting propaganda tool during WWII, the film achieved global distribution through theatrical releases and subsequent re-releases and is today frequently used in university studies (e.g., Cambridge Core) on cinematic Shakespeare. Photo: “Enrique V” by Kirby York is marked with Public Domain Mark 1.0.

Shakespeare’s Henry V was first published in 1600 in a quarto edition and in subsequent editions in 1602 and 1619. A more complete, reliable text was later published in the First Folio in 1623. Photo: “Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories & Tragedies [Title page]” by Boston Public Library is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

Henry V in the Regement of Princes, c. 1411–1413. Henry V died in 1422 at the age of 35, likely from dysentery contracted in the unsanitary conditions of his military camp. In his will, he named his brother, John of Bedford, as regent for his infant son, the future Henry VI, who would not be crowned in his own right until 1437. Although the Treaty of Troyes had positioned Henry V to inherit the French crown, he never became King of France; Charles VI outlived him, preventing the succession. His son, Henry VI—often described as gentle, passive, and averse to violence and warfare—proved unable to sustain his father’s hard‑won claims. His authority in France collapsed, and at home he was deposed in March 1461 by the Yorkist Edward IV. A brief restoration in 1470 returned him to the throne, but only for months; Henry VI was permanently deposed and killed in May 1471. Public Domain.

William Shakespeare likely wrote Henry V in spring 1599. The play dramatizes the 28-year-old English king’s campaign to claim the French throne, culminating in his victory at Agincourt on October 15, 1415—a battlefield I visited in 1993, still largely unchanged after six centuries. Henry based his claim on his ancestor Edward III, and his triumph was aided by a France divided by civil war between Burgundians and Orléanists.

At the Battle of Agincourt (1415), roughly 80% of Henry V’s army were longbowmen—an overwhelming concentration of missile power that defined the fight. Henry deployed thousands of archers along his flanks and center, unleashing relentless, high‑velocity arrow storms that tore through the densely packed, heavily armored French ranks. Behind their sharpened stakes, these archers acted as an offensive engine, cutting down waves of advancing knights before they ever reached English lines. The result was one of military history’s most lopsided victories. Estimates suggest 6,000–10,000 French dead—including more than ninety nobles—against only a few hundred English losses. French formations collapsed, morale shattered, and an army that outnumbered the English by as much as six to one simply disintegrated. Agincourt proved that disciplined, trained, often low‑born archers could annihilate superior numbers of elite, armored cavalry. It didn’t just win a battle—it rewrote the rules of medieval warfare. Photo: “Enrique V (3)” by Kirby York is marked with Public Domain Mark 1.0.

Entrée de Jeanne d’Arc à Orléans (“Entrance of Joan of Arc into Orléans”), painted in 1887 by the academic artist Jacques Scherrer (1855-1916), portrays Joan’s triumphant arrival in Orléans on May 8, 1429, after she lifted the city’s siege during the Hundred Years’ War. Her victory set in motion the campaign that culminated in the Dauphin’s coronation as King Charles VII at Reims on July 17, 1429. Public Domain.

Within fifteen years, Jeanne la Pucelle—Joan of Arc—led Orléanist and Armagnac forces to lift the siege of Orléans in 1429. Captured by Burgundians in 1430, she was handed to the English and condemned by their puppet ecclesiastical court before being burned in Rouen. Henry’s 1415 victory enabled the 1420 Treaty of Troyes, which disinherited the Dauphin, named Henry regent and heir to Charles VI, and arranged his marriage to Catherine of Valois, sister of the future Charles VII. On July 17, 1429, after Joan’s visions and military successes, she stood beside the Dauphin as he was crowned at Reims. By 1453, the French had expelled the English entirely from France.

The 1944 Technicolor film follows a performance of Shakespeare’s history play at the Globe in 1603 as it evolves toward a sharper, more realistic style. Laurence Olivier’s bold, experimental film adaptation—directing and starring in the title role—reimagined Shakespeare for the screen centuries after the play’s premiere. The production became a landmark of cinematic Shakespeare, celebrated for its visual flair and Olivier’s command of film technique, especially in the sweeping, meticulously staged battle sequences. (8) William Walton : Henry V : Touch her soft lips and part. Film clips. – YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnQl4Wj8NXc) – retrieved April 23, 2026.

The play Henry V emerged during an intensely creative year for Shakespeare and was likely among the first plays staged at the new Globe Theatre. Though often read as patriotic, it also probes the ethical and personal costs of war, exposing its brutality and questioning the justice of Henry’s campaign. Laurence Olivier’s 1944 Technicolor adaptation transformed the play into wartime propaganda to bolster British morale and later earned recognition as a landmark Shakespearean film. Its iconic score was composed by William Walton.

Henry V starred British actors Laurence Olivier as Henry V and Renée Asherson as Catherine of Valois. Photo: “Enrique V (2)” by Kirby York is marked with Public Domain Mark 1.0.

The original Globe Theatre opened in summer of 1599 in Southwark, London, built by the Lord Chamberlain’s Men which was the company William Shakespeare wrote for and part-owned.  It is widely believed that the first play by Shakespeare performed at the Globe was Julius Caesar, likely alongside Henry V and As You Like It. Today’s Globe Theatre in London is the third Globe. see – Globe Theatre | About us | Discover | Shakespeare’s Globe – retrieved April 23, 2026. Photo: “Shakespeare’s Globe” by Werkmens is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

In November 1963 FOR “BILL OF RIGHTS WEEK,” President John F. Kennedy made a short film introduction addressing the nation on the Bill of Rights in the U.S. Constitution that JFK called “the most extraordinary and detailed guarantees of individual liberty that any people on earth now possess.”

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FEATURE Image: “bill of rights day tribute” by Demetrios Georgalas aka brexians is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

On November 5, 1963, President John F. Kennedy reminded his fellow Americans of the detailed guarantees of individual liberty found in the Bill of Rights that “perhaps we take for granted but which we are guaranteed in the United States Constitution…” “President John F. Kennedy” by U.S. Embassy New Delhi is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0.

In a letter dated September 24, 1963, Lawrence Speiser (1923-1991), Director of the Washington D.C. Office of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) expressed his encouragement and support to the idea of the President of The United States addressing the nation in that auspicious time and place to commemorate that year’s U.S. Bill of Rights week. The Bill of Rights are the first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution that were created on September 25, 1789 and ratified by the states on December 15, 1791. As the president listed in his remarks, they guarantee individual rights and liberties to every citizen including “freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of the press, the right of assembly and petition, the right of trial by jury, the right to be secure in one’s own home, the protection of due process of law and private property and public trials, and many other things…” President Kennedy agreed to make a two-minute movie trailer for national showing on television and in theaters during “Bill of Rights Week” to be held that year from December 15 to 21.

In his letter, the ACLU Director in Washington, D.C. acknowledged the important relevance of the Bill of Rights in his day as it was when originally written and adopted. Just months since President Kennedy’s June 11, 1963 Civil Rights speech to the nation (https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/historic-speeches/televised-address-to-the-nation-on-civil-rights – retrieved October 26, 2024) which advocated a fundamental support of the civil rights movement for Black Americans, and less than one month since the March on Washington and Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have A Dream” speech delivered from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in the National Mall, ACLU Director Speiser pointed out to Kennedy’s Press Secretary in his letter the significance of the Bill of Rights to these actions: “Certainly the entire civil rights movement today for fair and equal treatment for Negroes has demonstrated the importance of basic freedoms of speech, press, religion and assembly as well as due process of law in attaining that ideal. The August 28th “March on Washington” was a massive demonstration in the time-honored tradition of a peaceable assembly to petition the government for a redress of grievance.”

On November 5, 1963, President John F. Kennedy recorded a short speech for Bill of Rights Day, which is celebrated on December 15. The speech was filmed at the request of the Council of Motion Picture Organizations and was distributed to theaters across the country. 

President Kennedy’s remarks from the Oval Office were filmed on November 5, 1963. They were to be broadcast nationwide in December 1963. A little over two weeks after Kennedy made these remarks, the 46-year-old president was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. In President Kennedy’s remarks on Bill of Rights Day he related the history of how the document came to be created and formed: “After the Constitution was written it was felt that while this was an extraordinary document it did not provide the kind of guarantees for our individual liberties that a free country required. Therefore, under the leadership of James Madison, the first 10 amendments were adopted to the Constitution. We call them the Bill of Rights.“

James Madison (1751-1836), who became the 4th president of the U.S. for two terms starting in 1808, introduced the Bill of Rights on June 8, 1789. His amendments contained numerous restrictions on the federal government and would protect, among other things, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and the right to peaceful assembly. While most of his proposed amendments were drawn from the ratifying conventions, Madison was largely responsible for proposals to guarantee freedom of the press, protect property from government seizure, and ensure jury trials. President John F. Kennedy, 35th president of the United States, cited Madison in his remarks to the nation on November 5, 1963. “4 James Madison” by US Department of State is marked with Public Domain Mark 1.0.

The U.S. Bill of Rights comprises the first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution adopted in 1791. The Bill of Rights specifically adds to the Constitution specific and detailed guarantees of personal freedoms and rights, clear limitations on the government’s power in judicial and other proceedings, and explicit declarations that all powers not specifically granted to the federal government by the Constitution are reserved to the states or the people. “The Bill of Rights” by eugevon is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.

President Kennedy pointed to the document’s profound meaning and relevance in the life of the nation – “We, The People.” Despite, or because of, the many struggles in the nation’s history, the Bill of Rights had proved vital and inseparable to the people in America – and mankind – in their guarantee of the sort of life its citizens seek to live and lead. “My fellow American citizens,” Kennedy said, “…They are the most extraordinary and detailed guarantees of individual liberty that any people on earth now possess. Because of the Bill of Rights, we are guaranteed freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of the press, the right of assembly and petition, the right of trial by jury, the right to be secure in one’s own home, the protection of due process of law and private property and public trials, and many other things that perhaps we take for granted but which we are guaranteed in the United States Constitution…”

“bill of rights day tribute” by Demetrios Georgalas aka brexians is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

50 years ago today: President Richard Nixon Resigns.

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Feature Image: Richard Nixon flashes his double‑V salute as he boards the helicopter moments after his resignation on August 9, 1974. “RICHARD NIXON FAREWELL” by manhhai is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

I was on one of my backpacking canoe trips into Quetico Provincial Park in Canada during the week of Nixon’s resignation on August 9, 1974. Up to that point the political theatre in the nation had been stoked to climax. That summer I was one of the first to get and read a copy of Bernstein & Woodward’s All the President’s Men published in June 1974.

Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward’s All the President’s Men traced the Watergate story from the June 17, 1972 break‑in through the cascading resignations of April 1973 — including Chief of Staff H. R. Haldeman and Domestic Affairs Advisor John Ehrlichman — and culminating in Alexander Butterfield’s July 1973 revelation of the White House taping system. The book reconstructs the political machinery behind the scandal, detailing how two relatively junior reporters uncovered a widening pattern of abuses inside the executive branch. It also pulls back the curtain on the reporting process itself, recounting the behind‑the‑scenes battles over major stories and Woodward’s clandestine meetings with his source, Deep Throat, who helped steer them through a landscape shaped by secrecy, institutional resistance, and the power of the presidency.

The film, All the President’s Men, released in April 1976, was directly based on the 1974 non-fiction book of the same name and starred Robert Redford as Bob Woodward and Dustin Hoffman as Carl Bernstein. “All the President’s Men, 1976” by thefoxling is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

In July 1972, Woodward and Bernstein searched the Library of Congress for evidence linking Watergate burglars to White House intelligence operations, yet found nothing after days of searching. Due to this lack of hard evidence, the story was kept off the front page, highlighting the initial lack of support for the investigation. The 1976 film All the President’s Men dramatizes this moment through a high-angle shot, visually emphasizing the pair’s isolation in exposing a massive, government-backed conspiracy.

Since it started in May 1974, I had been watching the congressional hearings as well as reading the newspapers mostly that summer on the fight over the White House tapes. On July 24, 1974 the U.S. Supreme Court in an unanimous decision said Nixon had to surrender the tapes and on July 27, 1974 the House Judiciary Committee voted for articles of impeachment of Nixon. This was coming to a head just days before I was getting ready to set out for a week in the wilderness by way of Madison, Wisconsin and Ely, Minnesota.

Members and staff of the House Judiciary Committee on July 27, 1974. Public Domain. The articles of Impeachment can be found here: https://watergate.info/impeachment/articles-of-impeachment/ – retrieved August 8, 2024.

Canoe trip group, August 8, 1974:

As we paddled, portaged, and set up and broke camp over a beautiful week in the wilderness, we were all aware that something extraordinary was unfolding in Washington. But with no radios or newspapers in the backcountry, we were cut off from the final act of Nixon’s presidency. Only when we returned to Ely, Minnesota for the trip home did we learn that Richard Nixon had resigned — the first, and so far only, U.S. president to do so. I’m standing at the center of the group, wearing the open‑collared green shirt. Author’s collection.

In an evening televised address on August 8, 1974, President Richard M. Nixon announced his resignation to be effective at noon on August 9, 1974. That day Nixon gave a farewell press conference in the East Room in mid morning before scores of White House staff and cabinet members joined by his wife, Pat, and two daughters, Julie and Tricia, with their husbands. Nixon was finally bowing to pressure from the public and Congress to leave the White House.

Portage, Quetico, August 1974: Between lakes and light, the work becomes its own kind of rhythm. Author’s photograph.

I didn’t see Nixon’s resignation speech when it happened. We were still on the canoe trip, deep in the woods, and the world felt very far away. But the next morning, back at the outfitter’s, a small television was on, and I caught his early‑morning press conference. Even then, I thought Nixon’s tone was maudlin and overwrought — a view I still hold, though with time it’s easier to see how skillfully he staged that final bit of melodrama.

In the days and weeks that followed, after years of political combat at the highest levels of government, the country felt both relieved and strangely unmoored, as if the ground had shifted and no one quite knew what came next. That sense of drifting didn’t last long. When President Ford pardoned Nixon on September 8, 1974, the national mood snapped back into focus. By then school had started again for me, and I was back on the football field, trying to keep track of plays and classes while the country tried to make sense of its own upheaval. Politics, like the season, regrouped quickly. The struggle resumed — loud, messy, determined — as if the nation needed that friction to feel like itself again so to make all right in the world by way of that struggle for it.

President Ford announcing his decision to pardon Nixon, September 8, 1974, in the Oval Office. Public Domain.

The author at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library in Yorba Linda, California, June 1994—nearly twenty years after Nixon’s resignation and just six weeks after his death on April 22, 1994, at age 81. Author’s collection.

June 1994. President Richard Nixon’s grave at the Nixon Library in Yorba Linda, California, set beside his childhood home. He is buried here alongside his wife, Pat. Author’s photograph.

Reporting work of Woodward and Bernstein has often been described as “maybe the single greatest reporting effort of all time” (Roy J. Harris Jr., Pulitzer’s Gold, 2007, p. 233). In 1976, the story they broke reached a mass audience through the hit film adaptation of All the President’s Men, with Robert Redford portraying Woodward and Dustin Hoffman as Bernstein. That same year, the two journalists published The Final Days, a sequel I read when it first appeared, which chronicled the collapse of Richard Nixon’s presidency — picking up where their earlier book ended and tracing the unraveling of the administration through its final, chaotic months.

FURTHER READING:

How Robert Redford Made ‘All The President’s Men’ Happen – retrieved Septemeber16, 2025.

Celluloid Chronicles—The Revolutionary War to World War II on Popular Film: Honoring the Meaning of Memorial Day.

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FEATURE Image: Memorial Day Ceremony – North Africa American Cemetery and Memorial – May 31, 2010. PHOTO: “Memorial Day Ceremony – North Africa American Cemetery and Memorial – May 31, 2010” by US Army Africa is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

Introduction

The first national observance of Memorial Day occurred on May 30, 1868, following the U.S. Civil War. Commander in Chief John A. Logan of the Grand Army of the Republic issued General Order Number 11 designating May 30 as a day of memorial “for the purpose of strewing with flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village, and hamlet churchyard in the land.” (Source: Library of Congress). It is a day for visiting cemeteries and memorials to mourn the military personnel who died in the line of duty.

Films, music, and literature about the people, places, and events in history where military personnel as individuals and as a unit are asked to pay the ultimate price and make the greatest sacrifice for freedom are among some of the greatest stories ever told.

THE CROSSING (2000). American Revolutionary War (1775-1783).

Bringing Washington’s Gamble to the Screen

Directed by Robert Harmon and adapted by Howard Fast from his novel of the same name, The Crossing stars Jeff Daniels as George Washington.

A Revolution Hanging by a Thread

In December 1776 — barely six months after the Declaration of Independence — Washington’s Continental Army was collapsing. Starved of men, artillery, and supplies, the revolution hung by a thread. So Washington made the most dangerous decision of the war: he would gamble everything on a surprise strike at Trenton, where more than a thousand feared Hessian mercenaries held the town.

Forcing the Ice-Choked Delaware

To reach them, his exhausted army would have to force a night crossing of the ice‑choked Delaware River and march toward what looked like a hopeless fight. Instead, the attack became the stunning, against‑all‑odds victory Washington had scarcely dared imagine.

A Stunning and One-Sided American Victory

Washington’s surprise attack on the Hessian garrison at Trenton on December 26, 1776, produced a stunningly one‑sided American victory. The Continental Army suffered almost no combat losses — none killed in action, two men who froze to death during the night march, and only five wounded, including a young James Monroe, later of Monroe Doctrine fame, who took a musket ball in the shoulder.

The Destruction of the Hessian Force

The Hessians, by contrast, were effectively destroyed as a fighting force: 22 killed (among them their commander, Colonel Johann Rall), 92 wounded, and about 920 captured.

Detail. NYC – Metropolitan Museum of Art: Washington Crossing the Delaware. “NYC – Metropolitan Museum of Art: Washington Crossing the Delaware” by wallyg is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

GETTYSBURG (1993). The U.S. Civil War (1861-1865).

Directed by Ronald F. Maxwell whose screenplay is based on The Killer Angels, a novel by Michael Shaara, Gettysburg starred an ensemble cast including Martin Sheen, Tom Berenger, Jeff Daniels, Stephen Lang and Sam Elliott.

The Convergence of Command at Gettysburg

One of the Union army’s most respected senior commanders during the American Civil War was 42-year-old General John F. Reynolds (John Rothman) who was killed on the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg at the very start of it. Reynolds was in command of the “left wing” of the Army of the Potomac commanded by Gen. George C. Meade and which included the cavalry division of 37-year-old Brig. Gen. John Buford (Sam Elliott).

Buford’s Defensive Stand

Buford had occupied the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, with his “headquarters” atop the cupola of the Lutheran seminary. With light defensive lines he resisted superior numbers of Confederate infantry brigades along the Chambersburg Pike who were blind to the Union Army’s smaller numbers because Major General J. E. B. Stuart had gone missing

The Opening Clash and a Fatal Command

When Reynolds’ I Infantry Corps arrived, he rode out ahead, met with Buford, and then accompanied some of his soldiers into the fighting. As Reynolds was supervising the placement of the 2nd Wisconsin, he shouted: “Forward men! Forward for God’s sake! and drive those fellows out of those woods.” At that moment Reynolds was shot by a sniper and fell off his horse to the ground with a mortal wound to the back of the head.

The Impact of a Leader’s Loss

The death of Reynolds impacted his troops and fellow commanders deeply. At that particular moment, they realized that any one leader (and the Union army had been through several at the top), even if he had the necessary zeal, vision, and sense of purpose, would not be enough to win the fight to save the Union. It must be a coordinated effort. Reynolds, by supporting Buford’s decision to set up defensive resistance as well as engaging his infantry, even in death effectively chose Gettysburg as that hallowed battleground for the next three days.

The Retreat to High Ground

Since Confederate numbers were superior on that first day, Union troops eventually retreated through town and rallied on Cemetery Ridge where General Meade and Maj. Gen. Winfield S. Hancock, with many others, entrenched on the high ground. They faced Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee (Martin Sheen), and Lieutenant Generals Longstreet, Ewell, and A.P. Hill, among others. In the 1993 film, Confederate Major General Henry Heth is played by Warren Burton who was born and grew up in Chicago and attended The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Heth was from a coal mining area near Richmond, Virginia.

The Staggering Cost of Hallowed Ground

At the Battle of Gettysburg the two armies suffered between 46,000 and 51,000 casualties. Union casualties amounted to 3,155 killed, 14,531 wounded, and 5,369 captured or missing. Reynolds’ body was immediately transported to his home-town of Lancaster, PA, where he was buried on July 4, 1863. Buford died 5 months later possibly of typhus in Washington, D.C. and was buried at West Point Cemetery in New York. Like Lincoln, Buford was born in Kentucky and grew up in Illinois (Rock Island). His father was a leading politician, but as a Democrat supported Stephen A. Douglas and opposed Abraham Lincoln.

Lutheran Seminary, Gettysburg. PHOTO: “Lutheran Seminary, Gettysburg” by josullivan.59 is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

THE FIGHTING SULLIVANS (1944). World War II (1941-1945).

Hollywood’s Tribute to a Tragic Brotherhood

Directed by Lloyd Bacon based on a story by Edward Doherty, Mary C. McCall Jr., and Jules Schermer, The (Fighting) Sullivans starred Anne Baxter, Thomas Mitchell, Selena Royle, Edward Ryan, John Campbell, James Cardwell, John Alvin, George Offerman, Ward Bond and Trudy Marshall.

The True Story of the Juneau Disaster

Released as The Sullivans in 1944, this 20th-Century-Fox drama film tells the true story of five brothers – George, Frank, Matt, Joe and Al Sullivan – who grew up in Waterloo, Iowa, and who were all killed in World War II when their ship, Juneau, was sunk in combat at Guadalcanal in November 1942.

The Honest Price of a World War

The film is a tearjerker not so much because it is sentimental but that it is honest. The final scene where the naval officer who recruited the five brothers (Ward Bond) comes to the boys’ house to tell the tragic news to their parents (Thomas Mitchell and Selena Royle) and the youngest brother’s widow (Anne Baxter) and mother of his child is one of cinema’s best conveyances of the price paid in a world war that claimed 420,000 American lives.

Memorial Day Ceremony – North Africa American Cemetery and Memorial – May 31, 2010. PHOTO: “Memorial Day Ceremony – North Africa American Cemetery and Memorial – May 31, 2010” by US Army Africa is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

Conclusion

Through the power of cinema and visual art, these Celluloid Chronicles serve as living monuments that permanently capture the profound weight of military sacrifice. From the frozen banks of the Delaware to the bloodied ridges of Gettysburg and the tragic depths of Guadalcanal, artistic expression bridges the gap between historical duty and modern remembrance. This creative preservation ensures that the ultimate price paid by service members in every conflict—from the nation’s founding revolutionary struggles to the modern battlefields of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Iran today—is never forgotten, keeping the sacred meaning of Memorial Day alive across generations.