THE ADAMS CHRONICLES (1976) – This mini-series of 13 50-minute episodes looked at historical giant John Adams and his descendants from the American Revolution up to the 1890s. Michael Tolan narrated 8 episodes.
EPISODE ONE: JOHN ADAMS, LAWYER (Jan 20th, 1976) – As a young man, John Adams (George Grizzard) suffers setbacks in his career as a lawyer, so he returns to the farm his father left him. His fiery cousin Samuel Adams (W.B. Brydon) tells him he made a mistake and should go back to practicing law. John meets Abigail Smith (Kathryn Walker), daughter of a Reverend (Addison Powell). He marries her and as they raise their children he returns to his career as an attorney.
Though he and Samuel Adams agree about the need to push back against increasingly suffocating British laws, they sharply disagree when John’s principles prompt him to become the lawyer defending the British soldiers facing charges in the Boston Massacre. John felt the men were being railroaded and when no one else would defend them, he stepped up and did so. Not for the last time, John Adams’s principles put him at odds with those closest to him.
This episode also starred John Houseman, Nancy Marchand, David Elliott, Curt Dawson as John Hancock and John Tillinger as King George III. Continue reading
My, how time flies! It’s already been a year since anti-Donald Trump loons were claiming that celebrating the army’s 250th anniversary was Trump supposedly “acting like a dictator” by having a military event “celebrating his birthday.” It was wrong, of course, like roughly 90% of the shrill accusations against President Trump always turn out to be. Here’s my post from 2025 addressing that situation: 
I’m still laughing over the way that anti-Trump fascists are so ignorant, uninformed and emotionally unstable that they idiotically believed that the parade last weekend was for Trump himself. 
Last weekend was NOT a case of military strength shown off for a national leader but to mark the TWO HUNDRED FIFTIETH birthday of America’s army. Birthdays/ anniversaries being celebrated for the 25th, 50th, 100th, 200th, and 250th time ALWAYS get special celebrations. 
Susanna M. Salter was born March 2nd, 1860 in Lamira, Ohio. In 1872 she and her family moved to Kansas, settling near Silver Lake. 
CHIEF JUSTICE JOHN JAY 
THE LIVES OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN (1974-1975) – This was a series of four 90-minute (with commercials) dramas depicting America’s magnificently unorthodox genius at various stages of his life. Eddie Albert and Melvyn Douglas (husband of Helen Gahagan Douglas) depicted Franklin in his 70s and 80s, with flashback storylines in each episode. The Lives of Benjamin Franklin won five Primetime Emmys including Outstanding Limited Series. 
1. TIMOTHY PICKERING (1795-1800)
U.S. President: Calvin Coolidge Vice President: Charles G. Dawes Speaker of the House: Nicholas Longworth Chief Justice: Former President William Howard Taft 
1st – The ROSE BOWL GAME was broadcast on radio for the first time. This game pitted the undefeated UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA CRIMSON TIDE, then from the Southern Conference, against the undefeated UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON HUSKIES, then from the Pacific Coast Conference. The Huskies led 12-0 at Halftime, but the Crimson Tide came from behind to win the game 20-19 in what has been called “the football game that changed the South.” 
