Articles
From special articles just for this site to featured articles in leading sites, such as USA Today, The U.S. Army War College, and The Wall Street Journal, you can find a list of my published articles sorted by topic below.
Newsletter Issues
Darkness Before Dawn: NYC’s 1941 Holiday Season
A dark holiday season arrived early in New York City that year. It was December 1941, and the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor had just occurred three weeks earlier. Everyone was on edge. Even Mae Foley, a New York Policewoman and mother of two grown daughters. What did the future hold...
Pressure is a Privilege
From my November 2023 Newsletter: In September I was watching commentary on the U.S. Open when a broadcaster repeated a quote from tennis great Billie Jean King. He said...
History Matters
From my October 2023 Newsletter: In just two weeks, I’ll be in Phoenix, Arizona, where I will be privileged to receive the Historian of the Year Award for 2023 from Historic...
The Right to Vote
August 26th is nationally recognized as Women’s Equality Day, recalling that day in 1920 when the 19th amendment was certified to the Constitution, recognizing women’s right to...
Strategic Communications
Lincoln As Strategist: Exercising the Elements of National Power
WAR ROOM welcomes back featured contributor Mari K. Eder to take a look at the strategic accomplishments of President Abraham Lincoln. Inspired by a print of Lincoln signing the famous Lieber Code, Mari examines how each of the President's strategic actions were designed to preserve the Union....
This Pioneering Officer Led an All-Black Women’s Army Corps Battalion in a Daunting World War II Mission: Saving Soldiers’ Mail
Charity Adams was already on her way to the European theater in January 1945, and there was a sealed envelope on her lap. It was time to find out where she was going. She tore...
The Strategic Six Seconds
Several weeks ago, In the music section of the Sunday Washington Post an article caught my attention, “Launching a Pop Career in Six Seconds.” It was about a young, unknown...
How to Build Trust and Master the Art of Negotiation
Everything we do is a negotiation, says retired Army Maj. Gen. Mari K. Eder, “whether it’s making a dental appointment, working out contract terms, or engaging in international...
Opinion, Editorial, and Commentary
The War Correspondents
As published in the July - August 2023 edition of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution National Defender. A recent military magazine article on WWII journalists neglected to mention any women correspondents aside from Martha Gellhorn, and gave her a mere nod in passing. Yet...
Mary, Mae, and Many More!
Mary Agnes Sullivan built a remarkable 35-year career as a pioneering policewoman in New York City. She became the first woman homicide detective in the New York City Police...
Who’s On First?
Ellen O’Grady claimed to be the first female detective. So did Mary Sullivan, but Ellen O’Grady had been a matron first, and Mary Sullivan hadn’t been through basic police...
The Fearless Capt. Edna Pitkin
One of Mae Foley’s friends in the Women’s Police Reserve was Capt. Edna Pitkin. Edna was a Broadway regular, and Mae thought her a bit impulsive. One day she told Mae that she’d...
Ethics
After the Info-Apocalypse (AA) (Part 1) – Tech the Untamed
The Information Apocalypse series examined the decline of trust and truth in American Institutions over the past several years, from the effects on news and information but more critically, on ideas and values. The series explored the role of leaders in a polemicized society, and the necessity for...
The Information Apocalypse, Part X: The Road Ahead
The future is replete with opportunities for managing the pace of change, responding to change, and determining how information is protected and revealed. As the pandemic...
The Information Apocalypse Part IX: Art Versus Science
The Information Apocalypse has eaten away at the foundations of society – in our institutions, through trust in our professions, and in denigrating respect for the pronouncements...
The Information Apocalypse, Part VIII: Civics Lessons
Studies, polls, and surveys continue to demonstrate that Americans’ trust in democratic and civil-society institutions is at rock bottom. Given that fact, how can Americans...