Auld Lang Syne
“Weigh your actions carefully”
Aldo Moro's efforts to secure his freedom changed the course of how terrorism was practiced.
“To the U.S.A. commander…”
Before Tweets and texts, an American general had a terse response for his German counterpart.
“In other news…”
For decades, wire service journalism was a short course in mental order and organization.
Emotional baggage
Old items you choose — or refuse — to discard can be issuances of memory itself.
“The will of the commander…”
Chivalrous rhetoric no longer plays much of a part in most newspaper, TV and online writing.
“The pen is paralyzed…”
Once, so-called purple prose ruled disaster coverage, and it's making a comeback.
“A sizeable rat…”
Letters to the editor in letter form are all but extinct, but their legacy lives on.
“Take a decisive step…”
In 1946, Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh begged U.S. President Harry Truman to help him, unsuccessfully.
War music
Lothar R. Long: "We are on the march to the Rhine, hard on the heels of Herr Hun."
“Never the last race…”
A fan letter to a respected New York Times columnist produced a lifetime of advice.
Banned words
"No style will please all readers, but lack of any style tends to confuse and irritate them."
“Just in time…”
For Helen Gahagan Douglas, Watergate was years in the works, which she learned the hard way.
Handwritten and typed letters are disappearing. The “Auld Lang Syne” column is an effort to gather letters, notes, telegrams and other items sent via mail, most culled from the archives of the magazine’s writers. These included personal and business correspondence and other tidbits that help reflect a time when nothing was instant, especially replies, and stamps mattered.