Harry S. Truman

As we struggle to defeat a new, lethally pervasive enemy, this is a moment to understand that enduring victory is less a moment than a process.

Schoolteachers, archeologists, linguists and mathematicians worked on the Venona project breaking unbreakable Soviet code from WWII. They were heroes. But some had deep regrets.

Igor Gouzenko was a lowly Soviet cipher clerk when he turned the world order upside down in 1945. Nobody could have predicted the espionage hysteria his defection would unleash.

In 1978, two thieves broke into the Harry S. Truman Library and Museum, stealing three ceremonial swords and two daggers inlaid with gemstones—leaving only snowy footprints behind.

This true story shows just how much we depend on the bravery of the few to right the wrongs of the many.

Limited wars, where there is no clear winner, began in the increasingly and unjustly forgotten conflict in Korea, a ‘war’ that set the template for all U.S. conflicts since.

“The line between investigating and persecuting is a very fine one… We must remember that accusation is not proof.”