I probably hadn’t seen Frank Capra’s “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” before launching my crusade 50 years ago, but the idea “lost causes are the only causes that are worth fighting for” would’ve ...

When he was told he had only weeks to live, his response was telling. He was calm and at peace. At 82, he told his children, he had lived much longer than he expected.

The Opelousas Daily World described it as “open warfare” in 1954 after Robert Olivier, assistant principal at Washington High School, took on the education establishment over so-called “progressive ...