“I wanted to serve on a committee where I could see the results of my labors. When you authorize the construction of a military base or a big carrier you can see the results.”Editor's Note: Carl Vinson spent much of his first term in Congress…

“I am a hater of war and a devoted lover of peace, but, sir, Mr. Chairman, in my hour of seclusion and study I have to the best of my humble capacity held up the lamp of the past to the face of the future, and I call God to witness that I would be…

This guy’s name was Kenzie. He’s from Chicago. He was a young hoodlum, and it matched my background because I was the poorest kid in a poor neighborhood back in Buffalo. I was a scrounger, and he was a scrounger, and we put things together.Editor's…

Editor's Note: In September 1939, Eugene's family went on a trip to Germany to visit Eugene's grandmother Johanna. The family was required to return to Germany periodically to maintain Johanna's property in Hannover. On the same day that their ocean…

"My parents met in South America where my father was working at that time and my mother was visiting. They got married and bought land in the interior to raise cattle. I understand that it was a day to a day-and-a-half ride on horseback outside of…

Editor's Note: After marrying in Brazil, Eugen and Karla Kimling were both infected with malaria. They decided to move to the United States where Karla soon gave birth to two sons, Carl and Eugene Kimling. During his childhood, Eugene's family lived…

"My slave ancestors, despite the horrors they were subjected to, had value and were listed among the assets of a slaveholder. Had the Nazi position prevailed in the aftermath of the U.S. Civil War (my slave great-grandfather and namesake, William…

"But now as far as the attitude, I went into the Army at age 20. And I -- I guess I have been familiar with the number of forms of discrimination that blacks were subjected to. I've lived all of my life in the south. I was born in Johnson City,…

"It was what we call row houses. It was almost like what they have as town houses now, but they were built in the late 18th century. So we had neighbors stuck with us, and we had upstairs and downstairs. (Makes side-by-side motion with hands).…

"[My father] was very musical too, so he learned to play the guitar and later joined a jazz band. He was also a boy scout, In 1938 he met Lord Baden-Powell. Lord Baden-Powell came to Copenhagen and shook every boy’s hand."