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Berry Craig

Berry Craig, a Carlisle countian, is a professor emeritus of history at West Kentucky Community and Technical College in Paducah and the author of seven books, all on Kentucky history. His latest is “Kentuckians and Pearl Harbor: Stories from the Day of Infamy” which the University Press of Kentucky published.

Remembering a Kentucky family’s sacrifice 84 years after Pearl Harbor

Webster County native Lambert Ray Tapp joined the Navy in Louisville on March 6, 1940, and ended up on the battleship Arizona, one of the largest and most powerful warships afloat.
By Berry Craig
Gunner’s Mate Third Class Lambert Ray Tapp was aboard the USS Arizona on Dec. 7, 1941. (Photo from National Archives)

Commentary: Andy Beshear would have to snap a 168-year streak to top his party’s ticket

NPR’s Steve Inskeep interviewed Beshear on “Morning Edition” last week, and Washington Monthly just published an article headlined “Why Andy Beshear Is a First-Tier Presidential Contender.”
By Berry Craig
Other than political party and birthplace, Gov. Andy Beshear (left) and U.S. Vice President John C. Breckinridge appear to have little in common. Breckinridge was the Democratic Party’s nominee in 1860, losing to Republican Abraham Lincoln. Breckinridge went on to become a Confederate general. (Photo credits: Liam Niemeyer, of Kentucky Lantern, and National Endowment for the Humanities)

Commentary: Kentucky’s greatest statesman also had designs on Canada

Two centuries ago, Henry Clay was gung ho for invading Canada, then a British possession.  
By Berry Craig
Henry Clay’s sword photographed by Louis Edward Nollau in February 1910. (Glass Plate Negative Collection, University of Kentucky Libraries Special Collections Resource Center)

A Kentucky chaplain exhorted sailors to ‘Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition’

The “ripsnorting battle hymn of the Navy” was inspired by Chaplain Howell Forgy, 34, who left the pulpit at Murray First Presbyterian Church to join the Navy in 1940.
By Berry Craig
The USS Shaw lies in drydock after being hit by three bombs which exploded her forward magazine in the Dec. 7, 1941, Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Part of the drydock at right is under water while while the other side is listing heavily. (Photo from U.S. National Archives)

‘Ghost of a Lost Cause’ tells an unfinished story stretching beyond ‘friendliest small town’

The struggle to remove the Confederate statue on the Calloway County Courthouse lawn inspired the film to be shown Jan. 15 at Murray State University.
By Berry Craig
Defenders of the Robert E. Lee statue gathered around it in July 2020. The Calloway County Courthouse is on the right. (Photo by Liam Niemeyer)

Happy New Year. Don’t try this at home.

Anvil-firing was a risky way to celebrate.
By Berry Craig
Blacksmith tools

Lincoln was no favorite son in his native Kentucky

When he won the White House in 1860, Lincoln lost every county and failed to tally a single vote in 36 of the state’s 110 counties.
By Berry Craig
This mural of Abraham Lincoln by artist Eduardo Kobra has been overlooking his wife’s hometown of Lexington since 2013. (Photo by Tom Eblen)
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