HOYT PURVIS: The inevitable result?
A certain inevitability underlines the current presidential campaign. I don't mean, for example, that it was inevitable President Trump and some of those around him would be hit by the virus about whi...
October 14, 2020
HOYT PURVIS: Attack politics
I have heard it said that politics have always been dirty. And there is no doubt that our political history has been marked by dubious claims, misleading charges and unscrupulous actions.
Political a...
September 23, 2020
HOYT PURVIS: Names, words matter in 2020 campaigning
Every presidential election cycle has its distinctive and defining features. That is certainly the case with the 2020 campaign, laden with misinformation to an unprecedented degree.
Consider, for exa...
September 2, 2020
HOYT PURVIS: Playing the democracy card
It was a rather inauspicious beginning for a trip to Asia in 1996.
I was nearing departure time in 1996 for travel to Taiwan, South Korea and Japan as chair of the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board...
August 12, 2020
Context required in Fulbright debate
Lack of context and perspective often results in incomplete or distorted understanding of history.
Actions don’t occur in a vacuum.
Recent weeks have brought to the public agenda support for removin...
July 22, 2020
Pandemic politics
It’s the economy, stupid,” a phrase popularized by Bill Clinton campaign strategist James Carville in 1992, underlines a basic political reality — that economic factors heavily influence reactions and...
July 1, 2020
HOYT PURVIS: Sports have value in pandemic age
If all had gone according to plan, I would have spent a recent evening at Busch Stadium in St. Louis watching Cardinals baseball with my wife and friends.
However, as almost everyone surely knows, tha...
May 20, 2020
HOYT PURVIS: The missing ingredient
We are at a critical juncture in our history -- a crisis point in many respects. I think most people would agree with that.
Clearly, public health issues are at the top of the list of challenges we fa...
April 29, 2020
HOYT PURVIS: Response to virus a mix of messages
Practically everyone I have encountered in the past few weeks has asked the question: "Have you ever seen anything like this?" They are, of course, referring to the pandemic, the coronavirus.
Increasi...
April 8, 2020
HOYT PURVIS: Covid-19 exposes politics of blame, responsibility
I have written often over the years about globalization as a factor in our lives and some of the associated benefits and liabilities. But the fundamental point is that globalization is a reality. And ...
March 18, 2020
HOYT PURVIS: Newspaper links
Decades ago, if you traveled down south Main Street in Jonesboro around 6 a.m. on most days, you might see a youngster sitting alone on the front porch of one of the homes.
That young lad was me, wait...
February 26, 2020
HOYT PURVIS: Cheating not uncommon in sport, political worlds
Similarities and commonalities within and among politics and sports have been noted before, but that concordance has seldom been more in evidence than in the midst of a heated presidential campaign in...
February 5, 2020
HOYT PURVIS: The question is, what puts United States in "Jeopardy!"
Recently, the popular television quiz program "Jeopardy!" had a special "greatest of all time" competition. Those who are familiar with the long-running show know the contestants respond to answers ra...
January 15, 2020
HOYT PURVIS: Trust vs. cynicism
Two inter-related trends have figured prominently in bringing us to the current state of public affairs:
• The decline of trust in government to near historic lows, with only 15 percent of Ameri...
December 25, 2019
HOYT PURVIS: From politics to musicians, books tell amazing stories
It is the time of year when we talk about books -- some older, but most relatively new -- primarily nonfiction, and covering a range of topics, including politics and popular culture.
As we move into ...
December 4, 2019