Ralph Kinney Bennett March 3, 1941 – December 18, 2024
Articles, essays and columns by Ralph Bennett. Search by any word in an article, or narrow the list by publication, year or topic.
13 articles
As the summer of 1914 closed and World War I entered its third month, the British Royal Navy held a virtually unchallenged command of the seas, daring the German High Seas Fleet of Kaiser Wilhelm to come out from the…
When I was a kid we called it Decoration Day and, in a practice observed since 1868, it always came on May 30.
A brand on the hide of history and the spot still raw.
That was the day in Philadelphia in 1776 that 12 of the 13 colonies voted to declare their independence from Great Britain, even as General Sir William Howe was landing 10,000 British troops on Staten Island in New York. (New…
Come, let us praise one of the most elegant vehicles ever conceived and built.
America battling its way out of a recession. The U.S. auto industry hit hard. Annual car sales down 30 percent. Imports of smaller foreign cars rising. Talk about déjà vu!
In 1935 there was a sensational automobile called the Auburn Speedster. It was brawny yet rakish with its distinctive “boat tail,” swooping pontoon fenders, and great chrome exhaust pipes coiling out from the supercharged, 150-horsepower, straight-eight engine beneath its long…
As you prepare to head out to join with family and friends for that Thanksgiving turkey, give thanks right now for one of the most magnificent engineering feats of all time.
It shouldn't be too hard. If you're not near a military cemetery, just about any cemetery will do.
If you don't recognize the name of the guy who imparted that little bit of baseball wisdom, listen up. He was a journeyman among journeymen and it's been 50 years since he had his hour -- or, more precisely, his…
That piece of doggerel was written by one of the men who organized what is thought to be the first professional baseball club, the Cincinnati Redstockings, back in the late 1860s. It expresses a certain contempt for the impedimenta of…
Greg Hallenbeck was like many men of his generation. He had to work hard to get a good start in life. A tough, stocky kid, part Sioux Indian, he managed to get to the University of Washington in the teeth…
When I first saw a photograph of Volkswagen's million dollar-plus sports car, the Bugatti-Veyron, the horseshoe grille at the front of the swooping bodywork caught my eye. It was the one design signature of this compelling new car that evoked…