Dahlberg's Dance with History
We have our favorite movies that we watch at least once a year, typically during the appropriate seasons. Big Lebowski is a Memorial Day weekend treat. Anything with Eddie Murphy is reserved for summer while Gone with the Wind is reserved for the hottest day of the year. The Godfather ushers in the joy of Christmas.
Usually in the spring we pull out All the President's Men. Sometimes we watch it two or three times. In the off season, you'll hear us exchanging occasion-appropriate quotes, which are usually lost on friends and family who don't have the movie memorized:
Reading the obits this weekend, I stumbled across a photo and name of the notable Dahlberg. I read out loud to T.
"Kenneth H. Dahlberg?" he asked, emphasizing the H.
"Yeah, Kenneth H. Dahlberg. It has to be the same guy." I read further, and tucked into the local section was a quiet story about Dahlberg's dances with Woodward, Bernstein, and the Committee to Re-Elect the President. More than that, I learned about a man who though innocent of wrong doing, would forever be linked to Watergate. I hope he'll also be remembered for his WW2 heroism, Miracle Ear (which he founded), and his investment in Buffalo Wild Wings (a chain restaurant which has been nourishing college students for years).
Usually in the spring we pull out All the President's Men. Sometimes we watch it two or three times. In the off season, you'll hear us exchanging occasion-appropriate quotes, which are usually lost on friends and family who don't have the movie memorized:
"Fantastic! I'm coming home!"
"I'm polishing!"
"I have a wife, a family, a dog, and a cat."
"Now don't F it up."
"Howard they're hungry! Remember when you were hungry?"
"Is there anywhere you don't smoke?"
"But somewhere in this world there is a Kenneth H. Dahlberg, and we gotta get to him before the New York Times does!"Dahlberg's appearance in the movie gets us silly and enthusiastic. A Minnesota connection! Cool!
"I'm, uh, a proper citizen. What I do is proper. I've just been through a terrible ordeal. My neighbor's wife has been kidnapped"Whoa! Regional history overlaps national crisis, crime, and infamy!
Reading the obits this weekend, I stumbled across a photo and name of the notable Dahlberg. I read out loud to T.
"Kenneth H. Dahlberg?" he asked, emphasizing the H.
"Yeah, Kenneth H. Dahlberg. It has to be the same guy." I read further, and tucked into the local section was a quiet story about Dahlberg's dances with Woodward, Bernstein, and the Committee to Re-Elect the President. More than that, I learned about a man who though innocent of wrong doing, would forever be linked to Watergate. I hope he'll also be remembered for his WW2 heroism, Miracle Ear (which he founded), and his investment in Buffalo Wild Wings (a chain restaurant which has been nourishing college students for years).
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