Dan Herrick: Biography

[Dan Herrick]

I am a Massachusetts native who attended suburban Boston public schools K-12, then earned a BA in Chemistry from Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin. I have worked in the chemical industry (polymers/adhesives/sealants) for the past 10 years in the Boston area and have been interested in Nixon, and Watergate in particular, ever since my father brought a battered copy of All The President's Men home from the Library's used book sale when I was about 12 years old. Folks I've known, in college and since, have seen the many Nixon and/or Watergate books I own and not been quite sure what to think. When I came across the forum a few years back I realized that this was a place I felt comfortable. I've read a good bit about the JFK assassination as well. The topics discussed here are a hobby for me, but one that can get obsessive if I'm not careful. After all, I do have other interests and things to do - such as working, handbell ringing, baseball, working out, genealogy, travel, friends, etc.

As a scientist, I try to bring an open mind to discussions and to focus on supportable / documentable evidence. Where evidence conflicts is where our judgement on the quality of evidence, as well as on the people involved and their motivations, becomes critical.

I have a theory that people who are interested in history (which everyone should be, even if everyone isn't) tend to be most interested in the time period just before they were born. I think this is because interested people realize that history is generally orderly and accumulative, and that the period just before our birth is one that we individually don't remember but that provides a framework for understanding many things in the world we are in right now. Such it is that I (as a 'bicentennial baby,' born in 1976) am interested in the Nixon era. Unfortunately, not only do many people seem to unquestioningly believe everything they are taught in school about history, but also, by the time a US History course gets around to post-1950 America, it is near the end of the academic period so the learning is very compressed and both teachers and students are tired. So, many people assume that Watergate or the JFK assassination are well understood (which of course they aren't). All of this translates into a population that accepts many modern-day assertions made by government or the media as true without attempting to dig deeper.

I look forward to posting on the forum and continuing to learn more about Watergate and the JFK Assassination, and how both still resonate and are painfully relevant to understanding 2008 America.

[Evan Burton]

Hi Dan,

Welcome to the Forum!

I am a Massachusetts native who attended suburban Boston public schools K-12, then earned a BA in Chemistry from Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin. I have worked in the chemical industry (polymers/adhesives/sealants) for the past 10 years in the Boston area and have been interested in Nixon, and Watergate in particular, ever since my father brought a battered copy of All The President's Men home from the Library's used book sale when I was about 12 years old. Folks I've known, in college and since, have seen the many Nixon and/or Watergate books I own and not been quite sure what to think. When I came across the forum a few years back I realized that this was a place I felt comfortable. I've read a good bit about the JFK assassination as well. The topics discussed here are a hobby for me, but one that can get obsessive if I'm not careful. After all, I do have other interests and things to do - such as working, handbell ringing, baseball, working out, genealogy, travel, friends, etc.

As a scientist, I try to bring an open mind to discussions and to focus on supportable / documentable evidence. Where evidence conflicts is where our judgement on the quality of evidence, as well as on the people involved and their motivations, becomes critical.

I have a theory that people who are interested in history (which everyone should be, even if everyone isn't) tend to be most interested in the time period just before they were born. I think this is because interested people realize that history is generally orderly and accumulative, and that the period just before our birth is one that we individually don't remember but that provides a framework for understanding many things in the world we are in right now. Such it is that I (as a 'bicentennial baby,' born in 1976) am interested in the Nixon era. Unfortunately, not only do many people seem to unquestioningly believe everything they are taught in school about history, but also, by the time a US History course gets around to post-1950 America, it is near the end of the academic period so the learning is very compressed and both teachers and students are tired. So, many people assume that Watergate or the JFK assassination are well understood (which of course they aren't). All of this translates into a population that accepts many modern-day assertions made by government or the media as true without attempting to dig deeper.

I look forward to posting on the forum and continuing to learn more about Watergate and the JFK Assassination, and how both still resonate and are painfully relevant to understanding 2008 America.