I enjoy the Today in History items in the paper. Given the appalling statistics on what the average American knows or does not know about the history of our country, I believe that you should take conveyance of that section's information more seriously. This attention to detail and better explanation could then be of some value to the people trying to use the section to learn more about our history. The following are two examples:

The Feb. 19 column reported, "1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, clearing the way for the U.S. military to relocate and intern Japanese-Americans." The term Japanese-Americans does not appear anywhere in the document. Executive Order 9066 was also used against Americans of German and Italian heritage, many of whom were interned on Ellis Island.

The Feb. 20 column reported, "1809, the Supreme Court ruled that no state legislature could annul the judgments or determine the jurisdictions of the federal courts." This would be of value if it had added that the Supreme Court case was Marbury v. Madison, establishing the Supreme Court's power of judicial review, a fact taught to all seventh- and 12th-grade civics and U.S. government classes.

Michelle McConnell

Stafford