My main interest over the decades has been the life and times of Dwight D. Eisenhower — his character, leadership and reputation as both wartime supreme commander in Europe and, after World-War-II, two-term occupant of the Oval Office. In this pursuit I quickly discovered that his knowledge of the past from his study of history and his insistence on drawing lessons from that knowledge was indispensable to his success in both endeavors.
Over the past decade, one of my activities, accordingly, has been the creation of an institution — The Web History Center — to find, preserve, and make publicly available the philosophical, political, sociological and technological artifacts of the World Wide Web, the mechanism of the information age which the Internet made possible.
Underlying all these interests and activities has been my fascination with the art of the written word in historical analysis, biography, memoirs, novels, and poetry. I also appreciate the visual arts, especially the work of French and American impressionist and representational painters. I also enjoy listening to Dixieland, jug-band, bluegrass, folk, and rock music as well as to the works of the European and Russian classical composers.
I find time for cross-country automobile travel, the wonders of nature, smart-phone photography, and sailing — whether on the lakes of Minnesota or the expansive salt waters of Puget Sound, Florida, and the Caribbean.
Most of all, I enjoy being with my family – my two grown sons, daughters-in-law, and four young grandchildren — and supporting my wife’s involvement in the arts of quilting and gardening.
William B. Pickett 