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July 4, 2026
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No. 364
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Greetings from America: Celebrating 250 years of cowboys, crooks, Kennedys, carvel, cars, and more!
Introducing Air Mail’s Americana Issue! Featuring: a letter from our founding father and mother, Graydon Carter and Alessandra Stanley … The 15 artisans keeping America’s dying handicrafts alive … The length of Trump’s fingers, finally revealed … The untold story of the women who investigated the J.F.K. assassination … How Tom Carvel became America’s ice-cream king … Matthew Broderick on “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” as the movie turns 40 … Andy Warhol and Jamie Wyeth’s unlikely friendship … Dolly Parton’s guide to the groovy life … and much more!
But First …
Issue No. 364

The View from Here Why our nation’s 250th has us thinking twice about the American Revolution

By Graydon Carter and Alessandra Stanley
Read On
Barry Blitt’s Sketchbook
Grassy-Knoll-It-Alls

An Unhealthy Dose of Skepticism How a handful of housewives dedicated to debunking the official account of the J.F.K. assassination unwittingly ushered in the age of the conspiracy theorist—from 9/11 truthers to One Direction’s “Larry” stans

By Ash Carter
Read On
Games

The Weekly Waffle

A positively addictive word game to go with your morning coffee
Small Talk
“Could we not talk about politics for just one day?”
“Could we not talk about politics for just one day?”
all the president’s digits

The Length of Trump’s Fingers—Revealed! Graydon Carter has been calling Trump a “short-fingered vulgarian” for decades. Now, at last, the measurements are in

By Ravi Somaiya
Photo illustration by Chop Choppish Shop
Read On
Portfolio

Celebrating 15 of America’s Artisans Keeping Their Generations-Old Crafts Alive, from Quilting to Basket-Weaving to Pottery-Making

By Jeanne Malle
Read On
family circle

The Good, the Bad, and the Mad Kennedys A dynastic audit of America’s unofficial royal family

By George Pendle
Read On
Air Supply

Born on the Fourth

A guide to the brands, traditions, and time-tested essentials that have earned their place in the American canon
Shop
Photo: 20th Century Fox/Pictorial Press/Alamy (Welch in Myra Breckinridge)
Guest Edit

Wes Gordon’s Favorite Things The creative director of Carolina Herrera and the man behind the new Mimi bag shares his taste for antique mirrors, Christofle silver, Emporio Sirenuse dinner plates, and a very well-appointed home

Shop
checks and imbalances

A Timeline of American Democracy, Stupidity, and Worse The United States has survived for 250 years—but will it last another 250 days?

By George Kalogerakis
Read On
Our Favorite American Diners
dine Versailles Ask a Cuban, any Cuban, if they know about a little place in Miami called Versailles, and they’ll say (while heavily gesticulating)… dine Mel’s Drive-In In 1973, George Lucas immortalized Mel’s Drive-In in American Graffiti, his love letter to 60s California car culture. The original diner… dine Palace Diner Maine’s oldest and smallest luncheonette, the Palace Diner—at only 15 stools—is arguably also its hardest walk-in… dine Rae’s There is a stretch of Pico Boulevard in Santa Monica, California, that the last several decades of development somehow forgot to ruin… dine S&P Are you tired of nouvelle cuisine, with all its precious decorations and waiters who describe a dish’s every ingredient? If so, I’ve got a treat… dine Foster’s Market Foster’s Market has been a staple of my life since 1997 and a pillar of Durham, North Carolina, for even longer. Chef Sara Foster… dine Versailles Ask a Cuban, any Cuban, if they know about a little place in Miami called Versailles, and they’ll say (while heavily gesticulating)… dine Mel’s Drive-In In 1973, George Lucas immortalized Mel’s Drive-In in American Graffiti, his love letter to 60s California car culture. The original diner… dine Palace Diner Maine’s oldest and smallest luncheonette, the Palace Diner—at only 15 stools—is arguably also its hardest walk-in… dine Rae’s There is a stretch of Pico Boulevard in Santa Monica, California, that the last several decades of development somehow forgot to ruin… dine S&P Are you tired of nouvelle cuisine, with all its precious decorations and waiters who describe a dish’s every ingredient? If so, I’ve got a treat… dine Foster’s Market Foster’s Market has been a staple of my life since 1997 and a pillar of Durham, North Carolina, for even longer. Chef Sara Foster…
life moves pretty fast

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off Turns 40 Matthew Broderick and Alan Ruck recall the making of a teen classic

By Josh Karp
Read On
America 250, New York–Style
At Gray New York
A gallery exhibition presents paintings by Roger Brown, the Alabama-born artist who became a leading member of the Chicago Imagists… At the Morgan Library
A rare copy of the Declaration of Independence—one of only 26 to exist—is on view, surrounded by rare Americana of the time… At the American Folk Art Museum
The museum exhibits antique objects and artworks meant to represent a collective—yet complex—national identity… At New York Historical
The museum brings together works from Dutch artistic masters to illustrate the complex social workings of New Amsterdam… At the Joyce Theater
The Mark Morris Dance Group pays tribute to the nation’s birthday with programs dedicated to jazz, country, and early American composers… At MoMA
The museum celebrates pre-industrial craft and rural community life by showcasing a collection of 19th-century American folk art…
soft-serve power

The Sweet Life of Tom Carvel How a Greek immigrant with big dreams grew a faulty ice-cream cart into an American franchise behemoth that would serve Flying Saucers and Fudgie the Whales to many generations to come

By Nathan King
Read On
Our Favorite American Inns
stay Madonna Inn No one has ever checked into the Madonna Inn by accident. Built in 1958 by contractor Alex Madonna, who had strong opinions… stay Hotel Peter & Paul Situated in New Orleans’s Marigny neighborhood, Hotel Peter & Paul occupies a former 19th-century Catholic church, schoolhouse… stay Six Bells Countryside Inn Perhaps the easiest way to lure a New Yorker outside of the city is to promise peace, quiet, and minimal… stay Gold Hill Hotel & Saloon In certain pockets of Nevada, far from the casinos, time stands still. One such place is the Gold Hill Hotel… stay The Red Lion Inn The Red Lion Inn has been welcoming guests since 1773, which means it pre-dates the country whose nostalgia it now so perfectly embodies… stay Greyfield Inn There are few places in America that have escaped the modern world entirely: Cumberland Island is one of them. Accessible only by… stay Madonna Inn No one has ever checked into the Madonna Inn by accident. Built in 1958 by contractor Alex Madonna, who had strong opinions… stay Hotel Peter & Paul Situated in New Orleans’s Marigny neighborhood, Hotel Peter & Paul occupies a former 19th-century Catholic church, schoolhouse… stay Six Bells Countryside Inn Perhaps the easiest way to lure a New Yorker outside of the city is to promise peace, quiet, and minimal… stay Gold Hill Hotel & Saloon In certain pockets of Nevada, far from the casinos, time stands still. One such place is the Gold Hill Hotel… stay The Red Lion Inn The Red Lion Inn has been welcoming guests since 1773, which means it pre-dates the country whose nostalgia it now so perfectly embodies… stay Greyfield Inn There are few places in America that have escaped the modern world entirely: Cumberland Island is one of them. Accessible only by…
Arts and Culture

The Odd Couple of American Art When Andy Warhol and Jamie Wyeth met in the late 1960s, the king of Pop art and the heir to America’s first family of painting struck up an unlikely friendship that would carry them from Chadds Ford to Monte Carlo

By Mark Rozzo
Read On
Our Favorite American Movies
watch Nashville M*A*S*H might have brought Robert Altman to fame, but Nashville is his magnum opus. At two hours and 40 minutes, the film defies… watch Boyz n the Hood Fresh out of U.S.C. film school, John Singleton was only 22 when he walked into the offices of Quincy Jones’s Grio Entertainment Group… watch Lost in America Lost in America, Albert Brooks’s devastatingly sharp commentary on the post-60s boomer experience, tells the story of David Howard… watch Drop Dead Gorgeous Kirsten Dunst, Brittany Murphy, Denise Richards, Allison Janney, Amy Adams, and a small-town beauty… watch Make Way for Tomorrow Leo McCarey’s Make Way for Tomorrow begins with a simple, devastating premise… watch Office Space Before there was The Office—British or American—there was Office Space, Mike Judge’s razor-sharp satire of middle-American corporate… watch Nashville M*A*S*H might have brought Robert Altman to fame, but Nashville is his magnum opus. At two hours and 40 minutes, the film defies… watch Boyz n the Hood Fresh out of U.S.C. film school, John Singleton was only 22 when he walked into the offices of Quincy Jones’s Grio Entertainment Group… watch Lost in America Lost in America, Albert Brooks’s devastatingly sharp commentary on the post-60s boomer experience, tells the story of David Howard… watch Drop Dead Gorgeous Kirsten Dunst, Brittany Murphy, Denise Richards, Allison Janney, Amy Adams, and a small-town beauty… watch Make Way for Tomorrow Leo McCarey’s Make Way for Tomorrow begins with a simple, devastating premise… watch Office Space Before there was The Office—British or American—there was Office Space, Mike Judge’s razor-sharp satire of middle-American corporate…
Open Book

Naval Gazing Frank Sinatra, Gene Kelly, Jack Nicholson … As Fleet Week returns to New York, a look back at the sailors who have stolen our hearts since the 1930s

By Steve Garbarino
10
Jack Nicholson posing for the poster from The Last Detail (1973).
The Statue of Liberty, as seen from an Indonesian ship arriving in New York for Fleet Week, 2012.
Two young sailors roaming Fifth Avenue, 1968.
Top, a group of U.S. service members in Times Square for Fleet Week, 2022; above, Vera-Ellen and Gene Kelly in On the Town (1949).
Two sailors talking to a New York policeman while on liberty.
A view of the Twin Towers from the U.S.S. America aircraft carrier, circa 1991.
Frank Sinatra on the set of On the Town, in New York, 1949.
A ship sails on the Hudson River for Fleet Week, 2004.
Top, a scene from a Broadway production of On the Town, 1945; above, an Ecuadorian ship passing by Manhattan for Fleet Week, 2012.
A New York State Maritime College cadet re-uniting with his girlfriend after a 10-week trip across Europe, 1962.
Read On
America 250 Around the Country
On PBS
Ken Burns is back with a series about the American Revolution, featuring voiceovers from Tom Hanks, Claire Danes, and many more… In Washington, D.C.
An exhibition brings together artists—from Jasper Johns to Gordon Parks—who have made the American flag a subject of their oeuvre… In Los Angeles
Featuring L.A. artists like Catherine Opie and Noah Davis, an exhibition spotlights the 21st century’s very own Light and Space movement… In Becket, Massachusetts
Jacob’s Pillow, America’s largest and longest-running international dance festival, returns to its 220-acre National Historic Landmark… In Catskill, New York
An exhibition pays tribute to Thomas Cole, the founder of the famed Hudson River School of art, known for his panoramic landscapes… In Salem, Massachusetts
An exhibition presents the full sweep of Edmonia Lewis’s work, honoring the first Black sculptor to achieve international recognition…
Books
Nicolas Rapold On

A Sudden Flicker of Light: A Revisionist History of Movies

by David Thomson
Read On
Air Play

Randall Poster’s America 250 Playlist Ritchie Valens, Paul Simon (who else?), Los Lobos, Dr. John, and more

Read On
Small Talk
The Perfect Ending

Dolly Parton

The indomitable, 11-time Grammy-winning country singer answers 14 of life’s most pressing questions
Read On
Eric Hanson’s Sketchbook
Was Founded By

Graydon Carter and Alessandra Stanley

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Rickie De Sole

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Writers at Large

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Contributing Artists

Monica Ahanonu Barry Blitt André Carrilho Pip Carter Paul Davis David Downton Andrea Ferolla Josh Gosfield Cathy Graham Eric Hanson Angelica Hicks Hilary Knight Danielle Kosann Michael Lindsay-Hogg Ross MacDonald Joe McKendry James McMullan Donald Robertson Charles Dare Scheips Grant Shaffer Ed Sorel Ralph Steadman

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In Memoriam

Peter Bogdanovich Milton Esterow Duncan Hannah Jane Larkworthy Douglas McGrath Richard David Story André Leon Talley David Yaffe

Issue No. 364
July 4, 2026
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Issue No. 364
July 4, 2026
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