100 salutes.

• Author: Cohen, Joel M.
• Position: Letters to the Editor - Letter to the editor

As a subscriber to The Progressive for the last forty-five years (and a small donor for the last I don't know how many), I suppose I should have been aware that we were approaching the 100th anniversary.

But I wasn't, so it was a shock today to see this slick magazine bearing the name of our humble Progressive . But what was more surprising was the 100 years of content inside. It was the most fast-reading fun I have had in years. It reminds me so clearly why I never once even thought about letting my subscription lapse in these forty-five years.

The Progressive has helped me live and support my ideals. As a former (many year) national chair of the American Disability Association (ADA), I was pleased to see so many of ADA's founders, activists, and at least four former presidents represented among the contributors.

I look forward to the next 100 years. I'll send you another e-mail then.

Joel M. Cohen

via e-mail

My first contact with The Progressive was during its fiftieth anniversary, in 1959, at Canoga Park High School in California. Guy H. Raner was the social studies teacher at the time who introduced us to the magazine, telling the story of Robert La Follette and the early progressive movement, and many of us actually subscribed. Raner also served briefly as a California state assemblyman. I don't know if he's still around, but I want to take the occasion of The Progressive 's 100th anniversary to say: thanks, Mr. Raner.

Susanne Woods

Sugarloaf Shores, Florida

As I am reading the recent issue of your magazine--100 years of The Progressive --I am thinking, "I hope President Obama reads this history lesson! Does he get this magazine?

Do members of his staff?. How could I get it to him?"

Although I know much of the chronology of history listed in this issue, and I am sure that Obama does also, reading it is like reading A People's History of the United States again. Both serve as reminders of how important it is not only to know history, but to remember and factor it in so as to avoid repetition of destructive actions (catering to the military, and to industry) and to continue to understand who the "good guys" are.

Pat Orchard

via e-mail

I just returned from traveling abroad for a month and at the bottom of my huge stack of mail was the April issue. What a beautiful thing to hold in your hands and realize the power and significance of the publication during the last century. I wanted to write and thank you for your obvious effort in putting...