In 1952, the American people elected to the presidency, by a landslide Electoral College margin of 442 to 89, a beloved five-star general whose heroism and leadership skills had been on clear display throughout his service in World War II. In 2015, another would-be Republican presidential candidate stood on his flat feet and belittled a rival's service and suffering as a prisoner of war during the Vietnam era; yet in 2016, that candidate won the admiration, loyalty, and votes of enough Americans to eke out a much more modest Electoral College victory and claim the same office once held so honorably by Dwight D. Eisenhower. 

Times change ... and, apparently, so do values.

Donna Johnston

Groton