SpyFaces in the Crowd: Maggie Goodlander
Deep Dives
Explore related topics with these Wikipedia articles, rewritten for enjoyable reading:
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Ted Williams
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The article mentions Goodlander's grandfather's friendship and business partnership with Ted Williams, the legendary Red Sox slugger. Williams' remarkable life story—from Hall of Fame baseball career to fighter pilot service in WWII and Korea—provides rich historical context that most readers won't know in depth beyond his batting statistics.
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Munich Security Conference
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The article notes this is where Goodlander met her future husband Jake Sullivan while working for Senator Lieberman. This annual gathering of defense and foreign policy leaders has been central to Western security policy since 1963, and understanding its history illuminates the elite foreign policy world Goodlander inhabited.
Maggie Goodlander’s self-description on LinkedIn includes the phrase “Standing up to Bullies since 1986.” This would appear to make the first term New Hampshirite member of Congress, former Naval Reserve intelligence officer and Democratic Party insider particularly well-suited to battle President Trump and his MAGA minions. Or perhaps it was her grandfather’s friendship with the pugnacious Red Sox power-hitter Ted Williams.
In a recent video Goodlander and five other Democratic lawmakers reminded troops of their right, even obligation, to refuse to carry out an illegal order. Their provocative statements moved Trump to accuse the six of sedition, punishable by death, followed by bomb threats against Goodlander as well as Sen. Elissa Slotkin, the Michigan Democrat and former CIA officer. Trump’s FBI Director Kash Patel then launched FBI investigations of the six, while Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth threatened to recall former Navy pilot and astronaut Mark Kelly (D-Az) back to active duty to be court martialed. Three other House Democrats, all military veterans—Colorado Rep. Jason Crow and Pennsylvanians Chris DeLuzio and Chrissy Houlahan—were also targets of MAGA wrath and threats.
The event propelled Goodlander into the national spotlight, an unusual position for a freshman legislator, albeit one with high flying Washington experience.
“We are veterans and national security professionals who love this country and swore an oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States,” she and the other five said in their joint statement. “That oath lasts a lifetime, and we intend to keep it. No threat, intimidation, or call for violence will deter us from that sacred obligation.” To all, they implored, “Don’t give up the ship.”
Goodlander served 11 years as an intelligence officer in the U.S. Navy Reserve. Her inspiration to serve came from her father, Ted Goodlander, who served in the Navy from 1960 to 1964.
“He taught me that when you love something, you fight for it, and that is exactly what the extraordinary Americans we honor today did,” she said in a Veteran’s Day event.
Her military service won her a seat on the House Armed Services Committee and its subcommittees on Military Personnel and Tactical Air and Land Forces, respectively.
The 39-year-old also helped form the first-ever Democratic Veterans Caucus. Tending to local matters, she helped advance legislation calling
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