The Misfit Hero

Charles White Whittlesey was the best-known American hero of World War I. When he received the Medal of Honor in 1918, over 20,000 people attended. An implausible hero, Whittlesey was a Harvard-educated Wall-Street lawyer, a socialist, and a war opponent who eventually felt compelled to answer his country's call. The Misfit Hero, a play in three acts, tells the story of his life-changing decision to volunteer and the profound effects it had on him and his closest companions during and after the war.