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The Ryder cup is presented as trophy in what sport? | SKY SPORTS and the European Tour mark the 10th live Ryder Cup together | RYDERCUP.com
George O'Grady presents replica Ryder Cup to Jeremy Darroch, Chief Executive, BSkyB
SKY SPORTS and the European Tour mark the 10th live Ryder Cup together
Published: Wednesday, September 17, 2014 | 4:42 p.m.
The European Tour has presented Sky Sports with a replica Ryder Cup trophy and two signed team golf bags from the 2012 European and USA teams as recognition that Gleneagles 2014 is the tenth Ryder Cup broadcast live on Sky Sports, as part of their 20 year partnership.
Sky’s first live Ryder Cup was held at Oak Hill Country Club in New York, where the European team, captained by Bernard Gallacher, won by a one point margin to win back the Cup. Since then Sky has followed every historic moment, from Paul McGinley’s triumphant dive into the lake at The Belfry in 2002, to Darren Clarke’s emotional walk to the first tee in 2006.
The live broadcast has changed almost beyond recognition for viewers since 1995, as new technology has enhanced the viewer’s experience at home:
• 1995 - shown live in the UK throughout all three days for the first time
• 1999 - an interactive option, giving viewers an English or American commentary feed
• 2002 - up to nine interactive options including 'Star Match,' 'Live Scoreboard,' and 'Off Course' option
• 2006 – broadcast live in HD and available on a range of platforms
• 2010 – screened live in 3D
• 2012 - live multi-platform coverage, through Sky Go, a new Ryder Cup companion player on the iPad and a dedicated microsite
• 2014 – 4k test to better understand the technology
The scale of the Sky Sports operation on the ground has increased to support the breadth of coverage now available:
• 1,440km of cables will be used in 2014 – that’s the road route from Lands’ End to John O’Groats
• The number of cameras has doubled since 1995 - over 80 cameras will be set up at Gleneagles
• Eight edit suites will be in use compared to one in 1997
Jeremy Darroch, Chief Executive, BSkyB, said: “We’re incredibly proud of our long-standing partnership with The European Tour. Our strong relationship has enabled us to deliver innovations over the last two decades that have kept The Ryder Cup at the forefront of sports broadcasting and have enhanced the viewing experience at home. It’s a globally prestigious event that never fails to grip the nation and inspire new fans to the game.
“For all of the technological advances in the world, some things never change and that’s the determination to win that is on show every two years as the teams go head to head for the much coveted Cup. The replica trophy will take pride of place at Sky where we’re all counting down the days until the excitement starts once again.”
George O’Grady, Chief Executive of The European Tour, said: “Television coverage of The Ryder Cup has become synonymous with Sky Sports since 1995, and this month’s match at Gleneagles will be the 10th contest to be broadcast exclusively live on Sky. No-one can forget the ‘Miracle at Medinah’ two years ago so, to coincide with the launch of the magnificent new Sky ‘hub’ studios and the re-named Sky Sports News HQ channel, we are delighted to contribute a replica Ryder Cup and two superb items of signed memorabilia from that memorable contest.
“We have developed a robust and enduring relationship with Sky Sports, our leading broadcast partner for over 20 years and who, as a fledgling satellite broadcaster, first brought The Ryder Cup from Oak Hill with a new and innovative flair in 1995. It is a great pleasure to hand over to Jeremy the two signed team golf bags and replica trophy which will be a feature in the state-of-the-art Sky hub and we look forward to Sky Sports bringing all the drama and excitement in glorious High Definition from Gleneagles – as well as the next two editions in Minnesota and Paris.”
For the first time, Sky Sports 4 will become ‘Sky Sports Ryder Cup’ and will show over 330 hours of golf across 14 days, including 36 hours of live coverage from Gleneagles. . The channel goes live at 6am on Thursday 18 September and continues until 6am on Thursday 2nd October.
Sky Sports Ryder Cup will form part of an unrivalled autumn of sport on Sky which includes Barclays Premier League football, UEFA Champions League, Autumn International rugby union, Formula 1, ATP tennis and NFL.
| Golf |
At what Montana battle did Lt. Col George Custer famously loose his life? | Golf Trophies
Golf Trophies
Golf Trophies
The Ryder Cup: The greatest golf award
Golf tournaments take place throughout the year and some look forward to individual competitions with such spirit that their annual leave is spent with friends, surrounding the screen and watching these traditional events.
Some of the longest-running competitions and iconic golfing events were established over 100 years ago, and for the winner, becoming the leading golfer brings with it the greatest accolade and some of the finest trophies to be held aloft by a sportsman.
With Europes epic win in Gleneagles so fresh in the mind and with the 2012 miracle in Medinaj just a few years ago it has been said that the Ryder Cup is one of the greatest golf awards that a golfer can win, but which ones come a close second? Here is a closer look at the major golf championships and the incredible awards that await the winner.
[Image credit: Getty Images]
Masters Tournament
Played for a week in April, the Masters is hosted by invitation and takes place at the Augusta National Golf Club in the U.S. state of Georgia. Established in 1934, it is one of the four major men’s golf championships, known as ‘the majors’. The winner receives the coveted green jacket, prize money and one of the most intricate golf awards. A replica of the Augusta National Golf Club clubhouse, it is constructed of more than 900 pieces of silver, resting on a pedestal around which is a silver band bearing the winners’ names. Britain's own own Nick Faldo graces that band three times and is the only Englishman to win the trophy.
U.S. Open
The U.S. Open, played in June, is hosted by the United States Golf Association and played at various locations across the United States. Established in 1895, the mix of locations and courses have historically made scoring difficult for this event. The trophy itself, unlike other events, has not been given a specific name and is simply know as the ‘U.S. Open trophy’. Permanently housed in the USGA Museum, the winner is presented with a replica. The golf award itself is a silver jug, with two handles sitting on a silver base. The names of the winners are engraved next to a golfing scene, which was held aloft last year by Britain's own Justin Rose.
The Open Championship
The longest running of the majors, The Open Championships was established in 1860 and is often referred to as the British Open. Taking place at one of the glorious links in Scotland and England, this year’s event took place at the Royal Liverpool Golf Club In Merseyside. The original award given to the winner was a challenge belt, replaced by one of the most iconic awards in sport, the claret jug, in 1928. Constructed from glass and silver, this coveted golf award is engraved each year with the winner’s name before it is presented to him. Held in such high esteem, the golf award has twice appeared on commemorative Scottish banknotes, most recently to mark Jack Nicklaus’ retirement from the sport.
PGA Championship
The last of the year's four majors, the PGA Championships is held mid-August at various locations across the U.S. and is hosted by the Professional Golfers’ Association of America. Established in 1916, the current prize money is a whopping $10 million and the 2014 winner was Rory Mcllroy, at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville Kentucky.
The trophy itself is the Wannamaker trophy, named after Rodman Wannamaker, a driving force behind the creation of the PGA of America. A silver cup, the golf award stands very tall at 28 inches high and weighs 27 pounds. For a couple of years in the late 1920s, the trophy was famously lost – but thankfully now sits safely in the PGA Historical Center and the winner receives a replica each year.
And what about the Ryder Cup...
The championships may not be one of the four majors, but the trophy certainly is one to rival the others. The Cup is produced from gold and stands at 17 inches tall, is 9 inches wide and weighs 4 pounds. Samuel Ryder, founder of the Ryder Cup, commissioned the golf award. Samuel wanted to get an official competition between the best golfers in America against Britain’s best, which today continues as a competition between teams representing America and Europe. An impressive and dazzling trophy, the Ryder Cup is of such an iconic nature the original rarely makes a public appearance and the winners receive a replica each year. No wonder some say it is the greatest golf award.
Laser Crystal is one of the UK’s leading manufacturers of engraved glass and crystal trophies and produce a number of unique sporting trophies for many sporting events and competitions.
We offer bespoke designs for golf trophies and awards and each finished design can be personalised with venue information, winner names and dates for that special touch.
Please call one of our helpful team on 01202 675000, contact us online or email us with your requirements for a quote.
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On this date in 1927, Charles Lindbergh became the first pilot to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. Where did he land? | Lindbergh Flies the Atlantic, 1927
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7:52 A.M., May 20, 1927
At 7:52 A.M., May 20, 1927 Charles Lindbergh gunned the engine of the " Spirit of St Louis " and aimed her down the dirt runway of Roosevelt Field, Long Island . Heavily laden with fuel, the plane bounced down the muddy field, gradually became airborne and barely cleared the telephone wires at the field's edge. The crowd of 500 thought they had witnessed a miracle. Thirty-three and one half-hours and 3,500 miles later he landed in Paris, the first to fly the Atlantic alone.
Working as a mail pilot a year earlier he heard of the $25,000 prize for the first flight between New York and Paris. Backed by a group of St. Louis businessmen, Lindbergh supervised the building of his special plane and set out after the prize. Other teams were attempting the feat - some had met disaster. Lindbergh equipped himself with four sandwiches, two canteens of water and 451 gallons of gas. Midway through the flight "sleet began to cling to the plane. That worried me a great deal and I debated whether I should keep on or go back. I decided I must not think any more about going back."
On the evening of May 21, he crossed the coast of France, followed the Seine River to Paris and touched down at Le Bourget Field at 10:22P.M. The waiting crowd of 100,000 rushed the plane. "I saw there was danger of killing people with my propeller and I quickly came to a stop." He became an instant hero, "the Lone Eagle." New York City gave him the largest ticker tape parade ever, the president awarded him the Distinguished Flying Cross. His feat electrified the nation and inspired enthusiastic interest in aviation.
Takeoff
Minnesota Historical Society Photo http://www.mnhs.org
Bad weather and the prospect that his transatlantic flight would be delayed for a number of days greeted Lindbergh upon his arrival in New York. However, on May 19th, a favorable weather report predicted a break in the rain prompting Lindbergh to make his attempt the next day. He arrived at the airfield before dawn the next morning, prepared his plane for flight and began his historic journey:
"About 7:40 A.M. the motor was started and at 7:52 I took off on the flight for Paris. The field was a little soft due to the rain during the night and the heavily loaded plane gathered speed very slowly. After passing the halfway mark, however, it was apparent that I would be able to clear the obstructions at the end. I passed over a tractor by about fifteen feet and a telephone line by about twenty, with a fair reserve of flying speed. I believe that the ship would have taken off from a hard field with at least five hundred pounds more weight. I turned slightly to the right to avoid some high trees on a hill directly ahead, but by the time I had gone a few hundred yards I had sufficient altitude to clear all obstructions and throttled the engine down to 1750 R.P.M. I took up a compass course at once and soon reached Long Island Sound where the Curtiss Oriole with its photographer, which had been escorting me, turned back."
Darkness
Lindbergh continued his flight over Cape Cod and Nova Scotia and headed for the open Atlantic as darkness fell:
"Darkness set in about 8:15 and a thin, low fog formed over the sea through which the white bergs showed up with surprising clearness. This fog became thicker and increased in height until within two hours I was just skimming the top of storm clouds at about ten thousand feet. Even at this altitude there was a thick haze through which only the stars directly overhead could be seen. There was no moon and it was very dark. The tops of some of the storm clouds were several thousand feet above me and at one time, when I attempted to fly through one of the larger clouds, sleet started to collect on the plane and I was forced to turn around and get back into clear air immediately and then fly around any clouds which I could not get over."
Ireland
Minnesota Historical Society Photo http://www.mnhs.org
Lindbergh continued his course, at times skimming only 10 feet above the waves as he tried to find a way around the fog and maintain his course. The appearance of fishing boats below alerted him that he was nearing land:
"The first indication of my approach to the European Coast was a small fishing boat which I first noticed a few miles ahead and slightly to the south of my course. There were several of these fishing boats grouped within a few miles of each other.
I flew over the first boat without seeing any signs of life. As I circled over the second, however, a man's face appeared, looking out of the cabin window.
I have carried on short conversations with people on the ground by flying low with throttled engine, and shouting a question, and receiving the answer by some signal. When I saw this fisherman I decided to try to get him to point towards land. I had no sooner made the decision than the futility of the effort became apparent. In all likelihood he could not speak English, and even if he could he would undoubtedly be far too astounded to answer. However, I circled again and closing the throttle as the plane passed within a few feet of the boat I shouted, "Which way is Ireland?" Of course the attempt was useless, and I continued on my course.
Less than an hour later a rugged and semi-mountainous coastline appeared to the northeast. I was flying less than two hundred feet from the water when I sighted it. The shore was fairly distinct and not over ten or fifteen miles away. A light haze coupled with numerous storm areas had prevented my seeing it from a long distance.
The coastline came down from the north and curved towards the east. I had very little doubt that it was the southwestern end of Ireland, but in order to make sure I changed my course towards the nearest point of land.
I located Cape Valencia and Dingle Bay, then resumed my compass course towards Paris."
Landing
Minnesota Historical Society Photo http://www.mnhs.org
Lindbergh flew over Ireland and then England at an altitude of about 1500 feet as he headed towards France. The weather cleared and flying conditions became almost perfect. The coast of France and the City of Cherbourg passed beneath his wings as darkness fell a second time during his flight.
"The sun went down shortly after passing Cherbourg and soon the beacons along the Paris-London airway became visible.
I first saw the lights of Paris a little before 10 P.M., or 5 P.M., New York time, and a few minutes later I was circling the Eiffel Tower at an attitude of about four thousand feet.
The lights of Le Bourget were plainly visible, but appeared to be very close to Paris. I had understood that the field was farther from the city, so continued out to the northeast into the country for four or five miles to make sure that there was not another field farther out which might be Le Bourget. Then I returned and spiralled (sic) down closer to the lights. Presently I could make out long lines of hangars, and the roads appeared to be jammed with cars.
I flew low over the field once, then circled around into the wind and landed."
But suddenly, a hysterical, ecstatic crowd broke through the restraining ropes and stampeded toward him, cheering and shouting. As he opened the door, he was lifted down and hoisted onto the shoulders of the police, who carried him through the surging crowd, cries of "Vive" ringing through the night. He had conquered the Atlantic alone, covering 3,610 miles in 33 1/2 hours. He had won the Orteig prize!
From the balcony of the American Embassy the following morning, he responded briefly and modestly to the persistent calls of the great crowd which had gathered. For hours after he retreated back inside, they shouted, clapped, and waved their hats and handkerchiefs. In the days that followed, his fame as a hero grew to unbelievable proportions as he took Europe by storm. The President of France pinned the Legion of Honor upon the lapel of his borrowed suit and thousands of messages poured in upon him.
It was as if everyone saw in him something that they sought in themselves - a spirit of adventure and achievement in life. Somehow he represented the symbol of hope in a weary world, for there was something unique about his integrity, courage, and indifference to honors. "He had started with no purpose but to arrive. He remained with no desire but to serve. He sought nothing, he was offered all."
Returning Home
Minnesota Historical Society Photo http://www.mnhs.org
When he came home to America aboard the USS Memphis, a majestic convoy of warships and aircraft escorted him up the Chesapeake and Potomac to Washington. President Coolidge welcomed him home and bestowed the Distinguished Flying Cross upon him. His New York reception was the wildest in the city's history as 4 million people lined the parade route and Mayor Jimmy Walker pinned New York's Medal of Valor upon him. Finally, when it was all over, he turned and flew to St. Louis for a rest and to contemplate. His epic flight would become the one singular event which electrified the world and changed the whole course of history.
It was now that the Daniel Guggenheim Fund sponsored him on a three month nation-wide tour. Flying the "Spirit of St. Louis," he touched down in 49 states, visited 92 cities, gave 147 speeches, and rode 1,290 miles in parades. Tired, but satisfied with the job he had done in promoting aviation, he returned to New York. He made a good will tour at the request of Ambassador Dwight Morrow. It was here that he first met Anne Morrow , daughter of the Ambassador, a meeting that would blossom into romance. After Mexico, he visited twelve other Central American and West Indies countries, conveying goodwill all along the 9,000 mile flight tour.
On March 21,1929, President Coolidge presented him with the nation's highest honor, the Congressional Medal of Honor. Throughout the rest of his life he would continue to serve America as an advisor on aviation. He resigned his commission as a Colonel in the reserves an April 29, 1941, but he served in the Pacific theater during World War II as a technical advisor. He taught American fighter pilots how to get increased range from their planes - as much as fifty percent more. He flew several combat missions in P-38 fighters and on at least one sortie shot down a Japanese plane. After the war, he continued to serve his country in many ways and on April 7, 1954, he was appointed a Brigadier General in the Air Force Reserves.
"Lindbergh Flies the Atlantic, 1927," EyeWitness to History, www.eyewitnesstohistory.com (1999).
Certification of Charles Lindbergh's flight required several documents to prove the performance
Orteig Prize check made out to Charles Lindbergh
The Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) - the World Air Sports Federation - is the sole organisation authorized to certify aeronautical and astronautical world records worlwide.
The certification of Charles Lindbergh's flight required several documents to prove the performance. A sealed barograph, an instrument working with atmospheric pressure, was loaded on the aircraft; its six-hour cylinder recorded the altitudes flown and proved that the flight was uninterrupted. The start of the flight was attested by the US National Aeronautic Association and the Procès-verbal established by the Aéro-Club de France on Lindbergh's arrival attested that the barograph was found sealed and reported that 322 litres of gas (85 gallons) remained in the sealed tanks. This Procès-verbal was signed by no less than 13 French officials, the US Ambassador Myron Herrick, the Belgian Air Attaché Willy Coppens and, of course Charles Lindbergh himself. Finally, the FAI General Secretary Paul Tissandier informed the National Aeronautic Association on August 31st, 1927, that Lindbergh's flight was certified as the Class-C World Record for non-stop flight over a distance of 5809 kilometres".
Pictures of the barograph, six-hour cylinder recorded, and certified world record documents
Click to Enlarge
Source of information: The Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI)
Lighting a bonfire
I was astonished at the effect my successful landing in France had on the nations of the world. To me, it was like a match lighting a bonfire.
– Charles A. Lindbergh
Privacy Policy | Terms and Conditions | This site is not affiliated with the Lindbergh family,
Lindbergh Foundation, or any other organization or group.
This site owned and operated by the Spirit of St. Louis 2 Project.
® Copyright 2014 CharlesLindbergh.com�, All rights reserved.
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Of the 4 states making up the Pacific Northwest, which one leads with an unemployment rate of 12%? | Charles Lindbergh Timeline
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Charles Lindbergh Timeline
Below you will find a timeline of Charles Lindbergh life. Please feel free to submit events from Charles Lindbergh life for the timeline. Please be sure to include a complete description of the event and the exact date. View the Log of the Spirit of St. Louis for detailed dates and locations regarding the Spirit of St. Louis timeline.
Father, Charles A. Lindbergh, Sr. is born in Sweden family emigrates to the United States.
1883
Father graduates from University of Michigan Law School; settles in Little Falls, Minnesota
1887
Mary Lindbergh dies
1901
Father marries Evangeline Land. Evangeline was schooled at the prestigious Liggett Academy, she graduated from the University of Michigan in 1899. Fellow classmates remembered her as the "prettiest girl on campus." Evangeline, who had her mind on a career in science, later received a Master of Science degree from Columbia University. The Lands were a family of science. Her father, dentist Dr. Charles H. Land, invented the porcelain crown and later expanded his inventiveness beyond dentistry to the development of gas and oil burners for furnaces.
1902-February 4
Charles Lindbergh's Birth in Detroit, Michigan on the site where the David Whitney Building now stands. When it came time to give birth to her son Evangeline returned to Detroit, Michigan to be under the care of her grandfather, Dr. Edwin Lodge, a respected physician. Charles was born in his uncle Edwin's three story brownstone at 1220 West Forest.
1906
Father is elected to U.S. Congress
1912
Attends his first air meet
1916
Half sister Lillian Lindbergh Roberts dies from tuberculosis
1916
Drives to California with his Mother
1917
Father leaves office to oppose U.S. entry into World War I
1918
Is excused from senior year of high school to operate family farm for war effort
1918
Graduates from Little Falls High School, Minnesota
1920
Enrolls in University of Wisconsin as engineering student
1922-February
Leaves college in February to become flying student at Nebraska Standard Aircraft Corporation
1922-April 1
First flight as passenger
1923- March
Father cosigned for a $900 bank loan for Charles to buy a surplus army airplane. In March 1923 he spent $500 for a war-surplus Curtiss "Jenny" with a 90-horsepower engine, a creaky, tattered plane that could fly only 70 miles an hour at top speed, and could only slowly climb to seventeen hundred feet.
1922-April 9
First solo flight. No flying license was required in those days, so making sure he had a full fuel tank, he lifted the rickety Jenny off the ground for his first solo. His lengthy passenger experience, all the while paying sharp attention to everything that happened to create flight, and his innate skills got him into the air and safely back to the ground on several takeoffs and landings. However, he once almost crashed the Jenny by lifting off too soon and then bounced so hard the landing gear was almost wrecked. He rarely made the same mistake twice and at day's end he had mastered his plane's many quirks and learned flight under his control. Now he could fly anywhere he chose.
1924
Enlists as U.S. Army flying cadet
1924-May
Father dies
1925- March 5
First emergency jump! It was from an open cockpit, single-seat SE-5 scout biplane, on March 5, 1925 as a student pilot at Kelly Field, near San Antonio, Texas. Lindbergh and another cadet on a training mission had a midair collision at about 5,000 feet as they attacked a DH4B "enemy" bomber. In their dive on the bomber several hundred feet below, Lindbergh, after seeing no other plane near, pulled up and jumped. His excerpted official report noted: "I passed above the DH and a moment later felt a slight jolt, followed by a crash." Lindbergh wrote about parachutes and military flying: "There is a saying in the service about the parachute: 'If you need it and haven't got it, you'll never need it again!' That just about sums up its value to aviation."
1925
Graduates first in class from U.S. Air Service Flying School, Kelly Field, San Antonio; is commissioned second lieutenant in Air Service Reserve Corps; becomes Chief Pilot, Robertson Aircraft Co., St. Louis
1925- June 2
Charles Lindbergh made his second emergency jump. Performing spins, the aircraft failed to respond to the pilot's insistent, forceful attempts to recover. Instead, it plummeted to earth, twisting and turning. Some observers said the flier and the careering plane separated at 250 feet. Lindbergh was more conservative in his estimate. He thought it was higher; in his of ficial report stated the height at 350 feet.Charles dislocated his shoulder in the landing. After medical treatment, Lindbergh was again flying within two hours.
1925- November
Lindbergh enlisted in the 110th Observation Squadron, 35th Division, Missouri National Guard, and was promoted to first lieutenant .
1926- Winter
Spent the winter months instructing students, teaching how to fly the OX-5 and test flying in the Robertson company's commercial service.
1926-April
Makes first Chicago-to-St. Louis airmail flight. William and Frank Robertson get the airmail route between St. Louis and Chicago and �Slim� Lindbergh is off and flying � and crashing, on occasion. Army pilots called the airmail planes �flying coffins.�
1926-September 16
Chief Pilot Lindbergh was on a mail flight on September 16, 1926 when he made an emergency jump at night in a blinding snow and rain storm because his plane ran out of fuel after he became lost in darkness and violent weather, after more than two hours of rigorous flying. The plane crashed about two miles from where Lindbergh landed, but the mail was undamaged, recovered, and delivered. When the wreckage was inspected a few days later, it was discovered that a 110-gallon fuel tank removed for repair had been replaced with an 85-gallon tank without anyone (particularly the pilot) being notified of the change.
1926-November 3
Makes fourth emergency parachute jump! Lindbergh landed on a barbed wire fence but his heavy flying suit prevented injury. However, for several anxious moments he struggled with the parachute canopy being kept inflated by gusts of wind. Mail, much of it oil-soaked, was recovered from the wrecked airplane and delivered.
Feb. 25, 1927
Lindbergh signs the order with Ryan Aeronautical Co., San Diego, for the purchase of a monoplane, the Spirit of St. Louis. It cost $10,580.
1927-April 28
First test flight of the Spirit of St. Louis
May 10-11, 1927
On May 10-11, 1927, Lindbergh tested the Spirit of St. Louis by flying from San Diego to New York City, with an overnight stop in St. Louis. The flight took 20 hours 21 minutes, a transcontinental record.
1927-May 20, (6:52 AM EST)
Departs Roosevelt Field, Long Island, New York for Paris
1927-May 21, (5:22 PM EST)
Arrives Le Bourget Aerodrome, Paris after 33 hours, 29 minutes, and 30 seconds. Lindbergh lands at Paris' Le Bourget airfield, becoming the first pilot to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean.
June 11, 1927
Lindbergh and the Spirit of St Louis returned to the United States aboard the U.S.S. Memphis on June 11, 1927.
June 16, 1927
Raymond Orteig awards the $25,000 Orteig prize.
June 18, 1927
Triumphant Lindbergh returns to St. Louis and is greeted with a huge parade in his honor.
1927
Tours the U.S. with Spirit of St. Louis making 82 stops in 48 states; makes first nonstop flight from Washington to Mexico City; is awarded Medal of Honor by act of Congress.
1928
Completes air tour of Latin America; begins service as consultant to Transcontinental Air Transport and to Pan American Airways.
1928-January 24
From an unknown newspaper dated 24 January 1928.
LINDBERGH TAKES DIVE IN SUBMARINE OFF COCO SOLO: Col. Charles A. Lindbergh yesterday afternoon took a nose dive. It was not, however, in an airplane but in the O-9, one of the big submarines based at Coco Solo. The Lone Eagle was taken on a cruise around the harbor under a very choppy sea and it was said he showed a great deal of interest in the operation of the big undersea ship. The flying colonel was the guest of Captain Ward Wortmann, commandant of the submarine base. Others in the party were Lieutenant Commander W.A. Heard and Lieutenant Robert W. Douglass, Junior, his aide. This ship was commanded by Lieutenant J.T. Acree. The vessel left the Coco Solo landing at 1:45 and cruised around for about an hour. 1928-April 30 Last flight in the Spirit of St. Louis from Lambert Field, St. Louis to Bolling Field, Washington, D.C. (Spirit of St. Louis total flying time 789 hours, 28 minutes.) 1929-May 27 Lindbergh marries Anne Morrow, the shy daughter of Dwight Morrow, U.S. ambassador to Mexico. 1929 Lindbergh helps found Transcontinental & Western Air (T&WA), later Trans World Airlines. Lindbergh works with Robert Hutchings Goddard on the development of rockets. 1930-June 22 Birth of 1st Baby, Charles Lindbergh Jr. 1930-34 Develops perfusion pump with Dr. Alexis Carrel 1931 Makes flight across North Pacific to China with Anne. (Lockheed Sirius) 1932-March 1 Lindbergh baby kidnapped from Hopewell, New Jersey home. The Lindberghs' firstborn, Charles A. Lindbergh Jr., is kidnapped and murdered. The trial, nicknamed �The trial of the century,� is a media circus. Bruno Richard Hauptmann is convicted and executed. 1932 Jon Lindbergh is born 1935-December The Lindberghs became exiles in England 1936-April 3-8:44 PM Bruno Richard Hauptmann executed in Trenton, NJ state prison 1936 Makes first of five trips to Germany to investigate and evaluate air power. 1937 Land Lindbergh is born 1937 Flies to India with Anne 1938 Moves to Illiec Island, off the coast of France 1938- April 27 Meeting with Colonel Scanlon (Assistant Military Attache for Air in the U.S. Embassy in London) and Colonel Lee (Military Attache for Air in the U.S. Embassy in London) about Englands miltary weakness compared to Germany's strength and modern war tactics and instruments. 1938- April 29 Anne and Charles lunch with his Highness the Maharaja of Baroda and the Maharanee. 1938- May 5 Anne and Charles lunch with Lord and Lady Astor, Mr. Mrs. George Bernard Shaw, Ambassador Joseph Kennedy (Great Britain), Ambassador William C. Bullitt (France). Charles states, "Kennedy interested me greatly. He is not the usual type of politician or diplomat." The conversation at the table is about aviation and military issues. 1938- May 23 Anne and Charles have dinner at Lord and Lady Astor home with King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, Duke and Duchess of Kent, and others. Charles speaks to the Queen about the aviation and the troubles of the world. 1938 Lindbergh accepts the German Eagle from Hermann Goering, the Nazis' second in command. Lindbergh's reputation is sullied; questions are raised about his loyalty. 1939-April Returns to United States 1939-41 Speaks against U.S. intervention in war in Europe. The isolationist America First Party is formed; Lindbergh is a frequent speaker. 1940 Anne Lindbergh is born 1941 Joins the America First Committee, an organization that opposed voluntary American entry into World War II. 1941 Resigns Air Corps commission, then is denied reinstatement after U.S. enters World War II 1942-April 3 Departs for Detroit, Michigan to work for FORD builing B-24 Liberator Bombers. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor sank both ships and isolationist aspirations. It placed Lindbergh in a quandary but in a patriotic spirit he offered to aid the U.S. by returning to the Air Corps. The Administration refused his services and then, in a mean spirited mood, forced Lindbergh's many aviation employers to cancel his advisory positions, including Juan Trippes' Pan American Airways. Only one man resisted that move, Henry Ford, and Lindbergh went to work for him on 3 April 1942 as a technical consultant helping Ford convert from auto to bomber production. Henry Ford, who himself had been labeled anti-Semitic and pro-German, contacted Lindbergh and invited him to work at his Willow Run B-24 bomber factory. The B-24 was being refitted for mass production. Lindbergh worked on the redesign of the nose and the gun mount. While working at the plant he was impressed by the high quality of work produced by the women workers and their high moral character, compared to some of the male employees. At its peak in 1943, the plant had 42,331 workers and by 1944, 650 B-24 bombers were rolling off the line every month. Of his tenure at Willow Run, Lindbergh later wrote, "I would have viewed the Willow Run bomber production line as a marvelous feat of engineering. I would have felt proud of even the small part I had in bringing it into being. Now, it seemed a terrible giant's womb, growling, clanging, giving birth to robots which were killing people by the thousands each day as they destroyed the culture of Europe....This was a temple of the god of science at which we moderns worshiped....Here I watched a steel door lift and an airplane roll outside; while, in reality, the walls of a cathedral fell and children died." 1942 Tests effects of altitude at Mayo Clinic- Rochester, Minnesota 1942-August 12 Scott Lindbergh is born 1944-January Plans to leave for South Pacific as a civilian tech rep. He would go to the Pacific, as a civilian technical assistant. Neither the White House nor even Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox knew of this trip. 1944-April 22 Leaves for South Pacific to fly 50 combat missions as a civilian tech rep 1945 Reeve Lindbergh is born 1945 Is member of naval techical mission to study Germany's missle and aircraft developments 1946 Is consultant for University of Chicago Ordnance Research Project 1947-54 Serves as special advisor to Air Forces 1949 Is awarded Wright Brothers Memorial Trophy 1954 Wins Pulitzer Prize winner for The Spirit of St. Louis 1954 Recieves the Guggenheim Medal 1954 President Dwight D. Eisenhower restored Lindbergh's commission and appointed him a brigadier general in the Air Force 1954 Evangeline Land Lindbergh died. Services were held at the Orchard Lake Community Church,where Evangeline's grandfather often preached. April 11, 1957 The movie �Spirit of St. Louis,� starring Jimmy Stewart, premieres in Hollywood. 1954-74 Goes on conservation and wildlife preservation expeditions. July 1964 Lindbergh becomes a leader of conservationist causes. He would later say, �If I had to choose between planes and birds, I'd choose birds.� 1965 Redesigns perfusion pump for Naval Medical Research Institute 1966-1972 Serves on World Wildlife Board of Trustees 1968 Addresses Alaska Legislature, first public speech in twenty-seven years. 1969-1972 Is member of Citizens Advisory Committee on Environmental Quality 1974-August 26 Lindbergh dies of cancer at his island retreat in Maui, Hawaii. Lindbergh died of lymphatic cancer at the age of 72. He spent his last years in quiet seclusion in a small cottage on the tranquil island of Maui. Following his request, he was buried in his work clothing: his favorite plaid shirt, khaki pants, and a Hudson's Bay blanket he had once brought from Canada for his mother. Private services were held in the Palapala Ho'omau church. The Honolulu Star-Bulletin headlined his departure "EAGLE'S FINAL FLIGHT IN PRIVACY". 1985 Half sister Eva Lindbergh Christie Spaeth passes away. 1993 Anne Spencer Lindbergh , eldest daughter of Charles and Anne Morrow Lindbergh, died of cancer in 1993 at the age of 53. Anne Spencer Lindbergh was an acclaimed author of juvenile fantasies which place ordinary children in extraordinary situations. Nick of Time, The People in Pineapple Place, Three Lives to Live and The Worry Week are a few of her more well-known books. February 7, 2001 Anne Morrow Lindbergh dies at 94 in her rural Vermont home.
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The ancient Aztecs called it the testicle tree. What do we know it as? | 10 Maya foods that changed the world's eating habits - SFGate
10 Maya foods that changed the world's eating habits
By Christine Delsol , San Francisco Chronicle
Published 4:00 am, Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Photo: Lynette Evans, The Chronicle
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A salmonella strain found in a Mexican -grown Jalapeno at a Texas plant has prompted new FDA warnings.
A salmonella strain found in a Mexican -grown Jalapeno at a Texas plant has prompted new FDA warnings.
Photo: Lynette Evans, The Chronicle
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Mole Chicken at Tropisueno, a Mexican restaurant that is a casual taqueria during the day and morhs into a nice, table service restaurant at night in San Francisco, Calif., on January 20, 2009.
Mole Chicken at Tropisueno, a Mexican restaurant that is a casual taqueria during the day and morhs into a nice, table service restaurant at night in San Francisco, Calif., on January 20, 2009.
Photo: Craig Lee, The Chronicle
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Photo: Liz Mangelsdorf, The Chronicle
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10 Maya foods that changed the world's eating habits
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The ancient Maya civilization — which ranged from the Yucatán Peninsula to Chiapas and Tabasco states, part of Veracruz state and as far south as Honduras — is well known for perfecting architectural techniques that produced towering cities, and for developing an advanced written language and creating books centuries before anything comparable appeared in Europe. The Maya also were gifted mathematicians who developed the concept of zero. And their astronomers, through centuries of patient observation, created a 365-day solar calendar that varies by less than 2 seconds from the one we use today — more accurate than what Cortés was using when he landed in 1519.
Lost among the laurels heaped upon the Maya, though, is credit for their agricultural wizardry. When the conquering Spanish started carrying Maya food staples back to Europe and to the Caribbean, Asia and Africa, it changed the world's eating habits. We're not talking about the Yucatán's deliciously exotic lime-and-achiote concoctions but food you buy every day in Safeway's produce aisles. Just try to get through a day without:
1. Chocolate
Legions of chocoholics would argue that the Maya's "food of the gods," made from the toasted, fermented seeds of the cacao tree, is the New World's greatest gift to civilization. Though Cortés learned of chocolate from the Aztecs, they had acquired it through trade with the Maya, who first cultivated it about 3,000 years ago. Maya and Aztec aficionados drank their chocolate bitter and spicy; sugar was unknown before the conquest. Even today, chocolate in the Yucatán may be flavored with paprika, annatto or even pepper. But it was more than a drink to the Maya, who believed it came from the gods and formed a bridge between heaven and earth. Cacao seeds were an early form of money, and archaeologists have uncovered counterfeit seeds made of clay.
2. Vanilla
(vainilla)
The elixir from the world's only known edible orchid, probably first cultivated by the Totonaca in neighboring Veracruz state, had become a common flavoring for the Maya's chocolate drinks by the 1500s. Vanilla, too, was adopted by the Aztecs, who introduced it to Cortés. Spanish and Portuguese explorers who brought it to Africa and Asia in the 16th century named it vainilla, or "little pod." Southern Mexico's jungle is still the only place the Vanilla planifolia orchid grows wild, pollinated by native, non-stinging bees that produce Maya honey. Today's prized Tahitian vanilla, which came from Mexican stock, requires hand-pollination.
3. Corn (maíz)
Every elementary-school kid knows corn was the most important food in the Americas. The Popul Vuh, the Maya "bible," attributes humankind's very existence to this domesticated strain of wild grass. In its creation myth, the "Creators and Makers" fashioned man from tender kernels of yellow and white corn after failed attempts with mud and wood. Though corn was a dietary staple in most of Mexico as long as 6,000 years ago, it was the Maya who first cultivated it around 2500 B.C., abandoning their nomadic ways to settle in villages surrounded by cornfields.
4. Chiles
Chiles were cultivated in the Americas as long as 7,500 years ago. Blame Christopher Columbus for mistaking them as relatives of black pepper, native to southern Asia, but give him credit for spreading them throughout the world. The release of endorphins, increased heart rate, mental stimulation and euphoria provoked by chiles' capsaicinoids — the ingredient that makes them taste hot —qualifies them as psychoactive plants. Southern Mexico's Capsicum annuum species, with its many cultivars, is crucial to nearly every fiery cuisine in the world.
5. Tomatoes (tomates)
Even the Italians had to make do without tomato sauce before Columbus set out for the New World. Precursors originated in Peru, but the tomato as we know it came from the Yucatán, where the Maya cultivated it long before Cortés first encountered one in an Aztec market around 1520. Native versions were small, like cherry tomatoes, and probably yellow rather than red. Two years after Cortés brought the tomato back to Spain, it made its way to Naples — then under Spanish rule — where invention of the pizza made tomato sauce a necessity of life. Once believed poisonous because they are related to the deadly nightshade, tomatoes are now a staple of nearly every cuisine in the world.
6. Black beans (frijoles negros)
Archaeological digs indicate the black bean originated in southern Mexico and Central America more than 7,000 years ago. With their meaty flavor and velvety texture, black beans are still the favorite in and around the Yucatán, where they may turn up in almost any dish. They have spread widely throughout Latin America, the Caribbean, and the southern United States, becoming an important part of the many regional cuisines.
7. Avocado (aguacate)
From its origins in southern Mexico, where it was prized as an aphrodisiac — the Aztecs called it ahuacatl, meaning "testicle," and kept their daughters indoors during harvest season — the avocado spread north to the Rio Grande and south to central Peru before Europeans encountered it. The sexual association carried through the 19th century, when growers who wanted to cultivate avocados commercially first had to mount a campaign to persuade the public that eating avocados did not equate to licentiousness. Mexico is still the world's main source of avocados.
8. Sweet potato (camote)
Sweet potatoes are native to the tropics from the Yucatán to Venezuela, and the Maya domesticated the plant at least 5,000 years ago. By 2500 B.C., sweet potatoes had spread throughout the Caribbean and South America. Sweet potatoes belong to the genus Ipomoea, which includes morning glories. Though commonly confused with the yam, what we know as yams are simply another variety of sweet potato. True yams are native to Africa; when slaves from that continent were deposited in North America they adopted sweet potatoes as a substitute for the tuber they had eaten in their homeland and called it by the familiar name.
9. Squash (calabaza, calabacita)
Though corn and beans are better-known Mexican natives, squash predates them by several thousand years; Maya people domesticated several varieties of squash as early as 8000 B.C. Oils from these seeds were the main source of dietary fat before the Spanish introduced beef and pork. Though the native plants included cucumber, zucchini, patty pan and butternut squash, great quantities of pumpkin — la calabaza grande — defines the Yucatán diet even today. Toasted, ground pumpkin seeds still appear on menus even more than the flesh.
10. Papaya
Though it's more closely associated with Hawaii now, all indications are the papaya originated in the tropics of southern Mexico and Central America. After the Spanish carried seeds to Panama and the Dominican Republic, cultivation spread throughout South and Central America, the Caribbean, Europe, the Pacific Islands, India and parts of Africa. It has became naturalized in many areas and still grows wild along Mexican roadsides. Hawaii, where papayas first arrived in the 1800s, is the only U.S. state to grow them commercially.
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Name the year: Paula Jones makes some unpleasant accusations against Bill Clinton; Monica Lewinsky affair broke; anti trust case is launched against Microsoft; Google is founded; | 10 Sexy Foods and What to Do with Them
10 Sexy Foods and What to Do with Them
Jun 25, 2012 | 4:32 pm
By
Staff Writer
Oh, just use your imagination
These 10 foods are known to boost your sex drive. Even if those claims aren't legit, sometimes they just look like male or female sex organs. Whatever! Either way, it can’t hurt to whip them up for a sexy meal. So here they are — 10 aphrodisiacs, and 10 awesomely delicious ways to prepare them.
Almonds
Why: Almonds have always been seen as a symbol of fertility, and it is said (by poets, anyway) that the aroma alone arouses women.
Make: How about these delicious Chocolate Almond Toffee Bars from Seven Spoons?
Asparagus
Why: According to an English herbalist from the 17th century, asparagus "stirs up lust in man and woman." It also makes your pee smell bad, but if you’re desperate, you’re desperate. It’s due in part to the high concentration of folic acid, which boosts histamine production that’s needed for men and women to orgasm.
Make: How about this delicious Baked Asparagus Frittata from Cookie and Kate?
Avocado
Why: Ever since the Aztecs called this fruit "ahuacuatl," or "testicle tree," it’s been associated with sex. Catholic priests in Spain found it so obscene they forbade it. And you will never look at it again in the same way.
Make: Guacamole. Obviously. Try this twist on guacamole from 101 Cookbooks.
Bananas
Why: Scientists say that it’s packed with the bromeliad enzyme, which enhances the male libido. But for women, it’s probably the shape.
Make: How about bananas Foster from Pioneer Woman?
Basil
Make: White pizza! White pizza! From Lottie + Doof.
Chocolate
Why: Oh my God, it’s full of complicated words like anandamide and phenylethylamine, which are love chemicals that release dopamine in the pleasure centers of the brain and peak during orgasm. Also, cacao is known to relax people.
Make: You can’t go wrong with red wine chocolate cake from Smitten Kitchen, can you?
Figs
Why: OK, so figs kind of look like the female sex organ, but they go way back. Like Bible days, and in ancient Greece, when they were associated with love and fertility.
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Oil is traditionally sold in barrels. How many gallons in a barrel of oil? | History of the 42-Gallon Oil Barrel - American Oil & Gas Historical Society
History of the 42-Gallon Oil Barrel
Soon after America’s first oil discovery in 1859, oilmen met in northwestern Pennsylvania and decided a 42-gallon barrel was best for transporting oil.
By the 1860s, barges floated barrels of oil down the Allegheny River to Pittsburgh to be refined into a highly demanded product – kerosene for lamps. Image from an early stock certificate.
The 42-gallon standard was adopted by the Petroleum Producers Association in 1872.
When filled with oil instead of fish or other commodities, a 42-gallon “tierce” weighed 300 pounds. The 42-gallon oil barrel was officially adopted in 1866. Today, a barrel’s refined products include about 20 gallons of gasoline, 12 gallons of diesel and 4 gallons of jet fuel and other products like liquefied petroleum gases and asphalt.
In August 1866 a handful of America’s earliest independent oil producers met in Titusville, Pennsylvania, and agreed that henceforth, 42 gallons would constitute a barrel of oil. Pennsylvania led the world in oil production as demand for kerosene soared.
Although pipelines would later challenge the oil region’s teamsters, the business of moving oil depended mostly on men, wagons, horses, flatboats, and barrels.
To reach railroad station and docks, teams of horses pulled wagons carrying as many as eight barrels of oil. Rugged northwestern Pennsylvania terrain and muddy roads added to transportation problems.
Meanwhile, as derricks multiplied, forests along Oil Creek were reduced to barrel staves by recently introduced barrel-making machinery. Hoop mills operated day and night supporting cooperages that sprang up to join in the oil boom in what would later be called “the valley that changed the world.”
Why a 42-gallon Oil Barrel?
Long before England’s King Richard III defined the wine puncheon as a cask holding 84 gallons and a tierce as holding 42 gallons, watertight casks of many sizes were crafted by “tight” coopers. Their guild, the Worshipful Company of Coopers, prescribed the manner of construction. Lesser skilled craftsmen (known as slack coopers) made casks, barrels, and pails for dry goods.
Technologies for making watertight casks replaced “tight” coopers and their guild of Worshipful Company of Coopers. Standard Oil will introduce a steel version of the 42-gallon oil barrel in 1902 with the same traditional bilged, cask-like appearance.
By around 1700 in Pennsylvania, practical experience and custom had made the 42-gallon watertight tierce a standard container for shipping everything from eel, salmon, herring, molasses, soap, butter, wine and whale oil. The 42-gallon barrels became familiar 19th century containers.
Then came Edwin L. Drake’s 1859 oil discovery at Titusville, the first commercial U.S. oil well. The petroleum boom that followed it consumed wooden tierces, whiskey barrels, casks and barrels of all sizes.
When filled with crude oil instead of fish or other commodities, a 42-gallon tierce weighed more than 300 pounds – about as much as a man could reasonably wrestle. Twenty would fit on a typical barge or railroad flatcar. Bigger casks were unmanageable and smaller were less profitable.
Contemporary photographs show cooperages’ prodigious response to the new demand. Within a year of Drake’s discovery, oil barrels were commonly considered to hold 42 gallons according to “The Oil Fountains of Pennsylvania” in Littells’ Living Age of September 1860.
By 1866, these abundant tierce-sized barrels were the logical choice to become the industry’s standard measure.
The 42-gallon standard oil barrel was officially adopted by the Petroleum Producers Association in 1872 and by the U.S. Geological Survey and the U.S. Bureau of Mines in 1882.
Pennsylvania’s “valley that changed the world” also has connections to college football’s Heisman Trophy. Among the late 19th century Titusville companies, the Oberly & Heisman cooperage on Bridge Street supplied 42-gallon barrels for the oil trade – providing Michael Heisman’s son John an afterschool job.
John Heisman played varsity football for Titusville High School as a guard on the varsity team from 1884 to 1887. He graduated in 1887 and went on to become the legendary football coach for whom the Heisman Trophy is named.
Standard Oil “Blue Barrel” Myth
Not long after forming the Standard Oil Company in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1870, John D. Rockefeller focused on efficiency and growth for his new company.
Instead of buying oil barrels, Standard Oil bought tracts of oak timber, hauled the dried timber to Cleveland on its own wagons, and built the barrels in its own cooperage. Standard’s cost per wooden barrel dropped from $3 to less than $1.50.
A persistent oilfield myth says that the abbreviation “bbl” for a barrel of oil resulted from Standard Oil Company’s early practice of painting their barrels blue – bbl for “blue barrel.”
However, while Ida Tarbell’s controversial 1904 History of Standard Oil Company acknowledged the “holy blue barrel,” the abbreviation “bbl” had been in use before the 1859 birth of the petroleum industry.
In the early 19th century, wooden barrels of all capacities were common containers of trade: hogsheads, puncheons, tierces, butts, tuns, and other long since forgotten terms.
Shipping manifests reveal that quantities of honey, rum, whale oil, and other commodities were shipped by the “bbl” – well before John D. Rockefeller and Standard Oil’s blue barrels. For today’s industry, the abbreviation simply signifies a 42-gallon (159 liters) unit of measure…of any color. Learn about the 55-gallon steel drum at Nellie Bly Oil Drum .
___________________________________________________________________________________
The stories of exploration companies trying to join petroleum booms (and avoid busts) can be found in an updated series of research at Is my Old Oil Stock worth Anything?
___________________________________________________________________________________
Lumen_Kelvin
Lets cut through the Fog, and total the retail costs of this 42 gallons of Black Gold?
| 42 |
May 22, 1826 saw Charles Darwin leaving on his first voyage. Aboard what ship was he sailing? | Leave a comment
jam on February 27 2015 said:
"it's not very efficient"??? you know many other material substances that can do that with the availability of oil?
Jon Claerbout on February 27 2015 said:
I took a ride on the Oasis of the Seas for a week, 2700 miles. One of the crew members told me the ship burns about 7 tons of fuel/hour which I calculated 7*5*24= 840 tons a week. Another told me they load 1000 tons of fuel every week. With 6000 guests aboard (also aboard are 2000 service staff and entertainers), it means each guest is responsible for 1/6 ton = 2000/6 lb = 333 lb, or 333/7 = 47 gallons. So our gas mileage per person is 2700 miles/47 gallons = 57 mpg.
You are saying 4 barrels. I'm saying a little over 1 barrel. Something is not adding up.
Tim Bilsky on February 27 2015 said:
Neat article. I don't think it was meant to make anyone feel guilty, jam, but you make a great point. Oil is an ubiquitous and wonderful resource, regardless of its efficiency. There are few, if any, energy sources as self-sustaining as petroleum. As long as it's there, I'm not concerned about my consumption. After all, who is the arbitor of what is "reasonable" usage? If it's a conservationist, then I want that averaged with an energy executive's opinion on the matter. :)
Jim Hannan on February 27 2015 said:
Besides using public transit and not flying in airplanes, a very good way to use less fossil fuel is to eat a plant based diet. Diets high in meat, dairy and poultry use much more resources.
Colin Chilcoat on February 27 2015 said:
Jam,
As an electricity generator natural gas is far more efficient. Oil of course packs a lot of power.
Jon,
The figures for Oasis of the Seas' fuel consumption vary. The six Wartsilla 46 engines are estimated to consume 7,230 gallons of fuel per hour when running at full power (~26mph). For the purposes of the article, the fuel consumption was then calculated per passenger (assuming 5,400 passengers, which is double occupancy, fuel economy is = 19.4mpg/per passenger). One gallon of diesel = 139,690Btu. That gives you roughly 3.7 barrels per passenger.
Mike Hates Music on February 27 2015 said:
Jon: Need to convert from 47 gallons of fuel to barrels of oil, not to barrels of fuel, no? From above, diesel is 8 gal/barrell, so 47 gal/8 gal/barrel = 5.88 barrels of oil.
vns990 on March 04 2015 said:
Errr let's just say that set of figures is an average estimate at best.
Refining what do we know about it?
They try make as much of the saleable product they need at any given time depending on the fractions involved.
Fractionation and other technologies have come a long way and depending on the oil type the refining methods and really how much energy expenditure they want to put back into the process to get the end result in some cases.
As many things can be reformed and such to make more of one fraction and so on by using various processes.
This being the big thing is it worth doing all that to say low end product so that you squeeze every last dollar and cent out of it.
Or do you try make what you can while you can fast as you can and sell that sucker before it goes stale.
Because don't forget once refined that clocks ticking.
Not so bad for the base oil fractions but the higher stuff has to be moved fast just due to evaporation the formation of condensation and such (mostly fixed by temp control these days).
It's all these things plus so much more which play a part in the whole logistics chain and shouldn't be overlooked.
Refineries are extremely smart and can make allsorts from next to nothing just by mixing the right hydrocarbons.
And there's one player you haven't mentioned.
SYNGAS Yes what used to be typically flared is being seen as the true resource it is and being recovered in a lot of places.
Just as Propane and Butane and LPG is ever popular in the commercial and private sectors.
Refining is being the scrapper of the hydrocarbon world.
Your trying to recycle as much product as possible.
As for plastics.
The most frustrating thing about PET bottles is the caps.
They are not typically recycled and are a completely wasted resource.
When you see how many of these things there are daily let alone at major venues.
Tens of thousand of these things maybe consumed in one sitting alone.
That's just one night at a concert for example.
Now add the rest of the surrounding cities and countries take a look at our seas and water ways and see where we went wrong.
Big time.
tyler on April 13 2015 said:
how much natural energy would someone use per day?
Paul on May 09 2016 said:
93,000,000 barrels of oil per day
42 gallons per barrel
equals ~1/2 gallon per day/person
Americans consume 2.5 gallons per day
Leave a comment
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Thomas Lipton was the first to commercially offer tea in what? | Lipton Noodle Soups Television Commercial 2002 - YouTube
Lipton Noodle Soups Television Commercial 2002
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Published on Jul 30, 2016
Lipton Noodle Soups TV Television Commercial from 2002.
Lipton is a brand of tea belonging to Unilever and PepsiCo. Lipton was also a supermarket chain in the United Kingdom before it was sold off to Argyll Foods, to allow the company to focus solely on tea. The company is named after its founder Thomas Lipton.
Lipton produces instant soup mixes. In the 1950s in the United States, Lipton ran an advertisement campaign promoting French onion dip prepared at home using Lipton's French onion soup mix, thus helping to popularize chips and dip. After this time, many new commercially produced varieties of dips (numbering in the hundreds) were created and produced in the U.S.
Products target the mass market and are generally positioned in the middle of the price spectrum for tea.[citation needed] Like most branded teas, Lipton teas are a blend selected from many different plantations around the world, from well-known producing countries like, Sri Lanka, India, Kenya, and China. Lipton Yellow Label is blended from as many as 20 different teas.
Apart from black leaf teas (with the long-standing Lipton Yellow Label brand), the company also markets a large range of other varieties, both in leaf tea as well as ready-to-drink format.These include green teas, black flavoured teas, herbal teas, Lipton Linea (a "slimming tea") in Europe and Lipton Milk Tea in various Asian markets. Apart from Lipton Ice Tea, none of their products are available for retail in the UK, as only caterers are supplied.
In a number of markets, including Japan, Russia and Australia, the company is advertising the benefits of theanine, which has psychoactive properties.
Lipton still owns plantations in East Africa ( Kenya (Kericho) and Tanzania (Mufindi) ) In May 2007, Unilever became the first company to commit to sourcing all its tea in a sustainable manner. Working with the Rainforest Alliance, an international environmental NGO, Lipton and its parent company, Unilever, announced all Lipton Yellow Label tea bags sold in Western Europe would be certified by 2010 and all Lipton tea bags sold globally by 2015. Lipton's own tea estates were among the first to be certified. Product bearing the Rainforest Alliance seal appeared on Western European markets in 2008 and started appearing in North America in 2009.
On 6 May 2009, Lipton received a Corporate Green Globe Award for its work with the Rainforest Alliance.
Category
| Bag |
The Beaufort scale is used to measure the speed of what? | Lipton - iSnare Free Encyclopedia
Lipton
For people named Lipton, see Lipton (surname) .
Lipton
1890; 127 years ago (1890)
Markets
www.liptontea.com
Lipton is a brand of tea , owned by the company Unilever . Lipton was also a supermarket chain in the United Kingdom before it was sold off to Argyll Foods , to allow the company to focus solely on tea. The company is named after its founder Thomas Lipton . The Lipton ready-to-drink beverages are sold by Pepsi Lipton International, a company jointly owned by Unilever and PepsiCo .
Contents
For the personal history of Thomas Lipton, see Thomas Lipton .
Supermarkets
The old Liptons, Galbraith , Templeton and Presto logos
In 1871 Thomas Lipton (1848-1931) of Glasgow , Scotland used his small savings to open his own shop, and by the 1880s the business had grown to more than 200 shops. [1] In 1929 the Lipton grocery retail business was one of the companies that merged with Home and Colonial Stores, Maypole Dairy Company, Vyes & Boroughs,Templetons, Galbraiths & Pearks to form a food group with more than 3,000 stores. The group traded in the high street under various names, but was registered on the UK stock market as Allied Suppliers. [2] Lipton's became a supermarket chain focused on small towns, before Allied's acquisition by Argyll Foods in 1982. The supermarket business was rebranded as Presto during the 1980s.
Tea
Thomas Lipton began travelling the world for new items to stock in this store. One such item was tea, since sales had doubled from £40 million from the late 1870s to £80 million by the mid-1880s. However, he believed the price was far too high, so in 1890 he purchased his own tea gardens in Ceylon, now Sri Lanka, and packaged and sold the first Lipton tea. [3] Staying true to this vision, he arranged packaging and shipping at low costs and sold his tea in packets by the pound (454g), half pound (227g), and quarter pound (113g), with the advertising slogan: "Direct from the tea gardens to the teapot." Lipton teas were an immediate success in the United States. [1]
The Lipton tea business was acquired by consumer goods company Unilever in a number of separate transactions, starting with the purchase of the United States and Canadian Lipton business in 1938 and completed in 1972 when Unilever bought the remainder of the global Lipton business from Allied Suppliers .
In 1991, Unilever created a first joint venture with PepsiCo, the Pepsi Lipton Partnership, for the marketing of ready to drink (bottled and canned) teas in North America. This was followed in 2003 by a second joint venture, Pepsi-Lipton International (PLI), covering many non-United States markets. PLI was expanded in September 2007 to include a number of large European markets. PepsiCo and Unilever each control 50% of the shares of these joint ventures. [4]
Due to the 2008 Chinese milk scandal , food giant Unilever started recalling its Lipton milk tea powder in Hong Kong and Macau on 30 September 2008. The tea powder, which used Chinese milk powder as its raw ingredient, was recalled after the company's internal checks found traces of melamine in the powder. [5] [6]
In 2011 PETA criticized Lipton tea manufacturer Unilever for conducting and funding experiments on rabbits, pigs and other animals in an attempt to make human health claims about the tea’s ingredients. According to the animal rights organization, Unilever decided to end the practice for Lipton products after receiving more than 40,000 appeals from PETA supporters and days before PETA made plans to launch its "Lipton CruelTEA" campaign [7] Unilever no longer tests their products on animals unless required to by governments as part of their regulatory requirements. [8]
Soup mixes
Lipton produces instant soup mixes . [9] In the 1950s in the United States, Lipton ran an advertisement campaign promoting French onion dip prepared at home using Lipton's French onion soup mix, thus helping to popularize chips and dip . [10] After this time, many new commercially produced varieties of dips (numbering in the hundreds) were created and produced in the U.S. [10]
Present day
A tin of loose Earl Grey tea
Products target the mass market and are generally positioned in the middle of the price spectrum for tea.[ citation needed ] Like most branded teas, Lipton teas are a blend selected from many different plantations around the world, from well-known producing countries like, Sri Lanka , India, Kenya, and China. Lipton Yellow Label is blended from as many as 20 different teas. [11]
Apart from black leaf teas (with the long-standing Lipton Yellow Label brand), the company also markets a large range of other varieties, both in leaf tea as well as ready-to-drink format. [12] These include green teas, black flavoured teas, herbal teas , Lipton Linea (a "slimming tea") in Europe and Lipton Milk Tea in various Asian markets. Apart from Lipton Ice Tea, none of their products are available for retail in the UK, as only caterers are supplied.
In a number of markets, including Japan, Russia and Australia, the company is advertising the benefits of theanine , which has psychoactive properties. [13]
Lipton still owns plantations in East Africa ( Kenya (Kericho) and Tanzania (Mufindi) ) In May 2007, Unilever became the first company to commit to sourcing all its tea in a sustainable manner. [14] Working with the Rainforest Alliance , an international environmental NGO , Lipton and its parent company, Unilever, announced all Lipton Yellow Label tea bags sold in Western Europe would be certified by 2010 and all Lipton tea bags sold globally by 2015. [15] Lipton's own tea estates were among the first to be certified. [16] [17] Product bearing the Rainforest Alliance seal appeared on Western European markets in 2008 and started appearing in North America in 2009. [18] [19]
On 6 May 2009, Lipton received a Corporate Green Globe Award for its work with the Rainforest Alliance. [20]
Brands
Lipton Rainforest Alliance certified product
Lipton's main pillar brands are Lipton Yellow Label and Lipton Iced Tea. Other product lines exist as well, like the Lipton pyramid ( tetrahedron ) range in Europe and North America, and Lipton Milk Tea in East Asia. In 2008, the brand launched Lipton Linea in Western Europe.
Lipton Yellow Label
Lipton Yellow Label has been sold since 1890, when Sir Thomas Lipton created the first version of the Yellow pack with a red Lipton shield, which to this day typifies the Lipton Yellow Label brand. It is sold in 150 countries worldwide. [21] Lipton Yellow Label is a blend of several types of tea.
Lipton Yellow Label blend is available both in tea bags, the preferred format in Western Europe, North America and Australia, as well as loose packaged tea, the preferred format in much of the Middle East and throughout Asia.[ citation needed ] Lipton Yellow Label loose packed tea is rolled into small balls like gunpowder green tea .
Lipton Iced Tea
The Lipton Ice Tea logo as used in many markets
Lipton Iced Tea, in many markets known as Lipton Ice Tea, is an iced tea brand sold by Lipton.
Lipton Brisk
Brisk , formerly Lipton Brisk, is an iced tea brand distributed primarily in North America as a joint venture between Lipton and PepsiCo. It differs from Lipton's other iced tea brands in that phosphoric acid is added to the blend, giving the beverage a distinctive tart flavor.
Lipton Pyramid Tea
Lipton also produces tea using the tetrahedral bag format as seen in other tea brands.
Lipton Clear was also launched in five variants – Earl Grey Tea , English Breakfast Tea , Peach Mango Tea, Green Tea Mandarin Orange, Mint and Camomile Tea.
Pure Leaf
Pure Leaf is an iced tea brand distributed primarily in North America by the PepsiCo-Lipton joint venture. As opposed to Lipton Iced Tea and Brisk, both of which use a freeze-dried instant tea powder for a base, Pure Leaf is brewed in liquid form.
Lipton worldwide
Available in over 110 countries, Lipton is particularly popular in Europe , North America , Africa and the Middle East , parts of Asia and Australasia ( Australia and New Zealand ) as well as Latin America and Caribbean . Despite its British origins, Lipton black tea (such as Yellow Label) is not marketed in the UK and is not found in mainstream British stores. However, Lipton Ice Tea and fruit teas are available in the UK.
Marketing and advertising
In 1914 Lipton's tea were one of the sponsors for the first flight from Melbourne to Sydney by French aviator Maurice Guillaux, This was, at the time, the longest air mail and air freight flight in the world. Guillaux wrote, 'I found it the most delicious tea I have ever tasted....I found it very soothing to the nerves.' Lipton printed 250 000 facsimile copies of the letter, and these could be had by sending to Lipton a one-penny stamp. For a threepenny stamp, Lipton would send out a quarter-pound pack of tea. [22]
In an attempt to change the negative perception of Lipton Ice Tea in the United Kingdom – as 60% claimed they do not like the taste before even trying it – Lipton underwent a London -based summer experiential marketing campaign in 2010 under the slogan "Don't knock it 'til you’ve tried it!". [23] Roaming demonstrators handed out 498,968 samples over the 58-day run. After the campaign, 87% of consumers claimed to enjoy Lipton Ice Tea, while 73% said they were more likely to purchase in the future. [24]
Product quality controversy
In November 2011, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of China found high levels of toxins [ which? ] in one variety of Lipton tea. Unilever responded by clearing the shelves of all affected products. [25] In April 2012, the non-governmental organization Greenpeace raised questions about Lipton products once again, after two varieties of Lipton tea the group purchased in Beijing supermarkets failed safety tests, with the results allegedly failing to meet regulations as those enforced in the European Union . [26] Additionally, the group stated, "Some of the detected pesticides are also banned for use in tea production by the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture." [26] Unilever China denied the findings, stating all Lipton products within the country were safe. [25]
See also
^ Allied Stores was originally formed in 1929 to act as the group's purchasing arm.
^
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If you have a small red heart on your Washington State drivers license, what have you agreed to be a donor of? | WA State Licensing (DOL) Official Site: Organ donor
Frequently asked questions about organ, eye, and tissue donation
Why should I consider being a donor?
Being a organ donor is a decision that could save a life! One organ or tissue donor can save or enhance the lives of more than 50 people. Today, more than 120,000 Americans are waiting for a life-saving transplant. One-third of those people will die before they receive an organ.
What does it mean when I say “yes” to organ, eye, and tissue donation and the heart is placed on my card?
Saying “yes” provides your legal consent to donate all organs, eyes, and tissues for life-saving or enhancing transplant. This isn’t related in any way to whole body research programs.
What organs and tissues can I donate?
Transplantable organs and tissues include: heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, pancreas, small intestine, heart valves, skin, bone, connective tissue, veins, eyes, and corneas.
Can I register as an organ donor if I’m younger than 18?
Yes, if you’re at least 15½ years. You’ll get the donor symbol on your intermediate driver license or ID card. However, until you’re 18 years old or emancipated, your parent or guardian has the right to revoke your consent at the time of donation.
What if I want to make limitations, or have changed my mind about being a donor?
If you’d like to set limitations or remove your name from the donor registry visit www.lcnw.org and click the green Register Now button to create a record reflecting your wishes. This new record will replace any older records.
Do I have to get a new driver license or ID card if I change my mind about being a donor?
No, you may either keep your current license or ID card, or get a new one without the donor symbol.
If you prefer to get a new license or ID card, you may request one at any driver licensing office . The replacement card is:
Free if you’re only changing your organ donor status.
For other changes at the same time, see our Fees page.
Questions?
The donor procurement organization may ask donors to provide specific information about their individual wishes.
Privacy and security of registry information
Organ donor registry information is kept confidential and safe. It cannot be shared with anyone outside the organ donor agencies. We encode the information before it is sent to the registry, and then the registry decodes the information when it has been received.
Organ and Tissue Donation Awareness Account
This account is used to collect and manage donations from the public. Money donated to the account will support efforts to provide facts about organ donation to the public and to ask them to join the organ donor registry.
How to make a donation
You may donate $1 (or more!) to support organ donation education when you renew your vehicle registration. Your tab renewal notice will tell you about the option to donate to the account. This option is available if you renew your registration by mail, online , or in person at a vehicle licensing office .
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What is the name of the field on which a rousing game of Cricket is played? | License Plates - NM Motor Vehicle Division
License Plates
Parking Placards
A variety of license plates are available to New Mexico drivers.
Along with the standard license plates, drivers can select specialty plates. Some specialty plates have a small fee upon application and registration renewal, while others are available with no additional fees.
Not listed are government, state agency, elected officials or commercial vehicle plates, or those plates that are unique to specific vehicle types, such as manufactured homes, recreational vehicles (RVs) or trailers.
MVD Driver Tip*
Mailing a payment in?
All plates that charge a fee (non-standard plates) must be paid to match the length of the registration term of the vehicle. This means that a two year registration will result in two years worth of plate fees in addition to that registration. An example would be the collegiate plate which may have a $37.00 annual fee in addition to the registration fee. This would result in a total payment of $72.00 for just the plate if the vehicle has a two year registration. When paying for a plate for two years please subtract $2.00 from the total. This is due to the fact that the administrative fee of $2.00 is only collected once since this is considered one transaction.
Standard Plates
Historical Plates and Vintage Plates
Military and Veterans
Police, Firefighters, and Emergency Medical Technician Plates
Motorcycle Plates
Winner of the 2012 Award for Best License Plate in the U.S.!
Governor Martinez accepts the award on behalf of the Motor Vehicles Division. Read more about it here .
Standard License Plates
Standard Red and Yellow License Plate
Balloon Plate
Centennial Vanity Plate
Red & Yellow Prestige (Vanity)
Any owner of a motor vehicle, including a motorcycle, may apply for the issuance of a special "prestige" or "vanity" registration plate. Both the traditional yellow and Centennial designs are available, though motorcycle Prestige plates are available only in traditional yellow.
A prestige plate may have 1-7 characters (1-6 characters for a motorcycle). The characters can include the Zia symbol, spaces, apostrophes, dashes, or any combination of letters and numbers. A requested character set may be rejected if 1) it duplicates any existing plate; 2) the division finds it to be derogatory or obscene; or (3) it falsely states or implies that the vehicle or the driver represents the authority of a governmental agency or official.
Fee: $17.00 initially and upon each regular registration renewal.
Application form MVD10199 | Download PDF
Santa Fe 400th Anniversary License Plate
(Motor Vehicle Code Section 66-3-424.26 NMSA 1978)
The $37.00 amount is payable, in addition to regular motor vehicle registration fees, for initial issuance of the Santa Fe 400th Anniversary special plate. The same special plate fee will also be due upon each registration renewal on or before June 30, 2012.
However, the $37.00 fee shall not be due for registration renewals on or after July 1, 2012.
Twenty-five dollars ($25.00) of each $37.00 fee collected for the Santa Fe 400th special plate will be distributed to the City of Santa Fe to commemorate the four hundredth anniversary of the City of Santa Fe.
No Longer Available. Limited Run Plate.
Las Cruces License Plate
(Motor Vehicle Code Section 66-3-424.23 NMSA 1978)
The City of Las Cruces registration plate is available only to motor vehicle owners who are residents of the City of Las Cruces. $25.00 of the $37.00 fee collected for each City of Las Cruces plate is appropriated to the city of Las Cruces Recreation Fund.
Fee: $37.00 initially and upon each regular registration renewal.
Application form MVD10099 | Download PDF
Collegiate License Plates
Central New Mexico Community College
New Mexico Junior College
Disabled Person
(Motor Vehicle Code Section 66-3-16 NMSA 1978)
This plate is available for use on motor vehicles and motorcycles owned by a person with a significant mobility limitation, i.e. a person who:
Cannot walk 100 feet without stopping to rest;
Cannot walk without the use of a brace, cane or crutch or without assistance from another person, a prosthetic device, a wheelchair or other assistive device;
Is restricted by lung disease to such an extent that the person's forced respiratory volume, when exhaling for one second, when measured by spirometry, is less than one liter or the arterial oxygen tension is less than sixty millimeters on room air at rest;
Uses portable oxygen;
Has a severe cardiac condition; or
Is so severely limited in the ability to walk due to an arthritic, neurologic or orthopedic condition that the person cannot ascend or descend more than ten stair steps.
Fee: None
Application form MVD10270 | Download PDF
Historical or Vintage Plates
Horseless Carriage
(Motor Vehicle Code Section 66-3-27 NMSA 1978)
A "horseless carriage" is a motor vehicle at least 35 years old, owned as a collector's item, and used solely for exhibition and educational purposes. Upon transfer of ownership of a horseless carriage, the registration plate remains with the vehicle. A horseless carriage plate must be revalidated every five years. Fee: $17.50 initially, then $7.50 every five years upon revalidation
Application form MVD10056 | Download PDF
Year of Manufacture
(Motor Vehicle Code Section 66-3-423 NMSA 1978)
The division may specially register and permit the use of year-of-manufacture license plates on motor vehicles that are 30 or more years old. The division shall inspect the year-of-manufacture plate to ensure that it is in good condition and that the number on the plate is not already assigned or in use. To qualify for use, the year-of-manufacture plate shall be an authentic plate issued in New Mexico during the motor vehicle's model year.
Upon the sale or transfer of a motor vehicle bearing a year-of-manufacture plate, the plate may remain with the vehicle and be transferred to the new owner upon payment of a $10.00 fee in addition to regular registration fees. Fee: $27.00 upon initial registration; $12.00 upon transfer to a new owner
Application form MVD11317 | Download PDF
Military and Veteran Plates
Gold Star Family
(Motor Vehicle Code Section 66-3-424.24 NMSA 1978)
The Gold Star Family registration plate is available to the surviving mother, father, step parent or spouse of a service member killed in an armed conflict with an enemy of the United States. There is a limit of four Gold Star Family registration plates for each eligible family.
Fee: None, other than regular registration fees; registration fee also waived for first plate issued to the service member's mother or spouse.
Application form MVD10100 | Download PDF
Active Duty National Guard
(Motor Vehicle Code Section 66-3-413 NMSA 1978)
The National Guard plate is available to any person who is an active member of the New Mexico national guard, upon the submission by the person of proof satisfactory to the division that the person is currently a member of the guard. No fee, including the regular registration fee, shall be collected for issuance of a National Guard plate.
Fee: None for plate or registration
Application form MVD10247 | Download PDF
Military Service Special Plates
Limited Run Plate - Discontinued as of 6/30/12
Las Cruces
Amateur Radio Operator
(Motor Vehicle Code Section 66-3-417 NMSA 1978)
The Radio Operator plate is available to any New Mexico resident who holds an official commercial or amateur radio station license in good standing issued by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) or who is a bona fide employee of such license holder. CB radio licensees are not eligible for the Radio Operator plate. The plate shall be inscribed with the official call letters of the applicant as assigned by the FCC; and the words "amateur radio operator" shall be inscribed on the registration plate upon request of the applicant. The stated legislative purpose for the issuance of special Radio Operator registration plates is to readily identify personnel in aid of the performance of necessary duties for civil defense in the communications field. Fee: $5.00 initially and upon each regular registration renewal
Application form MVD10200 | Download PDF
Patriot License Plate
(Motor Vehicle Code Section 66-3-424.17 NMSA 1978)
The Patriot registration plate is available to any motor vehicle owner who is a patriot. No proof of patriotism is required. $8.00 of the $27.00 fee collected for each Patriot plate is transferred to the Armed Forces Veterans License Fund, for the purpose of expanding services to rural areas of the state, including Native American communities and senior citizen centers. Fee: $27.00 upon initial registration
Application form MVD11300 | Download PDF
Wildlife Artwork
(Motor Vehicle Code Section 66-3-424.6 NMSA 1978)
The special "share with wildlife" registration plate, featuring artwork of New Mexico wildlife, is available for any private motor vehicle except a motorcycle. No personalized or vanity design variation of the special wildlife artwork registration plates shall be issued. $15.00 of the initial fee and the entire renewal fee collected is distributed to the Share with Wildlife Program of the Game Protection Fund. Fee: $27.00 initially and $12.00 upon each regular registration renewal
Application form MVD10092 | Download PDF
Bass Fishing
(Motor Vehicle Code Section 66-3-424.27 NMSA 1978)
The new "Fish New Mexico" Bass Fishing plate can be ordered. The first year special plate fee for the Bass Fishing plate is $27.00 for initial issuance of the plate and $10.00 for each additional year. Fifteen dollars ($15.00) of the initial fee will go to the Bass Habitat Management Program of the Game Protection Fund.
Application form MVD10105 | Download PDF
Boy Scouts Centennial
The Boy Scouts of America Centennial Plate commemorates the centennial of the Boy Scouts of America, which was founded 100 years ago last month (on February 8, 1910). The Boy Scouts of America plate is available with a $12.00 fee for initial issuance of each plate, in addition to regular motor vehicle registration fees. The BSA plate can be ordered using the Application for Boy Scouts of America Centennial Plate.
Application Form MVD10103 | Download PDF
Children's Trust Fund
(Motor Vehicle Code Secs. 66-3-420 and 66-3-420.1 NMSA 1978)
Any owner of a motor vehicle, including a motorcycle, may apply for the issuance of a special children's artwork registration plate featuring artwork of the children of New Mexico.
$25.00 of fee collected for each plate ($15.00 for motorcycle plates) is distributed to the Children's Trust Fund, whose purpose is (1) to develop innovative children's projects dedicated to preventing abuse and neglect of children; providing medical, psychological and other appropriate treatment for children who are victims of abuse or neglect; and developing community-based services aimed at the prevention and treatment of child abuse and neglect; and (2) to manage projects of the Next Generation Fund. Fee: $42.00 ($22.00 for motorcycles) initially and upon each regular registration renewal
Application form MVD11195 | Download PDF
Children's Trust Fund (Motorcycle)
Pet Care - Spay/Neuter
(Motor Vehicle Code Section 66-3-424.3 NMSA 1978)
The "Spay-Neuter" pet care special registration plate is available to any owner of a motor vehicle. Fee: $37.00 initially and upon each regular registration renewal
Application form MVD11249 | Download PDF
Breast Cancer Awareness
(Motor Vehicle Code Section 66-3-424.22 NMSA 1978)
The Breast Cancer Awareness plate is available to any motor vehicle owner. $25.00 of the $37.00 fee collected for each Breast Cancer Awareness plate is transferred to the New Mexico Department of Health for the purpose of funding breast cancer screening, outreach and education. Fee: $37.00 initially and upon each regular registration renewal
Application form MVD11244 | Download PDF
Route 66
(Motor Vehicle Code Section 66-3-424.8 NMSA 1978)
The owner of any vehicle may apply for issuance of a special Route 66 commemorative registration plate. $25.00 of the additional fee is distributed and appropriated to the Department of Transportation to fund the revitalization and preservation of historic Route 66 in New Mexico pursuant to the national scenic byways program. Fee: $37.00 initially and upon each regular registration renewal
Application form MVD11259 | Download PDF
Organ Donor
(Motor Vehicle Code Section 66-3-424.15 NMSA 1978) The special Organ Donation Awareness registration plate is designed to promoting awareness about the urgent need for organ and tissue donation in New Mexico.
Fee: $12.00 upon initial registration
Application form MVD10666 | Download PDF
Cumbres and Toltec Railway
(Motor Vehicle Code Section 66-3-424.19 NMSA 1978)
The Cumbres & Toltec Railway plate is available to any motor vehicle owner. $25.00 of the $40.00 fee collected for each Cumbres & Toltec Railway plate is distributed to the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad Commission. Fee: $40.00 initially and upon each regular registration renewal
Application form MVD11309 | Download PDF
Farm And Ranch Heritage
(Motor Vehicle Code Section 66-3-424.30 NMSA 1978)
A special plate is now available to show support for support for the New Mexico farm and ranch community. The special plate fee for the Farm and Ranch Heritage plate is $37.00, initially and upon each renewal.Twenty-five dollars ($25.00) of the additional fee will go to the Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum for educational programs.
Application form MVD10106 | Download PDF
Adopt a Child
(Motor Vehicle Code Section 66-3-424.18 NMSA 1978)
The special Child Adoption Awareness Plate promotes the need of children to be adopted in the State of New Mexico. This application must be accompanied by a check or money order payable to the Motor Vehicle Division in the amount of twelve dollars ($12.00). This amount is payable for initial issuance of the Child Adoption Awareness special plate. The $12.00 fee is in addition to regular motor vehicle registration fees.
Application form MVD11248 | Download PDF
Fraternal Order of Police
(Motor Vehicle Code Section 66-3-424.5 NMSA 1978)
The FOP special plate is available to any New Mexico member of the Fraternal Order of Police. When a person holding the special plate ceases to be a New Mexico member of the Fraternal Order of Police, he shall immediately remove the plate from the vehicle and return it in exchange for a regular registration plate. Fee: $27.00 upon initial registration
Application form MVD11303 | Download PDF
Retired Firefighters
(Motor Vehicle Code Section 66-3-424.9 NMSA 1978)
The Retired Firefighters special registration plate is available to any person who is a retired New Mexico firefighter with proof that the person has retired from active employment as a firefighter. Fee: $27.00 upon initial registration
Application form MVD11316 | Download PDF
Retired NM State Police
(Motor Vehicle Code Section 66-3-424.13 NMSA 1978)
The special registration plate for retired New Mexico State Police officers is available to any person who is a retired New Mexico State Police officer, with submission of the officer's retirement commission from the New Mexico state police . Fee: $27.00 upon initial registration
Application form MVD11243 | Download PDF
Retired Law Enforcement
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Hailing from the Isle of Man, what differentiates Manx cats from all others? | BBC - Earth - Why the cats on one British island have lost their tails
Domestic cat
Why the cats on one British island have lost their tails
Hailing from Britain’s Isle of Man, the now internationally-popular Manx cat has a particularly odd trait: it lacks a tail
By Chris Baraniuk
2 February 2016
In the towns dotted across Britain’s Isle of Man, you can sometimes spy a particularly eye-catching resident. It is a cat seemingly like any other, only missing something: its tail.
The animal has captured the hearts of pet owners both on the island and much further afield. In fact, there are now far more Manx cats in North America than on the island where they originated.
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How they came to lose their tails in the first place remains a bit of a mystery – but the answer lies in a genetic mutation.
In 2013, one gene was shown to have four possible mutations that can lead to a tailless Manx cat. All four mutations are specific to the Manx – other tailless or bob-tailed cats carry different mutations responsible for the trait.
The study’s co-author Leslie Lyons , a cat expert and geneticist at the University of Missouri – Columbia, went to the Isle of Man herself to collect samples from Manx cats. The mutations were present there, meaning all Manx cats must have come from tailless cats on the island, which have lived there for hundreds of years.
Isle of Man resident Sara Goodwins, author of the book A De-tailed Account of Manx Cats, notes that the first linguistic reference to tailless cats on the Isle of Man appears in the mid-18th Century. Before that, since there was no special word for them, Goodwins says that it was unlikely they were present in any significant number.
Since cats use their tails for balance when running and jumping, and to communicate body language, it seems odd that some should lack them. Lyons says she cannot think of any natural advantage to being without a tail. Instead, the gene likely has been passed on mainly through selective breeding by humans, a process called “novelty selection”.
View image of (Credit: blickwinkel/Alamy Stock Photo)
Although the gene that carries these mutations is dominant, making it easy enough to pass on, there is an interesting quirk: if an unborn cat inherits the gene from both parents rather than just one, it will likely die in the womb. That is why the gene that causes the cats to have no tail has been nicknamed, darkly, “the lethal gene”.
“You never see these babies born, or they never develop,” says Lyons. “That means there is a high selection against this mutation.”
Even when the gene is inherited from just one parent, it is not necessarily benign. Manx cats can suffer from health issues related to having too few vertebrae in the lower or lower-middle part of their spines, like incontinence and in some cases even lameness.
For this reason, some breeders will not try to preserve the gene, while others have specialised in trying to breed Manx cats with healthier spines.
The introduction of problematic traits in domesticated animals is a phenomenon that is gradually becoming better understood.
View image of (Credit: John Hubble/Alamy Stock Photo)
For example, a 2016 study of dogs suggested that small domestic populations led to the accumulation of harmful genes in animals that were selectively bred for certain physical features, such as colour or shape of the head.
Even more troubling is a practice called “docking”, in which the tails of young cats and dogs are surgically removed so that they appear to have been born without tails. The process is banned as a cosmetic measure in the UK, except for working dogs used by the police and armed services.
However, Manx owners say that their breeding has not just caused them to lose their tails, but other feline characteristics, too. “A Manx cat will go for a walk with you,” says Goodwins. “Most cats hate water but Manx cats like swimming.”
It is not clear why they behave this way.
Goodwins’ personal theory is that the Manx genome was influenced by the introduction of Scandinavian cat breeds to the Isle of Man when Vikings arrived there over a millennium ago. Today’s Norwegian forest cats, which share some of the Manx’s doglike characteristics, are likely descended from cats that Vikings kept.
However, Lyons says that she is not aware of any genetic evidence that would back up Goodwins' idea.
“They’re not similar to one another [genetically], but they are similar to random bred cats,” she says. The Manx genome is like the Norwegian forest cat’s only in the sense that they are both highly diverse: if a cat has been bred from many different breeds, it will “match” with a Manx simply because the two share diverse genomes.
View image of (Credit: Daniel Valla FRPS/Alamy Stock Photo)
The Manx cat, then, may be an oddity but it reveals much about our attitudes towards domesticated animals. As our understanding of genetics has improved, so has our understanding of the Manx.
Whether it will be deemed ethical to preserve Manx mutations in the future is unclear. But the cat certainly has, against all the odds, survived and thrived, even far from its native shores.
For a humble islander without a tail, the Manx has – if nothing else – certainly travelled well.
This story is a part of BBC Britain – a series focused on exploring this extraordinary island, one story at a time. Readers outside of the UK can see every BBC Britain story by heading to the Britain homepage ; you also can see our latest stories by following us on Facebook and Twitter .
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What is the last name of the performer mauled by Montacore, one of his very special white tigers, in Las Vegas on October 3, 2003? | Full text of "The Little Manx Nation .."
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UC-NRLF SB 254 THE LITTLE MANX NATION By the same Author. THE BONDMAN. A NE W SAGA. Sixteenth Thousand. In One Volume, Crown 8vo, y. 6d. Mr. Gladstone says" ' The Bondman ' is a work of which I recognise the freshness, vigour, and sustained interest no less than its integrity of aim" Times 11 It is impossible to deny originality and rude power to this saga, impose- ible not to admire its forceful directness, and the colossal grandeur of its leading characters." AcadeJiiy " It is a splendid novel." Speaker" It reaches a level to which fiction very rarely attains. . . . We are, in fact, so loth to let such good work be degraded by the title of 'novel,' that we are almost tempted to consider its claims to rank as a prose epic." Scotsman " Is distinctly ahead of all the fictional literature of our time, and fit to rank with the most powerful fictional writing of the past century." Standard 1 ' Its argument is grand, and it is sustained with a power that is almost marvellous." Evening News and Post " There has been nothing like this book in recent literature." Pall Mall Gazette " It is the product of a strenuous and sustained imaginative effort far beyond the power of an everyday story-teller.'' Scots Observer- " In none of his previous works has he approached the splendour of idealism which flows through ' The Bondman.'" St, James's Gazette " A striking and highly dramatic piece of fiction." Star tf \n absorbingly interesting story." Literary M'orld " The book abounds in pages of great force and beauty, and there is a touch of almost Homeric power in its massive and grand simplicity." LONDON : WM. HEINEMANN, 21 BKDFORD ST., \V.C. THE LITTL MANX NATION HALL CAINR / AUTHOR OK THT. EOXDMJX" A.\D "7V//: DMMS LONDON WILLIAM HEINEMANN 1891 {.All right i resetved\ To the J^everend f. S. "Brown, You see 'what I send you my lectures at the ^oyal Institution in the Spring. In making a little book of them I have thought it best to leave them as they were defivtrtd) 'with all the colloquialisms that are natural to spoken 'words Jrankly exposed to cold print. This does not help them to any particular distinction as literature, but perhaps it lends them an ease and familiarity 'which may partly atone to you and to all good souls for their plentiful lack of dignity. I have said so often that I am not an historian, that I ought to add that whatever history lies hidden here belongs to Train, our only accredited chronicler, and, even at the risk of bowing too low, I must needs protest, in our north-country homespun, that he shall have the pudding if he will also take the pudding-bag. You know 'what I mean. *At some points our history especially our early history still so vague, so dubious, so full of mystery. It is all the fault of little vJVLannanan, our ancient zManx magician, who enshrouded our island in mist. Or should I say it is to his credit, for has he not left us through all time some shadowy figures to fght about, like " rael, thrue, regular " zflfanxmen f eAs for the stories, the "yarns" that lie like Jlies like blue-bottles, like bees, I trust not like wasps in the amber of the history, you will see that they are mainly my own. On second thought it occurs to me that maybe they are mainly yours. Let us say that they are both yours and mine, or perhaps, if the 'world Jin ds anything good in them, any humour, any pathos, any racy touches of our rugged people, you ivill permit me to determine their ownership in the 'way of this paraphrase of Qoleridge's doggerel version of the two Latin hexameters " They re mine and they are likewise yours, ^But an if that will not do, Let them be mine, good friend ! for I eAm the poorer of the two" Hawthorns , Keswick, June 1891. 334508 posal FATHER OF THE LIFEBOATS. A \ is on foot in the isle of Maoi to jmorate Sir William Hilary, who bare a pirominent part in'the foundation of the National Lifeboat Institution. Sir William, for many years lived at Fort Anoie, Douglas, and saw from his residence many shipwrecks. The horix>r of the eights he tuns witnessed induced ham to take ete-pe which resulted in the incep- tion of the Lifeboat Institution. He Erected on St. Mary's liock a tower of refuge for ship- wrecked seamen, and this picturesque struc- ture is yet the meet prominent object m Douglas CONTENTS THE STORY OF THE MANX KINGS. Islanders Our Island The Name of our Island Our History King Orry The Tynwald The Lost Saga The Manx Macbeth The Manx Glo'ster Scotch and English Dominion The Stanley Dynasty Iliam Dhoan The Athol Dynasty Smuggling and Wrecking The Revestment Home Rule Orry's Sons ........ pp. 1-52 THE STORY OF THE MANX BISHOPS. The Druids Conversion to Christianity The liarly Bishops of Man Bishops of the Welsh Dynasty Bishops of the Norse Dynasty Sodor and Man The Early Bishops of the House of Stanley Tithes in Kind The Gambling Bishop The Deemsters The Bishopric Vacant Bishop Wilson Bishop Wilson's Censures The Great Corn Famine The Bishop at Court Stories of Bishop Wilson Quarrels of Church and State Some Old Ordeals The Herring Fishery The Fishermen's Service Some Old Laws Katherine Kinrade Bishop Wilson's Last Days The Athol Bishops PP- 53- l <>5 THE STORY OF THE MANX PEOPLE. The Manx Language Manx Names Manx Imagination Manx Proverbs Manx Ballads Manx Carols Decay of the Manx Language Manx Superstitions Manx Stories Manx "Characters" Manx Characteristics Manx Types Literary Associations Manx Progress Conclusion . . pp. 106-159 THE LITTLE MANX NATION THE STORY OF THE MANX KINGS THERE are just two ideas which are associated in the popular imagination with the first thought of the Isle of Man. The one is that Manxmen have three legs, and the other that Manx cats have no tails. But whatever the popular conception, or misconception, of Man and its people, I shall assume that what you ask from me is that simple knowledge of simple things which has come to me by the accident of my parentage. I must confess to you at the outset that I am not much of a hand at grave history. Facts and figures I cannot expound with authority. But I know the history of the Isle of Man, can see it clear, can see it whole, and perhaps it will content you if I can show you the soul of it A 2 THE LITTLE MANX NATION [LECT. i and make it to live before you. In attempting to traverse the history I feel like one who carries a dark lantern through ten dark centuries. I turn the bull's eye on this incident and that, take a peep here and there, a white light now, and then a blank darkness. Those ten centuries are full of lusty fights, victories, vanquishments, quarrels, peace- making, shindies big and little, rumpus solemn and ridiculous, clouds of dust, regal dust, political dust, and religious dust you know the way of it. But beneath it all and behind it all lies the real, true, living human heart of Manxland. I want to show it to you, if you will allow me to spare the needful time from facts and figures. It will get you close to Man and its people, and it is not to be found in the history books. Islanders And now, first, we Manxmen are islanders. It is not everybody who lives on an island that is an islander. You know what I mean. I mean by an islander one whose daily life is affected by the constant presence of the sea. This is possible in a big island if it is far enough away from the LECT. i] THE LITTLE MANX NATION 3 rest of the world, Iceland, for example, but it is inevitable in a little one. The sea is always present with Manxmen. Everything they do, everything they say, gets the colour and shimmer of the sea. The sea goes into their bones, it comes out at their skin. Their talk is full of it. They buy by it, they sell by it, they quarrel by it, they fight by it, they swear by it, they pray by it. Of course they are not conscious of this. Only their degenerate son, myself to wit, a chiel among them takin' notes, knows how the sea exudes from the Manxmen. Say you ask if the Governor is at home. If he is not, what is the answer ? " He's not on the island, sir." You inquire for the best hotel. " So-and-so is the best hotel on the island, sir." You go to a Manx fair and hear a farmer selling a cow. " Aw," says he, " she's a ter'ble gran' craythuer for milkin', sir, and for butter maybe there isn' the lek of her on the island, sir." Coming out of church you listen to the talk of two old Manxwomen discussing the preacher. " Well, well, ma'am, well, well ! Aw, the voice at him ! and the prayers ! and the beautiful texes ! There isn' the lek of him on the island at all, at all ! " Always the island, the island, the island, or else 4 THE LITTLE MANX NATION [LECT. i the boats, and going out to the herrings. The sea is always present. You feel it, you hear it, you see it, you can never forget it. It dominates you. Manxmen are all sea-folk. You will think this implies that Manxmen stick close to their island. They do more than that. I will tell you a story. Five years ago I went up into the mountains to seek an old Manx bard, last of a race of whom I shall have something to tell you in their turn. All his life he had been a poet. I did not gather that he had read any poetry except his own. Up to seventy he had been a bachelor. Then this good Boaz had lit on his Ruth and married, and had many children. I found him in a lonely glen, peopled only in story, and then by fairies. A bare hill side, not a bush in sight, a dead stretch of sea in front, rarely brightened by a sail. I had come through a blinding hail-storm. The old man. was sitting in the chimney nook, a little red shawl round his head and knotted under his chin. Within this aureole his face was as strong as Savonarola's, long and gaunt, and with skin stretched over it like parchment. He was no hermit, but a farmer, and had lived on that land, man and boy, nearly ninety years. He had never LECT. i] THE LITTLE MANX NATION 5 been off the island, and had strange notions of the rest of the world. Talked of England, London, theatres, palaces, king's entertainments, evening parties. He saw them all through the mists of rumour, and by the light of his Bible. He had strange notions, some of them bad shots for the truth, some of them startlingly true. I dare not tell you what they were. A Royal Institution audience would be aghast. They had, as a whole, a strong smell of sulphur. But the old bard was not merely an islander, he belonged to his land more than his land belonged to him. The fishing town nearest to his farm was Peel, the great fishing centre on the west coast. It was only five miles away. I asked how long it was since he had been there ? " Fifteen years," he answered. The next nearest town was the old capital, on the east coast, Castletown, the home of the Governor, of the last of the Manx lords, the place of the Castle, the Court, the prison, the garrison, the College. It was just six miles away. How long was it since he had been there ? " Twenty years." The new capital, Douglas, the heart of the island, its point of touch with the world, was nine miles away. How long since he had been in Douglas ? " Sixty years," 6 THE LITTLE MANX NATION [LECT. i said the old bard. God bless him, the sweet, dear old soul ! Untaught, narrow, self-centred, bred on his byre like his bullocks, but keeping his soul alive for all that, caring not a ha'porth for the things of the world, he was a true Manxman, and I'm proud of him. One thing I have to thank him for. But for him, and the like of him, we should not be here to-day. It is not the cultured Manxman, the Manxman that goes to the ends of the earth, that makes the Manx nation valuable to study. Our race is what it is by virtue of the Manxman who has had no life outside Man, and sc I as kept alive our language, our customs, our law and our patriarchal Con- stitution. Our Island It lies in the middle of the Irish Sea, at about equal distances from England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. Seen from the sea it is a lovely thing to look upon. It never fails to bring me a thrill of the heart as it comes out of the distance. It lies like a bird on the waters. You see it from end to end, and from water's edge to topmost peak, often enshrouded in mists, a dim ghost on a grey sea ; LECT. i] THE LITTLE MANX NATION 7 sometimes purple against the setting sun. Then as you sail up to it, a rugged rocky coast, grand in its beetling heights on the south and west, and broken into the sweetest bays everywhere. The water clear as crystal and blue as the sky in summer. You can see the shingle and the moss through many fathoms. Then mountains within, not in peaks, but round foreheads. The colour of the island is green and gold ; its flavour is that of a nut. Both colour and flavour come of the gorse. This covers the mountains and moorlands, for, except on the north, the island has next to no trees. But O, the beauty and delight of it in the Spring ! Long, broad stretches glittering under the sun with the gold of the gorse, and all the air full of the nutty perfume. There is nothing like it in the world. Then the glens, such fairy spots, deep, solemn, musical with the slumberous waters, clad in dark mosses, brightened by the red fuchsia. The fuchsia is everywhere where the gorse is not. At the cottage doors, by the waysides, in the gardens. If the gorse should fail the fuchsia might even take its place on the mountains. Such is Man, but I am partly conscious that it is Man as seen by a Manxman. You want a drop of Manx blood in you 8 THE LITTLE MANX NATION [LECT. i to see it aright. Then you may go the earth over and see grander things a thousand times, things more sublime and beautiful, but you will come back to Manxland and tramp the Mull Hills in May, long hour in, and long hour out, and look at the flowering gorse and sniff its flavour, or lie by the chasms and listen to the screams of the sea- birds, as they whirl and dip and dart and skim over the Sugar-loaf Rock, and you'll say after all that God has smiled on our little island, and that it is the fairest spot in His beautiful world, and, above all, that it is ours. The Name of our Island This is a matter in dispute among philologists, and I am no authority. Some say that Caesar meant the Isle of Man when he spoke of Mona ; others say he meant Angiesea. The present name is modern. So is Elian Vannin, its Manx equiva- lent. In the Icelandic Sagas the island is called Mon. Elsewhere it is called Eubonia. One historian thinks the island derives its name from Mannin in being an old Celtic word for island, therefore Meadhon-in (pronounced Mannin) would LECT.I] THE LITTLE MANX NATION 9 signify : The middle island. That definition re- quires that the Manxman had no hand in naming Man. He would never think of describing its geographical situation on the sea. Manxmen say the island got its name from a mythical personage called Mannanan-Beg-Mac-y-Learr, Little Mannanan, son of Learr. This man was a sort of Prospero, a magician, and the island's first ruler. The story goes that if he dreaded an enemy he would en- shroud the island in mist, " and that by art magic/ 1 Happy island, where such faith could ever exist ! Modern science knows that mist, and where it comes from. Our History It falls into three periods, first, a period of Celtic rule, second of Norse rule, third of English dominion. Manx history is the history of sur- rounding nations. We have no Sagas of our own heroes. The Sagas are all of our conquerors. Save for our first three hundred recorded years we have never been masters in our own house. The first chapter of our history has yet to be written. We know we were Celts to begin with, but how we io THE LITTLE MANX NATION [LECT. i came we have never learnt, whether we walked dry-shod from Wales or sailed in boats from Ire- land. To find out the facts of our early history would be like digging up the island of Prospero. Perhaps we had better leave it alone. Ten to one we were a gang of political exiles. Perhaps we left our country for our country's good. Be it so. It was the first and last time that it could be said of us. King Orry Early in the sixth century Man became subject to the kings and princes of Wales, who ruled from Anglesea. There were twelve of them in succession, and the last of them fell in the tenth century. We know next to nothing about them but their names. Then came the Vikings. The young bloods of Scandi- navia had newly established their Norse kingdom in Iceland, and were huckstering and sea roving about the Baltic and among the British Isles. They had been to the Orkneys and Shetlands, and Faroes, perhaps to Ireland, certainly to the coast of Cum- berland, making Scandinavian settlements every- where. So they came to Mon early in the tenth LECT. i] THE LITTLE MANX NATION II century, led by one Orry, or Gorree. Some say this man was nothing but a common sea-rover. Others say he was a son of the Danish or Nor- wegian monarch. It does not matter much. Orry had a better claim to regard than that of the son of a great king. He was himself a great man. The story of his first landing is a stirring thing. It was night, a clear, brilliant, starry night, all the dark heavens lit up. Orry's ships were at anchor behind him ; and with his men he had touched the beach, when down came the Celts to face him, and to challenge him. They demanded to know where he came from. Then the red-haired sea-warrior pointed to the milky way going off towards the North. " That is the way of my country," he answered. The Celts went down like one man in awe before him. He was their born king. It is what the actors call a fine moment. Still, nobody has ever told us how Orry and the Celts under- stood one another, speaking different tongues. Let us not ask. King Orry had come to stay, and sea-warriors do not usually bring their women over tempestuous seas. So the Norsemen married the Celtic women, and from that union came the Manx people. Thus 12 THE LITTLE MANX NATION [LECT. i the Manxman to begin with was half Norse, half Celt. He is much the same still. Manxmen usually marry Manx women, and when they do not, they often marry Cumberland women. As the Norseman settled in Cumberland as well as in Man the race is not seriously affected either way. So the Manxman, such as he is, taken all the centuries through, is thoroughbred. Now what King Orry did in the Isle of Man was the greatest work that ever was done there. He established our Constitution. It was on the model of the Constitution just established in Iceland. The government was representative and patriarchal. The Manx people being sea-folk, living by the sea, a race of fishermen and sea-rovers, he divided the island into six ship-shires, now called Sheadings. Each ship-shire elected four men to an assemblage of law-makers. This assemblage, equivalent to the Icelandic Logretta, was called the House of Keys. There is no saying what the word means. Prof. Rhys thinks it is derived from the Manx name Kiare-as-Feed, meaning the four- and -twenty. Train says the representatives were called Taxiaxi, signifying pledges or hostages, and consequently were styled Keys. Vigfusson's theory was that LECT. i]_ THE LITTLE MANX NATION 13 Keys is from the Norse word Keise, or chosen men. The common Manx notion, the idea familiar to my own boyhood, is, that the twenty-four members of the House of Keys are the twenty-four material keys whereby the closed doors of the law are unlocked. But besides the sea-folk of the ship-shires King Orry remembered the Church. He found it on the island at his coming, left it where he found it, and gave it a voice in the government. He established a Tynwald Court, equivalent to the Icelandic All Moot, where Church and State sat together. Then he appointed two law-men, called Deemsters, one for the north and the other for the south. These were equivalent to his Icelandic Logsogumadur, speaker of the law and judge of all offences. Finally, he caused to be built an artificial Mount of Laws, similar in its features to the Icelandic Logberg at Thingvellir. Such was the machinery of the Norse Constitution which King Orry established in Man. The work- ing of it was very simple. The House of Keys, the people's delegates, discussed all questions of interest to the people, and sent up its desires to the Tynwald Court. This assembly of people and Church in joint session assented, and the desires of 14 THE LITTLE MANX NATION [LECT. i the people became Acts of Tynwald. These Acts were submitted to the King. Having obtained the King's sanction they were promulgated on the Tynwald Hill on the national day in the presence of the nation. The scene of that promulgation of the laws was stirring and impressive. Let me describe it. The Tynwald Perhaps there were two Tynwald Hills in King Orry's time, but I shall assume that there was one only. It stood somewhere about midway in the island. In the heart of a wide range of hill and dale, with a long valley to the south, a hill to the north, a table-land to the east, and to the west the broad Irish Sea. Not, of course, a place to be compared with the grand and gloomy valley of the Logberg, where in a vast amphitheatre of dark hills and great jokulls tipped with snow, with deep chasms and yawning black pits, one's heart stands still. But the place of the Manx Tynwald was an impressive spot. The Hill itself was a circular mount cut into broad steps, the apex being only a few feet in 'diameter. About it was a flat grass LECT. i] THE LITTLE MANX NATION 15 plot. Near it, just a hundred and forty yards away, connected with the mount by a beaten path, was a chapel. All around was bare and solitary, perhaps as bleak and stark as the lonely plains of Thingvellir. Such was the scene. Hither came the King and his people on Tynwald Day. It fell on the 24th of June, the first of the seven days of the Icelandic gathering of the Althing. What occurred in Iceland occurred also in Man. The King with his Keys and his clergy gathered in the chapel. Thence they passed in procession to the law-rock. On the top round of the Tynwald the King sat on a chair and faced to the east. His sword was held before him, point upwards. His barons and beneficed men, his deemsters, knights, esquires, coroners, and yeomen, stood on the lower steps of the mount. On the grass plot beyond the people were gathered in crowds. Then the work of the day began. The coroners proclaimed a warning. No man should make disturbance at Tynwald on pain of death. Then the Acts of Tynwald were read or recited aloud by the deemsters ; first in the language of the laws, and next in the language of the people. After other formalities the procession 1 6 THE LITTLE MANX NATION [LECT. i of the King returned to the chapel, where the laws were signed and attested, and so the annual Tynwald ended. Now this primitive ceremonial, begun by King Orry early in the tenth century, is observed to this . day. On Midsummer-day of this year of grace a ceremony similar in all its essentials will be observed by the present Governor, his Keys, clergy, deemsters, coroners, and people, on or near the same spot. It is the old Icelandic ordinance, but it has gone from Iceland. The year 1800 saw the last of it on the lava law-rock of Thingvellir. It is gone from every other Norse kingdom founded by the old sea-rovers among the Western Isles. Manxmen alone have held on to it. Shall we also let it go ? Shall we laugh at it as a bit of mummery that is useless in an age of books and newspapers, and foolish and pompous in days of frock-coats and chimney-pot hats ? I think not. We cannot afford to lose it. Remember, it is the last visible sign of our independence as a nation. It is our hand-grasp with the past. Our little nation is the only Norse nation now on earth that can shake hands with the days of the Sagas, and the Sea- Kings. Then let him who will laugh at our LECT.J] THE LITTLE MANX NATION 17 primitive ceremonial. It is the badge of our ancient liberty, and we need not envy the man who can look on it unmoved. The Lost Saga Of King Orry himself we learn very little. He was not only the first of our kings, but also the greatest. We may be sure of that ; first, by what we know ; and next, by what we do not know. He was a conqueror, and yet we do not learn that he ever attempted to curtail the liberties of his sub- jects. He found us free men, and did not try to make us slaves. On the contrary, he gave us a representative Constitution, which has lasted a thousand years. We might call him our Manx King Alfred, if the indirections of history did not rather tempt us to christen him our Manx King Lear. His Saga has never been written, or else it is lost. Would that we could recover it ! Oh, that imagination had the authority of history to vitalise the old man and his times ! I seem to see him as he lived. There are hints of his character in his laws, that are as stage directions, telling of the entrances and exits of his people, though the drama i8 THE LITTLE MANX NATION [LECT. i of their day is gone. For example, in that pre- liminary warning of the coroner at Tynwald, there is a clause which says that none shall " bawl or quarrel or lye or lounge or sit." Do you not see what that implies ? Again, there is another clause which forbids any man, " on paine of life and lyme," to make disturbance or stir in the time of Tynwald, or any murmur or rising in the king's presence. Can you not read between the lines of that edict ? Once more, no inquest of a deemster, no judge or jury, was necessary to the death-sentence of a man who rose against the king or his governor on his seat on Tynwald. Nobody can miss the meaning of that. Once again, it was a common right of the people to present petitions at Tynwald, a common privilege of persons unjustly punished to appeal against judgment, and a common prerogative of out- laws to ask at the foot of the Tynwald Mount on Tynwald Day for the removal of their outlawry. All these old rights and regulations came from Iceland, and by the help of the Sagas it needs no special imagination to make the scenes of their action live again. I seem to see King Orry sitting on his chair on the Tynwald with his face towards the east. He has long given up sea-roving. LECT. i] . THE LITTLE MANX NATION 19 His long red hair is become grey or white. But the old lion has the muscles and fiery eye of the warrior still. His deemsters and barons are about him, and his people are on the sward below. They are free, men ; they mean to have their rights, both from him and from each other. Disputes run high, there are loud voices, mighty oaths, sometimes blows, fights, and terrific hurly-burlies. Then old Orry comes down with a great voice and a sword, and ploughs a way through the fighters and scatters them. No man dare lift his hand on the king. Peace is restored, and the king goes back to his seat. Then up from the valley comes a woe-begone man in tatters, grim and gaunt and dirty, a famished and hunted wolf. He is an outlaw, has killed a man, is pursued in a blood-feud, and asks for relief of his outlawry. And so on and so on, a scene of rugged, lusty passions, hate and revenge, but also love and brotherhood ; drinking, laughing, swearing, fighting, savage vices but also savage virtues, noble contempt of death, and magnificent self-sacrifice. The chapter is lost, but we know what it must have been. King Orry was its hero. Our Manx 20 THE LITTLE MANX NATION [LECT. i Alfred, our Manx Arthur, our Manx Lear. Then room for him among our heroes ! he must stand high. The Manx Macbeth The line of Orry came to an end at the beginning of the eleventh century. Scotland was then under the sway of the tyrant Macbeth, and, oddly enough, a parallel tragedy to that of Duncan and his kinsman was being enacted in Man. A son of Harold the Black, of Iceland, Goddard Crovan, a mighty sol- dier, conquered the island and took the crown by treachery, coming first as a guest of the Manx king. Treachery breeds treachery, duplicity is a bad seed to sow for loyalty, and the Manx people were divided in their allegiance. About twenty years after Crovan's conquest the people of the south of the island took up arms against the people of the north, and the story goes that, when victory wavered, the women of the north rushed out to the help of their husbands, and so won the fight. For that day's work, the northern wives were given the right to half of all their husband's goods immovable, while the wives of the south had only a third. The last LECT. i] THE LITTLE MANX NATION 21 of the line of Goddard Crovan died in 1265, and so ended the dynasty of the Norsemen in Man. They had been three hundred years there. They found us a people of the race and language of the people of Ireland, and they left us Manxmen. They were our only true Manx kings, and when they fell, our independence as a nation ceased. The Manx Glo'ster Then the first pretender to the throne was one Ivar, a murderer, a sort of Richard III., not all bad, but nearly all ; said to possess virtues enough to save the island and vices enough to ruin it. The island was surrendered to Scotland by treaty with Norway. The Manx hated the Scotch. They knew them as a race of pirates. Some three centuries later there was one Cutlar MacCullock, whose name was a terror, so merciless were his ravages. Over the cradles of their infants the Manx mothers sang this song : God keep the good corn, the sheep and the bullocks, From Satan, from sin and from Cutlar MacCullock. Bad as Ivar was, the Scotch threatened to be worse. 22 THE LITTLE MANX NATION [LECT. i So the Manx, fearing that their kingdom might become a part of the kingdom of Scotland, sup- ported Ivar. They were beaten. Ivar was a brave tiger, and died fighting. Scotch and English Dominion Man was conquered, and the King of Scotland appointed a lieutenant to rule the island. But the Manx loved the Scotch no better as masters than as pirates, and they petitioned the English king, Edward I., to take them under his protection. He came, and the Scotch were driven out. But King Robert Bruce reconquered the island for the Scotch. Yet again the island fell to English dominion. This was in the time of Henry IV. It is a sorry story. Henry gave the island to the Earl of Salisbury. Salisbury sold it to one Sir William le Scroop. A copy of the deed of sale exists. It puts a Manxman's teeth on edge. " With all the right of being crowned with a golden crown." Scroop was beheaded by Henry, who confiscated his estate, and gave the island to the Earl of Northumberland. It is a silly inventory, but let us get through with it. Northumberland was banished, LECT. i] THE LITTLE MANX NATION 23 and finally Henry made a grant of the island to Sir John de Stanley. This was in 1407. Thus there had been four Kings of Man not one of whom had, so far as I know, set foot on its soil three grants of the island, and one miserable sale. Where the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered to- gether. The Stanley Dynasty When the crown came to Sir John Stanley he was in no hurry to put it on. He paid no heed to his Manx subjects, and never saw his Manx king- dom. I dare say he thought the gift horse was something of a white elephant. No wonder if he did, for words could not exaggerate the wretched condition of the island and its people. The houses of the poor were hovels built of sod,with floors of clay, and sooty rafters of briar and straw and dried gorse. The people were hardly better fed than their beasts. So Stanley left the island alone. It will be in- teresting to mark how different was the mood of his children, and his children's children. The second Stanley went over to Man and did good work there. He promulgated our laws, and had 24 THE LITTLE MANX NATION [LECT. i them written down for the first time they had hitherto been locked in the breasts of the deem- sters in imitation of the practice of the Druids. The line of the Stanleys lasted more than three hundred years. Their rule was good for the island. They gave the tenants security of tenure, and the landowners an act of settlement. They lifted the material condition of our people, gave us the enjoyment of our venerable laws, and ratified our patriarchal Constitution. Honour to the Stanleys of the Manx dynasty ! They have left a good mark on Man. Iliam Dhoan And now I come to the one incident in modern Manx history which shares, with the three legs of Man and the Manx cat, the consciousness of every- body who knows anything about our island and its people. This is the incident of the betrayal of Man and the Stanleys to the Parliament in the time of Cromwell. It was a stirring drama, and though the curtain has long fallen on it, the dark stage is still haunted by the ghosts of its characters. Chief among these was William Christian, the Manxman LECT.I] THE LITTLE MANX NATION 25 called Iliam Dhoan, Brown William, a familiar name that seems to hint of a fine type of man. You will find him in " Peveril of the Peak." He is there mixed up with Edward Christian, a very different person, just as Peel Castle is mixed up with Castle Rushen, consciously no doubt, and with an eye to imaginative effects, for Scott had a brother in the Isle of Man who could have kept him from error if fact had been of any great consequence in the novelist's reckoning. Christian was Receiver-General, a sort of Chancellor of the Exchequer, for the great Earl of Derby. The Earl had faith in him, and put nearly everything under his command that fell within the province of his lordship. Then came the struggle with Rigby at Latham House, and the imprisonment of the "Earl's six children by Fairfax. The Manx were against the Parliament, and subscribed ^"500, probably the best part of the money in the island, in support of the king. Then the Earl of Derby left the island with a body of volunteers, and in going away committed his wife to the care of Christian. You know what happened to him. He was taken prisoner in Lancashire, charged with bearing arms for Charles Stuart and holding the 26 THE LITTLE MANX NATION [LECT. i Isle of Man against the Commons, condemned, and executed at Bolton. With the forfeiture of the Earl the lordship of the island was granted by Parliament to Lord Fairfax. He sent an army to take possession, but the Countess-Dowager still held the island. Christian commanded the Manx militia. At this moment the Manx people showed signs of disaffec- tion. They suddenly remembered two grievances, one was a grievance of land tenure, the other was that a troop of soldiers was kept at free quarterage. I cannot but wish they had bethought them of both a little earlier. They formed an association, and broke into rebellion against the Countess-Dowager within eight days of the Earl's execution. Perhaps they did not know of the Earl's death, for news travelled slowly over sea in those days. But at least they knew of his absence. As a Manxman I am not proud of them. During these eight days Mr. Receiver-General had begun to trim his sails. He had a lively wit, and saw which way things were going. Rumour says he was at the root of the secret association. Be that as it may, he carried the demands of the people to the Countess. She had no choice but to LECT. i] THE LITTLE MANX NATION 27 yield. The troops were disbanded. It was a bad victory. A fortnight before, when her husband lay under his death sentence, the Countess had offered the island in exchange for his life. So now Mr. Receiver-General used this act of love against her. He seized some of the forts, saying the Countess was selling the island to the Parliament. Then the army of the Parliament landed, and Christian straightway delivered the island up to it, protesting that he had taken the forts on its behalf. Some say the Countess was imprisoned in the vaults of the Castle. Others say she had a free pass to England. So ended act one. When the act-drop rose on act two, Mr. Receiver- General was in office under the Parliament. From the place of Receiver-General he was promoted to the place of Governor. He had then the money of the island under his control, and he used it badly. Deficits were found in his accounts. He fled to London, was arrested for a large debt, and clapped into the Fleet. Then the Commonwealth fell, the Dowager Countess went upstairs again, and Charles II. restored the son of the great Earl to the lordship of Man. After that came the Act of Indemnity, a 28 THE LITTLE MANX NATION [LECT. i general pardon for all who had taken part against the royal cause. Thereupon Christian went back to the Isle of Man, was arrested on a charge of treason to the Countess-Dowager of Derby, pleaded the royal act of general pardon against all proceed- ings libelled against him, was tried by the House of Keys, and condemned to death. So ended act two. Christian had a nephew, Edward Christian, who was one of the two deemsters. This man dis- sented from the voice of the court, and hastened to London to petition the king. Charles is said to have heard his plea, and to have sent an order to suspend sentence. Some say the order came too late ; some say the Governor had it early enough and ignored it. At all events Christian was shot. He protested that he had never been anything but a faithful servant to the Derbys, and made a brave end. The place of his execution was Hango Hill, a bleak, bare stretch of land with the broad sea under it. The soldiers wished to bind Christian. " Trouble not yourselves for me," he said, " for I that dare face death in whatever shape he comes, will not start at your fire and bullets." He pinned a piece of white paper on his breast, and said : " Hit this, LECT. i] THE LITTLE MANX NATION 29 and you do your own work and mine." Then he stretched forth his arms as a signal, was shot through the heart, and fell. Such was the end of Brown William. He may have been a traitor, but he was no coward. When the chief actor in the tragedy had fallen, King Charles appeared, as Fortinbras appears in " Hamlet," to make a review and a reckoning, and to take the spoils. He ordered the Governor, the remaining Deemsters, and three of the Keys to be brought before him, pronounced the execution of Christian to be a violation of his general pardon, and imposed severe penalties of fine and imprison- ment. " The rest " in this drama has not been " silence." One long clamour has followed. Chris- tian's guilt has been questioned, the legality of his trial has been disputed, the validity of Charles's censure of the judges has been denied. The case is a mass of tangle, as every case must be that stands between the two stools of the Royal cause and the Commonwealth. But I shall make bold to summarise the truth in a very few words : First, that Christian was untrue to the house of Derby is as clear as noonday. If he had been 30 THE LITTLE MANX NATION [LECT. i their loyal servant he could never have taken office under the Parliament. Second, though untrue to the Countess-Dowager, Christian could not be guilty of treason to her, because she had ceased to be the sovereign when her husband was executed. Fairfax was then the Lord of Man, and Christian was guilty of no treason to him. Third, whether true or untrue to the Countess- Dowager, the act of pardon had nothing on earth to do with Christian, who was not charged with treason to King Charles, but to the Manx reigning family. The Isle of Man was not a dominion of England, and if Charles's order had arrived before Christian's execution, the Governor, Keys, and Deem- ster would have been fully justified in shooting the man in defiance of the king. I feel some diffidence in offering this opinion, but I can have none whatever in saying what I think of Christian. My fellow Manxmen are for the most part his ardent supporters. They affirm his innocence, and protest that he was a martyr-hero, declaring that at least he met his fate by asserting the rights of his countrymen. I shall not hesitate to say that I read the facts another way. This is how I see the man : LECT. i] THE LITTLE MANX NATION 31 First, he was a servant of the Derbys, honoured, empowered, entrusted with the care of his mistress, the Countess, when his master, the Earl, left the island to fight for the king. Second, eight days after his master's fate, he rose in rebellion against his mistress and seized some of the forts of defence. Third, he delivered the island to the army of the Parliament, and continued to hold his office under it. Fourth, he robbed the treasury of the island and fled from his new masters, the Parlia- ment. Fifth, when the new master fell he chopped round, became a king's man once more, and returned to the island on the strength of the general pardon. Sixth, when he was condemned to death he, who had held office under the Parliament, protested that he had never been anything but a faithful servant to the Derbys. Such is Christian. He a hero ! No, but a poor, sorry, knock-kneed time-server. A thing of rags and patches. A Manx Vicar of Bray. Let us talk of him as little as we may, and boast of him not at all. Man and Manxmen have no need of him. No, thank God, we can tell of better men. Let us turn his picture to the wall. 32 THE LITTLE MANX NATION [LECT. i The Athol Dynasty The last of the Stanleys of the Manx dynasty died childless in 173 5, and then the lordship of Man devolved by the female line on the second Duke of Athol by right of his grandmother, who was a daughter of the great Earl of Derby. There is little that is good to say of the Lords of the House of Athol except that they sold the island. Almost the first, and quite the best, thing they did on coming to Man, was to try to get out of it. Let us make no disguise of the clear truth. The Manx Athols were bad, and nearly everything about them was bad. Never was the condition of the island so abject as during their day. Never were the poor so poor. Never was the name of Manxman so deservedly a badge of disgrace. The chief dishonour was that of the Athols. They kept a swashbuckler court in their little Manx kingdom. Gentlemen of the type of Barry Lyndon overran it. Captain Macheaths, Jonathan Wilds, and worse, were mas- ters of the island, which was now a refuge for debtors and felons. Roystering, philandering, gambling, fighting, such was the order of things. LECT. i] THE LITTLE MANX NATION 33 What days they had ! What nights ! His Grace of Athol was himself in the thick of it all. He kept a deal of company, chiefly rogues and rascals. For example, among his " lord captains " was one Captain Fletcher. This Blue Beard had a magni- ficent horse, to which, when he was merry, he made his wife, who was a religious woman, kneel down and say her prayers. The mother of my friend, the Reverend T. E. Brown, came upon the dead body of one of these Barry Lyndons, who had fallen in a duel, and the blue mark was on the white forehead, where the pistol shot had been. I remember to have heard of another Sir Lucius O'Trigger, whose body lay exposed in the hold of a fishing-smack, while a parson read the burial service from the quay. This was some artifice to prevent seizure for debt. Oh, these good old times, with their soiled and dirty splendours ! There was no lively chronicler, no Pepys, no Walpole then, to give us a picture of the Court of these Kings of Man. What a picture it must have been ! Can you not see it ? The troops of gentlemen debtors from the Coffee Houses of London, with their periwigs, their canes, and fine linen ; down on their luck, but still beruffled, besnuffed, and red-heeled. I can c 34 THE LITTLE MANX NATION [LECT. i see them strutting with noses up, through old Douglas market-place on market morning, past the Manx folk in their homespun, their curranes and undyed stockings. Then out at Mount Murray, the home of the Athols, their imitations of Vauxhall, torches, dancings, bows and conges, bankrupt shows, perhaps, but the bankrupt Barrys making the best of them one seems to see it all. And then again, their genteel quarrels quarrels were easily bred in that atmosphere. " Sir, I have the honour to tell you that you are a pimp, lately escaped from the Fleet/' " My lord, permit me to say that you lie, that you are the son of a lady, and were born in a sponging-house." Then out leapt the weapons, and presently two men were crossing swords under the trees, and by-and-by one of them was left under the moonlight, with the shadow of the leaves playing on his white face. Poor gay dogs, they are dead ! The page of their history is lost. Perhaps that is just as well. It must have been a dark page, maybe a little red too, even as blood runs red. You can see the scene of their revelries. It is an inn now. The walls seem to echo to their voices. But the tables they ate at are like themselves worm-eaten. LECT. i] THE LITTLE MANX NATION 35 Good-bye to them ! They have gone over the Styx. Smuggling and Wrecking Meanwhile, what of the Manx people ? Their condition was pitiful. An author who wrote fifty years after the advent of the Athols gives a descrip- tion of such misery that one's flesh creeps as one reads it. Badly housed, badly clad, badly fed > and hardly taught at all, the very poor were in a state of abjectness unfit for dogs. Treat men as dogs and they speedily acquire the habits of dogs, the vices of dogs, and none of their virtues. That was what happened to a part of the Manx people ; they developed the instincts of dogs, while their masters, the other dogs, the gay dogs, were playing their bad game together. Smuggling became common on the coasts of Man. Spirits and tobacco were the goods chiefly smuggled, and the illicit trade rose to a great height. There was no way to check it. The island was an independent kingdom. My lord of Athol swept in the ill-gotten gains, and his people got what they could. It was a game of grab. Meantime the trade of the surrounding countries, 36 THE LITTLE MANX NATION [LECT. i England, Wales, and Ireland, was suffering griev- ously. The name of the island must have smelt strong in those days. But there was a fouler odour than that of smuggling. Wrecking was not unknown. The island lent itself naturally to that evil work. The mists of Little Mannanan, son of Lear, did not for- sake our island when Saint Patrick swept him out of it. They continued to come up from the south, and to conspire with the rapid currents from the north to drive ships on to our rocks. Our coasts were badly lighted, or lighted not at all. An open flare stuck out from a pole at the end of a pier was often all that a dangerous headland had to keep vessels away from it. Nothing was easier than for a fishing smack to run down pole and flare together, as if by accident, on returning to harbour. But there was a worse danger than bad lights, and that was false lights. It was so easy to set them. Sometimes they were there of themselves, without evil intention of any human soul, luring sailors to their destruction. Then when ships came ashore it was so easy to juggle with one's conscience and say it was the will of God, and no bad doings of any man's. The poor sea-going men were at the LECT. i] THE LITTLE MANX NATION 37 bottom of the sea by this time, and their cargo was drifting up with the tide, so there was nothing to do but to take it. Such was the way of things. The Manxman could find his excuses. He was miserably poor, he had bad masters, smuggling was his best occupation, his coasts were indifferently lighted, ships came ashore of themselves what was he to do ? That the name of Manxman did not become a curse, an execration, and a reproach in these evil days of the Athols seems to say that behind all this wicked work there were splendid virtues doing noble duty somewhere. The real sap, the true human heart of Manxland, was somehow kept alive. Besides cut-throats in ruffles, and wreckers in homespun, there were true, sweet, simple-hearted people who would not sell their souls to fill their mouths. Does it surprise you that some of all this comes within the memory of men still living ? I am myself well within the period of middle life, and, though too young to touch these evil days, I can remember men and women who must have been in the thick of them. On the north of the island is Kirk Maughold Head, a bold, rugged headland going far out into the sea. Within this rocky fore- 38 THE LITTLE MANX NATION [LECT. i land lie two bays, sweet coverlets of blue waters, washing a shingly shore under shelter of dark cliffs. One of these bays is called Port-y-Vullin, and just outside of it, between the mainland and the head, is a rock, known as the Carrick, a treacherous grey reef, visible at low water, and hidden at flood-tide. On the low brews of Port-y-Vullin stood two houses, the one a mill, worked by the waters coming down from the near mountain of Barrule, the other a weaver's cottage. Three weavers lived together there, all bachelors, and all old, and never a woman or child among them Jemmy of eighty years, Danny of seventy, and Billy of sixty something. Year in, year out, they worked at their looms, and early or late, whenever you passed on the road behind, you heard the click of them. Fishermen coming back to harbour late at night alwa3 r s looked for the light of their windows. " Yander's Jemrr^-Danny- Billy's," the\^ would say, and steer home by that landmark. But the light which guided the native seamen misled the stranger, and many a ship in the old days was torn to pieces on the jagged teeth of that sea-lion, the Carrick. Then, hearing loud human cries above the shrieks of wind and wave, the three helpless old men would come tottering LECT. i] THE LITTLE MANX NATION 39 down to the beach, like three innocent witches, trembling and wailing, holding each other's hands like little children, and never once dreaming of what bad work the candles over their looms had done. But there were those who were not so guileless. Among them was a sad old salt, whom I shall call Hommy-Billy-mooar, Tommy, son of big Billy. Did I know him, or do I only imagine him as I have heard of him ? I cannot say, but nevertheless I see him plainly. One of his eyes was gone, and the other was badly damaged. His face was of stained mahogany, one side of his mouth turned up, the other side turned down, he could laugh and cry together. He was half landsman, tilling his own croft, half seaman, going out with the boats to the herrings. In his youth he had sailed on a smuggler, running in from Whitehaven with spirits. The joy of " the trade," as they called smuggling, was that a man could buy spirits at two shillings a gallon for sale on the island, and drink as much as he " plazed abooard for nothinV When Hommy married, he lived in a house near the church, the venerable St. Maughold away on the headland, with its lonely churchyard within sound of the sea. 40 THE LITTLE MANX NATION [I.ECT. i There on tempestuous nights the old eagle looked out from his eyrie on the doings of the sea, over the back of the cottage of the old weavers to the Carrick. If anything came ashore he awakened his boys, scurried over to the bay, seized all they could carry, stole back home, hid his treasures in the thatch of the roof, or among the straw of the loft, went off to bed, and rose in the morning with an innocent look, and listened to the story of last night's doings with a face full of surprise. They say that Hommy carried on this work for years, and though many suspected, none detected him, not even his wife, who was a good Methodist. The poor woman found him out at last, and, being troubled with a conscience, she died, and Hommy buried her in Kirk Maughold churchyard, and put a stone over her with a good inscription. Then he went on as before. But one morning there was a mighty hue and cry. A ship had been wrecked on the Carrick, and the crew who were saved had seen some rascals carrying off in the darkness certain rolls of Irish cloth which they had thrown over- board. Suspicion lit on Hommy and his boys. Hommy was quite hurt. " Wrecking was it ? Lord a-massy ! To think, to think ! " Revenue LECF. i] THE LITTLE MANX NATION 41 officers were to come to-morrow to search his house. Those rolls of Irish cloth were under the thatch, above the dry gorse stored up on the " lath " in his cowhouse. That night he carried them off to the churchyard, took up the stone from over his wife's grave, dug the grave open and put in the cloth. Next day his one eye wept a good deal while the officers of revenue made their fruitless search. " Aw well, well, did they think because a man was poor he had no feelings ? " Afterwards he pretended to become a Methodist, and then he removed the cloth from his wife's grave because he had doubts about how she could rise in the resurrection with such a weight on her coffin. Poor old Hommy, he came to a bad end. He spent his last days in jail in Castle Rushen. A one-eyed mate of his told me he saw him there. Hommy was unhappy. He said " Castle Rushen wasn't no place for a poor man when he was gettin' anyways ould." The Revestment It is hardly a matter for much surprise that the British Government did what it could to curb the 42 THE LITTLE MANX NATION [LECT. i smuggling that was rife in Man in the days of the Athols. The bad work had begun in the days of the Derbys, when an Act was passed which authorised the Earl of Derby to dispose of his royalty and revenue in the island, and empowered the Lords of the Treasury to treat with him for the sale of it. The Earl would not sell, and when the Duke of Athol was asked to do so ; he tried to put matters off. But the evil had by this time grown so grievously that the British Government threatened to strip the Duke without remuneration. Then he agreed to accept ,70,000 as compensation for the absolute surrender of the island. He was also to have ^2000 out of the Irish revenue, which, as well as the English revenue, was to benefit by the suppression of the clandestine trade. This was in exchange for some ^"6000 a year which was the Duke's Manx revenue, much of it from duties and customs paid in goods which were afterwards smuggled into England, Ireland, and Scotland. So much for his Grace of Athol. Of course the Manx people got nothing. The thief was punished, the receiver was enriched ; it is the way of the world. In our history of Man, we call this sweet trans- action, which occurred in 1765, "The Revestment," LECT. i] THE LITTLE MANX NATION 43 meaning the revesting of the island in the crown of England. Our Manx people did not like it at all. I have heard a rugged old song on the subject sung at Manx inns : For the babes unborn shall rue the day When the Isle of Man was sold away ; And there's ne'er an old wife that loves a dram But she will lament for the Isle of Man. Clearly drams became scarce when " the trade " was put down. But, indeed, the Manx had the most strange fears and ludicrous sorrows. The one came of their anxiety about the fate of their ancient Constitution, the other came of their foolish generosity. They dreaded that the government of the island would be merged into that of England, and they imagined that because the Duke of Athol had been compelled to surrender, he had been badly treated. Their patriotism was satisfied when the Duke of Athol was made Governor-in-Chief under the English crown, for then it was clear that they were to be left alone ; but their sympathy was moved to see him come back as servant who had once been lord. They had disliked the Duke of Athol down to that hour, but they 'forgot their hatred in sight of his humiliation, and when he 44 THE LITTLE MANX NATION [LECT. i landed in his new character, they received him with acclamations. I am touched by the thought of my countrymen's unselfish conduct in that hour ; but I thank God I was not alive to witness it. I should have shrieked with laughter. The ab- surdity of the situation passes the limits even of a farce. A certain Duke, who had received ^"6000 a year, whereof a large part came of an immoral trade, had been to London and sold his interest in it for ^"70,000, because if he had not taken that, he would probably have got nothing. With thirteen years' purchase of his insecure revenue in his pocket, and ,2000 a year promised, and his salary as Governor-in-Chief besides, he returns to the island where half the people are impoverished by his sale of the island, and nobody else has received a copper coin, and everybody is doomed to pay back interest on what the Duke has received ! What is the picture ? The Duke lands at the old jetty, and there his carriage is waiting to take him to the house, where he and his have kept swashbuckler courts, with troops of fine gentlemen debtors from London. The Manxmen forget every- thing except that his dignity is reduced. They unyoke his horses, get into his shafts, drag him LECT. i] THE LITTLE MANX NATION 45 through the streets, toss up their caps and cry hurrah ! hurrah ! One seems to see the Duke sitting there with his arms folded, and his head on his breast. He can't help laughing. The thing is too ridiculous. Oh, if Swift had been there to see it, what a scorching satire we should have had! But the Athols soon spirited away their popu- larity. First they clamoured for a further sum on account of the lost revenues, and they got it. Then they tried to appropriate part of the income of the clergy. Again, they put members of their family into the bishopric, and one of them sold his tithes to a factor who tried to extort them by strong measures, which led to green crop riots. In the end, their gross selfishness, which thought of their own losses but forgot the losses of the people, raised such open marks of aversion in the island that they finally signified to the king their desire to sell all their remaining rights, their land and manorial rights. This they did in 1829, receiving altogether, for custom, revenue, tithes, patronage of the bishopric, and quit rents, the sum of 416,000. Such was the value to the last of the Athols of the Manx dynasty, of that little hungry 46 THE LITTLE MANX NATION [LECT. i island of the Irish Sea, which Henry IV. gave to the Stanleys, and Sir John de Stanley did not think worth while to look at. So there was an end of the House of Athol. Exit the House of Athol ! The play goes on without them. Home Rule It might be said that with the final sale of 1829 the history of the Isle of Man came to a close. Since then we have been in the happy condition of the nation without a history. Man is now a de- pendency of the English crown. The crown is represented by a Lieutenant-Governor. Our old Norse Constitution remains. We have Home Rule, and it works well. The Manx people are attached to the throne of England, and her Majesty has not more loyal subjects in her dominions. We are deeply interested in Imperial affairs, but we have no voice in them. I do not think we have ever dreamt of a day when we should send representatives to Westminster. Our sympathies as a nation are not altogether, I think, with the party of progress. We are devoted to old institutions, and hold fast to such of them as are our own. All this is, perhaps, what LCT. i] THE LITTLE MANX NATION 47 you would expect of a race of islanders with our antecedents. Our social history has not been brilliant. I do not gather that the Isle of Man was ever Merry Man. Not even in its gayest days do we catch any note of merriment amid the rumpus of its revelries. It is an odd thing that woman plays next to no part whatever in the history of the island. Surely ours is the only national pie in which woman has not had a finger. In this respect the island justifies the ungallant reading of its name it is distinctly the Isle of Man. Not even amid the glitter and gewgaws of our Captain Macheaths do you catch the glint of the gown of a Polly. No bevy of ladies, no merry parties , no pageants worthy of the name. No, our social history gives no idea of Merry Man. Our civil history is not glorious. We are com- pelled to allow that it has no heroism in it. There has been no fight for principle, no brave endurance of wrong. Since the days of Orry, we have had nothing to tell in Saga, if the Sagaman were here. We have played no part in the work of the world. The great world has been going on for ten centuries without taking much note of us. We are a little 48 THE LITTLE MANX NATION [LECT. i nation, but even little nations have held their own. We have not. One great king we have had, King Orry. He gave us our patriarchal Constitution, and it is a fine thing. It combines most of the best qualities of representative government. Its freedom is more free than that of some republics. The people seem to be more seen, and their voice more heard, than in any other form of government whose operation I have witnessed. Yet there is nothing noisy about our Home Rule. And this Constitution we have kept alive for a thousand years, while it has died out of every other Norse kingdom. That is, per- haps, our highest national honour. We may have played a timid part ; we may have accepted rulers from anywhere ; we may never have made a struggle for independence ; and no Manxman may ever have been strong enough to stand up alone for his people. It is like our character that we have taken things easily, and instead of resisting our enemies, or throwing them from our rocky island into the sea, we have been law abiding under law- less masters and peaceful under oppression. But this one thing we have done : we have clung to our patriarchal Constitution, not caring a ha'p'orth who LKCT. T] THE LITTLE MANX NATION 49 administered our laws so long as the laws were our own. That is something ; I think it is a good deal. It means that through many changes undergone by the greater peoples of the world, we are King Orry's men still. Let me in a last word tell you a story which shows what that description implies. Orry's Sons On the west coast of the Isle of Man stands the town of Peel. It is a little fishing port, looking out on the Irish Sea. To the north of it there is a broad shore, to the south lies the harbour with a rocky headland called Contrary Head ; in front until lately divided from the mainland by a narrow strait is a rugged island rock. On this rock stand the broken ruins of a castle, Peel Castle, and never did castle stand on a grander spot. The sea flows round it, beating on the jagged cliffs beneath, and behind it are the wilder cliffs of Contrary. In the water between and around Contrary contrary cur- rents flow, and when the wind is high they race and prance there like an unbroken horse. It is a grand scene, but a perilous place for ships. One afternoon in October of 1889 a Norwegian 5Q THE LITTLE MANX NATION [LECT. i ship (strange chance ! ), the St. George (name surely chosen by the Fates ! ), in a fearful tempest was drifting on to Contrary Head. She was labouring hard in the heavy sea, rearing, plunging, creaking, groaning, and driving fast through clamour- ing winds and threshing breakers on to the cruel, black, steep horns of rock. All Peel was down at the beach watching her. Flakes of sea-foam were flying around, and the waves breaking on the beach were scooping up the shingle and flinging it through the air like sleet. Peel has a lifeboat, and it was got out. There were so many volunteers that the harbour-master had difficulties of selection. The boat got off; the coxswain was called Charlie Cain ; one of his crew was named Gorry, otherwise Orry. It was a perilous adventure. The Norwegian had lost her masts, and her spars were floating around her in the snow-like surf. She was dangerous to approach, but the lifeboat reached her. Charlie cried out to the Norwegian captain : " How many of you ? " The answer came back, " Twenty-two ! " Charlie counted them as they hung on at the ship's side, and said : "I only see twenty-one ; not a man shall leave the ship until you bring the odd one on LECT. i] THE LITTLE MANX NATION 51 deck." The odd one, a disabled man, had been left below to his fate. Now he was brought up, and all were taken aboard the lifeboat. On landing at Peel there was great excitement, men cheering and women crying. The Manx women spotted a baby among the Norwegians, fought for it, one woman got it, and carried it off to a fire and dry clothing. It was the captain's wife's baby, and an hour afterwards the poor captain's wife, like a creature distracted, was searching for it all over the town. And to heighten the scene, repoit says that at that tremendous moment a splendid rainbow spanned the bay from side to side. That ought to be true if it is not. It was a brilliant rescue, but the moving part of the story is yet to tell. The Norwegian Govern- ment, touched by the splendid heroism of the Manxmen, struck medals for the lifeboat men and sent them across to the Governor. These medals were distributed last summer on the island rock within the ruins of old Peel Castle. Think of it ! One thousand years before, not far from that same place, Orry the Viking came ashore from Denmark or Norway. And now his Manx sons, still bearing his very name, Orry, save from the sea the sons of 52 THE LITTLE MANX NATION [I.ECT. i the brethren he left behind , and down the milky way, whence Orry himself once came, come now to the Manxmen the thanks and the blessings of their kinsmen, Orry's father's children. Such a story as this thrills one to the heart. It links Manxmen to the great past. What are a thousand years before it ? Time sinks away, and the old sea-warrior seems to speak to us still through the surf of that storm at Peel. THE STORY OF THE MANX BISHOPS SOME years ago, in going down the valley of Foxdale, towards the mouth of Glen Rushen, I lost my way on a rough and unbeaten path under the mountain called Slieu Whallin. There I was met by a typical old Manx farmer, who climbed the hillside some distance to serve as my guide. " Aw, man/' said he, " many a Sunday I've crossed these mountains in snow and hail together." I asked why on Sunday. " You see," said the old fellow, 11 I'm one of those men that have been guilty of what St. Paul calls the foolishness of preaching." It turned out that he was a local preacher to the Wesleyans, and that for two score years or more, in all seasons, in all weathers, every Sunday, year in, year out, he had made the journey from his farm in Foxdale to the western villages of Kirk Patrick, 54 THE LITTLE MANX NATION [LECT. n where his voluntary duty lay. He left me with a laugh and a cheery word. " Ask again at the cottage at the top of the brew," he shouted. " An ould widda lives there with her gel." At the summit of the hill, just under South Barrule, with Cronk-ny- arrey-Lhaa to the west, I came upon a disused lead mine, called the old Cross Vein, its shaft open save for a plank or two thrown across it, and filled with water almost to the surface of the ground. And there, under the lee of the roofless walls of the ruined engine-house, stood the tiny one-story cottage where I had been directed to inquire my way again. I knocked, and then saw the outer conditions of an existence about as miserable as the mind of man can conceive. The door was opened by a youngish woman, having a thin, white face, and within the little house an elderly woman was breaking scraps of vegetables into a pot that swung from a hook above a handful of turf fire, which burned on the ground. They were the widow and daughter. Their house consisted of two rooms, a living room and a sleeping closet, both open to the thatch, which was sooty with smoke. The floor was of bare earth, trodden hard and shiny. There was one little window in each apartment, but after LECT. 11] THE LITTLE MANX NATION 55 the breakages of years, the panes were obscured by rags stuffed into the gaps to keep out the weather. The roof bore traces of damp, and I asked if the rain came into the house. " Och, yes, and bad, bad, bad ! " said the elder woman. " He left us, sir, years ago." That was her way of saying that her husband was dead, and that since his death there had been no man to do an odd job about the place. The two women lived by working in the fields, at weeding, at planting potatoes, at thinning cabbages, and at the hay in its season. Their little bankrupt barn belonged to them, and it was all they had. In that they lived, or lingered, on the mountain top, a long stretch of bare hillside, away from any neighbour, alone in their poverty, with mountains before and behind, the broad grey sea, without ship or sail, down a gully to the west, nothing visible to the east save the smoke from the valley where lay the habitations of men, nothing audible anywhere but the deep rumble of the waves' bellow, or the chirp of the birds overhead, or, perhaps, when the wind was southerly, the church bells on Sunday morning. Never have I looked upon such lonely penury, and yet there, even there, these forlorn women 56 THE LITTLE MANX NATION [IECT. n kept their souls alive. " Yes," they said, " we're working when we can get the work, and trusting, trusting, trusting still." I have lingered too long over this poor adventure of losing my way to Glen Rushen, but my little sketch may perhaps get you close to that side of Manx life whereon I wish to speak to-day. I want to tell the history of religion in Man, so far as we know it ; and better, to my thinking, than a grave or solid disquisition on the ways and doings of Bishops or Spiritual Barons, are any peeps into the hearts and home lives of the Manx, which will show what is called the "innate religiosity" of the humblest of the people. To this end also, when I have discharged my -scant duty to church history, or perhaps in the course of my hasty exposition of it, I shall dwell on some of those homely manners and customs, which, more than prayer-books and printed services, tell us what our fathers believed, what we still believe, and how we stand towards that other life, that inner life, that is not concerned with what we eat and what we drink, and where- withal we shall be clothed. LECT. n] THE LITTLE MANX NATION 57 The Druids And now, just as the first chapter of our Manx civil history is lost, so the first chapter of our church history is lost. That the Druids occupied the island seems to some people to be clear from many Celtic names and some remains, such as we are accustomed to call Druidical, and certain cus- toms still observed. Perhaps worthy of a word is the circumstance that in the parish where the Bishop now lives, and has always lived, Kirk Michael, there is a place called by a name which in the Manx signifies Chief Druid. Strangely are the faiths 01 the ages linked together. Conversion to Christianity We do not know, with any certainty, at what time the island was converted to Christianity. The accepted opinion is that Christianity was established in Man by St. Patrick about the middle of the fifth century. The story goes that the Saint of Ireland was on a voyage thither from England, when a storm cast him ashore on a little islet on the western 58 THE LITTLE MANX NATION [LECT. n coast of Man. This islet was afterwards called St. Patrick's Isle. St. Patrick built his church on it. The church was rebuilt eight centuries later within the walls of a castle which rose on the same rocky site. It became the cathedral church of the island. When the Norwegians came they renamed the islet Holm Isle. Tradition says that St. Patrick's coming was in the time of Mannanan, the magician, our little Manx Prospero. It also says that St. Patrick drove Mannanan away, and that St. Patrick's successor, St. Germain, followed up the good work of exterminating evil spirits by driving out of the island all venomous creatures whatever. We sometimes bless the memory of St. Germain, and wish he would come again. The Early Bishops of Man After St. Germain came St. Maughold. This Bishop was a sort of transfigured Manx Caliban. I trust the name does him no wrong. He had been an Irish prince, had lived a bad, gross life as a robber at the head of a band of robbers, had been converted by St. Patrick, and, resolving to abandon the temptations of the world, had embarked on the LECT. n] THE LITTLE MANX NATION 59 sea in a wicker boat without oar or helm. Almost he had his will at once, but the north wind, which threatened to remove him from the temptations of this world, cast him ashore on the north of the Isle of Man. There he built his church, and the rocky headland whereon it stands is still known by his name. High on the craggy cliff-side, looking towards the sea, is a seat hewn out of the rock. This is called St. Maughold's Chair. Not far away there is a well supposed to possess miracu- lous properties. It is called St. Maughold's Well. Thus tradition has perpetuated the odour of his great sanctity, which is the more extraordinary in a variation of his legend, which says that it was not after his conversion, and in submission to the will of God, that he put forth from Ireland in his wicker boat, but that he was thrust out thus, with hands and feet bound, by way of punishment for his crimes as a captain of banditti. But if Maughold was Caliban in Ireland, he was more than Prospero in Man. Rumour of his piety went back to Ireland, and St. Bridget, who had founded a nunnery at Kildare, resolved on a pilgrimage to the good man's island. She crossed the water, attended by her virgins, called her 60 THE LITTLE MANX NATION [LECT. n daughters of fire, founded a nunnery near Douglas, worked miracles there, touched the altar in testi- mony of her virginity, whereupon it grew green and flourished. This, if I may be pardoned the continued parallel, is our Manx Miranda. And in- deed it is difficult to shake off the idea that Shake- speare must have known something of the early story of Man, its magicians and its saints. We know the perfidy of circumstance, the lying tricks that fact is always playing with us, too well and painfully to say anything of the kind with certainty. But the angles of resemblance are many between the groundwork of the " Tempest " and the earliest of Manx records. Mannanan-beg-Mac-y-Lear, the magician who surrounded the island with mists when enemies came near in ships ; Maughold, the robber and libertine, bound hand and foot, and driven ashore in a wicker boat ; and then Bridget, the virgin saint. Moreover, the stories of Little Man- nanan, of St. Patrick, and of St. Maughold were printed in Manx in the sixteenth century. Truly that is not enough, for, after all, we have no evidence that Shakespeare, who knew everything, knew Manx. But then Man has long been famous for its seamen. We had one of them at Trafalgar, hold- LECT. n] THE LITTLE MANX NATION 61 ing Nelson in his arms when he died. The best days, or the worst days which ? of the trade of the West Coast of Africa saw Manx captains in the thick of it. Shall I confess to you that in the bad days of the English slave trade the four merchant- men that brought the largest black cargo to the big human auction mart at the Goree Piazza at Liver- pool were commanded by four Manxmen ! They were a sad quartet. One of them had only one arm and an iron hook ; another had only one arm and one eye ; a third had only one leg and a stump ; the fourth was covered with scars from the iron of the chains of a slave which he had worn twelve months at Barbadoes. Just about enough humanity in the four to make one complete man. But with vigour enough, fire enough, heart enough I daren't say soul enough in their dismembered old trunks to make ten men apiece ; born sea-rovers, true sons of Orry, their blood half brine. Well, is it not con- ceivable that in those earlier days of treasure seek- ing, when Elizabeth's English captains were spoiling the Spaniard in the Indies, Manx sailors were also there ? If so, why might not Shakespeare, who must have ferreted out many a stranger creature, have found in some London tavern an old Manx 62 THE LITTLE MANX NATION [LECT. n sea-dog, who could tell him of the Manx Prospero, the Manx Caliban, and the Manx Miranda ? But I have rambled on about my sailors ; I must return to my Bishops. They seem to have been a line of pious, humble, charitable, godly men at the beginning. Irishmen, chiefly, living the lives of hermits and saints. Apparently they were at first appointed by the people themselves. Would it be interesting to know the grounds of selection ? One was selected for his sanctity, a natural qualification, but another was chosen because he had a pleasant face, and a fine portly figure ; not bad qualifications, either. Thus things went on for about a hundred years, and, for all we know, Celtic Bishops and Celtic people lived together in their little island in peace, hearing nothing of the loud religious hubbub that was disturbing Europe. Bishops of the Welsh Dynasty Then came the rule of the Welsh kings, and, though we know but little with certainty, we seem to realise that it brought great changes to the religious life of Man. The Church began to possess itself of lands ; the baronial territories of the island fell into LECT. n] THE LITTLE MANX NATION 63 the hands of the clergy ; the early Bishops became Barons. This gave the Church certain powers of government. The Bishops became judges, and as judges they possessed great power over the person of the subject. Sometimes they stood in the highest place of all, being also Governor to the Welsh Kings. Then they were called Sword- Bishops. Their power at such times, when the crosier and sword were in the two hands of one man, must have been portentous, and even terrible. We have no records that picture what came of that. But it is not difficult to imagine the condition. The old order of things had passed away. The hermit-saints, the saintly hermits, had gone, and in their place were monkish barons, living in abbeys and monasteries, whipping the poor bodies of their people, as well as comforting their torn hearts, fattening on broad lands, praying each with his lips : " Give us this day our daily bread," but saying each to his soul : " Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years ; take thine ease ; eat, drink, and be merry." 64 THE LITTLE MANX NATION [I.ECT. n Bishops of the Norse Dynasty Little as we know of these times, we see that things must have come to a pretty pass, for when the Scandinavian dynasty came in the ecclesiastical authorities were forbidden to exercise civil control over any subjects of the king that were not also the tenants of their own baronies. So the Bishops were required to confine themselves to keeping their own house in order. The Norse Constitution established in Man by King Orry made no effort to overthrow the Celtic Church founded by St. Patrick, and corrupted by his Welsh successors, but it cur- tailed its liberties, and reduced its dignity. It demanded as an act of fealty that the Bishop or chief Baron should hold the stirrup of the King's saddle, as he mounted his horse at Tynwald. But it still suffered the Bishop and certain of his clergy to sit in the highest court of the legislature. The Church ceased to be purely Celtic ; it became Celto- Scandinavian, otherwise Manx. It was under the Archbishop of Drontheim for its Metropolitan, and its young clergy were sent over to Drontheim to be educated. Its revenues were apportioned after the LECT. 11] THE LITTLE MANX NATION 65 most apostolic manner ; one-third of the tithes to the Bishop for his maintenance, the support of his courts, his churches, and (miserable conclusion ! ) his prisons ; one-third to the priests, and the remaining third to the relief of the poor and the education of youth. It is a curious and significant fact that when the Reformation came the last third was seized by the lord. Good old lordly trick, we know it well ! Sodor and Man The Bishopric of the island was now no longer called the Bishopric of Man, but Sodor and Man. The title has given rise to much speculation. One authority derives it from Soterenssis, a name given by Danish writers to the western islands, and afterwards corrupted to Soderensis. Another authority derives it from Sudreyjas, signifying in the Norwegian the Southern Isles. A third derives it from the Greek Soter, Saviour, to whose name the cathedral of lona was dedicated. And yet a fourth authority derives it from the supposed third name of the little islet rock called variously Holm Isle, Sodor, Peel, and as a rule, do not take kindly to open-air ^His lordship of Sodor and Man is an eption. The Manx tourist season is now at its Brut, and as many of the visitors to the island will L*?. * 5*'!:! ?*W.ey has been holding vn T , 1 f r^L f n D S? Ia ^ H ad. Last Sunday he preached tfc f.?Ju an a dience of ei^ht thousand persons. 66 THE LITTLE MANX NATION [LECT. n St. Patrick's Isle, whereon St. Patrick or St. Germain built his church. I can claim no right to an opinion where these good doctors differ, and shall content myself with saying that the balance of belief is in favour of the Norwegian derivation, which offers this explanation of the title of Bishop of Sodor and Man, that the Isle of Man was not included by the Norsemen in the southern cluster of islands called the Sudereys, and that the Bishop was sometimes called the Bishop of Man and the Isles, and sometimes Bishop of the Sudereys and the Isle of Man. Only one warning note shall I dare, as an ignorant layman, to strike on that definition, and it is this : that the title of Bishop of Sodor dates back to the seventh century certainly, and that the Norseman did not come south until three centuries later. The Early Bishops of the House of Stanley But now I come to matters whereon I have more authority to speak. When the Isle of Man passed to the Stanley family, the Bishopric fell to their LECT.II] THE LITTLE MANX NATION 67 patronage, and they lost no time in putting their own people into it. It was then under the English metropolitan of Canterbury, but early in the six- teenth century it became part of the province of York. About that time the baronies, the abbeys, and the nunneries were suppressed. It does not appear that the change of metropolitan had made much change of religious life. Apparently the clergy kept the Manx people in miserable ig- norance. It was not until the seventeenth century that the Book of Common Prayer was translated into the Manx language. The Gospels and the Acts were unknown to the Manx until nearly a century later. Nor was this due to ignorance of the clergy of the Manx tongue, for most of them must have been Manxmen, and several of the Bishops were Manxmen also. But grievous abuses had by this time attached themselves to the Manx Church, and some of them were flagrant and wicked, and some were impudent and amusing. Tithes in Kind Naturally the more outrageous of the latter sort gathered about the process of collecting tithes. 68 THE LITTLE MANX NATION [LECT. n Tithes were paid in kind in those days. It was not until well within our own century that they were commuted to a money payment. The Manx- man paid tithe on everything. He began to pay tithe before coming into the world, and he went on paying tithe even after he had gone out of it. This is a hard saying, but nevertheless a simple truth. Throughout his journey from the cradle to the grave, the Manxman paid tithe on all he inherited, on all he had, on all he did, on all his wife did, and on all he left behind him. We have the equivalent of this in England at the present hour, but it was yet more tyrannical, and infinitely more ludicrous, in the Isle of Man down to the year 1839. It is only vanity and folly and vexation of spirit to quarrel with the modern English taxgatherer ; you are sure to go the wall, with humiliation and with disgrace. It was not always so when taxes were paid in kind. There was, at least, the satisfaction of cheating. The Manx people could not always deny themselves that satisfaction. For instance, they were required to pay tithe of herring as soon as the herring boats were brought above full sea mark, and there were ways of counting known to the fishermen with which the black-coated arithmeticians of the Church LECT. n] THE LITTLE MANX NATION 69 were not able to cope. A man paid tithe on such goods and even such clothes as his wife possessed on their wedding day, and young brides became wondrous wise in the selection for the vicarage of the garments that were out of fashion. A corpse- present was demanded over the grave of a dead man out of the horses and cattle whereof he died possessed, and dying men left verbal wills which consigned their broken-winded horses and dry cows to the mercy and care of the clergyman. You will not marvel much that such dealings led to disputes, sometimes to quarrels, occasionally to riots. In my boyhood I heard old people over the farm-house fire chuckle and tell of various wise doings, to outwit the par- son. One of these concerned the oats harvest. When the oats were in sheaf, the parson's cart came up, driven by the sumner, the parson's official servant. The gate of the field was thrown open, and honestly and religiously one sheaf out of every ten was thrown into the cart. But the hus- bandman had been thrifty in advance. The par- son's sheaves had all been grouped thick about the gate, and they were the shortest, and the thinnest, and the blackest, and the dirtiest, and the poorest that the field had yielded. Similar were the doings 70 THE LITTLE MANX NATION [LECT. n at the digging of the potatoes, but the scenes of recrimination which often ensued were usually confined to the farmer and the sumner. More outrageous contentions with the priest himself some- times occurred within the very walls of the church. It was the practice to bring tithe of butter and cheese and eggs, and lay it on the altar on Sunday. This had to be done under pain of exclusion from the communion, and that was a penalty most grievous to material welfare. So the Manxmen and Manx women were compelled to go to church much as they went to market, with their butter- and egg- baskets over their arms. It is a ludicrous picture, as one sees it in one's mind's eye, but what comes after reaches the extremity of farce. Say the scene is Maughold old church, once the temple of the saintly hermit. It is Sunday morning, the bells are ringing, and Juan-beg-Marry-a-thruss, a rascally old skinflint, is coming along with a basket. It contains some butter that he could not sell at Ramsey market yesterday because it was rank, and a few eggs which he knows to be stale and addled the old hen has sat on them, and they have brought forth nothing. These he places reverently on the altar. But the parson knows LECT. n] THE LITTLE MANX. NATION 71 Juan, and proceeds to examine his tithe. May I take so much liberty with history, and with the desecrated old church, as to imagine the scene which follows ? Priest, pointing contemptuously towards the altar : " Juan-beg-Marry-a-thruss, what is this ? " " Butter and eggs, so plaze your reverence. " " Pig-swill and chalk you mean, man ! " " Aw 'deed if I'd known your reverence was so morthal partic'lar the ould hen herself should have been layin' some fresh eggs for your reverence." tf Take them away, you thief of the Church ! Do you think what isn't fit for your pig is good enough for your priest ? Bring better, or never let me look on your wizened old wicked face again." Exit Juan-beg-Marry-a-thruss, perhaps with butter and eggs flying after his retreating figure. The Gambling Bishop This is an imaginary picture, but no less outrageous things happened whereof the records remain. A demoralised laity usually co-exists with a demoral- ised clergy, and there are some bad stories of the Bishops who preceded the Reformation. There is 72 THE LITTLE MANX NATION [LECT. n one story of a Bishop of that period, who was a gross drunkard and notorious gambler. He played with his clergy as long as they had anything to lose, and then he played with a deemster and lost five hundred pounds himself. Poor little island, that had two such men for its masters, the one its master in the things of this world, the other its master in the things of the world to come ! If anything is need- ful to complete the picture of wretchedness in which the poor Manx people must have existed then, it is the knowledge of what manner of man a deemster was in those days, what his powders were, and how he exercised them. The Deemsters The two deemsters a name of obvious sig- nificance, deem-sters, such as deem the laws were then the only judges of the island, all other legal functionaries being of more recent date. On entering into office, the deemster took an oath, which is sworn by all deemsters to this day, declaring by the wonderful works which God hath miraculously wrought in six days and seven nights, that he would execute the laws of the island justly tier, n] THE LITTLE MANX NATION 73 " betwixt party and party, as indifferently as the herring's backbone doth lie in the midst of the fish." But these laws down to the time of the second Stanley existed only in the breasts of the deemsters themselves, being therefore called Breast Laws, and thus they were supposed to be handed down orally from deemster to deemster. The superstition fostered corruption as well as incapacity, and it will not be wronging the truth to say that some of the deemsters of old time were both ignorant and unprincipled. Their jurisdiction was absolute in all that were then thought to be temporal affairs, beginning with a debt of a shilling, and going up to murder. They kept their courts in the centres of their districts, one of them being in the north of the island, the other in the south, but they were free to hold a court anywhere, and at any time. A deemster riding from Ramsey to Peel might find his way stopped by a noisy claimant, who held his defendant by the lug, having dragged him bodily from the field to the highway, to receive instant judg- ment from the judge riding past. Or at midnight, in his own home, a deemster might be broken in upon by a clamorous gang of disputants and their witnesses, who came from the pot-house for the 74 THE LITTLE MANX NATION [LECT. n settlement of their differences. On such occasions, the deemster invariably acted on the sound old legal maxim, once recognised by an Act of Parlia- ment, that suits not likely to bear good costs should always be settled out of court. First, the deemster demanded his fee. If neither claimant nor defend- ant could give it, he probably troubled himself no further than to take up his horse-whip and drive both out into the road. I dare say there were many good men among deemsters of the old order, who loved justice for its own sake, and liked to see the poor and the weak righted, but the memory of deemsters of this kind is not green. The bulk of men are not better than their opportunities, and the temptations of the deemsters of old were neither few nor slight. The Bishopric Vacant With such masters in the State, and such masters in the Church, the island fell low in material welfare, and its poverty reacted on both. Within fifty years the Bishopric was nineteen years vacant, though it may be that at the beginning of the seventeenth century this was partly due to religious LECT.II] THE LITTLE MANX NATION 75 disturbances. Then in 1697, w i tn the monasteries and nunneries dispersed, the abbeys in ruins, the cathedral church a wreck, the clergy sunk in sloth and ignorance, there came to the Bishopric, four years vacant, a true man whose name on the page of Manx Church history is like a star on a dark night, when only one is shining Bishop Thomas Wilson. He was a strange and complex creature, half angel, only half man, the serenest of saints, and yet almost the bitterest of tyrants. Let me tell you about him. Bishop Wilson Thomas Wilson was from Trinity College, Dublin, and became domestic chaplain to William, Earl of Derby, and preceptor to the Earl's son, who died young. While he held this position, the Bishopric of Sodor and Man became vacant, and it was offered to him. He declined it, think- ing himself unworthy of so high a trust. The Bishopric continued vacant. Perhaps the can- didates for it were few ; certainly the emoluments were small ; perhaps the patron was slothful certainly he gave little attention to the Church. At 76 THE LITTLE MANX NATION [LICT. 11 length complaint was made to the King that the spiritual needs of the island were being neglected. The Earl was commanded to fill the Bishopric, and once again he offered it to his chaplain. Then Wilson yielded. He took possession in 1698, and was enthroned at Peel Castle. The picture of his enthronement must have been something to remem- ber. Peel Castle was already tumbling to its fall, and the cathedral church was a woful wreck. It is even said that from a hole in the roof the soil and rain could enter, and blades of grass were shooting up on the altar. The Bishop's house at Kirk Michael, which had been long shut up, was in a similar plight ; damp, mouldy, broken-windowed, green with moss within and without. What would one give to turn back the centuries and look on at that primitive ceremony in St. Germain's Chapel in April 1698 ! There would be the clergy, a sorry troop, with wise and good men among them, no doubt, but a poor, battered, bedraggled, neglected lot, chiefly learned in dubious arts of collecting tithes. And the Bishop himself, the good chaplain of Earl Derby, the preceptor of his son, what a face he must have had to watch and to study, as he stood there that April morning, LECT. H] THE LITTLE MANX NATION 77 and saw for the first time what work he had come to tackle ! Bishop Wilson's Censures But Bishop Wilson set about his task with a strong heart, and a resolute hand. He found him- self in a twofold trust. Since the Reformation, the*" monasteries and nunneries had been dispersed, and all the baronies had been broken up, save one, the barony of the Bishop. Thus Bishop Wilson was the head of the court of his barony. This was a civil court with power of jurisdiction over felonies. Its separate criminal control came to an end in 1777. Such was Bishop Wilson's position as last and sole Baron of Man. Then as head of the Church he had powers over offences which were .once called offerices against common law. Irregular behaviour, cursing, quarrelling, and drinking, as well as trans- gressions of the moral code, adultery, seduction, prostitution, and the like, were punishable by the Church and the Church courts. The censures of Bishop Wilson on such offences did not err on the side of clemency. He was the enemy of sin, and no " gentle foe of sinners. " He was a believer in 78 THE LITTLE MANX NATION [LECT. 11 witchcraft, and for suspicion of commerce with evil spirits and possession of the evil eye he punished many a blameless old body. For open and con- victed adultery he caused the offenders to stand for an hour at high fair at each of the market-places of Douglas, Peel, Ramsey, and Castletown, bearing labels on their breasts calling on all people to take warning lest they came under the same Church cen- sure. Common unchastity he punished by expo- sure in church at full congregation, when the guilty man or the poor victimised girl stepped up from the west porch to the altar, covered from neck to heels in a white sheet. Slanderers and evil speakers he clapped into the Peel, or perhaps the whipping-stocks, with tongue in a noose of leather, and when after a lapse of time the gag was re- moved the liberated tongue was obliged to denounce itself by saying thrice, clearly, boldly, probably with good accent and discretion, " False tongue, thou hast lied." It is perhaps as well that some of us did not live in Bishop Wilson's time. We might not have lived long. If the Church still held and exercised the same powers over evil speakers we should never hear our own ears in the streets for the din LECT. ii] THE LITTLE MANX NATION 79 of the voices of the penitents ; and if it still punished unchastity in a white sheet the trade of the linen weaver would be brisk. You will say that I have justified my statement that Bishop Wilson was the bitterest of tyrants. Let me now establish my opinion that he was also the serenest of saints. I have told you how low was the condition of the Church, how lax its rule, how deep its clergy lay in sloth and ignorance, and perhaps also in vice, when Bishop Wilson came to Man in 1698. Well, in 1703, only five years later, the Lord Chancellor King said this : " If the an- cient discipline of the Church were lost elsewhere it might be found in all its force in the Isle of Man." This points first to force and vigour on the Bishop's part, but surely it also points to purity of character and nobility of aim. Bishop Wilson began by putting his own house in order. His clergy ceased to gamble and to drink, and they were obliged to collect their tithes with mercy. He once suspended a clergyman for an opinion on a minor point, but many times he punished his clergy for offences against the moral law and the material welfare of the poor. In a stiff fight for integrity of life and purity of thought, he spared none. I truly believe So THE LITTLE MANX NATION [LECT. 11 that if he had caught himself in an act of gross in- justice he would have clambered up into the pillory. He was a brave, strong-hearted creature, of the build of a great man. Yes ! In spite of all his contradic- tions, he ivas a great man. We Manxmen shall never look upon his like again ! The Great Corn Famine Towards 1740 a long and terrible corn famine fell upon our island. The fisheries had failed that season, and the crops had been blighted two years running. Miserably poor at all times, ill-clad, ill- housed, ill-fed at the best, the people were in danger of sheer destitution. In that day of their bitter trouble the poorest of the poor trooped off to Bishop's court. The Bishop threw open his house to them all, good and bad, improvident and thrifty, lazy and industrious, drunken and sober ; he made no distinctions in that bad hour. He asked no man for his name who couldn't give it, no woman for her marriage lines who hadn't got them, no child whether it was born in wedlock. That they were all hungry was all he knew, and he saved their lives in thousands. He bought ship-loads of LECT. n] THE LITTLE MANX NATION 81 English corn and served it out in bushels ; also tons of Irish potatoes, and served them out in kischens. He gave orders that the measure was to be piled as high as it would hold, and never smoothed flat again. Yet he was himself a poor man. While he had money he spent it. When every penny was gone he pledged his revenue in advance. After his credit was done he begged in England for his poor people in Man he begged for us who would not have held out his hat to save his own life ! God bless him ! But we repaid him. Oh yes, we repaid him. His money he never got back, but gold is not the currency of the other world. Prayers and blessings are the wealth that is there, and these went up after him to the great White Throne from the swelling throats of his people. The Bishop at Court Not of Bishop Wilson could it be said, as it was said of another, that he " flattered princes in the temple of God." One day, when he was coming to Court, Queen Caroline saw him and said to a com- pany of Bishops and Archbishops that surrounded 82 THE LITTLE MANX NATION [LECT.II her, " See, my lords, here is a Bishop who does not come for a translation." " No, indeed, and please your Majesty," said Bishop Wilson, " I will not leave my wife in her old age because she is poor." When Bishop Wilson was an old man, Cardinal Fleury sent over to ask after his age and health, saying that they were the two oldest and poorest Bishops in the world. At the same time he got an order that no French privateer should ever ravage the Isle of Man. The order has long lapsed, but I am told that to this day French sea- men respect a Manxman. It touches me to think of it that thus does the glory of this good man's life shine on our faces still. Stories of Bishop Wilson How his people must have loved him ! Many of the stories told of him are of rather general applica 4 - tion, but some of them ought to be true if they are not. One day in the old three-cornered market-place at Ramsey a little maiden of seven crossed his path. She was like sunshine, rosy-cheeked, bright- eyed^ bare-footed and bare-headed, and for love of LECT. n] THE LITTLE MANX NATION 83 her sweetness the grey old Bishop patted her head and blest her. " God bless you, my child ; God bless you/' he said. The child curtseyed and answered, " God bless you, too, sir." " Thank you, child, thank you," the Bishop said again ; " I dare say your blessing will be as good as mine." It was customary in those days, and indeed down to my own time, when a suit of clothes was wanted, to have the journeyman tailor at home to make it. One, Danny of that ilk, was once at Bishop's Court making a long walking coat for the Bishop. In trying it on in its nebulous condition, that leprosy of open white seams and stitches, Danny made numerous chalk marks to indicate the places of the buttons. " No, no, Danny," said the Bishop, " no more buttons than enough to fasten it only one, that will do. It would ill become a poor priest like me to go a-glitter with things like those*" Now, Danny had already bought his buttons, and had them at that moment in his pocket. So, pulling a woful face, he said, " Mercy me, my lord, what would happen to the poor button- makers, if everybody was of your opinion ? " " Button it all over, Danny/* said the Bishop. A coat of Bishop Wilson's still exists. Would that 4 THE LITTLE MANX NATION [LECT. n we had that one of the numerous buttons, and could get a few more made of the same pattern ! It would be out of fashion Danny's progeny have taken care of that. There are not many of us that it would fit we have few men of Bishop Wilson's build nowadays. But human kindliness is never old-fashioned, and there are none of us that the garment of sweet grace would not suit. Quarrels of Church and State So far from " flattering princes in the temple of God," Bishop Wilson was even morbidly jealous of the authority of the Church, and he resisted that of the State when the civil powers seemed to encroach upon it. More than once he came into collision with the State's highest functionary, the Lieutenant- Governor, representative of the Lord of Man him- self. One day the Governor's wife falsely defamed a lady, and the lady appealed to the Bishop. Thereupon the Bishop interdicted the Governor's wife from receiving the communion. But the Governor's chaplain admitted her. Straightway the Bishop suspended the Governor's chaplain. Then the Governor fined the Bishop in the sum of fifty LECT. n] THE LITTLE MANX NATION 85 pounds. The Bishop refused to pay, and was com- mitted to Castle Rushen, and lay there two months. They show us his cell, a poor, dingy little box, so damp in his day that he lost the use of some of his ringers. After that the Bishop appealed to the Lord, who declared the imprisonment illegal. The Bishop was liberated, and half the island went to the prison gate to fetch him forth in triumph. The only result was that the Bishop lost $oo, whereof ^"300 were subscribed by the people. One hardly knows whether to laugh or cry at it all. It is a sorry and silly farce. Of course it made a tremen- dous hurly-burly in its day, but it is gone now, and doesn't matter a ha'porth to anybody. Nevertheless because Gessler's cap goes up so often nowadays, and so many of us are kneeling to it, it is good and wholesome to hear of a poor Bishop who was brave enough to take a shot at it instead, Some Old Ordeals Notwithstanding Bishop Wilson's severity, his tyranny, his undue pride in the authority of the Church, and his morbid jealousy of the powers of the State, his rule was a wise and just one, and he 86 THE LITTLE MANX NATION [LECT. n was a spiritual statesman, who needed not to be ashamed. He raised the tone of life in the Isle of Man, made it possible to accept a man's yea and nay, even in those perilous issues of life where the weakness and meanness of poor humanity reveals itself in lies and subterfuges. This he did by making false swearing a terror. One ancient ordeal of swearing he set his face against, but another he encouraged, and often practised. Let me describe both. In the old days, when a man died intestate, leaving no record of his debts, a creditor might establish a claim by going with the Bishop to the grave of the dead man at midnight, stretching him- self on it with face towards heaven and a Bible on his breast, and then saying solemnly, " I swear that So-and-so, who lies buried here, died in my debt by so much." After that the debt was allowed. What warning the Bishop first pronounced I do not know, but the scene is a vivid one, even if we think of the creditor as swearing truly, and a startling and terrible one if we think of him as about to swear to what is false. The dark night, the dark figures moving in it, the churchyard, the debtor's grave, the sham creditor, who had been loud in his protests MCT.II] THE LITTLE MANX NATION 87 under the light of the inn of the village, now quaking and trembling as the Bishop's warning comes out of the gloom, then stammering, and breaking down, and finally, with ghostly visions of a dead hand clutching at him from the grave, starting up, shrieking, and flying away. It is a nightmare. Let us not remember it when the candles are put out. This ordeal was in force until the seventeenth century, but Bishop Wilson judged it un-Christian, and never practised it. The old Roman canon law of Purgation, a similar ordeal, he used not rarely. It was designed to meet cases of slander in which there was no direct and positive evidence. If a good woman had been accused of unchastity in that vague way of rumour which is always more damaging and devilish than open accusation, she might of her own free choice, or by compulsion of the Bishop, put to silence her false accusers by appearing in church, with witnesses ready to take oath that they believed her, and there swearing at the altar that common fame and suspicion had wronged her. If a man doubted her word he had .o challenge it, or keep silence for ever after. The severest censures of the Church were passed upon 88 THE LITTLE MANX NATION [LECT. n those who dared to repeat an unproved accusation after the oaths of Purgation and Compurgation had been taken unchallenged. It is a fine, honest ordeal, very old, good for the right, only bad for the wrong, giving strength to the weak and humbling the mighty. But it would be folly and mummery in our day. The Church has lost its powers over life and limb, and no one capable of defaming a pure woman would care a brass penny about the Church's excommunication. Yet a woman's good name is the silver thread that runs through the pearl chain of her virtues. Pity that nowadays it can be so easily snapped. Conver- sation at five o'clock tea is enough to do that. The ordeal of compulsory Purgation was abolished in Man as late as 1737. The Herring Fishery Bishop Wilson began, or revived, a form of service which was so beautiful, so picturesque, and withal so Manx that I regret the loss of scarce any custom so much as the discontinuance of this one. It was the fishermen's service on the shore at the beginning of the herring-season. But in order to LECT. u] THE LITTLE MANX NATION 89 appreciate it you must first know something of the herring fishing itself. It is the chief industry of the island. Half the population is connected with it in some way. A great proportion of the men of the humbler classes are half seamen, half landsmen, tilling their little crofts in the spring and autumn, and going out with the herring boats in summer. The herring is the national fish. The Manxman swears by its flavour. The deemsters, as we have seen, literally swear by its backbone. Potatoes and herrings constitute a common dish of the country people. They are ready for it at any hour of the day or night. I have had it for dinner, I have taken it for supper, I have seen it for tea, and even known it for breakfast. It is served without ceremony. In the middle of the table two great crocks, one of potatoes boiled in their jackets, the other of herrings fresh or salted ; a plate and a bowl of new milk at every seat, and lumps of salt here and there. To be a Manxman you must eat Manx herrings ; there is a story that to transform himself into a Manxman one of the Dukes of Athol ate twenty-four of them at break- fast, a herring for every member of his House of Keys. 90 THE LITTLE MANX NATION [LECT. 11 The Manx herring fishery is interesting and very picturesque. You know that the herrings come from northern latitudes. Towards mid-winter a vast colony of them set out from the arctic seas, closely pursued by innumerable sea-fowl, which deal death among the little emigrants. They move in two divisions, one westward towards the coasts of America, the other eastward in the direction of Europe. They reach the Shetlands in April and the Isle of Man about June. The herring is fished at night. To be out with the herring boats is a glorious experience on a calm night. You have set sail with the fleet of herring boats about sun-down, and you are running before a light breeze through the dusk. The sea-gulls are skimming about the brown sails of your boat. They know what you are going to do, and have come to help you. Presently you come upon a flight of them wheeling and diving in the gathering darkness. Then }^ou know that you have lit on the herring shoal. The boat is brought head to the wind and left to drift. By this time the stars are out, perhaps the moon also though too much moon is not good for the fishing and you can just descry the dim outline of the land against the dark blue of the sky. I.ECT. ii] THE LITTLE MANX NATION 91 Luminous patches of phosphorescent light begin to move in the water. " The mar-fire's rising/' say the fishermen, the herring are stirring. " Let's make a shot ; up with the gear/' cries the skipper, and nets are hauled from below, passed over the bank-board, and paid out into the sea a solid wall of meshes, floating upright, nine feet deep and a quarter of a mile long. It is a calm, clear night, just light enough to see the buoys on the back of the first net. The lamp is fixed on the mitch-board. All is silence, only the steady plash, plash, plash of the slow waters on the boat's side ; no singing among the men, no chaff, no laughter, all quiet aboard, for the fishermen believe that the fish can hear ; all quiet around, where the deep black of the watery pavement is brightened by the reflection of stars. Then out of the white phosphorescent patches come minute points of silver and countless faint popping sounds. The herrings are at play about the nets. You see them in numbers exceed- ing imagination, shoals on shoals. " Pull up now, there's a heavy strike," cries the skipper, and the nets are hauled up, and come in white and moving a solid block of fish, cheep, cheep, cheeping like birds in the early morning. At the grey of dawn 92 THE LITTLE MANX NATION [LECT. n the boats begin to run for home, and the sun is shining as the fleet makes the harbour. Men and women are waiting there to buy the night's catch. The quay is full of them, bustling, shouting, laughing, quarrelling, counting the herrings, and so forth. The Fishermen's Service Such is the herring fishery of Man. Bishop Wilson knew how bitter a thing it could be if this industry failed the island even for a single season. So, with absolute belief in the Divine government of the world, he wrote a Service to be held on the first day of the herring season, asking for God's blessing on the harvest of the sea. The scene of that service must have been wondrously beautiful and impressive. Why does not some great painter paint it ? Let me, by the less effectual vehicle of words, attempt to realise what it must have been. The place of it was Peel bay, a wide stretch of beach, with a gentle slope to the left, dotted over with grey houses ; the little town farther on, with its nooks and corners, its blind alleys and dark lanes, its narrow, crabbed, crooked streets. Behind this LECT. n] THE LITTLE MANX NATION 93 the ola pier and the herring boats rocking in the harbour, with their brown sails half set, waiting for the top of the tide. In the distance the broad breast of Contrary Head, and, a musket-shot outside of it, the little rocky islet whereon stand the stately ruins of the noble old Peel Castle. The beach is dotted over with people old men, in their currane!> and undyed stockings, leaning on their sticks ; chil- dren playing on the shingle ; young women in groups, dressed in sickle-shaped white sun-bonnets, and with petticoats tucked up ; old women in long blue homespun cloaks. But these are only the back- ground of the human picture. In the centre of it is a wide circle of fishermen, men and boys, of all sizes and sorts, from the old Admiral of the herring fleet to the lad that helps the cook rude figures in blue and with great sea-boots. They are on their knees on the sand, with their knitted caps at their rusty faces, and in the middle of them, standing in an old broken boat, is the Bishop himself, bare- headed, white-headed, with upturned face praying for the fishing season that is about to begin. The June day is sweet and beautiful, and the sun is going down behind the castle. Some sea-gulls are disporting on the rock outside, and, save for their 94 THE LITTLE MANX NATION [LECT. li jabbering cries, and the boom of the sea from the red horizon, and the gentle plash of the wavelets on the pebbles of the shore, nothing is heard but the slow tones of the Bishop and the fishermen's deep Amen. Such was Bishop Wilson's fishermen's service. It is gone ; more's the pity. Some Old Laws The spiritual laws of Man were no dead letters when Bishop Wilson presided over its spiritual courts. He was good to illegitimate children, making them legitimate if their parents married within two years of their birth, and often putting them on the same level with their less injured brothers and sisters where inheritance was in ques- tion. But he was unmerciful to the parents them- selves. There is one story of his treatment of a woman which passes all others in its tyranny. It is, perhaps, the only deep stain on his character* I thank God that it can never have come to the ears of Victor Hugo* Told as Hugo would have told it, surely it must have blasted for ever the name of a good man. It is the dark story of Katherine Kinrade. LECT. ii] THE LITTLE MANX NATION 95 Katherine Kinrade She was a poor ruin of a woman, belonging to Kirk Christ , but wandering like a vagrant over the island. The fact of first consequence is, that she was only half sane. In the language of the clergy of the time, she " had a degree of unsettledness and defect of understanding." Thus she was the sort of human wreck that the world finds it easy to fling away. Katherine fell victim to the sin that was not her own. A child was born. The Church censured her. She did penance in a white sheet at the church doors. But her poor, dull brain had no power to restrain her. A second child was born. Then the Bishop committed her for twenty- one days to his prison at the Peel. Let me tell you what the place is like. It is a crypt of the cathedral church. You enter it by a little door in the choir, leading to a tortuous flight of steep steps going down. It is a chamber cut out of the rock of the little island, dark, damp, and noisome. A small aperture lets in the light, as well as the sound of the sea beating on the rocks below* The roof, if you could see it ill the gloom, is groined and 96 THE LITTLE MANX NATION [LECT. n ribbed, and above it is the mould of many graves, for in the old days bodies were buried in the choir. Can you imagine a prison more terrible for any prisoner, the strongest man or the bravest soldier ? Think of it on a tempestuous night in winter. The lonely islet rock, with the swift seas rushing around it ; the castle half a ruin, its guard-room empty, its banqueting hall roofless, its sally port silent ; then the cathedral church falling to decay ; and under the floor of its choir, where lie the graves of dead men, this black, grim, cold cell, silent as the graves themselves, save for the roar of the sea as it beats in the darkness on the rocks outside ! But that is not enough. We have to think of this gloomy pile as inhabited on such a night of terrors by only one human soul this poor, bedraggled, sin-laden woman with " the defect of understanding. " Can anything be more awful ? Yet there is worse to follow. The records tell us that Katherine Kinrade sub- mitted to her punishment " with as much discretion as could be expected of the like of her." But such punishments do not cleanse the soul that is " drenched with unhallowed fire." Perhaps Katherine did not know that she was wronged ; nevertheless God's image was being trodden out of her. She went from bad to worse, became a LECT. n] THE LITTLE MANX NATION 97 notorious strumpet, strolled about the island, and led " a scandalous life on other accounts. " A third child was born. Then the Bishop concluded that for the honour of the Christian name, " to pre- vent her own utter destruction, and for the example of others," at imely and thorough reformation must be made by a further and severer punishment. It was the 1 5th day of March, and he ordered that on the I /th day, being the fair of St. Patrick, at the height of the market, the said Katharine Kinrade should be taken to Peel Town in charge of the general sumner, and the constables and soldiers of the garrison, and there dragged after a boat in the sea ! Think of it ! On a bitter day in March this wretched woman with the " defect of understanding " was to be dragged through the sea by a rope tied to the tail of a boat ! And if any owner, master, and crew of any boat proved refractory by refusing to perform this service for the restraining of vice, they were to be subject to fine and imprisonment I When St. Patrick's Day came the weather was so stormy that no boat could live in the bay, but on St, Germain's Day, about the height of the market, the censure was performed. After undergoing the punishment the miserable soul was apparently G 98 THE LITTLE MANX NATION [LECT. il penitent, " according to her capacity," took the communion, and was " received into the peace of the Church." Poor human ruin, defaced image of a woman, begrimed and buried soul, unchaste, mis- shapen, incorrigible, no " juice of God's distilling" ever " dropped into the core of her life," to such punishment she was doomed by the tribunal of that saintly man, Bishop Thomas Wilson ! She has met him at another tribunal since then ; not where she has crouched before him, but where she has stood by his side. She has carried her great account against him, to Him before whom the proudest are as chaff. None spake when Wilson stood before The Throne; And He that sat thereon Spake not ; and all the presence-floor Burnt deep with blushe?, and the angels cast Their faces downwards. Then, at last, Awe-stricken, he was ware How on the emerald stair A woman sat divinely clothed in white* And at her knees four cherubs bright^ That laid Their heads within her lap. Then, trembling; he essayed To speak*' Christ's mother* pity me ! " Then answered she, " Sir, I am Katherine Kinrade."* * Unpublished poem by the author of l( Fo'c's'le Yarns." LECT. u] THE LITTLE MANX NATION 99 Bishop Wilson's Last Days Have I dashed your faith in my hero ? Was he indeed the bitterest of tyrants as well as the serenest of saints ? Yet bethink you of the other good men who have done evil deeds ? King David and the wife of Uriah, Mahomet and his adopted son ; the gallery of memory is hung round with many such portraits. Poor humanity, weak at the strongest, impure at the purest ; best take it as it is, arid be content. Remember that a good man's vices are generally the excess of his virtues. It was so with Bishop Wilson. Remember, too, that it is not for what a man does, but for what he means to do, that we love him or hate him in the end. And in the end the Manx people loved Bishop Wilson, and still they bless his memory. We have a glimpse of his last days, and it is full of tender beauty* True to his lights, simple and frugal of life, God-fearing and strong of heart, he lived to be old. Very feeble, his beautiful face grown mellower even as his heart was softer for his many years, tottering on his staff, drooping like a white flower) he went in and out among his loo THE LITTLE MANX NATION [LECT. n people, laying his trembling hands on the children's heads and blessing them, remembering their fathers and their fathers' fathers. Beloved by the young, reverenced by the old, honoured by the great, worshipped by the poor, living in sweet patience, ready to die in hope. His day was done, his night was near, and the weary toiler was willing to go to his rest. Thus passed some peaceful years. He died in 1755, and was followed to his grave by the whole Manx nation. His tomb is our most sacred shrine. We know his faults, but we do not speak of them there. Call a truce over the place of the old man's rest. There he lies, who was once the saviour of our people. God bless him ! He was our fathers' bishop, and his saintly face still shines on our fathers' children. The Athol Bishops Let me in a last clause attempt a sketch of the history of the Manx Church in the century or more that has followed Bishop Wilson's death. The last fifty years of it are featureless, save for an attempt to abolish the Bishopric. This foolish effort first succeeded and then failed, and was a LECT. ii] THE LITTLE MANX NATION id poor bit of mummery altogether, ending in nothing but waste of money and time, and breath and temper. The fifty years immediately succeeding Bishop Wilson were full of activity. But so far as the Church was concerned, the activity was not always wholesome. If religion was kept alive in Man in those evil days, and the soul hunger of the poor Manx people was satisfied, it was not by the masters of the Manx Church, the Pharisees who gave alms in the streets to the sound of a trumpet going before them, or by the Levites who passed by on the other side when a man had fallen among thieves. It was partly by dissent, which was begun by Wesley in 1775 (after Quakerism had been suppressed), and partly by a small minority of the Manx clergy, who kept going the early evangeli- calism of Newton and Cowper and Cecil dear, sunny, simple-hearted old Manx vicars, who took sweet counsel together in their old-fashioned homes, where you found grace in all senses of the word, purity of soul, the life of the mind, and gentle courtliness of manners. Bishop Wilson's successor was Doctor Mark Hildlesley, in all respects a worthy man. He completed the translation of the Scriptures into 102 THE LITTLE MANX NATION [LECT. n Manx, which had been begun by his predecessor, and established Sunday-schools in Man before they had been commenced in any other country. But after him came a line of worthless prelates, Dr. Richmond, remembered for his unbending haughti- ness ; Dr. Mason, disgraced by his debts ; and Claudius Cregan, a bishop unfit to be a curate. Do you not read between the broad lines of such facts ? The Athol dynasty was now some thirty years established in Man, and the swashbuckler Court of fine gentlemen was in full swing. In that costume drama of soiled lace and uproarious pleasures, what part did the Church play ? Was it that of the man clad in camel's skin, living on locusts and wild honey, and calling on the genera- tion of revellers to flee from the wrath to come ? No ; but that of the lover of cakes and ale. The records of this period are few and scanty, but they are full enough to show that some of the clergy of the Athols knew more of backgammon than of theology. While they pandered to the dissolute Court they lived under, going the errands of their masters in the State, fetching and carrying for them, and licking their shoes, they tyrannised over the poor ignorant Manx people and fleeced them LECT. n] THE LITTLE MANX NATION 103 unmercifully. Perhaps this was in a way only natural. Corruption was in the air throughout Europe. Dr. Youngs were grovelling for preferments at the feet of kings' mistresses, and Dr. Warners were kissing the shoebuckles of great ladies for sheer love of their faces, plastered red and white. The parasites of the Manx clergy were not far behind some of their English brethren. There is a story told of their life among themselves which casts lurid light on their character and ways of life. It is said that two of the Vicars-general summoned a large number of the Manx people to Bishop's Court on some business of the spiritual court. Many of the people had come long distances, chiefly a-foot, without food, and probably without money. After a short sitting the court was adjourned for dinner. The people had no dinner, and they starved. The Vicars-general went into the palace to dine with the Bishop. Some hours passed. The night was gathering. Then a message came out to say that no more business could be done that day. Some of the poor people were old, and had to travel fifteen miles to their homes. The record tells us that the Bishop gave his guests " most excellent wine." What of a I0| THE LITTLE MANX NATION [LECT.II- scene like that ? Outside, a sharp day in Spring, two score famished folks tramping the glen and the gravel-path, the gravel-path and the glen, to and fro, to and fro, minute after minute, hour after hour. Inside, my lord Bishop, drenched in debt, dining with his clergy, drinking " most excellent wine " with them, unbending his mighty mind with them, exchanging boisterous stories with them, jesting with them, laughing with them, until his face grows as red as the glowing turf on his hearth. Presently a footfall on the gravel, and outside the window a hungry, pinched, anxious face looking nervously into the room. Then this colloquy : " Ah, the court, plague on't, I'd forgotten it." tf Adjourn it, gentlemen." 11 Wine like yours, my lord, would make a man forget Paradise." (l Sit down again, gentlemen. Juan, go out and tell the people to come back to-morrow." " Your right good health, my lord ! " " And yours, gentlemen both ! " Oh, if there is any truth in religion, if this world is God's, if a day is coming when the weak shall be exalted and the mighty laid low, what a reckon- ing they have gone to whose people cried for bread LECT n] THE LITTLE MANX NATION 105 and they gave them a stone ! And if there is not, if the hope is vain, if it is all a sham and a mockery, still the justice of this world is sure. Where are they now, these parasites ? Their game is played out. They are bones and ashes ; they are in their forgotten graves. THE STORY OF THE MANX PEOPLE The Manx Language A FRIEND asked me the other day if there was any reason why I should not deliver these lectures in Manx. I answered that there were just forty good and sufficient reasons. The first was that I did not speak Manx. Like the wise queen in the story of the bells, he then spared me the recital of the remaining nine-and-thirty. But there is at least one of the number that will appeal strongly to most of my hearers. What that is you shall judge for yourselves after I have braved the pitfalls of pronun- ciation in a tongue I do not know, and given you some clauses of the Lord's Prayer in Manx. Ayr ain fayns niau. (Father our who art in heaven.) Caskerick dy row dty ennym. (Holy be Thy name.) LECT. m] THE LITTLE MANX NATION. 107 Dy jig dty reeriaght* (Come Thy kingdom.) Dty aigney dy row jeant er y thalloo mry te ayns niau. (Thy will be done on the earth even as in heaven.) Son dy bragh, as dy bragh, Amen. (For ever and ever. Amen.) I asked a friend it was Mr. Wilson Barrett if in its fulness, its fine chest-notes, its force and music, this old language did not sound like Italian. " Well, no," he answered, " it sounds more like hard swearing/' I think you must now understand why the greater part of these lectures should be delivered in English. Manx is a dialect mainly Celtic, and differing only slightly from the ancient Scottish Gaelic. I have heard my father say that when he was a boy in Ramsey, sixty years ago, a Scotch ship came ashore on the Carrick, and next morning after the wreck a long, lank, bony creature, with bare legs, and in short petticoats, came into the market- place and played a tune on a little shrieking pair of smithy bellows, and then sang a song. It was a loS THE LITTLE MANX NATION [LECT, in Highland piper, and he sang in his Gaelic, but the Manx boys and girls who gathered round him understood almost every word of his song, though they thought his pronunciation bad. Perhaps they took him for a poor old Manxman, somehow strayed and lost, a sort of Manx Rip Van Winkle who had slept a century in Scotland, and thereby lost part of his clothes. You will wonder that there is not more Norse in our language, remembering how much of the Norse is in our blood. But the predominance of the Celtic is quite natural. Our mothers were Celts, speaking Celtic, before our Norse fathers came. Was it likely that our Celtic mothers should learn much of the tongue of their Norse husbands ? Then, is it not our mother, rather than our father, who teaches us to speak when we are children ? So our Celtic mothers taught us Celtic, and thus Celtic became the dominant language of our race. Manx Names But though our Norse fathers could not impose . their Norse tongue on their children, they gave them Norse names, and to the island they gave Norse L*CT. in] THE LITTLE MANX NATION 109 place-names. Hence we find that though Manx names show a preponderance of the Celtic, yet that the Norse are numerous and important. Thus we have many dales, fells, garths, and ghylls. Indeed, we have many pure Scandinavian surnames and place-names. When I was in Iceland I sometimes found myself face to face with names which almost persuaded me that I was at home in our little island of the Irish Sea. There is, for example, a Snaefell in Man as well as in Iceland. Then, our Norwegian surnames often took Celtic prefixes, such as Mac, and thus became Scandio-Gaelic. But this is a subject on which I have no right to speak with authority. You will find it written down with learning and judgment in the good book of my friend Mr. A. W. Moore, of Cronkbourne. What concerns me more than the scientific aspect of the language is its literary character. I seem to realise that it was the language of a poetic race. The early generations of a people are often poetic. They are child-like, and to be like a child is the best half of being like 'a poet. They name their places by help of their observatory powers. These are fresh and full of wonder, and Nature herself is beautiful or strange until man tampers with her. tio THE LITTLE MANX NATION [LECT. in So when an untaught and uncorrupted mind looks upon a new scene and bethinks itself of a name to fit it, the name is almost certainly full of charm or rugged power. Thus we find in Man such mixed Norse and Celtic names as : Booildooholly (Black fold of the wood), Douglas (Black stream), Sode- rick (South creek), Trollaby (Troll's farm), Gansy (Magic isle), Cronk-y-Clagh Bane (Hill of the white stone), Cronk-ny-liey (Hill of the grave), Cronk-ny- arrey-lhaa (Hill of the day watch). Manx Imagination This poetic character of the place-names of the island is a standing reproach to us as a race* We have degenerated in poetic spirit since such names were the natural expression of our feelings* I tremble to think what our place-names would be if we had to make them now. Our few modern christenings set my teeth on edge* We are not a race of poets. We are the prosiest of the prosy. I have never in my life met with any race, except Icelanders and Norwegians, who are so completely the slave of hard fact. It is astounding how difficult the average Manxman finds it to put LECT. in] THE LITTLE MANX NATION iii himself into the mood of the poet. That anything could come out of nothing, that there is such a thing as imagination, that any human brother of an honest man could say that a thing had been, which had not been, and yet not lie these are bewilder- ing difficulties to the modern Manxman. That a novel can be false and yet true that, well that's foolishness. I wrote a Manx romance called " The Deemster ; " and I did not expect my fellow-country- men of the primitive kind to tolerate it for a moment. It was merely a fiction, and the true Manxman of the old sort only believes in what is true. He does not read very much, and when he does read it is not novels. But he could not keep his hands off this novel, and on the whole, and in the long run, he liked it that is, as he would say, " middling," you know I But there was only one condition on which he could take it to his bosom it must be true* There was the rub, for clearly it transgressed certain poor little facts that were patent to every- body. Never mind, Hall Caine did not know poof Man, or somebody had told him wrong. But the story itself! The Bishop, Dan, Ewan, Mona, the body coming ashore at the Mooragh, the poor boy under the curse by the Calf, lord-a-massy, that was 112 THE LITTLE MANX NATION [LECT. m thrue as gospel ! What do you think happened ? I have got the letters by me, and can show them to anybody. A good Manxman wrote to remonstrate with me for calling the book a " romance." How dare I do so ? It was all true. Another wrote saying that maybe I would like to know that in his youth he knew my poor hero, Dan Mylrea, well. They often drank together. In fact, they were the same as brothers. For his part he had often warned poor Dan the way he was going. After the murder, Dan came to him and gave him the knife with which he had killed Ewan. He had got it still ! Later than the " Deemster," I published another Manx romance, " The Bondman/' In that book I mentioned, without thought of mischief, certain names that must have been lying at the back of my head since my boyhood. One of them becomes in the book the name of an old hypocrite who in the end cheats everybody and yet prays loudly in public. Now it seems that there is a man up in the mountains who owns that name. When he first encountered it in the newspapers, where the story was being published as a serial, he went about saying he was in the " Bondman," that it was all LZCT. m] THE LITTLE MANX NATION 113 thrue as gospel, so it was, that he knew me when I was a boy, over Ramsey way, and used to give me rides on his donkey, so he did. This was before the hypocrite was unmasked ; and when that catastrophe occurred, and his villany stood naked before all the island, his anger knew no limits. I am told that he goes about the mountains now like a thunder-cloud, and that he wants to meet me. I had never heard of the man before in all my life. What I say is true only of the typical Manxman, the natural-man among Manxmen, not of the Manx- man who is Manxman plus man of the world, the educated Manxman, who finds it as easy as any- body else to put himself into a position of sympathy with works of pure imagination. But you must go down to the turf if you want the true smell of the earth. Education levels all human types, as love is said to level all ranks ; and to preserve your individu- ality and yet be educated seems to want a strain of genius, or else a touch of madness. The Manx must have been the language of a people with few thoughts to express, but such thoughts as they had were beautiful in their simplicity and charm, sometimes wise and shrewd, H *I4 THE LITTLE MANX NATION [LECT. in and not rarely full of feeling. Thus laa-noo is old Manx for child, and it means literally half saint a sweet conception, which says the best of all that is contained in Wordsworth's wondrous " Ode on the Intimations of Immortality." Laa-bee is old Manx for bed, literally half-meat, a profound com- mentary on the value of rest. The old salutation at the door of a Manx cottage before the visitor entered was this word spoken from the porch : Vel peccaghs thie ? Literally : Any sinner within ? All humanity being sinners in the common speech of the Manx people. Manx Proverbs Nearly akin to the language of a race are its proverbs, and some of the Manx proverbs are wise, witty, and racy of the soil. Many of them are the common possession of all peoples. Of such kind is " There's many a slip 'twixt the cup and the lip." Here is one which sounds like an Eastern saying : " Learning is fine clothes for the rich man, and riches for the poor man." But I know of no foreign parentage for a proverb like this : " A green hill when far away ; bare, bare when it is near." LECT. in] THE LITTLE MANX NATION 115 That may be Eastern also. It hints of a long weary desert ; no grass, no water, and then the cruel mirage that breaks down the heart of the wayfarer at last. On the other hand, it is not out of harmony with the landscape of Man, where the mountains look green sometimes from a distance when they are really bare and stark, and so typify that waste of heart when life is dry of the moisture of hope, and all the world is as a parched wilder- ness. However, there is one proverb which is so Manx in spirit that I could almost take oath on its paternity, so exactly does it fit the religious temper of our people, though it contains a word that must strike an English ear as irreverent : " When one poor man helps another poor man, God himself laughs/' Manx Ballads Next to the proverbs of a race its songs are the best expression of its spirit, and though Manx songs are few, some of them are full of Manx character. Always their best part. is the air. A man called Barrow compiled the Manx tunes about the begin- ning of the century, but his book is scarce. In 116 THE LITTLE MANX NATION [LECT. m my ignorance of musical science I can only tell you how the little that is left of Manx music lives in the ear of a man who does not know one note from another. Much of it is like a wail of the wind in a lonely place near to the sea, sometimes like the soughing of the long grass, sometimes like the rain whipping the panes of a window as with rods. Nearly always long-drawn like a moan rarely various, never martial, never inspiriting, often sad and plaintive, as of a people kept under, but loving liberty, poor and low down, but with souls alive, looking for something, and hoping on, full of the brine, the salt foam, the sad story of the sea. Nothing would give you a more vivid sense of the Manx people than some of our old airs. They would seem to take you into a little white- washed cottage with sooty rafters and earthen floor, where an old man who looks half like a sailor and half like a landsman is dozing before a peat fire that is slumbering out. Have I in my musical benightedness conveyed an idea of anything musical ? If not, let me, by the only vehicle natural to me, give you the rough-shod words of one or two of our old ballads. There is a ballad, much in favour, called Ny kirree fo niaghfcy, the LICT. in] THE LITTLE MANX NATION 117 Sheep under the Snow. Another, yet better known, is called Myle Charaine. This has sometimes been called the Manx National Air, but that is a fiction. The song has nothing to do with the Manx as a nation. Perhaps it is merely a story of a miser and his daughter's dowry. Or perhaps it tells of pillage, probably of wrecking, basely done, and of how the people cut the guilty one off from all inter- course with them. O, Myle Charaine, where got you your gold ? Lone, lone, you have left me here. O, not in the curragh, deep under the mould, Lone, lone, and void of cheer. This sounds poor enough, but it would be hard to say how deeply this ballad, wedded to its wailing music, touches and moves a Manxman. Even to my ear as I have heard it in Manx, it has seemed to be one of the weirdest things in old ballad literature, only to be matched by some of the old Irish songs, and by the gruesome ditty which tells how " the sun shines fair on Carlisle wa'/' Ii8 THE LITTLE MANX NATION [LECT. m Manx Carols The paraphrase I have given you was done by George Borrow, who once visited the island. My friend the Rev. T. E. Brown met him and showed him several collections of Manx carols, and he pronounced them all translations from the English, not excepting our famous Drogh Vraane } or carol of every bad woman whose story is told in the Bible, beginning with the story of mother Eve herself. And, indeed, you will not be surprised that to the shores of our little island have drifted all kinds of miscellaneous rubbish, and that the Manx- men, from their very simplicity and ignorance of other literatures, have had no means of sifting the flotsam and assigning value to the constituents. Besides this, they are so irresponsible, have no literary conscience, and accordingly have appro- priated anything and everything. This is true of some Manx ballads, and perhaps also of many Manx carols. The carols, called Carvals in Manx, serve in Man, as in other countries, the purpose of cele- brating the birth of Jesus, but we have one ancient custom attached to them which we can certainly LJLCT. in] THE LITTLE MANX NATION 119 claim for our own, so Manx is it, so quaint, so grimly serious, and withal so howlingly ludicrous. It is called the service of Oiel Verree, probably a corruption of Feaill Vorrey, literally the Feast of Mary, and it is held in the parish church near to midnight on Christmas Eve. Scott describes it in " Peveril of the Peak," but without personal knowledge. Services are still held in many churches on Christmas Eve ; and I think they are called Oiel Verree, but the true Oiel Verree, the real, pure, savage, ridiculous, sacrilegious old Oiel Verree, is gone. I myself just came in time for it ; I saw the last of it, nevertheless I saw it at its prime, for I saw it when it was so strong that it could not live any longer. Let me tell you what it was. The story carries me back to early boyish years, when, from the lonely school-house on the bleak top of Maughold Head, I was taken in secret, one Christmas Eve, between nine and ten o'clock, to the old church of Kirk Maughold, a parish which longer than any other upheld the rougher traditions. My companion was what is called an original. His name was Billy Corkill. We were great chums. I would be thirteen, he was about sixty. Billy 120 THE LITTLE MANX NATION [LECT. m lived alone in a little cottage on the high-road, and worked in the fields. He had only one coat all the years I knew him. It seemed to have been blue to begin with, but when it had got torn Billy had patched it with anything that was handy, from green cloth to red flannel. He called it his Joseph's coat of many colours. Billy was a poet and a musical composer. He could not read a word, but he would rather have died than confess his ignorance. He kept books and newspapers always about him, and when he read out of them, he usually held them upside down. If any one remarked on that, he said he could read them any way up that was where his scholarship came in. Billy was a great carol singer. He did not know a note, but he never sang except from music. His tunes were wild harmonies that no human ear ever heard before. It will be clear to you that old Billy was a man of genius. Such was my comrade on that Christmas Eve long ago. It had been a bitter winter in the Isle of Man, and the ground was covered with snow. But the church bells rang merrily over the dark moorland, for Oiel Verree was peculiarly the people's service, and the ringers were ringing in the LECT. in] THE LITTLE MANX NATION 121 one sendee of the year at which the parishioners supplanted the Vicar, and appropriated the old parish church. In spite of the weather, the church was crowded with a motley throng, chiefly of young folks, the young men being in the nave, and the girls (if I remember rightly) in the little loft at the west end. Most of the men carried tallow dips, tied about with bits of ribbon in the shape of rosettes, duly lighted, and guttering grease at inter- vals on to the book-ledge or the tawny fingers of them that held them. It appeared that there had been an ordinary service before we arrived, and the Vicar was still within the rails of the com- munion. From there he addressed some parting words of solemn warning to the noisy throng of candle-carriers. As nearly as I can remember, the address was this : " My good people, you are about to celebrate an old custom. For my part, I have no sympathy with such customs, but since the hearts of my parishioners seem to be set on this one, I have no wish to suppress it. But tumultuous and disgraceful scenes have occurred on similar occasions in previous years, and I beg you to remember that you are in God's house," &c. &c. The grave injunction was listened to in silence, 122 THE LITTLE MANX NATION [LECT. n and when it ended, the Vicar, a worthy but not very popular man, walked towards the vestry. To do so, he passed the pew where I sat under the left arm of my companion, and he stopped before him, for Billy had long been a notorious transgressor at Oiel Verree. "See that you do not disgrace my church to-night," said the Vicar. But Billy had a biting tongue. "Aw, well/' said he, " I'm thinking the church is the people's." " The people are as ignorant as goats," said the Vicar. "Aw, then," said Billy, " you are the shepherd, so just make sheeps of them." At that the Vicar gave us the light of his coun- tenance no more. The last glimpse of his robe going through the vestry door was the signal for a buzz of low gossip, and straightway the business of Oiel Verree began. It must have been now approaching eleven o'clock, and two old greybeards with tousled heads placed themselves abreast at the door of the west porch. There they struck up a carol in a some- what lofty key. It was a most doleful ditty. Certainly I have never since heard the like of it. I remember that it told the story of the Crucifixion in LECT.III] THE LITTLE MANX NATION 123 startling language, full of realism that must have been horribly ghastly, if it had not been so comic. At the end of each verse the singers made one stride towards the communion. There were some thirty verses, and every mortal verse did these zealous carollers give us. They came to an end at length, and then another old fellow rose in his pew and sang a ditty in Manx. It told of the loss of the herring-fleet in Douglas Bay in the last century. After that there was yet another and another carol some that might be called sacred, others that would not be badly wronged with the name of profane. As I recall them now, they were full of a burning earnestness, and pictured the dangers of the sinner and the punishment of the damned. They said nothing about the joys of heaven, or the pleasures of life. Wherever these old songs came from they must have dated from some period of religious revival. The Manxman may have appropriated them, but if he did so he was in a deadly earnest mood. It must have been like stealing a hat-band. My comrade had been silent all this time, but in response to various winks, nods, and nudges, he rose to his feet. Now, in prospect of Oiel Verree I had written the old man a brand new carol. It 124 THE LITTLE MANX NATION [LECT. in was a mighty achievement in the sentimental vein. I can remember only one of its couplets : Hold your souls in still communion, Blend them in a holy union. 1 am not very sure what this may mean, and Billy must have been in the same uncertainty. Shall I ever forget what happened ? Billy standing in the pew with my paper in his hand the wrong way up. Myself by his side holding a candle to him. Then he began to sing. It was an awful tune I think he called it sevens but he made common-sense of my doggerel by one alarming emendation. When he came to the couplet I have given you, what do you think he sang ? " Hold your souls in still communion, Blend them in a hollow onion ! " Billy must have been a humorist. He is long dead, poor old Billy. God rest him ! Decay of the Manx Language If in this unscientific way I have conveyed my idea of Manx carvals, Manx ballads, or Manx pro- LECT. in] THE LITTLE MANX NATION 125 verbs, you will not be surprised to hear me say that I do not think that any of these can live long apart from the Manx language. We may have stolen most of them ; they may have been wrecked on our coast, and we may have smuggled them ; but as long as they wear our native homespun clothes they are ours, and as soon as they put it off they cease to belong to us. A Manx proverb is no longer a Manx proverb when it is in English. The same is true of a Manx ballad translated, and of a Manx carval turned into an English carol. What belongs to us, our way of saying things, in a word, our style, is gone. The spirit is departed, and that which remains is only an English ghost flitting about in Manx grave-clothes. Now this is a sad fact, for it implies that little as we have got of Manx literature, whether written or oral, we shall soon have none at all. Our Manx language is fast dying out. If we had any great work in the Manx tongue, that work alone would serve to give our language a literary life at least. But we have no such great work, no fine Manx poem, no good novel in Manx, not even a Manx sermon of high mark. Thus far our Manx language has kept alive our pigmies of Manx literature ; but 126 THE LITTLE MANX NATION [LECT. in both are going down together. The Manx is not much spoken now. In the remoter villages, like Cregnesh, Ballaugh, Kirk Michael, and Kirk Andreas, it may still be heard. Moreover, the Manxman may hear Manx a hundred times for every time an Englishman hears it. But the younger generation of Manx folk do not speak Manx, and very often do not understand it. This is a rapid change on the condition of things in my own boyhood. Manx is to me, for all practical uses, an unknown tongue. I cannot speak it, I cannot follow it when spoken, I have only a sort of nodding acquaintance with it out of door, and yet among my earliest recollections is that of a house- hold where nothing but Manx was ever spoken except to me. A very old woman, almost bent double over a spinning wheel, and calling me Hommy-Veg, and baugh-millish } and so forth. This will suggest that the Manx people are themselves responsible for the death of the Manx language. That is partly true. The Manx tongue was felt to be an impediment to intercourse with the English people. Then the great English immigration set in, and the Isle of Man became a holiday resort, That was the doomster of the Manx language. In LKCT. in] THE LITTLE MANX NATION 127 another five-and-twenty years the Manx language will be as dead as a Manx herring. One cannot but regret this certain fate. I dare not say that the language itself is so good that it ought to live. Those who know it better say that " it's a fine old tongue, rich and musical, full of meaning and expression ."* I know that it is at least forcible, and loud and deep in sound. I will engage two Manxmen quarrelling in Manx to make more noise in a given time than any other two human brethren in Christendom, not excepting two Irishmen. Also I think the Manx must be capable of notes of sweet feeling, and I observe that a certain higher lilt in a Manx woman's voice, suggesting the effort to speak about the sound of the sea, and the whistle of the wind in the gorse, is lost in the voices of the younger women who speak English only. But apart from tangible loss, I regret the death of the Manx tongue on grounds of sentiment. In this old tongue our fathers played as children, bought and sold as men, prayed, preached, gossiped, quarrelled, and made love. It was their language at Tynwald ; they sang their grim carvals in it, and their wailing, woful ballads, * The Rev. T. E. Brown, 128 THE LITTLE MANX NATION [LECT. m When it is dead more than half of all that makes us Manxmen will be gone. Our individuality will be lost, the greater barrier that separates us from other peoples will be broken down. Perhaps this may have its advantages, but surely it is not altogether a base desire not to be submerged into all the races of the earth. The tower of Babel is built, the tongues of the builders are confounded, and we are not all anxious to go back and join the happy family that lived in one ark. But aside from all lighter thoughts there is something very moving and pathetic in the death of an old language. Permit me to tell you, not as a philologist, a character to which I have no claim, but as an imaginative writer, how the death of an ancient tongue affects me. It is unlike any other form of death, for an unwritten language is even as a breath of air which when it is spent leaves no trace behind. A nation may die, yet its history remains, and that is the tangible part of its past. A city may fall to decay and lie a thousand years under the sands of the desert, yet its relics revivify its life. But a language that is dead, a tongue that has no life in its literature, is a breath of wind that is gone. A little while and it went from lip to LECT. in] THE LITTLE MANX NATION 129 lip, from lip to ear ; it came we know not whence ; it has passed we know not where. It was an embodied spirit of all man's joys and sorrows, and like a spirit it has vanished away. Then if this old language has been that of our own people its death is a loss to our affections. Indeed, language gets so close to our heart that we can hardly separate it from our emotions. If you do not speak the Italian language, ask youiself whether Dante comes as close to you as Shake- speare, all questions of genius and temperament apart. And if Dante seems a thousand miles away, and Shakespeare enters into your closest chamber, is it not first of all because the language of Shakespeare is your own language, alive with the life that is in your own tongue, vital with your own ways of thought and even tricks and whims of speech ? Let English die, and Shakespeare goes out of your closet, and passes away from you, and is then your brother-Englishman only in name. So close is the bond of language, so sweet and so mysterious. But there is yet a more sacred bond with the language of our fathers when it can have no pos- thumous life in books. This is the bond of love. Think what it is that you miss first and longest i 130 THE LITTLE MANX NATION [LECT. in when death robs you of a friend. Is it not the living voice ? The living face you can bring back in memory, and in your dark hours it will shine on you still ; the good deed can never die ; the noble thought lives for ever. Death is not conqueror over such as these, but the human voice, the strange and beautiful part of us that is half spirit in life, is lost in death. For a while it startles us as an echo in an empty chamber, and then it is gone, and not all the world's wealth could bring one note of it back. And such as the vanishing away of the voice of the friend we loved is the death of the old tongue which our fathers spoke. // is the death of the dead. Manx Superstitions When the Manx tongue is dead there will remain, however, just one badge of our race our supersti- tion. I am proud to tell you that we are the most superstitious people now left among the civilised nations of the world. This is a distinction in these days when that poetry of life, as Goethe names it, is all but gone from the face of the earth. Manx- men have not yet taken the poetry out of the moon LECT. m] THE LITTLE MANX NATION 131 and the stars, and the mist of the mountains and the wail of .the sea. Of course we are ashamed of the survival of our old beliefs and try to hide them, but let nobody say that as a people we believe no longer in charms, and the evil eye, and good spirits and bad. I know we do. It would be easy to give you a hundred illustrations. I remember an ill-tempered old body living on the Curragh, who was supposed to possess the evil eye. If a cow died at calving, she had witched it. If a baby cried suddenly in its sleep, the old witch must have been going by on the road. If the potatoes were blighted, she had looked over the hedge at them. There was a charm doctor in Kirk Andreas, named Teare-Ballawhane. He was before my time, but I recall many stories of him. When a cow was sick of the witching of the woman of the Curragh, the farmer fled over to Kirk Andreas for the charm of the charm-doctor. From the moment Teare-Ballawhane began to boil his herbs the cow recovered. If the cow died after all, there was some fault in the farmer. I remember a child, a girl, who twenty years ago had a birth-mark on her face a broad red stain like a hand on her cheek. Not long since, I saw her as a young 132 THE LITTLE MANX NATION [LECT. in woman, and the stain was either gone entirely or hidden by her florid complexion. When I asked what had been done for her, I heard that a good woman had charmed her. " Aw, yes," said the girl's mother, " a few good words do no harm anyway." Not long ago I met an old fellow in Onchan village who believed in the Nightman, an evil spirit who haunts the mountains at night predicting tempests and the doom of ships, the dooinney-oie of the Manx, akin to the banshee of the Irish. "Aw, man/' said he, "it was up Snaefell way, and I was coming from Kirk Michael over, and it was black dark, and I heard the Nightman after me, shoutin' and wailin' morthal, how-la-a, how-a-a. But I didn't do nothin', no, and he came up to me lek a besom, and went past me same as a flood, who-o-o ! And I lerr him ! Aw, yes, man, yes ! " I remember many a story of fairies, some recited half in humour, others in grim earnest. One old body told me that on the night of her wedding-day, coming home from the Curragh, whither she had stolen away in pursuit of a belated calf, she was chased in the moonlight by a troop of fairies. They held on to her gown, and climbed on her back, LECT. in] THE LITTLE MANX NATION 133 and perched on her shoulders, and clung to her hair. There were " hundreds and tons " of them ; they were about as tall as a wooden broth-ladle, and all wore cocked-hats and velvet jackets. A good fairy long inhabited the Isle of Man. He was called in Manx the Phynnodderee. It would appear that he had two brothers of like features with himself, one in Scotland called the Brownie, the other in Scandinavia called the Swart-" 7 alfar. I have often heard how on a bad night the Manx folk would go off to bed early so that the Phynnodderee might come in out of the cold. Before going upstairs they built up the fire, and set the kitchen table with crocks of milk and pecks of oaten cake for the entertainment of their guest. Then while they slept the Phynnodderee feasted, yet he always left the table exactly as he found it, eat- ing the cake and drinking the milk, but filling up the peck and the crock afresh. Nobody ever intruded upon him, so nobody ever saw him, save the Manx Peeping Tom. I remember hearing an old Manx- man say that his curiosity overcame his reverence, and he " leff the wife," stepped out of bed, crept to the head of the stairs, and peeped over the banisters into the kitchen. There he saw the Phynnodderee 134 THE LITTLE MANX NATION [LECT. in sitting in his own arm-chair, with a great company of brother and sister fairies about him, baking bread on the griddle, and chattering together like linnets in spring. But he could not understand a word they were saying. I have told you that the Manxman is not built by nature for a gallant. He has one bad fairy, and she is the embodied spirit of a beautiful woman. Manx folk-lore, like Manx carvals, Manx ballads, and Manx proverbs, takes it for a bad sign of a woman's character that she has personal beauty. If she is beautiful, ten to one she is a witch. That is how it happens that there are so many witches in the Isle of Man. The story goes that a beautiful wicked witch entrapped the men of the island. They would follow her anywhere. So she led them into the sea, and they were all drowned. Then the women of the island went forth to punish her, and, to escape from them, she took the form of a wren and flew away. That is how it comes about that the poor little wren is hunted and killed on St. Stephen's Day. The Manx lads do it, though surely it ought to be the Manx maidens. At midnight they sally forth in great companies, LECT. in] THE LITTLE MANX NATION 135 armed with sticks and carrying torches. They beat the hedges until they light on a wren's nest, and, having started the wren and slaughtered it, they suspend the tiny mite to the middle of a long pole, which is borne by two lads from shoulder to shoulder. They then sing a rollicking native ditty, of which one version runs : We'll hunt the wren, says Robbin the Bobbin; We'll hunt the wren, says Richard the Robbin ; We'll hunt the wren, says Jack of the Lan' ; We'll hunt the wren, says every one. But Robbin the Bobbin and Richard the Robbin are not the only creatures who have disappeared into the sea. The fairies themselves have also gone there. They inhabit Man no more. A Wesleyan preacher declared some years ago that he witnessed the departure of all the Manx fairies from the Bay of Douglas. They went away in empty rum puncheons, and scudded before the wind as far as the eye could reach, in the direction of Jamaica. So we have done with them, both good and bad. However, among the witches whom we have left to us in remote corners of the island is the very harmless one called the Queen of the Mheillia. Her rural Majesty is a sort of first cousin of the Queen 136 THE LITTLE MANX NATION [LECT. in of the May. The Mheillia is the harvest-home. It is a picturesque ceremonial, observed differently in different parts. Women and girls follow the reapers to gather and bind the corn after it has fallen to the swish of the sickles. A handful of the standing corn of the last of the farmer's fields is tied about with ribbon. Nobody but the farmer knows where that handful is, and the girl who conies upon it by chance is made the Queen of the Mheillia. She takes it to the highest eminence near, and waves it, and her fellow-reapers and gleaners shout huzzas. Their voices are heard through the valley, where other farmers and other reapers and gleaners stop in their work and say, " So-and-so's Mheillia ! " " Ballamona's Mheillia's took ! " That night the farmer gives a feast in his barn to celebrate the getting in of his harvest, and the close of the work of the women at the harvest- ing. Sheep's heads for a change on Manx herrings, English ale for a change on Manx jough ; then dancing led by the mistress, to the tune of a fiddle, played faster and wilder as the night advances, reel and jig, jig and reel. This pretty rural festival is still observed, though it has lost much of its quaint ness. I think I can just remem- LECT. m] THE LITTLE MANX NATION 137 her to have heard the shouts of the Mheillia from the breasts of the mountains. You will have gathered that in no part of the world could you find a more reckless and ill- conditioned breeding-ground of suppositions, legends, traditions, and superstitions than in the Isle of Man. The custom of hunting the wren is widely spread throughout Ireland ; and if I were to tell you of Manx wedding customs, Manx burial customs, Manx birth customs, May day, Lammas, Good Friday, New Year, and Christmas customs, you would recognise in the Manxman the same irre- sponsible tendency to appropriate whatever flotsam drifts to his shore. What I have told you has come mainly of my own observation, but for a complete picture of Manx manners and customs, beliefs and superstitions, I will refer you to William Kennish's " Mona's Isle, and other Poems," a rare book, with next to no poetic quality, and containing much that is worthless, but having a good body of real native stuff in it, such as cannot be found elsewhere. A still better anthology is likely to be soon forthcoming from the pen of Mr. A. W. Moore v (the excellent editor of " Manx Names ") and the press of Mr. Nutt. 138 THE LITTLE MANX NATION [LECT. in It is easy to laugh at these old superstitions, so childish do they seem, so foolish, so ignorant. But shall we therefore set ourselves so much above our fathers because they were slaves to them, and we believe them not ? Bethink you. Are we so much wiser, after all ? How much farther have we got ? We know the mists of Mannanan. They are only the vapours from the south, creeping along the ridge of our mountains, going north. Is that enough to know ? We know the cold eye of the evil man, whose mere presence hurts us, and the warm eye of the born physician, whose mere presence heals us. Does that tell us everything ? We hear the moans which the sea sends up to the mountains, when storms are coming, and ships are to be wrecked, and we do not call them the voices of the Nightman, but only the voices of the wind. We have changed the name ; but we have taken none of the mystery and marvel out of the thing itself. It is the Wind for us ; it was the Nightman for our fathers. That is nearly all. The wind bloweth where it listeth. We are as far off as ever. Our superstitions remain, only we call them Science, and try not to be afraid of them. But we are as little children after all, and the best of us LECT. in] THE LITTLE MANX NATION 139 are those that, being wisest, see plainest that, before the wonders and terrors of the great world we live in, we are children, walking hand-in-hand in fear. Manx Stories You will say that there ought to be many good stories of a people like the Manx ; and here again I have to confess to you that the absence of all literary conscience, all perception of keeping and relation, all sense of harmony and congruity in the Manxman has so demoralised our anecdotal ana that I hesitate to offer you certain of the best of our Manx yarns from fear that they may be vener- able English, Irish, and Scotch familiars. I will content myself with a few that bear undoubted Manx lineaments. As an instance of Manx hos- pitality, simple and rude, but real and hearty, I think you would go the world over to match this. The late Rev. Hugh Stowell Brown, a Manxman, brother of the most famous of living Manxmen, and himself our North-country Spurgeon, with his wife, his sister, and his mother, were belated one evening up Baldwin Glen, and stopped at a farm- 140 THE LITTLE MANX NATION [LECT. in house to inquire their way. But the farmer would not hear of their going a step further. " Aw, non- sense ! " he said. " What's the use of talkin', man ? You'll be stoppin' with us to-night. Aw 'deed ye will, though. The women can get along together aisy, and you re a clane lookin* sort o' chap; you'll be sleepiri with me." In the old days of, say, two steamboats a week to England the old Manx captains of the Steamboat Company were notorious soakers. There is a story of one of them who had the Archdeacon of the island aboard in a storm. It was night. The reverend Archdeacon was in an agony of pain and terror. He inquired anxiously of the weather. The captain, very drunk, answered, " If it doesn't mend we'll all be in heaven before morning, Arch- deacon ! " " Oh, God forbid, captain," cried the Archdeacon. I have said what true work for religion Noncon- formity must have done in those evil days when the clergy of the Athols were more busy with back- gammon than with theology. But the religion of the old type of Manx Methodist was often an amusing mixture of puritanism and its opposite, a sort of grim, white-faced sanctity, that was never LECT. in] THE LITTLE MANX NATION 141 altogether free of the suspicion of a big boisterous laugh behind it. The Methodist local preachers have been the real guardians and repositories of one side of the Manx genius, a curious, hybrid thing, deadly earnest, often howlingly ludicrous, simple, generally sincere, here and there audaciously hypo- critical. Among local preachers I remember some of the sweetest, purest, truest men that ever walked this world of God ; but I also remember a man who was brought home from market on Saturday night, dead drunk, across the bottom of his cart drawn by his faithful horse, and I saw him in the pulpit next morning, and heard his sermon on the evils of backsliding. There is a story of the jealousy of two local preachers. The one went to hear the other preach. The preacher laid out his subject under a great many heads, firstly, secondly, thirdly, up to tenthly. His rival down below in the pew spat and haw'd and tchufd a good deal, and at last, quite impatient of getting no solid reli- gious food, cried aloud, " Give us mate, man, give us mate ! " Whereupon the preacher leaned over the pulpit cushion, and said, " Hould on, man, till I've done with the carving." But to tell of Happy Dan, and his wondrous 142 THE LITTLE MANX NATION [LECT. in sermon on the Prodigal Son at the Clover Stones, Lonan, and his discourse on the swine possessed of devils who went " triddle-traddle, triddle-traddle down the brews and were clane drownded ; " and of the marvellous account of how King David remon- strated in broadest Manx/xz/o/s with the " pozzle-tree/' for being blown down ; and then of the grim earnestness of a good man who could never preach on a certain text without getting wet through to the waistcoat with perspiration to open the flood-gates of this kind of Manx story would be to liberate a reservoir that would hardly know an end, so I must spare you. Manx "Characters" At various points of my narrative I have touched on certain of our eccentric Manx " characters. " But perhaps more interesting than any such whom I have myself met with are some whom I have known only by repute. These children of Nature are after all the truest touchstones of a nation's genius. Crooked, distorted, deformed, they never- theless, and perhaps therefore, show clearly the bent of their race. If you are without brake or curb you may be blind, but you must know when LECT. in] THE LITTLE MANX NATION 143 you are going down hill. The curb of education, and the brake of common-sense are the surest checks on a people's individuality. And these poor half- wits of the Manx race, wiser withal than many of the Malvolios who smile on them so demurely, exhibit the two great racial qualities of the Manx people the Celtic and the Norse in vivid com- panionship and contrast. It is an amusing fact that in some wild way the bardic spirit breaks out in all of them. They are all singers, either of their own songs, or the songs of others. That surely is the Celtic strain in them. But their songs are never of the- joys of earth or of love, or yet of war ; never, like th'e rustic poetry of the Scotch, full of pawky humour ; never cynical, never sar- castic ; only concerned with the terrors of judgment and damnation and the place of torment. That, also, may be a fierce and dark development of the Celtic strain, but I see more of the Norse spirit in it. When my ancient bard in Glen Rushen took down his thumb-marked, greasy, discoloured poems from the " lath " against the open-timbered ceiling, and read them aloud to me in his broad Manx dialect, with a sing-song of voice and a swinging motion of body, while the loud hailstorm pelted the 144 THE LITTLE MANX NATION [LECT. m window pane and the wind whistled round the house, I found they were all startling and almost ghastly appeals to the sinner to shun his evil courses. One of them ran like this : HELL IS HOT. O sinner, see your dangerous state, And think of hell ere 'tis too late ; When worldly cares would drown each thought, Pray call to mind that hell is hot. Still to increase your godly fears, Let this be sounding in your ears, Still bear in mind that hell is hot, Remember and forget it not. There was another poem about a congregation of the dead in the region of the damned : I found a reverend parson there, A congregation too, Bowed on their bended knees at prayer, As they were wont to do. But soon my heart was struck with pain, I thought it truly odd, The parson's prayer did not contain A word concerning God. You will remember the Danish book called " Letters from Hell/' containing exactly the same idea, and conclude that the Manx bard was poking fun at some fashionable yet worldly-minded preacher. But no : he was too much a child of Nature for that. LECT. in] THE LITTLE MANX NATION 145 There is not much satire in the Manx character, and next to no cynicism at all. The true Manxman is white-hot. I have heard of one, John Gale, called the Manx Burns, who lampooned the upstarts about him, and also of one, Tom the Dipper, an itinerant Manx bard, who sang at fairs ; but in a general way the Manx bard has been a deadly earnest person, most at home in churchyards. There was one such, akin in character to my old friend Billy of Maughold, but of more universal popularity, a quite privileged pet of everybody, a sort of sacred being, though as crazy as man may be, called Chalse-a-Killey. Chaise was scarcely a bard, but a singer of the songs of bards. He was a religious monomaniac, who lived before his time, poor fellow ; his madness would not be seen in him now. The idol of his crazed heart was Bishop Wilson. He called him dear and sweet, vowed he longed to die, just that he might meet him in heaven; then Wilson would take him by the hand, and he would tell him all his mind, and together they would set up a printing press, with the types of diamonds, and print hymns, and send them back to the Isle of Man. Poor, 'wildered brain, haunted by " half-born thoughts," not all delusions, but quaint K 146 THE LITTLE MANX NATION [LECT. m and grotesque. Full of valiant fury, Chaise was always ready to fight for his distorted phantom of the right. When an uncle of my own died, whose name I bear, Chaise shocked all the proprieties by announcing his intention of walking in front of the funeral procession through the streets and singing his terrible hymns. He would yield to no persua- sion, no appeals, and no threats. He had promised the dead man that he would do this, and he would not break his oath to save his life. It was agony to the mourners, but they had to submit. Chaise fulfilled his vow, walked ten yards in front, sang his fierce music with the tears streaming from his wild eyes down his quivering face. But the spectacle let loose no unseemly mirth. Nobody laughed, and surely if the heaven that Chaise feared was listening and looking down, his crazy voice was not the last to pierce the dome of it. My friend the Rev. T. E. Brown has written a touching and beautiful poem, " To Chaise in Heaven " : So you are gone, dear Chaise ! Ah well ; it was enough The ways were cold, the ways were rough. O Heaven ! O home ! No more to roam, Chaise, poor Chaise ! And now it's all so plain, dear Chaise ! LECT. m] THE LITTLE MANX NATION 147 So plain The 'wildered brain, The joy, the pain The phantom shapes that haunted, The half-born thoughts that daunted : All, all is plain, Dear Chaise ! All is plain. * # * * # * Ah now, dear Chaise ! of all the radiant host, Who loves you most ? I think I know him, kneeling on his knees ; Is it Saint Francis of Assise ? Chaise, poor Chaise. Manx Characteristics I have rambled on too long about my eccentric Manx characters, and left myself little space for a summary of the soberer Manx character- istics. These are independence, modesty, a degree of sloth, a non-sanguine temperament, pride, and some covetousness. This uncanny combination of characteristics is perhaps due to our mixed Celtic and Norse blood. Our independence is pure Norse. I have never met the like of it, except in Norway, where a Bergen policeman who had hunted all the morning for my lost umbrella would not take anything for his pains ; and in Iceland, where a 148 THE LITTLE MANX NATION [LECT. in poor old woman in a ragged woollen dress, a torn hufa on her head, torn skin shoes on her feet, and with rheumatism playing visible havoc all over her body, refused a kroner with the dignity, grave look, stiffened lips, and proud head that would have become a duchess. But the Manxman's indepen- dence almost reaches a vice. He is so unwilling to owe anything to any man that he is apt to become self-centred and cold, and to lose one of the sweetest joys of life that of receiving great favours from those we greatly love, between whom and ourselves there is no such thing as an obligation, and no such thing as a debt. There is something in the Manxman's blood that makes him hate rank ; and though he has a vast respect for wealth, it must be his own, for he will take off his hat to nobody else's. The modesty of the Manxman reaches shyness, and his shyness is capable of making him downright rude. One of my friends tells a charming story, very characteristic of our people, of a conversation with the men of the herring-fleet. " We were comin' home from the Shetland fishing, ten boats of us ; and we come to an anchor in a bay. And there was a tremenjis fine castle there, and a LECT. m] THE LITTLE MANX NATION 149 ter'ble great lady. Aw, she was a ter'ble kind lady; she axed the lot of us (eighty men and boys, eight to each boat) to come up and have dinner with her. So the day come well, none of us went ! That shy ! " My friend reproved them soundly, and said he wished he knew who the lady was that he might write to her and apologise. Then followed a long story of how a breeze sprung up and eight of the boats sailed. After that the crew of the remaining two boats, sixteen men and boys, went up to the tremenjis great castle, and the ter'ble great lady, and had tea. If any lady here present knows a lady on the north-west coast of Scotland who a year or two back invited eighty Manx men and boys to dinner, and received sixteen to tea, she will redeem the character of our race if she will explain that it was not because her hospitality was not appreciated that it was not accepted by our foolish countrymen. There is nothing that more broadly indicates the Norse strain in the Manx character than the non- sanguine temperament of the Manxmen. Where the pure Celt will hope anything and promise everything, the Manxman will hope not at all and promise nothing. " Middling " is the commonest 150 THE LITTLE MANX NATION [LECT. in word in a Manxman's mouth. Hardly anything is entirely good, or wholly bad, but nearly everything is middling. It's a middling fine day, or a middling stormy one ; the sea is middling smooth or middling rough ; the herring harvest is middling big or middling little ; a man is never much more, than middling tired, or middling well, or middling hungry, or middling thirsty, and the place you are travelling to is always, middling near or middling far. The true Manxman commits himself to nothing. When Nelson was shot down at Trafalgar, Cowle, a one-armed Manx quartermaster, caught him in his remaining arm. This was Cowle's story : " He fell right into my arms, sir. ' Mr. Cowle,' he says, ' do you think I shall recover ? ' ' I think, my lord/ I says, l we had better wait for the opinion of the medical man.' " Dear old Cowle, that cautious word showed you were no Irishman, but a downright middling Manxman. I have one more story to tell, and that is of Manx pride, which is a wondrous thing, usually very ludicrous. A young farming girl who will go about barefoot throughout the workdays of the week would rather perish than not dress in grand attire, after her own sort, on Sunday afternoon. But Manx pride in dress can be very touching and LECT. in] THE LITTLE MANX NATION 151 human. When the lighthouse was built on the Chickens Rock, the men who were to live in it were transferred from two old lighthouses on the little islet called the Calf of Man, but their families were left in the disused lighthouses. - Thus the men were parted from their wives and children, but each could see the house of the other, and on Sunday mornings the wives in their old lighthouses always washed and dressed the children and made them " nice " and paraded them to and fro on the platforms in front of the doors, and the men in their new lighthouse always looked across the Sound at their little ones through their powerful telescopes. Manx Types Surely that is a lovely story, full of real sweet- ness and pathos. It reminds me that amid many half-types of dubious quality, selfish, covetous, quarrelsome, litigious, there are at least two types of Manx character entirely charming and delightful. The one is the best type of Manx seaman, a true son of the sea, full of wise saws and proverbs, full of long yarns and wondrous adventures, up to any- 152 THE LITTLE MANX NATION [LECT. in thing, down to anything, pragmatical, a mighty moralist in his way, but none the less equal to a round ringing oath ; a sapient adviser putting on the airs of a philosopher, but as simple as the baby of a girl in a word, dear old Tom Baynes of " Fo'c's'le Yarns," old salt, old friend, old rip. The other type is that of the Manx parish patriarch. This good soul it would be hard to beat among all the peoples of earth. He unites the best qualities of both sexes ; he is as soft and gentle as a dear old woman, and as firm of purpose as a strong man. Garrulous, full of platitudes, easily moved to tears by a story of sorrow and as easily taken in, but beloved and trusted and reverenced by all the little world about him. I have known him as a farmer, and seen him sitting at the head of his table in the farm kitchen, with his sons and daughters and men- servants and women-servants about him, and, save for ribald gossip, no one of whatever condition abridged the flow of talk for his presence. I have known him as a parson, when he has been the father of his parish, the patriarch of his people, the " ould angel " of all the hillside round about. Such sweetness in his home life, such nobility, such gentle, old-fashioned ceremoniousness, such delight- LECT. m] THE LITTLE MANX NATION 153 ful simplicity of manners. Then when two of these " ould angels " met, two of these Parson Adamses, living in content on seventy pounds a year, such high talk on great themes, long hour after long hour in the little low-ceiled Vicarage study, with no light but the wood fire, which glistened on the diamond window-pane ! And when mid- night came seeing each other home, spending half the night walking to and fro from Vicarage to Vicarage, or turning out to saddle the horse in the field, but (far away " in wandering mazes lost ") going blandly up to the old cow and putting on the blinkers and saying, " Here he is, sir." Have we anything like all this in England ? Their type is nearly extinct even in the Isle of Man, where they have longest survived. And indeed they are not the only good things that are dying out there. Literary Associations The island has next to no literary associations, but it would be unpardonable in a man of letters if he were to forget the few it can boast. Joseph Train, our historian, made the acquaintance of 154 THE LITTLE MANX NATION [LECT. m Scott in 1814, and during the eighteen years following he rendered important services to " The Great Unknown "as a collector of some of the legendary stories used as foundations for what were then called the Scotch Novels. But it is a common error that Train found the groundwork of the Manx part of " Peveril of the Peak/' It was Scott who directed Train to the Isle of Man as a fine subject for study. Scott's brother Thomas lived there, and no doubt this was the origin of Scott's interest in the island. Scott himself never set foot on it. Wordsworth visited the island about 1823, and he recorded his impressions in various sonnets, and also in the magnificent lines on Peel Castle " I was thy neighbour once, thou rugged pile." He also had a relative living there Miss Hutchinson, his sister-in-law. A brother of this lady, a mariner, lies buried in Braddan churchyard, and his tombstone bears an epitaph which Words- worth indited. The poet spent a summer at Peel, pitching his tent above what is now called Peveril Terrace. One of my friends tried long ago to pump up from this sapless soil some memory of Words- worth, but no one could remember anything about him. Shelley is another poet of whom there LECT. m] THE LITTLE MANX NATION 155 remains no trace in the Isle of Man. He visited the island early in 1812, being driven into Douglas harbour by contrary winds on his voyage from Cumberland to Ireland. He was then almost un- known; Harriet was still with him, and his head was full of political reforms. The island was in a state of some turmoil, owing to the unpopularity of the Athols, who still held manorial rights and the patronage of the Bishopric. The old Norse Con- stitution was intact, and the House of Keys was then a self-elected chamber. It is not wonderful that Shelley made no impression on Man in 1812, but it is surprising that Man seems to have made no impression on Shelley. It made a very sensible impression on Hawthorne, who left his record in the " English Note Book." Manx Progress I am partly conscious that throughout these lectures I have kept my face towards the past. That has been because I have been loth to look at the present, and almost afraid to peep into the future. The Isle of Man is not now what it was even five- 156 THE LITTLE MANX NATION [LECT. in and-twenty years ago. It has become too English of late. The change has been sudden. Quite within my own recollection England seemed so far away that there was something beyond conception moving and impressive in the effect of it and its people upon the imagination of the Manx. There were only about two steamers a week between England and the Isle of Man at that time. Now there are about two a day. There are lines of railway on this little plot of land, which you might cross on foot between breakfast and lunch, and cover from end to end in a good day's walk. This is, of course, a necessity of the altered conditions, as also, no doubt, are the parades, and esplanades, and promenades, and iron piers, and marine carriage drives, and Eiffel Tower, and old castles turned into Vauxhall Gardens, and fairy glens into " happy day " Roshervilles. God forbid that I should grudge the factory hand his breath of the sea and glimpse of the gorse-bushes ; but I know what price we are paying that we may entertain him. Our young Manxman is already feeling the Eng- lish immigration on his character. He is not as good a man as his father was before him. I dare LECT. m] THE LITTLE MANX NATION 157 say that in his desire to make everything English that is Manx, he may some day try to abolish the House of Keys, or at least dig up the Tynwald Hill. In one fit of intermittent mania, he has already attempted to " restore " the grand ruins of Peel Castle, getting stones from Whitehaven, filling up loop-holes, and doing other indecencies with the great works of the dead. All this could be understood if the young Manxman were likely to be much the richer for the changes he is bringing about. But he is not ; the money that comes from England is largely taken by English people, and comes back to England. Conclusion From these ungracious thoughts let me turn again, in a last word, to the old island itself, the true Mannin-veg-Veen of the real Manxman. In these lectures you have seen it only as in flashes from a dark lantern. I am conscious that an historian would have told you so much more of solid fact that you might have carried away tangible ideas. Fact is not my domain, and I shall have to be 158 THE LITTLE MANX NATION [LECT. in content if in default of it I have got you close to that less palpable thing, the living heart of Manx- land, shown you our island, helped you to see its blue waters and to scent its golden gorse, and to know the Manxman from other men. Sometimes I have been half ashamed to ask you to look at our countrymen, so rude are they and so primitive russet-coated, currane-shod men and women, untaught, superstitious, fishing the sea, tilling their stony land, playing next to no part in the world, and only gazing out on it as a mys- tery far away, whereof the rumour comes over the great waters. No great man among us, no great event in our history, nothing to make us memorable. But I have been re-assured when I have remem- bered that, after all, to look on a life so simple and natural might even be a tonic. Here we are in the heart of the mighty world, which the true Manxman knows only by vague report ; millions on millions huddled together, enough to make five hundred Isles of Man, more than all the Manxmen ' that have lived since the days of Orry, more than all that now walk on the island, added to all that rest under it ; streets on streets of us, parks on parks, living a life that has no touch of Nature in LECT. in] THE LITTLE MANX NATION 159 the ways of it ; save only in our own breasts, which often rebel against our surroundings, struggling with weariness under their artificiality, and the wild travesty of what we are made for. Do what we will, and be what we may, sometimes we feel the falseness of our ways of life, and surely it is then a good and wholesome thing to go back in thought to such children of Nature as my homespun Manx people, and see them where Nature placed them, breathing the free air of God's proper world, and living the right lives of His servants, though so simple, poor, and rude. PRINTED BY BALLANTYNE, HANSON AND CO. LONDON AND EDINBURGH. TELEGRAPHIC ADDRESS SUNLOCKS, LONDON. JUNE MR. WILLIAM HEINEMANN'S ANNOUNCEMENTS AND NEW PUBLICATIONS. *** The Books mentioned in this List can be obtained to order by any Book- seller if not in siock> or will be sent by the Publisher Post free on receipt of price. MR. WILLIAM HEINEMANN'S LIST. Now Ready. IMPERIAL GERMANY, A CRITICAL STUDY OF FACT AND CHARACTER. BY SIDNEY WHITMAN. NEW EDITION, REVISED AND ENLARGED. Small crown 8vo, cloth, 33. 6d. ; paper, 2s. 6d. OPINIONS ON "IMPERIAL GERMANY." Count Moltke. "I have read this study on Germany with the greatest interest. There can be no doubt that every State requires a government suited to its individual idiosyncrasies. A Constitution like that of England secure through her geographical position a Constitution gradually developed out of the character of the nation, could never be transferred to the continent of Europe. " France during the last century has tried alternately monarchy in various forms, empire, and republic, without arriving at any definite result. "Germany, on the other hand, only so recently united as an Empire, is an intruder, a parvenu, in the family of European States. Hemmed in between mighty neighbours, we are of opinion that we require a strong monarchy. It was therefore a great pleasure for me to find that full justice had been done to the ancient and proven paternal government of the Hohenzollern." Prince Bismarck."! consider the different chapters of this book masterly." Professor BlacMe. "I class this work with Aristotle's Politics and Bryce's America, as one of the three best books on the concrete philosophy of politics that I know. No better work could be placed into the hands of our modern false prophets of liberty and irreverence than the chapters on the Prussian Monarchy. And yet, though the author's main business is to exhibit excellence, he is always just, and never attempts to veil the faults or to deny the dangers that belong to any form of social organisation. " Professor Goldwin Smith. "I hope it is not presumptuous in a stranger to express to you the pleasure with which he has read your ' Imperial Germany,' especially that part of it in which you do justice to Bismarck." 2 21 BEDFORD STREET, LONDON, W.C. MR. WILLIAM HEINEMANN'S LIST. Now Heady. In Two Volumes, Demy 8vo, with Portraits, 305. net. DE QUINCEY MEMORIALS. BEING LETTERS AND OTHER RECORDS HERE FIRST PUB- LISHED, WITH COMMUNICATIONS FROM COLERIDGE, TH& WORDSWORTHS, HANNAH MORE, PROFESSOR WILSOH, AND OTHERS. Edited, with Introduction, Notes, and Narrative, BY ALEXANDEE H. JAPP, LL.D., F.E.S.E. Daily Telegraph. "Few works of greater literary interest have of late years issued from the press than the two volumes of ' De Quincey Memorials.' They comprise most valuable materials for the historian of literary and social England at the beginning of the century ; but they are not on that account less calculated to amuse, enlighten, and absorb the general reader of biographical memoirs. " POSTHUMOUS WORKS OF THOMAS DE QUINCEY, VOLUME I. Crown 8vo, 6a. SUSPIRIA DE PROFUNDIS, WITH OTHER ESSAYS, CRITICAL, HISTORICAL, BIOGRAPHICAL, PHILOSOPHICAL, IMAGINATIVE, AND HUMOROUS. Edited, with Introduction and Notes, from the Author's Original MSS., by ALEXANDER H. JAPP, LL.D., F.R.S.E., &c. The Times. "Here we have De Quincey at his best. Will bs welcome to lovers of De Quincey and lovers of good literature." Anti- Jacobin. "In these Suspiria De Quincey writes with the sonorous grandeur of Cicero, while his subject is some vision or imagination worthy of Poe." 21 BEDFORD STREET, LONDON, W.O, MR. WILLIAM HEINEMANN'S LIST. Now Ready. COMPLETE WORKS OF HEINRICH HEINE. VOLUME I. Crown 8vo, 53. Florentine Nights, Schnabelewopski, The Rabbi of Bacharach, and Shakespeare's Maidens and Women, TRANSLATED BY CHARLES GODFBEY LELAKD, M.A., F.K.L.S., President of the Gypsy Lore Society, &c. &c. A WANT has long been felt and often expressed by different writers for a complete English edition of Heine's works. That this has never been done is the more remarkable, because HEINE is, next to GOETHE, the most universally popular author in Germany* and one who, although he termed himself an unlicked Teutonic savage, wrote in a style and manner which have made him a leading favourite in all countries. Early volumes will contain the KEISEBILDER, or PICTURES OF TRAVEL, probably the most brilliant and entertaining, while at the same time the most instructive or thought- inspiring, work of its kind ever written ; and THE BOOK OF SONGS. Others will be announced later. Dr. Garnett is preparing a "Life of Heine/' which will be uniform with this edition of Heine's works. %* A Large Paper Edition will oe printed, limited to one hundred and fifty copies, numbered, and signed by the translator. 21 BEDFORD STREET, LONDON, W.C. MR. WILLIAM HEINEMANN'S LIST. Now Ready. Second Edition. In One Yoluine, Demy 8vo, 123. 6d. THE COMING TERROR, AND OTHER ESSAYS AND LETTERS. .BY ROBERT BUCHANAN. Times. "In one and all of his sallies, whether extravagant or not, Mr. Buchanan displays an exuberance of pungent expression that is itself enough to secure the amused attention of the reader." Daily Chronicle. " This amusing, wrong - headed, audacious, * cranky ' book should be widely read, for there is not a dull line in it." Daily Telegraph. " Mr. Buchanan is justly renowned as a master of keen and withering invective ; in his latest published work he brilliantly sustains his reputation in this regard." St. James's Gazette. "We cannot but admire the vigour with which he slashes around him, and the dexterity with which he sends straight to their mark his sharply-tipped arrows." Sunday Times. "Welcome as a thoughtful and scholarly contri- bution to the settlement of many vital questions on which we have too little light, and regarding which even intelligent people are apt to decide with the * intellectual levity ' deprecated by a thinker of a different school, the late Matthew Arnold." In Two Volumes 8vo, ^3, 133. 6d. THE GENESIS OP THE UNITED STATES. A NARRATIVE OF THE MOVEMENT IN ENGLAND, 1605-1616, WHICH RESULTED IN THE PLANTATION OF NORTH AMERICA BY ENGLISH- MEN, DISCLOSING THE CONTEST BETWEEN ENGLAND AND SPAIN FOR THE POSSESSION OF THE SOIL NOW OCCUPIED BY THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ; SET FORTH THROUGH A SERIES OF HIS- TORICAL MANUSCRIPTS NOW FIRST PRINTED, TOGETHER WITH A RE-ISSUE OF RARE CONTEMPORANEOUS TRACTS, ACCOMPANIED BY BIBLIOGRAPHICAL MEMORANDA, NOTES, AND BRIEF BIO- GRAPHIES. COLLECTED, ARRANGED, AND EDITED BY ALEXANDER BROWN, Member of the Virginia Historical Society and of the American His- torical Association, Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. With 100 Portraits, Maps, and Plans. Times. "The history of the origin of the United States has never yet been adequately written. Mr. A. Brown has gone some way to remedy this deficiency in the early history of his country by the publication in two bulky volumes of his valuable book. The under- taking is a patriotic one and deserves commendation. 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Small Crown 8vo. Illustrated. THE LITTLE MANX NATION, LECTURES DELIVERED AT THE ROYAL INSTITUTION, i8qi. BY HALL CAINE. *** ALSO A LIMITED LAKGE PAPER EDITION. In 8vo. THE SALON OF MARIE BASMKIRTSEFF, LETTERS AND JOURNALS. With Drawings and Studies by the youthful Artist. In preparation. In One Volume, Small 4to. THE FRUITS OF ENLIGHTENMENT! A COMEDY IN FOUR ACTS. BY COUNT LYOF TOLSTOI. TRANSLATED FKOM THE RUSSIAN BY E. J. DILLON. j.n One Volume, Small 4to. MAHOMET; A DRAMA. BY HALL CAINE. In One Volume, Crown 8vo, 53. NERO AND ACTE1A, A TRAGEDY. By EEIC MACKAY. Author of "A Lover's Litanies," and "Love Letters'of a Violinist." (21 BEDFORD STREET, LONDON, W.O. 9 MR. WILLIAM HEINEMANN'S LIST. HEINEMANN'S INTERNATIONAL LIBRARY. EDITED BY EDMUND GOSSE. %* Each Volume has an Introduction specially written by the Editor. IN GOD'S WAY. By BJORNSTJERNE BJORNSON. Translated from the Norwegian by ELIZABETH CAR- MICHAEL; In One Volume, crown 8vo, 33. 6d. ; or Paper Covers, 28. 6d. Athenseum. "Without doubt the most important, and the most interesting work published during the twelve months. . . . There are descriptions which certainly belong to the best and cleverest things our literature has ever produced. Amongst the many characters, the doctor's wife is unquestionably the first. It would be difficult to find anything more tender, soft, and refined than this charming per- sonage." Saturday Review. "The English reader could desire no better introduction to contemporary foreign fiction than this notable novel. Speaker." ' In God's "Way ' is really a notable book." PIERRE AND JEAN. By GUY DE MAUPASSANT. Translated from the French by CLARA BELL. In One Volume, crown 8vo, 35. 6d. ; or Paper Covers, 2s. 6d. Pall Mall Gazette." So fine and faultless, so perfectly balanced, so steadily progressive, so clear and simple and satisfying. It is admirable from beginning to end." Athenaeum." Ranks amongst the best gems of modern French fiction." THE CHIEF JUSTICE. By KARL EMIL FRANZOS. Author of "For the Right," &c. Translated from the German by MILES CORBET. One Volume, crown 8vo, 35. 6d. ; or Paper Covers, 2s. 6d. The New Review. "Few novels of recent times have a more sustained arid vivid human interest." Christian World. A story of wonderful power ... as free from anything objectionable as 'The Heart of Midlothian.'" Manchester Guardian. "Simple, forcible, and intensely tragic. It is a very powerful study, singularly grand in its simplicity." Sunday Times. "A series of dramatic scenes welded together with a never-failing interest and skill." 10 21 BEDFORD STREET, LONDON, W.C. MR. WILLIAM HEINEMANN'S LIST. HEINEMAffl'S INTERNATIONAL WORK WHILE YE HAVE THE LIGHT. By COUNT LYOF TOLSTOI. Translated from the Russian by E. J. DILLON, Ph.D. In One Volume, crown 8vo, 33. 6d.; or Paper Covers, 2S. 6d. Glasgow Herald. "Mr. Gosse gives a brief biographical sketch of Tolstoi, and an interesting estimate of his literary productions." Scotsman. "It is impossible to convey any adequate idea of the simplicity and force with which the work is unfolded ; no one who reads the book will dispute its author's greatness." Liverpool Mercury. "Marked by all the old power of the great Russian novelist." Manchester Guardian. "Readable and well translated; full of high and noble feeling." FANTASY. By MATILDE SERAO. Translated from the Italian by HENRY HARLAND and PAUL SYLVESTER. In One Volume, crown 8vo, 33. 6d. ; or Paper Covers, 2s. 6d. National Observer. " The strongest work from the hand of a woman that has been published for many a day." Scottish Leader. "The book is full of a glowing and living realism. . . . There is nothing like ' Fantasy ' in modern literature. . . . It is a work of elfish art, a mosaic of life and love, of right and wrong, of human weakness and strength, and purity and wantonness, pieced together in deft and witching precision." FROTH. By DON ARMANDO PALACIO VALD^S. Translated from the Spanish by CLARA BELL. In One Volume, crown 8vo, 33. 6d. or Paper Covers, 2S. 6d. Daily Telegraph. " Vigorous and powerful in the highest degree. It abounds in forcible delineation of character, and describes scenes with rare and graphic strength." In the Press. THE COMMODORE'S DAUGHTERS. By JONAS LIE. Translated from the Norwegian by H. L. BR^EK- STAD and GERTRUDE HUGHES. FOOTSTEPS OF FATE. By Louis COUPEBUS. Translated from the Dutch by CLARA BELL. 21 BEDFORD STREET, LONDON, W.C. MR. WILLIAM HEINEMANN'S LIST. 1Rew Worfes of jfictfom THE BONDMAN. A New Saga. BY HALL CAINE. Fourth Edition (Sixteenth Thousand). In One Volume. Crown 8vo, 33. 6d. Mr. Gladstone. "The 'Bondman' is a work of which I recognise the freshness, vigour, and sustained interest no less than its integrity of aim." Count Tolstoi." A book I have read with deep interest." Standard. "Its argument is grand, and it is sustained with a power that is almost marvellous." IN THE VALLEY. A Novel. By HAROLD FREDERIC, Author of "The Lawton Girl," "Seth's Brother's Wife," &c. &c. In Three Volumes. Crown 8vo, with Illustrations. Mr. Gladstone. "It has a great historical interest from its apparently faithful exhibition of the relations of the different nation- alities and races who were so curiously grouped together in and about the State of New York, before the war of American independence." Athenseum. "A romantic story, both graphic and exciting, not merely in the central picture itself, but also in its weird surroundings. This is a novel deserving to be read." Manchester Examiner. " Certain to win the reader's admiration. ' In the Valley ' is a novel that deserves to live." Scotsman. "A work of real ability; it stands apart from the common crowd of three- volume novels." A MARKED MAN : Some Episodes in his Life. By ADA CAMBRIDGE, Author of "Two Years' Time," "A Mere Chance," &c. &c. In Three Volumes, crown 8vo. Morning Post." A depth of feeling, a knowledge of the human heart, and an amount of tact that one rarely finds. Should take a prominent place among the novels of the season. " Illustrated London News. "The moral tone of this story, rightly considered, is pure and noble, though it deals with the problem of an unhappy marriage." Pall Mall Gazette. "Contains one of the best written stories of a mesalliance that is to be found in modern fiction." 21 BEDFORD STREET, LONDON, W.O. MR. WILLIAM HEINEMANN'S LIST. Iftew Worfts ot tfictiom THE MOMENT AFTER: A Tale of the Un- seen. By ROBERT BUCHANAN. Popular Edition, crown 8vo, is. Athenseum. " Should be read in daylight." Observer." A clever tour deforce." Guardian. " Particularly impressive, graphic, and powerful. " Bristol Mercury. "Written with the same poetic feeling and power which have given a rare charm to Mr. Buchanan's previous prose writings." COME FORTH ! By ELIZABETH STUART PHELPS and HERBERT D. WARD. In One Volume, imperial i6mo, 73. 6d. Scotsman. "'Come Forth ! ' is the story of the raising of Lazarus, amplified into a dramatic love-story. ... It has a simple, forthright dramatic interest such as is seldom attained except in purely imagina- tive fiction. " THE MASTER OF THE MAGICIANS. By ELIZABETH STUART PHELPS and HERBERT D. WARD. In One Volume, imperial i6mo, ys. 6d. The Athenaeum. "A success in Biblical fiction." THE DOMINANT SEVENTH; A Musical Story. BY KATE ELIZABETH CLARK. In One Volume, crown 8vo, 53. Speaker." A very romantic story." A VERY STRANGE FAMILY; A Novel. By F. W. ROBINSON, Author of "Grandmother's Money," u Lazarus in London," &c. &c. In One Volume, crown 8vo, 33. 6d. Glasgow Herald. "An ingeniously-devised plot, of which the interest is kept up to the very last page. A judicious blending of humour and pathos further helps to make the book delightful reading from start to finish." 21 BEDFORD STREET, LONDON, W.O. 13 MR. WILLIAM HEINEMANN'S LIST. iRew Morfts of ffictiom HAUNTINGS: Fantastic Stories. By VERNON LEE, Author of "Baldwin," "Miss Brown," &c. &c. In One Volume, crown Svo, 6s. Pall Mall Gazette. ""Well imagined, cleverly constructed, power- fully executed. ' Dionea ' is a fine and impressive idea, and * Oke of Okehurst' a masterly story." PASSION THE PLAYTHING. A Novel. By E. MURRAY GILCHRIST. In One Volume, crown Svo, 6s. At&enaeum. "This well- written story must be read to be appre- ciated." YorksMre Post. "A book to lay hold of the reader." IRecent publications* THE LABOUR MOVEMENT IN AMERICA. By RICHARD T. ELY, Ph.D., Associate in Political Economy, Johns Hopkins University. In One Volume, crown Svo, 53. Weekly Despatch. " There is much to interest and instruct." Saturday Review.- "Both interesting and valuable." England. "Full of information and thought/' National Reformer.*' Chapter iii. deals with the growth and present condition of labour organisations in America . . . this forma a most valuable page of history." ARABIC AUTHORS: A Manual of Arabian History and Literature. ByF.F.ARBUTHNOT,M.R.A.S., Author of "Early Ideas," "Persian Portraits," &c. In One Volume, Svo, JOB. Manchester Examiner. "The whole work has been carefully indexed, and will prove a handbook of the highest value to the student who wishes to gain a better acquaintance with Arabian letters." 14 21 BEDFORD STREET, LOOTKXN", MR. WILLIAM HEINEMANN'S LIST. IRecent publications, THE GENTLE ART OF MAKING ENEMIES As pleasingly exemplified in many instances, wherein the serious ones of this earth, carefully exasperated, have been prettily spurred on to indiscretions and unseemli- ness, while overcome by an undue sense of right. By J. WHISTLER. In One Volume, pott 4to, los. 6d. Punch, June 21. "The book in itself, in its binding, print, and arrangement, is a work of art." Punch, June 28. " A work of rare humour, a thing of beauty and a joy for now and ever." THE PASSION PLAY AT OBERAMMERGAU, 1890. By F. W. FARRAR, D.D., F.R.S., Archdeacon and Canon of Westminster, &c. &c. In One Volume, small 4to, 2s. 6d. Spectator. " Among the many accounts that have been written this year of "The Passion Play,' one of the most picturesque, the most interesting, and the most reasonable, is this sketch of Archdeacon Farrar's. . . . This little book will be read with delight by those who have, and by those who have not, visited Oberammergau." THE GARDEN'S STORY; or, Pleasures and Trials of an Amateur Gardener. By G. H. ELL- WANGER. With an Introduction by the Rev. C. WOLLEY DOD. In One Volume, i2mo, with Illustrations, 53. Scotsman. "Deserves every recommendation that a pleasant- looking page can give it ; for it deals with a charming subject in a charming manner. Mr. Ellwanger talks delightfully, with instruc- tion but without pedantry, of the flowers, the insects, and the birds. ... 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Often used in making pillows and comforters, what are the small feathers of the eider duck known as? | FAQs | Bedding Care
Do I Need Pillow Protectors if I Use Pillowcases?
Yes! Pillowcases on their own are not enough to protect your pillow from moisture, bacteria, dust and mold. It is always a good idea to use pillow protectors, not only to extend their life, but also to keep possible allergens to a minimum.
Down vs. Down Alternatives
Both down and down alternatives make wonderful filling for comforters, mattresses, and pillows. The biggest difference, of course, is that feathers are organic, whereas down alternatives are synthetic. Those who suffer from severe allergies may opt for a down alternative because of the bacteria-inhibiting and hypoallergenic properties. While high-quality down can also be hypo-allergenic, if it gets wet, there is a greater risk of mildew.
If allergies are not your main concern, you may feel that there is no improving on nature. Real down is warmer than any alternative, and has a softer, more organic feel than polyfill.
On the other hand, if you want a material that is a bit firmer than down, you may want to choose a down alternative as feathers take the shape of your head – polyfill will be fluffier and more resilient.
Of course, there are other options as well. Silk comforters are wonderfully light and warm, and cotton is soft and easy to care for. Wool blankets are nice and heavy for cold winter nights (though sometimes a little scratchy), and fleece is a very snuggly material, but attracts a lot of static.
Each fabric and filler will have its pros and cons, and there is no sure answer to what makes for the best bedding – it is a completely subjective choice. The best approach is simply to shop around as much as you can and familiarize yourself with all of the options, then choose the products that most appeal to you. Just as some people like chocolate and others swear by vanilla, some folks will sleep on nothing but down, while others want good old cotton. Go with whatever feels best to you and you will never be disappointed!
Fill Power and Warmth?
A term that solely relates to down, fill power lets you know both the quality and warmth of the product. All you need to know is, the higher, the better.
Basically, fill power lets you know how much air the feather fibers are able to trap – which tells you the insulation ability.
The reason down is able to keep you warm in the winter and cool in the summer is because the fibers trap air, thereby insulating your body heat – but also wick away moisture from the body, keeping you dry. This helps you maintain a consistent temperature very close to 98.6 degrees.
The higher the fill power, the better the down is able to do this job.
Comforters with a fill count of 800 and higher are of superb quality, 700 and up are very good, and 600 and up are decent.
Also, the higher the fill power, the fluffier the down will be. So, if you’re shopping for anything down, a high fill power is a big plus!
How do I Choose the Right Size Duvet?
One of the worst feelings is to be ready to snuggle into your new bed and realize that the covers don’t fit!
You don’t want your comforter cover to be loose and flopping around, nor too tight to where the fabric is strained. Keep size in mind as you shop, especially if you are purchasing online and can’t see the product beforehand. A good duvet is just an inch or two larger than your comforter.
It should be fairly easy to match them, because unless you have a non-traditionally-sized bed, all duvets come in standard sizes. So, if you have a twin-sized mattress, you’ll pick out a twin-sized duvet, and so on.
Getting the right size is easy – choosing from all of the wonderful styles and patterns that are out there is the hard part!
How Long Does Down Last?
First of all, not all down is created equal. How long your down lasts will depend on a number of factors.
Aside from care, down quality is the greatest determiner to how long your product will last. Generally, the best down comes from larger, more mature birds. Siberian down is excellent. When all else is the same, goose down is better than duck down … but down from a mature duck is better than down from a young goose.
Down from immature birds has less of a loft (fluff factor), and tends to collapse earlier as the fibers are fragile. A comforter made with mature down will be light, loftier, and warmer – and last much longer than one made with immature down.
High quality down is carefully washed, rinsed, dried and sanitized to ensure the product is hypo-allergenic. If your down is not pure to begin with, it is not going to be pleasant to have around for years.
The breakdown for down products is as follows:
Down pillows will usually be good for at least 3-5 years. If you’ve had a pillow for a while and want to know if it’s still holding up, try folding it in half and squeezing the air out. If it doesn’t spring back to its original shape, it’s time for a new one!
Feather beds need to be replaced between 3-10 years. Moisture causes down to mildew, so a feather bed’s longevity depends on the dampness of your climate and how much you perspire.
Upholstered cushions: Frequently used sofa cushions probably need to be changed within 5 years. Artificial down holds its shape better, and might be preferable in this case.
Comforters: If you take great care of them and use duvets to protect them, comforters can last a good 10 years or more.
Sleeping bags: These, depending on the conditions you camp in, can last a couple decades – but keep in mind that the fluff factor is low and won’t be as warm as your down bedding!
Jackets: These also last for as long as you take good care of them, but don’t wait that long if the filling starts getting lumpy on you!
How Often Should I Wash My Down Products?
The quick answer to this question: as rarely as possible.
It’s not good to get down wet, and chemicals and heat can damage the feathers. Ideally, you will be washing your mattress and pillow protectors and duvets rather than your down … however, once or twice a year is okay to give your down products a cleaning.
Whatever you do, don’t take them to the drycleaners! The chemicals are too harsh … instead, take them to the Laundromat (or you can do them at home if you have a big, non-agitator machine). Feather beds should only be spot cleaned and not washed in a machine.
Before washing, make sure the fabric is not weakened by age or wear, or you might get a load of feathers! You can wash your down products in warm water on a gentle cycle for six minutes, using a mild soap such as dishwasher detergent. If you happen to smell a strong odor after washing, just dry thoroughly – the smell will disappear.
It takes about three hours to dry two pillows in a large commercial dryer on a medium setting. Lower settings are preferred so as not to scorch the material … but make sure the down is completely dry as mildew can ruin your bedding. Adding a couple of tennis balls enclosed in clean socks can help break up clumps of filling and maximize the fluffiness of your pillows and comforters. Another best-kept secret is throwing a couple of clean gym shoes in the dryer instead – studies have shown that they work better than dryer balls!
Should I dry-clean my down bedding?
Would you dry-clean a goose?
Please, please, please don’t dry-clean your down bedding!
Dry cleaning damages the down and greatly reduces its life. Instead, make sure you cover your down bedding with mattress and pillow protectors, sun dry it occasionally, fluff it daily, and wash it once or twice a year.
This is the recipe for keeping your down happy, healthy, and fluffy!
What is Down?
Down is nature’s great insulator. The first undercoating of feathers on a goose or duck, down clusters are constructed of thousands of soft fibers radiating out from a central core. This structure traps air, which is why down products keep you warm, but still let moisture escape – keeping you snug and dry.
Down is a great thermal insulator, and is popular in many products from jackets and sleeping bags to pillows and blankets. Not only does it keep you warm, it is extremely soft and comforting.
Eiderdown, which comes from a large sea duck (Eider duck) is softer and a better insulator than any other type of feather. In general, goose down is better than duck down, but maturity is also a key factor … the bigger and more mature the bird, the better the quality of the down.
When shopping for down, you want to look for two things: high fill power (fluffiness) and purity (hypo-allergenic down). Next, you will want to consider exactly how much warmth you will need – if this is going to be a summer comforter, choose a light weight. Otherwise, a medium or heavy weight will keep you cozy – depending on the climate and whether you easily overheat (remember, down is warm).
Down’s wonderful properties are especially apparent in quality down bedding – many swear by their comforters and featherbeds! There’s nothing quite like the sensation of sinking down into a soft, fluffy mattress at the end of a long day …
What is the White “Dust” I see?
If you have a down comforter, chances are the fabric has been treated with a non-allergenic starch to fill the gaps in the weave. This ensures that the down filling does not spill out. As the fabric is washed and worn, the weave will naturally tighten, releasing the starch a bit at a time. If you see white dust shedding from your down comforter, this is actually a good sign – it means your comforter is aging well and that the fabric is becoming stronger.
What Soap Should I Use?
If you are going to wash down products or delicate linens yourself, make sure you use a gentle, mild soap. There are many delicate soaps available online or in specialty shops, but normal dishwashing detergent also works! Please see our pages on how to care for down and linen on laundering tips…
How Long Does Down Last?
First of all, not all down is created equal. How long your down lasts will depend on a number of factors.
Aside from care, down quality is the greatest determiner to how long your product will last. Generally, the best down comes from larger, more mature birds. Siberian down is excellent. When all else is the same, goose down is better than duck down … but down from a mature duck is better than down from a young goose.
Down from immature birds has less of a loft (fluff factor), and tends to collapse earlier as the fibers are fragile. A comforter made with mature down will be light, loftier, and warmer – and last much longer than one made with immature down.
High quality down is carefully washed, rinsed, dried and sanitized to ensure the product is hypo-allergenic. If your down is not pure to begin with, it is not going to be pleasant to have around for years.
The breakdown for down products is as follows:
Down pillows will usually be good for at least 3-5 years.
Feather beds need to be replaced between 3-10 years. Moisture causes down to mildew, so a feather bed’s longevity depends on the dampness of your climate and how much you perspire.
Upholstered cushions: Frequently used sofa cushions probably need to be changed within 5 years. Artificial down holds its shape better, and might be preferable in this case.
Comforters: If you take great care of them and use duvets to protect them, comforters can last a good 10 years or more.
Sleeping bags: These, depending on the conditions you camp in, can last a couple decades – but keep in mind that the fluff factor is low and won’t be as warm as your down bedding!
Jackets: These also last for as long as you take good care of them, but don’t wait that long if the filling starts getting lumpy on you!
Why does my down bedding crinkle?
Don’t worry, this is completely normal! That crunching noise when you get in the sheets is a result of the extremely tight fabric weave. With use and washing, these threads will eventually soften up over the years, and the crinkle sound will disappear.
Will Down Bedding Aggravate My Allergies?
Many people worry that down bedding will affect their allergies. Most of the time, any allergic reaction to down bedding is usually due to impurities trapped in the down itself. That’s why when shopping for down products you should always look for ones that are hypo-allergenic, which means that they have been specially cleaned and processed to screen out impurities.
Another important factor is to keep the bedding dry, and to protect it with mattress covers, duvets, and pillow protectors. The less dust, mold and moisture that makes its way into your bed, the less chance you will have a problem with allergies.
Also remember to keep the room clear of dust and pet hair or dander; often allergies may be a result of other environmental factors as well!
For more information, please refer to our page on dirt and allergy prevention.
Will Down Bedding Lose Its Loft When Stored?
It’s best to store your down bedding in breathable bags or cotton so that moisture does not build up. Plastic bags should be avoided as condensation can build up, leading to mildew.
GLOSSARY
Baffle Box – A stitching technique used in down comforters that allows the down to loft, but keeps it evenly distributed for maximum warmth and support.
Bed Skirt – Also known as a bed or dust ruffle, this bed accessory covers the box spring and bed frame and hangs down touching or nearly touching the floor.
Bed Spread – A lightweight bedcovering.
Binding – Also known as edging or piping, this is a type of decorative trim used on the fold-down part of pillowcases, shams and sheets.
Breakfast or Boudoir Pillow – A rectangular decorative pillow.
Brushing – Mechanical fabric finishing process that raises the nap of the fabric, giving it a softer feel. Flannel is a brushed fabric.
Cambric – A down proof plain weave fabric that has been finished with a calendar machine to give it a more lustrous look.
Carding – The process of separating, opening, and cleaning cotton, resulting in a long rope-like strand of loosely bound fibers (sliver). All cotton yarns are carded, but not necessarily combed.
Chamber – A term used to refer to the construction in pillows, comforters, and feather beds, when fabric walls are sewn inside the basic shell to keep down and feathers separate from other filled portions
Closed – A comforter term that refers to constructions which do not allow the filling to move between chambers (like a closed door). Examples of closed construction are: True Baffle Box, Sewn-through box, and Sewn-through Diamond Box.
Combing – A yarn process that removes all impurities and fibers less than 1.125 inches from carded cotton, which makes combed cotton superior, being more compact and with less projecting fibers.
Comfort Hold – This combines the three sided comfort lock border with a 4th border along the top. This 4th border is filled with more down for extra warmth around the neck and shoulders
Comfort Lock – A border along the sides and bottom of the comforter that permanently locks the down in place.
Comforter – A bedcovering made with a fabric shell that is filled with insulating material, such as down, cotton, or wool. Often referred to a “duvet,” but the duvet is a covering that goes around the comforter.
Comforter Cover – See Duvet Cover
Damask Firm – Similar to brocade, any dyed cloth with a woven pattern qualifies; damask is usually a glossy jacquard-patterned fabric.
Comforter Set – Usually includes a comforter, bed skirt and shams.
Cotton – A natural fiber that makes great bedding material because of its soft, breathable and washable properties. The most popular types are Egyptian, Pima and Combed. The longer the fiber (“staple”), the higher the quality.
Coverlet – Very similar to a bedspread, coverlets are lighter than a comforter, often quilted, and usually used in warm weather. Unlike bedspreads, coverlets do not cover the pillows or reach the floor.
Damask – Fabric made of linen, silk, cotton, rayon or synthetic fibers, and woven with a detailed, intricate pattern. Named after colorful, elegant silks from Damascus (the capital of Syria ), damask is like a light brocade, with patterns raised slightly off the fabric for a stronger effect.
Daybed – Basically a twin bed turned sideways … often used as a seating area during the day and as a bed at night. It fits a twin-sized mattress and twin-sized sheets, and one can find “daybed sets,” which are a comforter, three-sided bed skirt and three pillow shams.
Dobby Weaving – A weaving method that involves a Dobby head, which produces a regular pattern of geometric figures; also refers to the cloth designed in this manner.
Down – The undercoating of soft, fluffy duck or goose feathers, which serves as a wonderful light-weight insulator. Because it wicks away water from the body while at the same time trapping air, it helps maintain the body at its natural temperature.
Down Alternatives – Provide the goodness of down without the allergies. There are many brands and types of alternatives.
Drop – Refers to the distance from the top of the bed or box spring to the floor.
Dust Ruffle – See Bed Skirt.
Duvet – The French word for “comforter,” but in the US , the same thing as a duvet or comforter cover.
Duvet Cover/ Comforter Cover – Like a big pillowcase for your comforter, this covering protects and decorates your comforter.
Egyptian Cotton – A species of cotton grown in the Nile that yields long fibers, and which makes the highest-quality cotton products.
Envelope Pillow – A small pillow with different fabrics enveloped over the others, which gives a colorful, multi-fabric look.
Eurofeathers – A mixture of 5% down and 95% feathers.
Eurodown – A mixture of 15% down and 85% feathers.
Euro Sham – A square 26” x 26” pillow, named after its popularity in Europe .
Feathers – Less soft but more durable and supportive than down, feathers are often used as filling in pillows, comforters and featherbeds.
Feather Bed – A feather filled mattress topper.
Feather Bed Cover – Like a pillow protector, this covering protects your feather bed from dirt and body oils.
Fill Power – A measurement of down’s loft, or fluffiness. The higher the fill power, the better the quality.
Fitted Sheet – Also called a “bottom sheet,” this sheet fits snugly over the mattress.
Flanged – Describes products with a decorative band of fabric around them.
Flat Sheet – Also called a “top sheet,” this sheet goes above the fitted sheet and is tucked around the mattress at the sides and bottom.
Greige (pronounced “Gray”) Fabric – Cotton fabric in a raw, unfinished state, usually cream or tan-colored.
Hand – This term describes a fabric’s feel (softness, firmness, fineness etc.)
Hemstitch – An embroidery method specifically used on pillowcases and sheets.
Jacquard – A method of weaving that uses a “jacquard head,” which allows individual control of each piece of yarn, conducive to creating intricate designs.
Muslin – A cotton or cotton-polyester fabric with a minimum thread count of 128.
Neckroll – A small cylindrical pillow, often used to support the head.
Open Construction – Describes the construction of a comforter that allows for the movement of filling between chambers. Examples include: 4-Corner Ring, Checkerbox, Box Stitch, Box Step, Diamond Tack, Karo Tack and 4-Corner Baffle Box.
Percale – A crisp, closely woven plain-weave fabric with a minimum thread count of 180.
Pilling – The “balling” up that results, often on sheets, when long fibers interact with other fibers, creating a rough, bumpy feel.
Pillow Protector – A covering for the pillow which usually zips up, and is used to protect the pillow from body oils and dirt.
Pillow Sham – A decorative pillow covering, usually tailored or ruffled
Pima Cotton – Second to Egyptian cotton, but still very high-quality, this extra-long staple cotton was named after the Pima Indians because it comes from the US southwest.
Plain Weave – A very simple design, just one thread over another.
Plied Yarns – Yarn that has more than one strand twisted together – which does not increase the strength or durability of the cloth. It should be counted as one yarn, but often thread count of plied yarns is exaggerated by manufacturers so that a 200-count sheet is called a 400-count one.
Polyester – A synthetic fiber that is wrinkle-resistant, durable, and non-shrinkable, but also does not breathe. It is often blended with cotton or other fibers.
Pre-Shrinking – A process that allows cotton cloth to shrink naturally so that it doesn’t shrink in the wash … also known as Sanforizing.
Print – A pattern (or picture) applied or transferred to the cloth. Resin may be applied to stiffen, make the cloth wrinkle-resistant and reduce shrinkage – but also weakens the cloth.
Quilt – A lightweight bedcover created by sewing different fabrics together to create a design. Often used during warmer weather or as a decorative piece.
Sateen Weave – A 4 x 1 weave that, because it has more yarn surface on the face of the cloth, has a shiny face and a softer feel than other cloths – especially if made with combed cotton. It often has a high thread count and a smooth, silky feel.
Sham – Similar to a pillowcase, used for decoration more than sleeping on, shams are often ruffled, quilted or flanged and used to hide pillows or to simply decorate the top of the bed.
Silk – A natural fiber secreted by the silkworm to make its cocoon. It is extremely soft and shiny.
Standard Mattress Sizes – Generally, as follows:
Twin: 38” x 75”
Long Twin: 38” x 80”
Full: 54” x 75”
King: 78” x 80”
California King: 72” x 84”
Supima® Cotton – A brand of 100% Pima cotton grown by members of the Supima® Association of America.
Thread Count – The number of horizontal and vertical threads in one square inch of fabric. Generally, a high thread count means better quality, but not always. It’s best to test your towels with your hands.
Twill Weave – A basic fabric weave with diagonal lines in the woven cloth.
Thread Count – A count of the number of vertical and horizontal threads in a square inch of fabric. Used as a determiner of sheet softness, thread count can range from 180 to 1500.
Welt – Another name for cording, which is a trim used on comforters, shams, or decorative pillows.
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Down feather
The down of birds is a layer of fine feathers found under the tougher exterior feathers. Very young birds are clad only in down. Powder down is a specialized type of down found only in a few groups of birds. Down is a fine thermal insulator and padding, used in goods such as jackets, bedding (duvets), pillows and sleeping bags. The discovery of feathers trapped in ancient amber suggests that some species of dinosaur may have possessed down-like feathers.
down feather是什么意思
答
down feather羽绒；绒毛；绒羽In the morning on Nov. 4 a thin girl in white down feather coat came into theaccounting dept. of Modern Transport Time Company Ltd. in Luzhou Sich...
刚买了件羽绒服，商标上写着90%down，10%feather，两个单词都有羽绒的意思，有什么区别？
答
Down feather Description and etymology
The word down comes from the Old Norse word dúnn, which had the same meaning as its modern equivalent. The down feather is considered to be the "simplest" of all feather types. It has a short or vestigial rachis (shaft), few barbs, and barbules that lack hooks. There are three types of down: natal down, body down and powder down. Natal down is the layer of down feathers that cover most birds at some point in their early development. Precocial nestlings are already covered with a layer of down when they hatch, while altricial nestlings develop their down layer within days or weeks of hatching. Megapode hatchlings are the sole exception; they are already covered with contour feathers when they hatch. Body down is a layer of small, fluffy feathers that lie underneath the outer contour feathers on a bird's body.
Powder down
Powder down, or pulviplumes, is a special type of down that occurs in a few groups of apparently unrelated birds. In some species, the tips of the barbules on powder down feathers disintegrate, forming fine particles of keratin, which appear as a powder, or "feather dust", among the feathers. These feathers grow continuously and are not molted. In other species, powder grains come from cells that surround the barbules of growing feathers. These specialized feathers are typically scattered among ordinary down feathers, though in some species, they occur in clusters. All parrots have powder down, with some species (including the mealy parrot) producing copious amounts. It is also found in tinamous and herons. The dust produced from powder down feathers is a known allergen in humans.
Down feather Function
The loose structure of down feathers traps air, which helps to insulate the bird against heat loss and contributes to the buoyancy of waterbirds. Species that experience annual temperature fluctuations typically have more down feathers following their autumn moult. There is some evidence that down feathers may also help to decrease the incidence of nestling cannibalism among some colonially nesting species, as the stiffness of the feathers make the young more difficult to swallow. Pollutants can reduce the efficiency of these functions. When oiled, for example, down feathers mat and clump together, which breaks down the bird's insulation and allows water to reach the skin.
Female wildfowl use down feathers plucked from their own breasts to line their scrape nests. This process performs the dual function of helping to insulate the eggs and exposing the female's brood pouch—an area of bare skin, rich in blood vessels, which transmits heat very efficiently. Of the various items birds use to line their nests, down feathers provide the most effective insulation, though only when dry; wet down is the least effective insulator. Down may also help camouflage the eggs when the female is away from the nest, particularly as the birds often draw the feathers over their eggs before leaving.
Because a bird can eliminate heavy metals in its feathers and because feathers can be collected non-invasively and stored indefinitely, down feathers can be used to check for evidence of metal contamination in the bird's environment. Studies have shown a high level of correlation between the level of metal contamination in a bird's diet and the level found in its feathers, with the proportion of the chemicals found in its feathers remaining relatively constant (and relatively high for some metals).
Down feather Human use
Down feathers were used by indigenous North Americans for religious ceremonies and as powerful symbols. In the stories of some cultures, the down feathers of an eagle were important gifts given by the bird to the story's hero. In the Ghost Dance, a religious movement that became particularly widespread among the Plains Indians, each dancer held a painted feather that was tipped with a down feather painted with another color; the feathers were generally those of a crow, which was sacred to the Ghost Dance, or of an eagle, which was sacred to all tribes. Zuni prayer sticks were also made using eagle down. While eagle feathers belonged to the Sun Priest, who planted them to the sun, other priests could use them if rain was needed, as the down is said to suggest "fleecy clouds that gather on the horizon before rain". The Hopi rubbed eagle down feathers over rattlesnakes being collected for their Snake Dances, in an effort to soothe and calm the reptiles.
For centuries, humans across the globe have used down feathers for insulation. Russian documents from the 1600s list "bird down" among the goods sold to Dutch merchants, and communities in northern Norway began protecting the nests of eider ducks as early as 1890. Eiders are still "farmed" by people in Iceland, Scandinavia and Siberia. The birds are provided with nest sites and protected from predators, and down is collected intermittently during the nesting season without harming the nests or female ducks. The first collection is made roughly halfway through the incubation period, when some 0.75 oz (21 g) of high quality down is removed per nest. When the eggs have hatched and the young have left the area, the remaining down and breast feathers are gathered, typically resulting in another 0.75 oz (21 g) of lower quality feathers per nest. In general, 50–60 nests will produce about one kilo (2.2 pounds) of down feathers. This means that only a few thousand pounds of eider down is collected from wild nests each year.
In Iceland and Scandinavia, colonies of more than 5,000 birds sometimes develop in "farmed" areas, while in some protected areas of the Novaya Zemlya archipelago, nest densities exceed 13,000 per hectare (more than 5,260 per acre). On the other hand, the more nomadic indigenous peoples of Arctic Canada did not see down production as a reasonable source of income and tended to overexploit eider nests with "indifferent" collection of down feathers from the nests. Although the down feathers of various species of wildfowl, gulls and other seabirds have historically been used for insulation, most now come from domestic geese. Some 70 percent of the world's supply comes from China, typically from birds killed for their meat. Most of the rest comes from Europe and Canada, from birds harvested for meat or pâté.
In the United States, Federal Trade Commission regulations require that any product labeled "100% Down" must contain only down feathers, while products labeled simply "Down" can contain a mixture of fiber and feathers. In addition, products labeled as "Goose Down" must contain at least 90% goose down, 10% goose feathers. Down insulation is rated by fill power, which is the number of cubic inches displaced by a given ounce of down (in3/oz). To measure fill power, an ounce of down is placed into a graduated cylinder, and a small weight is dropped in on top of it; the volume below the weight indicates the fill power. Eider down has the highest fill power, at 1200. However, even down with a fill power as low as 550 still provides reasonably good insulation. Higher fill-power downs will thus insulate better than lower fill-power downs of the same weight. Insulation in most outdoor equipment ranges from about 400 to 900 in3/oz (230–520 cm3/g). Down rated 500-650 in3/oz (290–375 cm3/g) is warm enough and light enough for most conditions, and 800-900 in3/oz (460–520 cm3/g) fill is used for very lightweight and/or very cold-weather gear.
Down is warm, lightweight and packable. If well cared for, it retains its loft up to three times longer than do most synthetics. However, when it is wet, the thermal properties of down are virtually eliminated. Down forms clumps if exposed to dampness or moisture, and will mildew if left damp. In addition, it will absorb and retain odors.
Down feathers tend to become more allergenic as they age, as they become contaminated with molds and dust mites. Pillows provide the most common source of exposure, though mattresses, comforters, outerwear and upholstery can also cause problems. A Finnish study has shown that true feather allergies are rare, with most issues caused by dust mites.
Animal cruelty
A percentage of the world's supply of down feathers has been plucked from live birds, a practice which is condemned as cruel by animal welfare groups. The precise percentage of down harvested in this manner is uncertain; while some references report that it is only a small fraction of the total (less than 1% in 2011), a 2009 Swedish documentary reported that it might be as much as 50–80% of the total supply, a figure supported by IKEA (a home furnishing chain) and an industry representative. The documentary also shows birds lying on the floor with large flesh wounds from the plucking, after which the wounds were stitched using a needle and thread without anesthetic. Although live-plucking is illegal in the United States and Europe, it is known to occur in two European countries (Poland and Hungary) and in China. Public sentiment against the practice has, in some countries, been strong. IKEA and Patagonia (a clothing manufacturer) have altered product lines to eliminate the use (or possible use) of live-plucked down.
Down feather Types of down
Duck down:
Eider down: This is considered to be the ultimate in duck down; it is collected from the breast feathers of the female eider duck and has the largest duck down clusters.
Goose down:
Polish/Hungarian goose down: Widely considered to be the finest quality down clusters, they are larger than the norm and are mostly pure white in color.
Feather-down combinations: Down compacts with age and is not appropriate for some applications; most down-filled pillow forms are stuffed with a combination of down and feathers. The presence of feathers adds weight, stability and bulk. Therefore, a mixture with more down will be lighter and fluffier than a pillow with a higher feather ratio.
Marabou(t): Marabou (historically spelt with a T) is down from the marabou stork although turkey down is used as a substitute. It is widely used as a fashion trimming and in fly tying.
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^ "Dinosaur feathers found in Alberta amber". CBC News. 15 September 2011.
^ a b Von Tobel, Jackie. "Bedding Basics: Types of Pillows." The Design Directory of Bedding. Layton, UT: Gibbs Smith, 2009. 52-53. Print.
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What can be a tool, an abstract geometric surface, and a means of transportation? | Geometry | Article about geometry by The Free Dictionary
Geometry | Article about geometry by The Free Dictionary
http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/geometry
geometry
[Gr.,=earth measuring], branch of mathematics mathematics,
deductive study of numbers, geometry, and various abstract constructs, or structures; the latter often "abstract" the features common to several models derived from the empirical, or applied, sciences, although many emerge from purely mathematical or logical
..... Click the link for more information. concerned with the properties of and relationships between points, lines, planes, and figures and with generalizations of these concepts.
Types of Geometry
Euclidean geometry, elementary geometry of two and three dimensions (plane and solid geometry), is based largely on the Elements of the Greek mathematician Euclid (fl. c.300 B.C.). In 1637, René Descartes showed how numbers can be used to describe points in a plane or in space and to express geometric relations in algebraic form, thus founding analytic geometry analytic geometry,
branch of geometry in which points are represented with respect to a coordinate system, such as Cartesian coordinates, and in which the approach to geometric problems is primarily algebraic.
..... Click the link for more information. , of which algebraic geometry algebraic geometry,
branch of geometry, based on analytic geometry, that is concerned with geometric objects (loci) defined by algebraic relations among their coordinates (see Cartesian coordinates).
..... Click the link for more information. is a further development (see Cartesian coordinates Cartesian coordinates
[for René Descartes], system for representing the relative positions of points in a plane or in space. In a plane, the point P is specified by the pair of numbers (x,y
..... Click the link for more information. ). The problem of representing three-dimensional objects on a two-dimensional surface was solved by Gaspard Monge, who invented descriptive geometry descriptive geometry,
branch of geometry concerned with the two-dimensional representation of three-dimensional objects; it was introduced in 1795 by Gaspard Monge. By means of such representations, geometrical problems in three dimensions may be solved in the plane.
..... Click the link for more information. for this purpose in the late 18th cent. differential geometry differential geometry,
branch of geometry in which the concepts of the calculus are applied to curves, surfaces, and other geometric entities. The approach in classical differential geometry involves the use of coordinate geometry (see analytic geometry; Cartesian coordinates),
..... Click the link for more information. , in which the concepts of the calculus calculus,
branch of mathematics that studies continuously changing quantities. The calculus is characterized by the use of infinite processes, involving passage to a limit—the notion of tending toward, or approaching, an ultimate value.
..... Click the link for more information. are applied to curves, surfaces, and other geometrical objects, was founded by Monge and C. F. Gauss in the late 18th and early 19th cent. The modern period in geometry begins with the formulations of projective geometry projective geometry,
branch of geometry concerned with those properties of geometric figures that remain invariant under projection. The basic elements are points, lines, and planes, and the following statements are usually taken as assumptions: (1) two points lie in a unique
..... Click the link for more information. by J. V. Poncelet (1822) and of non-Euclidean geometry non-Euclidean geometry,
branch of geometry in which the fifth postulate of Euclidean geometry, which allows one and only one line parallel to a given line through a given external point, is replaced by one of two alternative postulates.
..... Click the link for more information. by N. I. Lobachevsky (1826) and János Bolyai (1832). Another type of non-Euclidean geometry was discovered by Bernhard Riemann (1854), who also showed how the various geometries could be generalized to any number of dimensions.
Their Relationship to Each Other
The different geometries are classified and related to one another in various ways. The non-Euclidean geometries are exactly analogous to the geometry of Euclid, except that Euclid's postulate regarding parallel lines is replaced and all theorems depending on this postulate are changed accordingly. Both Euclidean and non-Euclidean geometry are types of metric geometry, in which the lengths of line segments and the sizes of angles may be measured and compared. Projective geometry, on the other hand, is more general and includes the metric geometries as a special case; pure projective geometry makes no reference to lengths or angle measurements.
The general metric geometry consisting of all of Euclidean geometry except that part dependent on the parallel postulate is called absolute geometry; its propositions are valid for both Euclidean and non-Euclidean geometry. Another type of geometry, called affine geometry, includes Euclid's parallel postulate but disregards two other postulates concerning circles and angle measurement; the propositions of affine geometry are also valid in the four-dimensional geometry of space-time used in the theory of relativity relativity,
physical theory, introduced by Albert Einstein, that discards the concept of absolute motion and instead treats only relative motion between two systems or frames of reference.
..... Click the link for more information. . Ordered geometry consists of all propositions common to both absolute geometry and affine geometry; this geometry includes the notion on intermediacy ("betweenness") but not that of measurement.
An important step in recognizing the connections between the different types of geometry was the Erlangen program, proposed by the German Felix Klein in his inaugural address at the Univ. of Erlangen (1872), according to which geometries are classified with respect to the geometrical properties that are left unchanged (invariant) under a given group group,
in mathematics, system consisting of a set of elements and a binary operation a+b defined for combining two elements such that the following requirements are satisfied: (1) The set is closed under the operation; i.e.
..... Click the link for more information. of transformations. For example, Euclidean geometry is the study of properties unchanged by similarity transformations, affine geometry is concerned with properties invariant under the linear transformations (affine collineations) that preserve parallelism, and projective geometry studies invariants under the more general projective transformations (collineations and correlations). Topology topology,
branch of mathematics, formerly known as analysis situs, that studies patterns of geometric figures involving position and relative position without regard to size.
..... Click the link for more information. , perhaps the most general type of geometry although often considered a separate branch of mathematics, is concerned with properties invariant under continuous transformations, which carry neighborhoods of points into neighborhoods of their images.
The Axiomatic Approach to Geometry
Euclid's Elements organized the geometry then known into a systematic presentation that is still used in many texts. Euclid first defined his basic terms, such as point and line, then stated without proof certain axioms axiom,
in mathematics and logic, general statement accepted without proof as the basis for logically deducing other statements (theorems). Examples of axioms used widely in mathematics are those related to equality (e.g.
..... Click the link for more information. and postulates about them that seemed to be self-evident or obvious truths, and finally derived a number of statements (theorems) from the postulates by means of deductive logic logic,
the systematic study of valid inference. A distinction is drawn between logical validity and truth. Validity merely refers to formal properties of the process of inference.
..... Click the link for more information. . This axiomatic method has since been adopted not only throughout mathematics but in many other fields as well. The close examination of the axioms and postulates of Euclidean geometry during the 19th cent. resulted in the realization that the logical basis of geometry was not as firm as had previously been supposed. New axiom and postulate systems were developed by various mathematicians, notably David Hilbert (1899).
Bibliography
See H. G. Forder, The Foundations of Euclidean Geometry (1927); H. S. M. Coxeter, Introduction to Geometry (2d ed. 1969).
Geometry
a branch of mathematics that studies spatial relationships and forms as well as relationships and forms that resemble spatial ones in structure.
The origin of the term “geometry,” which literally means “earth measurement,” may be explained in the following words, attributed to the ancient Greek scholar Eudemos of Rhodes (fourth century
B.C
.):“Geometry was discovered by the Egyptians as a result of their measurement of land. This measurement was indispensable to them because of the overflowing of the river Nile, which continually washed out boundaries.” The ancient Greeks already considered geometry to be a mathematical science, while for the science of measuring land the term “geodesy” was introduced. Judging by fragments that have been preserved from ancient Egyptian writings, one can see that geometry developed not only from measurements of land but also from measurements of volumes and surfaces in excavation and construction work.
Initial concepts of geometry arose as a result of the abstraction from bodies of all properties and relationships except mutual location and size. Location is expressed in the contact or adjacency of bodies to one other, in terms that one body is part of another, in the placement “between,” “inside,” and so forth. Size is expressed in the concepts “larger” and “smaller” and in the concept of congruence of bodies.
It is by means of the same kind of abstraction that the notion of a geometric body arises. A geometric body is an abstraction in which only the shape and dimensions are preserved, fully abstracted from all other properties. In this case, geometry, like all of mathematics, totally ignores the indeterminacy and mobility of real shapes and dimensions and regards all the relationships and shapes it investigates as precise and definite. Abstraction leads from the concept of extension of bodies to the concepts of surface, line, and point. This is clearly expressed, for example, in the definitions given by Euclid:“a line is a length without breadth” and “a surface is that which has only length and breadth.” A point without any extension is an abstraction reflecting the possibility of an unlimited reduction of all the dimensions of a body, the imaginary limit of its infinite division. Next there arises the general notion of a geometric figure, by which is understood not only a body, surface, line, or point but any set of them.
Geometry in its original meaning is the science of figures, of the mutual disposition and dimensions of their parts, and of transformations of figures. This definition fully agrees with the definition of geometry as the science of spatial shapes and relationships. Indeed, a figure as it is considered in geometry is a spatial shape; hence in geometry one says, for example, “sphere” and not “a body of spherical shape.” The disposition and dimensions are determined by spatial relationships. Finally, a transformation as it is understood in geometry is also a certain relationship between two figures—the given one and the one into which it is transformed.
In the contemporary, more general meaning, geometry encompasses various mathematical theories whose connection with geometry is determined not only by the similarity (however tenuous at times) of their subject matter to ordinary spatial shapes and relationships but also by the fact that they historically evolved and are evolving on the basis of geometry in its original meaning and in their constructions proceed from an analysis, generalization, and variation of its concepts. Geometry in this general meaning is tightly intertwined with other branches of mathematics and its boundaries are not precise (see the sections Generalization of the subject matter of geometry and Modern geometry).
Development. Four main periods can be distinguished in the development of geometry, the transitions between which signified qualitative changes in geometry.
The first period, that of the formation of geometry as a mathematical science, occurred in ancient Egypt, Babylonia, and Greece and lasted approximately until the fifth century
B.C
. Primary geometric data appeared in the earliest stages of society’s development. The establishment of the first general principles should be considered the rudiments of a science, and in this case they were the establishment of relationships between geometric quantities. This moment cannot be dated. The earliest writing containing the rudiments of geometry has reached us from ancient Egypt and dates approximately to the 17th century
B.C
.; undoubtedly it was not the first written account. Geometric data in that period were few and amounted primarily to the calculation of certain areas and volumes. They were set forth in the form of rules, largely empirical in origin it appears, and logical proofs were probably still very primitive. Geometry, according to the testimony of Greek historians, was transmitted from Egypt to Greece in the seventh century
B.C
. There it evolved into an orderly system over several generations. This process occurred through the accumulation of new geometric knowledge, clarification of relationships between various geometric facts, the working out of methods of proof and, finally, the formation of the concepts of figure, geometric proposition, and proof.
This process finally led to a qualitative leap forward. Geometry was transformed into an independent mathematical science. Systematic presentations of it appeared in which its propositions were successively proved. It is at this time that the second period of the development of geometry begins. There are known references to systematic accounts of geometry, among which was one made in the fifth century
B.C
. by Hippocrates of Chios. What has been preserved—and later played a decisive role—is Euclid’s Elements, which appeared around 300
B.C
. Geometry is presented here basically as it is understood today, if one restricts oneself to elementary geometry: it is the science of the simplest spatial shapes and relationships, developed in logical sequence and proceeding from explicitly formulated basic propositions—axioms and basic spatial concepts. The geometry that has been developed on these very bases (axioms) and even made more precise and enriched both in subject matter and in methods of inquiry is called Euclidean geometry. Already in Greece new results were added to it. New methods of determining areas and volumes (Archimedes, third century
B.C
.) appeared as well as a theory of conic sections (Apollonius of Perga, third century
B.C
.). The beginnings of trigonometry (Hipparchus, second century
B.C
.) and spherical geometry (Menelaos, first century
B.C
.) sprang up. The decline of classical society led to a comparative stagnation in the development of geometry, but it continued to develop in India, Middle Asia, and the countries of the Arab East.
The renaissance of the sciences and arts in Europe brought with it the further flourishing of geometry. A fundamentally new stride was made in the first half of the 17th century by R. Descartes, who introduced the method of coordinates into geometry. The method of coordinates made it possible to link geometry with algebra, which was developing then, and with analysis, which was just being conceived. The application of the methods of these sciences in geometry gave rise to analytic geometry and later differential geometry. Geometry passed on to a qualitatively new level in comparison with the geometry of the ancients: it already was considering much more general figures and was using essentially new methods.
It is at this time that the third period of the development of geometry begins. Analytic geometry studies figures and transformations that are defined by algebraic equations in rectangular coordinates using the methods of algebra. Differential geometry, which arose in the 18th century as a result of the works of L. Euler, G. Monge, and others, already investigates all sufficiently smooth curves and surfaces as well as families (that is, continuous sets) and transformations of such objects (a more general meaning is often attached today to the concept of “differential geometry”; (see the section Modern geometry). The name differential geometry is associated chiefly with its method, which is based on differential calculus. The birth of projective geometry in the works of G. Desargues and B. Pascal dates to the first half of the 17th century. It arose as a result of problems in representing bodies on a plane. Its first subject matter comprised the properties of plane figures that are preserved upon projection from one plane onto another from any point. These new currents of geometry were given final form and systematic presentation in the 18th and early 19th century by Euler for analytic geometry (1748), by Monge for differential geometry (1795), and by J. Poncelet for projective geometry (1822), although the study of geometric representation (directly connected to problems of mechanical drawing) was developed still earlier (1799) and systematized by Monge as descriptive geometry. In all of these new disciplines, the foundations (axioms, basic concepts) of geometry remained unchanged, but the range of figures under study and their properties, as well as the methods being used, expanded.
The fourth period in the development of geometry was begun by N. I. Lobachevskii’s construction in 1826 of a new, non-Euclidean geometry, which is now called Lobachevskian geometry. The same geometry was constructed by J. Bolyai independently of Lobachevskii in 1832 (the same ideas were developed by K. Gauss, but he did not publish them). The source, essence, and importance of Lobachevskii’s ideas reduce to the following. Euclidean geometry contains a postulate on parallel lines that states that “Through a point not on a given line there passes one and only one line parallel to the given line.” Many geometers attempted to prove this postulate by proceeding from other basic premises of Euclid’s geometry, but they failed. Lobachevskii arrived at the idea that such a proof was impossible. The opposite contention to Euclid’s postulate states: “Through a point not on a given line there pass at least two lines parallel to the given line.” This is Lobachevskii’s postulate. According to Lobachevskii’s idea, adding this statement to other basic statements of geometry leads to logically faultless conclusions. The system of these conclusions was what formed the new, non-Euclidean geometry. Lobachevskii’s contribution consisted in the fact that he not only stated this idea but actually constructed and comprehensively developed a new geometry, which was logically just as complete and rich in results as Euclidean geometry, despite the fact that it went against intuition. Lobachevskii viewed his geometry as a possible theory of spatial relationships; however, it remained hypothetical until its real meaning was clarified (in 1868) and it was thereby fully substantiated (see the section Interpretations of geometry).
The revolution in geometry owing to Lobachevskii is of no less significance than any of the revolutions in natural science, and it was not without reason that Lobachevskii was called “the Copernicus of geometry.” His ideas contained three principles that determined the new development of geometry. The first principle is that it is logically conceivable to have not just Euclidean geometry but other “geometries” as well. The second principle is the principle of the construction of new geometric theories through the modification and generalization of the basic propositions of Euclidean geometry. The third principle is that the truth of a geometric theory, in the sense of its agreement with the real properties of space, can be verified only by physical investigation, and it is not ruled out that such investigations will establish that in this sense Euclidean geometry is imprecise. Present-day physics has confirmed this. However, this does not negate the mathematical validity of Euclidean geometry, since mathematical validity is synonymous with logical consistency. In the case of any geometric theory we must differentiate between its physical truth and its mathematical truth; its physical truth consists in its conformity with reality, which is verifiable by experiment, while its mathematical truth consists in logical consistency. Lobachevskii thus provided a materialist orientation for the philosophy of mathematics. The aforementioned general principles played an important role not only in geometry but also in mathematics in general, in the development of its axiomatic method, and in understanding its relation to reality.
The main feature of the new period in the history of geometry, begun by Lobachevskii, was the development of new geometric theories—new “geometries”—and the corresponding generalization of the subject matter of geometry. The concept of different kinds of “spaces” arose. (The term “space” has two meanings in science: on the one hand it is ordinary, real space and on the other, it is abstract “mathematical space.” In the process, some theories evolved within Euclidean geometry, which only later acquired independent significance. This was how projective, affine, conformal, and other geometries developed, the subject matter of which was the properties of figures that are preserved under the corresponding (projective, affine, conformal, and other) transformations. The concepts of projective, affine, and conformal spaces arose; Euclidean geometry itself began to be viewed in a certain sense as a part of projective geometry. Other theories, like Lobachevskii’s geometry, were constructed from the very beginning on changing and generalizing the concepts of Euclidean geometry. In this way, for example, multidimensional geometry was created. The first works on it (H. Grassmann and A. Cayley, 1844) represented a formal generalization of ordinary analytic geometry from three to n coordinates. In 1872, F. Klein summarized the development of all these new “geometries,” pointing out the common principle of their construction.
A fundamental step was made by G. F. B. Riemann (1854 lecture, published 1867). First, he clearly formulated the generalized concept of space as a continuous set of any homogeneous objects or phenomena (see the section Generalization of the subject matter of geometry). Second, he introduced the concept of a space with any law of measuring distances by infinitesimal steps (similar to the concept of measuring length on a curve using a very small scale). Hence there developed a vast area of geometry, so-called Riemannian geometry, and its generalizations, which found important applications in the theory of relativity, mechanics, and elsewhere.
In the same period topology was born as a theory of those properties of figures that depend only on the adjacency of their parts and that are thereby preserved under all transformations that neither destroy adjacencies nor introduce new ones; to put it briefly, in a topological transformation neither breaks nor fusions can arise. In the 20th century topology has developed into a separate discipline.
Thus geometry has turned into a rapidly developing ramified set of mathematical theories which study various spaces (among them Euclidean, Lobachevskian, projective, and Riemannian spaces) and figures in these spaces.
Concurrently with the development of new geometric theories, the already established fields of Euclidean geometry were being elaborated—elementary, analytic, and differential geometry. At the same time, new currents appeared in Euclidean geometry. The subject matter of geometry also broadened in the sense that the range of figures under study broadened as did the range of their properties and the concept of a figure itself. At the juncture of analysis and geometry a general theory of point sets arose in the 1870’s, which, however, is no longer attached to geometry but constitutes a separate discipline. A figure began to be defined in geometry as a set of points. The development of geometry was closely associated with the profound analysis of the properties of space that underlie Euclidean geometry. In other words, it involved a more exact definition of the foundations of Euclidean geometry itself. This work led in the late 19th century (D. Hilbert and others) to a precise formulation of the axioms of Euclidean geometry, as well as those of other geometries.
Generalization of the subject matter of geometry. It is easiest to clarify the possibility of generalizing and modifying geometric concepts by using an example. Thus, on the surface of a sphere points can be connected by shortest lines, which are the arcs of great circles, angles and areas can be measured, and various figures can be constructed. Their study constitutes the subject matter of spherical geometry, just as plane geometry is geometry on a plane. Geometry on the earth’s surface is close to spherical geometry. The laws of spherical geometry differ from the laws of plane geometry. For instance, the circumference in the former is not proportional to the radius but increases at a diminishing rate and reaches a maximum at the equator. The sum of the angles of a triangle on a sphere is not constant and is always larger than two right angles. Similarly, on any surface one can draw curves, measure their lengths and the angles between them, and determine the areas bounded by them. Surface geometry developed in this way is called its intrinsic geometry (K. Gauss, 1827). On an irregularly curved surface, the ratios of lengths and angles will vary from place to place; consequently the surface will be geometrically inhomogeneous, in contrast to a plane and a sphere. The possibility of obtaining various geometric relationships suggests that the properties of real space can be only approximately described by ordinary geometry. This idea, first expressed by Lobachevskii, found confirmation in the general theory of relativity.
A broader opportunity for generalizing the concepts of geometry is implicit in the following argument. Ordinary real space is regarded in geometry as a continuous set of points, that is, as the set of all possible limiting locations of an infinitely small object. Similarly, a continuous set of possible states of some material system and a continuous set of some uniform phenomena can be treated as a kind of “space.” Here is an example. Experiments show that normal human vision is trichromatic, that is, any sensation of color C is a combination—the sum of three basic sensations: red R, green G and blue B, with certain intensities. Designating these intensities in some units as x, y, z, one can write C = xR + yG + zB. Just as a point can be moved in space up and down, right and left, forward and backward, so the sensation of color C can be continuously changed in three directions by changing its components—red, green, and blue. By analogy, one can say that the set of all colors is a three-dimensional space—“a space of colors.” The continuous change of color can be represented as a curve in this space. Furthermore, if two colors are given, for example, red R and white W, then by combining them in various proportions a continuous sequence of colors can be obtained, which may be called a segment RW. The notion that pink P lies between red and white and that a dark pink lies closer to red does not require explanation. Thus, there arise the concepts of the simplest “spatial” shapes (line, segment) and relationships (between, closer to) in the space of colors. Next, one can introduce a precise definition of distance (for example, in terms of the number of thresholds of distinction that can be drawn between two colors), define surfaces and domains of colors, like ordinary surfaces and geometric objects, and so forth. In this way a theory of the space of colors arises, which by generalizing geometric concepts reflects the real properties of man’s chromatic vision.
Another example. The state of a gas in a cylinder under a piston is determined by pressure and temperature. The set of all possible states of a gas can therefore be represented as a two-dimensional space. The “points” of this “space” are the states of the gas; the “points” are distinguished by two “coordinates”—pressure and temperature—just as points in a plane are distinguished by the values of their coordinates. A continuous change of state is depicted by a curve in this space.
Next, one can imagine any material system—mechanical or physicochemical. The set of all possible states of this system is called its phase space. The “points” of this space are the states themselves. If the state of a system is determined by n quantities, then it is said that the system has n degrees of freedom. These quantities play the role of coordinates of the point-state; in the example involving a gas the role of coordinates was played by pressure and temperature. Accordingly, such a phase space of the system is said to be n-dimensional. A change in state is depicted by a curve in this space; individual domains of states, which are distinguished by certain characteristics, are domains of the phase space, and the boundaries of the domains are surfaces in this space. If the system has only two degrees of freedom, its states can be depicted as points in a plane. Thus, the state of a gas with pressure p and temperature T is depicted by a point with coordinates p and T, while the processes occurring in the gas will be depicted by curves in the plane. This method of graphic depiction is universally known and is constantly used in physics and technology for a visual representation of processes and their laws. But if the number of degrees of freedom is more than three, simple graphic depiction (even in space) becomes impossible. Then, in order to preserve useful geometric analogies, one has recourse to the idea of an abstract phase space. Thus, visual graphic methods develop into this abstract idea. The method of phase spaces is widely used in mechanics, theoretical physics, and physical chemistry. In mechanics the motion of a mechanical system is represented by the motion of a point in its phase space. In physical chemistry it is especially important to examine the form and contiguity of those domains of a phase space of a system of several substances that correspond to qualitatively different states. The surfaces separating these domains are surfaces of transition from one state to another (melting, crystallization, and so forth). In geometry itself, one also considers abstract spaces whose “points” are figures. We thus have “spaces” of circles, spheres, lines, and so forth. In mechanics and the theory of relativity an abstract four-dimensional space is introduced by adding time as a fourth coordinate to the three spatial coordinates. This means that events must be distinguished not only by their position in space but also in time.
Thus, it becomes clear how continuous sets of various objects, phenomena, or states can be brought under a generalized concept of space. In such a space one can draw “curves” depicting continuous sequences of phenomena (or states); draw “surfaces” and determine in an appropriate way “distances” between “points,” thereby giving a quantitative expression to the physical concept of the degree of difference between the corresponding phenomena (or states); and so forth. In this way, by analogy with ordinary geometry, a “geometry” of abstract space arises. The latter may bear little resemblance to ordinary space, being, for example, in-homogeneous in its geometric properties and finite—similar to an irregularly curved, closed surface.
It turns out that the subject matter of geometry in a generalized sense is not only spatial forms and relationships but any forms and relationships that, when abstracted from their content, prove to be similar to ordinary spatial forms and relationships. These space-like forms of reality are called spaces and figures. Space in this sense is a continuous set of similar objects, phenomena, or states, which play the role of points and are connected by relationships similar to ordinary spatial relationships, such as distance between points, congruence of figures, and so forth (a figure, in general, is part of space). Geometry views these forms of reality in abstraction from concrete content. The study of concrete forms and relationships in connection with their qualitatively distinct content forms the subject matter of other sciences, and geometry serves as a method for them. An example can be any application of abstract geometry, even the aforementioned application of n-dimensional space in physical chemistry. Geometry is characterized by an approach to an object that consists in generalizing and transferring ordinary geometric concepts and visual representations to new objects. This is precisely what is done in the example of the space of colors and other examples cited above. This geometric approach is not at all mere convention but corresponds to the very nature of phenomena. However, the same real facts can often be depicted analytically or geometrically, just as one and the same function can be expressed by an equation or by a curve on a graph.
The development of geometry should not be perceived, however, as though it merely records and describes in geometric language space-like forms and relationships that have already been encountered in practice. In reality, geometry defines broad classes of new spaces and figures in them, proceeding from an analysis and generalization of the data of intuitive geometry and already established geometric theories. In an abstract definition, these spaces and figures act as possible forms of reality. Consequently, they are not purely speculative constructions but must ultimately serve as a means of investigating and describing real facts. Lobachevskii, in creating his geometry, regarded it as a possible theory of spatial relationships. And just as his geometry was substantiated in terms of its logical consistency and applicability to natural phenomena, so any abstract geometric theory undergoes the same dual verification. The method of constructing mathematical models of new spaces is of fundamental value for verifying logical consistency. However, the only abstract concepts that permanently take root in science are those that are justified both by the construction of an artificial model and by applications, if not directly in natural science and technology then at least in other mathematical theories through which these concepts in one way or another are linked to reality. The ease with which mathematicians and physicists now operate with various “spaces” has been achieved as a result of the long development of geometry in close association with the development of mathematics as a whole and of other exact sciences. It was precisely as a consequence of this development that the second aspect of geometry, mentioned in the general definition at the beginning of the article, evolved and took on great significance: the incorporation into geometry of the investigation of forms and relationships similar to forms and relationships in ordinary space.
As an example of an abstract geometric theory, one can consider the geometry of n-dimensional Euclidean space. It is constructed by means of a simple generalization of the basic propositions of ordinary geometry, for which there are several possibilities: one can, for instance, generalize the axioms of ordinary geometry, but one can also proceed from assigning coordinates to points. In the second approach, n-dimensional space is defined as a set of some elements called points, each of which is determined by an ordered n-tuple of numbers x1, …xn—its coordinates. Next, the distance between the points X = (x1, x2, …, xn and X’ = (x1’, x2’ …, xn’) is defined by the formula
which is a direct generalization of the well-known distance formula in three-dimensional space. A motion is defined as a transformation of a figure such that the distances between its points do not change. Then the subject of n-dimensional geometry is defined as the study of those properties of figures that do not change under motions. On this basis it is easy to introduce concepts of a straight line, of planes of various dimensions from two to n - 1, of a sphere, and so forth. A theory develops in this way that is rich in content and largely analogous to ordinary Euclidean geometry but also largely different from it. It frequently happens that results obtained for three-dimensional space are easily carried over, after appropriate changes, into a space of any number of dimensions. For example, the theorem that of all objects with the same volume a sphere has the smallest surface area reads exactly the same way for a space of any number of dimensions [one must only have in mind n-dimensional volume, (n - 1)-dimensional area, and an n-dimensional sphere, which are defined completely analogously to the corresponding concepts of ordinary geometry]. Furthermore, in n-dimensional space the volume of a prism is equal to the product of the area of the base and the height, while the volume of a pyramid is equal to the same product divided by n. There are many such examples. On the other hand, in multidimensional spaces qualitatively new facts are also found.
Interpretations of geometry. Any one geometric theory allows for different applications and different treatments (realizations, models, interpretations). Any application of a theory is in fact nothing more than a realization of some of its inferences in an appropriate field of phenomena.
The possibility of different realizations is a common property of all mathematical theories. For example, arithmetic relations are realized in the most diverse sets of objects; the same equation often describes completely different phenomena. Mathematics considers only the form of a phenomenon, abstracted from the content, and in terms of form many qualitatively different phenomena often turn out to be similar. The diversity of the applications of mathematics and of geometry in particular is assured precisely by the abstract nature of mathematics. A system of objects (domain of phenomena) is considered to provide a realization of a theory if the relations in this domain of objects can be described in the language of the theory so that every assertion of the theory expresses a certain fact occurring in the domain that is being examined. In particular, if a theory is constructed on the basis of some system of axioms, then the interpretation of this theory consists in such a juxtaposition of its concepts with certain objects and their relationships that the axioms are fulfilled for these objects.
Euclidean geometry arose as a reflection of the facts of reality. Its usual interpretation, in which taut threads are considered lines, a mechanical displacement is considered a motion, and so forth, preceded geometry as a mathematical theory. The question of other interpretations was not raised and could not be raised until a more abstract understanding of geometry emerged. Lobachevskii created non-Euclidean geometry as a possible geometry, and then the question of its real interpretation arose. This problem was solved in 1868 by E. Beltrami, who noted that Lobachevskii’s geometry coincided with the intrinsic geometry of surfaces of constant negative curvature, that is, the theorems of Lobachevskii’s geometry describe geometric facts on such surfaces (where the role of straight lines is taken by geodesies and the role of motions by the bending of the surface onto itself). Since at the same time such a surface is an object of Euclidean geometry, it turned out that Lobachevskii’s geometry was being interpreted in terms of Euclid’s geometry. In this way the consistency of Lobachevskii’s geometry was proved, since a contradiction in it, by dint of the foregoing interpretation, would entail a contradiction in the geometry of Euclid.
Thus the dual significance of interpreting a geometric theory—physical and mathematical—is clarified. An interpretation using concrete objects yields an experimental proof of the truth of the theory (with corresponding precision, of course). If the objects themselves are of an abstract nature (say, a geometric surface in the framework of Euclidean geometry), then the theory is linked to another mathematical theory, in this case to Euclidean geometry, and through it to the experimental data summed up in it. This kind of interpretation of one mathematical theory by means of another has become a mathematical method for substantiating new theories, a technique for proving their consistency, since a contradiction in a new theory would give rise to a contradiction in the theory by which it is being interpreted. But the theory by means of which the interpretation is being effected needs substantiation itself. Therefore, the foregoing mathematical method does not eliminate the fact that the final criterion of truth for mathematical theories is experience. At present, geometric theories are most often interpreted analytically. For example, points in a Lobachevskii plane can be linked to pairs of numbers x and y, straight lines can be defined by equations, and so forth. This technique substantiates a theory because mathematical analysis itself is ultimately substantiated by the enormous volume of its applications.
Modern geometry. The formal mathematical definition of the concepts of space and a figure that is used in modern mathematics stems from the concept of a set. Space is defined as a set of some elements (“points”) subject to the condition that certain relationships similar to ordinary spatial relationships are established in this set. A set of colors, a set of states of a physical system, or a set of continuous functions defined on a segment [0, 1] form spaces where the points are colors, states, or functions. More precisely, these sets are thought of as spaces only if the appropriate relationships—for example, the distance between points—and the properties and relationships defined through them are incorporated in them. Thus, the distance between functions can be defined as the maximum of the absolute value of their difference: max |f(x) - g(x) |. A figure is defined as an arbitrary set of points in a given space. Sometimes a space is a system of sets of elements. For example, in projective geometry it is customary to view points, lines, and planes as coequal fundamental geometric objects that are linked by a relationship of “join.”
The principal types of relationships, which in various combinations bring about the entire diversity of “spaces” of modern geometry, follow.
(1) The general relationships that exist in any set are those of membership and inclusion: a point is a member of a set, and one set is part of another. If only these relationships are taken into consideration, then no “geometry” is yet defined in the set, and it does not become a space. However, if some special figures (sets of points) are distinguished, then the “geometry” of the space can be defined by the laws that connect the points with these figures. In elementary, affine, and projective geometry, this role is played by the axioms of incidence; here straight lines and planes serve as special sets.
The same principle of distinguishing some special sets makes it possible to define the concept of a topological space—a space in which “neighborhoods” of points are distinguished as special sets (subject to the conditions that a point belongs to its own neighborhood and each point has at least one neighborhood; the imposition of further requirements on a neighborhood defines particular types of topological spaces). If every neighborhood of a given point has common points with a certain set, then such a point is called a closure point of that set. Two sets may be called contiguous if at least one of them contains closure points of the other. A space or figure will be continuous, or, as it is said, connected, if it cannot be broken down into two noncontiguous parts. A transformation is continuous if it does not upset contiguities. Thus, the concept of a topological space is used to give a mathematical description of the concept of continuity. A topological space may also be defined by other special sets (closed, open) or directly by the relationship of closure which associates to a set the set of its closure points.
Topological spaces as such, the sets within them, and their transformations serve as the subject matter of topology. To a large extent, the subject matter of geometry proper comprises the investigation of topological spaces and figures in them that are endowed with additional properties.
(2) The second highly important principle of defining and investigating various spaces is the introduction of coordinates. A manifold is a (connected) topological space in which one can introduce coordinates in the neighborhood of each point by placing the points of the neighborhood in a one-to-one bicontinuous correspondence with systems of n real numbers x1, …xn. The number n is the dimension of the manifold. The spaces that are studied in most geometric theories are manifolds; the simplest geometric figures (segments, parts of surfaces bounded by curves, and so forth) are usually portions of manifolds. If, among all the systems of coordinates that can be introduced in portions of a manifold, we single out systems of coordinates that are linked by differentiable (a certain number of times) or analytic functions, then a so-called smooth (analytic) manifold is obtained. This concept generalizes the intuitive idea of a smooth surface. Smooth manifolds as such constitute the subject matter of differential topology. In geometry proper they are endowed with added properties. Coordinates whose transformations are supposed to be differentiable serve as the basis for the broad use of analytic methods—the differential and integral calculus as well as vector and tensor analysis. The aggregate of geometric theories developed by these methods forms general differential geometry. Its simplest instance is the classical theory of smooth curves and surfaces, which are just one- and two-dimensional differentiable manifolds.
(3) The generalization of the concept of motion as a transformation of one figure into another leads to the general principle of defining a space as a set of elements (points) with a given group of one-to-one transformations of this set onto itself. The “geometry” of such a space consists in studying those properties of figures that remain invariant under the transformations of this group. Therefore from the standpoint of such a geometry two figures can be considered “congruent” if one can be mapped onto the other by means of a transformation from the given group. For example, Euclidean geometry studies the properties of figures that remain invariant under motion; affine geometry studies the properties of figures that remain invariant under affine transformations; topology studies the properties of figures that remain invariant under one-to-one bicontinuous transformations. This pattern includes Lobachevskii’s geometry, projective geometry, and others. Actually, this principle is connected to the introduction of coordinates. A space is defined as a smooth manifold in which transformations are given by functions linking the coordinates of each given point and of the point to which it is being mapped (the coordinates of the image of a point are given as functions of the coordinates of the point itself and of the parameters on which the transformation depends; for example, affine transformations are defined by means of linear functions: x1’ = ai1x1 + ai2x2 + … + ainxn for i = 1,…, n). Therefore, the general apparatus for elaborating such “geometries” is the theory of continuous groups of transformations. Another, actually equivalent, viewpoint is possible, according to which it is not transformations of a space that are given but transformations of the coordinates in it, and what is studied are the properties of figures that are expressed identically in different systems of coordinates. This viewpoint found an application in the theory of relativity, which requires the identical expression of physical laws in different coordinate systems, which in physics are called frames of reference.
(4) Another general principle of defining spaces, pointed out in 1854 by Riemann, stems from a generalization of the concept of distance. According to Riemann, a space is a smooth manifold with a given law of measuring distances, or more accurately lengths, by infinitesimal steps. In other words, we are given the differential of the length of an arc of a curve as a function of the coordinates of a point on the curve and their differentials. This is a generalization of the intrinsic geometry of surfaces, which was defined by Gauss as a theory of the properties of surfaces that can be established by measuring the lengths of curves on them. The simplest case is that of so-called Riemannian spaces, in which the Pythagorean theorem is valid locally (that is, coordinates can be introduced in the neighborhood of every point so that at each point the square of the differential of the length of an arc will be equal to the sum of the squares of the differentials of the coordinates, and in arbitrary coordinates it is expressed in terms of a general positive definite quadratic form). Consequently, such a space is locally Euclidean but it may not be globally Euclidean, just as a curved surface can only locally be reduced to a plane (with appropriate precision). The geometries of Euclid and Lobachevskii prove to be a particular case of this Riemannian geometry. The broadest generalization of the concept of distance led to the concept of a general metric space as a set of elements in which a “metric” is defined, that is, a number is assigned to each pair of elements—the distance between them—and is subject only to very general conditions. This idea plays an important role in functional analysis and underlies several of the newest geometric theories, such as the intrinsic geometry of nonsmooth surfaces and the corresponding generalizations of Riemannian geometry.
(5) The linking of Riemann’s idea of defining the geometry of a manifold locally with the definition of “geometry” by means of a group of transformations led (E. Cartan, 1922-25) to the concept of a space in which transformations are assigned only locally. In other words, transformations here establish a connection only between infinitely close portions of a manifold: one portion is mapped into another, infinitely close one. Hence, one speaks of spaces with a “connection” of a certain type. Specifically, spaces with “Euclidean connection” are Riemannian. Further generalizations give rise to the concept of a space as a smooth manifold on which there is defined in general a “field” of some “object,” which can be a quadratic form, as in Riemannian geometry, an aggregate of quantities defining connection, a certain tensor, and so forth. One can also add here fiber spaces, which were introduced recently. These concepts include, in particular, a generalization of Riemannian geometry associated with the theory of relativity, where spaces are considered in which a metric is defined already not by means of a positive definite quadratic form but by means of a quadratic form with alternating signs (such spaces are also called Riemannian, or pseudo-Riemannian if one wishes to distinguish them from Riemannian in the original sense). These spaces are spaces with connection defined by the corresponding group, which differs from the group of Euclidean motions.
On the basis of the theory of relativity a theory of spaces arose in which the concept of order of points is defined such that to each point X there corresponds a set V(X) of points following it. (This is a natural mathematical generalization of a sequence of events, which is defined by the fact that event Y follows event X if X affects Y, and then Y follows X in time in any frame of reference.) Since the very assigning of sets V defines the points that follow X as belonging to the set V(X), the definition of this type of space proves to be an application of the first of the foregoing principles, where the “geometry” of a space is defined by distinguishing special sets. Of course, at the same time the sets V must obey the appropriate conditions; in the simplest case they are convex cones. This theory includes the theory of the corresponding pseudo-Riemannian spaces.
(6) The axiomatic method in its pure form now serves either for the formalization of developed theories or for defining general types of spaces by singling out special sets. If a certain type of more concrete spaces is defined by formulating their properties as axioms, then one uses coordinates, a metric, and so forth. The consistency and consequently the validity of an axiomatic theory are verified by constructing a model that realizes the theory, as was done for the first time for Lobachevskii’s geometry. The model itself is constructed from abstract mathematical objects, so the “final substantiation” of any geometric theory enters the domain of the foundations of mathematics, which cannot be final in the full sense but require more investigation.
The foregoing principles in different combinations and variations give rise to a vast diversity of geometric theories. The significance of each of them and the degree of attention to its problems are determined by the meaningfulness of these problems and of the results that are obtained and by its connections with other theories of geometry, with other fields of mathematics, with exact natural science and with problems of technology. A given geometric theory differs from other geometric theories in various ways. First, there is the space or type of spaces considered in it. Second, the definition of the theory includes a reference to the figures that are investigated in it. In this way a distinction is drawn between the theories of polyhedrons, curves, surfaces, convex bodies, and so forth. Each of these theories can be developed in one space or another. For example, it is possible to examine the theory of polyhedrons in ordinary Euclidean space, in an n-dimensional Euclidean space, in Lobachevskii space, and in other spaces. Similarly, it is possible to develop a theory of surfaces in Euclidean space, in projective theory, in a Lobachevskii space, and so forth. Third, the nature of the properties of figures that are being considered is of importance. For example, one can study the properties of surfaces that remain invariant under various transformations; one can consider the theory of the curvature of surfaces, the theory of bending (that is, of deformations that do not change the lengths of curves on a surface), and intrinsic geometry. Finally, the definition of a theory may include its basic method and the method of the formulation of problems. In this way, a distinction is drawn between elementary, analytic, and differential geometries; for example, one may speak of elementary or analytic geometry of Lobachevskii space. Local geometry, which examines only the properties of infinitesimal portions of a geometric object (curve, surface, manifold), is distinguished from global geometry, which studies geometric objects as a whole over their entire extent. We usually distinguish between analytic methods and the methods of synthetic geometry (or intrinsically geometric methods), the former make use of an appropriate calculus—differential, tensor, and others—while the latter operate directly with geometric objects.
Of the entire diversity of geometric theories, n-dimensional Euclidean geometry and Riemannian (including pseudo-Riemannian) geometry are in fact developing the most. In the former, the theory of curves and surfaces (and hypersurfaces of various dimensions) is intensively elaborated, with particular attention being given to the global investigation of surfaces and to the study of surfaces that are substantially more common than the smooth surfaces studied in classical differential geometry. This category includes polyhedrons (polyhedral surfaces). Then one must cite the theory of convex bodies, which, however, can be largely included in the global theory of surfaces, since a body is determined by its surface. Further, we must mention the theory of regular systems of figures, that is, those allowing motions that take the entire system to itself and some figure in it to any other one. It may be noted that a considerable number of highly important results in these fields belong to Soviet geometers: a full elaboration of the theory of convex surfaces and substantial development of the theory of general nonconvex surfaces, diverse theorems on surfaces in the large (the existence and uniqueness of convex surfaces with an assigned intrinsic metric or with a certain assigned “curvature function,” the theorem on the impossibility of the existence of a complete surface with a curvature that everywhere is less than some negative number, and others), investigation of regular division of space, and so forth.
The theory of Riemannian spaces investigates, among others, problems that concern the connection between their metric properties and topological structure; the global behavior of geodesies (locally shortest curves), for example, the question of the existence of closed geodesies; questions of imbedding, that is, the realization of a given m-dimensional Riemannian space in the form of an m-dimensional surface in Euclidean space of a certain number of dimensions; and questions of pseudo-Riemannian geometry associated with the general theory of relativity. To this one may add the development of various generalizations of Riemannian geometry, both in the spirit of general differential geometry and in the spirit of generalizations of synthetic geometry.
In addition, one should mention algebraic geometry, which developed from analytic geometry and investigates primarily geometric objects that are defined by algebraic equations. It occupies a special place, since it includes not only geometric but also algebraic and arithmetic problems. A vast and important field of research into infinite-dimensional spaces also exists, which, however, is not included under geometry but rather under functional analysis, since infinite-dimensional spaces are concretely defined as spaces whose points are certain functions. Nevertheless, there are many results and problems in this field that are authentically geometric in character and that therefore should be classified under geometry.
Significance of geometry. The use of Euclidean geometry is the most common phenomenon wherever areas, volumes, and the like are being determined. All technology, inasmuch as the forms and dimensions of objects play a role in it, makes use of Euclidean geometry. Cartography, geodesy, astronomy, all graphic methods, and mechanics are inconceivable without geometry. A prominent example is J. Kepler’s discovery that planets revolve along ellipses. He was able to take advantage of the fact that the ellipse had been studied already by ancient geometers. A profound application of geometry is geometric crystallography, which has served as a source and field of application for the theory of regular systems of figures.
More abstract geometric theories find wide use in mechanics and physics, when the totality of states of some system is viewed as a certain space (see above: Generalization of the subject matter of geometry). For instance, all the possible configurations (mutual disposition of elements) of a mechanical system form a “configurational space”; the motion of a system is represented by the motion of a point in this space. The totality of all states of a physical system (in the simplest case, the positions and velocities of material points forming the system, as for example, the molecules of a gas) is viewed as the “phase space” of the system. This point of view finds use, in particular, in statistical physics.
The concept of a multidimensional space was derived in connection with mechanics by J. Lagrange, when to the three spatial coordinates x, y, and z, a fourth was formally added—time t. In this way the four-dimensional space-time appeared, where a point is determined by the four coordinates x, y, z, and t. Every event is characterized by these four coordinates and, abstractly, the set of all events in the world proves to be a four-dimensional space. This view was developed in the geometric treatment of the theory of relativity given by H. Minkowski and later in A. Einstein’s construction of the general theory of relativity. In it he made use of a four-dimensional Riemannian (pseudo-Riemannian) geometry. Thus geometric theories that had developed from a generalization of the data of spatial experience proved to be a mathematical method for constructing a more profound theory of space and time. The theory of relativity, in turn, provided a powerful impetus for the development of general geometric theories. Initially arising from elementary practice, geometry returned, through a series of abstractions and generalizations, to natural science and practice at a higher level as a method.
From the geometric standpoint, the space-time manifold is usually treated in the general theory of relativity as an in-homogeneous manifold of the Riemannian type, but with a metric defined by a form with alternating signs that can be reduced locally to the form
dx2 + dy2 + dz2 - c2dt2
where c is the velocity of light in a vacuum. The space itself, since it can be separated from time, also turns out to be inhomogeneous and Riemannian. From the standpoint of modern geometry, it is better to look at the theory of relativity as follows. The special theory of relativity states that a space-time manifold is a pseudo-Euclidean space, that is, one in which the role of “motions” is played by transformations that preserve the quadratic form
x2 + y2 + z2 - c2t2
More precisely, this is a space with a group of transformations preserving the foregoing quadratic form. It is required of any formula expressing a physical law that it remain invariant under transformations of the group of this space, which are the so-called Lorentz transformations. But according to the general theory of relativity, the space-time manifold is inhomogeneous and is only locally pseudo-Euclidean, that is, it is a Cartan space (see above: Modern geometry). However, this insight became possible only later, since the concept of such spaces appeared after the theory of relativity and was developed under its direct influence.
In mathematics itself the position and role of geometry are determined above all by the fact that continuity was introduced into mathematics through geometry. Mathematics as a science of forms of reality encounters above all two general forms: discreteness and continuity. The counting of separate (discrete) objects yields arithmetic, while spatial continuity is studied by geometry. One of the major contradictions that stimulates the development of mathematics is the clash between the discrete and the continuous. The division of continuous quantities into parts and measurement already represent a juxtaposition of the discrete and the continuous— for example, a scale is laid out along a measured segment in separate steps. The conflict emerged with particular clarity when in ancient Greece (probably in the fifth century
B.C
.) the incommensurability of the side and diagonal of a square was discovered: the length of the diagonal of a square with side 1 was not expressible by any number, since the concept of an irrational number did not exist. It was necessary to generalize the concept of a number and create the concept of an irrational number (which was done only much later in India). The general theory of irrational numbers was created only in the 1870’s. A straight line (and together with it any figure as well) began to be viewed as a set of points. Now this point of view is the predominant one. However, the difficulties of set theory showed its limitations. The conflict between the discrete and the continuous cannot be totally resolved.
The general role of geometry in mathematics also consists in its connection with the precise synthetic thinking proceeding from spatial concepts, which often makes it possible to encompass as a whole that which is achieved by analysis and calculations only through a long series of steps. For instance, geometry is characterized not only by its subject matter but also by its method, which proceeds from visual representations and proves fruitful in solving many problems in other fields of mathematics. Geometry, in turn, makes wide use of their methods. Thus one and the same mathematical problem can quite often be treated either analytically or geometrically or by a combination of both methods.
In a certain sense, almost all mathematics may be viewed as developing from the interaction between algebra (originally arithmetic) and geometry, and in terms of method, as developing from a combination of calculations and geometric representations. This is evident already in the concept of the aggregate of all real numbers as the number line, which links the arithmetic properties of numbers with continuity. Here are several major aspects of geometry’s influence in mathematics.
(1) Geometry, along with mechanics, was of decisive importance in the origin and development of analysis. Integration originated from the determination of areas and volumes, begun already by the ancient scholars; moreover, area and volume as quantities were considered definite. No analytic definition of an integral was given until the first half of the 19th century. The drawing of tangents was one of the problems that gave rise to differentiation. The graphic representation of functions played an important role in developing concepts of analysis and retains its value. In the very terminology of analysis the geometric source of its concepts is evident, as for example, in the terms “point of discontinuity” and “domain of a variable.” The first course in analysis, written in 1696 by G. l’Höpital, was called Infinitesimals Analysis for the Comprehension of Curves. Most of the theory of differential equations is treated geometrically (for example, integral curves). The calculus of variations arose and is developing in large part from the problems of geometry, and the concepts of geometry play an important role in the calculus of variations.
(2) Complex numbers finally became established in mathematics at the turn of the 19th century only as a result of identifying them with the points of a plane, that is, by constructing the “complex plane.” A substantial role is allotted to geometric methods in the theory of functions of a complex variable. The very concept of an analytic function w =f(z) of a complex variable can be defined purely geometrically: such a function is a conformal mapping of a z-plane (or of a domain of a z-plane) to a w-plane. The concepts and methods of Riemannian geometry find an application in the theory of functions of several complex variables.
(3) The basic idea of functional analysis is that functions of a given class (for example, all continuous functions defined on a segment [0, 1]) are viewed as points of a “function space,” and the relationships between the functions are interpreted as geometric relationships between the corresponding points (for example, the convergence of functions is treated as the convergence of points and the maximum of the absolute value of the differences between two functions is defined as their distance. Then, many questions of analysis receive geometric elucidation, which in many cases proves to be very fruitful. In general, the representation of various mathematical items (such as functions and figures) as points of some space with the corresponding geometric interpretation of the relationships of these items is one of the most common and fruitful ideas of modern mathematics and has penetrated into almost all of its branches.
(4) Geometry exerts an influence on algebra and even on arithmetic (the theory of numbers). In algebra, for example, the concept of a vector space is used. In the theory of numbers a geometric trend has arisen that makes it possible to solve many problems that barely lend themselves to the computational method. By the same token, one must also take note of the graphic methods of calculations and the geometric methods of the modern theory of computations and computers.
(5) The logical perfecting and analysis of the axiomatics of geometry played a determining role in the development of an abstract form of the axiomatic method with its complete abstraction from the nature of objects and relationships that appear in the axiomatized theory. The concepts of the consistency, completeness, and independence of axioms were developed using the same material.
On the whole, the inter penetration of geometry and other fields of mathematics is so complete that often the boundaries prove to be matters of convention and tradition. Only such divisions as abstract algebra and mathematical logic have practically no connection with geometry.
REFERENCES
| Plane |
Now a term describing those opposed to industrialization, computerization, or new technologies in general, what was the name for 19th century workers who protested the industrial revolution, often by destroying mechanized equipment? | POV-Ray: A Tool for Creating Engaging Visualisation of Geometry
POV-Ray: A Tool for Creating Engaging Visualisation of Geometry
January 2004
Abstract
Computers are now a standard tool for creating, exploring, and presenting geometric form and mathematics. Finding the right software tools can be difficult, especially so when high quality and visually appealing images are required. This paper will discuss one particular package (POV-Ray) used with great success by the author. A general discussion of the desirable features will be presented along with examples based around the familiar tetrahedral form.
Introduction
The mathematician and geometer often needs to represent equations or geometry visually, both for their own insight (visualisation) and as a way of conveying information to a wider audience. There are a number of software packages that have been designed to meet this need but most concentrate on the former goal and as such may be able to create informative images for the expert but tend to be limited in their ability to create higher quality images that may be more informative and attractive to a general audience.
There are a number of consideration when choosing software for any task and there are some others that are relevant to the presentation of geometry.
There needs to be a very wide range of ways in which geometry can be described, it goes beyond the standard geometric building blocks such as planes, spheres, and cylinders. It includes higher level descriptions such as isosurfaces, parametric equations, and solid constructive geometry. The software should have a versatile programming, scripting, or macro language that can be employed to construct more complicated forms from the simpler building blocks. The ability to supplement this further with algorithms implemented externally in programming languages such as C/C++ can also greatly extend the possibilities.
For presenting engaging images of geometric forms it is necessary to be able to do more than just render as wireframe and flat shading. There needs to be a realistic model of the surface properties and simulation of how light interacts with the geometry. Subtle shading, transparency, and shadows all assist in the visualisation and appreciation of complex geometry.
The cost of any application can be a serious consideration to many users especially those not associated with a company or educational institution. There are clear advantages if the software is free, perhaps developed under the GNU license arrangement.
In order to facilitate collaboration and the sharing of models and expertise, a particular software package needs to be available for the three most widely used operating systems, namely Linux, Macintosh, and MicroSoft Windows. It is important for the software (given a particular version number) to be functionally identical across all platforms and for no platform to lag behind in version releases.
The software package to be discussed here, POV-Ray, goes some way to meeting all the above. It is free and runs identically on all major operating systems and computer platforms. It has a very powerful language for describing geometry which includes a programming language and it is straightforward to create geometric descriptions with external software. The method by which it renders the geometry is based upon a technique called ray tracing, as such it is capable of very high quality imagery with a high degree of realism.
Ray Tracing
Rendering software such a POV-Ray creates an image using a technique known as a ray tracing which broadly means it takes a description of geometry (which includes surface materials and light sources), a model of a virtual camera, and a projection plane made up of the pixels in the final image. It then creates what the camera would "see" by shooting rays from the camera through each pixel and analyzing how they are affected by the geometry, materials, and lights.
An interesting consequence of the ray tracing technique is that traditional computer graphic primitives such as ideal points and lines cannot be represented, indeed in most cases a ray tracer does not even have those as geometric building blocks. The reason is that a ray will never strike a point or a line (they have no thickness) and could therefore never be made visible, in a similar way that a true line could not be seen by ourselves because it would not reflect any light. A ray tracer generally has a polygon primitive (bounded region of a plane that is infinitely thin) however it would suffer the same fate if viewed exactly edge on.
Examples
This section will illustrate the capabilities of POV-Ray to create geometry with some concrete examples. In each case the core geometric description will be given along with the resulting image. Please note that this is not intended to be a tutorial on POV-Ray or the scripting language but more to give a sense of the elegance and power of the description. For tutorials, documentation, and reference material the POV-Ray web site ( http://www.povray.org/ ) should be consulted.
1. Simple geometric building blocks
The lack of line and point primitives with which to build a computer based model may seem rather restrictive. As it turns out the model is created much like it would be in real life, namely with materials of finite thickness such as wire, straws, balsa wood, and balls of putty. The computer versions of these are spheres and cylinders, they both have an associated radius. For the first example, see figure 1, the geometry description that created this tetrahedron is made up of 4 vertices (copper spheres), 6 edges (silver cylinders), and 4 faces (blue, transparent glass). One of each of these appears in the geometry file as follows.
sphere { <1,1,1>, sphereradius texture { copper } } cylinder { <-1,-1,1>, <-1,1,-1>, cylinderradius texture { silver } } triangle { <1,1,1>, <-1,1,-1>, <1,-1,-1> texture { blueglass } }
Note that the exact formatting is not important and that names such as "sphereradius", "copper" are not shown but would be defined earlier in the scene file. The full POV-Ray scene files that were used to create the images here are provided at the end of this document .
Figure 1. Tetrahedron constructed using cylinders, spheres, and semi transparent and reflective glass
2. Parametric surfaces
A more interesting geometric primitive is a parametric surface, to illustrate this consider the following code which describes the "Steiner Look-a-Like" surface and generates the image in figure 2.
parametric { function { cos(2*pi*u - pi/2)*cos(2*pi*(-u+v)+pi/2) } function { cos(2*pi*v - pi/2)*cos(2*pi*(-u+v)+pi/2) } function { cos(2*pi*v - pi/2)*cos(2*pi*u-pi/2) } <0,0>, <0.5,1> contained_by { sphere { <0,0,0>, 2.5 } } accuracy 0.001 max_gradient 10 texture { brass } }
Most of the meaning can be guessed at, the first three lines are the equations in (u,v) for each coordinate axis, the fourth line specifies the (u,v) range, the subsequent lines relate to how the internal algorithm functions. The example here is a Steiner Look-A-Like (Roger Bagula) surface defined by three parametric equations of two variables.
Figure 2. Steiner Look-A-Like surface (Roger Bagula)
3. Isosurfaces
When an implicit equation in known then that can be explored by using the isosurface primitive. the example here is a tetrahedran Kusner-Schmitt surface.
isosurface { function { (pow(x,2)+3) * (pow(y,2)+3) * (pow(z,2)+3) - 32*(x*y*z+1) } contained_by { { <0,0,0>, 2.5} } threshold 0.5 accuracy 0.01 max_gradient 100 open texture { greenchrome } }
Figure 3. Kusner-Schmitt surface described an an isosurface of an implicit function
4. Solid Constructive Geometry
Solid constructive geometry (often simple called CSG) is a very powerful method for constructing forms that are the union, intersection, or difference of simpler solids. In the following example it is used to create the intersection of multiple cylinders, in much the same way in which the Steinmetz solid is the intersection of two circular cylinders at right angles to each other, we consider here the intersection volume of 4 cylinders. Each cylinder is along the line that passes through each vertex of a tetrahedron and the center of the opposite face.
intersection { cylinder { <-1,-1,-1>, <1,1,1>, 0.5 texture { pigment { color rgb <1,0,0> } finish { plastic } } } cylinder { <1,-1,1>, <-1,1,-1>, 0.5 texture { pigment { color rgb <1,1,0> } finish { plastic } } } cylinder { <-1,1,1>, <1,-1,-1>, 0.5 texture { pigment { color rgb <0,0,1> } finish { plastic } } } cylinder { <1,1,-1>, <-1,-1,1>, 0.5 texture { pigment { color rgb <0,1,0> } finish { plastic } } } }
Figure 4a. Cylinder intersection, tetrahedral arrangement
Figure 4b. Cylinder intersection, result
5. Scripting language
The great advantage of a programming language is that geometry may be algorithmically constructed, this is illustrated in figure 5 for the 3D version of the Sierpinski gasket. A tetrahedral element is constructed and repeatedly scales and translated for as many iterations as required. This is a relatively simple example using CSG and iterative declarations, the POV-Ray language also supports loops, logical decisions, variables, etc.
#declare iteration0 = union { triangle { < 1, 1, 1>, <-1, 1, -1>, < 1, -1, -1> } triangle { <-1, 1, -1>, <-1, -1, 1>, < 1, -1, -1> } triangle { < 1, 1, 1>, < 1, -1, -1>, <-1, -1, 1> } triangle { < 1, 1, 1>, <-1, -1, 1>, <-1, 1, -1> } translate <1,1,1> } #declare finaliteration = iteration0; #declare niterations = 6; #while (niterations > 0) #declare finaliteration = union { object { finaliteration } object { finaliteration translate <-2, 0, 2> } object { finaliteration translate <-2, 2, 0> } object { finaliteration translate < 0, 2, 2> } translate <2,0,0> scale 0.5 } #declare niterations = niterations - 1; #end union { object { finaliteration } translate <-1,-1,-1> texture { blueplastic } scale 0.95 }
Figure 5. Tetrahedral fractal (6 iterations)
Conclusion
The goal here has been to suggest that POV-Ray, a free and cross platform rendering package, has powerful features making it a useful toolkit for the mathematician and geometer. The short example code pieces should hopefully not look too scary (full code given below) and encourage the reader to download the software ( www.povray.org ) and experiment for his/her self.
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Hatha, Bikram, and Integral are all types of what? | 20 Most Popular Types of Yoga Explained Concisely
By Ann Pizer - Reviewed by a board-certified physician.
Updated October 06, 2016
One of the biggest hurdles to starting yoga is figuring out what kind you want to do. It's confusing because there are quite a wide variety of options available. Although almost all of them are based around the same physical postures, each has a particular unique emphasis. This cheat sheet highlights the differences so you can figure out what type is most appealing to you and get started now. To learn more, click though to a full length article on each style.
Hatha
Hatha is a very general term that can encompass any of the physical kinds of yoga. In contemporary yoga lingo, hatha has come to mean a slow-paced and gentle way of practicing. Hatha class can be a good place to begin a yoga practice because in provides an introduction to the basic yoga poses in a low key setting.
Vinyasa Flow
Like hatha, vinyasa is a general term that is used to describe many different types of classes. Vinyasa, tends to be a more vigorous style based on the performance of a series of poses called sun salutations , in which movement is matched to the breath. A vinyasa class will typically start with a number of sun salutations to warm up the body for more intense stretching that's done at the end of class. Vinyasa is also called flow, in reference to the continuous movement from one posture the next.
Anusara
Founded in 1997 by John Friend, Anusara combines a strong emphasis on physical alignment with a positive philosophy based on a belief in the intrinsic goodness of all beings.
Classes are usually light-hearted and accessible, often with a focus on heart opening. As of 2012, Friend is no longer associated with Anusara following nearly a year of turmoil within the yoga system he founded over his personal indiscretions. Anusara is now a teacher-led yoga school and Friend has started a new yoga style called Sridaiva (see below).
Ashtanga
Ashtanga is a fast-paced, intense, flowing style of yoga founded by Pattabhi Jois in the 1960s. A set series of poses is performed, always in the same order. This practice is very physically demanding because of the constant movement from one pose to the next and the emphasis on daily practice. It was one of the first yoga styles embraced by a large number of western students and had been very influential in the evolution of yoga in the past 30 years.
Baptiste Power Vinyasa
Baron Baptiste is a power yoga innovator who studies many different styles of yoga, martial arts, and meditation before coming up with his own unique way of teaching yoga. His style is based on "5 Pilllars": vinyasa, ujjayi pranayama , heat, uddiyana bandha , and drishti . Classes, which are conducted in a heated room, are typically strong and sweaty.
Bikram / Hot Yoga
Hot yoga was pioneered by Bikram Choudhury, whose name became synonymous with yoga classes taught in a room heated to 95 to 100 degrees. The heat allows for the loosening of tight muscles and profuse sweating, which is thought to be cleansing.
The Bikram method is a set series of 26 poses, but not all hot classes make use of this series.
Iyengar
Based on the teachings of the yoga master B.K.S Iyengar, this style of practice is all about bringing the body into its best possible alignment, often using props such as yoga blankets, blocks, and straps to assist students as necessary. Iyengar practice usually emphasizes holding poses over longer periods of time instead of moving quickly from one pose to the next (as in a flow class). Iyengar has been very important in the development of modern yoga asana .
Jivamukti
This style of yoga emerged in the 1980s from one of New York City’s best-known yoga studios. Jivamukti founders David Life and Sharon Gannon were influenced by the rigor of Ashtanga yoga (see above), in combination with chanting, meditation, and spiritual teachings. They have trained many teachers who have brought this style of yoga to studios and gyms, predominantly in the U.S. and Europe. Jivamukti classes are physically intense and often include an inspirational theme selected by the teacher.
Forrest
Headquartered in Santa Monica, California, and gaining popularity around the U.S., Forrest Yoga is the method taught by Ana Forrest. The performance of vigorous asana sequences is intended to strengthen and purify the body and release pent-up emotions and pain to encourage healing of physical and emotional wounds. Expect an intense workout with an emphasis on abdominal strengthening, inversions, and deep breathing.
Kripalu
Kripalu is both a yoga style and a retreat center in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. Kripalu is a yoga practice with a compassionate approach and emphasis on meditation, physical healing, and spiritual transformation that overflows into daily life. It also focuses on looking inward and moving at your own pace, making it a good practice for people with limited mobility due to age, weight, illness, or injury.
Kundalini
The emphasis in Kundalini is on the breath in conjunction with physical movement, with the purpose of freeing energy in the lower body and allowing it to move upwards through all the chakras . All asana practices make use of controlling the breath, but in Kundalini the exploration of the effects of the breath (also called prana, meaning energy) on the postures is essential. Kundalini exercises are also called kriyas.
Integral
Integral is a gentle hatha style of yoga based on the ideas and principals of Sri Swami Sachidananda, who sought to give followers guidelines on how to improve their lives. In an attempt to integrate mind, body, and spirit, classes also include pranayama, chanting, and meditation.
Moksha/Modo
Moksha hot yoga was founded in Canada in 2004. In 2013, they changed the name of their affiliated U.S. studios to Modo Yoga. Both styles are based on a series of 45 poses done in a heated room. The studios are expected to adhere to environmentally conscious building and cleaning standards and to foster a sense of community for their students.
Power Yoga
In the mid-1990s, several prominent teacher who were well-trained in traditional yoga were looking for ways to make flow yoga more accessible to more people. The resulting classes came to be known by the umbrella term of power yoga. Power yoga was initially heavily influenced by the intensity of Ashtanga but allowed for variation in the sequencing of poses at the discretion of the teacher. Contemporary power yoga classes are essentially vigorous vinyasa flow.
Restorative
Restorative yoga makes use of props to support the body as it relaxes into poses over the course of several minutes. The idea is to stay in each pose long enough to encourage passive stretching. Seated forward bends, gentle supine back-bends, and twists are examples of the type of poses that can be adapted to be restorative with the addition of props like blankets and bolsters.
Sivananda
The first Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Center was founded in 1959 by Swami Vishnu-devananda, a disciple of Swami Sivananda. There are now close to 80 locations worldwide, including several ashrams. Sivananda yoga is based upon five principles, including the practices of asana, pranayama , and meditation. The mastery of twelve carefully selected poses is at the core of this practice
Sridaiva/Bowspring
After leaving Anusara Yoga (see above) in 2012, John Friend started Sridaiva with Colorado studio owner Desi Springer. This style introduces a new alignment system, which they call the bowspring. It's pretty different from other types of yoga in that the knees stay bent in many poses and the pelvis is always tipping forward to maintain the spinal curves. Proponents say they find a new source of strength and power from this alignment.
Viniyoga
Viniyoga is the term used by T.K.V. Desikachar to describe the methodology that his father, revered teacher T. Krishnamacharya , developed late in his life. It is based on an individualized approach to each student, creating a practice that suits his or her unique stage of life and state of health. Even in group classes, Viniyoga is adapted to fit each person's particular needs.
Yin Yoga
Yin Yoga is a practice developed by teacher Paul Grilley to stretch the body's connective tissue, particularly around the joints. In order to do this, specific poses are help over the course of several minutes. Grilley intended this practice to prepare the body to be able to sit in long meditation sessions and to act as a counterpoint to movement-oriented vigorous yang styles of yoga.
Still not sure which yoga style is right for you? Take this quiz and find out what your yoga personality is!
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According to legend, King Arthur's queen consort, Guinevere, had a torrid affair with which Knight of the Round Table? | What is Hatha Yoga? / Fitness / Exercises
Exercises
Hatha yoga is a popular yoga choice in today's fitness community. Groups and individuals use this ancient, classic yoga style to get fit and encourage a healthy mind-body connection. Knowing more about Hatha yoga will help fitness beginners see more about how this traditional yoga practice informs newer yoga styles and brings a lot of authentic principles to a yoga routine.
Origins of Hatha Yoga
According to some practitioners, Hatha yoga dates back to the 15th century. Scholars refer to a treatise or publication known as the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, where some elements of Hatha yoga are indicated. Hatha yoga was a specific type of yoga activity that, in earlier times, prepared participants for meditating for a very long time.
What Hatha Yoga Means
Hatha yoga is sometimes called a "dual" type of yoga because it includes a duality between two opposites: the sun (in Hinda, "ha") and the moon ("tha"). Some who practice Hatha yoga call it a "yoking" yoga as it joins these two opposites together. This main established principle for Hatha yoga leads to specific structured poses and other activities that help with body and mind "purification" through principles like asana (postures), pranayama (subtle energy control) and more.
More About the Structure of Hatha Yoga
In addition to the above mentioned opposites, sometimes also referred to as hot and cold, male and female, etc., Hatha yoga includes the concept of multiple "limbs" or areas of the yoga practice. Where some common yoga forms such as Ashtanga yoga are built on eight limbs, Hatha yoga, according to experts, is often based on six, each of which represent a critical component of the whole, whether it has to do with readying the mind for meditation, controlling breathing or focusing on another particular task.
Hatha Yoga and Other Derivative Forms
As a traditionally established type of yoga, Hatha yoga sometimes lends its historical weight to other more modern styles. For example, the yoga form known as Anusara yoga, established in the late 20th century by a man named John Friend, uses Hatha yoga as the basis for many of its activities and ideas. It's likely that beginning yoga participants will find elements of Hatha yoga in their group or individual sessions, or in translated handbooks disseminated to a Western audience.
Benefits of Hatha Yoga
Those who take the time to study this ancient yoga art understand that there are some specific benefits of becoming adept at practicing Hatha yoga style. One of the main ones stems from one of the pillars of the Hatha style: breathing. Controlling breath can help improve oxygenation of the body and alleviate stress in some forms. Other elements of Hatha yoga also help with relaxing the body and fighting the stresses of the modern world. As a historical preparation for intensive meditation, Hatha yoga has a lot to offer a modern Western audience.
Find out more about Hatha yoga to make it part of a daily or periodic fitness exercise regimen that works for you.
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May 26, 1940 saw Britain embark on Operation Dynamo, the evacuation of British forces from what famed northern French port city in the face of superior German forces? | WWII Timeline of Events - World War II History
Jan 04, 1944
In a conference attended by German leaders Heinrich Himmler, Wilhelm Keitel, Albert Speer, and Fritz Sauckel, it was decided that four million people were to be conscripted from occupied territories as forced laborers for war production. One million were to be drafted from France between 1... 02.and 31 Dec 1944. ( ... )
Jan 04, 1944
SS Garrison Doctor Eduard Wirths notified SS Medical Officers in the sub camps belonging to Auschwitz III-Monowitz camp that as of January 4, following identification and a number check, the corpses of prisoners should be sent every day before noon directly to crematorium, bypassing the morgues in Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II-Birkenau. The death reports of the prisoners and the protocols of the corpse examination were to be sent, as before, to the orderly room of prisoners' hospital in Auschwitz I camp by noon on the day the corpses were delivered to the crematorium. ( ... )
Jan 14, 1911
USS Arkansas (BB 33) was launched. She served with the British Grand Fleet in World War I. In WWII, she participated in the Normandy Invasion, then relocated to the Pacific in 1944. After WWII, Arkansas was a target ship during Bikini Atoll Atomic bomb tests, where she was engulfed in a column of water and sunk on 25 July 1946. ( ... )
May 25, 1911
USS Wyoming (BB 32) was launched. Commissioned in September 1912, she later participated in the Veracruz Intervention and WWI. Following the 1930 London Treaty, Wyoming was "demilitarized" in early 1931 and became a training ship, receiving the hull number (AG 17). During WWII, she took on the mission of training thousands of sailors in the art and science of gunnery and operated in the Chesapeake Bay area. Decommissioned in August 1947, Wyoming was scrapped that October. ( ... )
Jan 05, 1919
Germans Anton Drexler, Gottfried Feder, Dietrich Eckart, Karl Harrer, and 20 others formally named their small political group the German Workers' Party (Deutsche Arbeiterpartei) in Munich, Germany. The party aimed to support middle-class citizens of the Aryan race. This party was the forerunner of the Nazi Party. ( ... )
Mar 24, 1919
The battleship USS Idaho (BB 42) was commissioned and spent the next ten years in the Pacific. Following conversion, she was sent to the Atlantic during the beginning of WWII in Europe and returned to the Pacific following the Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor and participated in gunfire support of the Aleutian, Marianas, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa Campaigns. After the end of WWII, Idaho was decommissioned in Jun 1946 and sold for scrapping in Nov 1947. ( ... )
May 23, 1939
USS Squalus (SS-192) suffered a catastrophic main induction valve failure during a test dive off the New Hampshire coast and partially flooded. The submarine sank to the bottom and came to rest keel down in over 200 feet of water. 26 lives were lost. ( ... )
May 24, 1939 - May 25, 1939
Vice Admiral Allan McCann's Rescue Chamber was first used to rescue the 33 men from the sunken USS Squalus (SS-192). Four Navy divers received the Medal of Honor for their heroic actions on 24-25 May to rescue the trapped men. Squalus was decommissioned, repaired and renamed Sailfish, then recommissioned in May 1940. Sailfish successfully served in the Pacific during World War II and was sold for scrapping in 1948. ( ... )
Jul 30, 1939
Reacting to German anti-Jewish policies and reflecting the attitude of many other officials in Great Britain and Western Europe, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain writes: "No doubt Jews aren't a lovable people; I don't care about them myself. But that is not sufficient to explain the pogrom." ( ... )
Aug 10, 1939
SS Officer Alfred Naujocks gave this sworn affidavit on the incident which triggered the war: "On or about August 10, 1939, [Reinhard] Heydrich personally ordered me to simulate an attack on the radio station near Gleiwitz, near the Polish border, and to make it appear as if the attacking forces consisted of Poles. Heydrich said, 'Practical proof is needed for these attacks of the Poles for the foreign press as well as German propaganda.' I was ordered to go to Gleiwitz with five or six Security Service men wand wait until I would receive the code words (CANNED GOODS) for the attack from Heydrich. My instructions were to seize the radio station and to hold it long enough to permit a Polish-speaking German, who would be put at my disposal, to broadcast a speech in Polish." The orders were carried out in every detail. ( ... )
Sep 01, 1939
Germany invaded Poland and touched off WWII. The Germans had arranged a series of elaborate pretexts for launching the attack. Berlin claimed Polish army regulars started firing on Germans along the frontier and that the fire was returned beginning at 4:45am. Hitler addressed the Reichstag, declaring "I am determined to eliminate from the German frontiers the element of insecurity, the atmosphere which permanently resembles that of civil war." German forces slammed into Poland from Silesia, East Prussia, and Slovakia, 1,500,000 men (52 divisions) against a Polish army a third that size. Germany unveiled the blitzkrieg--highly mobile armor and tactical aircraft leading the ground forces through and around the Polish defenses. Large scale pincers movements were executed to perfection. Britain and France notified Germany that unless military action ceased, they would have to come to Poland's aid. Britain and France ordered total mobilization. Danzig was proclaimed to be a part of Germany by Gauleiter Forster. Italy proclaimed its nonbelligerent status. Norway, Switzerland, and Finland declares their neutrality. Russia mobilized and lowered its draft age from 21 to 19. ( ... )
Jan 08, 1940
Finnish 9th division takes possession of Raate Road at dawn, as the last dug-in Soviet troops surrender around Lakes Kuivasjarvi and Kuomasjarvi (near Captain M?kinen?s original roadblock). Mopping up stragglers in the woods will take several days. Finns capture 43 tanks, 70 field guns, 278 trucks and other vehicles, 300 machine guns, 6,000 rifles & 1,170 horses. Another entire Soviet division is gone, estimated at 10-15,000 dead (not even the Soviet know how many men went onto the Raate Road; the Finns do not bother to count the frozen bodies). Finns take only 1000 prisoners and another 700 make it back to USSR. Many of those retreating are shot by NKVD and when Finland returns the prisoners, they are also executed for ?treason?. Finnish casualties in the Battle of Raate Road are 2,700 dead, missing and wounded. ( ... )
Apr 27, 1940
Following a number of inspections at various sites, Heinrich Himmler, Commander of the SS, gave out the order to establish a concentration camp in the former artillery barracks in Oświęcim, known at the time as Auschwitz. The basis for Auschwitz consisted of 22 prewar brick barracks buildings. Over time, the camp exp...anded steadily in both organizational and spatial terms. At its peak in the summer of 1944, Auschwitz covered about 40 sq. km. in the core area, and more than 40 branch camps dispersed within a radius of several hundred kilometers. At this time, there were about 135 thousand people (105 thousand registered prisoners and about 30 thousand unregistered) in the Auschwitz complex, which accounted for 25% of all the people in the entire concentration camp system (525 thousand). ( ... )
May 24, 1940
Hitler ordered German armored units to halt mop-up operations and continue toward Paris. If the panzers had continued they would have wiped out the Allied troops caught in ever-smaller pockets. Hitler overruled his commanders on the scene because he was sticking to the original plan of a southward thrust after the breakthrough to the English Channel. ( ... )
May 26, 1940
Hitler after a critical two-day delay, ordered German troops to attack Dunkirk. The first units could not advance until late in the day, but the main force could not be organized until the following day. "By then," said General Guderain, "it was too late to achieve a great victory." ( ... )
May 26, 1940 - Jun 04, 1940
Operation Dynamo, the evacuation of Allied troops at Dunkirk began. In one of the most dramatic withdrawls in military history, a hastily assembled fleet of 861 ships and boats began pulling what was left of the trapped Allied armies off the beaches of Dunkirk. In a week, 224,585 British and 112,546 French and Belgians were taken to safety. About 40,000 Frenchmen were left behind. A total of 231 of the rescue vessels were sunk, mostly by the Luftwaffe, but German air strikes were restricted by bad weather and the tenacious fighters of the RAF. For all the glory that accompanied the gallant retreat, Dunkirk represented the nadir of the war for Britain. ( ... )
Sep 28, 1940
Under Secretary of State Sumner Welles outlined US policy in Asia toward Japan. He said Tokyo's intention to create a new order in Asia had resulted in Japan's reliance "upon the instrumentality of armed force, and it has made it very clear that it intents that it alone shall decide to what extent the historic interests of the United States and the treaty rights of American citizens in the Far East are to be observed." Welles called for "complete respect" for US rights, "equality of opportunity for the trade of all nations," and "respect" for all treaties and international agreements to which the US had agreed. "Modifications" through "peaceful negotiations" would be considered. ( ... )
Dec 25, 1940
German Heavy Cruiser Admiral Hipper attacks British troop convoy WS 5A consisting of 20 MS and escorted by RN CA Berwick, and CLs Bonaventure and Dunedin with CV Furious loaded with crated aircraft about 700 nm W of Cape Finisterre. Spots Berwick while still unseen herself. Closes Benwick opening fire with her main battery at 0639. Benwick replies two minutes later. Hipper engages the other cruisers and some mercantile targets with her 105mm secondary battery. The conditions hampered sighting efforts, but at 0705 she hits Benwick's X turrent and at 0708 scores again with a hit below Berwick's waterline causing flooding. She got two more hits before breaking off action at 0714 in a rainsquall. Benwick's fire is ineffective. Hipper also damages two of the convoy's merchant ships, principally the 13,994 ton transport Empire Trooper. She fired 174 main battery rounds in this action. ( ... )
Sep 28, 1941 - Sep 29, 1941
SS troops massacred nearly 34,000 Jews from the Kiev area in the nearby Babi Yar ravine. In its official report, Einsatzgruppe C related: "The Jewish population was invited by poster to present themselves for resettlement. Although initially we had only counted on 5,000-6,000 Jews reporting, more than 30,000 Jews appeared; by a remarkably efficient piece of organization they were led to believe in the resettlement story until shortly before their execution." It had been suggested the Jews were killed in reprisal for the bombing of a Kiev hotel used as a German headquarters, but the SS had been systematically killing Jews in Russia in the wake of the advancing Wehrmacht. Babi Yar stands as perhaps the most horrible single example of vengeful genocide. ( ... )
Nov 05, 1941
Secret instructions (Combined Fleet Ultasecret Operation Order I) were issued to the Japanese navy for the attack on Pearl Harbor. An imperial conference resulted in agreement to continue negotiations with the U.S. but to go to war if they failed to produce a settlement. The military was thus ordered to prepare for the worst. ( ... )
Nov 06, 1941
While on Neutrality Patrol, USS Omaha and USS Somers intercepted the German blockade runner Odenwald disguised as U.S. freighter and boarded her. While approaching, the crew attempted to scuttle the ship, but the damaged was stopped by the boarding party. Odenwald was then brought to San Juan, Puerto Rico by the Navy ships. ( ... )
Nov 28, 1941
USS Enterprise (CV-6) sailed from Pearl Harbor for Wake Island to ferry Marine aircraft to the island due to �War Warning� issued the previous day. Vice Admiral William Halsey approved �Battle Order No.1� that declared Enterprise was operating �under war conditions.� Following the land ing of the aircraft on 4 December, Enterprise made her way back to Pearl Harbor but was caught in storm that delayed her return. On 5 December, USS Lexington (CV-2) would subsequently leave with Task Force 12 to ferry Marine Aircraft to Midway, leaving no carriers at Pearl Harbor. This departure was also due to the �War Warning� of 27 November. ( ... )
Dec 02, 1941
London announced the formation of a new and expanded Eastern FLeet. Britain in the past had maintained a cruiser squadron, but its naval presence in Asia would now be led by more powerful men-of-war. The battleship Prince of Wales and the battle cruiser Repulse arrived in Singapore on this date. This announced action indicated the concern of Britain as it viewed Japan's southward penetration. ( ... )
Dec 02, 1941
Roosevelt - in a personal note to the Japanese envoys in Washington - asked Tokyo for an explanation of the Japanese troop build-up in Indochina. The President said, "The stationing of thee increased Japanese forces in Indochina would seem to imply the utilization of these forces by Japan for purposes of further aggression, since no such number of forces could possibly be required for the policing of that region..." ( ... )
Dec 07, 1941
09:00 Crew of the Dutch liner JAGERSFONTEIN opens up with her guns, the first Allies to join the fight. Radios throughout the island crack out urgent messages "Get off roads and stay off.. Don't block traffic. Stay at home. This is the real McCoy". ( ... )
Dec 07, 1941
09:15 - In a note delivered to Secretary Hull at 2:15 PM (EST) in Washington, the Japanese said, "Obviously it is the intention of the American Government to conspire with Great Britain and other countries to obstruct Japan's efforts toward the establishment of peace through the creation of a new order in East Asia, and especially to preserve Anglo-American rights and interests by keeping Japan and China at war." This declaration of war notice was delivered over an hour after the attack had begun. ( ... )
Feb 03, 1942 - Feb 04, 1942
Anticipating an imminent attack on the Philippine Islands by the Imperial Japanese Navy, USS TROUT (SS-202) rendezvoused with a torpedo boat in Manila Bay and moored at South Dock. TROUT supplied over 3,500 rounds of ammunition to the marine defenders and loaded fuel and two torpedoes. Requiring ballast and with the intent of evacuating the wealth of the Philippine government, TROUT also loaded over 20 tons of gold bars, silver pesos and State Department dispatches. With sunset fast approaching, TROUT submerged to the bottom of Manila Bay. After nightfall TROUT loaded more mail and was escorted through the defensive minefields to sea. ( ... )
Mar 25, 1942
In one of the greatest "trading with the enemy" scandals of the war, U.S. Assistant Attorney General Thurman Arnold announces that William Stamps Farish Sr. has pled "no contest" to charges of criminal conspiracy with the Nazis. Arnold discloses that Standard Oil of New Jersey (later Exxon) of which Farish is president and CEO has agreed to stop hiding patents from the U.S. for synthetic rubber, which the company has in its possession. Missouri Sen. Harry Truman later roasts Farish in front of his committee investigating home front wrongdoing, an event that raises Truman's profile and makes him a plausible running mate for FDR in 1944. The exposure of the scandal is widely believed to have contributed to Farish's sudden death from a heart attack in November of 1942. ( ... )
Jun 06, 1942
The Battle of Midway, one of the most decisive battles in naval history, marks the turning point of the Pacific War. The decisive defeat administered to the Japanese put an end to their successful offensive and effectively turned the tide of the Pacific War. Japanese losses totaled four fleet carriers, one heavy cruiser, 258 aircraft, and a large percentage of their experienced carrier pilots. United States losses were 40 shore-based and 92 carrier aircraft, and the destroyer Hammann and the carrier Yorktown, the result of a single submarine attack. The significance of the victory was not completely recognized at the time. ( ... )
Jul 10, 1942
While returning from a routine patrol, PBY from (VP 41) sights Mitsubishi A6M2 type 0 carrier fighter (Zero) upside down in a bog on Akutan Island, Aleutians, where it had been since its forced landing on 3 June during the attack on Dutch Harbor. On the 12th, a salvage party from VP 41, began salvage of the Zero which last until mid month. The find was vital as the Allies gained a lot of knowledge to fight the aircraft in future battles. ( ... )
Jul 15, 1942
USS Terror (CM 5), the first minelayer built as such, was commissioned. During World War II, she participated in Operation Torch, the Battle for Iwo Jima, and the Okinawa Invasion, where she was struck by a kamikaze on 1 May 1945. During the Korean War, she was placed in the reserve fleet and was redesignated (MM 5) then to (MMF 5) in 1955. Decommissioned in 1956, Terror was sold for scrapping in 1971. ( ... )
Jul 30, 1942
The WAVES were created by legislation signed by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The members of the Women's Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service were a part of the U.S. Navy. The U.S. government established the Navy WAVES, or Women Accepted for Voluntary Emergency Service, program. Though Navy women would not be allowed to serve outside the continental U.S., or even to go to sea, the military hoped that the recruitment of 10,000 women, who would work in onshore bases, would free sufficient numbers of men to fight overseas. Although women had served as nurses in the navy as early as the Spanish-American War, and officially in the Navy Nurse Corps since 1908, the WAVES program was by far the largest-scale effort to recruit women to active duty in the Navy. In the WAVES program, thousands of women performed nearly every possible job at over 500 naval stations through the Second World War. As military leaders had hoped, they enabled male officers and enlisted men to staff the ships that were responsible for the Allied victory in the Pacific theatre. Among the earliest group of women to enlist in the WAVES was Miriam Miller. Although her parents felt that military nursing "wasn't the life for a nice Jewish girl," Miller enlisted soon after her graduation from the Wilkes-Barre General Hospital School of Nursing, in Pennsylvania. She was assigned first to the Great Lakes Naval Station and then to the San Diego Naval Hospital. Later, when the Navy relaxed its prohibition on women serving outside the continental U.S., she worked in Guam, where she cared for soldiers injured in the battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa. Active in veterans' affairs after the war, Miller was elected President of the Jewish War Veterans National Ladies Auxiliary in 1961. ( ... )
Oct 22, 1942
The Allies met to discuss Operation Torch. Operation Torch was to be the first Allied amphibious landing of World War II (North Africa), mainly as an induction of US ground forces against the Germans. Operation Torch takes place 8 Nov 1942. ( ... )
Oct 22, 1942
US General Mark Clark arrived in Algiers by submarine for a secret meeting with pro-Allied French officers to discuss Operation Torch. Operation Torch was to be the first Allied amphibious landing of World War II (North Africa), mainly as an induction of US ground forces against the Germans. Operation Torch takes place 8 Nov 1942. At the end of this meeting, being chased by Vichy French police, Clark lost his trousers while jumping into a rowboat waiting to take him to the submarine. The first of the cargo ships left British ports. ( ... )
Nov 08, 1942
Operation Torch, American and British forces landed in Morocco and Algeria. The U.S. Navy saw most of its action around Casablanca and elsewhere on Morocco's Atlantic coast. Local French resistance was fierce, but short, and an armistice on 11 November ended the fighting. This ambitious trans-oceanic amphibious operation gave the Allies bases for future operations. In six more months, all of North Africa was cleared of Axis forces, opening the way for an invasion of Italy. ( ... )
Nov 10, 1942
In response to Mahatma Gandhi's demand that India be granted independence from Britain immediately, Prime Minister Churchill, in a speech at Mansion House, says "I have not become the King's First Minister in order to preside over the liquidation of the British Empire." ( ... )
Dec 30, 1942
USS Greenling attacked a Japanese convoy 180 miles northeast of Manus, Admiralty Islands and sank Army cargo ship Hiteru Maru and damaged cargo ship Ryufuku Maru while USS Thresher (SS 196) sank the Japanese freighter Hachian Maru west of Mata Siri Island, off the southern tip of Borneo. ( ... )
Dec 31, 1942
The squadron finds the convoy and attacks it on 31 Dec. German Heavy Cruiser Admiral Hipper makes visual contact at 0720. At 0939 she engages Achates and obtains one non-vital hit with five salvos before turning to engage Onslow and Orwell. These destroyers manage to keep Hipper occupied until 1020 when Hipper scores four hits from 48 main battery shells fired at a range of 8,500 meters, seriously damaging Onslow and forcing the destroyers to turn away. Hipper next encounters the MMS Bramble and fatally damages her with her third salvo from 5,500 meters. She closed the convoy and takes Achates under fire once again, hitting her with her first salvo, leaving her on fire and listing seriously. Obedient, Obdurate and Orwell counterattack, forcing Hipper to turn away from the anticipated torpedo attack. The time is now 1130 and the cruisers Sheffield and Jamaica finally arrive surprising Hipper with their first salvos from 10,500 meters. Hipper is hit shortly thereafter and suffers a flooded boiler room. She takes the cruisers under fire at 1134, but is hit twice more a minute latter, with more flooding and a fire in her aircraft hanger resulting. Hipper turns away in consideration of her orders to avoid action with enemy forces nearly equal to her in strength and because of the damage sustained. The British destroyers chase the Germans and more shots are exchanged until 1400 when contact is definitively broken off. Achates and Bramble sink, but the British rightly claim victory in this action, saving their convoy from a vastly superior force and sinking a German destroyer in the bargain. Hipper is seriously damaged, suffering more flooding and a series of engine failures before she manages to limp back to Kaafjord at 0542 on 1 Jan 43. ( ... )
Jan 29, 1943
The Battle of Rennell Island began when Japanese shore-based aircraft attacked TF 18 covering transports heading towards Guadalcanal. USS Chicago was damaged and sank the next day. Aircraft from USS Enterprise turned away the attackers on the 30th. TF 18 bore the brunt of this attack, and the transports reached Guadalcanal without any damage. ( ... )
Feb 02, 1943
The Japanese destroyer Makigumo was damaged by one of the mines laid by light minelayers USS Tracy (DM 19), USS Montgomery (DM 17), and USS Preble (DM 20) off Cape Esperance the previous night. Makigumo was later scuttled by Japanese destroyer Yugumo. ( ... )
Feb 22, 1943
USS Iowa (BB-61), the lead ship of the last class of American fast battleships, was commissioned. After serving in WWII, she was decomissioned but reactivated in 1951 for the Korean War. Decommissioned in 1958, she was again recommissioned in 1984, serving until Oct 1990. Iowa is currently in the reserve fleet awaiting to become a museum ship. ( ... )
Feb 28, 1943
A group of wives of Jewish men gather in Berlin to stop the deportation of their husbands to concentrations camp. The group of women will grow to 1,000 by March 8 and will succeed in forcing Joseph Goebbels to order the release of 1,500 men. ( ... )
Mar 02, 1943 - Mar 04, 1943
Fifth Air Force Air Apaches and other aircraft smashed a 16-ship Japanese troop convoy in the Battle of the Bismarck Sea. This ended the enemy�s effort to reinforce Lae. The aircraft sank over 40,000 tons of Japanese shipping, including eight troop-laden transports and four of eight escorting warships, and between 50-60 planes. Modified B-25s used low-level skip bombing and .50 cal guns. ( ... )
Mar 05, 1943
USS Bogue (ACV 9) began the first anti-submarine carrier operations in the Atlantic. In July of that year, she was reclassified as an escort carrier, (CVE 9). While in the reserves in 1955, Bogue was reclassified as a Escort Helicopter Aircraft Carrier (CVHE 9) and was sold for scrapping in 1960. ( ... )
Mar 08, 1943
A PBY-5 aircraft piloted by Lieutenant J.E. Dryden from Patrol Squadron Fifty Three (VP 53) sank German submarine, U 156, east-northeast of Trinidad. Before being sunk, U 156 sank 24 allied and merchant vessels, including USS Blakeley (DD 150) on 25 May 1942. ( ... )
May 20, 1943
The Tenth Fleet was established in Washington D.C., under the command of Admiral Ernest J. King, USN, to coordinate U.S. anti-submarine operations in the Atlantic. Disbanded after WWII, the Tenth Fleet was reactivated in January 2010 as U.S. Fleet Cyber Command. ( ... )
May 22, 1943
During the battle to protect ON 184 in the North Atlantic, TBFs from (VC 9) based on board USS Bogue (ACV 9) sank German submarine U 569 and damaged U 305. Before being sunk, U 569 sank two British merchant vessels. ( ... )
May 23, 1943
USS New Jersey (BB 62) was commissioned. During WWII, she participated in the Battle of the Philippine Sea, Battle of the Leyte Gulf and supported the Iwo Jima and the Okinawa Campaigns in the Pacific theatre. Decommissioned in 1948, she was recommissioned for the Korean War and served until 1957. Recommissioned for the Vietnam War in April 1968, she provided gunfire support until decommissioned the following year. New Jersey was then recommissioned in 1982 and served until Sep 1991. New Jersey currently serves as a museum ship at Camden, New Jersey. ( ... )
Jul 13, 1943
TBF (VC 13) based on board USS Core (ACV 13) sank German submarine U 487, 720 miles south-southwest of Fayal, Azores, 27º 15�N, 34º 18�W. During her service U 487 served on two war patrols but did not sink any Allied vessels. ( ... )
Jul 18, 1943
The airship K-74, while on a night patrol off the Florida coast, attacked a surfaced U-boat. In the gun duel that followed, she was hit and brought down -- the only airship lost to enemy action in World War II. The German submarine, U 134, was damaged enough to force her return to base, and after surviving two other attacks on the way, was finally sunk by British Wellington aircraft on 24 August, near Vigo, Spain. ( ... )
Oct 04, 1943
Operation Leader - aircraft from USS Ranger (CV-4) attacked two German convoys in the harbor of Bodø, Norway and caused "appreciable losses" to the vessels. This mission was the only Navy carrier operation in northern European waters during World War II. USS Corry (DD-463) provided escort support. ( ... )
Oct 05, 1943 - Oct 06, 1943
Task Force 14 (TF-14) began a two-day raid on Wake Island. Rear Admiral Sakaibara Shigematsu, the Japanese island commander, then ordered the execution of the 98 remaining civilian prisoners captured on 23 December 1941, due to his fear they would escape and communicate about the weak garrison. ( ... )
Oct 06, 1943
In the night Battle of Vella Lavella, USS O�Bannon (DD 450), USS Chevalier (DD 451), and USS Selfridge (DD 357) intercepted 9 Japanese destroyers en route to Rabaul after evacuating the garrison on Vella Lavella Island. During the battle, the Japanese destroyer Yugumo was sunk. All the U.S. destroyers were damaged, with Chevalier being scuttled by USS LaVallette (DD-488) due to damage. ( ... )
Nov 02, 1943
USS Halibut (SS 232), USS Seahorse (SS 304), and USS Trigger (SS 237), all operating independently of each other, attacked a Japanese convoy south of Honshu. Halibut sank army cargo ship Ehime Maru, Seahorse sank transport Chihaya Maru, and Trigger sank transport Delagoa Maru. ( ... )
Nov 03, 1943
USS Oklahoma (BB-37), which was sunk during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, was refloated after months of laborious effort. Too old and badly damaged, she was formally decommissioned in Sept. 1944. Sold for scrapping in Dec. 1946, Oklahoma sank while under tow from Hawaii to California in May 1947. ( ... )
Jan 04, 1944
In a conference attended by German leaders Heinrich Himmler, Wilhelm Keitel, Albert Speer, and Fritz Sauckel, it was decided that four million people were to be conscripted from occupied territories as forced laborers for war production. One million were to be drafted from France between 1... 02.and 31 Dec 1944. ( ... )
Jan 04, 1944
SS Garrison Doctor Eduard Wirths notified SS Medical Officers in the sub camps belonging to Auschwitz III-Monowitz camp that as of January 4, following identification and a number check, the corpses of prisoners should be sent every day before noon directly to crematorium, bypassing the morgues in Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II-Birkenau. The death reports of the prisoners and the protocols of the corpse examination were to be sent, as before, to the orderly room of prisoners' hospital in Auschwitz I camp by noon on the day the corpses were delivered to the crematorium. ( ... )
Jan 30, 1944
PB2Ys (VP 13 and VP 102) from Midway Island carryout nocturnal bombing raid on Wake Island to neutralize Japanese airfield installations. Motor torpedo boats Gyoraitei No.5 and Gyoraitei No.6 are sunk during the raid. The strike marked the first time Coronados are used a bombers. ( ... )
Jan 31, 1944
31 January 1944, the Marshall Island Invasion began with US Marine and Army troops landing at Kwajalein and Majuro atolls and then on Roi and Namur the following day. Within two weeks, the island chain would be under Allied control and �mopping-up� operations soon began. The landing force was commanded by Major General Holland M. Smith, USMC. Vice Admiral Raymond A. Spruance, Task Force 50, commanded the overall operation. ( ... )
Feb 23, 1944
USS PLUNGER (SS-179) was underway during her tenth war patrol. Having sighted a puff of smoke on the horizon, PLUNGER gave chase. She tracked the smoke for two hours before her diligence paid off. PLUNGER sighted a convoy consisting of three large merchant ships and two escorts. PLUNGER selected the two largest ships as her intended victims. The first ship, dubbed "PAPA," was engaged using PLUNGER�s final forward torpedo. This shot struck PAPA amidships, setting her aflame. Before PLUNGER could engage her next target, named "MAMA," she was subjected to a vigorous depth charging. ( ... )
Feb 24, 1944
The US submarine, Rasher, sinks the Japanese troopship Tango Jaru in the Java sea. The vessel is carrying Allied prisiners of war and 3,500 Javanese slave labourers, more than 3,000 of whom perish. The Rasher then sinks the Ryusei Maru which is packed with 6,600 Japanese troops. Nearly 5,000 of them are killed. ( ... )
Feb 24, 1944
24 Feb 1944, PBY-5As (VP 63) employing Magnetic Anomaly Detection (MAD) gear, and a PV-1 (VB 127), together with an RAF Catalina (No. 202 Squadron) and British destroyers HMS Anthony and Wishart, bombed German submarine U 761 as she attempted to transit the Straits of Gibraltar. U 761 was the first U-boat destroyed through the use of MAD equipment. The destroyers rescued the U-boat survivors. ( ... )
Mar 29, 1944
USS Tunny (SS 282) torpedoed the Japanese battleship Musashi off Palau, which necessitated repairs in Japan, during which her anti-aircraft firepower was enhanced. Note, Musashi would be later sunk by U.S. Navy carrier aircraft during the Battle of the Sibuyan Sea on 24 October 1944. ( ... )
Mar 30, 1944
TF 58 began bombing of Japanese airfields, shipping, fleet servicing facilities, and other installations at Palau, Yap, Ulithi, and Woleai in the Caroline Islands. TBFs and TBMs from USS Lexington (CV 16), USS Bunker Hill (CV 19), and USS Hornet (CV 12) extensively bombed the minefields in and around the channels and approaches to the Palaus in the first tactical use of mines laid by carrier aircraft. ( ... )
May 05, 1944
USS Comfort (AH-6) was commissioned at San Pedro, California. She was the first ship to be manned jointly by US Army and US Navy personnel. Serving in the Pacific during WWII, she was hit by a kamikaze on 29 April, which killed 28 (including six nurses), wounded 48, and caused considerable damage. Following repairs and return visits to the Pacific, Comfort was decommissioned in 1946 and transferred to the U.S. Army. After service in the Maritime Commission and Administration, Comfort was sold for scrap in October 1967. ( ... )
May 07, 1944
USS Buckley (DE 51) was damaged when she intentionally rammed German submarine U 66, which had been harassed by TBMs (VC 55) from USS Block Island (CVE 21) about 390 miles west of Cape Verdes. Echoing the close-quarter battles of sail, Buckley�s crew employed small arms, hand grenades, fists, and even a coffee mug. U 66 sank as a result of the multifaceted pounding. Before being sunk, U 66 sank 37 Allied merchant ships, which included 8 American vessels. ( ... )
May 11, 1944
About 30 minutes before sunset USS CREVALLE (SS-291) surfaced off Negros Island in the Philippines to bring supplies to guerillas fighting the Japanese and pick up refugees. CREVALLE�s commanding officer, Frank Walker remembers, "My orders stated that we would bring out twenty five passengers and no baggage." The second canoe, carrying sixteen more refugees, was a total surprise. As many of the second group were women, children, and also included four American and Filipino soldiers who had survived the Bataan Death March, had made their escape and desperately needed medical treatment. Walker could not turn them away�CREVALLE took everyone aboard. Among the refugees was American missionary Paul Lindholm and his wife and four children. Lindholm made sure his family was safe aboard the boat and then, in Walker�s words, "returned ashore at the last minute to continue his ministry among the guerillas�much to the astonishment of his wife who expected him to accompany them to safety." The entire family would survive to be reunited at war�s end. ( ... )
May 18, 1944
Following gunfire support from US Army gunners (who landed on Insoemanai island the previous day), USS Wilkes (DD 441) and USS Roe (DD 418), the 1st Battalion, 163rd Infantry landed on Wakde, off Dutch New Guinea. Rear Admiral William M. Fechteler commanded the naval attack force. On 21 May, the island was declared secure, and Army engineers immediately began to make the airstrip operational. Wakde became a key airfield in the Southwest Pacific offensive, as it supported two heavy bomber groups, two fighter groups, a B-25 reconnaissance squadron and part of a Navy PB4Y squadron. ( ... )
May 19, 1944
USS Niblack (DD 424), USS Ludlow (DD 438), and British aircraft sank German submarine U 960 off Oran, Algeria. Before being sunk, U 960 sank 3 Allied merchant vessels, including the United States steam merchant Sumner I. Kimball on 16 January 1944. ( ... )
May 21, 1944
During preparations for the invasion of Saipan, an accidental ordnance blast on LST 353 set off cataclysmic ammunition explosions at West Loch, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, killing 163 and injuring 396. Six tank landing ships (LST-39, LST-43, LST-69, LST-179, LST-353, LST-480), three tank landing craft (LCT-961, LCT-963, LCT-983), and 17 track landing vehicles (LVTs) are destroyed in explosions and fires. We remember and salute the lives of the service members killed and wounded. ( ... )
May 29, 1944
USS Block Island (CVE-21) was torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-549. During this attack, USS Barr (DE 576) was also damaged. Block Island was the only US Navy aircraft carrier lost in the Atlantic during the Second World War. U-549 was later sunk that night by USS Eugene E. Elmore (DE-686) and USS Ahrens (DE 575). ( ... )
May 31, 1944
USS Barb (SS 220) and USS Herring (SS 233) planned an attack Japanese shipping in the Sea of Okhotsk about 150 miles west of Matsuwa Island, Kuril Islands. Next, Herring attacked convoy NE and sank escort vessel Ishigaki and army cargo ship Hokuyo Maru west of Matsuwa Island. Barb came across the convoy NE and sank army cargo ship Madras Maru and transport Koto Maru, southest of Paramushir. ( ... )
Jun 07, 1944
Early in the morning while cruising through a swept channel off Normandy, Susan B. Anthony struck a mine which exploded under her number 4 hold. Immediately, she lost all power, and her rudder went hard left and stuck. The commanding officer, Commander T. L. Gray, USNR, with Pinto and two destroyers alongside, efficiently effected the evacuation of troops expeditiously and without resorting to fireboats and rafts. Anthony's crew followed closely behind the soldiers. No one was killed, and few of the 45 wounded were seriously hurt. The sinking of the Susan B. Anthony listed was the largest rescue of people without loss of life; all 2,689 people aboard were saved. ( ... )
Jun 09, 1944
Fifth Air Force B-24's bomb Peleliu airfield. A-20's bomb shipping in Manokwari harbor. B-24's, A-20's, B-25's, and P-39's, along with RAAF planes, drop about 140 tons of bombs on various targets in Wewak area. B-24's of Thirteenth Air TF bomb Alet air field and T/Os in Truk. ( ... )
Jun 10, 1944
More than 600 people are massacred by German troops in the French town of Oradour-sur-Glane. While the men are shot immediately, the women and children are locked in a church the alter of which is set on fire; those who try to escape the flames are shot. ( ... )
Jun 16, 1944
Gunnery Sergeant Robert H. McCard was serving as a Platoon Sergeant with Company A, Fourth Tank Battalion, Fourth Marine Division as they fought against the Japanese at the Battle of Saipan, Marianas Islands. With his tank destroyed by enemy 77-mm. gun fire, he persisted with the attack until he was forced to abandon the tank, exposing himself while covering his evacuating men. Wounded and with the grenade supply diminished, he dismantled a tank machine gun and attacked the enemy positions, destroying 16 enemy soldiers before sacrificing his life to save his men. For his "conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity" on this occasion, McCard was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. ( ... )
Jun 17, 1944
TBF aircraft from Composite Squadron Ninety Five (VC 95) from USS Croatan (CVE 25) damaged German submarine U 853 in the North Atlantic. On 6 May 1945, USS Atherton (DE 169) and USS Moberly (PF 63) sank U 853 off Block Island, 41º 13�N, 71º 27�W. During her service, U 853 sank two US vessels: USS Eagle (PE 56), 23 Apri 1945 and merchant Black Point on 5 May 1945. ( ... )
Nov 16, 1944
The 332d Fighter Group escorted B-24 bombers of the 304th Bombardment Wing to and from Munich West marshaling yards. During the mission, the group encountered several Me-109 enemy fighters that attempted to shoot down the bombers. Captain Luke J. Weathers of the 302d Fighter Squadron shot down 2 of the 43 enemy fighters. The 52d Fighter Group also escorted the 304th Bombardment Wing that day. Lt. Roger Romine died in an aircraft accident after the aircraft of another escort pilot crashed into his. Capt. Luke J. Weathers of the 302nd Fighter Squadron earned the Distinguished Flying Cross for his heroic actions on this day. ( ... )
Nov 19, 1944
The 332d Fighter Group conducted a strafing mission against enemy railway, highway, and river traffic targets in the Gyor-Vienna-Esztergom area of Austria. 1st Lieutenant Roger B. Gaiter of the 99th Fighter Squadron was seen to bail out of his P-51 after it was hit by enemy antiaircraft fire (flak). 1st Lieutenant Quitman Walker, also of the 99th Fighter Squadron, was also reported missing after also being hit by flak. Both were lost near Lake Balaton, Hungary. For this mission, Fifteenth Air Force commander Major General Nathan F. Twining commended the 332d Fighter Group. For their heroic actions on this day, the following four members of the 332d Fighter Group each earned the Distinguished Flying Cross: Capt. Albert H. Manning (99th Fighter Squadron); Capt. John Daniels (99th Fighter Squadron); 1st Lt. William N. Alsbrook (99th Fighter Squadron); and 1st Lt. Norman W. Scales (100th Fighter Squadron). ( ... )
Dec 16, 1944
The Battle of the Bulge begins. It the last major German counteroffensive, as allied troops are pushed back in Belgium's Ardennes Forest. As Allied lines fall back, a "bulge" is created in the center of the line, giving the battle its familiar name (see MAP). Two weeks of intense fighting in brutal winter weather follow before the German offensive is stopped. ( ... )
Dec 16, 1944
The Battle of the Bulge begins. It the last major German counteroffensive, as allied troops are pushed back in Belgium's Ardennes Forest. As Allied lines fall back, a "bulge" is created in the center of the line, giving the battle its familiar name (see MAP). Two weeks of intense fighting in brutal winter weather follow before the German offensive is stopped. ( ... )
Jan 05, 1945
Japanese kamikaze attacks continued against the Lingayen Gulf bound U.S. Navy force. Some of the ships damaged were: USS Louisville (CA 28), USS Helm (DD 388), USS Manila Bay (CVE 61), USS Savo Island (CVE 78), and USS Stafford (DE 411). ( ... )
Jan 05, 1945
The last session of the Police summary court of the Kattowitz Gestapo took place in block 11 in Auschwitz I camp. Around 100 Polish prisoners, men and women, were condemned to death. They were shot to death the following day in crematorium V in Auschwitz II-Birkenau. The court meeting was chaired by Johannes Thuemmler. ( ... )
Jan 06, 1945
Four female Jewish prisoners were hanged in the female camp of Auschwitz: Ella Gartner, R?za Robota, Regina Safir and Estera Wajsblum (in the pre-war picture). They were condemned to death because theyassisted in the uprising that broke out on October 7, 1944 in the Sonderkommando in Auschwitz II-Birkenau. They provided the Sonderkommando with explosives and munition from the depots of the Weichsel-Union-Metallwerke, where three of the women worked. The execution had two stages. Two of the women were hanged during the evening roll call in the presence of the male and female prisoners who worked the night shift at Weichsel-Union. Two others were hanged after the return of the squad that worked the dayshift. The reason for the sentence was read by the Auschwitz camp commander SS-Hauptsturmf?hrer Franz H?ssler. He screamed that all traitors will be destroyed in this manner. It was the last execution in Auschwitz. ( ( ... )
Jan 06, 1945
Japanese kamikaze attacks intensified on the Lingayen Gulf inbound US Navy force. USS Walke's (DD 723), CO, Cdr. G.F. Davis, posthumously received the Medal of Honor for remaining at the conn and leading his men though gravely wounded. Radm T.E. Chandler is seriously wounded on board USS Louisville (CA 28) and dies the next day. ( ... )
Jan 14, 1945
The 357th Fighter Group flew bomber escort duty to the German town of Derben in what was to become known as 'Big Day.' The 'Yoxford Boys' downed 56.5 enemy aircraft. It was the highest single day total of any US fighter group in the ETO. The 357th lost only three Mustangs and the three pilots were made POWs. ( ... )
Jan 17, 1945
67,012 male and female prisoners of Auschwitz camps complex were present at the last evening roll-call. Evacuation of the camp was about to start. Camp doctor Josef Mengele liquidated his experimental station at sector BIIf in Birkenau camp taking all the documentation of his experiments on twins, dwarfs and disabled people with him. Burning of documents continued, including Auschwitz I camp hospital archive. On this day prisoners of two sub-camps started the evacuation: Sosnowitz and Neu-Dachs. The commandant of Auschwitz camp Richard Baer gave an order to the leaders of the evacuation columns chosen from among the members of the guard companies to liquidate ruthlessly all prisoners who attempt to escape during the evacuation or drag their feet. It is estimated that at least 9 thousand, and more probably 15 thousand Auschwitz prisoners paid with their lives for the evacuation operation. ( ... )
Mar 07, 1945
The commanding officer at Coast Guard Air Station (CGAS) Floyd Bennett Field, New York, reported successful testing of a dunking sonar unit on board an XHOS-1 helicopter. The XHOS-1, a follow-on design to the HNS-1 Hoverfly, entered naval service in September 1944, with a total of 3 experimental versions and 36 production models acquired for service in the Navy and Coast Guard. ( ... )
Mar 07, 1945
The Ludendorff Bridge at Remagen�the last standing on the Rhine�was captured by soldiers of the U.S. 9th Armored Division during Operation Lumberjack. The 27th Armored Infantry Battalion, led by Lieutenant Karl H. Timmermann, from West Point, Nebraska, approached the bridge, and found it standing. The first American soldier across the bridge was Sergeant Alex Drabik; Lt. Timmermann was the first officer across. ( ... )
Mar 16, 1945
On Iwo Jima, a month-long struggle comes to an end, as U.S. forces capture the 8-square-mile island. Possessing Japan's last line of radar defense to warn against American air attacks, Iwo Jima is a strategically significant prelude to the invasion of Okinawa. ( ... )
Mar 19, 1945
As Task Force 58 planes bombed airfields at Kyushu and Kure and Kobe Harbors, Japanese aircraft singled out the US Navy carriers for attack. USS Wasp (CV 18) and USS Franklin (CV 13) were hit by enemy bombs. After being hit by two bombs, Franklin suffered subsequent explosions on the flight and hangar decks. Heroic work by her crew, assisted by nearby ships, brought the fires and flooding under control. For their action during this occasion, both CDR Joseph T. O� Callahan, ChC, and LTJG Donald A. Gary received the Medal of Honor. ( ... )
May 07, 1945
Germany surrenders unconditionally to General Eisenhower at Rheims, France, and to the Soviets in Berlin. President Truman pronounces the following day, May 8, V-E Day. The U.S., Russia, England, and France agree to split occupied Germany into eastern and western halves. ( ... )
May 07, 1945
The unconditional surrender of the German Third Reich was signed in the early morning hours at Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF) at Reims in northeastern France. The surrender was signed by Colonel General Afred Jodl, Chief of the German General Staff, who had alone been authorized to sign the surrender document by German President Karl Doenitz. ( ... )
May 07, 1945
While serving as a flame thrower operator with Headquarters Company, First Battalion, Fifth Marines, Fifth Marine Division during the Okinawa Campaign, Private First Class Albert E. Schwab�s company was pinned down in a valley and suffering heavy casualties. He scaled the cliff, alone and under fire, to the enemy position and skillfully used his flame thrower to destroy the hostile emplacement. After his company occupied the ridge, a second enemy machine gun killed and wounded several Marines. Though low on flame thrower fuel, he quickly determined to advance alone against the enemy fire. Schwab destroyed the second gun emplacement but was mortally wounded at the end of his assault. For his "conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity" on this occasion, he was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. ( ... )
Jun 07, 1945
During the Okinawa Campaign, while serving with the Third Marine Battalion, Twenty-Ninth Marines, Sixth Marine Division, Private Robert M. McTureous�s company suffered casualties after capturing a hill on Oroku Peninsula, and the wounded could not be evacuated due to heavy Japanese fire. Waging a one-man assault to redirect enemy fire away from the wounded, McTureous attacked numerous times and suffered severe wounds in the process. He crawled 200 yards back to safety before asking for aid. His actions disorganized the enemy and enabled his company to complete its mission. Evacuated to USS Relief, he succumbed to his wounds on 11 June. For his "conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity" on this occasion, McTureous was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. ( ... )
Jun 09, 1945
In coordination with Navy surface and air forces attacking in the Kurils, 6 B-24's and 8 B-25's of the Eleventh AF fly extensive armed weather recon and anti-shipping sweeps over Kurabu and Otomari Capes, Ichinowatashi, and Asahigawa. The B-24's score no results, half of them jettisoning their bombs. The B-25's then fly a diversionary bombing mission over Araido where they are attacked by 8 fighters. To evade them, the B-25's fly over Kamchatka where Soviet AA fire shoots down one, killing its crew. Another damaged B-25 crashlands in Petropavlovsk. This is the first time Soviet AA hits a US aircraft. ( ... )
Aug 06, 1945
The American B-29 bomber, known as the Enola Gay, dropped the first atomic bomb on an inhabited area. The bomb named "Little Boy" was dropped over the center of Hiroshima, Japan. An estimated 140,000 people were killed. http://link.history.com/services/player/bcpid18808667001?bctid=1209892717 "Atomic bomb is dropped on Hiroshima," History.com, http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?action=Article&id=6542 (accessed Aug 6, 2009). ( ... )
Aug 06, 1945
The U.S B-29 Superfortress, Enola Gay, drops an atomic bomb on the Japanese industrial city of Hiroshima. The city is leveled, and an estimated 100,000 people are killed immediately (another 100,000 will die later from radiation sickness and burns). On August 9, a second bomb will be dropped on the Japanese city of Nagasaki. ( ... )
| Dunkirk |
"What hath God wrought" was sent from Washington D.C. to Baltimore, MD on May 24, 1844, the first message sent by what new technology? | The War - a concise history 1939-1945 by Louis L. Snyder
Back cover (photo)
Preface
WWII was fought by the greatest number of men in history over the largest area of the world's surface. As time rolls by, the events from 1939 to 1945 come more into focus. This book's purpose is to present in concise form the story from Warsaw to Tokyo Bay.
Introduction by Eric Sevareid, June 1960
With WWI died values and assumptions of humanitarian progress that had grown for 100 years. "It was in WWII we learned to question the meaning of a 1,000 years of belief in the human spirit and shivered in the cold stench of medieval mania loosed from the catacombs of the Dark Ages, for this time men saw in the Germanic insanity mass butchery following from deliberate purpose, down to the last neat medical chart showing the stress-resistance behavior of the lower bowel under hydraulic pressure."
WWII:
reshuffled the political world of nations; loosened the ties of the old empires and brought new ones.
awakened millions of black and yellow people.
brought the USA to the old world to stay.
strengthened Russian Communism, by weakening other societies and by leaving Communist armies astride them.
made students of many of our men who returned searching for the meaning of personal life. And made neurotics and gangsters of others.
made England healthier.
ended the dictatorships of Germany, Italy, and Japan.
cleared a dangerously long path ahead for the Bolshevist's world plan.
In waw an individual's personal character comes out: weakness, bestiality, heroism.
Part 1 - Prelude: The Road to War
Chapter 1 - "The Altar of Mars"
Sept. 1, 1939: Blitzkrieg in Poland. Without a declaration of war, simultaneously from East Prussia, Pomerania, Silesia, and Slovakia, Hitler's war machine invaded Warsaw. The Blitzkrieg technique was quick and mobile thanks to their tanks. Poland didn't know what hit them!
September 17, 1939: Russia invaded Poland from the east. Stalin and Hitler had made a deal to split up Poland. Within 2 days the Red troops held 1/2 of Poland, including the oil fields of Galacia, also blocked Hitler's direct road to the oil of Rumania.
TheGermans tried weapons of propaganda, such as posters and dropping leaflets to give up, but the Poles were stubborn and fought.
September 28, 1939: Foreign Ministers Joachim von Ribbentrop and Vyacheslav Molotov met to divide up Poland.
The Germans got 73,000 square miles, much mining and manufacturing areas, with 22 million people.
The Russians got 77,000 square miles of Poland, including major oil resources and 13 million people.
More than 70,000 Polish troops fled to France and England.
Leading Polish officials fled to Rumania.
Dr. Robert Ley, head of the German Labor Front, forced tens of thousands of Poles into slave labor for the Nazi war machine.
Nazi Police Chief Heinrich Himmler began extermination of Poles and Jews by firing squads and gas chambers.
Historian E. L. Bogart estimated in the early 1930s the cost of WWI was $331 billion, plus interest payments on loans, pension, care for veterans, and effects on human life.
1880 Great Britain produced about 2 1/2 times iron ore as Germany, by 1909 Germany almost doubled the British rate of production.
The German economy suffered when they lost WWI in 1918 Treaty of Versailles.
Inflation of 1923 devalued Germany's money. The Western nations helped out with the Dawes Plan (1924) and the Young Plan (1929). Then the depression of 1929 stopped the outside aid.
Then came Hitler, controlled the system, abandoned the Weimar Republic's welfare economy and placed in a war economy.
"Nationalism" may be much to blame for WWII. It's hard to define and its meaning changes with the course of history. It's a state of mind, an act of consciousness, a psychological fact; a symbol by society for security. It's artificially constructed; deeply rooted in the past; utilizes primitive feelings of man, including love of birthplace and hatred of foreigners (xenophobia).
In the 20th century nationalism spread to Central and Eastern Europe, Asia, Middle East, Africa, to countries, unlike the West, had no experience with individual liberty.
Another basic cause for both World Wars was a lack of regulating the relations between nations; no international organizaion.
There were two international Peace Conferences organized by Czar Nicholas II of Russia and held at The Hague in 1899 and 1907.
After WWI the League of Nations was created to promote international order the brain-child of Jan Smuts, a South African leader.
Wilson believed in the League of Nations and reluctantly even accepted some of the harsher terms of the Treaty of Versailles (the treaty of peace with Germany) in return for support of the League. Back home isolationist Republicans were upset about the League. Wilson tried to convince the county, but he failed and the U.S. didn't participate in the League of Nations. In his book "Triumph and Tragedy" Churchill says that the League was ruined by the U.S. not joining.
After 1931 came major disputes that the League failed to resolve:
Japanese aggression against China.
Italy in Ethiopia.
The problems arising from the Spanish Civil War.
August 27, 1928: 15 nations signed the Kellogg-Briand Paris Peace Pact. By 1933 63 nations had signed it.
1921 - 1922: President Harding called the Washington Naval Conference. As a result of the agreed naval limits the U.S. destroyed part of its fleet.
The World Disarmament Conference began in Geneva in 1932. President Hoover suggested a 1/3 reduction of land forces and total abolition of tanks, bombing planes, and large mobile guns. Hitler wanted to arm to equal France. This was denied. October 1933 Germany quit the League of Nations. The Conference fell apart.
1935 - 1936: the London Naval Conference of 1935-1936 was called when Japan demanded equality with the U.S. and Great Britain. Things fell apart and the Great Powers resumed unlimited naval construction.
Proponents of disarmament argued that arms races always lead to war. The other side advocated preparedness: the best way to prevent war was to be so powerful an aggressor would never attack. The debate ended by the emergence of Hitler.
1939: the stop-Hitler coalition (Britain, France, Rumania, Greece, Poland) seemed to have an edge on the Axis (Germany, Italy, Hungary, Spain). The Allies had advantage in sea power, but the Axis was superior in submarine strength. Ther airforces were about equal.
Chapter 2 - "From Mancuria to Anschluss: Stages of Axis Aggression"
1914, Japan violated Chinese neutrality by landing troops around Kiaochow, which Germany had leased from China in 1898.
January 1915: Tokyo gave Pres. Yuan of China a list of demands written on War Office stationary. The U.S. protested and Japan withdrew most of the demands.
Japan saw Manchuria as a 1/2 million miles of potential wealth: iron, coal, copper, lead, manganese, oil shale, gold. Also a buffer state vis-á-vis Soviet Russian, and surplus Japanese could live in Manchuria.
As early as 1919 the Dai Nippon Kokusuikai (Greater Japan National Essence Society) had gathered a million members. The Kokuhousha (National Foundation Society) was preaching a xenophobic nationalism.
Political assassinations began. A coup attempt in Japan failed when senior officers refused to go along with the conspirators.
September 18, 1931: Japan captured Mukden and 10,000 Chinese sodiers.
Japan completed their conquest of all of China in January 1932.
Then Japan turned south. 23,000 lives lost, 20,000were Chinese. Continued destroying the countryside, raping women, slaughtered prisoners.
March 1932: Japan transformed Manchuria into the "independent" Republic of Manchukuo (State of Manchu).
This was the first preliminary bout of WWII; The beginning of a chain reaction.
October 1935: Italy invaded Ethiopia.
A semi-civilized country of 450,000 square miles.
One of the oldest Christian nations in the world.
In northeast Africa.
Its economy was primarily agricultural, but its resources were potentially gold, silver, manganese, tin, copper, asbestos, potash, sulphur, mica, and some coal and iron.
The Ethiopian force was small and poorly armed; it was a slaughter.
50 of the 54 League of Nations agreed on economic sanctions on Italy, but didn't include an oil embargo which would have crippled her.
The Hoare-Laval Plan was born in December 1935.
Italy would be granted about 2/3 of Ethiopian territory in exchange for about 3,000 sq. miles connecting Ethiopia with the port of Assab in Eritrea.
The public reaction to this plan caused Sir Samuel Hoare, the British foreign secretary, to resign.
Fascist-minded French premier, Pierre Lava, left office a few weeks later.
May 9, 1936: King Victor Emmanuel III was proclaimed Emperor of Ethiopia. Within a month Mussolini organized Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Somaliland into Italian East Africa. In 1937 the Duce (Mussolini) himself took over the position of Minister for Italian Africa.
The deposed monarch, Haile Selassie, went to Geneva, Switzerland and pleaded to the League of Nations, but they did nothing.
July 16, 1936: the League ended sanctions against Italy.
A year and a half later Italy resigned from the League of Nations.
The Spanish Civil War, 1936 - 1939
20th century Spain was politically unstable, corrupt, inefficient. A few thousand grandees owned more than a half the land, 1 1/2 million owned only 2%, 2 million people owned no land.
After 1919, political chaos, economic distress, social unrest.
1921 in Spanish Morocco, a Spanish army of 20,000 men was wiped out by guerilla Riffs under Abd-el-Krim.
Sept. 23, 1923 Capt. General Primo de Rivera seized the government with the acquiescence of Alfonso XIII, established a military dictatorship.
Jan. 28, 1930, Rivera resigned and fled to France in exhile.
April, 1930, Alfonso followed Rivera to France in exhile.
The new president, Niceto Alcala Zamoro.
New laws against monarchy, army, Church, aristocracy, all pillars of the Old Regime similar to the French Revolution a century and a half earlier.
Rightist parties gained power in the 1933 elections suspended the new land laws and anticlerical legislations.
Then followed uprisings, seizures of estates by the peasants, church burnings, martial law, and political assassinations.
A fascist group called the Falange (or Phalanx) was founded by Antonio Primo de Rivera, son of the former dictator. Assistance came from Mussolini and Hitler.
The oppostion to Fascism in Spain was the Popular Front.
The Popular Front consisted of middle-class liberals, Radical Republicans, Socialists, Syndicalists, and Communists.
Opposed to the Popular Front were monarchists, clericals, Conservative Republicans, and Fascists.
In the 1936 general elections they obtained 260 seats in the Cortes, the opposition 213 seats.
Terror from both Right and Left.
1936, some generals wanted General José Sanjurjo as generalissimo and dictator, to install but was killed in a plane crash. So their next choice was Francisco Franco.
Age 32
had organized the Spanish Foreign Legion in Morocco.
had worked with French Marshal Henri Pétain to suppress a native revolt led by the ubiquitous Abd-el-Krim.
1934 was appointed chief of the general staff.
1936 he was dismissed when the Popular Front came to power and he became military governor of the Canary Islands.
When Sanjuro died Franco flew to Morocco to lead the mainland army.
July 17, 1936: Franco led a revolt, most generals and their men went along, but the navy and air force remaind loyal to the government.
Sept. 27, 1936: The Fascist Rebels captured Toledo. This began 3 years of civil war.
The Rebels had 10 times as many planes, tanks, and artillery as the Popular Front and quickly conquered the western half of Spain.
By 1938 Franco controlled 2/3 of Spain.
March 28, 1938: Madrid surrendered, Franco now controlled all of Spain.
Hitler and Mussolini aided Franco. The papacy gave its spiritual support to Franco. When Italian troops left Italian soil for Spain, they received the papal blessing.
As early as November 1936, Soviet Russia sent technicians and matériel into Spain to help fight the Fascists. Communists trained in Moscow to fight in Spain included Tito of Yugoslavia and Dimitrov of Bulgeria.
From all over the world sympathizers with the Spanish Republic sent brigades to fight in Spain. The "Abraham Lincoln Brigade" recruited in the U.S. Author George Orwell went to Spain to fight.
Officially France, Great Britain, and the U.S. remained neutral on the Spanish civil war.
Thanks to German and Italian support, Franco established a totalitarian dictatorship in Spain.
Restored the privileges of the Old Regime to army, clergy, and upper classes.
Returned land to the grandees.
Restored sequestered properties to the Church.
Reinstated clerical control over education.
Abolished labor unions, forbade strikes.
He commenced a reign of terror against all political opponents, arrested between 500,000 and 2,000,000 political prisoners.
April 7, 1939: Franco joined the Anti-Comintern Pact, directed against Communism. Madrid was now with the Rome-Berlin Axis.
(In 1936 Mussolini and Hitler called their joint forces an "Axis", and all European states were supposed to revolve around Germany and Italy like a wheel revolves around its axle.)
Sept. 27, 1940: Japan formally joined the union, now called the Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis, or the "Pact of Steel".
After 8 years, the Spanish Republic was no more. A million people killed, bitterness, poverty.
The "China Incident", 1937
March 1933: Baron General Sadao Araki, Japanese war minister and leader of the war party, said that the Manchurian trouble has arisen, an alarm bell for the Japanese people, someday all nations will look up to the doctrine of "Kodo" (Way of the Emperor"). It was evident that Japan's goal was to someday rule the world.
December 1934: American ambassador in Tokyo, Joseph C. Grew, reported to Secretary of State Cordell Hull that the aim of the Japanese militarists was to obtain trade control and predominant influence in China, the Philippines, the Straits Settlements, Siam, the Dutch East Indies, the Maritime Provinces, and Vladivostok.
1934: The Roosevelt Administration extended a $50 million credit to China through the Reconstruction Finance Corporation. Warplanes were sold to China, and pilot training. This caused resentment in the Nipponese war party.
Some fanatical Japanese took action against more moderate Japanese.
the "Zaibatsu" were businessmen who wanted expansion but without war.
the Genro, or Elder Statesmen, also wanted expansion but at a moderate pace.
March 1932 a group of army cadels, navy officers, and civilians, members of a secret patriotic society known as the Blood Brotherhood League, assassinated Baron Dan Takuma, chairman of the board of the Mitsui corporation.
May 15, 1932, they killed Tsuyoshi Inukai, last of the parliamentary prime ministers.
Feb. 20, 1936: Elections returned a majority of liberals to Parliament the terrorists were infuriated.
6 days later 1,400 officers and enlisted men seized central Tokyo.
attempted to assassinate Prime Minister Admiral Keisuke Okada, but failed.
killed Admiral Makoto Saito, the former prime minister who had become Lord Privy Seal to the Emperor.
killed General Watanabe, the inspector-general of military education.
killed Finance Minister Korekiyo Takahashi.
November 25, 1936: Japan signed the Anti-Comintern Pact (directed against international communism) with Germany.
June 1937: General Hideki Tojo, chief of staff of the Kwantung Army, told Tokyo that Japan must strike China before Chiang Kai-shek (the Nationalist leader) and the Communists could join together.
July 7, 1937: Conflict in China at the Marco Polo bridge near the village of Lukouchiao. The Japanese claimed the Chinese had attacked them first.
Japanese troops streamed into North China.
December 1937, Nanking.
October 1938, the great port of Canton.
October 1938, Hankow.
The Chinese, led by Chiang Kai-shek, resisted but failed.
Reports of the Japanese committing murder, torture. Mothers watching their babies beheaded and then submit to rape.
The Japanese conquest turned to a stalemate as they advanced deep into China.
guerilla attacks
manpower and matérial drained away
too many Chinese!
Feb. 1939: Japan seized the island of Hainan, thereby obtaining a base from which to attack French Indo-China.
May 1939: Japan bockaded the British settlement in Tientsin.
Eventually the Japanese-Chinese war was merged into the greater conflict of WWII.
The Fall of Austria, 1938
After WWI Austria was bankrupt, trade shattered. To some extent was rehabilitated by the League of Nations.
Politically was in two parts: the Reds, dominantly Socialists, representing workers and intellectuals, and the Blacks, representing the Fascist, agricultural, and clerical interests.
Hitler wanted Anschlus (union) between Germany and Austria. He encouraged Austrian Nazis to attack the regime of Chancellor Engelbert Dollfus. Terror began: street fights, bombings, shootings, attacks on officials.
July 1934, a coup was attempted, Dollfus was assassinated. Chancellor Kurt von Schuschnigg succeeded him.
Hitler chewed out Schuschnigg and gave him a list of demands. Schuschnigg gave in, and resigned.
March 11, 1938, Seyss-Inquart was appointed Chancellor of Austria.
March 12, 1938, Vienna was occupied by Germany.
Austrian independence ended. Hitler added 6,500,000 citizens to his Greater Reich. He now had access to Austria's iron and timber, he won the key to the Danubian communications system, established geographical contact with Italy, and surrounded Czechoslavakia, the Bohemian bastion.
Austrian President Miklas resigned.
Schuschnigg was imprisoned.
At least 30,000 arrests were made within a few days. Jews, socialists, Catholics, anyone suspected of anti-Nazi sentiments, all went to Gestapo torture chambers.
March 15, 1935: Hitler created the "Luftwaffe", the German air force.
March 16, 1935: Hitler repudiated all treaty limitations on armaments and established universal military service.
Allied war propagandists blamed WWI on Wilhelm II, the German militarists, Germann industrial magnets, and the Austrian Foreign Minister Leopold von Berchtold. They alleged that the Great German General Staff planned the war for 40 years. But most historians believe all the Great Powers were equally responsible, from unresolved economic clashes, national rivalries, sword-rattling.
Unlike WWI, the origin of WWII can be blamed on Hitler and Nazi Germany. Hitler clearly wanted to conquer Europe and ultimately control the world.
Clues to Hitler's mind are found in his book "Mein Kampf" his life story and his blueprint for Germany's future.
a hodgepodge of history and fantasy
he paraphrases some of the world's worst literature, including the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion".
it became the Bible of the National Socialist movement, all party members and civil servants were required to buy it.
sold more than 5 million copies.
Hitler installed a totalitarian state:
destroyed opposing political parties.
destroyed trade unions, took their property.
abrogated all individual rights.
coordinated every phase of national life, including Church, press, education, and army.
Hitler wanted to regain Germany's prestige as a World Power, to bring about a restoration of her former colonies, to promote Pan-Germanism ("One Reich, One People, One Fuehrer"), to revive the Drang nach Osten (Drive to the East), end the "Shame of Versailles".
November 5, 1937: Hitler outlined to his military leaders the steps for aggression against other countries.
"German politics must reckon with its two hateful enemies, England and France..."
to conquer Czechoslovakia and Austria simultaneously, to remove any threat from the flanks in case of a possible advance westward.
Hitler desired war. The German people became more and more convinced of his infallibility as he delivered one crippling blow after another to the system of Versailles. Politically illiterate Germans had little understanding of what was happening to them.
The German people are to blame in part by their national tradition of discipline and obedience, ground into the Germans by a combination of worship of the State (inspired by the philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel), Prussian intransigence, and militarism.
Ther German officers' corps are to blame, too. They didn't desire world conquest like Hitler, but they failed to check the terrible offenses of Hitler. Their excuse was that a soldier honors his oath and carries out his orders.
After the Nazis conquered Austria, it was obvious Czechoslovakia was next.
had been created in 1919 after WWI out of the three former provinces of Bohemia, Moravia, and Austrian Silesia, plus the two former Hungarian provinces of Slovakia and Ruthenia.
had become a model of democratic discipline, the most advanced liberal state between the Rhine and Soviet Russia.
economically prosperous, were located most of the old Austro-Hungarian industries, including the famed Skoda steel and armaments.
in the Danubian basin had different nationalities. The German minority were treated more generously then any other minority in the postwar world, but they complained anyway.
in 1935 Konrad Henlein, leader of the Sudeten Nazis, received 60% of the German vote.
February 1939, in the Germanh Reichstag, Hitler outlined the "horrible conditions" of the Sudeten Germans in Czechoslovakia. Hitler announced to the world that Germany will protect the Sudeten Germans against their Czech oppressors.
The German press denounced Czech "atrocities" against the German minortiy in Czechoslovakia.
May 1938: two Germans were killed in a frontier incident. Hitler used this as an excuse to send troops to the border. Czechoslovakia sent 400,000 troops to the border. France, Britain, and Soviet Russia agreed to support Czechoslovakia. Hitler withdrew his troops for the time being.
May 30, 1938: Hitler told his generals that on October 1 he will smash Czechoslovakia: "Operation Green".
Summer of 1938, the Nazi press attacked the Czechs.
Puppet Henlein's Nazi followers used weapons of agitation, terror, threats, and bluffs inside Czechoslovakia.
September 12, 1938: In a violent speech, Hitler said he intended to come to the aid of the oppressed Sudeten Germans.
September 13, 1938: After some prearranged incidents, President Benes proclaimed martial law.
Hitler demanded that the Sudeten territory become a part of the Third Reich or there will be war.
September 26: Speaking in Berlin, Hitler assured the world that if the Sudeten problem were solved, Germany would make no more territorial claims in Europe.
At the Munich talks it was agreed that Germany could have 1/3 of Czechoslovakia and 1/3 of the population. The German army would move in October 1. Great Britain and Germany signed a treaty of friendship.
Hitler made new demands:
wanted a military highway built across Czechoslovakia.
demanded the right to decide on the disposal of Slovakia and Ruthenia, naming himself as arbiter as to how much land was to be ceded to Hungary and Poland.
March 15, 1939: Emil Hacha, then president of the Czechoslovak Republic, signed a treaty which turned his country into a German protectorate. The German army entered Prague. Czechoslovakia ceased to exist.
British prime minister Neville Chamberlain couldn't do much at the time because his country was not ready for war they needed more time.
After the fall of Czechoslovakia it was obvious that if Hitler were not stopped, all eastern Europe would fall to the Third Reich. And then what about France, Britain, and the British colonies?
Chamberlain tried to strengthen an alliance system in both East and West to stop Hitler. But without Moscow it was hopeless.
August 23, 1939: Hitler and Stalin signed a nonaggression pact.
both countries ageed not to resort to war against each other.
a secret protocol designated the Baltic states as a Soviet sphere
a secret protocol divided Eastern Europe into eventual German and Russian spheres. The Baltic states would be designated as a Soviet sphere of influence Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Finland. This bargain made it possible for Hitler to launch his war! (An eyewitness said that when Hitler learned that Stalin would sign the pact, he went hysterical, banging on the walls, and shouted: "I have the world in my pocket!"
September 1939, Germany and Russia invaded Poland and each took 1/2 the country.
September 3, 1939: Britain and France declare war on Germany. Roosevelt said he hopes the U.S. will keep out of the war.
September 29, 1939: The Soviet Union forced Estonia to sign a treaty permitting the U.S.S.R. to establish military garrisons and naval and air bases on Estonian soil.
October 5, 1939: A similar treaty with Latvia.
October 10: A similar treaty with Lithuania.
Finland
The U.S.S.R. made similar demands of Finland, but they refused to lease or sell part of their soil for a foreign military base.
predictibly, the U.S.S.R. and Communist press began attacking Finland.
the Finns were accused of attacking Soviet border patrols.
November 30th, Russian planes were bombing Helsinki and Viipuri.
December 14th, the Soviet Union was kicked out of the League of Nations.
More than 100,000 Russians invaded Finland at 5 different points. The world was amazed at how well this little Baltic republic fought them off.
All over the World countries sent supplies to help out the Finns.
The Soviets changed their strategy by concentrating on attacking the Finns at their strong point, the Mannerheim Line. The Finns were outnumbered 50 to 1.
March 11, 1940, Finland gave up and accepted Stalin's terms. Finland lost more territory to the Soviet Union than was previously demanded.
Stalin won, but it cost him about 200,000 Russians. Only about 25,000 Finns died.
More than 400,000 Finns refused to live under Soviet domination, so they moved over the new boundry lines.
November 23, 1939: Hitler told his generals he will attack France and England soon.
Hitler was afraid Britain might cut off Germany's iron supply from Sweden through Norwegian territorial waters past Denmark. So early in 1939 Hitler planned to invade Denmark and Norway.
April 9, 1940: Germany told to Danish government that the Allies planned to use Scandinavia as a battleground, and since the Scandinavian countries can't defend themselves, Hitler would move in to "protect" them.
Germany cut off all Denmark's communications with the outside world.
Germany takes over Denmark without much resistance.
April 9, 1940: Germany conquers Norway.
German navy suffered a heavy loss of ships.
the Norwegian cabinet was headed by Norwegian Major Vidkun Quisling. He told the people to cease resistance. Backed by a small group of Norwegian Nazis, traitor Quisling cooperated with them. (a Norwegian firing squad later shot him after the Hitler regime collapsed in 1945.)
April 14, 1940: A small British force of 1,500 troops landed in Norway and was destroyed by the Germans.
Hitler had strategically located bases from which his planes could dominate all Scandinavia, imperil British shipping, and strike at Britain. He had diverted dairy products, fish, minerals, metal ores, and timber from the Allies. Confiscated Norway's gold reserves.
Most of the Norwegian fleet, 4th largest in the world, escaped the Nazis and joined the Allies helped supply Britain with oil and food.
Hitler now had under his control:
80,000,000 Germans
3,000,000 Norwegians
3,750,000 Danes
The Faroe Islands, Iceland, and Greenland, all formerly tied to Denmark, were occupied by British and Canadian forces.
Hitler's plan to conquer the West was an assault on the Low Countries Holland, Belgium, and Luxemburg. Then France, and then England.
To prepare for the invasion of Holland there was some fifth-column activity.
German "tourists", "salesmen", and "students", prepared the way for invasion.
stole uniforms of Dutch policemen, postmen, railway conductors.
controlled key bridges, waterworks, canals.
May 10, 1940: Germany invaded Holland.
Some were dressed in Allied uniforms.
The Hague gave the usual Nazi explanation, that Britain and France were preparing to invade the Low Countries.
May 14, Rotterdam, Holland was bombed. Between 30,000 and 50,000 civilians were killed.
The Germans tried to capture Queen Wilhelmina, members of the royal family, and government leaders, but they escaped in a British destroyer with only the clothes on their backs.
May 15, the Dutch gave up.
The Dutch army lost 10,000 men, 1/4 of its strength.
Hitler placed Holland under the control of Arthur von Seyss-Inquart, who had helped hand over Austria to the Third Reich.
The Dutch began a campaign of passive resistance. The German occupation authorities complained that the Dutch did not understand "the true spirit of the New Order."
May 10, 1940: The Germans attacked the Low Countries along the western front from the North Sea to Luxemburg. In Belgium it was the same pattern: fifth columnists, no ultimatum, then Blitzkrieg.
May 28, 1940: 400,000 Belgian troops surrendered to the Germans.
May 10, 1940: Germany conquered Luxemburg
small country of 300,000 people.
Germany to the east, Belgium on the north and west, France on the south strategically important!
Grand Duchess Charlette fled first to France, then to the U.S.
thousands of the citizens were taken to Germany for slave labor.
The House of Commons didn't like Neville Chamberlain's leadership of Britain, so they kicked him out. May 10, 1940 Winston Churchill replaced him as Prime Minister.
was made First Lord of Admiralty in 1911. Together with Lord Fisher, prepared the navy for its great test of WWI.
1925 joined Stanley Baldwin's government as chancellor of the Exchequer, and made the decision that returned England to the gold standard.
critic of Chamberlain's appeasement policy, he urged the House of Commons to recognize Hitler as a danger to Europe and the World.
as new prime minister he acted swiftly, he revitalized Britain's energy. Churchill turned out to be one of the great war leaders of history.
May 28, 1940: Leopold III, King of Belgium, really blew it when he ordered his troops to surrender to the Germans. This gave the Germans the opportunity to race across southeastern Belgium and then toward Abbeville 15 miles from the French channel coast. The whole British Expeditionary Force, plus French, Poles, and Belgians, were trapped. They had to leave the continent and the only port was Dunkirk. The BBC called on British civilians to help rescue the troops. Needed was all boats between 30 and 100 ft.
this was "Operation Dynamo" it lasted from May 26 to June 4, 1940.
887 vessels, civilian craft and naval units, speedboats, yachts, paddle steamers. This was one of history's strangest armadas. Fishermen, bankers, dentists, butchers, were all a part of it.
traffic across the Channel was a nightmare.
they rescued 338,226 men from Dunkirk. 139,911 were French and Belgian, the rest were British.
Chapter 5 - "From Sitzkrieg to Blitzkrieg: The Collapse of France"
In Mein Kampf Hitler called France "Germany's irreconcilable and mortal enemy."
France had 800,000 combat troops, 5,500,000 trained reserves, male population of 20,000,000. Supposedly the strongest in Europe militarily.
The Maginot Line
the world's most elaborate fortification system.
planned for years but began construction in 1929 by France's War Minister André Maginot.
cost a 1/2 billion dollars and it stretched from Switzerland to Montmédy.
underground forts, six levels.
but this was only a "fixed" defense, not mobile.
May 18, 1940: Premeir Paul Reynard reconstructed his cabinet. May 19, replaced General Maurice Gustave Gamelin with General Maxime Weygard as supreme commander of the army.
After the Battle of Flanders, the German troops went southward for a Blitzkrieg against France.
June 3, 1940: German air raid on Paris.
June 5, 1940: Hitler sent 100 divisions to attack four points across the Somme into northern Normandy; south Amiens directed at Paris; down the Oise River toward the French capital; and around the northern flank of the Maginot Line. The Luftwaffe was unopposed and bombed the French troops below.
Weygard soon lost control of "Europe's finest army".
All of France degenerated into panic, terror, hysteria, confusion. Mass exodus of the civilian population thousands fled Paris on carts, bikes, taxis, bakery vans, whatever they could. German pilots bombed and shot the civilians on the roads from Paris dead bodies everywhere.
June 11, 1940: the government believed defending Paris was suicidal, so they left and went to Tours.
June 10, 1940: 400,000 Italians invaded France through the Riviera. (March 18, 1940 Hitler and Mussolini had met at the Brenner Pass. From then the Italian Press and radio stepped up its campaign for war. Not much enthusiasm among the Italians, but Mussolini wanted his war.)
June 10, 1940: The Italian foreign minister, Count Galeazzo Ciano (Mussolini's son-in-law), told the French ambassador that Italy is at war with France starting tomorrow, June 11. Fifteen minutes later the British ambassador was given an identical message.
Italy's entry into the war brought an army of 1,000,000 men, a navy of more than 700,000 tons, and about 4,000 planes. The effect on France was negligible Hitler had already won there.
Italy's entry meant spread of fighting in the Balkans, the Mediterranean, Suez, and North Africa.
June 12, 1940: Winston Churchill flew to Tours, France and persuaded France's cabinet to carry on the war from North Africa.
June 14, 1940: Germans entered Paris, which was pretty much deserted, everything in shambles. Within hours the swastika was flying from every prominent and historical structure in the city.
Premeir Reynard said "All is lost." On June 10 & 13 he appealed to Roosevelt for help, asked the U.S. to send "clouds of airplanes".
June 16, 1940: The Germans announced they had pierced the Maginot Line and were pushing the French across the Loire.
June 16: Churchill proposed that France and Great Britain combine into a France-British union, but the offer was rejected.
June 16: Reynauld resigned, was replaced by Marshall Henri Pétain, who surrendered immediately by radio broadcast he said it is no use to fight.
June 16: German armies were in control of 1/4 of France.
June 21: In the Compiégne Forest in France, the Germans read to the French the preamble to the armastice terms. The proceedings took 27 minutes.
June 22: The armistice was formally signed.
June 24: In Paris Hitler visited the red porphyry containing the remains of Napoleon.
Hitler was at his peak. The New Europe was being carved out precisely the way Hitler had described it in Mein Kampf. The Nazis had surged westward across Europe.
Poland in 26 days.
French military strength was exaggerated.
The Germans were superior in every department of war.
The French underrated the role of air power. In 1937 Germany was producing 1,000 planes a month, France only 38 a month.
The French had political corruption. The Left and Right fought.
French reluctance to pay taxes.
Industry was weakened by strikes.
Psychologically they were tired and demoralized.
A generation of French writers had preached pacifism to sections of the population.
Before the war, a subversive fifth column did its work in France: propaganda, Nazis disguised as tourists, salesmen. Once the war started gave false information, encouraged sabotage and desertions, signalled German planes.
Fighting Hitlerism was now left to the British, the Americans, and later the Russians.
Chapter 6 - Their Finest Hour: Britain Stands Alone
The British were worried that the French fleet would be used against them.
French ships in British ports were no problem.
the greater part of the French fleet lay off the French North African port of Oran in Algeria. In Oran on July 3, 1940 the British sunk or disabled the French battleships, a seaplane carrier, and two destroyers rather than let them possibly fall into German or Italian hands.
Hitler gave the British one last chance to surrender.
He wanted recognition of his conquests.
He wanted Germany's colonies returned.
He wanted acknowledgement of his role as the arbiter of Europe.
Above all, he wanted Churchill kicked out of office.
It might have been good logic and common sense to accept Hiter's offer and avoid the disastrous fate of the their conquered allies.
To Hitler's offer Britons were silent, but not Winston Churchill:
"Upon this battle depends the survival of Christian civilization. Upon it depends our British life, and the long continuity of our institutions and our Empire. The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us. Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be free and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands. But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age, made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science.
Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, "This was their finest hour."
After Hitler conquered France he paused for six weeks. During that time the British trasformed their island into a fortress.
every man in the country was placed at the disposal of the government.
possible fifth colum agents were arrested.
they organized like crazy.
American stockpiles of WWI were shipped in.
the British had 1,475 first-line planes, Hitler had 2,670 aircraft set aside for his campaign against England.
their most important weapon was the British determination to fight to the death.
British engineers and physicists had already developed radar.
August 6, 1940: Field Marshall Hermann Goering issued orders for the first great mass attack on England. Several days later the Luftwaffe bombed the coastal towns of southern England.
the 1st day 53 Nazi airmen died.
in one week the Luftwaffe lost 256 planes to the British 130.
Hitler was frustrated, began striking at the heart of London. The first mass onslaught began on Sept. 7, 1940.
430 Britons killed, about 1,600 seriously injured.
continued bombing for 23 consecutive days.
the British were stubborn and kept fighting.
The Germans unveiled a new weapon, the British called it the UXB, or unexploded bomb. It buries itself into the ground and explodes later.
October 1940, because of heavy losses, Hitler shifted from daylight to night bombing.
By the end of October the air bombing began to slow down. The air attacks continued into June 1941, when most of the Luftwaffe was transferred to the Russian front.
November 14-15, 1940: German bombers smashed the heart of Coventry in Britain's smokey Midlands, the city through which Lady Godiva had ridden nearly 900 years earlier to end a more local oppression.
December 25-30, 1940: London received the worst bombing, more than 1,500 fires started.
In the first 3 months 12,696 Londoners were killed.
During the war the Germans dropped about 12,222 tons of bombs on London, killing 29,890, injuring more than 120,000.
The Germans caused much damage but failed to halt industrial production or the flow of overseas shipping. The U.S. and Canada helped supply planes, munitions, and supplies.
The major factor in winning the Battle of Britain against the Germans was the development of a new device that became the heart of all radar equipment: the resonant cavity magnetron.
developed by a team of British physicists from Birminham University.
it sparked the development of microwave radar.
caused Hitler to lose a good portion of the Luftwaffe.
December 1940: a motion was made in Parliament to consider peace, and it was voted down 341 to 4, they wanted to fight.
Hitler's plan to invade Great Britain was called "Operation Sea Lion".
began preparations June 22, 1940, immediately after signing the armistice with France.
July 16, 1940, Hitler's directive to the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces made it clear that the preparation must be completed by the middle of August.
August 10, Hitler changed the date of Sea Lion to Late September.
Sept. 15, the R.A.F. (Royal Air Force) shot down 56 Nazi planes. Two days later Hitler again postponed the date for Sea Lion.
Oct. 21, Hitler postponed Sea Lion for the rest of the year.
The next date was set for spring of 1941.
June 22, 1941, Hitler turned on Soviet Russia (Operation Barbarossa); Sea Lion was forgotten.
Chapter 7 - Lifeline Neptune: War on the Seas
Sept. 3, 1939: 12 hours after the British declared war a Nazi submarine sank an unarmed British passenger ship "Athenia" 250 miles off the coast of Ireland. A majority of the 1,102 passengers were Canadians and Americans. 112 died.
When war broke out in 1939, the Allied naval resources were overwhelming:
57
In combined tonnage the British fleet was 9 times that of Germany.
Both sides knew they would have to revert to the strategy of 1914 blockade and counterblockade to strangle and starve the enemy.
Nov. 27, 1939: The British extended the blockade by prohibiting the importation of German goods into neutral countries.
In WWI the Allies convinced the Norwegians to plant mines in their territorial waters, but this time they remained neutral. Churchill regarded Germany's free use of Norway's territorial waters as the greatest obstacle to an effective blockade of Hitler's Reich.
As in WWI, the British planted mines from Scotland to Norway and across the English Channel. The Germans countered with magnetic mines that exploded near any large mass of iron. These mines sunk many British ships but the British discovered the "deguassing" belt to neutralize the ships' magnetic fields.
For the Germans there was only one answer to the blockade: U-boats (submarines), U-boats, and more U-boats.
The British surface fleet outnumbered the Germans, so the Germans concentrated on attacking from below the surface and the air.
During the first week of the war at least a dozen British merchant ships were sunk. Within the first 2 months about 67 Allied ships were destroyed. The Germans lost about 20 submarines.
During the first 6 months German submarines numbered 101. During the first 6 months Germany sank 585 ships, totally over 3 million tons.
Early in 1943 they sank 96 ships in 20 days.
May 1943 the Allies gained the upper hand in the U-boat war with new detection technology and a massive anti-submarine effort utilizing thousands of ships, hundreds of thousands of men, and billions of dollars in equipment.
In the six years of the war, the Germans destroyed 2,700 British, Allied, and neutral ships on the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. The Germans lost 783 U-boats and 32,000 men.
Churchill said: "The only thing that ever really frightened me during the war was the U-boat peril. [It] was our worst evil."
The German raider "Altmark" in February 1940 had 300 British prisoners aboard and was detected by British planes along the Norwegian coast. In the ice-filled Norwegian fiord the British cruiser "Cossack" went after her. The Altmark rammed the "Cossack". Sailors from the Cossack leaped to the deck of the Altmark and overcame the enemy in hand-to-hand fighting and rescued the prisoners. The Nazi government protested because it was in neutral waters.
Sept. 16, 1939: Off the coast of Ireland the Germans sank the British navy's 22,500-ton aircraft carrier "Courageous".
October 14, 1939: The German U-47, commanded by Leutnant Prien, penetrated Scapa Flow, the great naval base at the southern Orkneys, Scotland, and sank one of Britain's 12 capital ships, the "Royal Oak". More than 800 of the 1,200 men died.
The Graf Spee
the third and last of Germany's pocket battleships. Fast, light, heavily armored warship. For 2 months in the South Atlantic sank 9 ships.
as long as 3 New York City blocks, wide as a four-lane superhighway. A crew of 1,107 men.
commanded by Kapitän Hans Langsdorff.
Dec. 13, 1939, off the coast of Uraguay came up against 3 British cruisers, the Exeter, the Achilles, and the Ajax. Sought safe haven in Montevideo harbor, which was neutral waters, but on Dec. 15th the Uraguayan government told Langsdorff to leave within 2 days.
on Hitler's orders, rather than risk British capture and compromise the ship's secret construction and weapons, Langsdorff sank his ship.
Dec. 20, in a Naval Arsenal in Buenos Aires Langsdorff shot himself in the head.
May 27, 1941, after a 1,750 mile chase from the coast of Greenland to 400 miles off the French coast, the pride of Germany's navy, the Bismark, was sunk by the British.
Shortly after the outbreak of WWII Germany made their first secret weapon, the magnetic mine. They exploded when an iron hull passed by.
Every vessel in British waters were in danger; sinkings were increasing. Old mine sweepers were ineffective.
The British figured out that they could reduce the ship's magnetic field by "degaussing" it. Suddenly the ships were immune to the magnetic mines.
The Germans used a magnetic mine in torpedos which heard the sound of a ship and headed toward it. The British towed behind their ships "noisemakers" to confuse the brain of the torpedo and it would miss the ship.
Thanks to improved radar, the Allies began sinking many German U-boats. July 1942, a dozen U-boats were sunk, in August another 15, most by air attacks. May 1943 43 U-boats were sunk.
Ther Germans learned that the British air and sea power were too strong in the Battle for the Atlantic. The assault on Britain's lifeline would have to be made by U-boats.
1942, Hitler completed shifting his main naval strength to Norway. The plan was to cut the Allied convoy route to Russia.
Christmas Day 1943, the German Scharnhorst, a 26,000-ton battle cruiser, faster than any British battleship, off the north of North Cape was sunk by the British. The British rescued only 36 of the 1,970 crew.
Nov. 12, 1944: the 42,000-ton "Tirpitz", the only surviving German battleship, was sunk by 29 British bombers in Tromsö Fiord. About 1,400 were killed or drowned, 397 saved.
The British Admiralty could now move its capital ships to the Far East where they were desperately needed.
Chapter 8 - The Struggle for the Mediterranean
When France fell their troops were withdrawn from the Middle East, leaving oil fields open to Axis assault.
For the British the Mediterranean, and its strategic arc of Gibralter-Malta-Suez, was a lifeline to India and the Far East. Soon the Mediterranean was closed to British shipping and instead had to go around the southern tip of Africa.
Commander of British forces in the area was General Sir Archibald Wavell. In 1939 in that area their defenses were weak. Autumn of 1940 Churchill sent reinforcements to Wavell from other parts of the World.
After Italy entered the war against France, the picture in the Mediterranean changed. Mussolini's plan was to overthrow Eqypt and the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. For this he had half a million troops in Africa, 10 battleships, and ships and squadrons based in Libya. He wanted to eventually force the British out of Africa altogether.
In Eritrea and Italian Somaliland (in East Africa) Italy had 200,000 troops ready to invade Anglo-Egyption Sudan and Egypt from the South.
Aug. 4, 1940: At the entrance to the Red Sea, Italian armies moved against both British and French Somaliland.
Aug. 19: The British completed evacuation of Somaliland.
Aug. 20: "Duce" (Mussolini) announced the "total blockade" of British possessions in the Mediterranean and Africa.
Sept. 14, 1940: A second army of 250,000 Italians moved from Libya and across the Egytian border.
Nov. 11, 1940: Off Taranto Bay, 9 planes from the British aircraft carrier "Illustrious" torpedoed 3 Italian battleships, 2 cruisers, and 2 auxiliaries. The British were now in complete control of the Mediterranean.
The Axis now turned to the Balkans (Greece, Albania, Yugoslavia, Serbia, Rumania, Hungary) source of oil, grain, butter, hogs.
At first Mussolini and Hitler tried the usual diplomatic pressures: propaganda, threats, use of economic pressure.
Oct. 7, 1940, German troops entered Rumania. October 14, Italian troops entered Rumania. Rumania was brought into the new Axis order.
Under threat of annihilation, Hungary joined the Axis.
Nov. 24, 1940, Slovakia joined the Axis.
In the interim, diplomatic pressure was put on Yugoslavia and Bulgaria to join the Axis.
Only the Greeks remained adamently opposed to the Axis in the Balkans.
Mussolini thought conquering Greece would be easy 43 million Italions against 9 million Greeks.
Aug. 1940, King George II and Premier Joannes Metaxas refused Mussolini's demand that Greek renounce their guarantee of independence made by Britain in 1939.
Oct. 28, 1940, 200,000 fascist troops moved across the border of Albania.
The Italians bombed Patras.
The British mined the Greek waters.
Nov. 6, the British loaned £5,000,000 to Greece.
British troops were landing on Greek soil.
The Italians blew it by advancing through the mountains the wrong time of the year. They were wiped out by the Greeks.
By the end of the year the small Greek army possessed a quarter of Albania.
The Italian army which had invaded Egypt in September 1940 stood at Sidi Barrani waiting to build up for an assault on Alexandria. The British General Sir Archibald Wavell built up his Army of the Nile with Australia, New Zealand, Indian, Polish, and Free French troops, numbering 40,000. Dec. 9, 1940, Wavell hit the Italians by surprise and captured Sidi Barrani.
By the middle of December the Italians were driven out of Egypt.
January 5, 1941, Bardia, the Italian stronghold in Libya, together with 30,000 troops, fell.
Jan. 22: The Italians capitulated to the Australians.
Wavell went westward, on January 30 struck at Derna, and won an important water supply.
Feb. 6: The Australians took the town of Bengazi, which was the most important city in Libya after Tripoli. Six senior Italian generals surrendered.
In the two months the Army of the Nile had conquered the entire northern coast of Africa and captured 113,000 prisoners. This was the first great British land victory of World War II. The pressure now lifted from Suez.
Jan. 1941: On the mountaintops of Eritrea the Italians gave up the the British.
Jan. 29: The British entered Italian Somaliland.
May 16, 1941: The Duke of Aosta capitulated at Amba Alagi, and Ethiopia, the first of Mussolini's conquests, was liberated.
Gone was Axis control of the Red Sea coast. Now American Lend-Lease supplies could reach Egypt.
Feb. 9, 1941: The British bombarded Genoa, destroying power plants, railroad stations, and stores accumulated on the docks.
Feb. 9: Churchill broadcast a message to the U.S.: "Give us the tools and we shall finish the job."
March 27, 1941: An Italian naval force tried to intercept a British convoy carrying troops and supplies to Greece, but were destroyed by British planes.
Mussolini was losing. Hitler stepped into the Mediterranean picture by sending General Erwin Rommel to North Africa. Rommel began his offensive on April 3, 1941.
Immediately the balance in Libya altered in favor of the Axis.
April 11: The British announced the loss of 2,000 prisoners.
In 10 days Rommel had recovered most of North Africa.
Once again the Axis was poised on the threshold of Suez, but while waiting for reinforcements Germany invaded Russia (June 22, 1941) and the matériel Rommel needed halted.
The opening struggle for Egypt had ended in a draw.
Before attacking the Soviet Union, Hitler wanted to take care of the Balkans so Germany wouldn't be invaded from the south.
He would tie up with French Vichy forces in Syria and the pro-Axis elements in Iran and Iraq.
Rumania and Hungary were already under Axis domination.
March 1, 1941: Bulgaria signed an alliance with the Axis.
Only Yugoslavia and Greece remained.
Yugoslavia
March 25, 1941: Yugoslavia signed the Tripartite Pact which made her a part of Hitler's New Order. The Yugoslav people were pissed.
March 27, a cabal of army officers under General Dusan Simovic pulled of a coup d' état and replaced Prince Paul with 18-year-old Prince Peter as king.
April 6, Hitler invaded Yugoslavia. A thousand Nazi planes, 20 divisions of almost 65,000 troops. Italy also helped.
In 11 days it was over. April 17th, R.A.F. Sunderland evacuated King Peter from Kotor.
Yugoslavia was carved into slices, portions going to Germany, Italy, Hungary, and Bulgaria, while the rest was frozen into a satellite state.
Until the end of the war, guerrillas took to the hills and fought, especially against the Italians. Hitler's troops found themselves in a hornet's nest.
April 6, 1941: Hitler sent columns into Greece from both north and east.
The British helped a little by sending 56,657 troops, mostly Anzacs from Libya, against the half million Germans. (this weakened the British force in Libya and they were forced to retreat there.)
The Germans were too strong, the British had to get out. The Greek government told the British: "You have done your best to save us. We are finished. But the war is not yet lost. Save as much as you can of your army to help win elsewhere."
About 43,000 men, including Britons, Australians, and New Zealanders, were evacuated, about half to Crete and half to Egypt.
The British were forced to destroy their own guns and tanks before they left.
About 15,000 Imperial troops were lost.
For the British it was another setback to keep the Germans away from Suez.
The U.S. froze Greek cash and credits of about $45 million.
The Island of Crete
The main island which divides the Greek archipelago from the eastern basin of the Mediterranean.
For the British, Crete was a vital point on the lifeline to India, it protected both Palestine and Eqypt, it threatened Italian communications with the Dodecanese Islands, and its harbor at Sunda Bay sheltered elements of the Royal Navy.
May 20, 1941: The Germans attacked Crete. The first large-scale airborne attack in history. They came by the hundreds, including Max Schmeling, former heavyweight boxing champion. Many came by gliders. Some wore New Zealand battle dress. Some parachutists were dummies to fake out the allies.
Most of the 3,500 German shocktroops were killed by the British, New Zealand and Greeks, but it was too overwhelming and by the end of May the Allies withdrew.
With Crete, Hitler could protect Greece, hamper the Royal Navy in the Mediterranean, and once again threaten Egypt, Suez, and the Middle East for the air.
The Middle East
Hitler wanted its oil fields and it was a strategic point for an attack on Suez.
The Allies needed the Middle East for its oil and it was a land bridge for supplies to the Soviet Union after she was attacked by Germany.
The British were ordered to leave Iraq by Rashid Ali Beg Gailani, its pro-Nazi ruler. In April the British threw him out and established a pro-Allied regime.
Early May 1941, Nazi agents stimulated disorders in Iraq that endangered oil supplies that were vital to the British Mediterranean fleet. General Sir Archibald Wavell rushed armored cars 400 miles across the desert and crushed the revolt on June 1. That day British entered Bagdad and the oil supply was protected.
The French-mandated states of Syria and Lebanon were key positions to the Axis. After the fall of France, pro-Vichy French officers under German control plotted to hand them over to the Axis. June 1941, British and Free French forces entered Syria and Lebanon. The British ousted pro-Axis administrations from both countries, securing one flank in the Middle East.
One of Hitler's big mistakes after conquering Crete was not throwing all his power into the Middle East, instead of turning against Russia.
August 1941, after Hitler invaded the Soviet Union, British and Soviet troops moved into Iran to keep it from falling into German hands.
Turkey was a problem for the allies; sold supplies to both sides. June 18, 1941, signed a friendship treaty with Germany and let Axis ships pass through the Dardanelles.
Chapter 9 - "Fissure: Germany Attacks Russia"
May 10, 1941: Without Hitler's permission or knowledge, Nazi Rudolf Hess attempted a ridiculous peace mission by parachuting into England (near Dungavel) and made the British an offer:
Briton would have a free hand in her own Empire, Hitler would control Europe.
Germany's colonies must be returned.
Iraq must be evacuated.
There must be an armistice with Italy.
Churchill is impossible for Hitler to deal with and should be replaced.
Hitler put out a press release saying Hess was nuts and they had nothing to do with his offer. Hess was imprisoned in London until October 6, 1945, then transferred to Nuremberg.
June 22, 1941: Using the Blitzkrieg, Germany attacked Russia. The invasion was called "Operation Barbarossa" and the plan was to take only 6 weeks. The Third Reich would obtain the granary of the Ukraine, the industrial Donetz basin, the Caucasian oil fields, and add almost 200,000,000 slave laborers to their war machine. But because of the Russians' ability to fight, and bad Russian weather, Germany eventually failed.
The most savage duel in the annals of warfare, tremendous masses of men collided head-on, along 1,800 miles of front, hell on earth, dead bodies everywhere.
Stalin's available manpower was 12,000,000.
Minsk was captured quickly.
The Ukraine: Because Ukrainians hated Stalin, they were glad, at first, to see Germany "liberate" them. Hitler should have formed an alliance with them and treated them fairly, but instead he killed and enslaved them, forcing them to fight. (Hitler blew it.)
Moscow: November 1941, the Germans were just about to capture Moscow but the weather stopped them. Eventually they quit.
Leningrad: November 1941, Leningrad was under siege by Germany for 16 months. The Germans tried to choke the 3 million people to death by cutting all access to the city. The Russians were stubborn and fought. Eventually the Germans quit.
one of the largest and important cities in Europe.
was St. Petersburg but because of its German name was changed to Petrograd after WWI. In 1924 was change to Leningrad named after Lenin, father of the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917.
The Finns helped fight against Leningrad.
Many similarities between Hitler's invasion of Russia and Napolean Bonaparte's invasion in June 1812:
The Russians used space and time to their advantage; lured them deep into their land, destroyed by Russian winter.
Napolean and Hitler both went against the advise of their generals.
Both underestimated the Russian enemy.
Chapter 10 - The United States: Arsenal of Democracy
If anything, much of American opinion was more anti-British and pro-German in 1914, but a combination of circumstances eventually caused the U.S. to side with the Allies during WWI.
After 1918 the U.S. felt they had been tricked into getting involved in the war. From 1918 to 1939 most Americans were isolationists. George Washington had said avoid entanglements in European affairs.
In 1934 Senator Gerald P. Nye of North Dakota began to examine the record of the munitions industry during WWI.
With the rise of Hitler many Americans believed it was inevitable that the U.S. would be attacked. There were isolationists on one side, and others who believed in "collective security" that aiding the Allies was necessary. FDR was an advocate of collective security.
1939 most of America was anti-Hitler. There were 3 choices: retreat into isolationism and pray for an Allied victory; give aid to the Allies but don't join the war; or prepare for participation in the war.
After the outbreak of war in Sept. 1939 FDR said the U.S. would remain neutral.
Most Americans thought the Royal Navy was indestructable, but after the fall of France in June 1940 the U.S. began to really worry. If Hitler takes over Latin America, won't the U.S. be next?
In the U.S. were debates between the isolationists and the interventionists. Advocates of isolationism included Senator Burton K. Wheeler, of Montana; Senator Gerald P. Nye, of North Dakota; the two La Follette brothers, of Wisconsin; Representative Hamilton Fish, of New York; William Randolph Hearst and his newspaper chain; Colonel Robert R. McCormick of the Chicago Tribune; Norman Thomas, the Socialist leader and pacifist; and especially the popular aviator Charles Lindbergh, Jr. and the America First Committee.
By the end of June 1940 the U.S. was shocked to see Hitler take over Denmark and Norway, the Low Countries, and France.
January 1940 FDR requested $1,800,000,000 for national defense and new appropriations of $1,182,000,000.
May 1940, FDR asked Congress for production of 50,000 planes a year! The Nazis thought this number was ridiculous and the U.S. must be bluffing. (It turned out that the U.S. produced an average of 60,000 planes a year.)
Sept. 3, 1940: Roosevelt made a deal with Britain; the U.S. provided the British with 50 destroyers in exchange for a 99-year rent-free lease of naval and air bases in Newfoundland, Bermuda, the Bahamas, Jamaica, St. Lucia, Trinidad, Antigua, and British Guiana.
Roosevelt and Churchill feared Hitler would takeover Greenland. April 9, 1941, American naval forces took over Greenland, and later Iceland. From these areas the U.S. could patrol the western half of the Atlantic, and the British the eastern half.
The FBI cracked down on fifth columnists in the U.S.
November 1940, FDR was elected to a 3rd term, defeating Republican Wendell L. Willkie. In FDR's campaign he said "your boys and not going to be sent into any foreign wars." The plan was to aid the Allies. Isolationists were opposed, but most Americans were not neutral, they hated Hitler.
Roosevelt's "good neighbor policy united the Westen Hemisphere against the Axis.
The Pittman Resolution, June 16, 1940.
Strengthened military defenses in Latin-American republics.
This new interpretation of the Monroe Doctrine was endorsed by delegates of 21 republics at the Pan-American Conference in Cuba on July 30, 1940.
Took measures to counteract Hitler's fifth-column activities in the Americas.
Without the U.S., Britain would have lost the war. From Sept. 1939 to August 1940 the British ordered 95% of all American exports of planes and 90% of its firearms, munitions, and explosives.
Britain was going broke, so in March 1941 Congress passed "H.R. 1776", the Lend Lease measure.
This gave FDR authority to sell, lend, lease (or whatever he wanted), matériel to allied countries. Isolationists were pissed! Said it was tyranny.
Lend-Lease saved Britain, and was probably the most important innovation of the war with the possible exception of the atomic bomb.
August 1941, FDR and Churchill met in Newfoundland and signed the Atlantic Charter, which stated that all countries will be treated fairly, equally, can chose their own form of government, will have sovereign rights, etc. The Soviet Union soon endorsed the Atlantic Charter.
July 1941, the American Navy reached Iceland to supplement, and ultimately replace, the British forces. In September German U-boats began torpedoing American warships. Congress repealed parts of the 1939 Neutrality Act, authorizing the arming of American merchant ships. (became law 11/17/41). The U.S. was on the verge of complete participation in the war.
Chapter 11 - "The Rising Sun of Japan"
Dec. 7, 1941, 8:10 am - Japan bombs Pearl Harbor.
A complete surprise.
The Japanese task force consisted of 72 warships.
The relations between the U.S. and Japan had steadily deteriorated.
Japan had been the first of the "have-not" nations to embark on a program of expansion. Invaded Manchuria in 1931.
1939, Japan wanted French Indo-China with its rice, coal, tin, and zinc; and the Dutch East Indies with their rubber, oil, and tin. Great Britain, traditional policeman of the Far East, had its hands full fighting the Nazis; and the Dutch and French had fallen to the Nazis; the U.S. were apparently concerned with only European affairs. This was a good time for Japan to launch their "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere".
The aggressive designs of Japanese militarists had been indicated as far back as 1927.
There had been widespread economic distess inside Japan.
1938, the U.S. halted the sale of American aircraft to Japan.
July 1939, Washington placed trade on a day-to-day basis.
July 16, 1940, FDR froze all Japanese assets in the U.S., and the nations of the British Commonwealth of Nations did the same thing.
A blockade by the ABCD powers (American, Britain, China, and the Dutch East Indies) soon cut off some 75% of imports to Japan.
Japanese militarists were pissed! War preparations began.
The attack on Pearl Harbor was engineered by Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto.
Sept. 1941, Tokyo tried to get Roosevelt to attend a meeting somewhere in the Pacific. Some believe this was a plot to kidnap him .
| i don't know |
Who took off from Roosevelt Field at 7:52 AM on May 20, 1927, in an attempt to pilot his Ryan NYP on the world's first solo non-stop flight across the Atlantic Ocean? | Lindbergh Flies the Atlantic, 1927
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7:52 A.M., May 20, 1927
At 7:52 A.M., May 20, 1927 Charles Lindbergh gunned the engine of the " Spirit of St Louis " and aimed her down the dirt runway of Roosevelt Field, Long Island . Heavily laden with fuel, the plane bounced down the muddy field, gradually became airborne and barely cleared the telephone wires at the field's edge. The crowd of 500 thought they had witnessed a miracle. Thirty-three and one half-hours and 3,500 miles later he landed in Paris, the first to fly the Atlantic alone.
Working as a mail pilot a year earlier he heard of the $25,000 prize for the first flight between New York and Paris. Backed by a group of St. Louis businessmen, Lindbergh supervised the building of his special plane and set out after the prize. Other teams were attempting the feat - some had met disaster. Lindbergh equipped himself with four sandwiches, two canteens of water and 451 gallons of gas. Midway through the flight "sleet began to cling to the plane. That worried me a great deal and I debated whether I should keep on or go back. I decided I must not think any more about going back."
On the evening of May 21, he crossed the coast of France, followed the Seine River to Paris and touched down at Le Bourget Field at 10:22P.M. The waiting crowd of 100,000 rushed the plane. "I saw there was danger of killing people with my propeller and I quickly came to a stop." He became an instant hero, "the Lone Eagle." New York City gave him the largest ticker tape parade ever, the president awarded him the Distinguished Flying Cross. His feat electrified the nation and inspired enthusiastic interest in aviation.
Takeoff
Minnesota Historical Society Photo http://www.mnhs.org
Bad weather and the prospect that his transatlantic flight would be delayed for a number of days greeted Lindbergh upon his arrival in New York. However, on May 19th, a favorable weather report predicted a break in the rain prompting Lindbergh to make his attempt the next day. He arrived at the airfield before dawn the next morning, prepared his plane for flight and began his historic journey:
"About 7:40 A.M. the motor was started and at 7:52 I took off on the flight for Paris. The field was a little soft due to the rain during the night and the heavily loaded plane gathered speed very slowly. After passing the halfway mark, however, it was apparent that I would be able to clear the obstructions at the end. I passed over a tractor by about fifteen feet and a telephone line by about twenty, with a fair reserve of flying speed. I believe that the ship would have taken off from a hard field with at least five hundred pounds more weight. I turned slightly to the right to avoid some high trees on a hill directly ahead, but by the time I had gone a few hundred yards I had sufficient altitude to clear all obstructions and throttled the engine down to 1750 R.P.M. I took up a compass course at once and soon reached Long Island Sound where the Curtiss Oriole with its photographer, which had been escorting me, turned back."
Darkness
Lindbergh continued his flight over Cape Cod and Nova Scotia and headed for the open Atlantic as darkness fell:
"Darkness set in about 8:15 and a thin, low fog formed over the sea through which the white bergs showed up with surprising clearness. This fog became thicker and increased in height until within two hours I was just skimming the top of storm clouds at about ten thousand feet. Even at this altitude there was a thick haze through which only the stars directly overhead could be seen. There was no moon and it was very dark. The tops of some of the storm clouds were several thousand feet above me and at one time, when I attempted to fly through one of the larger clouds, sleet started to collect on the plane and I was forced to turn around and get back into clear air immediately and then fly around any clouds which I could not get over."
Ireland
Minnesota Historical Society Photo http://www.mnhs.org
Lindbergh continued his course, at times skimming only 10 feet above the waves as he tried to find a way around the fog and maintain his course. The appearance of fishing boats below alerted him that he was nearing land:
"The first indication of my approach to the European Coast was a small fishing boat which I first noticed a few miles ahead and slightly to the south of my course. There were several of these fishing boats grouped within a few miles of each other.
I flew over the first boat without seeing any signs of life. As I circled over the second, however, a man's face appeared, looking out of the cabin window.
I have carried on short conversations with people on the ground by flying low with throttled engine, and shouting a question, and receiving the answer by some signal. When I saw this fisherman I decided to try to get him to point towards land. I had no sooner made the decision than the futility of the effort became apparent. In all likelihood he could not speak English, and even if he could he would undoubtedly be far too astounded to answer. However, I circled again and closing the throttle as the plane passed within a few feet of the boat I shouted, "Which way is Ireland?" Of course the attempt was useless, and I continued on my course.
Less than an hour later a rugged and semi-mountainous coastline appeared to the northeast. I was flying less than two hundred feet from the water when I sighted it. The shore was fairly distinct and not over ten or fifteen miles away. A light haze coupled with numerous storm areas had prevented my seeing it from a long distance.
The coastline came down from the north and curved towards the east. I had very little doubt that it was the southwestern end of Ireland, but in order to make sure I changed my course towards the nearest point of land.
I located Cape Valencia and Dingle Bay, then resumed my compass course towards Paris."
Landing
Minnesota Historical Society Photo http://www.mnhs.org
Lindbergh flew over Ireland and then England at an altitude of about 1500 feet as he headed towards France. The weather cleared and flying conditions became almost perfect. The coast of France and the City of Cherbourg passed beneath his wings as darkness fell a second time during his flight.
"The sun went down shortly after passing Cherbourg and soon the beacons along the Paris-London airway became visible.
I first saw the lights of Paris a little before 10 P.M., or 5 P.M., New York time, and a few minutes later I was circling the Eiffel Tower at an attitude of about four thousand feet.
The lights of Le Bourget were plainly visible, but appeared to be very close to Paris. I had understood that the field was farther from the city, so continued out to the northeast into the country for four or five miles to make sure that there was not another field farther out which might be Le Bourget. Then I returned and spiralled (sic) down closer to the lights. Presently I could make out long lines of hangars, and the roads appeared to be jammed with cars.
I flew low over the field once, then circled around into the wind and landed."
But suddenly, a hysterical, ecstatic crowd broke through the restraining ropes and stampeded toward him, cheering and shouting. As he opened the door, he was lifted down and hoisted onto the shoulders of the police, who carried him through the surging crowd, cries of "Vive" ringing through the night. He had conquered the Atlantic alone, covering 3,610 miles in 33 1/2 hours. He had won the Orteig prize!
From the balcony of the American Embassy the following morning, he responded briefly and modestly to the persistent calls of the great crowd which had gathered. For hours after he retreated back inside, they shouted, clapped, and waved their hats and handkerchiefs. In the days that followed, his fame as a hero grew to unbelievable proportions as he took Europe by storm. The President of France pinned the Legion of Honor upon the lapel of his borrowed suit and thousands of messages poured in upon him.
It was as if everyone saw in him something that they sought in themselves - a spirit of adventure and achievement in life. Somehow he represented the symbol of hope in a weary world, for there was something unique about his integrity, courage, and indifference to honors. "He had started with no purpose but to arrive. He remained with no desire but to serve. He sought nothing, he was offered all."
Returning Home
Minnesota Historical Society Photo http://www.mnhs.org
When he came home to America aboard the USS Memphis, a majestic convoy of warships and aircraft escorted him up the Chesapeake and Potomac to Washington. President Coolidge welcomed him home and bestowed the Distinguished Flying Cross upon him. His New York reception was the wildest in the city's history as 4 million people lined the parade route and Mayor Jimmy Walker pinned New York's Medal of Valor upon him. Finally, when it was all over, he turned and flew to St. Louis for a rest and to contemplate. His epic flight would become the one singular event which electrified the world and changed the whole course of history.
It was now that the Daniel Guggenheim Fund sponsored him on a three month nation-wide tour. Flying the "Spirit of St. Louis," he touched down in 49 states, visited 92 cities, gave 147 speeches, and rode 1,290 miles in parades. Tired, but satisfied with the job he had done in promoting aviation, he returned to New York. He made a good will tour at the request of Ambassador Dwight Morrow. It was here that he first met Anne Morrow , daughter of the Ambassador, a meeting that would blossom into romance. After Mexico, he visited twelve other Central American and West Indies countries, conveying goodwill all along the 9,000 mile flight tour.
On March 21,1929, President Coolidge presented him with the nation's highest honor, the Congressional Medal of Honor. Throughout the rest of his life he would continue to serve America as an advisor on aviation. He resigned his commission as a Colonel in the reserves an April 29, 1941, but he served in the Pacific theater during World War II as a technical advisor. He taught American fighter pilots how to get increased range from their planes - as much as fifty percent more. He flew several combat missions in P-38 fighters and on at least one sortie shot down a Japanese plane. After the war, he continued to serve his country in many ways and on April 7, 1954, he was appointed a Brigadier General in the Air Force Reserves.
"Lindbergh Flies the Atlantic, 1927," EyeWitness to History, www.eyewitnesstohistory.com (1999).
Certification of Charles Lindbergh's flight required several documents to prove the performance
Orteig Prize check made out to Charles Lindbergh
The Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) - the World Air Sports Federation - is the sole organisation authorized to certify aeronautical and astronautical world records worlwide.
The certification of Charles Lindbergh's flight required several documents to prove the performance. A sealed barograph, an instrument working with atmospheric pressure, was loaded on the aircraft; its six-hour cylinder recorded the altitudes flown and proved that the flight was uninterrupted. The start of the flight was attested by the US National Aeronautic Association and the Procès-verbal established by the Aéro-Club de France on Lindbergh's arrival attested that the barograph was found sealed and reported that 322 litres of gas (85 gallons) remained in the sealed tanks. This Procès-verbal was signed by no less than 13 French officials, the US Ambassador Myron Herrick, the Belgian Air Attaché Willy Coppens and, of course Charles Lindbergh himself. Finally, the FAI General Secretary Paul Tissandier informed the National Aeronautic Association on August 31st, 1927, that Lindbergh's flight was certified as the Class-C World Record for non-stop flight over a distance of 5809 kilometres".
Pictures of the barograph, six-hour cylinder recorded, and certified world record documents
Click to Enlarge
Source of information: The Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI)
Lighting a bonfire
I was astonished at the effect my successful landing in France had on the nations of the world. To me, it was like a match lighting a bonfire.
– Charles A. Lindbergh
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Charles Lindbergh
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This article is about the American aviator. For the U.S. Representative from Minnesota (1859–1924), see Charles August Lindbergh . For Charles Augustus Lindbergh, Junior, see Lindbergh kidnapping . For the Iwo Jima veteran, see Charles W. Lindberg .
Charles Augustus Lindbergh
Charles Lindbergh with the Spirit of St. Louis 1927
Born
Charles August Lindbergh
Evangeline Lodge Land Lindbergh
Charles Augustus Lindbergh (February 4, 1902 – August 26, 1974) (nicknamed "Lucky Lindy" and "The Lone Eagle") was an American aviator , author , inventor and explorer .
On May 20–21, 1927, Lindbergh emerged instantaneously from virtual obscurity to world fame as the result of his Orteig Prize -winning solo non-stop flight from Roosevelt Field in New York City to Le Bourget Field in Paris in the single-seat, single-engine monoplane Spirit of St. Louis . Lindbergh, an Army reserve officer, was also awarded the nation's highest military decoration, the Medal of Honor , for his historic exploit. [1]
His exploit was marred however by the subsequent kidnap and murder of his baby son .
In the late 1920s and early 1930s, Lindbergh used his fame to relentlessly help promote the rapid development of U.S. commercial aviation. In the later 1930s and up until the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor , Lindbergh was an outspoken advocate of keeping the U.S. out of the world conflict (as was his Congressman father during World War I ) and became a leader of the anti-war America First movement. Nonetheless, he supported the war effort after Pearl Harbor and flew many combat missions in the Pacific Theater as a civilian consultant, even though President Roosevelt had refused to reinstate his Army Air Corps colonel's commission that he had resigned earlier in 1939.
In his later years, Lindbergh became a prolific prize-winning author, international explorer, inventor, and active environmentalist . [2]
Contents
[ edit ] Early years
Charles A. Lindbergh father and son c. 1910
Charles Augustus Lindbergh was born in Detroit, Michigan , on February 4, 1902, but spent most of his childhood in Little Falls , Minnesota , and Washington, D.C. He was the only child of Swedish emigrant Charles August Lindbergh ( birth name Carl Månsson) (1859–1924), and Evangeline Lodge Land Lindbergh (1876–1954), of Detroit. [3] The elder Lindbergh was a U.S. Congressman ( R - MN
6th
) from 1907 to 1917 who gained notoriety when he opposed the entry of the U.S. into World War I. [4] Mrs. Lindbergh was a teacher at Cass Technical High School in Detroit and later at Little Falls (MN) High School from which her son graduated in 1918. Lindbergh also attended over a dozen other schools from Washington, D.C. to California during his childhood and teenage years (none for more than one full year) including the Force School and Sidwell Friends School while living in Washington, D.C. with his father, [5] and Redondo Union High School in California . [6] The Lindberghs were divorced in 1909 when their son was seven.
[ edit ] Early aviation career
1917 Saxon Six
From an early age Charles Lindbergh had exhibited an interest in the mechanics of motorized transportation including his family's Saxon "Six" automobile, later his Excelsior motorbike, and by the time he enrolled as a mechanical engineering student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1920, he had also become fascinated with flying even though he "had never been close enough to a plane to touch it." [7] Lindbergh dropped out of the engineering program in February 1922, and a month later headed to Lincoln, Nebraska, to enroll as a student at the flying school operated by the Nebraska Aircraft Corporation. Arriving on April 1, 1922, he flew for the first time in his life nine days later when he took to the air as a passenger in a two-seat Lincoln-Standard "Tourabout" biplane piloted by Otto Timm. [8]
Lincoln Standard biplane
A few days later Lindbergh took his first formal flying lesson in that same machine with instructor pilot Ira O. Biffle, although the 20-year old student pilot would never be permitted to "solo" during his time at the school because he could not afford to post a bond which the president of the company, Ray Page [9] , insisted upon in the event the novice flyer were to damage the school's only trainer in the process. [10] Thus in order to both gain some needed experience and earn money for additional instruction, Lindbergh left Lincoln in June to spend the summer and early fall barnstorming across Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana as a wing walker and parachutist with E.G. Bahl, and later H.L. Lynch. During this time he also briefly held a job as an airplane mechanic in Billings, Montana , working at the Billings Municipal Airport (later renamed Billings Logan International Airport ). [11] [12] When winter came, however, Lindbergh returned to his father's home in Minnesota and did not fly again for over six months. [13]
Curtis JN-4 "Jenny"
Lindbergh's first solo flight did not come until May 1923 at Souther Field in Americus, Georgia , a former Army flight training field to which he had come to buy a World War I-surplus Curtiss JN-4 "Jenny" biplane. Even though Lindbergh had not had a lesson (or even flown) in more than half a year, he had nonetheless already secretly decided that he was ready to take to the air by himself. And so, after just half an hour of dual time with a pilot who was visiting the field to pick up another surplus JN-4, Lindbergh flew on his own for the first time in the Jenny that he had just purchased there for $500. [14] [15] After spending another week or so at the field to "practice" (thereby acquiring all of five hours of "pilot in command" time), Lindbergh took off from Americus for Montgomery, Alabama , on his first solo cross country flight, and went on to spend much of the rest of 1923 engaged in virtually nonstop barnstorming under the name of "Daredevil Lindbergh." Unlike the previous year, however, this time Lindbergh did so in his "own ship" — and as a pilot. [16] [17] A few weeks after leaving Americus, the young airman achieved another key aviation milestone when he made his first nighttime flight near Lake Village, Arkansas . [18]
Lindbergh damaged his "Jenny" on several occasions over the summer, usually by breaking the prop on landing. His most serious accident came when he ran into a ditch in a farm field in Glencoe, MN, on June 3, 1923, while flying his father (who was then running for the U.S. Senate) to a campaign stop which grounded him for a week until he could repair his ship. In October Lindbergh flew his Jenny to Iowa where he sold it to a flying student of his. (Found stored in a barn in Iowa almost half a century later, Lindbergh's dismantled Jenny was carefully restored in the early 1970s and is now on display at the Cradle of Aviation Museum located in Garden City, L.I., NY, (adjacent to the site once occupied by Roosevelt Field from which Lindbergh took off on his flight to Paris in 1927). [19] After selling the Jenny, Lindbergh returned to Lincoln by train where he joined up with Leon Klink and continued to barnstorm through the South for the next few months in Klink's Curtis JN-4C "Canuck" (the Canadian version of the Jenny). Lindbergh also "cracked up" this plane once when his engine failed shortly after take off in Pensacola, FL, but again he managed to repair the damage himself. [20]
Graduation photo of 2nd Lt. Charles A. Lindbergh, USASRC, March 1925
Following a few months of barnstorming through the South, the two pilots parted company in San Antonio, Texas , where Lindbergh had been ordered to report to Brooks Field on March 19, 1924, to begin a year of military flight training with the United States Army Air Service both there and later at nearby Kelly Field . [21] Late in his training Lindbergh experienced his worst flying accident on March 5, 1925 when he was involved in a midair collision eight days before graduation with another Army S.E.5 while practicing aerial combat maneuvers and was forced to bail out. [22] Only 18 of the 104 cadets who started flight training remained when Lindbergh graduated first overall in his class in March 1925 thereby earning his Army pilot's wings and a commission as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Air Service Reserve Corps . With the Army not then in need of additional active duty pilots, however, Lindbergh immediately returned to civilian aviation as a barnstormer and flight instructor, although as a reserve officer he also continued to do some part time military flying by joining the 110th Observation Squadron, 35th Division, Missouri National Guard , in St. Louis in November 1925 and was soon promoted to 1st Lieutenant . [23]
Lindbergh later noted in "WE", his best selling book published in July 1927, just two months after making his historic flight to Paris, that he considered this year of Army flight training to be the critically important one in his development as both a focused, goal oriented individual, as well as a skillful and resourceful aviator.
"Always there was some new experience, always something interesting going on to make the time spent at Brooks and Kelly one of the banner years in a pilot's life. The training is difficult and rigid but there is none better. A cadet must be willing to forget all other interest in life when he enters the Texas flying schools and he must enter with the intention of devoting every effort and all of the energy during the next 12 months towards a single goal. But when he receives the wings at Kelly a year later he has the satisfaction of knowing that he has graduated from one of the world's finest flying schools." [24]
[ edit ] Air Mail pioneer and advocate
Cover flown from Chicago to St. Louis on the opening day of CAM-2
Lindbergh's copy of a Weekly Postage Report
In October 1925, Lindbergh was hired by the Robertson Aircraft Corporation (RAC) in St. Louis (were he had been working as a flight instructor) to first lay out, and then serve as chief pilot for the newly designated 278-mile (447 km) Contract Air Mail Route #2 (CAM-2) to provide service between St. Louis and Chicago (Maywood Field) with two intermediate stops in Springfield and Peoria, Illinois . [25] Operating from Robertson's home base at the Lambert-St. Louis Flying Field in Anglum, Missouri, Lindbergh and three other RAC pilots, Philip R. Love, Thomas P. Nelson, and Harlan A. "Bud" Gurney, flew the mail over CAM-2 in a fleet of four modified war surplus de Havilland DH-4 biplanes. Two days before he opened service on the route on April 15, 1926, with its first early morning southbound flight from Chicago to St. Louis, Lindbergh officially became authorized to be entrusted with the "care, custody, and conveyance" of U.S. Mails by formally subscribing and swearing to the Post Office Department's 1874 Oath of Mail Messengers. [26] It would not take long for him to be presented with the circumstances to prove how seriously he took this obligation.
Wreck of Lindbergh's DH4 which crashed near Covell, IL, on November 3, 1926
Twice during the 10 months that he flew CAM-2, Lindbergh involuntarily lost custody and control of the mail when he was forced to bail out of his mail plane owing to bad weather, equipment problems, and/or fuel exhaustion. Both incidents came while he was approaching Chicago at night: first near Ottawa, IL, on September 16, 1926 and then near Covell, IL, on November 3, 1926. After landing in rural farm fields by parachute, his first concern on both occasions was to immediately locate the wreckage of his crashed mail planes, make sure that the bags of mail were promptly secured and salvaged, and then to see that they were entrained or trucked on to Chicago with as little further delay as possible. Lindbergh continued on as chief pilot of CAM-2 until mid-February 1927, when he left for San Diego, California , to oversee the design and construction of the Spirit of St. Louis.
Cover flown by Charles Lindbergh in the Spirit of St. Louis from Santo Domingo to Port-au-Prince (February 6, 1928) and Havana (February 8, 1928)
Although Lindbergh never returned to service as a regular Air Mail pilot, for many years after making his historic nonstop flight to Paris he used the immense fame that his exploits had brought him to help promote the use of the Air Mail service. He did this by giving many speeches on its behalf, and by carrying souvenir mail on both special promotional domestic flights as well as on a number of international flights over routes in Latin America and the Caribbean which he had laid out as a consultant to Pan American Airways to then be flown under contract to the Post Office Department as Foreign Air Mail (FAM) routes. At the request of Capt. Basil L. Rowe, the owner and Chief Pilot of West Indian Aerial Express and a fellow Air Mail pioneer and advocate, in February 1928, Lindbergh also carried a small amount of special souvenir mail between Santo Domingo , R.D. , Port-au-Prince , Haiti , and Havana , Cuba in the Spirit of St. Louis.
Autographed USPOD cover flown northbound by Charles Lindbergh over CAM-2 on February 21, 1928, and southbound on February 22.
Those cities were the last three stops that he and the Spirit made during their 7,800-mile "Good Will Tour" of Latin America and the Caribbean between December 13, 1927 and February 8, 1928, during which he flew to México, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Cuba, spending 125 hours in the air. [27] The final two legs of the 48-day tour were also the only flights on which officially sanctioned, postally franked mail was ever carried in the Spirit of St. Louis. Exactly two weeks later, Lindbergh also "returned" to flying CAM-2 for two days so that he could pilot a series of special flights (northbound on February 20; southbound on February 21) on which many tens of thousands of self-addressed souvenir covers sent in from all over the nation and the world were cacheted , flown, backstamped, and then returned to their senders as a further means to promote awareness and the use of the Air Mail service. Souvenir covers and other artifacts associated with or carried on flights piloted by Lindbergh are still actively collected under the general designation of "Lindberghiana."
[ edit ] Pursuing the Orteig Prize
Charles Lindbergh (left) accepted his prize from Raymond Orteig (right) in New York on June 14, 1927
Designated to be awarded to the pilot of the first successful nonstop flight made in either direction between New York City and Paris within five years after its establishment, the $25,000 Orteig Prize was first offered by the French born New York hotelier (Lafayette Hotel) Raymond Orteig on May 19, 1919. Although that initial time limit lapsed without a serious challenger, the state of aviation technology had advanced sufficiently by 1924 to prompt Orteig to extend his offer for another five years, and this time it began to attract an impressive grouping of well known, highly experienced, and well financed contenders. Ironically the one exception among these competitors was the still boyish, 25-year old relative latecomer to the race — Charles Lindbergh — who, in relation to the others, was virtually anonymous to the public as an aviation figure, had considerably less overall flying experience, and was being primarily financed by just a $15,000 bank loan and his own modest savings.
Charles Nungesser
The first of the well known challengers to actually attempt a flight was famed World War I French fighter ace René Fonck who on September 21, 1926, planned to fly eastbound from Roosevelt Field in New York in a three-engine Sikorsky S-35. Fonck never got off the ground, however, as his grossly overloaded (by 10,000 lbs) transport biplane crashed and burned on takeoff when its landing gear collapsed. (While Fonck escaped the flames, his two crew members, Charles N. Clavier and Jacob Islaroff, died in the fire.) U.S. Naval aviators LCDR Noel Davis and LT Stanton H. Wooster were also killed in a takeoff accident at Langley Field , VA, on April 26, 1927, while testing the three-engine Keystone Pathfinder biplane, American Legion, that they intended to use for the flight. Less than two weeks later, the first contenders to actually get airborne were French war heroes Captain Charles Nungesser and his navigator, François Coli , who departed from Paris - Le Bourget Airport on May 8, 1927 on a westbound flight in the Levasseur PL 8 , The White Bird (L'Oiseau Blanc). All contact was lost with them after crossing the coast of Ireland , however, and they were never seen or heard from again.
Clarence Chamberlin
American air racer Clarence D. Chamberlin and Arctic explorer CDR (later RADM ) Richard E. Byrd were also in the race. Although he did not win, Chamberlin and his passenger, Charles Levine, made the far less well remembered second successful nonstop flight across the Atlantic in the single engine Wright-Bellanca WB-2 Miss Columbia (N-X-237) leaving Roosevelt Field on June 4, 1927, two weeks after Lindbergh's flight and landing in Eisleben , Germany near Berlin 43 hours and 31 minutes later on June 6, 1927. (Ironically, the Chamberlin monoplane was the same one that the Lindbergh group had originally intended to purchase for his attempt but passed on when the manufacturer insisted on selecting the pilot.) Byrd followed suit in the Fokker F.VII trimotor, America , flying with three others from Roosevelt Field on June 29, 1927. Although they reached Paris on July 1, 1927, Byrd was unable to land there because of weather and was forced to return to the Normandy coast where he ditched the tri-motor high wing monoplane near the French village of Ver-sur-Mer . [28]
[ edit ] Lindbergh's flight to Paris
Part of the funding for the Spirit of St. Louis came from Lindbergh's own earnings as an Air Mail pilot over the year before his nonstop flight to Paris.
Six well known aviators had thus already lost their lives in pursuit of the Orteig Prize when Lindbergh took off on his successful attempt in the early morning of May 20, 1927. Dubbed the Spirit of St. Louis , his "partner" was a fabric covered, single-seat, single-engine "Ryan NYP" high wing monoplane ( CAB registration: N-X-211) designed by Donald Hall and custom built by Ryan Aeronautical Company of San Diego, California . Although the primary source of funding for the purchase of the Spirit and other expenses related to the overall New York to Paris effort came from a $15,000 State National Bank of St. Louis loan made on February 18, 1927, to St. Louis businessmen Harry H. Knight and Harold M. Bixby, the project's two principal trustees [29] , and another $1,000 donated by Frank Robertson of RAC on the same day, Lindbergh himself also personally contributed $2,000 of his own money from both his savings and his earnings from the 10 months that he flew the Air Mail for RAC. [30] [31]
Sample of the fine linen fabric that covered the Spirit of St. Louis
Burdened by its heavy load of 450 gallons of gasoline (2,709 lbs) and hampered by a muddy, rain soaked runway, Lindbergh's Wright Whirlwind powered monoplane gained speed very slowly as it made its 7:52 AM takeoff run from Roosevelt Field, but its J-5C radial engine still proved powerful enough to allow the "Spirit" to clear the telephone lines at the far end of the field "by about twenty feet with a fair reserve of flying speed." [32] Over the next 33.5 hours he and the "Spirit" — which Lindbergh always jointly referred to simply as "WE" — faced many challenges including skimming over both storm clouds at 10,000 feet (3,000 m) and wave tops at as low at 10 ft (3.0 m), fighting icing, flying blind through fog for several hours, and navigating only by the stars (when visible) and "dead reckoning" before landing at Le Bourget at 10:22 PM on 21 May. [33] A crowd estimated at 150,000 spectators stormed the field, dragged Lindbergh out of the cockpit, and literally carried him around above their heads for "nearly half an hour." While some damage was done to the "Spirit" (especially to the fabric covering on the fuselage) by souvenir hunters, both Lindbergh and the Spirit were eventually "rescued" from the mob by a group of French military flyers, soldiers, and police who took them both to safety in a nearby hangar . [34] From that moment on, however, life would never again be the same for the previously little known former Air Mail pilot who, by his successful flight, had just achieved virtually instantaneous — and lifelong — world fame.
Ten Cent "Lindbergh Air Mail" U.S. Postage Stamp (Scott C-10) issued June 11, 1927
The French Foreign Office flew the American flag, the first time it had saluted someone not a head of state. [35] Gaston Doumergue , the President of France , bestowed the French Légion d'honneur on the young Capt. Lindbergh, and on his arrival back in the United States aboard the United States Navy cruiser USS Memphis (CL-13) on June 11, 1927, a fleet of warships and multiple flights of military aircraft including pursuit planes, bombers, and the rigid airship USS Los Angeles (ZR-3) , escorted him up the Potomac River to Washington, D.C. where President Calvin Coolidge awarded him the Distinguished Flying Cross . [36] [37] On that same day the U.S. Post Office Department issued a 10-Cent Air Mail stamp (Scott C-10) depicting the Spirit of St. Louis and a map of the flight. On June 13, 1927, a ticker-tape parade was held for him down 5th Avenue in New York City. [38] The following night the City of New York further honored Capt. Lindbergh with a grand banquet at the Hotel Commodore attended by some 3,600 people.
Program cover for "WE" Banquet for Charles Lindbergh given by the Mayor's Committee on Receptions of the City of New York on June 14, 1927
After the flight, Lindbergh became an important voice on behalf of aviation activities, including the central committee of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics in the United States. The massive publicity surrounding him and his flight boosted the aviation industry and made a skeptical public take air travel seriously. Within a year of his flight, a quarter of Americans (an estimated thirty million) personally saw Lindbergh and the Spirit of St. Louis. Over the remainder of 1927 applications for pilot's licenses in the U.S. trebled, the number of licensed aircraft of all types quadrupled, and U.S. Airline passengers grew between 1926 and 1929 by 3,000% from 5,782 to 173,405. [39] Lindbergh is recognized in aviation for demonstrating and charting polar air routes, high altitude flying techniques, and increasing flying range by decreasing fuel consumption. These innovations are the basis of modern intercontinental air travel.
The winner of the 1930 Best Woman Aviator of the Year Award, Elinor Smith Sullivan, said that before Lindbergh's flight, "people seemed to think we [aviators] were from outer space or something. But after Charles Lindbergh's flight, we could do no wrong. It's hard to describe the impact Lindbergh had on people. Even the first walk on the moon doesn't come close. The twenties was such an innocent time, and people were still so religious – I think they felt like this man was sent by God to do this. And it changed aviation forever because all of a sudden the Wall Streeters were banging on doors looking for airplanes to invest in. We'd been standing on our heads trying to get them to notice us but after Lindbergh, suddenly everyone wanted to fly, and there weren't enough planes to carry them." [40]
Flight from Paris to Belgium: Lindbergh's flight to Belgium to be honored after his trans-Atlantic flight.
Although Lindbergh was the first to fly nonstop from New York to Paris, he was not the first aviator to complete a transatlantic flight. That had been done first in stages between May 8 and May 31, 1919, by the crew of the Navy-Curtiss NC-4 flying boat which took 24 days to complete its journey from Jamaica Bay at Far Rockaway , Queens, New York , to Plymouth , England, via Halifax (Nova Scotia) , Trepassey Bay ( Newfoundland ), Horta (Azores) and Lisbon , Portugal .
"Longines" watch designed by Lindbergh after his transatlantic flight.
The first truly nonstop transatlantic flight (over a route far shorter than Lindbergh's) was achieved nearly eight years earlier on June 14–15, 1919. Two British flyers, John Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown , flying a modified Vickers Vimy IV bomber departed from Lester's Field near St. John's, Newfoundland , on June 14 and arrived at Clifden , Ireland, the following day. [41]
After his flight, Lindbergh wrote a letter to the director of Longines , describing in detail a watch which would make navigation easier for pilots. The watch was manufactured to his design and is still produced today.
[ edit ] Marriage and children
Charles and Anne Morrow Lindbergh
Anne Morrow Lindbergh (1906-2001) was the daughter of diplomat Dwight Morrow whom he met in Mexico City in December 1927, where her father was serving as the U.S. Ambassador. According to a Biography Channel profile on Lindbergh, she was the only woman that he had ever asked out on a date. In Lindbergh's autobiography, he derides womanizing pilots he met as a "barnstormer" and Army cadet, for their "facile" approach to relationships. For Lindbergh, the ideal romance was stable and long term, with a woman with keen intellect, good health and strong genes. [42] Lindbergh said his "experience in breeding animals on our farm had taught me the importance of good heredity." [43]
The couple was married on May 27, 1929, and eventually had six children: Charles Augustus Lindbergh, Jr. (1930–1932); Jon Morrow Lindbergh (b. August 16, 1932); Land Morrow Lindbergh (b. 1937), who studied anthropology at Stanford University and married Susan Miller in San Diego; Anne Lindbergh (1940–1993); Scott Lindbergh (b. 1942); and Reeve Lindbergh (b. 1945), a writer. Lindbergh also taught his wife how to fly and did much of his exploring and charting of air routes with her.
[ edit ] "The Crime of the Century"
Main article: Lindbergh kidnapping
In what came to be referred to sensationally by the press of the time as "The Crime of the Century," on the evening of March 1, 1932, 20-month old Charles Augustus Lindbergh, Jr., was abducted by an intruder from his crib in the second story nursery of his family's rural home in East Amwell, New Jersey near the town of Hopewell . [44] While a 10-week nationwide search for the child was being undertaken, ransom negotiations were also conducted simultaneously with a self-identified kidnapper by a volunteer intermediary, Dr. John F. Condon (aka "Jafsie"). [45] These resulted in the payment on April 2 of $50,000 in cash, part of which was made in soon-to-be withdrawn (and thus more easily traceable) Gold certificates , in exchange for information — which proved to be false — about the child's whereabouts. The search finally ended on May 12 when the remains of an infant were serendipitously discovered by truck driver William Allen about two miles (3 km) from the Lindberghs' home in woods near a road just north of the small village of Mount Rose, NJ. The child's body was soon identified by Lindbergh as being that of his kidnapped son. A month later the Congress passed the so-called "Lindbergh Law"
(18 U.S.C. § 1201(a)(1))
on June 13, 1932, which made kidnapping a federal offense if the victim is taken across state lines or "uses the mail or any means, facility, or instrumentality of interstate or foreign commerce in committing or in furtherance of the commission of the offense" including as a means to demand a ransom. [46]
Lindbergh testifies at the Hauptmann trial in 1935.
Assiduous tracing of many $10 and $20 Gold certificates passed in the New York City area over the next year-and-a-half eventually led police to Bruno Richard Hauptmann , a 34-year old German immigrant carpenter, who was arrested near his home in the Bronx , NY, on September 19, 1934. A stash containing $13,760 of the ransom money was subsequently found hidden in his garage. Charged with kidnapping, extortion, and first degree murder, Hauptmann went on trial in a circus-like atmosphere in Flemington, New Jersey on January 2, 1935. Six weeks later he was convicted on all counts when, following just eleven hours of deliberation, the jury delivered its verdict late on the night of February 13 after which trial judge Thomas Trenchard immediately sentenced Hauptmann to death. [47] Although he continued to adamantly maintain his innocence after his conviction, all of Hauptmann's appeals and petitions for clemency were rejected by early December 1935. [48] Despite a last minute attempt by New Jersey Governor Harold Hoffman (who believed Hauptmann was guilty but also had always expressed doubts that he could have acted alone) to convince him to confess to the crimes in exchange for getting his sentence commuted to life imprisonment, the by then 36-year old Hauptmann refused and was electrocuted at Trenton State Prison on April 3, 1936.
The Lindberghs eventually grew tired of the never-ending spotlight on the family and came to fear for the safety of their then three-year old second son, Jon. Deciding, therefore, to seek seclusion in Europe, the family sailed from New York under a veil of secrecy on board the SS American Importer in the pre-dawn hours of December 22, 1935. [49] The family rented " Long Barn " in the village of Sevenoaks Weald , Kent , England . One newspaper wrote that Lindbergh "won immediate popularity by announcing he intended to purchase his supplies 'right in the village, from local tradesmen.' The reserve of the villagers, most of whom had decided in advance he would be a blustering, boastful young American, is melting." [50] At the time of Hauptmann's execution, local police almost sealed off the area surrounding Long Barn with "orders to regard as suspects anyone except residents who approached within a mile of the home." Lindbergh later described his three years in the Kent village as "among the happiest days of my life." [50] In 1938 the family moved to Iliec , a small (four-acre) island Lindbergh purchased off the Brittany coast of France . [51]
[ edit ] Pre-war activities
Lindbergh became interested in the work of rocket pioneer Robert Goddard in 1929. By helping Goddard secure an endowment from Daniel Guggenheim in 1930, Lindbergh allowed Goddard to expand his research and development. Throughout his life, Lindbergh remained a key advocate of Goddard's work.
In 1930, Lindbergh's sister-in-law developed a fatal heart condition. Lindbergh began to wonder why hearts couldn't be repaired with surgery. When living in France, Lindbergh studied on perfusion of organs outside the body with Nobel Prize -winning French surgeon Dr. Alexis Carrel . Although perfused organs were said to have survived surprisingly well, all showed progressive degenerative changes within a few days. [52] Lindbergh's invention, a glass perfusion pump, named the "Model T" pump, is credited with making future heart surgeries possible. However, in this early stage, the pump was far from perfected. In 1938, Lindbergh and Carrel summarized their work in their book, The Culture of Organs describing an artificial heart . [53] but it was decades before one was built. In later years, Lindbergh's pump was further developed by others, eventually leading to the construction of the first heart-lung machine.
Lindbergh and Carrell discussed eugenics . [54]
At the behest of the U.S. military , Lindbergh traveled several times to Germany to report on German aviation and the German Air Force ( Luftwaffe ) from 1936 through 1938.
Hermann Goering presents Lindbergh with a medal on behalf of Adolf Hitler; Anne Lindbergh is far left. Photo taken on July 28, 1936.
Lindbergh's medal
Lindbergh toured German aviation facilities, where the commander of the Luftwaffe Hermann Göring convinced Lindbergh the Luftwaffe was far more powerful than it was. With the approval of Goering and Ernst Udet , Lindbergh was the first American permitted to examine the Luftwaffe's newest bomber, the Ju 88 and Germany's front line fighter aircraft , the Messerschmitt Bf 109 . Lindbergh received the unprecedented opportunity to pilot the Bf 109. Lindbergh said of the fighter that he knew "of no other pursuit plane which combines simplicity of construction with such excellent performance characteristics." Colonel Lindbergh inspected all the types of military aircraft Germany was to use in 1939 and 1940.
Lindbergh reported to the U.S. military that Germany was leading in metal construction, low-wing designs, dirigibles and diesel engines. Lindbergh also undertook a survey of aviation in the Soviet Union in 1938. Lindbergh's findings found their way into air intelligence reports to Washington long before the European war began." [55]
The American ambassador to Germany, Hugh Wilson , invited Lindbergh to dinner with Göring at the American embassy in Berlin in 1938. The dinner included diplomats and three of the greatest minds of German aviation, Ernst Heinkel , Adolf Baeumaker and Dr. Willy Messerschmitt . For Lindbergh's 1927 flight and services to aviation, on behalf of Adolf Hitler, Göring presented him with the Commander Cross of the Order of the German Eagle ( Henry Ford received the same award earlier in July). However, Lindbergh's acceptance of the medal caused controversy after Kristallnacht . Lindbergh declined to return the medal, later writing (according to A. Scott Berg ): "It seems to me that the returning of decorations, which were given in times of peace and as a gesture of friendship, can have no constructive effect. If I were to return the German medal, it seems to me that it would be an unnecessary insult. Even if war develops between us, I can see no gain in indulging in a spitting contest before that war begins."
During this period, Lindbergh was back on temporary duty as a colonel in the Army Air Corps assigned to the task of recruitment, finding a site for a new air force research institute and other potential air bases. [56] Another role that he undertook was in evaluating new aircraft types in development. Assigned a Curtiss P-36 fighter, he toured various facilities, reporting back to Wright Field. [56]
[ edit ] Munich Crisis
At the urging of U.S. Ambassador Joseph Kennedy , Lindbergh wrote a secret memo to the British warning that if Britain and France responded militarily to German dictator Adolf Hitler 's violation of the Munich Agreement in 1938, it would be suicide. Lindbergh stated that France's military strength was inadequate and that Britain had an outdated military overly reliant upon naval power. He recommended they urgently strengthen their air arsenal in order to force Hitler to turn his ambitions eastward to a war against "Asiatic Communism." [57]
In a controversial 1939 Reader's Digest article, Lindbergh said, "Our civilization depends on peace among Western nations... and therefore on united strength, for Peace is a virgin who dare not show her face without Strength, her father, for protection." [58] [59] Lindbergh deplored the rivalry between Germany and Britain but favoured a war between Germany and Russia. There is some controversy as to how accurate his reports concerning the Luftwaffe were, but Cole reports the consensus among British and American officials were that they were slightly exaggerated but badly needed.
[ edit ] "America First" Involvement
After Germany invaded Poland in 1939, Lindbergh resigned his commission as a colonel in the U.S. Army Air Corps on September 14, 1939 to campaign as a private citizen for the antiwar America First Committee. [60] He soon became its most prominent public spokesman, speaking to overflowing crowds in Madison Square Garden in New York City and Soldier Field in Chicago. His speeches were heard by millions. During this time, Lindbergh lived in Lloyd Neck , on Long Island, New York .
Lindbergh argued that America did not have any business attacking Germany and believed in upholding the Monroe Doctrine , which his interventionist rivals felt was outdated. Before World War II, according to Lindbergh historian A. Scott Berg, Lindbergh characterized that:
“the potentially gigantic power of America, guided by uninformed and impractical idealism, might crusade into Europe to destroy Hitler without realizing that Hitler’s destruction would lay Europe open to the rape, loot and barbarism of Soviet Russia’s forces, causing possibly the fatal wounding of western civilization.” [61]
Charles Lindbergh speaking at an AFC rally.
During his January 23, 1941, testimony before The House Committee on Foreign Affairs , Lindbergh recommended the United States negotiate a neutrality pact with Germany.
In a speech at an America First rally in Des Moines on September 11, 1941, "Who Are the War Agitators?" Lindbergh claimed the three groups, "pressing this country toward war [are] the British, the Jewish and the Roosevelt Administration" and said of Jewish groups,
"Instead of agitating for war, the Jewish groups in this country should be opposing it in every possible way for they will be among the first to feel its consequences. Tolerance is a virtue that depends upon peace and strength. History shows that it cannot survive war and devastation." [62]
In the speech, he warned of the Jewish People's "large ownership and influence in our motion pictures, our press, our radio and our government," and went on to say of Germany's antisemitism, "No person with a sense of the dignity of mankind can condone the persecution of the Jewish race in Germany." Lindbergh declared,
"I am not attacking either the Jewish or the British people. Both races, I admire. But I am saying that the leaders of both the British and the Jewish races, for reasons which are as understandable from their viewpoint as they are inadvisable from ours, for reasons which are not American, wish to involve us in the war. We cannot blame them for looking out for what they believe to be their own interests, but we also must look out for ours. We cannot allow the natural passions and prejudices of other peoples to lead our country to destruction." [63]
The speech was heavily criticized as being anti-Jewish. [64] In response Lindbergh noted again he was not anti-Semitic, but he did not back away from his statements.
Interventionists created pamphlets pointing out his efforts were praised in Nazi Germany and included quotations such as "Racial strength is vital; politics, a luxury". They included pictures of him and other America Firsters using the stiff-armed Bellamy salute (a hand gesture described by Francis Bellamy to accompany his Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of the United States); the photos were taken from an angle not showing the American flag, so to observers it was indistinguishable from the Hitler salute . [65]
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt disliked Lindbergh's outspoken opposition to intervention and Roosevelt's policies such as the Lend-Lease Act . FDR said to Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau in May 1940, "if I should die tomorrow, I want you to know this, I am absolutely convinced Lindbergh is a Nazi." [66] To discredit Lindbergh's moral character FDR directed the FBI to investigate his personal life even though Lindbergh had a reputation as a decent, moral man. [67]
[ edit ] Political allegations against Lindbergh
Because of his trips to Nazi Germany, combined with a belief in eugenics , Lindbergh was suspected of being a Nazi sympathizer.
Lindbergh's reaction to Kristallnacht was entrusted to his diary: "I do not understand these riots on the part of the Germans," he wrote. "It seems so contrary to their sense of order and intelligence. They have undoubtedly had a difficult ' Jewish problem ,' but why is it necessary to handle it so unreasonably?" [68]
In his diaries, he wrote: “We must limit to a reasonable amount the Jewish influence… Whenever the Jewish percentage of total population becomes too high, a reaction seems to invariably occur. It is too bad because a few Jews of the right type are, I believe, an asset to any country.”
Lindbergh's anti-Communism resonated deeply with many Americans while eugenics and Nordicism enjoyed social acceptance, [59] with enthusiasts such as Theodore Roosevelt , [69] and George S. Patton . [70]
Although Lindbergh considered Hitler a fanatic and avowed a belief in American democracy, [71] he clearly stated elsewhere that he believed the survival of the white race was more important than the survival of democracy in Europe: "Our bond with Europe is one of race and not of political ideology," he declared. [72] He had, however, a relatively positive attitude toward blacks (something that was scheduled to be fully revealed in an undelivered speech interrupted by the events that followed the bombing of Pearl Harbor [73] ). Critics have noticed an apparent influence of German philosopher Oswald Spengler on Lindbergh. [74] Spengler was a conservative authoritarian and during the interwar era, was widely read throughout Western World, though by this point he had fallen out of favor with the Nazis because he had not wholly subscribed to their theories of racial purity.
Lindbergh with Edsel Ford (left) and Henry Ford in the Ford hangar. Photo: August 1927
Lindbergh developed a long-term friendship with the automobile pioneer Henry Ford , who was well-known for his anti-Jewish newspaper " The Dearborn Independent ." In a famous comment about Lindbergh to Detroit's former FBI bureau chief in July 1940, Ford said: "When Charles comes out here, we only talk about the Jews." [75] [76]
Lindbergh considered Russia to be a "semi-Asiatic" country compared to Germany, and he found Communism to be an ideology that would destroy the West's "racial strength" and replace everyone of European descent with "a pressing sea of Yellow, Black, and Brown." He openly stated, if he had to choose, he would rather see America allied with Nazi Germany than Soviet Russia. He preferred Nordics , but he believed, after Soviet Communism was defeated, Russia would be a valuable ally against potential aggression from East Asia . [74] [77]
Lindbergh said certain races have "demonstrated superior ability in the design, manufacture, and operation of machines." [78] He further said, "the growth of our western civilization has been closely related to this superiority." [79] Lindbergh admired, "the German genius for science and organization, the English genius for government and commerce, the French genius for living and the understanding of life." He believed, "in America they can be blended to form the greatest genius of all."[ citation needed ] His message was popular throughout many Northern communities and especially well-received in the Midwest , while the American South was Anglophilic and supported a pro-British foreign policy. [80]
Holocaust researcher and investigative journalist Max Wallace , agrees with Franklin Roosevelt's assessment that Lindbergh was "pro-Nazi" in his book, The American Axis. However, Wallace finds the Roosevelt Administration's accusations of dual loyalty or treason as unsubstantiated. Wallace considers Lindbergh a well-intentioned but bigoted and misguided Nazi sympathizer whose career as the leader of the isolationist movement had a destructive impact on Jewish people.
Lindbergh's Pulitzer Prize -winning biographer, A. Scott Berg , contends Lindbergh was not so much a supporter of the Nazi regime as someone so stubborn in his convictions and relatively inexperienced in political maneuvering that he easily allowed rivals to portray him as one. Lindbergh's receipt of the German medal was approved without objection by the American embassy; the war had not yet begun in Europe. Indeed, the award did not cause controversy until the war began and Lindbergh returned to the United States in 1939 to spread his message of non-intervention. Berg contends Lindbergh's views were commonplace in the United States in the pre-World War II era. Lindbergh's support for the America First Committee was representative of the sentiments of a number of American people.
Yet Berg also notes that "As late as April 1939 – after Germany overtook Czechoslovakia – Lindbergh was willing to make excuses for Hitler. "Much as I disapprove of many things Hitler had done," he wrote in his diary of April 2, 1939: "I believe she (Germany) has pursued the only consistent policy in Europe in recent years. I cannot support her broken promises, but she has only moved a little faster than other nations... in breaking promises. The question of right and wrong is one thing by law and another thing by history." Berg also explains that leading up to the war, in Lindbergh's mind, the great battle would be between Russia and Germany, not fascism and democracy. In this war, he believed that a German victory was preferable because of Stalin's horrific acts, which, at the time, he believed were far worse than Hitler's.
Berg finds Lindbergh believed in a voluntary rather than compulsory eugenics program.[ citation needed ]
In Pat Buchanan 's book entitled A Republic, Not An Empire: Reclaiming America's Destiny, he portrays Lindbergh and other pre-war isolationists as American patriots who were smeared by interventionists during the months leading up to Pearl Harbor. Buchanan suggests the backlash against Lindbergh highlights "the explosiveness of mixing ethnic politics with foreign policy." [81] The views expressed in the book caused considerable controversy that eventually led to Buchanan's departure from the Republican Party .
Lindbergh always preached military strength and alertness. [82] [83] He believed that a strong defensive war machine, as well as his views about race, would make America an impenetrable fortress and defend the Western Hemisphere from an attack by foreign powers, and that this was the U.S. military's sole purpose. [84]
Many acknowledge Lindbergh helped keep American public opinion isolationist until 1941 by advancing the movement to keep America out of the war for as long as possible. At the same time, some praise Lindbergh for his prediction that an Iron Curtain descended upon Europe; many of the predictions which Lindbergh made about the war came before Hitler violated his non-aggression pact with Stalin and launched Operation Barbarossa . [85] Berg reveals that, while the attack on Pearl Harbor came as a shock to Lindbergh, he did predict that America's "wavering policy in the Philippines " would invite a bloody war there, and, in one speech, he warned that "we should either fortify these islands adequately, or get out of them entirely". Cole, Wallace and Buchanan all believe that Lindbergh was highly influential in ensuring that Hitler's war machine would advance toward the Eastern Front and inflict the most devastation there.
[ edit ] World War II
VMF-222 "Flying Deuces"
433rd Fighter Squadron "Satan's Angels"
After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor , Lindbergh proposed to reactivate his colonel's commission within the new United States Army Air Forces . When several of Roosevelt's cabinet secretaries registered objections,[ citation needed ] he was rejected by FDR's administration in December 1941. [86]
Unable to take on an active military role, Lindbergh approached a number of aviation companies, offering his services as a consultant. As a technical adviser with Ford in 1942, he was heavily involved in troubleshooting early problems encountered at the Willow Run B-24 Liberator bomber production line. As B-24 production smoothed out, he joined United Aircraft in 1943 as an engineering consultant, devoting most of his time to its Chance-Vought Division. The following year, he persuaded United Aircraft to designate him a technical representative in the Pacific War to study aircraft performances under combat conditions. He showed Marine F4U Corsair pilots how to take off with twice the bomb load that the fighter-bomber was rated for and on May 21, 1944, he flew his first combat mission: a strafing run with VMF-222 near the Japanese garrison of Rabaul , in the Australian Territory of New Guinea . [87]
In his six months in the Pacific in 1944, Lindbergh took part in fighter bomber raids on Japanese positions, flying about 50 combat missions (again as a civilian). His innovations in the use of P-38 Lightning fighters impressed a supportive Gen. Douglas MacArthur . [88] Lindbergh introduced engine-leaning techniques to P-38 pilots, greatly improving fuel usage at cruise speeds, enabling the long-range fighter aircraft to fly longer range missions. The U.S. Marine and Army Air Force pilots who served with Lindbergh praised his courage and defended his patriotism. [87]
On July 28, 1944, during a P-38 bomber escort mission with the 433rd Fighter Squadron, 475th Fighter Group, Fifth Air Force, in the Ceram area, Lindbergh shot down a Sonia observation plane piloted by Captain Saburo Shimada, Commanding Officer of the 73rd Independent Chutai. [87] [89]
After the war, while touring the Nazi death camps, Lindbergh wrote in his autobiography that he was disgusted and angered. [90]
[ edit ] Later life
After World War II, he lived in Darien, Connecticut and served as a consultant to the Chief of Staff of the U.S. Air Force and to Pan American World Airways . With most of Eastern Europe having fallen under Communist control, Lindbergh believed most of his pre-war assessments were correct all along. But Berg reports after witnessing the defeat of Germany and the Holocaust firsthand shortly after his service in the Pacific, "he knew the American public no longer gave a hoot about his opinions." His 1953 book The Spirit of St. Louis , recounting his nonstop transatlantic flight, won the Pulitzer Prize in 1954. Dwight D. Eisenhower restored Lindbergh's assignment with the U.S. Army Air Corps and made him a Brigadier General in 1954. In that year, he served on the Congressional advisory panel set up to establish the site of the United States Air Force Academy . In December 1968, he visited the crew of Apollo 8 on the eve of the first manned spaceflight to leave earth orbit. On July 16, 1969, Lindbergh and "Spirit of St. Louis" constructor, T. Claude Ryan were present at Cape Canaveral to watch the launch of Apollo 11 .
[ edit ] Children from other relationships
From 1957 until his death in 1974, Lindbergh had an affair with German hat maker Brigitte Hesshaimer who lived in a small Bavarian town called Geretsried (35 km south of Munich ). On November 23, 2003, DNA tests proved that he fathered her three children: Dyrk (1958), Astrid (1960) and David (1967). The two managed to keep the affair secret; even the children did not know the true identity of their father, whom they saw when he came to visit once or twice per year using the alias, "Careu Kent." Astrid later read a magazine article about Lindbergh and found snapshots and more than a hundred letters written from him to her mother. She disclosed the affair after both Brigitte and Anne Morrow Lindbergh had died. At the same time as Lindbergh was involved with Brigitte Hesshaimer, he also had a relationship with her sister, Marietta, who bore him two more sons – Vago and Christoph. Lindbergh had a house of his own design built for Marietta in a vineyard in Grimisuat in the Swiss canton Valais. [91]
A 2005 book by German author Rudolf Schroeck, Das Doppelleben des Charles A. Lindbergh (The Double Life of Charles A. Lindbergh), claims seven secret children existed in Germany. It says Lindbergh "came and went as he pleased" during the last 17 years of his life, spending between three to five days with his Munich family about four to five times each year. "Ten days before he died in August 1974, Lindbergh wrote three letters from his hospital bed to his three mistresses and requested 'utmost secrecy'," Schroeck writes, whose book includes a copy of that letter to Brigitte Hesshaimer.
Two of the seven children were from his relationship with the East Prussian aristocrat Valeska, who was Lindbergh's private secretary in Europe. They had a son in 1959 and a daughter in 1961. She had been friends with the Hesshaimer sisters and was the one who introduced them to Charles Lindbergh. In the beginning, they lived all together in his apartment in Rome . However, the friendship ended when Brigitte Hesshaimer became pregnant from him as well. Valeska lives in Baden-Baden and wants to keep her privacy, as mentioned in many German and International Reuter's newspaper articles, in Rudolf Schroek's book and a TV documentary by Danuta Harrich-Zandberg and Walter Harrich.
In April 2008, Reeve Lindbergh, his youngest daughter, published Forward From Here, a book of essays that includes her discovery in 2003, of the truth about her father's three secret European families and her journeys to meet them and understand an expanded meaning of family. [92]
[ edit ] Environmental causes
From the 1960s on, Lindbergh campaigned to protect endangered species like humpback and blue whales , was instrumental in establishing protections for the controversial [93] Filipino group, the Tasaday , and African tribes, and supporting the establishment of a national park. While studying the native flora and fauna of the Philippines, he became involved in an effort to protect the Philippine eagle . In his final years, Lindbergh stressed the need to regain the balance between the world and the natural environment, and spoke against the introduction of supersonic airliners.
Lindbergh's speeches and writings later in life emphasized his love of both technology and nature, and a lifelong belief that "all the achievements of mankind have value only to the extent that they preserve and improve the quality of life." In a 1967 Life magazine article, he said, "The human future depends on our ability to combine the knowledge of science with the wisdom of wildness."
In honor of Charles and his wife Anne Morrow Lindbergh's vision of achieving balance between the technological advancements they helped pioneer, and the preservation of the human and natural environments, the Lindbergh Award was established in 1978. Each year since 1978, the Lindbergh Foundation has given the award to recipients whose work has made a significant contribution toward the concept of "balance."
Lindbergh's final book, Autobiography of Values, based on an unfinished manuscript was published posthumously. While on his death bed, he had contacted his friend, William Jovanovich, head of Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, to edit the lengthy memoirs. [94]
[ edit ] Death
Charles Lindbergh's grave
Lindbergh spent his final years on the Hawaiian island of Maui , where he died of lymphoma [95] on August 26, 1974. He was buried on the grounds of the Palapala Ho'omau Church in Kipahulu , Maui . His epitaph on a simple stone which quotes Psalms 139:9, reads: "Charles A. Lindbergh Born Michigan 1902 Died Maui 1974". The inscription further reads: "...If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea... C.A.L."
Because of earthquake damage to Hawaii State Highway 31, Lindbergh's final resting place is currently accessible by land only via State Highway 360, the so-called Road to Hana .
[ edit ] Honors and tributes
The Spirit of St. Louis on display at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.
The Lindbergh Terminal at Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport was named after him, and a replica of The Spirit of St. Louis hangs there. Another such replica hangs in the great hall at the recently rebuilt Jefferson Memorial at Forest Park in St. Louis. The definitive oil painting of Charles Lindbergh by St. Louisan Richard Krause entitled "The Spirit Soars" has been displayed there. [96] San Diego's Lindbergh Field , which is also known as San Diego International Airport was named after him. The airport in Winslow, Arizona has also been renamed Winslow-Lindbergh Regional. Lindbergh himself designed the airport in 1929 when it was built as a refueling point for the first coast-to-coast air service. Among the many airports and air facilities that bear his name, the airport in Little Falls, Minnesota , where he grew up, has been named Little Falls/Morrison County-Lindbergh Field.
The original The Spirit of St. Louis currently resides in the National Air and Space Museum as part of the collection of the Smithsonian Institution.
Statue in honor of Lindbergh, Nungesser and Coli at Le Bourget airport .
In 1952, Grandview High School in St. Louis County was renamed Lindbergh High School . The school newspaper is the Pilot, the yearbook is the Spirit, and the students are known as the Flyers. The school district was also later named after Lindbergh. The stretch of US 67 that runs through most of the St. Louis metro area is called "Lindbergh Blvd." Lindbergh also has a star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame .
In Lindbergh's hometown of Little Falls, Minnesota, one of the district's elementary schools is named Charles Lindbergh Elementary. The district's sports teams are named the Flyers and Lindbergh Drive is a major road on the west side of town, leading to Charles A. Lindbergh State Park . The Lindberghs donated their farmstead to the state to be used as a park in memory of Lindbergh's father. [97] The original Lindbergh residence is maintained as a museum, the Charles A. Lindbergh Historic Site, and is listed as a National Historic Landmark . [98]
Lindbergh is a recipient of the Silver Buffalo Award , the highest adult award given by the Boy Scouts of America .
While Lindbergh was the first to make a solo nonstop transatlantic flight, his grandson, Erik Lindbergh , repeated this flight, 75 years later in 2002 in 17 hours, 17 minutes.
[ edit ] Awards and decorations
Lindbergh received many awards, medals and decorations, most of which were later donated to the Missouri Historical Society and are on display at the Jefferson Memorial, now part of the Missouri History Museum in Forest Park , St. Louis, Missouri:
The Congressional Gold Medal authorized by the Congress on May 4, 1928, and presented on August 15, 1930 to Col. C.A. Lindbergh by President Calvin Coolidge at The White House, Washington, DC.
United States Awards
ICAO Edward Warner Award ( International Civil Aviation Organization - ICAO , 1975)
[ edit ] Medal of Honor
Rank and organization: Captain, U.S. Army Air Corps Reserve. Place and date: From New York City to Paris, France, May 20–21, 1927. Entered service at: Little Falls, Minn. Born: February 4, 1902, Detroit, Mich. G.O. No.: 5, W.D., 1928; Act of Congress December 14, 1927.
Citation: For displaying heroic courage and skill as a navigator, at the risk of his life, by his nonstop flight in his airplane, the "Spirit of St. Louis," from New York City to Paris, France, 20-21 May 1927, by which Capt. Lindbergh not only achieved the greatest individual triumph of any American citizen but demonstrated that travel across the ocean by aircraft was possible. [100]
Note: Until World War II, the Medal of Honor was also authorized to be awarded for extraordinarily heroic actions by active or reserve service members made during peacetime as well as in combat.
[ edit ] Legacy
The controversy surrounding his involvement in politics (and to a lesser extent, his personal life) sometimes overshadows the fact that he was an important pioneer in aviation from the 1920s to the 1950s. His 1927 flight made him the first international celebrity in the age of mass media. One U.S. Air Force general remembers Lindbergh's critical view of his own legacy. In the late 1940s, Lindbergh visited U.S. Air Force bases to evaluate American air power (of which he was a staunch supporter) in relation to the emerging Cold War . During this trip, he remarked "I think my flight to Paris came too soon for the civilizations of the world. They were suddenly thrown together by air travel and they weren't quite ready for it." [101]
[ edit ] Popular culture
A wall-mounted quote by Charles Augustus Lindbergh in The American Adventure in the World Showcase pavilion of Walt Disney World 's Epcot .
Lindbergh's life has spurred the imaginations of many writers and others; the following list provides a summary of notable popular cultural references:
[ edit ] Books
"WE" (Putnam's First Edition) July 1927
Charles Lindbergh wrote two best selling books about the Spirit of St. Louis and his flight from New York to Paris. The first of these, "WE", was published by G.P. Putnam's Sons [104] in July 1927 — a little more than two months after the historic flight — as both an "instant" autobiography of the suddenly world famous young aviator, and to provide his detailed first person account of the Ryan monoplane's conception, design, construction and transatlantic flight from New York to Paris. (Originally ghostwritten by New York Times reporter Carlyle MacDonald, Lindbergh was so dissatisfied with the manuscript's "fawning tone" that he completely rewrote it himself in a period of three weeks in late June and early July 1927. [105] ) The book's simple one word "flying pronoun" title refers to Lindbergh's view of a deep "spiritual" partnership that had developed "between himself and his airplane during the dark hours of his flight." [106] Twenty-six years after writing "WE", Lindbergh penned a second, far more detailed account of the project. Published in 1953 and entitled The Spirit of St. Louis , the book won the 1954 Pulitzer Prize for non-fiction (autobiography).
In addition to aviation, Lindbergh also wrote prolifically over the years on other topics of interest to him including science, technology, nationalism, war, materialism, and values. Included among those writings were five other books: The Culture of Organs (with Dr. Alexis Carrel ) (1938), Of Flight and Life (1948), The Wartime Journals of Charles A. Lindbergh (1970), Boyhood on the Upper Mississippi (1972), and his final book, Autobiography Of Values, which was published posthumously in 1978. [107]
The first of 20 Ted Scott Flying Stories (1927)
Lindbergh also influenced or was the model for characters in a variety of works of fiction. Shortly after he made his famous flight, the Stratemeyer Syndicate began publishing a series of books for juvenile readers called the Ted Scott Flying Stories (1927–1943) which were written by a number of authors all using the nom de plume of " Franklin W. Dixon " in which the pilot hero was closely modeled after Lindbergh. (Ted Scott duplicated the solo flight to Paris in the series' first volume entitled Over the Ocean to Paris published in 1927.) Another fictional literary reference to Lindbergh appears in the Agatha Christie book (1934) and movie Murder on the Orient Express (1974) which begins with a fictionalized depiction of the Lindbergh baby kidnapping .
In Eric Norden's alternate history novel The Ultimate Solution (1973), Norden speculates that Lindbergh would have been president of a Nazi-occupied American puppet state. The Philip Roth novel The Plot Against America (2004) is a speculative fiction novel which explores an alternate history where Franklin Delano Roosevelt is defeated in the 1940 presidential election by Charles Lindbergh, who allies the United States with Nazi Germany.
[ edit ] Film
Verdensberømtheder i København (1939) [108] was a Danish short subject produced by the Dansk Film Co. [109] in which Charles Lindbergh as well as Hollywood actors Robert Taylor , Myrna Loy , and Edward G. Robinson all appeared as themselves. The 1938 Paramount film Men with Wings ( Fred MacMurray , Ray Milland ) featured a replica of the Spirit of St. Louis fashioned from a Ryan B-1 "Brougham" [110] similar to one presented to Lindbergh by the manufacturer, the Mahoney Aircraft Corporation, shortly after the Spirit was retired in April 1928. [111] The 1942 MGM picture Keeper of the Flame ( Katharine Hepburn , Spencer Tracy ) features Hepburn as the widow of Robert V. Forrest, a "Lindbergh-like" national hero [112] , who was exposed after his death as a secret fascist intending to use his influence, especially over America's youth, to turn the country into a fascist state and eliminate inferior races.
Four years after its 1953 publication, Lindbergh's second book about his flying "partner" served as the basis for the namesake major Hollywood Cinemascope motion picture The Spirit of St. Louis directed by Billy Wilder and released on April 20, 1957, one month short of the 30th anniversary of the flight to Paris. The Spirit was "portrayed" in the film by three flyable replicas of the Ryan NYP, while Lindbergh was played [113] by veteran American actor and fellow former Army aviator [114] James Stewart .
Lindbergh has also been the subject of numerous screen, television, and other documentary films over the years including Charles A. Lindbergh (1927), a UK documentary by De Forest Phonofilm based on Lindbergh's milestone flight, 40,000 Miles with Lindbergh (1928) featuring Charles A. Lindbergh, and The American Experience – Lindbergh: The Shocking, Turbulent Life of America's Lone Eagle (1988) PBS documentary directed by Stephen Ives.
[ edit ] Postage stamps
Scott C-10 and #1710 with May 20, 1977 First Day of Issue CDS
Charles Lindbergh and the Spirit have been honored by a variety of world postage stamps over the last eight decades including two issued by the United States. Less than three weeks after the flight the U.S. Post Office Department issued a 10-cent "Lindbergh Air Mail" stamp (Scott C-10) on June 11, 1927 with engraved illustrations of both the Spirit of St. Louis and a map of its route from New York to Paris. (This was also the first U.S. stamp to bear the name of a living person.) A half-century later, a 13-Cent commemorative stamp (Scott #1710) depicting the Spirit flying low over the Atlantic Ocean was issued on May 20, 1977, the 50th anniversary of the flight from Roosevelt Field .
[ edit ] Bibliography
Berg, A. Scott. Lindbergh. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1998. ISBN 0-399-14449-8 .
Charles, Douglas M. "Informing FDR: FBI Political Surveillance and the Isolationist-Interventionist Foreign Policy Debate, 1939-1945," Diplomatic History, Vol. 24, Issue 2, Spring 2000.
Cassagneres, Ev. The Untold Story of the Spirit of St. Louis: From the Drawing Board to the Smithsonian. New Brighton, Minnesota: Flying Book International, 2002. ISBN 0-911139-32-X .
Cole, Wayne S. Charles A. Lindbergh and the Battle Against American Intervention in World War II. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1974. ISBN 0-15-118168-3 .
Collier, Peter and David Horowitz. The Fords, An American Epic. New York: Summit Books, 1987. ISBN 1-89355-432-5 .
Costigliola, Frank. Awkward Dominion: American Political, Economic, and Cultural Relations With Europe, 1919-1933. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, First edition 1984. ISBN 0-80141-679-5 .
Davis, Kenneth S. The Hero Charles A. Lindbergh: The Man and the Legend. London: Longmans, Green and Co. Ltd., 1959.
Friedman, David M. The Immortalists. New York: Ecco, 2007. ISBN 0-06052-815-X .
Gill, Brendan. Lindbergh Alone. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1977. ISBN 0-15-152401-7 .
Larson, Bruce L. Lindbergh of Minnesota: A Political Biography. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc., 1973. ISBN 0-15-152400-9 .
Lindbergh, Charles A. Charles A. Lindbergh: Autobiography of Values. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1977. ISBN 0-15-110202-3 .
Lindbergh, Charles A. Spirit of St. Louis. New York: Scribners, 1953.
Lindbergh, Charles A. "WE" (with an appendix entitled "A Little of what the World thought of Lindbergh" by Fitzhugh Green, pp. 233–318). New York & London: G.P. Putnam's Sons (The Knickerbocker Press), July 1927.
Mersky, Peter B. U.S. Marine Corps Aviation - 1912 to the Present. Annapolis, Maryland: Nautical and Aviation Publishing Company of America, 1983. ISBN 0-933852-39-8 .
Milton, Joyce. Loss of Eden: A Biography of Charles and Anne Morrow Lindbergh. New York: Harper Collins, 1993. ISBN 0-06-016503-0 .
Mosley, Leonard. Lindbergh: A Biography. New York: Doubleday and Company, 1976. ISBN 0-395-09578-3 .
Schroeck, Rudolph. Das Doppelleben des Charles A. Lindbergh (The Double Life of Charles A. Lindbergh). München, Germany/ New York: Heyne Verlag/Random House, 2005. ISBN 3-453-12010-8 .
Smith, Larry and Eddie Adams. Beyond Glory: Medal of Honor Heroes in Their Own Words. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 2003. ISBN 0-39305-134-X .
Winters, Kathleen. Anne Morrow Lindbergh: First Lady of the Air. Basingstoke, Hampshire, UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006. ISBN 1-403-96932-9 .
Wallace, Max. The American Axis: Henry Ford, Charles Lindbergh, and the Rise of the Third Reich. New York: Macmillan, 2005. ISBN 978-031233531-1 .
Wohl, Robert. The Spectacle of Flight: Aviation and the Western Imagination, 1920–1950. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press, 2005. ISBN 0-30010-692-0 .
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What does the body secrete from the lacrimal glands? | Lacrimal gland: MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia Image
URL of this page: //medlineplus.gov/ency/imagepages/19671.htm
Lacrimal gland
Overview
The lacrimal gland lies within the orbit on the outer portion of the upper eye. The gland continually secretes tears which moisten, lubricate, and protect the surface of the eye. Excess tears drain into small ducts which empty into the nasal cavity.
Review Date 10/22/2011
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| Tears |
Notorious bank robbing duo Bonnie and Clyde were eventually ambushed by law enforcement agents in what U.S. state? | ARTICLES | Physiology
Physiology
The Lacrimal Gland and Its Veil of Tears
Benjamin Walcott
Physiology Published 1 April 1998 Vol. 13 no. 2, 97-103 DOI:
Benjamin Walcott
PDF
Abstract
The secretory cells of the lacrimal gland produce a highly complex product of water, ions and proteins. At least five neurotransmitter receptors and three different second message systems are involved in controlling the different secretory processes of this highly sophisticated secretory epithelium.
The tear film that covers the anterior surface of the mammalian eye has a variety of constituents that are essential for the maintenance of the avascular transparent corneal epithelium. This film keeps the cornea wet, thus allowing gas exchange between the air and the epithelium. It cleans debris from the transparent surface, providing a clear optical path to the retina, and protects the ocular surface from invasion by bacteria and viruses. The tear film also provides essential metabolites such as retinol, which serves to preserve the transparent nature of the epithelium.
The tear film is structurally complex with three distinct layers: a surface lipid layer (0.1–0.2 μm thick), a middle aqueous layer (7–8 μm thick), and an inner mucus layer (30 μm thick). The mucus layer is associated with the microvilli of the corneal epithelial cells and becomes less dense toward the aqueous layer where the boundary is indistinct. In mammals, the mucus layer is produced by goblet cells in the cornea and conjunctiva, the aqueous layer by the lacrimal glands and other accessory glands, and the surface lipid layer by the meibomian glands and, in the case of many nonprimates, by the harderian glands as well.
The most studied of these sources of the tear film are the lacrimal glands, which are the largest of these organs in mammals and are easily accessible. In rodents, for example, the extraorbital lacrimal gland is found under the skin on the lateral side of the face near the ear. In the rabbit, the gland is located within the orbit but is relatively easy to remove and is larger in size. Most physiological studies have used glands from either the mouse, rat, or rabbit to examine the control and mechanisms of secretion by this epithelium. This work is important in part because dysfunction of the lacrimal gland can lead to dry eye, which is a painful and potentially blinding condition. The lacrimal gland epithelium also is an elegant secretory tissue of multiple functions with complex control systems that can serve as a model for other secretory epithelia.
The nature of tear fluid
The fluid secreted by the lacrimal glands is a complex solution of ions and proteins produced by two resident secretory cell populations: the plasma cells of the immune system and the acinar and duct cells of the secretory epithelium of the gland. The plasma cells are found in the interstitial spaces of the gland and migrate into it from lymphoid organs such as the gut-associated lymphoid tissue (GALT). These plasma cells secrete immunoglobin A (IgA) which is important in protecting the ocular surface from infection. The acinar cells of the secretory epithelium have three main functions: to synthesize and secrete a number of tear-specific proteins, to secrete water, and to transport the IgA secreted by the plasma cells from the interstitial compartment into the lumen of the gland.
The lacrimal gland-specific proteins found at highest concentrations in the tears are lactoferrin, tear-specific prealbumin (TSP or lipocalin), and lysozyme ( 7 ). Other proteins occurring at lower concentrations are amylase, peroxidase, plasminogen activator, prolactin, epidermal growth factor (EGF), transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β), endothelin-1, and retinol. Lactoferrin, TSP, peroxidase, and lysozyme as well as IgA function to protect the cornea from viral and bacterial infections. This is important because the cornea is a wet, warm surface and thus is an ideal pathway for pathogens to invade the body and to affect the cornea. Retinol, which is derived from vitamin A, is necessary for the health of the cornea. The growth factors, TGF, EGF, and endothelin-1, are thought to be involved in the wound healing process in response to corneal abrasion or ulceration. The osmolarity of the lacrimal fluid is about 300 mosM and contains Na+ (128.7 mM), K+ (17 mM), Cl– (141.3 mM), and bicarbonate (HCO3–; 12.4 mM) ( 12 ). This fluid has about the same osmolarity as plasma but has lower Na+ (140 mM plasma) and higher K+ (4 mM plasma) and much higher Cl– (100 mM plasma). As is discussed later, the higher K+ and Cl– are a reflection of the way in which water is moved across the epithelium and into the gland lumen.
Anatomy
The lacrimal glands consist of a tubular secretory epithelium organized into lobes that drain into ducts; these ducts anastomose into larger ducts that finally drain onto the ocular surface. Associated with the secretory tubules are myoepithelial cells (which are thought to “squeeze” the secretory products down the tubules), fibroblasts (which produce the collagen and matrix that fill the interstitial regions), and occasional mast cells (which secrete histamine and heparin). In addition, there are B cells and T cells of the immune system as well as plasma cells normally scattered throughout the interstitium of the gland. As with most secretory epithelia, the cells of the secretory tubules (the acinar cells) are columnar with basally located nuclei and a large perinuclear Golgi apparatus. The duct cells are similarly organized, although they are more cuboidal in shape. The apical portion of the acinar and duct cells is filled with vesicles, which, in most cells, are not dense and therefore give the cell a “frothy” appearance in the light microscope. The base of the cells has an associated basement membrane, which is important in the polarization and function of the cell. The cells have a large junctional complex near the luminal pole that serves to mechanically attach the cells to each other and to couple them electrically and chemically. There are extensive gap junctions in this region, which consist of the connexins 26 and 32. Gap junctions can also be found outside of the junctional complex in some species such as the mouse. The high density of junctions in this gland suggests that acinar cells could be coupled both within and between secretory tubules.
The glands are innervated by both the sympathetic and parasympathetic divisions of the autonomic nervous system ( 8 ). The detailed pattern and nature of the innervation vary considerably among different species, but all have extensive numbers of cholinergic fibers, many of which also contain the neuropeptide vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP), and fewer adrenergic fibers. The rat extraorbital lacrimal gland, for example, has a moderate density of large non- varicose fibers, whereas the same gland in the mouse has a very dense pattern of small, highly varicose fibers. Birds have large numbers of adrenergic neurons and also substance P-containing neurons ( 14 ). In the rabbit and rat, fibers that are positive for the enkephalins, specifically Leu and Met enkephalin, also exist. Other neuropeptides have been reported in various lacrimal glands as well; for example, in the monkey, neuropeptide Y and calcitonin gene-related peptide are present. The innervation therefore is highly complex and is species specific in detail.
The nerves that innervate the lacrimal glands come from autonomic ganglia. The parasympathetic postganglionic neural cell bodies are found in the pterygopalatine (sphenopalatine) ganglion as well as the ciliary ganglion. Sympathetic fibers originate in the superior cervical ganglion, and there is some innervation, probably sensory, from the trigeminal ganglion ( 13 ). The pathways from these ganglia to the gland vary significantly from species to species.
Protein secretion
As described earlier, a number of proteins are synthesized and secreted by the lacrimal gland acinar cells. The secretion of these proteins is stimulated by the neurotransmitters and neuropeptides found in the neurons that innervate the gland. The acinar cells, therefore, have receptors for acetylcholine (muscarinic M3) ( 9 ), VIP (types I and II), and norepinephrine (α1 and β) and presumably, in some cases, have receptors for peptides of the proenkephalin family as well as other peptides such as neuropeptide Y, adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), and α-melanocyte-stimulating hormone (α-MSH). Immunocytochemical localization of M3 muscarinic acetylcholine receptors and of both VIP receptors shows that not all acinar cells possess these receptors. However, because the acinar cells are extensively coupled by gap junctions, second messengers produced by activation of those receptors, such as Ca2+ and inositol trisphosphate (IP3), could easily diffuse from stimulated cells to adjacent nonstimulated ones, causing them to become activated. As far as is known, all the membrane receptors are coupled to G proteins that in turn regulate the activity of the several second messenger systems found in many cells (Fig.1 ⇓ ).
The muscarinic acetylcholine receptors are linked to G proteins (Gs and Gq/11), which are coupled to phospholipase C, resulting, on activation, in increased production of IP3 and diacylglycerol (DAG) ( 4 ). IP3 induces the release of intracellular stores of Ca2+ and also is believed to open membrane Ca2+ channels. These ion channels are few in number and are small so that their detection by patch-clamp methods is difficult. The effect of these actions is to increase the intracellular Ca2+ levels transiently as shown by experiments using the Ca2+-sensitive dye fura 2. DAG activates several protein kinase C (PKC) isozymes, specifically α, ϵ, and δ, which will further stimulate secretion. VIP receptors are coupled to G proteins that activate adenylate cyclase. The activation of the adenylate cyclase increases adenosine 3′,5′-cyclic monophosphate (cAMP) levels, which in turn activates protein kinase A, which causes the phosphorylation of proteins that stimulate protein secretion ( 5 ). In addition, VIP causes an increase in intracellular Ca2+, presumably by means of second message systems that open Ca2+ channels in the plasma membrane. The increase in intracellular Ca2+ from both acetylcholine and VIP stimulation will increase the open time and thus the total conductance of the Ca2+-dependent K+ and Cl– channels, which are important in the secretion of water.
α-Adrenergic agonists stimulate protein secretion by activating PKC but not through the intermediary action of IP3, Ca2+, or cAMP. The enkephalins have an inhibitory effect on protein secretion induced by either VIP or acetylcholine. These receptors are coupled to Gi proteins that inhibit the stimulatory activity of other G proteins on the adenylate cyclase and phospholipase C systems.
Most of the preceding data are from studies that determined the secretion of either total protein or a specific protein such as peroxidase from gland fragments from a variety of different animals. Given the species variation in the nature of the innervation, perhaps not all of the mechanisms described occur in all animals. However, it is clear that all species seem to have both acetylcholine and VIP present and have receptors for both. An additional generalization is that in the lacrimal glands, for example, in rabbits, where there are adrenergic nerve fibers, activation of both sympathetic and parasympathetic neurons induces an increase in protein secretion. An issue then is the reason for such a complex innervation pattern with so many neurotransmitters and receptors if their sole function is to increase total protein secretion. A possible clue is seen in the rat secretion data, in which the ratio of a specific protein (peroxidase) to the total protein is different if stimulation is with carbachol (a muscarinic cholinergic agonist) or propranolol (a β-adrenergic agonist) ( 3 ). The possibility exists, then, that acinar cells have segregated secretory pathways for certain secreted proteins and neurotransmitters have different stimulatory effects on these secretory pathways. It is also possible that different populations of cells in the same gland have different secretory products whose secretion can be differentially controlled, resulting in a different secretory product. This latter possibility is less likely because of the high degree of coupling of acinar cells by gap junctions and the ease with which second messenger molecules could diffuse from one cell to another.
The secretion of proteins by the acinar cells involves vesicle fusion with the apical membrane and depends on membrane movement from intracellular structures such as the Golgi apparatus. To conserve membrane, there is an endocytotic process of internalization and intracellular processing of apical membrane, as seen in most secretory cells. In addition in the lacrimal gland acinar cells, there is endocytotic movement of membrane from the basolateral surface into the cell where it is processed. Whereas some of this basolateral membrane is used for apical secretion, particularly of the sIgA complex, a significant amount is cycled back to the basolateral surface after intracellular processing. This basolateral membrane traffic may have several important functions. It can be an important route by which certain molecules such as prolactin enter the acinar cells and exert their regulatory effect. In addition, stimulated acinar cells can express major histocompatability complex II molecules, a characteristic of antigen-presenting cells of the immune system. The basolateral membrane recycling, therefore, could be involved in antigen presentation as well as secretion of autoantigens ( 11 ). Understanding this process is important for Sjögren’s syndrome, for example, a dry eye disease in which an autoimmune response occurs involving lymphocytic infiltration of the lacrimal gland that results in destruction of some acinar tissue with loss of function.
Transport of IgA
Another major function of the lacrimal gland acinar cells is to move dimeric IgA from the interstitial fluid into the tear ducts and thus onto the ocular surface. IgA is produced by plasma cells resident in the lacrimal gland. There is a constant traffic of these plasma cells into the gland, as antibodies can be evoked by antigens either placed on the ocular surface or introduced into the animal through other means such as the gut. It is thought that most plasma cells arise in the GALT and then migrate to peripheral lymphoid organs such as the lacrimal glands. Most circulating B cells that are destined to become plasma cells are specific for IgG with a minority being IgA. Therefore, there must be selective retention of the IgA cells within the lacrimal gland, although the precise mechanism is not known.
The IgA produced by the resident plasma cells is secreted as a dimer, with the pair of antibody molecules linked by a protein called “J chain” that is also synthesized by the plasma cell. The complex is referred to as sIgA. For the sIgA to reach the glandular lumen, it must be transported through the acinar cells. To do this, the acinar cells produce a glycoprotein known as secretory component (SC) that functions as a “sacrificial receptor.” SC is found on the basolateral membranes of the acinar cells as well as in the membranes of the Golgi apparatus, secretory vesicles, and the rough endoplasmic reticulum. The sIgA complex has a high affinity for the SC and binds to it on the basolateral surface of the acinar cells. By the process of endocytosis, the SC-sIgA complex is internalized in vesicles and transported across the acinar cell to the apical surface. There, the vesicles fuse with the apical membranes of the acinar cells and the SC is cleaved into two parts, one of which is retained in the membrane and the other that remains attached to the now free sIgA complex.
The majority of the IgA found in tears, therefore, consists of a dimer linked by J chain that has attached to it the soluble portion of the SC. This transport of sIgA is regulated by a variety of factors that affect the levels of SC synthesis in the acinar cells. Androgens, such as testosterone, increase the levels of the SC and thus the rate of transport ( 6 ). Understanding the role that androgens have in the normal functioning of the secretory acinar cells is important because over 90% of patients with Sjögren’s syndrome, a dry eye disease, are female. In addition to androgens, VIP induces a dose-dependent increase in SC production as do various lymphokines such as interleukin-1α and tumor necrosis factor-α. Isoproterenol (a β-adrenergic agonist) stimulates SC production but only in the presence of the hormone dihydrotestosterone. However, carbachol, an acetylcholine agonist, actually decreases SC synthesis, possibly by interfering with the production of cAMP. This reduction in SC due to carbachol is odd because acetylcholine is known to stimulate both protein and water secretion by these cells. Such an observation, however, does raise the interesting issue of different secretory pathways and their control and suggests that the complex innervation and second messenger pathways that exist in this gland could differentially regulate protein synthesis/secretion, water transport, and sIgA transport.
Whereas sIgA is the dominant immunoglobulin in mammalian tears, smaller amounts of IgG and IgM are also produced by plasma cells in the gland. In birds, the major lacrimal gland, the harderian gland, has a very large population of plasma cells that secrete IgG and few that secrete IgA. IgG is not actively transported across the epithelium as is sIgA in mammals but rather diffuses between the epithelial cells. It seems likely that, in birds, large numbers of plasma cells are required to produce a significant concentration gradient across the epithelium so that diffusion of significant amounts of IgG can occur. In this gland, the plasma cells have cholinergic neurons among them and have muscarinic acetylcholine receptors on their surface ( 2 ). Activation of these receptors with carbachol increases intracellular Ca2+, which increases the rate of secretion of IgG above the basal level. Thus, in birds, there is neural modulation of the production of immunoglobulins, whereas, in mammals, there is modulation of the transport across the epithelium, but both systems serve to regulate the concentration of immunoglobulins in the tear fluid.
Secretion of water
One of the major secretory “products” of the lacrimal gland is water. This water is moved from the interstitial spaces of the gland into the lumen of the gland where it is mixed with the other secretory products. This water movement is accomplished by osmosis, which depends on the movement of particles (ions) from the acinar cells into the lumen (Fig. 2 ⇓ ). Therefore, most studies have examined the process of water movement indirectly by characterizing the membrane channels through which ions move in and out of the acinar cells. Similar to the salivary gland, the lacrimal gland has a distinction between the acinar cells that produce the bulk of the fluid and protein and the duct cells that modify the ionic composition of the fluid by retaining Na+. However, most physiological studies are not able to differentiate between these two cell types and most consider that these mechanisms take place in all the cells (Fig. 2 ⇓ ).
The acinar cell surface membrane is differentiated into basolateral and apical domain, which are separated by the junctional complex (Fig. 3 ⇓ ). The apical domain is thought to contain water channels (aquaporin 5), which facilitate the movement of water across the epithelium. In addition, Cl– and K+ channels are present to allow the movement of solute across the epithelium. The basolateral membranes contain large numbers of Na+ pumps, the Na+-K+-ATPase, which actively move K+ into the cell and Na+ out of the cell, maintaining the usual gradients that are seen in all cells. It is this gradient (more Na+ outside and K+ inside) that provides the motive force for the movement of ions and water across the epithelium. In addition, there are several coupled transport systems (porters) driven by the concentration gradients created by the Na+ pump and by the activity of carbonic anhydrase. One cotransport system mediates the inward movement of Na+ coupled to the outward flux of H+, and a second system affects the outward movement of bicarbonate ion (HCO3–) as Cl– moves in ( 10 ). HCO3– are produced by carbonic anhydrase in the cells and serve to buffer the lacrimal gland cells and fluid.
The basolateral membranes also have ion channels, specifically for K+, Cl–, and Ca2+ as well as more general cation and anion channels. The Ca2+ channels are involved generally in the process of excitation/secretion coupling and, by affecting the permeability of other ion channels, indirectly regulate the movement of water. Because the number of Ca2+ ions that move is small and there are few channels, they have little direct effect on water movement themselves. The apical membrane of the cell, however, is believed to be rich in Cl– channels, which are Ca2+ sensitive. On activation of the cell, the raised intracellular Ca2+ will open the Cl– channels and that will allow an outward movement of Cl– into the lumen. Na+ will follow across the epithelium through the junctional complexes as well as through the cation channels in the acinar cells. This movement of ions into the lumen will osmotically drive the movement of water through the aquaporin channels into the lumen to maintain the osmotic balance.
The movement of Cl– out of the apical membrane is dependent on the ion gradient of the Cl– across the cell membrane and on the relation of the membrane potential of the cell to the Cl– equilibrium potential. As long as the membrane potential is below the Cl– equilibrium potential, Cl– will move out of the cell into the lumen and so will water. As the cell becomes depolarized, less Cl– will move and thus less water. If the membrane potential becomes equal to or depolarized above the Cl– equilibrium potential, then there will be no net outward Cl– or water movement. Because the movement of Cl– out of the cell will depolarize the membrane potential, the outward movement of K+ in the basolateral surface and apical domains is necessary to effectively provide a hyperpolarizing force and thus to maintain the membrane potential below the Cl– equilibrium potential. The permeability of both Cl– and K+ channels therefore regulates, and solute concentration gradient is the motive force for the movement of water across the epithelium. Because this movement results in both an efflux of K+ and an influx of Na+, the Na+-K+ pump must be present in high concentrations and must be active to counteract these fluxes and maintain a relatively constant gradient. Consistent with this is the observation that the stimulation of acinar cells with carbachol (an acetylcholine agonist) will move the Na+-K+ pumps from the Golgi membranes to the basolateral membranes of the cell, thereby increasing the effective movement of K+ in and Na+ out of the cells ( 15 ).
This link between ion channels and their permeability and the movement of water may form the underlying cause of certain disease states in which lacrimal gland secretion of fluid is greatly reduced, resulting in dry eyes. Patients with Sjögren’s syndrome have dry eyes and mouth, and their lacrimal and salivary glands are heavily infiltrated with lymphocytes that have destroyed significant areas of secretory tissue. However, there are still areas of intact secretory acini that appear to be unable to secrete fluid. A possible explanation for this failure to transport water is suggested by measurements of membrane channels and the membrane potential in a mouse model of this disease, the NZB/NZW F1 female mouse. Cells from young, nondiseased animals have large numbers of active maxi-K+ channels and have membrane potentials on the order of –40 mV. Recordings from the acinar cells of older diseased animals, however, do not show active maxi-K+ channels and the membrane potential is only –5 to –10 mV, above the normal Cl– equilibrium potential. Thus these cells do not have a significant outward movement of Cl– on activation and therefore secrete little water, resulting in the dry eye condition ( 1 ).
In summary, the lacrimal gland secretory epithelium synthesizes and secretes a number of specific proteins essential for the health of the cornea. In addition, it transports immunoglobulins and water, which also are essential elements of the tear film. There are at least four neurotransmitter/neuropeptide receptors associated with the acinar cells that affect a number of different second message systems that, in turn, regulate the various secretory/transport processes.
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What was the name of the Dutch cargo fluyt that carried the Pilgrims from Plymouth England to Plymouth, Mass? | Moving Across the Atlantic on the Mayflower | U-Pack
Moving Across the Atlantic on the Mayflower
Moving Across the Atlantic on the Mayflower
Written By Becky Harris on Thursday, January 31 2013
Author: Becky Harris
When you open up your history books, the information and facts found on the pages will take you back in time to places, events and into the lives of important people that existed a long time ago. One of these factual occurrences that make up American History is the Voyage of the Mayflower, a navy ship carrying the first group of people to a new colony in the United States. The people sailed from England to Massachusetts, not on a luxury cruise liner, but a wooden ship with masts. The vessel was called the Mayflower and it is an important part of American History.
Early History
Even though the Mayflower is best known for its voyage across the Atlantic Ocean carrying the pilgrims to America, it wasn't always a passenger ship. It was originally intended for use as a cargo ship. It carried wine, supplies and goods from France to England. History shows that the Mayflower ship was at least 12 years old before it brought the passengers to Plymouth. Even though the cargo ship weighed 180 tons, it was narrow enough to fit through coves and dock in small harbors. When built, it had a length of 90-110 feet and a width of 25 feet. As you can imagine, since the vessel had 3 large masts, it was the wind that made it possible to move across the waters delivering the goods and supplies. The design of this cargo ship was actually a Fluyt, its style being created and crafted by the Dutch in the 1600's. So in reality, the Mayflower was a Dutch Cargo Fluyt.
The Voyage
The Mayflower became a passenger water vessel in 1620. The ship carried 102 Englanders or Pilgrims from South Hampton, England to a new colony in the USA. Another ship that was supposed to accompany the Mayflower on this voyage was the Speedwell, but at the time, the extra ship was not in good enough shape to make the trip alongside the Mayflower.
Life onboard the Mayflower for 66 days proved to be rough, rugged and strained. The ship's captain at this time was Christopher Jones. Meals on board were not very nutritious; the food consisted of salted fish and beef, cheese and hard tack. There was also a total lack of privacy, with people living in cramped quarters.
Along with the captain and the 102 passengers, aboard the vessel were crew members. The crew added about 25-30 extra people living in cramped quarters. Passengers onboard were assigned tiny cabins, and those with families built or constructed temporary walls or dividers that provided a little privacy within their quarters.
The ship had 3 decks; one for the passengers, one for the cargo and the upper deck. Within these decks were areas such as the steerage room, the crew's cabin, and the captain's room, which was at one end of the upper deck.
After arriving in Plymouth on December 26, 1620 and anchoring for a few months, the Mayflower set sail in April of 1621 to return to England. Its delayed return was the result of the ship being in a dilapidated state. Repairs were greatly needed because of the wear and tear and the age of the vessel after completing the famous voyage.
The Passengers
The passengers on the Mayflower voyage to America consisted of men, women and children. They were both Puritans and Pilgrims. Also aboard were folks with no religious affiliations, such as tradesmen, craftsmen, laborers, orphans and indentured servants, or those who worked without pay. There were 30 children aboard, 19 boys and 11 girls.
Even though the 102 passengers were sailing together and going to the same destination with one purpose in mind - arriving and building a new life in a new land - they were separated into two groups of people, calling themselves the saints and the strangers. Their religious beliefs divided them; this made the voyage even more troublesome as they had difficulty getting along.
When the passengers boarded the Mayflower, they not only brought along their personal belongings, they also brought with them their livestock such as goats and sheep. Other families bought their pets. To amuse themselves and to help pass the time at sea, they entertained themselves by playing board games. Most of the time was spent below deck, especially during storms. They did a lot of praying and singing during the week. However, on Sunday, they spent the entire day in service below deck, where it was cold, dark and damp.
Despite the many hardships the passengers faced, only two people died. One child was born aboard the Mayflower before making it to the new world.
Late History
When the pilgrims left England for the new world, their goal was to arrive in Virginia. However, during this famous voyage, the ship got off course and they became lost at sea. While searching for land, the first area they came upon was Plymouth Rock. This is how they happened to settle in the new colony; ruling and governing themselves in their new society.
After arriving, they were not quick to move on shore, they did so little by little; spending most of their time still living aboard the Mayflower while they built their new society on shore. Their first winter after their arrival found most of the passengers dying as the newcomers fell ill with disease before experiencing life on shore.
The first outsider to join the colony was a Native American man by the name of Squanto, who became the mediator between the local Indians and the Plymouth leaders. After the arrival of the Mayflower to Plymouth, three more ships made their voyage to the colony. These ships were the Fortune in 1621, and the Anne and Little James in 1623. The passengers on all four ships, including the Mayflower became known as the "Old Comers" of Plymouth Colony.
The Mayflower II
The orginial Mayflower ship is long gone, not in existence or operation any longer. As a matter of fact, history tells us that there are no remnants of this famous ship to be found. However, a duplicate vessel was constructed in memory of the Mayflower and its voyage. The Mayflower II was built between 1955 and 1957 in Devon, England at the Upham Shipyard. Even though the Mayflower II is said to be a replica of the original, there are some major differences. The original Mayflower had 3 masts when sailing, but the replica ship has 4. In the original Mayflower, when the crew and passengers went to the different levels of the ship, they climbed wooden make-shift ladders. However, the Mayflower II was created with a modern winding staircase and ramps for easy accessibility of visitors. In 1957, the replica ship sailed from England to America and docked in Plymouth, Massachusetts. That is where the ship resides today.
For more interesting information and facts on this topic, please see the following links.
Journey of the New Mayflower (media) The information displayed on this page is in media form. It takes you on the Mayflower journey across the Atlantic Ocean. It is both entertaining and educational.
The Mayflower at Sea in 1620 This is an informative article giving an account of the Mayflower at Sea in 1620. Great pictures highlight the article.
The Mayflower Compact The Mayflower Compact was an agreements that the settlers who arrived in Massachusetts made so that they could govern themselves in their new home.
The Mayflower Find out some specifics about the Mayflower like how big it was and how many people journeyed on it.
The Puritans and Pilgrims Find out about why the pilgrims and puritans traveled to America on the Mayflower.
The Mayflower and Before This article explains the hardships of the pilgrims on the voyage to America and after they landed. It also shows how there was a language problem between the pilgrims and the people of Plymouth.
The Characteristics of the Mayflower An informative article that discuss the arrival of the Mayflower in the Plymouth Harbor. The information shows how long the voyage took.
The Mayflower and Speedwell This short article with photos, talks about the two ships involved in carrying the pilgrims on their journey, the Mayflower and the Speedwell. It also tells why the Speedwell didn't make the trip.
Encounters in the Americas Find out about the founding of the Plymouth colony and the people who arrived there.
Who Came on the Mayflower You will find a list of names of the passengers aboard the Mayflower. There is a brief bio of each person, showing who they were and who they represented.
The Passengers who arrived on the Mayflower This page shows who the passengers were on board the Mayflower as Saints and Investors. There is an account of men, women and children. Article is very well documented with a lot more information included.
A Passenger Speaks about her Mayflower Voyage The information given on this page gives the personal account and vision of one female passenger, Desire Minter, who answers questions about the voyage she was on and what she thought of it.
The Mayflower and Plymouth Colony This article gives a brief account of the Mayflower after arriving at the Plymouth Colony. The article also speaks about the Mayflower Compact of 1620.
What Became of the Mayflower? This is a kid friendly site that gives facts of the Mayflower and what might have happened to its remains.
The First Winter Read about the way the pilgrims spent their first winter after they arrived in Massachusetts.
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| Mayflower |
Are you in good hands? | 1000+ images about USA PLYMOUTH ROCK on Pinterest | American history, My ancestors and Plymouth rock
Learn more at findagrave.com
~Mary Brewster Birth: 1570 Death: Apr. 17, 1627 Plymouth Plymouth County Massachusetts, USA Pilgrim Elder William Brewster married by 1593 Mary _____, and she & two of their sons accompanied him on the MAYFLOWER. She died at Plymouth 17 April 1627. They had 6 children: Jonathan, Patience Prence, Fear Allerton, Love, a child buried at St. Pancras in Leiden, & Wrestling. House of History, LLC.
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What plastic drawing toy, produced by Hasbro, Inc, puts pen to paper to produce complex curves known mathematically as hypotrochoids and epitrochoids? | Spirograph
Spirograph
Spirograph set (early 1980s UK version)
Inventor
Official website
Spirograph is a geometric drawing toy that produces mathematical roulette curves of the variety technically known as hypotrochoids and epitrochoids . It was developed by British engineer Denys Fisher and first sold in 1965.
The name has been a registered trademark of Hasbro Inc. since 1998 following purchase of the company that had acquired the Denys Fisher company. The Spirograph brand was relaunched with original product configurations in the USA in 2013 by Kahootz Toys and in Europe by Goldfish and Bison.
Contents
6 External links
History
The mathematician Bruno Abakanowicz invented the Spirograph between 1881 and 1900. It was used for calculating an area delimited by curves. [1] Drawing toys based on gears have been around since at least 1908, when The Marvelous Wondergraph was advertised in the Sears catalog . [2] [3] An article describing how to make a Wondergraph drawing machine appeared in the Boys Mechanic publication in 1913. [4] The Spirograph itself was developed by the British engineer Denys Fisher , who exhibited at the 1965 Nuremberg International Toy Fair . It was subsequently produced by his company. US distribution rights were acquired by Kenner , Inc., which introduced it to the United States market in 1966 and promoted it as a creative children’s toy.
In 2013 the Spirograph brand was re-launched in the USA by Kahootz Toys and in Europe by Goldfish and Bison with products that returned to the use of the original gears and wheels. The modern products use removable putty in place of pins or are held down by hand to keep the stationary pieces in place on the paper. The Spirograph was a 2014 Toy of the Year finalist in 2 categories, almost 50 years after the toy was named Toy of the Year in 1967.
Operation
Animation of a Spirograph
Several Spirograph designs drawn with a Spirograph set using multiple different colored pens
The original US-released Spirograph consisted of two different-sized plastic rings, with gear teeth on both the inside and outside of their circumferences. They were pinned to a cardboard backing with pins, and any of several provided gearwheels, which had holes provided for a ballpoint pen to extend through them to an underlying paper writing surface. It could be spun around to make geometric shapes on the underlying paper medium. Later, the Super-Spirograph consisted of a set of plastic gears and other interlocking shape-segments such as rings, triangles, or straight bars. It has several sizes of gears and shapes, and all edges have teeth to engage any other piece. For instance, smaller gears fit inside the larger rings, but also can engage the outside of the rings in such a fashion that they rotate around the inside or along the outside edge of the rings. Kenner also introduced Spirotot, Magnetic Spirograph, Spiroman and various refill sets. [5]
To use it, a sheet of paper is placed on a heavy cardboard backing, and one of the plastic pieces—known as a stator —is secured via pins or reusable adhesive to the paper and cardboard. Another plastic piece—called the rotor—is placed so that its teeth engage with those of the pinned piece. For example, a ring may be pinned to the paper and a small gear placed inside the ring. The number of arrangements possible by combining different gears is very large. The point of a pen is placed in one of the holes of the rotor. As the rotor is moved, the pen traces out a curve. The pen is used both to draw and to provide locomotive force; some practice is required before the Spirograph can be operated without inadvertently disengaging the stator and rotor, particularly when using the holes situated near the edge of the larger rotors. More intricate and unusual-shaped patterns may be made through the use of both hands, one to draw and one to guide the pieces. It is possible to move several pieces in relation to each other (say, the triangle around the ring, with a circle “climbing” from the ring onto the triangle), but this requires concentration or even assistance from other people. Pens of various colors were frequently included with the sets, or one could obtain them elsewhere, to add texture and color to the design by switching colors in a set pattern or a random fashion, as seen in the image above.
Mathematical basis
Consider a fixed outer circle
C
| Spirograph |
Which actor, born in Winterset, Iowa on May 26th, 1907, holds the record as the actor with the most leading parts 142. | Spirograph | The Daily Omnivore
The Daily Omnivore
« Goldbricking | John Whitney »
Spirograph
Spirograph is a geometric drawing toy that produces mathematical curves of the variety technically known as hypotrochoids and epitrochoids. The term has also been used to describe a variety of software applications that display similar curves, and applied to the class of curves that can be produced with the drawing equipment (so in this sense it may be regarded as a synonym of hypotrochoid).
The name is a registered trademark of Hasbro, Inc. Drawing toys based on gears have been around since at least 1908, when The Marvelous Wondergraph was advertised in the Sears catalog. The ‘Boys Mechanic’ publication of 1913 had an article describing how to make a Wondergraph drawing machine. An instrument called a spirograph was invented by the mathematician Bruno Abakanowicz between 1881 and 1900 for calculating an area delimited by curves. The Spirograph toy was developed by the British engineer Denys Fisher, who exhibited it in 1965 at the Nuremberg International Toy Fair. In 1968, Kenner introduced Spirotot, a less complex version of Spirograph, for preschool-age children, too young for Spirograph.
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Who did Snoopy take to the skies in his Sopwith Camel doghouse/biplane to do battle with in the comic strip Peanuts? | Lybrary: Charles M. Schulz
Charles M. Schulz
Charlie Brown and friends pack up and head West for a pioneer adventure! But will life on the wagon trail be too rough for the Peanuts gang?
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PEANUTS happiness and adventure awaits you in this collection, filled to the brim with original Schulz wonders and over a dozen all-new stories starring all of your best pals, from Good Ol' Charlie Brown to the one and only Lucy van Pelt. There's no end to the neighborhood fun as legendary cartoonist Charles M. Schulz's classic continues in PEANUTS Volume 7. Featuring classic from Charles M. Schulz and brand new stories from Jason Cooper, Vicki Scott (The Beagle Has Landed), Jeff Dyer, Scott Jeralds (Batman: Brave and the Bold), Robert Pope (Scooby Doo), and Donna Almendrala.
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Snoopy decides to give this baseball thing Charlie Brown seems to love a try.
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Snoopy's sister is in town, and it's causing all kinds of trouble for Charlie Brown. Plus, a Woodstock adventure!
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Charles M. Schulz & Bob Scott
Grab your blanket and get ready to cuddle up with this timeless collection of Peanuts goodness! Featuring brand-new adventures with Charlie Brown and the gang alongside classic strips from legendary creator Charles M. Schulz, this is the perfect read for old and new fans alike. Whether you want to take a seat at Schroeder's piano or seek counsel at Lucy's psychiatric booth, this volume features all your favorite friends in the neighborhood and has something for everybody.
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Charles M. Schulz & Various
When stars fill the skies, Charlie Brown, Lucy, and Linus must seek out the one star that can be called Charlie Brown's own. "Charlie Brown's Star" and many more brand-new adventures like "Dogstoyefsky" and "Sally's Great Pumpkin" can be found in this exciting issue of PEANUTS.
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Charles M. Schulz & Vicki Scott
New PEANUTS adventures, perfect for you and your Sweet Babboo! It's time to hop atop your doghouse biplane and escape into the wonderful world of legendary cartoonist Charles M. Schulz with brand-new adventures from an all-star lineup of writers and artists, and classic strips by Schulz himself. Featuring Charlie Brown and the whole Peanuts gang, this timeless collection of humor and imagination is sure to help you finally kick that football or take to the skies and defeat the Red Baron once and for all. Collects PEANUTS #9-12.
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Charles M. Schulz & Various
When Lucy throws Schroeder's piano into the Kite-Eating Tree, Charlie Brown and Snoopy must find a way to save the instrument from being chomped. "The Piano-Eating Tree" and many more Peanuts advenutres can be found in this months's issue of all-out fun!
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This collection of 122 Sunday Peanuts newspaper strips that ran from 1958 -1961 featuring many of your favourite characters, including Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Violet, Patty, Shermy, Lucy, Schroeder, Pig-Pen, Linus and Beethoven.
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Charles M. Schulz
This collection of daily newspaper strips covers the period 1959 - 1960 and features the introduction of Charlie Brown's baby sister, Sally, who was the first new character in five years to be added to the strip. There are a total of 240 Peanuts strips presented here.
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Featuring a mix of new stories and classics by Charles M. Schulz, starring all your favorite characters and even some underrated ones like Belle and Rerun. Collects issues #17-20.
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Charles M. Schulz
Snoopy is one small dog with one huge imagination! From day to day, he can be found stalking the other Peanuts characters as a fierce ready-to-prey vulture, leopard, mountain lion, piranha, or creature from the sea. But his grandest flights of fancy are when he's airborne as the Flying Ace on his Sopwith Camel seeking out the evil Red Baron. His forays take him through the World War I French countryside in repeated attempts to achieve his quest. In Snoopy: Contact!, enjoy his adventures along with his other unusual encounters: catching bird burglars stealing his Van Gogh, challenging Lucy to...
2015 / 11 / 1
| Manfred von Richthofen |
In the travel business, the "rack rate" refers to the published price for what commodity? | 4t5dogs
4t5dogs
4t5dogs is a blog about the intertwining relationship weaved between dogs and rock n' roll. Let's explore the dog and the dog owner, music and the dog, music influenced by dogs, and a dog's relationships with musicians. I encourage fans of both dogs and rock n roll to participate.
8.03.2015
Entitled, "Scott Walker 1969 with Razmus, his then 12 week old Saint Bernard."
Photo by Chris Walter courtesy of http://www.photofeatures.com/
posted by 4t5dogs at 8:02:00 PM 0 Comments Links to this post
Snoopy Rocks
Novelty records may be a thing of the past but I have fond memories of The Royal Guardsmen's pop classic, "Snoopy Vs. the Red Baron". The Ocala, FL band, influenced by the popular Charles Shultz Peanuts comic stip, loved its light-hearted and philosophical edge. The band created tunes featuring on Snoopy's World War I aerial dog fighting ace, Baron Von Richthofen, on top of his Sopwith Camel (doghouse) biplane. The title track sold over 3 million copies worldwide, and reached the number two spot on the Bill board charts.
The band revisited the flying ace with additional titles including: "The Return of the Red Baron", "Snoopy and His Friends", and "Snoopy's Christmas". The album's charted on the Billboard's Top 40 charts and the band celebrated their brief pop fame that spanned from 1966 to 1968.
Original band members, Chris Nunley (vocals), Barry Winslow (vocals, guitar), Tom Richards (guitar), Bill Balough (bass), and John Burdette (drums), tried to continue to cash in on Snoopy, with their final 1968 release, "Snoopy for President", whose original pressings included a spoken introduction by "The Red Baron", mentioning the 1968 presidential candidates. Days after the record's release, Bobby Kennedy assassination prompted an edited version with the spoken introduction removed. The band's novelty wore off, and they disbanded in 1969.
posted by 4t5dogs at 7:42:00 PM 0 Comments Links to this post
Cat Loves Dogs
Cat Stevens introduced himself to the pop world in 1966, with is first hit single, "I Love My Dog," with these fabulous words of wisdom.
I love my dog as much as I love you
But you may fade, my dog will always come through.
Reaching #27 on the British charts, the tune paved the way for Cat's early sound that was heavily influenced by pop bands, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, in combination with the folk influences of Bob Dylan, and Paul Simon. Introduced through Cat's brother David, The Springfields own Mike Hurst, encouraged Cat's original spare arrangement of the single to add a staccato, tympani-and viola arrangement to the basic guitar, piano and vocal tracks played by Cat. Not only revolutionizing a new type of Pop sound never heard before, but introducing England to a masterful singer-song-writer and performer.
posted by 4t5dogs at 11:04:00 AM 0 Comments Links to this post
Dog Eat Dog
"Well, 'Dog Eat Dog,' for instance, had a large canvas, 10-foot-by-5, all dogs, God dog, Jesus dog, you know, and racial dogs in conflict and so on. I sold that painting in Tokyo. Geffen told me that, "Okay, Joan, we know you're an artist, but stick your picture on the cover." So I did a kind of a collage being attacked by wild dogs, you know, and that was fun to do. So there were really two album covers for that. But he (David Geffen) wanted my kisser on the cover, so I had to give it to him (laughs). The patron, the great patron, spoke." - Joni Mitchell
(from an interview on KSCA by NA 1994)
posted by 4t5dogs at 12:59:00 PM 1 Comments Links to this post
This Lady Was No Tramp
Legendary singer, Peggy Lee, was not just one of jazz/pop music's most talented and swinging vocalist, but a legendary songwriter. She was a performer who crafted each performance from working with a select group of talented musicians down to her gown selection, hair do, and lighting. In 1952, she lent her vocal and song-writing talents to Walt Disney's production of, The Lady and the Tramp, as Peg the Lhasa Apso.
Peggy Lee co-wrote the films memorable songs, “The Siamese Cat Song,” He’s a Tramp” and, “Bella Notte," (the famous shared plate of spaghetti scene) with Sonny Burke. She also provided her vocal talents as Darcy, the mother who sings “La La Lu,” the two devious cats, Si and Am, who sing “The Siamese Cat Song,” and of course Peg, the sexy pooch who sings, “He’s a Tramp."
During production, Peggy was paid a $3,500 salary from Disney and she and Sonny Burke had split a royalty fee of $1,000 for the sheet music and phonograph record rights for the film’s musical score. Both were given no royalties for their contribution. But in 1992 when Disney marketed a videocassette without her consent, she sued the company and was awarded $2.3 million after a four-year court battle.
Peggy, who was 70 years old at the time of her court win, remarked of the experience, "You know, they always say, 'Don't mess with the Mouse...I'm glad that my rights were vindicated."
posted by 4t5dogs at 10:23:00 PM 0 Comments Links to this post
Keith Moon's K9 b-side
Keith Moon, aside from his legendary drumming and on-stage antics, often penned some of The Who's most clever songs. One example amid the extensive Who catalogue is lesser known b-Side from the band's legendary 1969 hit, "Pinball Wizard." Produced by Kit Lambert, the composition entitled, "Dogs Part Two," featured two lesser known Who vocalist's, Towser, Pete Townshend's Spaniel mix and John Entwistle's Irish Wolfhound, Jason. Both dog's provided their distinctive howls for the singles vocal track along-side Moon's legendary drumming talents.
Although Moon was a collector of Great Danes, none of his dogs lent their talents to the recording. The once rare b-Side has been re-released on the deluxe edition of The Who's, Tommy CD.
| i don't know |
Name the 1966 movie from its' IMDB summary: "A bounty hunting scam joins two men in an uneasy alliance against a third in a race to find a fortune in gold buried in a remote cemetery." | The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)
Mono
Certification:
Argentina:16 | Australia:R18+ (original rating) | Australia:MA15+ (re-rating) (2003) | Brazil:14 | Brazil:Livre (DVD rating) | Canada:14A (DVD rating) (Two-Disc Special Edition DVD) | Canada:PG (Manitoba/Ontario) | Canada:R (Nova Scotia) | Canada:14+ (Quebec) (original rating) | Canada:G (Quebec) (re-rating) (2003) | Denmark:15 (DVD rating) | Finland:K-16 (uncut) (1984) | Finland:K-16 (cut) (1968) | France:12 (DVD rating) | France:Tous publics (orginal rating) | France:Tous publics (re-rating) | Hungary:16 | Iceland:16 | Ireland:18 (original rating) | Ireland:15 (re-rating) | Italy:VM14 | Japan:G (2016) | Netherlands:12 (DVD rating) | Netherlands:18 (orginal rating) | New Zealand:R13 (Special Edition DVD) | New Zealand:M (video rating) | Norway:15 (DVD rating) | Norway:16 (1982) | Peru:14 | Portugal:M/12 (DVD rating) | Singapore:PG | South Korea:12 | Spain:13 | Sweden:15 (cut) | UK:X (original rating) | UK:15 (extended cut) (theatrical re-release) (2008) | UK:18 (video rating) (1986) | USA:Approved (PCA #21628) (Suggested for Mature Audiences) | USA:TV-14 (cable rating) | USA:R (re-rating) (1989) | USA:M (re-rating) (1969) | West Germany:18 (nf) (original rating) | West Germany:16 (nf) (re-rating)
Filming Locations:
Stevens :You're... from Baker?
[Angel Eyes is silent, eating a bowl of stew and staring at him]
Stevens :Tell Baker that I told him all that I know already and I want to live in peace, understand? That it's no use to go on tormenting me! I know nothing at all about that case of coins.
[Angel Eyes stops eating and looks interested]
Stevens :Now that gold has disappeared, but if he'd listened we could have avoided this altogether. I went to the Army court; there were no witnesses. They couldn't uncover any more. I can't tell Baker what happened to the money. Go back and tell him that!
Author: slayer-3
from TEXAS
Rather than a review of a 30 year old movie, here is my recollection of a 30 year old movie. When was the first time you saw this movie? I remember the first time I saw this movie. Back in the '70s, one night there was 2 things on TV to choose from, this movie or a baseball game. How do I remember a baseball game, it was the night Hank Aaron was going after Babe Ruth's homerun record. Baseball or a movie. Tuned into the the baseball game, flipped to the movie -a western, cool. 'Uh, what is this no one is talking it makes no sense'. After what seemed like an eternity somebody finally spoke, Lee van Cleef. The rest is Movie History. Since then I have seen this movie well over 25 times. Numerous lines that have been etched into my memory. Forget whatever minor flaws this movie has. Put yourself in the movie. Sergio Leon, John Ford these are the people that defined "The Western". On a scale of 1-10, The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly is nothing less than a 10. Plop the tape into the VCR, sit back and experience a classic.
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| The Good, the Bad and the Ugly |
The religion of vodou (or voodoo) originated in what country? | The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966): Manliest Movies Ever Made: List Of 101 Manliest Movies Of All Time MensXP
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The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
The first name on this epic list is this Tim Robbins-Morgan Freeman starrer that explores the fundamentals to manliness – trust, friendship, struggle and freedom. Rated 9.3 by IMDB, ‘The Shawshank Redemption’ is a story of how two imprisoned men bond over a number of years, finding solace and eventual redemption through acts of common decency. © Castle Rock Entertainment
The Godfather (1972)
Every time I watch ‘The Godfather’, I say a silent thanks to Francis Ford Coppola. Even 100 years later, cinephiles will be talking about the manliness of this gangster trilogy. Marlon Brando, Al Pacino , Robert De Niro – the cast more than does justice to this crime drama about the aging patriarch of an organized crime dynasty who transfers control of his clandestine empire to his reluctant son. © Paramount Pictures
Pulp Fiction (1994)
Tarantino loyalists would probably rank this as their most favorite movie by the director – and for good reason. With eclectic dialogue, ironic mix of humor and violence and a highly stylized directing style, ‘Pulp Fiction’ is a cult crime thriller handmade for the big boys. © Miramax Films
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)
One of the best westerns ever made, this last of the ‘Dollars’ trilogy is next on our list – where Clint Eastwood is the ‘good’; Lee Van Cleef the ‘bad’ and Eli Wallach the ‘ugly’. The movie is about how a bounty hunting scam joins two men in an uneasy alliance against a third in a race to find a fortune in gold buried in a remote cemetery. © Produzioni Europee Associati
Fight Club (1999)
Few things are manlier than a fight club. And Edward Norton, playing an insomniac office worker who wants to change his life and faces his demons in the most violent way possible, shows how mental sickness can also be macho. The Bollywood ‘Fight Club’ does not even come close to this one. © Fox 2000 Pictures
Schindler’s List (1993)
Manliness is saving lives. A biopic on German businessman Oskar Schindler who employed thousands of Jews in his factories to save them during the Holocaust, ‘Schindler’s List’ took away 7 Oscars and was nominated in 5 other categories – including Best Actor (Liam Neeson) and Best Supporting Actor (Ralph Fiennes). © Universal Pictures
Seven Samurai (1954)
The Bollywood movie ‘China Gate’ was loosely adapted from this Akira Kurosawa classic, in which a poor village under attack by bandits recruits seven unemployed samurai to help them defend themselves. Trivia: Kurosawa’s own ancestors were samurai, up till 100 years before he made this movie. © Toho Company
Gangster Squad (2013)
Set in Los Angeles, 1949 and starring Sean Penn and Ryan Gosling, this movie is about a secret crew of police officers led by two determined sergeants work together in an effort to take down the ruthless mob king Mickey Cohen who runs the city. © Warner Bros
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
One simply does not make a list of manly movies and not include Indiana Jones. The first of the many to come, ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ has archeologist and adventurer Indiana Jones hired by the US government to find the Ark of the Covenant before the Nazis. If Harrison Ford’s role in the movie was not manly, we do not know what is. © Paramount Pictures
Goodfellas (1990)
One of the author’s personal favorite gangster movies, ‘Goodfellas’ had a superb cast that included Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta and Joe Pesci – and narrates the tale of how Henry Hill (Liotta) and his friends work their way up through the mob hierarchy. © Warner Bros
Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
A must-watch for all Western fans, Sergio Leone’s ‘Once Upon a Time in the West’ is an epic story of a mysterious stranger with a harmonica who joins forces with a notorious desperado to protect a beautiful widow from a ruthless assassin working for the railroad. © Finanzia San Marco
The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
While the entire ‘Dark Knight’ trilogy was a tribute to manliness, we pick the final movie for the sake of convenience. Remember Christian Bale for his last portrayal of Batman and Tom Hardy for his superb performance as Bane. No doubt Ben Affleck has very large shoes to fill when he appears as the next Batman. © Warner Bros
American History X (1998)
Edward Norton dazzles as a former neo-Nazi skinhead who tries to prevent his younger brother (Edward Furlong) from going down the same wrong path that he did in this crime drama. Directed by Tony Kaye, ‘American History X’ is rated at #33 in IMDB Top 250. © New Line Cinema
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
Steven Spielberg’s ‘Saving Private Ryan’ took away five Oscars the year it was released. A manly tale of how a group of US soldiers go behind enemy lines to retrieve a paratrooper whose brothers have been killed in action, the movie is one of the best war dramas ever made in Hollywood. © DreamWorks SKG
Leon: The Professional (1994)
Probably the best performance by Jean Reno in his career, ‘Leon: The Professional’ is a story of how a professional assassin rescues a young girl whose parents are killed in a police raid. Natalie Portman’s childhood role is a great foil to Reno’s dark and brooding performance. All in all, it is a superb crime drama. © Gaumont
Django Unchained (2012)
Not for nothing did ‘Django Unchained’ take away two Oscars. With the help of a German bounty hunter (Christoph Waltz), a freed slave (Jamie Foxx) sets out to rescue his wife from a brutal Mississippi plantation owner (Leonardo DiCaprio). © Columbia Pictures
The Departed (2006)
Leonardo DiCaprio deserved at least a nomination at the Oscars for his role in this one. Directed by Martin Scorsese and also starring Mark Wahlberg, Matt Damon and Jack Nicholson, the movie is about how an undercover state cop who has infiltrated an Irish gang and a mole in the police force working for the same mob race to track down and identify each other before being exposed to the enemy, after both sides realize their outfit has a rat. © Warner Bros
Memento (2000)
A Christopher Nolan classic, ‘Memento’ was remade in Bollywood as ‘Ghajini’. However, the original, as always, is way, way better. Starring Guy Pearce, it is a story about how a man, suffering from short-term memory loss, uses notes and tattoos to hunt for the man he thinks killed his wife. © Newmarket Capital Group
Gladiator (2000)
A multiple Oscar-winning movie by Ridley Scott, ‘Gladiator’ is a movie about a Roman general (Russell Crowe) who is betrayed and his family murdered by an emperor's corrupt son (Joaquin Phoenix), he comes to Rome as a gladiator to seek revenge. © DreamWorks SKG
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
The Terminator movies have always been a guy favorite – and we like the second one the best. In ‘Judgment Day’, the cyborg who once tried to kill Sarah Connor is dead, and another T-101 must now protect her teenage son, John Connor, from an even more powerful and advanced Terminator, the T-1000. © Carolco Pictures
Apocalypse Now (1979)
Loosely adapted from Joseph Conrad’s novel ‘Heart of Darkness’ ‘Apocalypse Now’ is set during the U.S. Vietnam War. Captain Willard (Martin Sheen) is sent on a dangerous mission into Cambodia to assassinate a renegade colonel Walter Kurtz (Marlon Brando) who has set himself up as a god among a local tribe. © Zoetrope Studios
Oldboy (2003)
The second of the Vengeance Trilogy, ‘Oldboy’ is a Korean drama thriller in which the protagonist has to find his captor in 5 days after being kidnapped and imprisoned for 15 years. © Egg Films
Braveheart (1995)
Mel Gibson stunned as William Wallace in ‘Braveheart’, which took away five Oscars in 1995. When his secret bride is executed for assaulting an English soldier who tried to rape her, Mel Gibson playing a commoner begins a revolt and leads Scottish warriors against the cruel English tyrant who rules Scotland with an iron fist. © Icon Entertainment International
Reservoir Dogs (1992)
‘Reservoir Dogs’ is a Tarantino crime thriller that was remade in Bollywood as ‘Kaante’. After a simple jewelry heist goes terribly wrong, the surviving criminals begin to suspect that one of them is a police informant. © Live Entertainment
Taxi Driver (1976)
Directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Robert De Niro, ‘Taxi Driver’ is a story of how a mentally unstable Vietnam war veteran works as a night-time taxi driver in New York City where the perceived decadence and sleaze feeds his urge for violent action, attempting to save a preadolescent prostitute in the process. © Columbia Pictures Corporation
Once Upon a Time in America (1984)
A Sergio Leone gangster movie, ‘Once Upon a Time in America’ is about a former Prohibition-era Jewish gangster who returns to the Lower East Side of Manhattan over 30 years later, where he once again must confront the ghosts and regrets of his old life. © Embassy International Pictures
Full Metal Jacket (1987)
‘Full Metal Jacket’ figures at #83 in IMDB Top 250 movies and is a war drama where a pragmatic U.S. Marine observes the dehumanizing effects the U.S.-Vietnam War has on his fellow recruits from their brutal boot camp training to the bloody street fighting in Hue. © Natant
Rush (2013)
Already in the running for the best movie at the Golden Globes next year, ‘Rush’ is a finely executed biopic which depicts a re-creation of the merciless 1970s rivalry between Formula One rivals James Hunt and Niki Lauda. © Exclusive Media Group
Inglourious Basterds (2009)
Quentin Tarantino bested himself with this one. In Nazi-occupied France during World War II, a plan to assassinate Nazi leaders by a group of Jewish U.S. soldiers coincides with a theatre owner's vengeful plans for the same. Brad Pitt was brilliant as Lt. Aldo Raine, to say the least. © Universal Pictures
Snatch. (2000)
A Guy Ritchie classic, ‘Snatch.’ is a must watch crime thriller where unscrupulous boxing promoters, violent bookmakers, a Russian gangster, incompetent amateur robbers, and supposedly Jewish jewelers fight to track down a priceless stolen diamond. With Jason Statham, Brad Pitt and Benicio Del Toro, the movie has a superb cast that make for a great watch. © Columbia Pictures Corporation
Raging Bull (1980)
A Martin Scorsese classic, ‘Raging Bull’ is the story of an emotionally self-destructive boxer's journey through life, as the violence and temper that leads him to the top in the ring, destroys his life outside it. Robert De Niro took away the Oscar for Best Actor for his portrayal of Jake La Motta. © United Artists
Scarface (1983)
Cinephiles will unanimously agree that Tony Montana (Al Pacino) is probably one of the manliest movie characters in the history of cinema. ‘Scarface’, which was nominated for 3 Golden Globes, is set in 1980 Miami where a determined Cuban immigrant takes over a drug cartel while succumbing to greed. © Universal Pictures
Die Hard (1988)
In this 1988 thriller, John McClane (Bruce Willis), officer of the NYPD tries to save wife Holly Gennaro and several others, taken hostage by German terrorist Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman) during a Christmas party at the Nakatomi Plaza in Los Angeles. © Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
The Usual Suspects (1995)
Kevin Spacey won the Oscar for his supporting role in this crime mystery, where a boat has been destroyed, criminals are dead, and the key to this mystery lies with the only survivor and his twisted, convoluted story beginning with five career crooks in a seemingly random police lineup. © PolyGram Filmed Entertainment
Gangs of Wasseypur (2013)
A deadly blood feud spanning three generations of coal mafia in Wasseypur, ‘Gangs of Wasseypur’ and its sequel saw some amazing performances from the likes of Manoj Bajpai and Nawazuddin Siddiqui – making the movies a guy’s favorites from Bollywood in 2013. © Jar Pictures
Bhaag Milkha Bhaag (2013)
A biopic on the Flying Sikh, Farhan Akhtar’s transformation for the movie was as awe-inspiring as the movie itself. A tale of tenacity, grit and pure athleticism, ‘Bhaag Milkha Bhaag’ is definitely one of the manliest Bollywood movies of 2013. © Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra Pictures
The Avengers (2012)
Probably the best superhero movie of 2012, calling ‘The Avengers’ manly still does not do justice to the epic ensemble cast that gets together to save the planet from Loki and his army. © Marvel Studios
Gran Torino (2008)
Clint Eastwood might play an old man in this one, but his performance was nothing less than macho. He plays a disgruntled Korean War veteran Walt Kowalski who sets out to reform his neighbor, a Hmong teenager who tried to steal Kowalski's prized possession: a 1972 Gran Torino. © Matten Productions
Warrior (2011)
One of the manliest movies of 2011, ‘Warrior’ is a story of how the youngest son of an alcoholic former boxer returns home, where he's trained by his father for competition in a mixed martial arts tournament - a path that puts the fighter on a collision corner with his older brother. © Lionsgate
Sin City (2005)
A film noir that explores the dark and miserable town, Basin City, and tells the story of three different people, all caught up in violent corruption, ‘Sin City’ has its sequel ‘Sin City: A Dame to Die For’ releasing in August next year. © Dimension Films
Sholay (1975)
This list would be incomplete without the most famous Bollywood movie of the 70s – ‘Sholay’. The story of how two outlaws help a former police officer to avenge the murder of his family by a notorious bandit, ‘Sholay’ is rated 8.3 in IMDB. © United Producers
The Deer Hunter (1978)
The Vietnam War has been the subject of many Hollywood movies in the 70s – and this is probably one of the best. Starring Robert De Niro and Christopher Walken, ‘The Deer Hunter’ is an in-depth examination of the way that the Vietnam War affects the lives of people in a small industrial town in the USA. © EMI Films
Paan Singh Tomar (2010)
‘Paan Singh Tomar’ is a biopic of the actual Indian soldier and athlete who becomes one of the most feared dacoits in Chambal Valley after his retirement. One of Tigmanshu Dhulia’s better movies, Irrfan Khan gives a very convincing performance as Tomar in it. © UTV Spotboy
The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)
The Bourne series has been one of the best Hollywood thriller trilogies ever – and the third movie ‘The Bourne Ultimatum’ shows Jason Bourne dodging a ruthless CIA official and his agents from a new assassination program while searching for the origins of his life as a trained killer. © Universal Pictures
Twelve Monkeys (1995)
Brad Pitt won a Golden Globe for his performance as the mentally unstable Jeffrey Goines in this sci-fi thriller. Set in a future world devastated by disease, Bruce Willis plays a convict who is sent back in time to gather information about the man-made virus that wiped out most of the human population on the planet. © Universal Pictures
Gunda (1998)
Revenge tales are always great stuff when it comes to manly movies – and Mithun Chakraborty as Shankar in ‘Gunda’ executed a very macho performance indeed. He plays a coolie who avenges the murder of his father and sister by killing the bad guys in a most gruesome fashion. © Maruti Films
Platoon (1986)
As far as history goes, nothing shook up tough men like the Vietnam War. And this movie set in ‘Nam in the 60s adequately explores the moral crisis faced by recruits when they are confronted with the horrors of war and the duality of men. © Hemdale Film
Ip Man (2008)
When it comes to martial arts, Yip Man is a legend who first taught the Chinese art of Wing Chun and one of whose famous pupils include Bruce Lee. This 2008 movie is a semi-biographical account of Yip Man, and it went on to be made into a sequel in 2010. © Mandarin Films Distribution Co
Omkara (2006)
Vishal Bharadwaj’s Indian adaptation of the Shakespearean tragedy ‘Othello’, ‘Omkara’ is a brilliantly executed movie in which a politically-minded enforcer's misguided trust in his lieutenant leads him to suspect his wife of infidelity. © Big Screen Entertainment
Coolie (1983)
One of the most memorable Amitabh Bachchan movies, famous especially because of the fatal injury that Big B sustained in a fight scene, ‘Coolie’ is next on this list. Like the real man that he is, Big B did not stop – he resumed shooting of the film. © Aasia Films Pvt Ltd
Satya (1999)
A simple man who comes to Mumbai in search of a job, but instead gets sucked into the underworld mafia – the story of ‘Satya’ is hard-hitting and gritty, and one of Ram Gopal Verma’s best movies. © Mammoth Media and Entertainment
Rocky (1976)
In this Oscar-winning sport drama, Rocky Balboa, a small-time boxer gets a supremely rare chance to fight the heavy-weight champion, Apollo Creed, in a bout in which he strives to go the distance for his self-respect. Definitely one of Sylvester Stallone’s best performances. © Chartoff-Winkler Productions
Singham (2011)
Ajay Devgn’s performance in ‘Singham’ was applauded by audiences – wherein he plays an upright cop who has recently been transferred and locks horns with a local gangster played by Prakash Raj. © Pixion Studio
Spartacus (1960)
Directed by Stanley Kubrick, the movie is based on the novel by the same name – which in turn is inspired by the life story of the historical figure Spartacus. The story of how a slave leads a violent revolt against the decadent Roman Republic, ‘Spartacus’ is a must-watch for Kubrick fans. © Bryna Productions
The Wild Bunch (1969)
It is an epic Western film about an aging outlaw gang on the Texas-Mexico border, trying to exist in the changing "modern" world of 1913. The film was controversial because of its graphic violence and its portrayal of crude men attempting to survive by any available means. © Warner Brothers
Dhoom (2005)
‘Dhoom 3’ is yet to come, ‘Dhoom 2’ was an insult to all of our intelligence – but ‘Dhoom’ was undoubtedly the best of this con series. John Abraham making Abhishek Bachchan run around in loops in this cat-and-mouse game was awesome. © Yash Raj Films
Armageddon (1998)
Nothing gets your adrenaline rushing like saving the earth from an asteroid about to hit the planet. And with a star cast that includes Billy Bob Thornton, Bruce Willis and Ben Affleck – the drama is so much more heroic. © Touchstone Pictures
The Expendables (2010)
Put all the big action stars together in a thriller – and what you get is ‘The Expendables’. Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Steve Austin and Mickey Rourke together with several other actors make for a must-watch movie. © Millennium Films
The Fast and the Furious (2001)
Fast cars, one of the manliest star cast and high-adrenaline action – the ‘Fast and Furious’ franchise is undoubtedly one of the best manly movie series yet. Now with Paul Walker dead, the seventh installment of the movie will probably not be the same. © Universal Pictures
Under Siege (1992)
Starring Steven Seagal and Tommy Lee Jones, the Oscar-nominated movie ‘Under Siege’ is about how a former SEAL, now cook, is the only person who can stop a gang of terrorists when they seize control of a US Navy battleship. © Warner Bros
Dabangg (2010)
Salman Khan as the eccentric Chulbul Pandey set a new trend for how police officials are portrayed in Hindi films. With comedy balancing the action in the movie, ‘Dabangg’ became one of the highest grosser of all time. © Arbaaz Khan Productions
Top Gun (1986)
A handsome young Tom Cruise plays a ‘maverick’ pilot learns a thing or two from a civilian instructor after he is sent to the Navy’s Fighter Weapons School which is also known as ‘Top Gun’. The movie balances romance with action with some memorable soundtracks, making it a cult movie for guys. © Paramount Pictures
Conan the Barbarian (1982)
Arnold Schwarzenegger plays a vengeful barbarian who sets out to avenge his parents as well his tribe, who were wiped out by an evil sorcerer. This action fantasy movie is much better than the remake starring Jason Momoa which was released in 2011. © Universal Pictures
Shootout at Lokhandwala (2007)
Telling the true story of the 1991 Lokhandwala shootout, Vivek Oberoi delivered one of his most powerful performances of his career as the dreaded gangster Maya Dolas. © Balaji Motion Pictures
Gadar: Ek Prem Katha (2002)
Set in the times of the Indian Partition, Sunny Deol’s character of the simple, yet fierce Tara Singh was pivotal in making this movie one of the highest grossing Bollywood flicks of all time. © Zee Telefilms
The Longest Yard (1974)
Burt Reynolds plays a former pro quarterback who is serving time in prison, and who is forced by the sadistic warden to put together a team of inmates to take on the prison guards in a game of football. The movie was later remade in 2005 starring Adam Sandler, in which Reynolds plays the coach. © Paramount Pictures
Krantiveer (1994)
One of Nana Patekar’s most powerful performances, ‘Krantiveer’ shows how a man who sets out to be a champion of justice faces strong resistance from various factors and he decides to take law into his own hands, which leads to a saga of revenge and corruption. Patekar received a National Film Award for his role in the movie. © Mehul Movies
Troy (2004)
‘Troy’ is an adaptation of Homer's great epic and it follows the assault on Troy by the united Greek forces and chronicles the fates of the men involved. With a cast that includes Brad Pitt, Eric Bana and Orlando Bloom – this is one manly period adventure drama. © Warner Bros
Ghayal (1990)
One of Sunny Deol’s best remembered performances from his early days, ‘Ghayal’ is a story about an amateur boxer who sets out to correct the wrongs inflicted on him and his family by an evil business tycoon, played by Amrish Puri. Deol took away the Filmfare Best Actor Award that year, and the movie went on to become a superhit. © Vijayta Films
Speed (1994)
A high-adrenaline movie in which Keanu Reeves plays a young cop who has to prevent a bomb on a bus from exploding by keeping the speed of the bus at above 50 mph, ‘Speed’ also stars Dennis Hopper and Sandra Bullock. © Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
The Rock (1996)
Directed by Michael Bay, this movie stars Sean Connery, Nicholas Cage and Ed Harris. A mild-mannered chemist and an ex-con must lead the counterstrike when a rogue group of military men, led by a renegade general, threaten a nerve gas attack from Alcatraz against San Francisco. © Hollywood Pictures
Ghulam (1999)
A remake of ‘On the Waterfront’ (1954), ‘Ghulam’ was a huge hit when it hit the theatres. Probably the most memorable scene in the movie is the one where Aamir Khan jumps off the tracks 1.3 seconds before a train whooshes past – a stunt that Khan performed himself and which won the Best Scene at the Filmfare Awards. © Vishesh Films
Kaminey (2010)
Shahid Kapoor’s first movie in which he plays a double role, ‘Kaminey’ was compared by reviewers to Quentin Tarantino’s ‘Pulp Fiction’. Probably the best performance given by Kapoor in an action movie, ‘Kaminey’ went on to win many awards that year. © UTV Motion Pictures
Rakht Charitra (2010)
The story of how a killer bandit decides to become a politician in order to avenge deaths in the family, ‘Rakhta Charitra’ is not only one of the manliest Indian movies, but also one of the most violent. Released in three different languages in two parts each, this movie is based on the life of political leader Paritala Ravindra. © Cinergy Pictures
Mission Impossible Series – Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol (2011)
Which the best ‘Mission Impossible’ movie is debatable, we think the fourth one is definitely one to watch. Ethan Hunt and his men set out to clear the name of their organization which is implicated in the bombing of the Kremlin. © Paramount Pictures
Bullitt (1968)
The tagline of the movie goes ‘There are bad cops and there are good cops and then there’s Bullitt’. The movie is about a San Francisco cop, played by Steve McQueen, who becomes determined to find the underworld kingpin that killed the witness in his protection. © Warner Brothers
Life of Pi (2012)
Surviving out in the ocean with a tiger is no mean feat – and the Oscar-winning movie ‘Life of Pi’ depicts this brilliantly. When it comes to the survival of the fittest, it doesn’t get manlier than the story of Pi Patel. © Fox 2000 Pictures
Border (1998)
Based on the Indo-Pakistan War of 1971, ‘Border’ is an epic tale of bravery and brotherhood among officials of the Indian Army – taken from some real life events of the Battle of Longewala. Even 15 years later, it continues to be one of the best war movies of Bollywood. © J.P. Films
Gangs of New York (2002)
One of the best Martin Scorsese movies with 10 Oscar nominations, Leonardo DiCaprio plays Amsterdam Vallon – who returns to the Five Point Area of NYC in order to avenge his father’s murder by Bill the Butcher, played by Daniel Day Lewis. Set in 1963, this is one of the most macho period crime dramas ever. © Miramax Films
Lethal Weapon (1987)
Two very different cops are paired together to stop a gang of drug smugglers – something that neither of them are quite happy about. However, they learn to put their differences aside and work together as a team – and thus Murtaugh-Riggs became one of the most favorite cop duos in Hollywood. © Warner Bros
First Blood (1982)
The Rambo series probably finds favor in every guy’s favorite movie list – and it all started with ‘First Blood’ when Sylvester Stallone first appeared as a ‘Nam veteran Rambo. Rambo uses his combat skills to fight against a small town lawman who arrests and abuses him. © Anabasis N V
Blazing Saddles (1974)
A satirical Western comedy in which a black man plays the sheriff of an all-white town, ‘Blazing Saddles’ is a movie with the balls to mock every stereotype – even the Irish. © Warner Bros
Shiva (1990)
Nagarjuna delivered a powerful performance in this Ram Gopal Varma remake of the South Indian movie ‘Shiva’. It tells the story of a young man who navigates his way through student politics with a mafia backdrop in his college campus and how he rids the institute of goons interfering in its matters. © Annapurna Studios
Boyz N The Hood (1991)
John Singleton was nominated for an Oscar for Best Director for this movie about a group of childhood friends who grow up in a Los Angeles ghetto. Black, tough and manly – this is a cult must-watch movie. © Columbia Pictures Corporation
Agneepath (1990)
It is debatable whether the remake is better than the original – but we for one go with Amitabh Bachchan as Vijay Dinanath Chauhan. A young boy’s quest for revenge makes him more like his enemies every passing day – and the movie is about whether he can find redemption in his vengeance. © Dharma Productions
300 (2006)
Telling the story of the Battle of Thermopylae, where King Leonidas battled Xerxes and his Persian army with an army of just 300 soldiers, ‘300’ is a beautifully executed movie that is all raw masculinity and gore. And this is why we cannot wait for the sequel. © Warner Bros
True Grit (2010)
With 10 Oscar nominations in its kitty, the 2010 remake of the original ‘True Grit’ is one of the grittiest Westerns of recent times. Jeff Bridges plays a tough U.S. Marshal who helps a stubborn young woman track down her father’s murderer. © Paramount Pictures
Predator (1987)
You got action, you got adventure and you got sci-fi. And you have Arnold Schwarzenegger playing a commando on a mission in Central American jungle. It just does not get better than this. © Amercent Films
Don (1978)
We think the Big B original was better than the SRK remake – and the double role of Don/Vijay played by Amitabh Bachchan certainly makes for one of the manliest performances in Indian cinema. © Nariman Films
Dirty Harry (1971)
When a mad man calling himself 'the Scorpio Killer' menaces the city, tough as nails San Francisco Police Inspector Harry Callahan, played by Clint Eastwood, is assigned to track down and ferret out the crazed psychopath in this crime thriller. © Warner Bros
The Dirty Dozen (1967)
A US Army Major is assigned a dozen convicted murderers to train and lead them into a mass assassination mission of German officers in World War II. © Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
James Bond Series: Skyfall (2012)
The latest James Bond movie proved once again why Daniel Craig can be considered the best Bond ever. Now that M is dead, we cannot wait to see how the next movie pans out. © Eon Productions
Deewar (1975)
Two brothers who are poles apart, vie for their mother’s love in this 70s cult film, which was one of the many that portrayed Amitabh Bachchan as an ‘angry young man’. © Trimurti Films Pvt. Ltd.
Sarfarosh (1999)
Starring Aamir Khan and Naseeruddin Shah, this movie is about how a young med student quits his studies to join the Indian Police Service to wipe out the terrorists after his brother is killed and father severely injured by terrorists. © Cinematt Pictures.
Vaastav (2000)
Sanjay Dutt gave a powerful performance as a carefree boy turned into one of the most feared gangster of Mumbai – who has to pay the price for his power and wealth. Definitely a manly watch for men. © Adishakti Films
The Fighter (2010)
Starring Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale, ‘The Fighter’ looks at the early years of boxer "Irish" Micky Ward and his brother who helped train him before going pro in the mid 1980s. Bale took away the Oscar for the Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role. © Closest to the Hole Productions
Patton (1970)
George C. Scott plays the role of the controversial American General, George S. Patton set during the World War II phase. And get this – Scott was awarded an Oscar for Best Actor, but he refused to accept it because he did not feel himself to be in any competition with other actors! © Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
Wanted (2009)
A Salman Khan crime action thriller will never go unpraised by his dedicated fan following – and ‘Wanted’ is one of the best recent examples. The second highest-grossing movie that year, ‘Wanted’ has Salman Khan playing an IPS officer working undercover to finish off a gang of goons. © Sahara One Motion Pictures
Force (2011)
‘Force’ marked the entry of the new kid on the block – Vidyut Jamwal, who played the antagonist in this action-thriller and gave John Abraham a run for his money with his performance. Revenge, murder and lots of action – this is easily one of the manliest movies of Bollywood in 2011. © Sunshine Pictures
Commando – A One Man Army (2013)
After his highly appreciated role in ‘Force’, Vidyut Jamwal further consolidated his position in tinsel town as an action hero with much potential in ‘Commando’. Jamwal, who is a practitioner of kalaripayattu, performed all the stunts in the movie himself. © Reliance Entertainment
The Khiladi Movies: Khiladiyon Ka Khiladi (1996)
The fourth installment of Akshay Kumar’s ‘Khiladi’ series, this movie featured WWF wrestlers Crush and The Undertaker. It is about the deadly game of survival in a ruthless world of crime and sleaze, in which Rekha plays a negative character for the first time. © Time Magnetics
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The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)
One of the best westerns ever made, this last of the ‘Dollars’ trilogy is next on our list – where Clint Eastwood is the ‘good’; Lee Van Cleef the ‘bad’ and Eli Wallach the ‘ugly’. The movie is about how a bounty hunting scam joins two men in an uneasy alliance against a third in a race to find a fortune in gold buried in a remote cemetery. © Produzioni Europee Associati
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In standard poker, what name is given to a hand consisting of 3 matching cards of one rank and two matching cards of another rank? | Poker Hands Order - Poker Hand Rankings at PokerStars
How to Play Poker
Poker Hands
At PokerStars, we deal many varieties of poker, some of which use different hand rankings. Hold’em , Omaha , Seven Card Stud and Five Card Draw all use the traditional ‘high’ poker rankings. Omaha Hi/Lo , Razz and Stud Hi/Lo use the ‘Ace to Five’ (‘California’) low hand rankings for low hands. 2-7 Single Draw and 2-7 Triple Draw use the ‘Deuce to Seven’ (‘Kansas City’) lowball rankings for low hands.
Lastly, Badugi uses a special ranking of hands unique to that game.
Know your stuff? Play our interactive game at the bottom of this page.
Traditional High Poker Hand Ranks
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Straight Flush: Five cards in numerical order, all of identical suits.
In the event of a tie: Highest rank at the top of the sequence wins.
The best possible straight flush is known as a royal flush, which consists of the ace, king, queen, jack and ten of a suit. A royal flush is an unbeatable hand.
Four of a Kind: Four cards of the same rank, and one side card or ‘kicker’.
In the event of a tie: Highest four of a kind wins. In community card games where players have the same four of a kind, the highest fifth side card ('kicker') wins.
Full House: Three cards of the same rank, and two cards of a different, matching rank.
In the event of a tie: Highest three matching cards wins the pot. In community card games where players have the same three matching cards, the highest value of the two matching cards wins.
Flush: Five cards of the same suit.
In the event of a tie: The player holding the highest ranked card wins. If necessary, the second-highest, third-highest, fourth-highest, and fifth-highest cards can be used to break the tie. If all five cards are the same ranks, the pot is split. The suit itself is never used to break a tie in poker.
Straight: Five cards in sequence.
In the event of a tie: Highest ranking card at the top of the sequence wins.
Note: The Ace may be used at the top or bottom of the sequence, and is the only card which can act in this manner. A,K,Q,J,T is the highest (Ace high) straight; 5,4,3,2,A is the lowest (Five high) straight.
Three of a kind: Three cards of the same rank, and two unrelated side cards.
In the event of a tie: Highest ranking three of a kind wins. In community card games where players have the same three of a kind, the highest side card, and if necessary, the second-highest side card wins.
Two pair: Two cards of a matching rank, another two cards of a different matching rank, and one side card.
In the event of a tie: Highest pair wins. If players have the same highest pair, highest second pair wins. If both players have two identical pairs, highest side card wins.
One pair: Two cards of a matching rank, and three unrelated side cards.
In the event of a tie: Highest pair wins. If players have the same pair, the highest side card wins, and if necessary, the second-highest and third-highest side card can be used to break the tie.
High card: Any hand that does not qualify under a category listed above.
In the event of a tie: Highest card wins, and if necessary, the second-highest, third-highest, fourth-highest and smallest card can be used to break the tie.
Ace To Five Lowball Hand Ranks
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This method of ranking low hands is used in traditional Hi/Lo games, like Omaha Hi/Lo and Stud Hi/Lo, as well as in Razz, the ‘low only’ Stud game.
Note that suits are irrelevant for Ace to Five low. A flush or straight does not ‘break’ an Ace to Five low poker hand. Aces are always a ‘low’ card when considering a low hand.
Please also note that the value of a five-card low hand starts with the top card, and goes down from there.
Five Low, or Wheel: The Five, Four, Three, Deuce and Ace.
In the event of a tie: All Five-high hands split the pot.
Six Low: Any five unpaired cards with the highest card being a Six.
In the event of a tie: The lower second-highest ranking card wins the pot. Thus 6,4,3,2,A defeats 6,5,4,2,A. If necessary, the third-highest, fourth-highest and fifth-highest cards in the hand can be used to break the tie.
Seven Low: Any five unpaired cards with the highest card being a Seven.
In the event of a tie: The lower second-highest ranking card wins the pot. If necessary, the third-highest, fourth-highest and fifth-highest cards in the hand can be used to break the tie.
Eight Low: Any five unpaired cards with the highest card being an Eight.
In the event of a tie: The lower second-highest ranking card wins the pot. If necessary, the third-highest, fourth-highest and fifth-highest cards in the hand can be used to break the tie.
An Eight Low is the weakest hand that qualifies for low in Omaha Hi/Lo and Stud Hi/Lo. However in Razz, there is no such ‘qualifier’ and the lowest hand will always win the pot, even if it is a nine low, queen low, or even a pair!
Deuce To Seven Lowball Hand Ranks
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The Deuce to Seven Lowball hand rankings are the exact opposite of the traditional ‘high’ hand rankings. Therefore, the worst possible hand in traditional high poker – seven-five high, with different suits, becomes the best possible hand in deuce to seven lowball (a ‘perfect seven’ low or ‘wheel’).
In practice, an ace always plays as a high card in Deuce to Seven (so A,5,4,3,2 is an ace low, not a straight). Straights and flushes count against your hand in Deuce to Seven.
Seven Low: Any five unpaired, unconnected cards of different suits, with the highest card being a seven. The best possible hand is 7,5,4,3,2, also known as a ‘wheel’ or ‘number one’.
In the event of a tie: The lower second card wins the pot. Thus 7,5,4,3,2 beats 7,6,5,3,2 (a ‘Seven-Five low’ is better than a ‘Seven-Six low’). If necessary, the third-highest, fourth-highest and fifth-highest cards in the hand can be used to break the tie.
Eight Low: Any five unpaired, unconnected cards of different suits, with the highest card being an eight.
In the event of a tie: The lower second card wins the pot. If necessary, the third-highest, fourth-highest and fifth-highest cards in the hand can be used to break the tie.
Nine Low: Any five unpaired, unconnected cards of different suits, with the highest card being a nine.
In the event of a tie: The lower second card wins the pot. If necessary, the third-highest, fourth-highest and fifth-highest cards in the hand can be used to break the tie.
Ten Low: Any five unpaired, unconnected cards of different suits, with the highest card being a ten.
In the event of a tie: The lower second card wins the pot. If necessary, the third-highest, fourth-highest and fifth-highest cards in the hand can be used to break the tie.
Note: There is no ‘qualifier’ for low in Deuce to Seven lowball games. The above are just examples of hands that may come up in play – the lowest hand will always win the pot in Deuce to Seven, even if it is a pair or worse!
Badugi Hand Ranks
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Badugi does not use traditional poker hand rankings and it takes some practice to learn how to correctly read the hands. Badugi hand rankings are somewhat related to the Ace to Five rankings; like in Ace to Five, an ace always plays as a low card. However, unlike Ace to Five, each card in your hand must be a different suit and a different rank, in order to count.
Badugi hands consist of four cards, instead of the usual five. Because of this it is impossible to make a five-card straight, and having four cards in sequence does not hurt your hand.
Remember, if you have cards of the same suit, only one of them counts, and if you have pairs, only one of them counts.
Badugi: A badugi is any hand which consists of four unpaired cards, each a different suit.
In the event of a tie: The lower second card wins the pot. If necessary, the third-highest and fourth-highest cards in the hand can be used to break the tie.
Three-Card Hand: Any hand consisting of three unpaired cards of different suits, but a fourth paired or suited card. The lowest three unpaired cards of different suits play.
Because there is a pair, one of the fours does not count, so it is simply ignored, making a 4,2,A three-card hand
Because there are two hearts in this hand, one of them is ignored, making a 3,2,A three-card hand.
In the event of a tie: The lower second card wins the pot. If necessary, the third-highest card in the hand can be used to break the tie. The fourth (paired or suited) card does not count toward the hand and is not used to break ties.
Two-Card Hand: Any hand consisting of two unpaired cards of different suits, but two paired or suited cards. The lowest two unpaired cards of different suits play.
Because there are two pairs, one of each pair is discarded, making a 5,A two-card hand.
Because there are three hearts, two of them are discarded, making a 2,A two-card hand.
In the event of a tie: The lower second card wins the pot. The third and fourth (paired or suited) cards do not count toward the hand and are not used to break ties.
One-Card Hand: A hand consisting of only one playable card. The lowest card plays.
Since there are four Aces, three of them are discarded, making a one-card hand of just an Ace.
Since there are four cards of the same suit, three of them are discarded, making a one-card hand of just a Three.
In the event of a tie: The pot is split between two equal one-card hands.
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What English novelist, a purveyor of romantic fiction, is responsible for such works as Mansfield Park, Northanger Abbey, and Emma, among others? | Invented Draw Poker Variants
Invented Draw Poker Variants
Uncle Bob's Left Nut (UBLN)
Six-card draw poker
This is a version of draw poker with six card hands, invented by Jeff Cross. It's played pretty much the same way as Five-Card Draw, but with the following changes:
NUMBER OF PLAYERS: 2 to 8
THE DECK: 104 cards (2 decks shuffled together)
THE DEAL: Six cards to each player
DRAWING: Up to five cards may be discarded in exchange for new ones. Drawing six cards requires paying another ante.
RANKING OF HANDS:
Six of a kind: Six cards of equal rank.
Straight flush: Six cards of the same suit and in sequential order, such as 5-6-7-8-9-10. The highest-ranking straight flush is the royal flush, consisting of the A, K, Q, J, 10 and 9 of one suit.
Five of a kind: Five cards of one rank.
Spillover: Three cards of one rank and three cards of another rank.
Four and two: Four cards of one rank and two cards of another, as in 9-9-9-9-4-4.
Flush: Six cards of the same suit, but not in sequence.
Straight: Six cards in sequence, but not of the same suit.
Four of a kind: Four cards of one rank.
Three pair: Two cards of one rank, two cards of another rank, and two cards of a third rank.
Full house: Three cards of one rank and two cards of another rank.
Three of a kind: Three cards of the same rank.
Two pair: Two cards of one rank and two cards of another rank.
One pair: Two cards of one rank.
DUPLICATION: Since two standard decks are being used, players might receive two cards of identical rank and suit. This is used to break ties in hands, with a pair of identical cards being better than a pair in different suits. For example, the hand
A-
4.
Michael Keller of World Game Review comments as follows:
Normally poker hands are ranked, as much as possible, on the frequency with which the hands occur on the deal. This is the case with standard five-card poker, although logic dictates that this principle is not universally followed in every variant (e.g. one pair ranks above no pair, even when one pair occurs more frequently). There are also paradoxes which make it difficult to set up a consistent ranking based on frequency (with wild cards, for example, it is often the case that triplets are more common than two pairs; reversing the rankings doesn't work either, since two pairs will then be more common because of the large number of hands containing a wild card and a natural pair, which will be classified as whichever hand ranks higher).
It is also reasonable to relax the frequency principle a bit if the same variant is played with different combinations of decks/wild cards. For example, if you sometimes play six-card poker with one deck and sometimes with two, it makes sense to use the same rankings for both even though the relative frequencies differ. Here are the counts of how many times each hand occurs with one and two decks - I have listed them in the ranking order for two decks, except that no pair as usual ranks lowest.
Frequency of six-card poker hands
One deck Two decks No jokers No jokers Six of a Kind ---- 364 Straight Flush 36 2 304 Five of a Kind ---- 69 888 Double Triplets 1 248* 244 608 Four and Two 936 305 760 Flush (6 cards) 6 828 436 992 Straight (6 cards) 36 828* 2 356 992 Four of a Kind 13 728 3 843 840 Three Pairs 61 776 6 278 272 Full House 164 736 21 525 504 Triplets 732 160 82 001 920 Two Pairs 2 471 040 215 255 040 One Pair 9 884 160 738 017 280 No Pair 6 985 044 447 042 816 Total 20 358 520 1 517 381 580
For an extensive list of hand frequencies in multiple deck five-card poker, see Mark Brader's probability tables .
3-2-1
Contributed by Treetop Collier ( [email protected] )
For 3-5 players - the following rules are for 4 players:
Deal all players 6 cards down (batch of 3, batch of 2, 1)
A single card is dealt into the center of the table, face down to form the 'trash' hand (If 3 players, deal 2 trash cards. If 5 players, deal none)
Round of betting
Everybody MUST either change 3 cards (no fewer, no more) or fold - round of betting
Everybody MUST either change 2 cards (no fewer, no more) or fold - round of betting
Everybody MUST either change 1 card (no fewer, no more) or fold - round of betting
Each player must discard one card, face down, into the 'trash' hand to makes 5 trash cards. If any players have folded, more cards may need to be added from the deck to make up 5 cards in the trash hand.
Showdown - best hand wins the pot
Now the 'trash' hand is revealed one card at a time, any of the players failing to beat the trash hand must pay forfeit (e.g. in our game, that means they must ante the equivalent of half of their pot to buy in to the next hand).
Variations:
wild card - the first 'trash' card is dealt face up - its opposite color equivalent is wild (e.g. a black 3 is turned, so red 3s are wild). If more than one trash card is dealt in stage 2 (i.e. 3 players) then the player to the right of the dealer may turn one of the trash cards to determine wildcard
instead of drawing new cards each change, players could 'pass' cards to his left
the trash hand could form community cards and can be incorporated into each player's hand just like Cincinnati or Hold 'Em. A round of betting would follow the turning of each trash card.
The inventor writes: "There are a couple of things I particularly like about this game: that extra card in your hand makes a big difference. With 5 card draw poker, there is usually a very obvious potential hand and so deciding which cards you need to change is relatively easy. With 6 cards, you often find you have 2 potentially good hands and so deciding which cards to change is more of a dilemma. Also, the chance of being beaten by the 'Trash' hand at the end of the game adds some fun and rubs salt in the wounds of already losing chips in that game - it adds 'degrees of losing' - you might not have won the game but at least you didn't get beaten by the Trash hand."
Jackpot Poker
Contributed by Matt Molver ( [email protected] )
To play, deal everyone five cards. Place the deck in the middle and let everyone look at their cards. They may set one of their bad cards down in a pile by the deck and draw a card from the deck. Let everyone do that until someone gets a good hand and says, "I Call". Then everyone bids to see who has the highest hand. This game is just like five card draw, except everyone draws until someone calls. You may use two's as wild cards.
Freak of Nature
Contributed by Doble J.
The game is played the same as 5 card draw. Sixes are wild. Here's the catch: at the end of all the betting and the draw, if none of those who chose to stay in has a six then fives become wild. Again if no one has a five then fours become wild. And so on and so forth.
Assassin Poker
Contributed by Joel Lau ( [email protected] )
Any betting formulas may or may not be used. Played Like 5-card draw except for one variation:
The twos (jokers may be used) are wild, but not in the normal way, if you receive a two in the deal (before the draw) you may if you wish turn it face up when trading it in - you won't want to save it - and receive an extra card, however only one extra card may be received regardless of the number of twos traded in. But, if your final hand has a two in it, as a result of the draw, or because you saved it, you are "assassinated", and automatically lose.
Notes:
The player does have the option of not revealing the two when drawing, so as not to receive an extra card and thereby lessen the risk of being "assassinated".
A player who trades in one or more twos face up will have a six-card hand after being dealt replacent cards. In a showdown, the player chooses five cards to make the best poker hand, but must also show the sixth card to prove it was not a two.
If you have a two in your final hand, you don't have to reveal it. You may continue betting, and if you convince all the other players fold you escape the assassination and win the pot without having to show your hand. However, you automatically lose any showdown.
If it turns out that all the players in the showdown have twos, they all lose and the pot is carried forward to the next deal.
Low-Die, High-Die
A pair of 5-card Draw Poker variations contributed by Mike Thompson
In Low-Die, aces, twos, and threes are wild, but only if you have the card of the value on the opposite side of the dice (adding up to seven). That is, any ace in your hand is wild if you have at least one six in your hand, any two in your hand is wild if you have at least one five in your hand, and any three in your hand is wild if you have at least one four in your hand.
High Die is exactly like Low Die, except fours, fives, and sixes are wild only if you have a corresponding three, two, or ace in your hand, respectively.
It's possible to have wild cards of more than one rank - for example in Low-Die, if you have A-6-5-2-2 your ace and twos are wild, and you have four of a kind, or a straight flush if your 6 and 5 are the same suit.
Natural hands have definitely won this game quite often!
Before the players look at their cards, the dealer calls what draws are allowed, depending on the number of cards remaining. For example, in a 6-player game there are 22 cards left over, so up to 3 cards for each player. The dealer could call one 3-card draw, or a 2-card draw followed by a 1-card draw, or just a 2-card draw, or three 1-card draws, or any other combination, including no draw at all. If the dealer allows more than one draw, there is a new betting round after each draw.
Mike Thompson reports that this method of allowing the dealer to call the draw is widespread in Canadian Draw Poker.
Crazy 4 of Spades
Contributed by Ryan Turnbaugh
This is a 5 Card Draw Poker Game. It is played just like a normal 5 card draw game. You are dealt 5 cards. There is a round of betting. You are able to draw up to 3 cards (4 cards with an Ace). Another round of betting. Then any remaining players call their hands.
The difference is that the Four Of Spades is wild. If you have the
4 in your hand it is automatically wild no matter what. But if you have the
4 in your hand and have another four in your hand as well (the
4, the
4 or the
4) that four also becomes wild. But if you have one of the non-Spade fours without the
4 then it is just a four.
This variation is usually played "two to win" - you have to win two hands in succession to win the pot. The winner of the first hand does not collect any money but is given a token. If a different player wins the second hand the token is passed to the new winner. Only when the player holding the token wins the next hand as well does that player collect the pot, and the token is returned to the middle, to be taken by the winner of the next hand. This "two to win" method also works well in a normal 5 card draw game (Jacks or Better), since pots tend to be small.
Ryan writes: When you try and explain this game to other people while playing poker they usually get all annoyed with you and think it's a "stupid wild card game". But if they are willing to actually play it, a lot of them tend to enjoy it. This is because the chances of getting some insane hand with the limited wild cards is usually small. But once in awhile someone will hit big and get a few fours and mop up. So, in most hands the game is actually similar to a Suicide King Wild type of game, but every so often someone will hit the 4 Of Spades with other fours and clean up (if bet properly).
This game, of course could be called the "Crazy any kind of card" game. Just replace the spade 4 with any other card and the rules work the same. I chose 4's because I usually like low cards to be the wilds and 2's and 3's are already so commonly used as wilds that 4's seemed to be the logical choice.
Draw poker variants with open discards
Contributed by Bruce Leban
, who writes: "I've always found draw poker a bit weird in that you're betting with very little information and I'm not good at pure bluffing. Here, in the first round of betting each player knows how many cards their opponents discarded and replaced. The second round is after players get to see their opponents face up discards which gives them information about what cards are available and what cards their opponents consider less valuable than the cards they're keeping."
Six-Card Open Draw Poker
Each player is dealt six cards. They discard up to four cards (face down) which are replaced. There is a round of betting. They then discard one more, face up, leaving a standard five card poker hand. There's a final round of betting after the face up discard. This game is limited to 5 players. (With more players, you could use two decks.)
Seven-Card Open Draw Poker
Each player is dealt seven cards. They discard up to three cards (face down) which are replaced, followed by a round of betting. This is followed by two rounds where each player discards a card, face up followed by a round of betting. This game is limited to 5 players. (With more players, you could use two decks.)
Five-card open draw (simple)
Same as standard five-card draw poker, except that after all players discard, the discards are turned face up.
Five-card open draw (sequential)
Each player is dealt five cards. Go around the table and each player has a chance to discard one card face down. After each player has had a chance to put a card down, all the discarded cards are turned face up. Then there is another round of discarding. (Players may of course change their mind about what cards to discard in the second round after seeing the first round of discards from other players.) A player who passes may not discard in a subsequent round. ** Continue with further rounds of discarding, turning the discards face up after each round, until everyone passes. Then all discards are replaced. In this variation, you can have a round of betting after each round of discards.
Open discarding can be used with any other discard game, to create for example six-card open draw and seven-card open draw.
**Note: the reason players may not pass in one round and then discard in the next round is that otherwise the last player would have a big advantage: the possibility of passing in every round while others are discarding, knowing that there will be another round of discards. This player would then get to see all the others' discards before having to commit.
Five-card Double Draw High-Low
A variant for 3 - 5 players, contributed by Chris Hood
This is played like 5 card draw poker, but each player gets two opportunities to change out their cards. If the cards run out during the second draw, discarded cards are shuffled and reused. There is a betting round after the initial deal, a second betting round after the first draw and a third betting round after the final draw.
When all betting is done, all players who have not folded lay out their hands and the lowest hand and the highest hand split the pot. Players do not declare high or low, so sometimes a player unexpectedly wins half the pot by having the lowest hand when all were going for high or vice versa.
When comparing hands for low, aces can count as low and straights and flushes do not count, so the lowest hand is A-2-3-4-5. Note that this same hand could at the same time win high.
Auction Flop Poker
Contributed Charles Magri
, who writes: "This version of poker was inspired by a posting by Jean Roche in the newsgroup fr.rec.jeux.cartes entitled Poker aux enchères on 5th December, 2003." Here is a link to Charles Magri's own page on Auction Flop Poker .
Players have at the beginning an equal number of chips for play. A dealer is selected at random.
At the beginning of each hand, players contribute a fixed ante eg. 3 chips. The dealer distributes five cards to each player face down as in standard poker. The remainder of the cards form a stock pile.
Phase one
The players each look at their cards and may discard some of them face down into a central discard pile if they wish. Payments must be made to the pot according to the number of cards discarded:
No discard - no payment.
Discarding 1 card costs 1 chip.
Discarding 2 card costs 3 chips.
Discarding 3 cards costs 6 chip.
Discarding 4 cards costs 10 chips.
Discarding all 5 cards costs 15 chips.
The dealer does not replenish the players' hands as in normal Draw Poker. Instead the players complete their hands by buying cards from face up sets of cards dealt to the table in the next phase.
Phase two
The top three cards of the stock pile are now revealed. These are called "the flop" as in Texas Holdem poker but they are not shared cards. They can be used only by the player who bids highest for them.
The player to the dealer's left is known as the "First voice" and may either "pass" or bid "one" for the flop. Each player in turn, in clockwise order, can either pass or bid one higher than the highest bid so far (or open the bidding for one if all before him / her have passed). Players who have passed are permitted to bid if the turn comes round to them again. Players who already have five cards must always pass. This continues until the flop is "sold" to the player who bids the highest followed by passes by all other players. The winner of the auction then pays the price bid into the pot, picks up the flop, keeps at least one card from it, and discards any unwanted flop cards face down to the discard pile without revealing which they are. This process is repeated, the turn to be first voice passing to the left to the next player who has fewer than five cards, until everyone has a hand of five cards.
Note that
During phase two you cannot discard any cards from the hand. You must keep all the cards you had at the end of phase one and any cards you added to it from previous flops.
When you buy the flop, you must keep it separate from your hand until you have decided which cards to keep and which to discard.
You cannot have a hand of more than five cards. Therefore if you already have (for example) three cards and buy a flop, you must discard at least one of the flop cards.
Players who have five cards do not take part in any further auctions until the showdown.
If, for a flop, all players pass, then the first voice must decide whether to take the flop for nothing (which obliges him to keep at least one card from it) or pay 1 not to take it. If the first voice pays 1, the next player who has fewer than five cards has the choice of taking it for free or paying 2 not to take it, the next player would have to pay 3 not to take it, and so on around the table until someone takes the flop.
If the stock pile is exhausted and not all players have received their full hand(s), the discard pile is picked up, and shuffled to become the new stock pile.
NB: The last participating player gets to complete their hand for free by formally refusing to bid, then accepting the flop for free. Note that like all other flops, this flop cannot be rejected: if there are no other players with incomplete hands the last remaining player is forced to take at least one card from each flop until his hand is complete.
Showdown
All players' hands are shown and the pot is divided as follows:
60% for the player with the highest ranking poker hand
30% for the player with the second-highest ranking hand
10% for the player with the third highest ranking hand.
Dealer for the next hand passes to the left.
Bounce Back
A 5-card draw poker variant, also known as Boomerang, contributed by George Weissenberger
.
The deal passes clockwise after each hand.
Round 1: After antes are laid, the dealer deals 5 cards down to each player (one card each, five times around). The players look at their hands and, beginning with the dealer, either bet (or call) or fold.
Round 2: Beginning with the dealer, one or two cards may be discarded and replaced. The discarded cards are laid face-down in front of the player and the dealer deals the replacements from the deck. Another round of betting/folding occurs beginning with the dealer.
Round 3: Each player may discard the same number of cards that they discarded in the first round and replace them by picking up the cards that they had previously discarded. Another round of betting/folding occurs beginning with the dealer.
The players’ hands are revealed and the winner determined using standard 5 card poker rankings.
Uncle Bob's Left Nut
This game, also known as UBLN, was contributed by Grey Doffin
.
It is simply Five Card Draw Poker in which at the showdown, the lowest card in each player's hand is wild for that player only. Ace is low only when used in a 5-high straight. For example, A-A-3-4-5 is a 5-high straight, with one wild ace used as a 2.
Fives
Contributed by Don Cunningham
5s or Fives is a five card draw poker game.
Each player antes and receives 5 cards face down. There are five draws of up to five cards each draw. In each draw, players discard as many or as few cards as they like and they draw and equal numnber of replacement cards, but they must pay a set amount to the pot for each card (the amount per card is usually equal to the ante). So for example with a $1 ante, you would pay $3 to draw three cards, and if you did this five times looking for cards to match your pair it would cost you a total of $15.
There is no betting until after all five draws have been completed, then one round of betting.
The twist is that the winning hand must contain a five. If the best hand does not contain a 5, then all players who did not fold ante up and play again. So for example if there are just two players in the showdown and their hands are:
Player A: 9-9-9-K-K
Player B: 7-7-7-5-3
neither player wins and these two ante and play again for the same pot. Thus it is worthwhile for a player holding a good hand without a five to stay in to prevent another from winning the pot cheaply. Quite often this results in pots building up to 200 or more times the ante before they are won.
In the unlikely event of a tie, the player with the five takes the pot, if both players have a five and identical hands, split the pot
Because of the draws, it is more than likely that the cards will run out. When this happens, simply shuffle the discards and continue. [It would also be possible to use two decks, but this does alter the odds and strategies significantly, and raises problems about how to deal with hands containing identical cards.]
Two possible variations of this game:
Fives are wild
Twos are wild, fives are not, but you still need a five to win (this one is often called Fucked Up Fives)
Buck Thirty-Five
A variation of five-card draw poker for 4-6 players contributed by Alfred Carter
Five cards are dealt face down to each player, laid out as in the diagram below.
The players pick up and look at cards 1, 3, and 5 but are not allowed to look at the other two cards yet. There is a round of betting. Players then pick up and look at their card 2. There is a round of betting. At this point players will have those four cards in their hand. Finally, players look at card 4 but it must stay face down on the table and must not be mixed with the rest of player's hand. Card 4 and any others of that rank are wild for the player. There is a round of betting. Each player can exchange up to three cards, but wild card 4 cannot be traded. There is a final round of betting.
High hand wins, or the game can be played High/Low split, according to prior agreement.
Editor's note: For convenience and to avoid accidental exposure of cards, players may prefer to deal just three cards each initially (1, 3 and 5), then card 2 after the first round of betting, and finally card 4, the wild one, after the second round of betting.
Variations:
Cards 2 and 4, and any others matching, are wild in the player’s hand. In that case, cards 2 and 4 should not picked up after being looked at. They cannot be traded in draw.
Cards 2 and/or 4, and any others matching, are wild in the player’s hand only if either matches card 1, 3, or 5. Cards 2 and 4 should not be picked up when looked at. They cannot be traded in draw.
If there are no more than 5 players, allow cards 2 and 4 to be traded as well, for a fee for each one traded. Charge fee for the first, and double fee for the second. These new cards take the place of the exchanged cards face down on the table.
Any variant can be made High/Low split. Low is determined as per house rules. This will probably lead to less trading of cards in the game.
| i don't know |
In Morse code, what international distress signal replaced the original CQD in 1908? | SOS, CQD and the History of Maritime Distress Calls
To Telegraph Office Main Page
Welcome back to the Telegraph Office. This month we are going to diverge a little from talking about wire and wireless artifacts and talk about wireless telegraph distress signals.
Mystery, intrigue as well as misinformation surrounds the origin and use of maritime distress calls. The general populace believes that "SOS" signifies "Save Our Ship." Casual students of radio history are aware that "CQD" preceded the use of "SOS." Why were these signals adopted? When were they used? Why did one replace the other? What is one likely to find by digging a little deeper?
The practical use of wireless telegraphy was made possible by Guglielmo Marconi in the closing years of the 19th century. Until then, ships at sea out of visual range were very much isolated from shore and other ships. A ship could vanish from the high seas, and no one would know until that vessel failed to make a port connection. Marconi, seeing that wireless would not compete with wire telegraphy for land based communication, concentrated his efforts on ship to shore communications. Ships equipped with wireless were no longer isolated.
The first use of wireless in communicating the need for assistance came in March of 1899. The East Goodwin Lightship, marking the southeastern English coast, was rammed in a fog in the early morning hours by the SS R. F. Matthews. A distress call was transmitted to a shore station at South Foreland and help was dispatched.
By 1904 there were many Trans-Atlantic British ships equipped with wireless. The wireless operators came from the ranks of railroad and postal telegraphers. In England a general call on the landline wire was a "CQ." "CQ" preceded time signals and special notices. "CQ" was generally adopted by telegraph and cable stations all over the world. By using "CQ," each station receives a message from a single transmission and an economy of time and labor was realized. Naturally, "CQ" went with the operators to sea and was likewise used for a general call. This sign for "all stations" was adopted soon after wireless came into being by both ships and shore stations.
At the first international congress of wireless telegraphy in 1903, the Italians recommended the use of "SSSDDD" to signal an emergency. "D" had previously been used internationally as the signal for an urgent message. The origin of "S" is not known, but it may have come from the first letter of the word ship, indicating a ship in distress. The sending of "SSSDDD" would signal all other stations to stop sending and leave the channel open for emergency traffic. Though discussed, it was not adopted. Deciding on a distress signal was put on the agenda for the next meeting in 1906. "DDD" would later be adopted for the silent signal, indicating all stations must cease sending.
In 1904, the Marconi company filled the gap by suggesting the use of "CQD" for a distress signal. It was established on February 1 of that year by Marconi Company's circular No. 57. Although generally accepted to mean, "Come Quick Danger," that is not the case. It is a general call, "CQ," followed by "D," meaning distress. A strict interpretation would be "All stations, Distress." In the U.S. Senate hearings following the Titanic disaster, interrogator Senator William Smith asked Harold Bride, the surviving wireless operator, "Is CQD in itself composed of the first letter of three words, or merely a code?" Bride responded, "Merely a code call sir." Marconi also testified, "It [CQD] is a conventional signal which was introduced originally by my company to express a state of danger or peril of a ship that sends it."
At the second Berlin Radiotelegraphic Conference of 1906, the subject of a distress signal was again addressed. The distress signal chosen was "SOS." (The American distress signal "NC" for "Call for help without delay" was not adopted, although it remains as the international flag symbol for distress to this day.) Popular accounts portray the adoption of "SOS" as being derived from "SOE," which the Germans had used as a general inquiry call. These accounts suggest there was objection because the final letter of "SOE" was a single dot, hard to copy in adverse conditions. The letter "S" was substituted accounts say, for three dots, three dashes and three dots could not be misinterpreted.
Popular accounts of the origin of "SOS" fail to mention that the Germans had used "SOS" for a distress signal. They adopted the signal "SOS" for distress as well as "SOE" for inquiry on April 1, 1905, a year before the Berlin conference. The Electrician, May 5, 1905 published "German Regulations for the Control of Spark Telegraphy" which stated:
"...---..., "Distress" signal (Notzeichen). This is to be repeated by a ship in distress until all other stations have stopped working."
Unfortunately, the 1906 Conference proceedings do not give an account of the discussions nor the origin of SOS. The proceedings merely specify what the signal will be. In the Service Regulations Affixed to the International Wireless Telegraph Convention, paragraph 6a, "Signals of Transmission" states::
"Ships in distress shall use the following signal: ...---... repeated at brief intervals."
The Marconi Yearbook of Wireless Telegraphy and Telephony , 1918 states, "This signal [SOS] was adopted simply on account of its easy radiation and its unmistakable character. There is no special signification in the letter themselves, and it is entirely incorrect to put full stops between them [the letters]." All the popular interpretations of "SOS," "Save or Ship," "Save Our Souls," or "Send Out Succour" are simply not valid. Stations hearing this distress call were to immediately cease handling traffic until the emergency was over and were likewise bound to answer the distress signal.
Although the use of "SOS" was officially ratified in 1908, the use of "CQD" lingered for several more years, especially in British service where it originated. It is well documented in personal accounts of Harold Bride, second Radio Officer, and in the logs of the SS Carpathia, that the Titanic first used "CQD" to call for help. When Captain Smith gave the order to radio for help, first radio officer Jack Phillips sent "CQD" six times followed by the Titanic call letters, "MGY." Later, at Brides suggestion, Phillips interspersed his calls with "SOS."
In SOS to the Rescue, 1935, author Baarslag notes, "Although adopted intentionally in 1908, it [SOS] had not completely displaced the older "CQD" in the British operators' affections." Marconi in his U.S. Senate testimony on the Titanic disaster said, "I should state that the international signal [SOS] is really less known that the Marconi Co.'s [CQD] signal." (It is interesting to observe that Marconi was waiting in New York to return home to England on the Titanic.)
The first use of wireless in the rescue of an American ship was in 1905. Off Nantucket, the operator of Relief Ship No. 58, a light ship, sent "HELP" in International Morse and American Morse. (Trans-Atlantic ships used International Morse and coastal ships used American Morse. The use of American Morse on seagoing vessels ceased in 1912 although it survived for many years on the Great Lakes.) A Naval Radio Station in Rhode Island answered the "HELP" call.
The rescue of 1,500 passengers and crew from the Republic and the Florida by the Baltic in January of 1909, was the defining moment in wireless rescue history. The White Star liner Republic was rammed in a dense fog by the Italian Florida. Wireless operator Jack Binns of the Republic, sent out a "CQD." (The Florida was not wireless equipped.) The Baltic came to the rescue after hunting for the Republic in the fog for many hours. Those concerned with the maritime industry now realized the importance of equipping ships with wireless.
The number of ships equipped with wireless grew rapidly after the Republic disaster. For example, at the end of 1909 the Marconi Co. owned and operated 143 wireless stations on the high seas. By the summer of 1911, the number grew to 303 stations. By the end of 1912, there were 580 shipboard wireless installations.
The U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Navigation publication, Important Events in Radio telegraphy, 1916, recorded maritime disasters in which wireless played a part in rescue on the seas and the Great Lakes. From 1899 to 1908, there were nine such events. In 1909 there were 18 rescues and in 1915, 35 rescues. The following quote, though not directly rescue related, demonstrates the extreme importance of shipboard wireless:
"November, 1914 -- Great Lakes storms destroyed 19 vessels, none of which were equipped with wireless. All vessels having radio apparatus installed received warning of the coming storm and sought safety."
The first recorded use of "CQD" by an American ship was in 1908 by the steamer Santa Rosa off the coast of California. Commander Richard Johnstone records this in his memoir My San Francisco Story of the Waterfront and the Wireless, 1965. The first recorded American use of "SOS" was in August of 1909. Wireless operator T. D. Haubner of the SS Arapahoe radioed for help when his ship lost its screw near Diamond Shoals, sometimes called the "Graveyard of the Atlantic." The call was heard by the United Wireless station "HA" at Hatteras.
A few months later, the SS Arapahoe received an "SOS" distress call from the SS Iroquois. Radio Officer Haubner therefore has the distinction of being involved in the first two incidents of the use of "SOS" in America, the first as the sender and the second as the receiver. Being slow to adopt international wireless standards, the U.S. did not officially adopt "SOS" until 1912.
Besides "CQD" and "SOS," "XXX" was used as an urgent signal, being less urgent than "SOS." "XXX" was used when there was concern for the safety of a ship or the safety of person on board or a person sighted from on board. "TTT" was used as a safety signal to precede ice, storm and other navigational warnings including coastal artillery practice. "MEDICO" was used by ships without a doctor seeking medical advice from another ship or shore station. During W.W.II, the signal "SSSS" was used for "submarine sited".
The distress call by radio telephone is the two words "MAY DAY." This corresponds to the French pronunciation for "m'aider", which means "help me." On voice, the "XXX" (urgent) equivalent is the word "PAN." This corresponds to the French pronunciation for "panne", which means "mishap" or "accident." The "TTT" (safety) equivalent is "SECURITY." This corresponds to the French pronunciation for "sécurité", which means "safety." The calling frequency for voice was 2182 kilohertz.
During the investigation into the Titanic disaster, Guglielmo Marconi stated that he was experimenting with a device that could be used as an automated alarm for distress signals. Upon hearing a series of signals, an alarm bell would ring. Some European nations put these alarms into service. A sequencing device was connected to the output of the receiver. Upon the reception of four or more dashes of exactly four seconds duration, a device rang an alarm bell in the radio shack, the radio officer's quarters and on the ship's bridge. The system was employed as a substitute for a second operator. Because the system could miss a call under adverse conditions or ring the bell in error, American radio authorities deemed it unreliable and not a substitute for another on duty operator. Americans later mandated the used of automatic alarms with the Communications Act of 1934.
At the third international radiotelegraph conference in 1912, it was agreed that ships would listen for distress signals on a wavelength of 600 meters. This is a frequency of about 500 kilohertz. (The calling and distress frequency for the Great Lakes was 410 kilohertz.) International law required each ship to cease transmitting for three minutes at 15 and 45 minutes past the hour. During this interval they were required to listen for distress calls. At this conference, the recent Titanic disaster was fresh on the minds of the delegates, particularly the British. Consequently, many advances were made concerning the cooperative use of wireless for safety at sea.
It is interesting that the use of "CQ" as a general call was displaced by "QST" in 1911. Radio amateurs, or hams as they are more commonly called, continue to use both. "CQ" is used as "calling any station" and "QST" is used as "calling all stations"
Wireless and radio literature of the early and mid 20th century is rich in documenting the use of maritime distress signals. Only the surface of the subject is covered here. Yet, perhaps next time a reference to "SOS" is seen, there will be a little more appreciation of its lineage.
Special thanks to Thomas White for providing electronic copies of German Regulations for the Control of Spark Telegraphy, Important Events in Radiotelegraphy and International Wireless Telegraph Convention. Without them, this article would not have been complete.
Bibliography
Baarslag, Karl. SOS to the Rescue. New York: Oxford University Press, 1935.
DeNeuf, Don. SSSDDD? SOE? CQD? SOS?. Telecommunications, Old Timer's Bulletin, Vol. 30. No. 2, Antique Wireless Association, 1989.
End of SOS Recalls Early Origins. Dots and Dashes - Official Publication of the Morse Telegraph Club, Inc. Vol. 27. No. 1, 1999.
"German Regulations for the Control of Spark Telegraphy." The Electrician, May, 1905.
Hancock, H. E. Wireless at Sea, The First Fifty Years. Chelmsford, England: Marconi International Marine Communications Company, 1950.
Important Events in Radiotelegraphy, Department of Commerce, Bureau of Navigation, Radio Service, Washington: G.P.O., 1916.
International Wireless Telegraph Convention. Washington: G.P.O., 1907.
Johnstone, Richard. My San Francisco Story of the Waterfront and the Wireless. Larkspur, California: Richard Johnstone, 1965.
Kuntz, Tom. (editor) The Titanic Disaster Hearings: The Official Transcripts of the 1912 Senate Investigation. Pocket Books, 1998.
"Marconi's Latest -- Wireless Distress Signal That Rings a Bell -- Titanic Commission Hears of New Invention." Daily Sketch (British newspaper) 19 June 1912. from The Titanic Disaster - As Reported in the British National Press April - July 1912. compiled by Dave Bryceson. New York: Norton, 1997
Morgan, Alfred P. Wireless Telegraphy and Telephony. New York: Henley, 1920.
Nilson, Arthur R. and Hornung, J. L. Radio Operating Questions and Answers. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1940.
Olson, Hank and Orr, Bill. The KFS-Federal-MacKay Story: From CW Arc to Silicon Valley. The AWA Review, Vol. 8, 1993.
Schroeder, Peter B. Contact at Sea, A History of Maritime Radio Communications. Ridgewood, N.J.: The Gregg Press, 1967.
Strichartz, M. H. Marine Radio Manual. New York: Cornell Maritime Press, 1944
The Year-Book of Wireless Telegraphy & Telephony 1918. London: The Wireless Press, LTD., 1918.
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Collins, Francis A. The Wireless Man His Work and Adventures on Land and Sea (Boy Scout edition). Grosset & Dunlap, 1912
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5 References
Early developments
Before radio communication was developed in the early 1890s, seagoing ships had already adopted many different visual and audio distress signals. They used such things as semaphore flags , signal flares , bells , and foghorns . In the beginning, radio was called wireless telegraphy. It used Morse code , the dit-and-dah system originally developed for landline telegraphy .When radio communication was made available to ships, there was a need for standardized communication. Cooperation was somewhat limited by national differences and rivalries between different radio companies.
The first International Radiotelegraphic Conference was held in Berlin , Germany in 1903 . At the time, Captain Quintino Bonomo, an Italian representative, discussed the need for common operating procedures. He also had the suggestion that "ships in distress... should send the signal SSS DDD at intervals of a few minutes", according to "The Wireless Telegraph Conference", in the November 27 , 1903 , issue of The Electrician. Question on how to do things were beyond the scope of the 1903 Conference. Although Article IV of the Conference's Final Protocol, signed August 13 , 1903 , said that "Wireless telegraph stations should unless practically impossible, give priority to calls for help received from ships at sea," no standard signal was adopted at the time.
Because there were no international regulations, each ship was left to develop its own practices. For example in 1905 the crew of a sinking lightship off Nantucket transmitted the word "HELP" to call for rescue. Perhaps the first international radio distress call adopted was " CQD " ( — · — · — — · — — · · ). This was announced on January 7 , 1904 by "Circular 57" of the Marconi International Marine Communication Company. It became effective for Marconi installations on February 1 , 1904 . Another suggestion appeared in the 1906 edition of S. S. Robison's "Manual of Wireless Telegraphy for the Use of Naval Electricians," published for use by the United States Navy. This stated that the standard visual flag signals, known as the International Code of Signals , would likely also be adopted for radio use. Therefore, the flag signal "NC" ( — · — · — · ), which stood for "In distress; want immediate assistance", would also likely become the radio distress call.
SOS created in Germany
A third standard resulted in the creation of the SOS distress signal. The German government issued a set of national radio regulations. These were used from April 1 , 1905 . They introduced three new Morse code sequences, including the SOS distress signal:
Ruhezeichen ("Cease-sending signal"), consisting of six dashes ( — — — — — — ). The signal was sent by shore stations to tell other local stations to stop transmitting.
Suchzeichen ("Quest signal"), made of three-dits/three dahs/one-dit, all run together (· · · — — — · ). The signal was used by ships to get the attention of shore stations.
Notzeichen ("Distress signal"), consisting of three-dits/three-dahs/three-dits (· · · — — — · · · ), also in a continuous sequence, "to be repeated by a ship in distress until all other stations have stopped working".
SOS was developed from the general German radio call "SOE", with the 3 dits of a "S" easier to hear in static than the one dit of an "E". The string has no other meaning. It was also selected because it is easy to recognize and can be sent rapidly. Comparing SOS (di-di-di-dah-dah-dah-di-di-dit) with the older CQD (dah-di-dah-dit dah-dah-di-dah dah-di-dit) (— ·—· /—— ·—/—· ·) it is obvious how much simpler the new code is. It would not be mistaken for CQ,either. CQ is the radio code for "calling anyone" used in casual circumstances.
In 1906, the second International Radiotelegraphic Convention was held in Berlin. This convention developed many Service Regulations to be added to the main agreement, which was signed on November 3 , 1906 , and became effective on July 1 , 1908 . Article XVI of the regulations adopted Germany's Notzeichen distress signal as the international standard, reading: "Ships in distress shall use the following signal: · · · — — — · · · repeated at brief intervals". The first ship to transmit an SOS distress call appears to have been the Cunard liner Slavonia on June 10 , 1909 , according to "Notable Achievements of Wireless" in the September, 1910 Modern Electrics. However, there was some resistance among the Marconi operators about adopting the new signal, and, as late as the April, 1912 sinking of the RMS Titanic , the ship's Marconi operators intermixed CQD and SOS distress calls. But with the need for consistency for public safety, the use of CQD appears to have generally disappeared after this point.
In both the April 1 , 1905 German law, and the 1906 International regulations, the distress signal was specified as a continuous Morse code sequence of three-dits/three-dahs/three-dits, with no mention of any alphabetic equivalents. However, in International Morse three dits make the letter S, and three dahs the letter O, and it soon became common to refer to the distress signal as "SOS." An early report on "The International Radio-Telegraphic Convention" in the January 12 , 1907 Electrical World said that "Vessels in distress use the special signal, SOS, repeated at short intervals." (In American Morse code , which was used by many coastal ships in the United States through the first part of the twentieth century, three dahs stood for the numeral "5", so in a few cases the distress signal was informally referred to as "S5S").
In contrast to CQD, which was sent as three separate letters with spaces between each letter, the SOS distress call has always been transmitted as a continuous sequence of dits-and-dahs, and not as individual letters. There was no problem as long as operators were aware that "SOS" was technically just a convenient way for remembering the proper sequence of the distress signal's total of nine dits and dahs. In later years, the number of special Morse symbols increased. In order to designate the proper sequence of dits-and-dahs for a long special symbol, the standard practice is to list alphabetic characters which contain the same dits-and-dahs in the same order, with a bar atop the character sequence to indicate that there should not be any internal spaces in the transmission. Thus, under the modern notation, the distress signal becomes SOS. (In International Morse, VTB, IJS and SMB, among others, would also correctly translate into the · · · — — — · · · distress call sequence, but traditionally only SOS is used).
SOS has also sometimes been used as a visual distress signal, consisting of three-short/three-long/three-short light flashes, or with "SOS" spelled out in individual letters, for example, stamped in a snowbank or formed out of logs on a beach. The fact that SOS can be read right side up as well as upside down became important for visual recognition if viewed from above.
Famous SOS calls
SS Andrea Doria
Later developments
Additional warning and distress signals were introduced after SOS. On January 20 , 1914 , the London International Convention on Safety of Life at Sea adopted the Morse code signal TTT ( — — —), three letter T's (—) spaced correctly as three letters so as not to be confused with the letter O (- - -), as the "Safety Signal," used for messages to ships "involving safety of navigation and being of an urgent character." When radio transmitters that could send audio were developed, there was a need for a spoken distress phrase, and " Mayday " was adopted by the 1927 International Radio Convention as the equivalent of SOS. For TTT the equivalent audio signals are " Pan-pan " for urgency and " Securite " for navigational safety.
During the Second World War , additional codes were used to include immediate details about attacks by enemy vessels, especially in the Battle of the Atlantic . The signal SSS signalled attacked by submarines, whilst RRR warned of an attack by a surface raider, QQQ warned of an unknown raider (usually an auxiliary cruiser ), and AAA indicated an attack by aircraft. They were usually sent in conjunction with the SOS distress code. All of these codes later switched from three repeats of the letter to four repeats ("RRRR", etc.).
References
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APUSH 1st Semester IDs
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Bacon’s Rebellion
Bacon’s Rebellion was an uprising in the Virginia Colony in 1676 led by a 29-year-old farmer named Nathaniel Bacon. Roughly a thousand poor. Virginians rose in opposition of Governor William Berkeley’s friendly policy toward the Native Americans after they had attacked the settlements. It was the first rebellion of unhappy settlers in the American colonies. The farmers did not succeed in driving the Native Americans out of Virginia; however, Gov. Berkeley did return to England.
City Upon a Hill
When John Winthrop led 900 Puritans out of England and to the New World, he declared that they must set up a “city upon a hill” so that the “eyes of the people are on us.” The Exodus happened in 1630. Winthrop was the governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. In creating a “New” England, the Puritans hoped to inspire religious reform through Christendom. It was one of the first attempts by early Americans to be world leaders.
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Congregationalist Church
The Congregational Church is a branch of the Protestant Church in which each congregation independently runs its own affairs. The Congregational Church began tin 1592 during the Puritan reformation of the Church of England because the Puritans believed the bishops to be “traitors unto God.” Congregational churches were established in the Massachusetts Bay Colony (New England).
Five Nations of the Iroquois
Indentured Servitude was the historic practice of temporarily signing over your labor in return for transportation, food, clothing, and shelter. This practice was common during the 17th century in Europe. The rise in poverty and the enclosure acts put many people in tough situations where selling your self as an indentured servant for food, shelter, and a passage to the new land were the best option. Indentured Servants were instrumental in populating the new colonies and show that we are a nation of immigrants
House of Burgesses
The House of Burgesses was the first assembly in the colonies that consisted of elected representatives. The House of Burgesses spanned from 1619 to 1776 despite attempts to disband it from King George. The House of Burgesses helped to make living condition better and encourage more people to settle in the English colonies. This ultimately paved way for a republic democracy and the American government we know today.
Jamestown
the first settlement in North America to be created by the colonization efforts of England’s Virginia Company. Established in 1607 in the modern state of Virginia, the settlement survived several years with the help of Native Americans of the area before it began reaping the benefits of tobacco harvests. This economic activity spurred the migration of thousands of English settlers, making the first English colony in the future United States a success and paving the way for other colonies along the East Coast.
John Rolfe
an English colonist from Jamestown in the first several years of the colony’s settlement. (1607-1615ish). He was also the diplomatic husband of Pocahontas. Rolfe pioneered the planting of tobacco in the colony, which sparked economic and population growth. He laid the economic groundwork for the English colonies in that area of the United States.
John Winthrop
a well-educated country squire from England who became the first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. In 1630, he led 900 religiously motivated migrants to establish a Puritan colony in Massachusetts. In doing this, he laid the political and religious groundwork for the future Puritan colonies of New England.
Joint-stock company
enterprises that took multiple investments from different people. This way these enterprises could amass enough money to start a successful colony without having to put all the risk on a single investor. Each investor received the fraction of the profit proportional to the fraction of the investment they made. These joint stock companies were first formed by merchants in England around 1550 and facilitated colonization of North America.
Maryland Toleration Act (1649)
an act of government by an elected representative assembly in the Maryland colony. This assembly was formed by inhabitants of Maryland who disputed Lord Baltimore’s (Cecilius Calvert) absolute proprietary control. After anti-Catholic agitation by Protestants in Maryland, Lord Baltimore was able to persuade the assembly to pass this act, which granted all Christians the right to follow their beliefs and hold church services. This is important because it is an act of government affirming personal freedoms, passed by an elected representative assembly formed by the people of the state against an absolute proprietor put in power by the King.
Mayflower Compact
agreement made by the settlers of the Mayflower who landed at Plymouth in 1620. Led by William Bradford, these English religious exiles from used the Mayflower Compact in place of a royal charter, and used the Puritan model of a self-governing congregation as the basis for the political structure of the colony. Around 1640, a written legal code provided for representative self-government, broad political rights, property ownership, and religious freedoms, was put into law for the colony. The Mayflower Compact was important to the development of American self-government because this colony quickly grew and flourished, still maintaining the values of self-government in what would become one of the most influential and important areas in early American history.
Middle Colonies
the middle region of the Thirteen Colonies of the British Empire in North America. In 1776 during the American Revolution, became independent of Britain as New Jersey, Pennsylvania,New York and Delaware. Much of the area was part of the New Netherland until the British exerted control over the region. The British captured much of the area in its war with the Dutch around 1664, and the majority of the conquered land became the Province of New York. The Middle Colonies had rich soil, allowing the area to become a major exporter of wheat and other grains. The lumber and shipbuilding industries enjoyed success in the Middle Colonies, and Pennsylvania saw moderate success in the textile and iron industry. Also, the most ethnically diverse and had written freedom of religion laws.
New France
the area colonized by France in North America during a period beginning with the exploration of the Saint Lawrence River by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Spain and Great Britain in 1763. At its peak in 1712 (before the Treaty of Utrecht), New France extended from Newfoundland to the Rocky Mountains and from Hudson Bay to the Gulf of Mexico. Very popular and dependant on fur traders. Had many missionaries trying to spread christianity. They also killed lots of indians with disease and guns.
New Netherland
the 17th-century colonial province of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands. The claimed territories were the lands from the Delmarva Peninsula to extreme southwestern Cape Cod. The settled areas are now part of the Mid-Atlantic States of New York, New Jersey, Delaware, and Connecticut, with small outposts in Pennsylvania and Rhode Island. The colony was conceived as a private business venture to exploit the North American fur trade. The inhabitants of New Netherland were Native Americans, Europeans, and Africans, the latter chiefly imported as enslavedlaborers.
Powhatan (Opechancanough) War (1622)
This war began in 1607 because Powhatan's bro (Opechancanough) was super pissed that all these Europeans were coming in and taking his people's land or trying to convert his people. Anyways, the war was a decade of bloody fighting between surprise attacks by the Indians and capturing of Indian farmland. Many indians were enslaved and the war provoked greater tension between the conflicting groups. Lastly, the war convinced the Virginia Company to make their colonies "royal" with their appointed governments to prevent wars of this magnitude from breaking out again.
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Predestination
This is John Calvin's idea from His Institutes of the Christian Religion (1536), and it was the idea that God had chosen certain people for salvation before they are born and condemns others to eternal damnation. Many Puritans were inspired by Calvin and embraced Calvin's predestination
Pueblo (Pope’s) Revolt (1680)
Carefully coordinated rebellion of Pope (Indian Shaman) that forced the spanish to retreat back to El Paso. Pope desired to repudiate the Christian religion. Ultimately, Spain reasserted themselves against the Pueblo people and the book makes it seem as though the Spaniards and Pueblos began to compromise some and intermingle however, tension was obviously still present between the opposing groups.
Puritan-Pequot War
armed conflict spanning the years 1634–1638 between the Pequot tribe against an alliance of theMassachusetts Bay, Plymouth, and Saybrook colonies who were aided by their Native American allies (the Narragansett andMohegan tribes). Hundreds were killed
Sir Walter Raleigh
Sir Walter Raleigh was an English colonist credited with the founding of the Roanoke Colony that failed in 1584. His voyages were self-funded and never provided the necessary revenue to maintain an American colony. His failure with the Roanoke Colony paved the way for many subsequent colonies. He is also well-known for popularizing tabacco in England.
St. Augustine
St. Augustine was a Spanish controlled city located in northern Florida. In 1513 Juan Ponce de Leon claimed the region of Florida for Spain, but the city itself was founded in 1565. St Augustine is the oldest continuously occupied European established city and port in the United States of America. It was used as a fort by the Spanish to protect against French and English attacks, and at one time was the northern most point of Spain’s’ American empire. This is important because it marked the beginning of permanent settlements in North America, and contributed to the Spanish culture found in Florida.
Virginia Company of London
The Virginia Company of London was a group of British investors who financed and facilitated the British colony of Virginia starting in 1607. The investors initially intended to establish a trading post, like the ones in India and Africa, to trade for gold and other valuables with the native people
The Currency Act of 1751
barred the New England colonies from establishing new land banks and prohibited the use of publicly issued paper money (by the banks) to pay off private debts. It was an act of Parliament that affected the New England colonies. The land banks, which were run by colonial assemblies, had issued paper money to facilitate trade, and forced English merchants to accept the currency. When the currency became devalued, English merchants complained, and this act was meant to prevent them from having to accept devalued currency. This economic conflict with the crown and others angered English political leaders, starting a shift from salutary neglect to more direct control.
The Dominion of New England
was a conglomerate colony made up of CT, RI, MA bay, and Plymouth that was created in 1686 on an authoritarian whim of King James II (it later added NY and NJ). The dominion extended authoritarian English rule to the colonies, severely limiting self-rule and freedom of worship. This angered colonists who wanted more autonomy, and as a result it set the stage for the Revolution.
First Families of Virginia (FFV)
were those families in Colonial Virginia who were socially prominent and wealthy, but not necessarily the earliest settlers. Some of these families were the earliest families in Virginia (c. 1607) and others migrated to the colony during the English Civil War (1642-1660) In a pre-industrial economy based largely on the possession of land, the ownership of that land was tightly controlled, and often passed between families of corresponding social rank, i.e. the many FFVs. The reins of power were held by a thin network of increasingly interrelated families. This would have led to tensions with England, because these men would have wanted to keep that power. Also, they formed part of what became the southern elite in America.
Middle passage
the path taken by slave trade ships from the South Atlantic System into the new world during the late 17th and into the 19th century. Millions of Africans were traded and many died
Molasses Act (1733)
passed in 1733 incase you were wondering (in Parliament). The "sugar lobby" interviened and got the law passed to limit French profits. The act allowed mainland colonies to export fish and flour to the French islands but placed a high tariff on French molasses to give an advantage to the British sugar people.
Navigation Acts (1651, 1660, 1663) 1651
Cut Dutch Trade to keep colonial trade with English. Mostly Ignored. ... 1660 - Ban foreign shipping, requiring colonists to export sugar/tabaco only to England. Partially Obeyed. ... 1663 - Only allowed European imports to come from England. Partially Obeyed.
The quakers
were a protestant religious group who believed in equality. they ended up settling in Pennsylvania during the 1680s and in this endeavor they were led by William Penn. The Quakers believed in an inner light of understanding which led them to believe in gender equality. This gender equality was applied to government by William Penn. It led to his Frame of Government that consisted of religious freedom, through seperation of church and state, and political equality by guranteeing every man the right to vote and hold office. OR They attracted Germans with their religious freedom. This led to a mass migration from Saxony to the US in 1683 in which Germantown was founded outside Philadelphia. This diversity made Pennsylvania the most open and democratic colony.
South Atlantic System
Was a system created for the exportation of goods (sugar was the primary product) that began in 1520 and continued until the 1800's. It was centered in Brazil and the West Indies. The system was responsible for the processing and exportation of sugar to Europe, as well as the exportation of tools to plantations in America. Slavery was necessary for the system to run, as the owners of the farms in South America needed a large labor force. It was significant as it increased the number of slaves in the New World and also increased the flow of slave carrying ships throughout the world. In 1800 alone, the British transported 2.5 millions African slaves to the Americas through this system.
Stono Rebellion
The Stono Rebellion was a slave uprising in South Carolina that occurred in 1739. The Spanish Catholic governor of Florida promised freedom to fugitive slaves, so in September 1739, 75 slaves revolted and killed many white people near the Stono River. Whites eventually killed a majority of the rebels, suppressing the uprising. This is important because whites tightened plantation discipline in fear, which lead to the horrific treatment of slaves in the 19th century.
South Atlantic System
The system in which hundreds of thousands of slaves were brought over to work the sugarcane plantations. Centered in Brazil and the West Indies, and sugar was it primary product. European merchants, investors, and planters provided the sugar plantations with tools and equipment used to process the sugarcane and ships to carry it. Main component of the system was the Atlantic slave trade. Between 1520-1650, traders from Portugal carried 820,000 Africans across the Atlantic. Led to Dutch domination of the slave trade until the 1700's, when the British transported millions of slaves to America, almost 6.1.
Stono Rebellion
1739, largest slave uprising occurs in South Carolina. Instigated by the Spanish governor of Florida, who promised freedom to fugitive slaves. February, 69 slaves escaped to St. Augustine. Actually revolt happened when England went to war with Spain in September of 1739, &5 black slaves rose in revolt and killed whites near the stono river. The slaves actually militarily able, came from war-emphasis culture, and were somewhat victorious as a number of them fled to Florida. The rest were put down and caused the slave owners to cut Slave imports and tighten plantation discipline, leading to an even larger gap between the blacks and whites.
William Penn
Given Pennsylvania by Charles II in 1681, who owed his father a large debt. Born of an extremely wealthy family, Penn left everything and joined the Quakers. Designed Pennsylvania as a pacifist haven for people like his Quakers, which led to non-violence towards the Native Americans there. Served as a refuge point from fleeing Quakers who refused to fight in the English army, and were persecuted for it. Made the Penn's frame of government (1681) which gave religious freedom through ensuring there was no legally established church. Also promoted political equality by allowing property owning men to vote and hold office. Also brought in German peasants through promise of cheap land and religious freedom. All these things made Pennsylvania the most open and democratic of the colonies. Again we see more tolerance for our brothers in the north.
Albany Congress
When- 1754 Where-- Albany, New York What-- a meeting of the representatives from the northern seven colonies... from Maryland up... that discuseed to how to have better relationships with indian tribes and to discuss common defense measures against the French. So What?-- Ben Frankilin thought to unite the colonies under 1 president/king who would decide all of the colonies military actions, foreign relations, and executing trade laws. This was rejected Why important? It laid a ground work that was adopyted into both the articles of confederation and into the constitution
Calvinism
Calvinism was begun in the 16th century in England by John Calvin He believed in predestination (a specific group of people with be saved by God) Jonathan Edward's returned religious zeal to the Puritans in New England in the 1730s with the idea that humans were helpless creatures completely dependent on the mercy of God. Edwards contributed to the enlightenment accepting John Locke's arguement that ideas are the product of experience as conveyed by the senses. Edwards played a critical role in shaping the First Great Awakening
Deism
Became popular in the 17th and 18th centuries during the Enlightenment in Europe and America 1771 Benjamin Franklin became a deist a philosophy (way of thinking, not religion) which holds that reason and observation of the natural world, without the need for organized religion, can determine that the universe is the product of a creator Christian intellectuals who decided they could not believe in supernatural miracles, inerrancy of scripture, or the trinity, but still believed in one creator. deists rely on natural reason, their innate moral sense, to define right and wrong. Deist ideas influenced leaders of the American revolution
George Whitefield
Was an English Methodist minister during the late 1730's and early 1740's. He studied German Pietism and eventually became a follower of John Wesley, the founder of Methodism. His message was carried throughout the colonies, from Georgia to Massachusetts. He preached sermons to large crowds of “enthusiasts” who would become overwhelmed by his compelling presence and fiery oration. His followers became known as the “New Lights.” Whitefield was important because he was an essential part of the Evangelical Movement in the 1700's and transformed the revivals of Edwards and Tenents into the larger Great Awakening.
The Great Awakening
Begun by George Whitefield, this evangelical movement championed by “New Lights,” was present throughout the colonies in the late 1730's and early 1740's. New Lights left the Congregationalist Church and founded 125 “separatist” churches that were supported by voluntary contributions. Other new communities began to emerge as well, such as the Baptist church. The movement challenged the authority of old ministers, as it asserted that a minister's knowledge should come from the “conversion experience” not the Bible. As the movement spread churches began creating schools to educate their younger ministers such as the “College of New Jersey” (now Princeton) and the “College of Rhode Island” (now Brown). These elements left a significant impact on American society. Education was not limited to the wealthy few, but contributed to the rise in education among many. Traditional power structures were upset and legally established churches and their tax-supported ministers were undermined by the ideology of the Great Awakening.
Paxton Boys
A group of Scots-Irish frontiersmen in Pennsylvania who were involved in the massacre of many Native Americans and a resulting conflict with the PA govt. As would-be landowners moved westward, conflicts with Native Americans increased. The people on the frontiers of PA asked the Quaker govt. to expel the Indians, but it refused. So in 1763, a group of scots-irish frontiersmen called the Paxton boys massacred 20 indians. When the PA governor tried to prosecute, the Paxton boys marched on Philadelphia and were only stopped by Ben Franklin, who arranged a truce. Peace was made, but the episode left a legacy of racial hatred and political resentment.
Pontiac’s War
War launched by a nativist Ottawa Indian chief, Pontiac, in 1763 that meant to expel British settlers and end British rule. Pontiac led a major uprising by a group of loosely confederated tribes (stretching geographically from the New York Senecas to the Minnesota Chippewas). Indians seized many British military garrisons and killed many settlers, but their alliance gradually weakened and the British military regained control. As a result, the Indians accepted the british as their new political “fathers,” and the British put into law that no colonists could settle west of the Appalachians. Both these developments served to increase racial tensions.
Presbyterians
people who followed the Presbyterian Church. This church revolved around the idea of a democratic congregation, with voting and no ruling minister or pastor. The Presbyterian church had European roots in Scotland, where it originated as a development of the Calvinist church. It took off in 1743 in the colonies, during the fervor of the Great Awakening and the Pietism movements. The Presbyterian church challenged the strength of legally established Anglican churches and that of the planter elite.
Quakers
followers/members of the Society of Friends, initially found a haven in Pennsylvaniaafter it was founded in 1681. Quakers believed in pacifism and condemned extravagance and sought to restore Christianity to simple spirituality, but did not believe in predestination, rather believed that God gave all men and all women an "inner light" of grace or understanding. They followed the teachings of Margaret Fell and George Fox, and emphasized gender equality and by 1750, racial equality. This freedom attracted many diverse immigrants mostly from 1720-1756, especially religious dissenters from Germany or Ireland. In 1740, Quakers control of Pennsylvania was broken down when a wave of immigrants made Quakers the minority, and the immigrants began demanding government policies against certain Quaker beliefs, and against Quaker domination of the assembly.
Salutary Neglect
England ignored America during the 1600s and early 1700s becuase they had problems on their own terf. Moreover, Becuase of this Americans made their own government due to the lack of England's government. They also had their own economy going on because they had their own goods and trade (nevertheless G.B. tried to regulate with the navigation acts). Furthermore, america was much more religiosly tolerant and even had freedom of religion in many places. Britain's neglect allowed America to prosper indepently and when G.B. tried to intervene late it only made America want to get away.
Scots-Irish
The Scots-Irish are a group of immigrants from the Irish province of Ulster. They immigrated to the British colonies throughout the 18th century. The Scots-Irish mainly settled in western Pennsylvania and throughout the Appalachian Mountains and lived in small, ethnic communities. The Scots-Irish were involved in the French and Indian War, and a group of Scots-Irish called the Paxton Boys murdered 20 native Americans. The prosecution of the Paxton boys led to riots that were eventually quelled, but they left a legacy of racial hatred and political resentment.
Zenger Trial
This was a court case between Zenger and Governor Cosby in 1734. Zenger printed a newspaper (The New York Weekly Journal), which highlighted governor Cosby's misdeeds. He was arrested for libel however, he was set free based on the fact that what he printed was true. This was an important event because it allowed the papers to be open, free, and truthful without the fear of punishment from the British. It also propelled the Americans to make freedom of the press a right for all Americans. Finally, the colonists could tell the truth about the British misdeeds and this spread of information garnered more gusto towards revolution.
Northwest Ordinances (1787)=
When: July 13, 1787 Where: Congress of Confederation passed. meeting in various places Who/did what: - It created the Northwest Territory as the 1st organized territory of the US out of area south of Great Lakes, north/west of Ohio River, and east of Mississippi. - Pres. George Washington signed into law in August of 1789 after new US Congress modified it under the Constitution. So What: - established fact that gov't would be soveriegn and expand westward with admission of states, rather than expandind current states Helped affirm the policy towards expansion along with the Articles of Confederation Slavery was prohibited in the Territory making the Ohio River the line of freedom for slaves establishing grounds for division leading to Civil War
Jonathan Edwards
New England - 1730’s - Jonathan Edwards was an American-born revivalist minister whose fiery, religious speeches contributed to the first great awakening. - Jonathan Edwards restored religious zeal that had disappeared in recent years to the congregational church along with contributing to enlightenment ideas. -Jonathan Edwards was one of America’s greatest intellectuals who stimulated religious fervor all across America and redefined the psychology of religious experience in America.
New Light Baptist
New England -1730’s -The new light Baptists were churches that broke away from larger sects during the great awakening - The new light churches welcomed religious dissidents, slaves, and criminals; they scorned passionless and traditional ministers for their selfish ways -The new light churches challenge customary authority in families and in society and minimized the cultural barrier between blacks and whites that had arisen due to slavery.
Admiralty Courts
Began in mid-1700s Eleven courts across the colonies Their only purpose was to dissolve disputes between merchants and seamen following the French and Indian War. They did not use a jury system, instead, a judge heard the case and issued a ruling. Durring the F&I War they were used to condemn enemy ships and dispose of their contents When Britain set up Trade and Navigation Acts, their authority included smuggling cases Merchants and officers could use either Common-Law courts or Admiriality courts, whichever they thought would give the best result This was unjust to those who were charged They argued lack of jury to be in violation of constitutional rights The legal concept of the Admiralty courts was that a defendant was assumed guilty until he proved himself innocent. Failure to appear as commanded resulted in an automatic guilty verdict Officers could require anyone charged to travel unreasonable distances and appear before an obviously biased court
Albany Congress
1754 Albany, New York a meeting of the representatives from the northern seven colonies (Maryland up) that discuseed to how to have better relationships with indian tribes and to discuss common defense measures against the French Ben Frankilin thought to unite the colonies under 1 president/king who would decide all of the colonies military actions, foreign relations, and executing trade laws. This was rejected It laid a ground work for what was later adopted into both the articles of confederation and into the constitution
Albany Plan of Union
When: June of 1754 Where: Albany, New York What / did what: Was a plan of union proposed by Benjamin Franklin to oppose French expansion. This “union” would manage trade, Indian policy, and defense in the west. Was ultimately defeated because colonial leaders wanted to retain power in their state assemblies and British magistrates feared union would lead to sentiment of independence. So what: significant because it was an early attempt at the unity necessary for a revolution. It showed the great minds of the time were percolating these ideas and weren't afraid to express them to their peers. The plan of union also reveals the extent to which the British feared a colonial rebellion and their untenable position with regards to their colonies.
Boston Massacre:
When: March 5, 1770 Where: come on guys... What / did what: British soldiers fired into a mob of people in front of them. Five people were killed as a result. Significance: made the Americans realize that the British were not there to help them. They realized the British were intent on taking away their freedoms. This event became the catalyst for a firestorm of propaganda that ignited revolutionary passions for independence throughout the colonies.
Boston Tea Party
December 16, 1773, Boston Harbor Drunk men dressed up as Indians and dumped lots of tea in protest of the tea act Pissed off Britain causing increased taxes and the closing of the Boston harbor Further increased American resentment and calling for a revolution
Coercive Acts
1774 British Parliament Sought to restore order in response to the Boston tea party and other acts Angered colonists by severely restricting their freedom Caused the summoning of the first continental congress, a major sign step in uniting the 13 colonies.
Committees of correspondence
when- by 1773 they were at their height where- across the 13 colonies what/ did what - networks of correspondence across the 13 colonies that communicated the colonial interpretation of British actions between the colonies and to foreign governments so what- their influence on American opinion of the British greatly aided the cause of independence in the years before the revolution, and the plans of the committee for collective action between the colonies were the beginning of what later became a formal political union among the colonies (1st continental congress was in 1774)
Common Sense
when- january 1776 where- affected all colonies what- patriotic pamphlet that came about right as fervor for independence was at its height, by Thomas Paine, Patriot did what- called for independence for colonies and a republican form of government so what- this was the tipping point for the second Continental Congress to declare US independence (it inspired them to write the actual declaration)
Declaration of Independence
- when: July, 4, 1776 where: Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia, affected the 13 colonies what: declared britain and king tyrannical and seperated the "united colonies" from britain. listed greivances against the king and stated the ideology of the independent states (life, liberty, property). did what: was widely read and persuaded many to support independence, both in America and in Europe. also incited celebration, riots, and other anti-british actions like hanging effigies so what: it was the official beginning of the revolution, it brought much more support for independence, and was the first widespread document expressing the ideas of liberty and popular sovereignity being put into place in a nation as well as a the first time a colony seperated from its mother country
George Grenville
- when: member of Parliament starting in 1741, became prime minister in 1763 where: Britain, but most notable policies concerned the American colonies what: prime minister of England coming out of the French-Indian war, decided that tax revenue to fix debt should come from America. did what: designed Currency Act (1764), the Sugar Act (1764) which replaced Molasses Act, the Stamp Act (1765) and made colonists provide funds to support troops in the colonies, opposed American representation in Parliament so what: his harsh policies raised constitutional issues with many colonists, especially the vice-admiralty courts jurisdiction applied in the Sugar Act, and the internal Stamp Act tax. This was what truly inflamed the colonies, and therefore, George Grenville played a large part in causing and giving basis for the American Revolution.
Homespun cloth
- when- Durring the STamp Act boycott of 1765 where-mostly the northern colonies like MA What- the "Daughter of Liberty" and other patriotic women made their own clothing instead of buying English clothes Did what-Inspired Patriotism amongst the colonist by having a phisical sign of unity against the British So what- increased the significance of women to the anti-british cause, served almost as an abstract American Flag that showed that the colonists weren't british but who were Americans who had their own identity
John Locke
- when- 1632-1704 where- Born in England, influenced all the colonies What-Wrote Two Treatises of Government, which was a big proponent of the idea that the the goverment should rule with the consent of the people
Lee’s Resolution
- When: June 7th, 1776, Fully ratified June 2, 1776 Where: Second continental congress, in the colonies. Who: Henry E Lee Did what: The first legitimate proposal to complete separation of the colonies from England, was met with half assed responses. Congress as a whole was not yet ready to declare independence, however, because the delegates from some of the colonies, including Maryland, Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, and New York, had not yet been authorized to vote for independence. Wanted to make sure they were splitting for legitimate reasons, so they spent several weeks drafting the official "declaration of independence" and on July 4th the resolution was approved and the declaration published. So what: well this part should be obvious. It was the first legit proposal of independence, and it let to declaration of the colonies and the revolutionary war. Also gathered all the states under one congress, and a first shape of a country was shapen. Non-importation Agreements
Olive Branch Petition
When - 1775 Where - 2nd Continental Congress in Philly What - an attempt to avoid a full-blown war with Great Britain. The petition affirmed American loyalty to Great Britain and entreated the king to prevent further conflict Did what - not much. the colonies were declared traitors before the king received it. So what - shows the colonists tried to appease the king at one point, but instead John Adams decided to remain quiet and wait to rally the colonists.
Patrick Henry
When - 1736 - 1799 Where - Govnr of VA What - Attornery, politician, "Give me Liberty, or give me Death!" guy. lead opposition against stamp act. Considered founding father. Leader of Anti-Federalists. Opposed US Constitution for fear it endangered rights of individuals Did what - well ^^ that stuff plus he was an avid promoter of American Revolution So what - He motivated the colonists to fight against England and lead VA as governor getting him a cool postage stamp.
Republican Virtue
When no real date, colonial era, 1700's and whatnot Where 13 colonies What values and ideals held by enlightenment thinkers and colonists about republicanism saying Virtue was of the utmost importance for citizens and representatives. that it required the service of those who were willing to give up their own monetary interests for a common good and to eradicate courruption Did What/So What people became increasingly committed to the virtues which influenced the cause of the Revolution saying that people and representatives should be focused on the state and not themselves. led to stronger revolutionary feeling and set up ideals for government after the revolution
Rights’ of Englishmen
Where england/colonies When 17 and 18th centuries What rights held by landowning citizens of England, established in the Magna Carta and added on by many laws after Did What colonists felt that they did not have the rights of Englishmen, mainly representation, so they became frustrated and protested, rioted, and tormented government officals and tax collectors So What the lack of rights led obviously to the Revolution, but furthermore influenced the constitution as the founding fathers made sure to institute taxation with representation (Except DC)
Sons of Liberty
When- 1766-1784 Where- Primarily New England.. but everywhere Who/what- American Patriot group made to protect the rights of the American citizens from the British One thing- they dressed up as indians and did the boston tea party because they were angry that Britain was subtely getting them to pay there taxes on Tea, even if they were low. Why important- This led to the intolerable acts by the British which blockaded the Boston harbor, shutdown the MA assembly and appointed a military governor. Thin in turn led to the continental congress meetings and the writing of common sense my Thomas Paine.
Virtual representation
When- 1773-1776 where- i guess parliament What- the thought that the represntatives in Parliament held the views of all the britsh subjects not just the district that rejected them. They could inturn justify taxing americans. One thing- they passed the declatory act in 1766 which said that the parliament had the right to tax the colonists. Why important- This ability to tax led to taxes such as the tea act, which created huge resentment and sparked the Boston tea party, one of the first acts outright revolution.
Annapolis Convention
When: 1786 Where: Annapolis, Maryland What: 12 delegates from five states (New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Virginia) that unanimously called for a constitutional convention Did what: Alexander Hamilton, who was the representative of New York, wanted strengthened the weak articles of confederation and created a constitution that included all 13 states. Sent out a copy of the new constitution to each of the 13 delegates to meet at the next convention So what: Was the one of the first steps to the creation of a strong central government, and inclusion of all 13 original colonies in a government decision. 12 delegates answered the summon and the Federal Constitutional Convention was formed. From that Federal Constitutional Convention was to emerge the Constitution of the United States.
Anti-federalist
When: 1783-On Where: All over the American colonies What: A movement that opposed the creation of a stronger U.S. federal government and which later opposed the ratification of the Constitution of 1787. Did What: Led by Patrick Henry of Virginia, advocated against the appointment of a country wide leader and pushed for state independence and legislature. Feared that having one man in power would eventually revert back to the tyrannical power of a King, which is what they broke away from in the first place. Wrote "Anti Federalist Papers", which laid out their belief system. Led states to be opposed to the constitution, however only prevented two, North Carolina and Rhode Island, to prevent ratification of the constitution. So What: Exhibited the idea that America was not a unified country right of the bat after winning their independence. Slowed down the process of unification severely, however in the end all the states ultimately agreed to join. Put barriers between some states who reluctantly joined due to pressure from other delegates. Ant federalist sentiment also lead to the emphasis on the individual and limitation of government as a compromise in the Bill of rights and the Constitution
Benedict Arnold
Who: Originally a general in the Continental Army, but then defected in 1780 to the British army after his plot to surrender to British forces in Ticonderoga was exposed. When: 1741-1801 Where: American Colonies, born in Connecticut. Did What: Tore it up on the Battlefield at first, leading the Capture of Fort Ticonderoga, Held his won at the Battle of Valcour, which he was supposed to get obliterated in. Did all the right things but still wasn't promoted by the Congress, as other men claimed credit for his accomplishments. He was deeply indebted to congress, and so he finally decided to switch sides and surrender West Point to the British. The Americans found out, but he escaped before they could capture and charge him. Become a Brigadier captain for the British Army. So what: First traitor in American history, however he did not make much of an impact for the British since his plot was foiled before he could benefit. He led raids in Virginia and almost captured Thomas Jefferson, but didn't. Probably led to some paranoia among the Continental Army, as they had lost one of their most courageous leaders in the worst way. Brilliant tactician, kind of a jerk, but that ok. I feel kinda bad for him.
3/5ths compromise
When: 1787 Where: Decided at the Philadelphia Convention, affected all colonies What/ did what: The northern and southern states were arguing over the necessity of considering the slave population when distributing taxes and house representatives (i.e. if the entire population of slaves had been counted, the southern states number of representatives would have gone up, since the slaves could not vote but there were more people to represent). At the 1787 Philadelphia convention, they reached the compromise that 3/5 of the slave population would be counted when distributing these things. So what:The three-fifths ratio had a major effect on pre-Civil War political affairs due to the disproportionate representation of slaveholding states relative to voters
Bunker Hill
When: 1775 during the siege of Boston by the British in the early Revolutionary war Where: Breed’s Hill in Boston area What/did what: The Continental Army had been attacking the GB troops in Boston. They heard that the GB army was going to try to occupy the hills surrounding Boston, so they quickly occupied Bunker Hill and Breed’s Hill. GB heard of this and attacked. Colonial forces were eventually forced to retreat, but GB suffered more casualties and didn’t gain much. So what: the battle demonstrated that relatively inexperienced colonial forces were willing and able to stand up to regular army troops in a pitched battle.
Ethan Allen
When: Lived during the colonial/revolutionary period, the year were concerned with is 1775 Where: Fort Ticonderoga, New York Who/did what: Ethan Allen was an American Patriot during the Revolutionary period who orchestrated the capture of Fort Ticonderoga in 1775 and was one of the founders of the state of Vermont. So what: His capture of the Fort and his general support of the revolutionary movement allowed stability for the Continental Army in the north.
Federalist Papers
What: a series of 85 articles or essays promoting the ratification of the U.S. Constitution of 1787. The essays are credited to Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay. When: Published in 1788 Where: Influenced all states So What: The papers influenced political leaders throughout the country and, as a result, was praised as an important essay of practical republicanism. contrary to the Antifederalist belief that the federal government would be run by the wealthy and soon overpower state government, The Federalist Papers pointed out that authority would be divided among the president, a bicameral legislature, and a judiciary, all of which were held under a system of “checks and balances,” thus preserving liberty. Why Important: The Federalist Papers were instrumental in the persuasion of many Antifederalists to support the ratification of the Constitution.
Great Compromise
What: The Great Compromise of 1787, also known as the Connecticut Compromise or Sherman’s Compromise, was an agreement between large and small states, proposed by the delegates of Connecticut during the Constitutional Convention of 1787 that defined the legislative structure and representation that each state would have under the U.S. Constitution. It retained the bicameral legislature as proposed by James Madison, along with proportional representation in the lower house (HoR), but required the upper house (Senate) to be weighted equally between states. When: 1787 [insert sass here] Where: Constitutional Congress in Philidelphia So What: Its main contribution was in determining the apportionment of the senate, and thus retaining a federal character in the constitution. Why Important: This agreement allowed discussion to continue in the Continental Congress and thus led to the 3/5ths Compromise, which further wrangled the issue of popular representation in the House.
Hessians
When: The Revolutionary War (1776-1778) Where: Hessians were Germans, sent to the American colonies Who/did what: Were specifically German soldiers, who fought for the British during the Revolutionary War. Are most famous for being defeated by George Washington's army, after their crossing of the Delaware River. So what: They were significant as they epitomized the wealth of British empire. There were over 30,000 Hessians fighting in the war, and most were forced to due so by the German monarch Fredrick II. This conflict symbolized the clash between freedom and the absolute oppression of Europe.
Invasion of Canada
When: 1775 Where: northern colonies (ie Ticonderoga) and in Canada (ie Montreal, Quebec City) Who/ did what: Was the American plan to include by force the British colony of Quebec in the Revolutionary War. Benedict Arnold and Ethan Allan were notable commanders of the armies in this campaign. They took Montreal, however, were turned back after a failed seige of Quebec City. So what: This campaign represented the colonial desire for unity in the face of British oppression. It also highlighted the the ideological differences between the Canadians and the American revolutionaries, as the Canadians were content with British rule. Much credit is also given to the commanders of the retreating armies in preventing a full British counter-offensive.
Land Ordinance (1785)
What: The land ordinace of 1785 was a plan to raise money in the states by selling lots of territory west of the original 13 colonies Where: passed by United States congress so city hall in New York City When 1785 Did what: this caused a massive shift in population and mapped three fourths of the United States So what: this provided easily recognizable land descriptions that helped bring about an orderly and peaceful occupation of the land and provided units for which other colonies could develop economically politically and socially
Lexington and Concord
What: The first military engagements of the revolutionary war in which New England minutemen and militia fired upon redcoats as they marched to Boston. When: April 19th, 1775 Where: Lexington and Concord Did what: This was a very serious escalation in the level of hostilities that showed the Americans resolve to fight was not based solely on the assumption that it was going to be easy, or even that they would win. So what: This showed the bravery of New England troops that would be essential to our success in the revolutionary war
Treaty of Paris
What- This was the treaty that Britain and American and its allies signed ending the revolutionary war. When: September 3, 1783 Where: Paris Did What: This treaty rewarded the United States with massive plots of land and called for the removal of all British soldiers from the colonies. So What: Ended the period under British rule and marked the true establishment of our great nation.
Loyalist exodus
when- began in 1776 with the declaration, continued throughout and after war where- across the 13 colonies, Loyalists left and moved to Canada or England usually did/what- destroyed internal resistance to the revolution, eliminated a large portion of rich, eastern social elite, left huge amounts of land/property to be dealt with so what- left a void at the top of the economic ladder into which republican, domestic minded businessmen and institutions flourished. Unattended property rose an early challenge to American liberties, whether the property should be seized by the Patriots or not, and if so who would recieve it. Some states auctioned it or rented it to long term tenant farmers. Over all, it was a huge (and maybe vital) boost on the struggling early American economy
Marquis de Lafayette
when- after Saratoga in late 1777 where- he lobbied for American cause in France, and helped lead French forces in America who/did what- was a republican-minded French aristocrat who convinced Louis XVI to ally with America and send General Rochambeau and almost 6000 men to dislodge the British from NYC. He also was a commanding officer of French forces in America, specifically leading the army with Washington at Yorktown. so what- French alliance was critical to American victory because of the troop and supply reinforcements, and especially the navy. Without Admiral de Grasse, the victory at Yorktown may not have occurred. He also was a strategic advisor to Washington.
Minutemen
When- First seen in 1645 but mainly The revolutionary period, late 18th century where- Mostly in New England who/did what- was a militia that would be able to be called at a minutes notice to battle. They were some of the first people to fight in the revolutionary war in battles such as Lexington and Concord so what- the minute men were vitally important in the early stages of the revolutionary war, their ability to fend of the British in many instances allowed for the people to actually believe there was a chance of victory against the seemingly invincible foe. If the British were able to score early slam dunk victories, moral would have likely have been crushed and we may have lost the spirit necessary to win the Revolutionary War for freedom.
Nathanael Greene
When-1742-1786 Where- Born, Lived in Rhode Island Who/did what- He was a major general in the Continental Army durring the Revolutionary War, He climbed the ranks in the army and was one of George Washington's most dependable officers. Commanded his troops to victory at the battle of Trenton so what- One of the Revolutionary War's leaders whose stratagical prowess and loyalty allowed the Americans to beat a much more disciplined and well funded army in order to obtain freedom for the colonies
Philadelphia Convention (1787)
When: September 17, 1787 Where: Philidelphia, PA Who/What: - Also known as Constitutional Convention and it addressed the governing of USA. - Previously USA only opperated under Articles of Confederation - George Washington elected to preside over convention - Resulted in Constitution So What: - major dispute over election of Senate and proper "proportional representation"
Virginia Plan
When: 1787 Where: Philadelphia What: plan presented to the Constitutional Convention in 1787 by the governor of Virginia at the time by Edmund Randolph, but James Madison is given the cheif credit for drafting the document in the first place Did What: called for the division of government into three bodies, executive, legislative, and judicial and So What: It opened the idea of making voting rights based upon your state's population and introduced the concept of checks and balances among the governing bodies, both of which we use today
VA Statute for Religious Freddom
Nevermind bullet forms is muy muy mas mas bien bien. When: 1786 Where: VIRGINIA What: Document written by Thomas jefferson addressing religious freedom in the state Did What: A clear separation of Church and State that paved the road for the 1st amendment. It ended the idea of taxes being payed to the Church or the establishing of official Church and kept the clergy from getting privileges or extra powers. So What: Well, it was one of only three things Jefferson had listed on his tombstone so obviously he thought it was important. Also, it was the force behind the 1st amendments guarantee of basic freedoms, including religion of course.
Republicanism
When: 1776 to now Where: the colonies What: The head of the state is goverened as a republic with the head of the state being an elected individual. The land is goverend by the people and law. One Thing: It was a breakthrough idea for government that set the United States as an example for the rest of the world Why Important: it seperated us from England and it made sure that we did not fall into a dictatorship directly following our Revolution
Shay’s Rebellion
When: 1786-1787 Where: Massachusettes What: A militia rose up against the Massachusettes government because their government was taxing in a lot in order to improve their debt situation One thing: it showed that many middling Patriot familes thought that American oppressors had replaced English tyrants. Why important: led to people shutting down court houses in the northern colonies and led to the government having to provide economic relief. Proved that the USA could get through tough times.
Treaty of Alliance (1778)
When: 1778 Where: Signed in Paris, effected France/United States What: a defensive alliance between France and the United States of America Did What: the treaty said that if Britain were to attack France during the Revolutionary War, then France would have the support of the United States, and France would support the United States during the war So What:After the signing of the treaty French supplies of arms, ammunition, and uniforms were vital for the Continental Army, while their increased presence in the West Indies forced Britain to redeploy troops and naval units away from the North American colonies to secure their holdings in the Caribbean. The French troops were also crucial in the British surrender at Yorktown
Valley Forge
When: Winter of 1777 Where: Valley Forge, Pennsylvania What: the site of Gen. Washington's Continental Army's camp for the winter Did What: extremely harsh weather crippled Washington's forces and the 12,000 soldiers suffered horribly, and nearly 3,000 men died from the elements and disease and around 1,000 more deserted the army. Undernourished and poorly clothed, living in crowded, damp quarters, the army was ravaged by sickness and disease. The aquisition of Baron von Steuben, a Prussian drill master who tirelessly drilled the soldiers, helped the soldiers survive the winter So What: the survival through the harsh winter demonstrated that the people were so dedicated to aquiring their freedom they were willing to die for it, and it was important because von Steuben's drills caused the army to become more disciplined even though it decreased in size
Aaron Burr
- When: post revolutionary war - 1812 - Where: The United States in general - Who: after serving as a continental officer during the war, Burr became heavily involved in the political environment of the colonies, eventually becoming the 3rd vice president under TJ - Did what: as pres. of senate (vice president), oversaw the 1st senate impeachment trial
Adams-Onis treaty (1819)
- Where: between Spain and U.S., affected Florida, Louisiana, and Texas - What/did what: territorial treaty negotiated by John Quincy Adams that had Spain cede Florida to U.S. in return for U.S. recognizing that Spain owned Texas and that the 2 nations would compromise on the borders of Louisiana. - So What: Spain ratified this treaty right before Mexico became independent. When this happened, new conflicts arose over the easter border of Texas. As a consequence, the eastern boundary of Texas was not firmly established until the independence of the Republic of Texas in 1836, and not agreed upon until the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848 which concluded the Mexican-American War
Alexander Hamilton (1755-1804)
- When: period were concerned with is the twenty years after the revolution - Where: America (much of his most influential action surrounded the Philadelphia Convention though) Who: Founding Father, catalyst of the Constitution, who eventually became the 1st secretary of the Treasury - Did what: He led the Annapolis Convention, which successfully influenced Congress to issue a call for the Philadelphia Convention in order to create a new constitution. He was an active participant at Philadelphia and helped achieve ratification by writing 51 of the 85 installments of the Federalist Papers, which supported the new constitution and to this day is the single most important source for Constitutional interpretation. - So what: The limitations of government in the Articles of Confederation caused economic and social problems. Hamilton was the essential proponent of a stronger central government in the U.S, as was specifically demonstrated by his writing of the Federalist Papers. We would not have the Constitution as we know it without Hamilton.
Alien and Sedition acts
/r/nWhen: 1798/r/nWhere: affected all the States of US/r/nWhat: The Federalist U.S. govt. under Adams repudiated the French revolutionary movement
Battle of Horseshoe Bend
^pWhen: 1814^pWhere: Central Alabama^pWho/What/Did what: Andrew Jackson led a force of Tennessee militiamen to victory against British and Spanish supported Creek Indians.^pSo what: It forced the Indians to cede 23 million acres of land to the United States. This ties into the overall theme of manifest destiny, that it is our duty as American to remove the Indians from their lands and expand westward. This battle also marked the end of the Creek War, a smaller part of the larger War of 1812, and contributed to Jackson's popularity among the American public.
Battle of New Orleans
º¡ºWhen: 1815º¡ºWhere: New Orleansº¡ºWho/What/Did what: Andrew Jackson led American forces to a victory against an attacking British army, intent on capturing New Orleans, and invading the territories acquired in the Louisiana purchase. The battle was actually fought after peace had been declared, but it took time for the news to reach the opposing forces.º¡ºSo what: The battle was actually much smaller in scale than the American public and Andrew Jackson made it out to be. However, the Battle of New Orleans was still regarded to be the greatest American victory of the war. It was a successful defeat of British regiments that had fought and won against Napoleon in Waterloo. This was instrumental to Jackson's public image, and helped propel him to the White House.
Battle of Tippecanoe
CHAR(10)When: 1811CHAR(10)Where: Indiana TerritoryCHAR(10)Who/What/Did what: Was a fight between American forces led by the Governor of the Indiana Territory, William Henry Harrison, against the Western confederacy of Indian Tribes, led by Shawnee War Chief, Tecumseh. His brother, Tenskwatawa, was the spiritual leader of the Indians. The Native forces were marshalling at Tenskwatawa's holy village, Prophetstown, when Harrison decided to lead a preemptive strike. When Tecumseh left to garner support from Southern Tribes, Harrison struck, leading a force of 1,000 men to attack Prophetstown. Casualties on both sides were heavy, however, the confederacy's warriors ran out of ammunition first, forcing them to abandon the village. Harrison then razed Prophetstown to the ground.CHAR(10)So what: Harrison proclaimed he had achieved a decisive victory against the confederacy. This image helped him earn the presidency in 1840. However, there was skepticism that the victory was in fact such a resounding defeat. It was a setback for Tecumseh, but the Indians rebuilt Prophetstown, and frontier violence actually increased following the battle. The majority of the American public blamed the battle on the British, who they saw as meddling in their affairs. This suspicion led to a deterioration in US-British relations, and served as a catalyst for the War of 1812.
Bill of Rights
When: By 1791, the first Ten Amendments were in ratified Where: Written in PA, ratified in states Who/What/Did what: James Madison, a member of the House of Representatives at this point, submitted 19 amendments to the Constitution, and 10 were ratified by 1791. This was instrumental in getting support from the Anti-federalists, who opposed ratification of the Constitution at first. The Bill of Rights secured fundamental American freedoms, such as freedom of speech, religion, press, assembly, and trial by jury. So what: It secured the support of the Anti-federalists. It also provided citizens with their most basic freedoms. The Bill of Rights also addressed the proper balance of authority of the national and state governments. Basically, it made America into the most free nation in the world, a tradition we carry on today (or however you would like to frame it)
Chesapeake and Leopard
When: 1807 Where: Virginia What: a naval engagement off the coast of Norfolk between American and Brits where the British Leopard engaged the American Chesapeake What did: Made many people angry at the British and they wanted war. Jefferson also tried to diplomatically get the British to give in. Why importatn: when his democratic techniques did not work, Jefferson switched to economic tactics like creating the Embargo of 1807.
Citizen Genet
When: 1763-1834 Where: French ambassador What: a French ambassador to America during the French Revolution actually named Edmond-Charles Genet What he did: Raised an army of Americans in South Carolina to help fight the British and Spain, like the people in Florida. He then went to get army support in Philadelphia Why important: It went against America's neutrality agreement that Washington had made and the Americans refused to suspend their neutrality agreement for the sake of the French. He was eventually granted safe haven in America after the French sent for his arrest.
Dartmouth College vs. Woodward
When: 1819 Where: New Hampshire What: Court case between Dartmouth college and New Hampshire about whether or not the state had the right to make it public. Did What: A supreme court case about the public versus private charters Why Important: Extremely limited States abilities to interfere with private charters and resulted in the rise of American Business sorporation
Delegated (enumerated) Powers
When: 1776 Where: Philadelphia What: Powers specifically listed that the Congress has that can be found in Article 1 Section 8 Did What: Specifically stated what the congress had the ability to do and allowed them to do anything that is necessary and proper to allow them to fulfill these things Why Important: Leads to a lot of controversy about whether or not the Federal Government or the state governments have the right to create laws about certain things since the state government has the power to do everything the federal doesnt but the federal government has the power to do wahtever is neccessary and proper.
Embargo 1807
What: prohibited American ships from leaving their home ports until Britain and France stopped restricting U.S. trade. After 15 months, the embargo was a failure. Who: Jefferson w/ help of Madison Where/When: USA, 1807 Why Important: showed how much Britain and France hated U.S. cause they still restricted U.S. trade. Inflicted burdens on the US economy and the American people. The embargo undermined national unity in the US and increased support of the Federalist party.
Fletcher v. Peck
What: a landmark United States Supreme Court decision. Helped create a growing precedent for the sanctity of legal contracts, and hinted that Native Americans did not hold title to their own lands. Under the Yazoo Land Act of 1795, the government allowed speculators to buy Native American land
Gibbons v Ogden
What: was a landmark decision in which the Supreme Court held that the power to regulate interstate commerce was granted to Congress by the Commerce Clause of the US Constitution. The US Supreme Court ruled in favor of Gibbons. The Court had to define the phrase "commerce among the several states." They decided that "commerce" = more than mere traffic, that it is the “trade of commodities” including navigation. The Court also decided that "among" = "intermingled with" Where/When: originated in New York, 1824 Why Important: The decision in Gibbons v. Ogden survived until 1895, when the court began to limit the congressional power. This case began a long period of time when the Supreme Court granted more power to the federal government to regulate interstate commerce. In this case, the court specifically stated there are limits upon the federal commerce power, but chose not to put into detail what those limits were aside from goods specifically made, moved, and sold within one state were exclusively beyond the reach of the federal commerce power.
Implied powers
were given to the government in the first article of the constitution and they allowed congress to pass laws not explicitly written in the constitution. This was implemented in the United States constitution in 1787 in Philadelphia. Alexander Hamilton used this to defend the constitutionality of the first bank of America arguing that the “sovereign duties of a government implied the right to use means adequate to their ends.” This radical clause of the constitution allowed the United States government to regulate banking, borrow money, collect taxes, and many other duties not directly written in the constitution.
An Impressment
is the act of taking men into a navy by force with or without notice. This was implemented in the late 18th and early 19th century by the British government and the Continental congress due to its simple and effective way of gaining large masses of troops. Britain continued this practice after the revolutionary war ended taking many American sailors. This angered many colonists increasing tension and leading to the war of 1812. The invasion of Canada was a response to many British injustices such as impressments, harsh trade restrictions, British support of American Indian tribes, and the desire to annex Canada. This took place from 1812 to 1815. Napoleons’ invasion of Russia gave America to confidence to attack Canada. The war created a greater sense of nationalism in Canada and the United States, it produced a national anthem and two future presidents for the U.S., and perhaps most consequentially, the war marked the end of European alliances with American Indians in the United States.
Jay’s Treaty
when- in late 1793-1795 where- brought back from negotiations in Britain to America who/did what- John Jay (one contributor to Federalist Papers) negotiated over neutral American ships and the English blockade against Revolutionary France, in response to the British seizure of American ships carrying French cargo. The treaty allowed British naval ships to stop neutral vessels and required the american gov to make full compensation of debts from before the revolution due to British merchants. So what- The senate ratified it by the two-thirds majority, even though Republicans opposed it. This began a period of pro-British policy powered by the federalists and their legislative power. This was in harmony with Alexander Hamilton's economic plan to build credit with foreign countries for future trade.
Macon’s Bill No. 2
when- 1810 where- America, but it concerned France and Britain who/what- Representative Nathaniel Macon revised his previous bill and in the new one, it was said that if either France or Britain stopped seizing American ships, then America would stop trading with the other, unless that other also respected neutrality. It also lifted all embargoes on France and Britain for three months. So what- Napoleon immediately responded promising to respect the trade of a neutral power, but it quickly became clear that he didnt actually. Nevertheless, the British were very offended and threatened the use of force. This was a major cause of the war of 1812.
Kentucky & Virginia Resolutions
when- 1798 where- Kentucky and Virginia state legislatures who/what- Madison and Jefferson convinced the legislature of Virginny and kintuck to issue resolutions that declared the Alien and Sedition acts void and unconstitutional. This was a reaction to Federalists arresting many editors of Republican newspapers on charges of sedition. So what- instead of appealing to a federalist supreme court, these resolutions were tangible examples of the Strict Construction and of states rights. This was a strong move by Republicans and set up the sedition act to play a major role in the election of 1800.
Loose/Strict Construction
when-Every since the constitution was founded where- Applies everywhere in the US of A who, did what- These are two different ideologies of how to interpret the constitution. Loose Construction or liberal is where the constitution has flexibility and the the intentions of the part of the constitution are considered. In strict construction, conservative,the only the words that were written are really considered there is not much room for fexible interpretations so what- These two ideologies have shaped the federal courts throughout the history of the united states. These mindsets have influenced critical cases like Marbury v. Madison(Judicial Review) Brown v. Board of Education(Segragation in schools) Roe v. Wade(right for abortions) and will defiently influence the affirmative action case which is current.
John Marshall
When- Born 1755, served as Chief Justice of SCOTUS from 1801 to 1835(death) Where- Born in VA, Served in Washington DC Who, Did what- He was the first supreme court chief Justice, He served for 34 years. Marshall was a federalist, and through his decisions he promoted the power of the national govt. Decieded the Marbury v. Madison case. So what- He was the first chief justice, and like George Washington, set the precedents for the job. He confirmed many of the powers the natl' govt would have in its early years where this was a very big issue. In the Marbury v. Madison case he got the SCOTUS its most important power, Judicial Review(say a law was unconstitutional. This made the Judicial branch an equal power in govt. which it previously wasnt
Marbury v. Madison
when-1803 Where- washington DC Who, Did What- The cheif Justice was John Marshall.the case: In the lame duck period of John Adam's presidency he knew that the ant-federalist Jefferson would be elected. Adams wanted to block the ambitions of Jefferson so he decieded to appoint tons of federalist judges in the lower federal courts. Unfortunatly not all the commisions were delivered to the Judges. When Jefferson came in, He told Madison not to give the judges their commisions since they wouldve been federalists, William Marbury was one of these judges. Marbury filed a lawsuit against Madison b/c he thought that he deserved the commisions since they were already signed and commisioned by the former president. The court said yes that he did have a right to his commision, but the law that said the Court could order a writ of mandamus(tell exec. branch to do something) went against the constitution
Midnight Judges
Who: Judges appointed by Adams 19 days before his term ended When: 1801 Where: U.S Supreme Courts Did What: Adams passed this act, which increased circuit courts from 3-6 judge/delegates. Reduced the number of supreme justices from 6 to 5. Called the Midnight judges because they were rumored to have been appointed at midnight while Adams scrambled to appoint his judges before Jefferson, who opposed some of his views, took office. Created the district court system which would preside over most cases involving the judiciary branch, recognized territories such as Ohio and the Potomac. So what: represented an effort to solve an issue in the U.S. Supreme Court during the early 19th century. There was concern, beginning in 1789, about the system that required the justices of the Supreme Court to “ride circuit” and reiterate decisions made in the appellate level courts.[1] The Supreme Court justices had often voiced concern and suggested that the judges of the Supreme and circuit courts be divided. Proclamation of Neutrality
Revolution of 1800
When: Take a wild guess... Where: Wherever voting occurred, so basically in all of America. Who, did What: The Revolution of 1800 was actually the election of the third President, Thomas Jefferson, and the defeat of John Adams, the incumbent candidate. Despite being Adams's Vice President, Jefferson was a Democratic-Republican and opposed Adams's Federalist ideals. Also, the election was extremely close. Jefferson and his running mate, Aaron Burr, tied in Electoral College voting and the choice was left up to the House of Representatives, who picked Jefferson. So What: The election exposed one of the flaws of the original Constitution. The flaw was that electors could cast two votes for who they wanted to be president, and the runner-up in the presidential election would become vice president. This led to the 12th Ammendment in 1804, which allowed electors to make a discrete choice between their selections for president and vice president.
Tecumseh
When: 1768-1813, probably most significant in the War of 1812 Where: Grew up in Ohio Valley, but his people settled in Prophetstown, Indiana Who, did What: He was a Native American who led the Shawnee people and a large tribal confederacy (Tecumseh's Confederacy) which opposed the United States in Tecumseh's War and the War of 1812. He was killed in 1813 during the Battle of the Thames, and his death resulted in the Confederacy falling apart. So What: Tecumseh's death caused the British to seek peace negotiations which would end the War of 1812. Since they lost, the Indian's hopes for territory in the Midwest were vanquished and they were driven to west by American settlers. Tecumseh has become a folk hero in American, Canadian, and Indian history.
Treaty of 1818
When: 1818 Where: Signed in London Who, did What: Big things were that it resolved standing boundary issues between the two nations and allowed for joint-occupation and settlement of the Oregon Country. Britain also ceded large amounts of land west of the Rocky Mountains and around the Red River. So What: Marked the UK's last permanent major loss of territory in what is now the Continental United States and the beginning of imrpoved relations between the British and their former colonires, while paving the way for better relations between Canada and the US.
James Fenimore Cooper
When: lived 1789-1851 Where: lived in Cooperstown, NY Who: a prolific and popular American writer in the early 19th century Did What: Wrote riveting historical romances of the frontier, Indian life, and his servie as an American Midshipman. His novels included Leatherstocking Tales and The Last of the Mohicans. So What: Hi snovels were international hits that gave America a reputable author that rivaled the famous playwrights and composers of Europe, which led to the development of a more social and artistic America society. Also, he was one of the first people to give black people major roles in his stories.
Undeclared War with France
When: 1798-1800 Where: Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean, Indian Ocean, Mediterranean Sea What: AKA the Quasi War, Pirate Wars, Half War. French were angered becuase USA passed legislation for trade with England, France's Enemy. France also hated that USA did continue to pay war debt under the technicality that the debt was owed to the "French Crown" not to the Republic of France. Did What: Once treaties were taken back on July 7 1798, Congress passed authorization to attack French warships. 25 US Naval vessels attacked, only one was captured by France. The British Royal Navy did not aid USA even though they had a comon enemy. Importance: Was an important moment for diferentiating between Legislative and Exuctive. The Congress declared war and acted upon it whilst John Adams complied. However, Adams gave direct orders to the ships. When an implication arose, it was ruled that the president, even acting as commander in chief, is subject to restrictions imposed by congress.
Washington Irving
When: 1783-1859 (76 years old) Where: New York, Spain, England. What: American author, biographer, historian. Best known for short stories "Legend of Sleepy Hollow", and "Rip Van Winkle". Historica. works include biography of George Washington, Muhammad, and Oliver Smith. He also served as ambassador to Spain from 1842-1846. Did What: Wrote, became world wide best-selling author. Moved to England for family business in 1815. Importance: Argued for stricter laws to protect American writers from copyright infringement. Also first american international best-selling author.
Whiskey Rebellion
When: 1791-1794 Where: Western PA What: Tax protest. Farmers who sold grain in form of whiskey had to pay a new tax which they hated. It was a part of Hamilton's plan to pay off the nationals debt. Did What: Climaxed in 1794 when 500 armed men attacked home of Tax Inspector, General Neville. Pres. Washington sent 15,000 soldiers to cease fighting. 20 were arrested but later aquitted. Importance: Demonstrated that new national gov't had the ability to suppress violent uprising and enforce its laws.
Yeoman farmer
When: 1800s and way earlier back in england...honestly no idea why this is an ID Who: subsistence farmers who owned little land and few slaves Importance: Worked hard and helped settle lots of land especially towards the west, and they were the first "red-necks". Ummm, also they were seen as the best people to have voice in new nation/republic because they were of the virtuous, hard-working sort
XYZ Affair
Who: U.S and France When: 1797-98 during Adam's presidency What: U.S thought France was insulting them and the Quasi-War (Naval) war began Importance: Led to Alien and Sedition Acts passed by Federalists that hurt the democratic-republican party
Tripolitan War
When: 1801-1812ish Where: Barbary states (Africa) Who: U.S and Tripoli What: Conflict in which U.S refused to pay pirates in Africa and had an unsuccessful naval siege Importance: Made Jefferson realize we had to focus more on navy
Hartford Convention
The Hartford Convention was an event in 1814–1815 in the United States in which New England Federalists met to discuss their grievances concerning the ongoing War of 1812 and the political problems arising from the federal government's increasing power. Despite radical outcries among Federalists for New England secession and a separate peace with Great Britain, moderates outnumbered them and extreme proposals were not a major focus of the debate.[1] The convention discussed removing the three-fifths compromise which gave slave states more power in Congress and requiring a two-thirds supermajority in Congress for the admission of new states, declarations of war, and laws restricting trade. The Federalists also discussed their grievances with the Louisiana Purchase and the Embargo of 1807. However, weeks after the convention's end, news of Major General Andrew Jackson's overwhelming victory in New Orleans swept over the Northeast, discrediting and disgracing the Federalists, who then disbanded in most places.
Pinckney’s Treaty
When: 1795 Where: Spain and US, effected North America What: a treaty negotiated by Thomas Pinckney that established intentions of friendship between the United States and Spain Did What: set up the peaceful relationship between US and Spain, and defined the boundaries of the United States with the Spanish colonies and guaranteed the US navigation rights on the Mississippi River. So What: The treaty was important because it laid the groundwork for American expansionalism and Manifest Destiny by allowing the Americans to explore around the Mississippi
McCullough v. Maryland
When: 1819 Where: Maryland, DC What: landmark court case presided by Cheif Justice John Marshall Did What:The state of Maryland had attempted to impede operation of a branch of the Second Bank of the United States by imposing a tax on all notes of banks not chartered in Maryland. The Court invoked the Necessary and Proper Clause of the Constitution, which allowed the Federal government to pass laws not expressly provided for in the Constitution's list of express powers, provided those laws are in useful furtherance of the express powers of Congress under the Constitution. So What: established the following two principles: The Constitution grants to Congress implied powers for implementing the Constitution's express powers, in order to create a functional national government. State action may not impede valid constitutional exercises of power by the Federal government.
Lewis & Clark
When: 1804-1806 Where: America, Louisiana Territory What: first transcontinental expedition by TJ's secretary Meriwether Lewis and army officer William Clark Did What: traveled through the Louisiana Territory, with the help of Sacagewea as a translator and ambassador, not a guide. found a path to the Pacific Ocean. Their objectives were both scientific and commercial – to study the area's plants, animal life, and geography, and to learn how the region could be exploited economically So What: provided maps regarding Louisiana Territory, established a route across the continent and set the stage for Manifest Destiny and westward expansion
Companionate marriage
What: Consent-based or voluntary marriage agreements between individuals rather than arranged marriages. When: In the late 1800’s after the Romantic Era began in Europe. Where: Began in the United States. What did it do: Gave husbands and wives a choice in who they married which gave equality in rank and fortune within the marriage. Why Important: Young people getting married grew wary of arranged marriages. Marriages became consent-based. People looked for relationships based on intimacy rather than the promise of an inheritance. Women became more equal in relationships.
Baptists
When: during the Second Great Awakening 1790-1860 Where: Throughout the American colonies, but particularly in the New England backcountry and the South Who/What: Evangelical church organization, with self-governing congregations. Did what: Developed an egalatarian religious culture, marked by communal singing and emotional services. Significance: Attracted many new converts (most rapidy expanding during the time), helping to reshape the spiritual landscape of the South, and transforming the denominational makeup of American religion.
BurnedOver District
What-Area where religious revivals and Pentecostal movements of the Second Great Awakeningtook place. When- Early 19th Century Where- Western New York What- The Second Great Awakening stimulated the establishment of many reform movements designed to remedy the evils of society before the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. Why- This led many people in the burned-over district to recognize the problems in society regarding slavery and womens rights
Republican marriage
What- French torture method used by Jean Baptist Carrier When LAte 18th Century during reign of Terror Where: France What: Tying a naked man and woman together and drowning them Why:...
Business cycle
When- recurring, but the period were concerned with is 1819 Where- entire U.S. What- the periodic expansion and contraction of output and jobs inherent to an unregulated market economy (don't worry though, reducing regulation is still a good idea) Did what- in 1819, dubious banking policies (lending without adequate reserves, etc.) combined with a 30% drop in agricultural prices bankrupted planters and caused banks to go bust
perfectionism
When – 1830s mainly What – an evangelical movement of the Second Great Awakening that said that the Second Coming of Jesus had already occurred and focused on living completely free of sin Where – mostly New York and Ohio (the northwest) but also throughout New England Did What – it inspired John Humphrey Noyes, a leader who advocated for religious-based socialist societies, and also had radical teachings on marriage and gender roles. In his societies, they adopted ‘complex marriage’ in which all members of a community were married to each other. He also advocated women’s equality. So What – it was one of the first schools of thought to challenge the capitalist society, and more importantly for the AP exam, it challenged gender roles and stood for gender equality. It was another factor during the Second Great Awakening that pushed for women’s equality. This was one the roots of the fight for women’s respect and equality that still continues today.
Republican Motherhood
When-Began late 1700s, early 1800s Where- All across America What-idea in which women were elevated to a newly prestigious role as the special keepers of the nation’s conscience (they were to instill civic virtues in their children from an early age). This encouraged mothers to be better to their children. Educated mothers were better mothers, so schooling became possible for girls. So what- helped create a uniquely American culture, which would be fundamentally different from Europe. This idea also further constricted women’s role in America to raising a family instead of public life such as voting, careers, ect. This role of women held into the 1900s and can still be seen today in the disparity of wages
American Colonization Society
When-Established in 1816 Where-Established in Washington, Concerned the south Who-Founder Robert Finley What-an attempt to satisfy two groups in America. Two groups had different views involving slavery in the early 1800's. One group wanted to free African slaves and their descendants and let them return to Africa. The other group was the slave owners who feared free people of color and wanted to expel them from America. Established colonies in Sierra Leone and helped create country of Liberia So What-The attempt at solving the problem of slavery did some good but was merely a bandaid. The society shows the drastically different views from abolisionists and the pro-slave south. These different views would eventually lead to the Civil War. (Created a whole country that is still here today as well)
Deism
WHEN: Most prominent in 17th+18th century during the enlightenment in Europe, however has been around for longer then that. WHERE: Mostly in enlightened European nations and America(Britian, France, Germany mostly) WHO/WHAT: the belief that reason and observation of the natural world are sufficient to determine the existence of a creator, accompanied with the rejection of revelation and authority as a source of religious knowledge. ONE THING IT DID: Led to viewing of the world as one giant machine that God created then sat down to watch it go. This kind of thinking invoked many people to investigate the world around them scientifically. They wanted to know the mysteries of the universe, most notably Newton WHY THAT ONE THING WAS IMPORTANT: Represented a separation of the tyrannical religious hierarchy that ruled over Europe historically. Showed a gradual shift from the church to reason. If you couldn't prove it rationally, it was not true. Also led to many notable scienific breakthroughs that contributed to the industrial revolution.
Sentimentalism
When: Again, has been around for a while, but came to be popular again in the 17th and 18th century Where: Same European countries, and America Who/What: a theory in moral epistemology concerning how one knows moral truths. It is a view in meta-ethics according to which morality is somehow grounded in moral sentiments or emotions. Some take it to be primarily a view about the nature of moral facts or moral beliefs (a primarily metaphysical view)—this form of the view more often goes by the name "sentimentalism". One thing it Did: Gave a new system of ethics where the Church and politics were failing. Involved indivdual interpretation of the issue, while basing moral virtues on emotion. There's really not much to it. Emotions dictate ethics, ie if something makes you happy, it is good. Can't see this one failing at all. Why Important: The concept of it was not groundbreaking, but the fact that there were other ethical systems out there that relied on the individuals emotions and ideals was new. IT uses senses to perceive the world.
Gabriel Prosser
When: 1776-1800 Where: Richmond, VA Who: A literate enslaved blacksmith Did what: Plotted a large slave rebellion in Richmond, VA in the summer of 1800. However, two slaves spilled the beans on the whole plan to their slave owners, so the owners alerted the VA governor, James Monroe, and he sent the state militia to arrest the rebels. Gabriel escaped to Norfolk, but once again he was betrayed by another slave and was arrested. All 26 accused rebels, including Gabriel, were hung. So What: In order to prevent future rebellions, Virginia and other state legislatures passed restrictions on free blacks that they could not be educated, assemble in large groups, or hire slaves.
manumission
When: 1782 Where: Started in Virginia flowed by all the other Northern States What: The action of a slave-owner freeing their slaves Did What: Freed slaves in North. Quakers and Christian evangelical churches advocated emancipation, and Enlightenment philosophy also worked to undermine slavery and racism. Southern whites redefined republicanism so that it only applied to the "master race." So What: further lead to the division of the North and South because South never accepted the manumission
Methodists
When : 1790s-1800s Where : Started in New England, spread to SC, TN, OH, KT What : meaing "pursuit of knowledge" is a movement of Protestant Christianity. Roots in John Wesley and George Whitefield, who sought reform in Church of England but started this instead Did What: grew tremendously in numbers during the 2nd great awakening. Drew from all levels of society stressed personal conversion, democratic control of church affairs, and rousing emotionalism So What: Became a disruptive force especially in the South b/c many ministers spoke of equality and against slavery
Missouri Compromise
When-1820 Where- United States (Missouri and Maine) What- Congress admitted Missori as a slave state but also admitted Maine. It also made all states north of the 26 parallel (southern border of MO) free states Did What- It made the north and south states still have equal representation and power. Why Important- Helped to evade future majorities in the house and set the tone for the different views of the nrth and south. These views eventually led to the Civil War
Panic of 1819
When: 1819 Where: United States What: a paralyzing economic plan bringing deflation, depression, bankruptcies, bank failures, unemployment, and debtor's prisons. DidWhat: Panic created backwashes in political and social world. SoWhat: Bank of US foreclosed mortgages on countless farms, became financial devil.The National Bank became evil in the eyes of the poor which sowed the seeds for Jacksonian Democracy.
Second Great Awakening
When: Early 19th century Where: United States What: Protestant revival movement Did What: huge spiritual revolution that thought every person could be saved through revivals. It enrolled millions of new members in existing evangelical denominations and led to the formation of new denominations. So What: the religious shift in ideologies caused movements to reform society such as temperence (alcohol), womens rights, and slavery among other issues
tallmadge amendment
James Tallmadge Jr. When: 1819 Where: concerned Missouri What: Tallmadge, an opponent of slavery, tried to have this amendment passed which would end slavery in Missouri within one generation or once the slaves were of age 25 Why Important: The Amendment passed in the House of Rep. because non-slave states held majority but didn't pass in senate because there were equal number of slave and non-slave states. Demonstrated growing tension between slave and non-slave states and how the addition of each new state may drastically tip the balance, which made slavery a huge issue in the western movement.
Awful Disclosures
What: A book written by Maria Monk about herself. She was a Canadian woman who claimed to have been a nun who had been sexually exploited in her convent. Apparently the story was a lie and she was exploiting the anti-catholic audience in America in order to make a lot of money. When: published in 1836 Where: America So What: The book was published in an American atmosphere of anti-Catholic hostility (partly fueled by early 19th-century Irish and German Catholic immigration to the U.S.)
Charles Grandison Finney
Who: Charles Grandison Finney was an innovative revivalist during the Second Great Awakening. When: 18th Century (1972-1875) Where: New England What: Finney was an opponent of Old School Presbyterian theology, an advocate of Christian perfectionism, and a religious writer who greatly impacted the Second Great Awakening. So What: Finney’s preaching’s on equality pioneered social reforms in favor of women and blacks in the North
Eli Whitney (1765-1825)
When- late 18th cent. Where- affected the southern United States Who- American inventor Did What- invented the cotton gin in the late 18th century, allowing huge increases in cotton production. This invention transformed the South's economy, and cotton became the US's chief export. So what- aside from transforming the economy, increased cotton production solidified the importance of slave labor in the south's economy, meaning it was probably a major cause of the civil war
Samuel Slater
When: 1789 Where: moved from England to Providence, Rhode Island Who: an English mechanic who had worked under Richard Arkwright, who moved to America Did What: He memorized the plans for, then recreated Arkwright’s advanced machinery for spinning cotton. He implemented these machines in a factory in Providence owned by he merchant Moses Brown. So What: Samuel Slater BEGAN the American Industrial revolution by bringing heavily guarded English mechanical secrets to America. Several other English mechanics followed his example, and the success of Moses Brown’s factory led other entrepreneurs to follow that example. The American Industrial Revolution had more natural resources that England’s, but less labor, so Americans were constantly innovating and improving to make their machines for efficient. The Industrial Revolution was crucial to America’s development as a global power.
National Road
When- Autorized in 1806 by Thomas Jefferson, construction began in1811 Where-Starts in Cumberland Md, ends in WV, Connected Potomac and Ohio Riviers What- Was the first highway to be built by the federal govt. It increased trade with the west and helped manifest destiny by having more people move to the Ohio River Valley So what- encouraged Manifest Destiny, established the unenumerated power for the govt to make roads to incrase interstate trade, without this power FDR wouldnt have his "New Deal" get America out of the Great Depression
Erie Canal
When- Was confirmed in 1817, first used in 1821 where- Albany NY, Connected the Hudson River to Lake Erie what- Connected the Atlantic Ocean with the Great Lakes and consequently the interior of North America, this was the longest artificial waterway in America at the time, was subsidized with goverment funding instead of private investors, greatly lowered prices of goods coming in and out of the interior so what- this greatly helped the manifest destiny into the west because of the new ability to trade much more cheaply, established New York as the financial powerhouse in America because of the increased trade through the Hudson and thus the west, by having the goverment fund this it established a precedent that large projects such as highways and railroads which would increase trade would be aided by the goverment instead of the private sector
Interchangeable Parts
Who/what: Indivdual parts of machinary that could be replaced instead of replacing the whole machine. Part that are essintially identical. When: Late 1800s early 1900s(During the industial revolution) Where: Seen in a lot of industial nations(England, America, France, Germany), but first emerged in American development. Did what: Allowed for specialization of parts and was crucial in the assembly lines that emerge as a result of the industiral revolution. Allowed for mass production of goods on assembly line thereby increasing output tenfold. Interchangeability allows easy assembly of new devices, and easier repair of existing devices, while minimizing both the time and skill required of the person doing the assembly or repair. So what: Allowed massive production of goods compared to indivudual construction of goods that predated the revolution. America got off to a late start, but soon become the world leader in production. Goods became significantly cheaper, and labor intensiveness dropped significantly. Created more jobs, mostly in North, which made the south even more mad. This concentration of factories in the north would be a HUGE factor in the civil war, as the union would have significantly more resources.
Lowell System
When: in the early 19th century Where: all over the US, but particularly in New England Who/What: an American labor and production system that was made possible by inventions that were invented during the Industrial Revolution such as the spinning jenny. Did What: Put all stages of manufacturing under one roof. Workers lived in the factory as they made their products from start to finish at their factory. So what: Led to the employment of women and young children. Also, it catalyzed the migration from the countryside to the cities in hopes of the good and steady wages that workers received under this system.
Market Revolution
When: early 19th century Where: America mainly North, South stuck to slaves and buying manufactures from North What: the expansion and integration of markets, industry and trade Did What: funded national roads and canals to transport goods and crops, invention of railroad to further expand trade. Entrepreneurs were creating factories that relied on mass production So What: Urban Population grew rapidly in Northern cities. Atlantic port cities remained important for foreign trade and were centers of finance and manufacturing
Gag Rule (1836)
When : May 26, 1836 Where : The House of Representatives What : Stopped discussion of slavery. Passed in the House with a vote of 117 to 68. John Quincy Adams opposed it, and eventually repealed it. Since it was only a resolution, it had to be renewed every session. What Did : Legislation banning the discussion of anti-slavery petitions, as part of the Pickney Resolutions (the third of Pickney Resolutions earned the name Gag rule) So What : It lead to a battle on the discussion of slavery in Congress. In 1840, the 21st Rule passed, prohibiting even the reception of anti-slavery petitions. Changing the whole nature or the war on slavery. The gag was finally repealed in 1844, by a vote of 108-80, all the Northern and 4 Southern Whigs voting for repeal, along with 78% of the Northern Democrats.
Nativism
Who/What: a policy or belief that protects or favors the interest of the native population of a country over the interests of immigrants. When: During wave of immmmmmmigration of Irish Catholics especially (1840s) but also occurred in later against the Chinese Where: Particularly in North Eastern states where immigrants were arriving looking for work Importance: Hurt immigrants, especially Catholics from receiving same opportunities as native (Protestants whose family's had come long before). Led to establishment of the Know Nothing/ American Party and created an even greater aurora that America was being overrun by filth immigrants
Order of the Star-Spangled Banner
When- 1849 Where- New York City What- an oath bound secret society started by Charels Allen to protest the rise of Irish, Roman Catholic, and German immigration into the United States. They were otherwise known as the Know Nothing Party What Did- They were the first single issue political party. They only wanted to stop immigration. Why Important- Was one of the first displays of people coming together in order to hate another group of people. This would eventually influence parties such as the ku klux klan and the Nazi party.
Positive Good Theory
When- 1860-1861 Where- the south What- the theory that slavery was both positive and morally good made by John C. Calhoun What did- It gave the south a reason as to why they should keep their slaves and how they were doing nothing wrong. Why Important- Led to an increase in tensions between the north and south because the north refused to accept the postive good theory.
Robert Fulton
When: early 1800s Where: United States (New York) What: developed the first commercially successful steamboat (did not invent the steamboat) Did What: his ship Clermont made its debut traveling upstream from New York to Albany in 1807, changing transportation and commerce forever So What: Fulton's innovation left quite a legacy. Steamboat travel was instrumental to the industrial revolution in America, helping manufacturers transport raw materials and finished goods quickly. It also opened up the American continent to exploration, settlement, and exploitation
American Party (Know Nothing Party)
When: founded 1845-dissolved 1860 Where: general United States Who/What: A party that was characterized by xenophobia, anti-Catholic sentiment, and strong nativist ideals. Did what: violently lashed out against immigrant groups and Catholics on several occasions, and sought to curb naturalization and immigration. Gained mayorships and governorships and membership grew from 50,000 to over a million in a matter of months. So What: was a manifestation of the American public's fear that the coutry was being over-ridden by immigrant waves and that Catholics were anti-republican and controlled by the pope in Rome. The ascendancy of this party led to the collapse of the Second Party System and the downfall of the Whig party.
Benevolent Empire
When: 1820-1860 Where: general United States Who/What: A movement of social reform trying to reduce intemperence and poverty through religious benevolence, which was led mainly by Congregational and Presbyterian ministers. Did What: Created large scale organizations to combat evil (Prison Discipline Society and the American Society for the Promotion of Temperence). Persuaded local governments to ban carnivals of drink and dancing and campaingned to end corporal punishment. So What: The movement was limited in its success as workers and planters saw it as limiting their freedoms. More importantly (for the AP folks) upper-class women played a crucial role in the Benevolent Empire and helped to improve the lives of lower class women.
American System
When: 1824 Where: Throughout America Who/What: promoted by Henry Clay during his bid for the presidency in 1824 that was an integrated program of national economic development similar to the Commonwealth System of state governments. Did What: This program strengthened the Second Bank of the US and used tariff revenue to build roads and canals. So What: The program won praise in the West (needed transportation) but was met with sharp criticism in the South (not much manufacturing). It demonstrated the growing separation of the regions of the United States, and was also ideologically linked to manifest destiny. It was implemented under John Quincy Adams in 1824, but quickly removed once Andrew Jackson came to power in 1828.
Cherokee Nation v. Georgia
When: 1831 Where: Supreme Court, Washington DC Who/What: a landmark case brought to the Supreme Court by the Cherokee People, as they felt they should be considered a foreign nation. Did What: Marshall denied the claim and declared Native Americans were “domestic dependent nations.” So What: Was an example of how Americans' ideological goal of manifest destiny clashed with the Native Americans who believed that their land should not be taken from them. Marshall set the precedent for removal of Indians from territory the US desired.
Compromise Act of 1833
Where: U.S. national policy, specifically concerned the South What: Act proposed by Henry Clay (and Calhoun and Jackson, but they’re secondary) as a compromise between the harsh protective tariffs passed by Jackson and the resulting Nullification arguments from South Carolina Did what: Jacksonians and other had passed huge protective tariffs in 1828 (the tariff of abominations) and 1832 that were meant to help Northern industry. They hurt the south, though, and this sparked a Nullification crisis in SC where John Calhoun came up with the argument that the tariffs were unconstitutional, allowing SC to ignore them. Jackson threatened to use military force to get SC to comply w/ the tariffs (the Force Bill). Then Clay got the Compromise Act passed in 1833 that by 1842 reduced tariff duties to 1816 levels, appeasing the South. Conflict was avoided through compromise. So What: It showed Jackson’s ability to compromise. It also avoided an early civil war, and prevented SC’s succession. It also allowed the South to have a stake in national economic policy. Take your pick
Corrupt Bargain
When: 1824 Where: U.S. (in the pres. election) What: A political scandal that arose when the Speaker of the House, Henry Clay, allegedly met with John Quincy Adams before the House election to break a deadlock. Adams was elected president against the popular vote and Clay was named Secretary of State. Did What: Aside from getting Adams elected, it hurt both Adams and Clay politically. Jackson’s supporters accused Clay and Adams of making a secret deal, and they vowed to oppose Adams’s policies and prevent Clay’s election as president. So What: destroyed Adam’s’s career, led to the rise of Jackson, who transformed national politics. Also showed that the republican process wasn’t perfect.
Five Civilized Tribes
What: five Native American nations— the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole—that were considered civilized by Anglo-European settlers because they adopted many of the colonists' customs and had generally good relations with their neighbors. Where: Southeastern U.S. When: colonial and early federal period So What: They were forced to relocate to “Indian Territory” in Oklahoma under Indian Removal in what was called the Trail of Tears Why Important: The five tribes were divided in politics during the civil war because their cultures and legal systems allowed for slavery
Indian Removal Act
What: The act authorized the president to negotiate with the Indians in the Southern U.S. for their removal to federal territory west of the Mississippi River in exchange for their homelands Who: Andrew Jackson signed it into law When: May 28, 1830 Where: forced Indians to relocate west of the Mississippi (Oklahoma) So What: Southerners were eager to gain access to the lands occupied by the five civilized nations Why Important: leads to the Trail of Tears
Force Bill
What: The force bill was a response from Andrew Jackson to suppress South Carolina's refusal to collect tariffs during the Nullification Crisis. When: 1833 Where: Passed in Congress, effected all states Did What: The force bill gave Jackson the power to use any means necessary in order to enforce tariffs and allowed him to close harbors and ports at will So What: The force bill was the first piece of legislation to publicly deny the right of secession to individual states
Henry Clay
What: Henry Clay, Sr. was a lawyer, politician and skilled orator who dominant figure in both the First and Second Party systems When: Early 19th Century Where: Represented Kentucky/West in congress but went all over Did What: Clay was dubbed the "Great Pacificator” for his ability solve problems such as he did in The Missouri Compromise of 1820 and The Compromise of 1850. So What: Clay was the foremost proponent of the American System, an economic plan supporting tariffs and a national bank
“Log Cabin” campaign (1840)
When: book doesn’t say Where: U.S. (national pres. election) What: pres. campaign by war hero William Henry Harrison Did What: used log cabins and hard cider to portray his down-home heritage attacked Van Buren and John Tyler of VA and won the election So What: Showed the major transformation in the executive branch from only “notable” (aristocratic) presidents before Jackson, to “men of the people” after Jackson
Maysville Road Veto
When- May of 1830 Where- in DC, but affected roads in Kentucky and the Ohio River area Who- President Andrew Jackson vetoed the bill Did What- the bill would have allowed the Federal government to purchase stock/subsidize companies that were making roads across Kentucky and around the Ohio River. Jackson vetoed maintaining that federal funding for intrastate projects was unconstitutional. He also said that such a bill would interfere with paying off the national debt. So What- this was another veto during Jackson’s “Imperial Presidency” and another example of Jackson battling federal use of federal money (from taxpayers) to fund projects that would benefit the rich (shareholders in the roadbuilding companies). Also reflected Andrew Jackson’s similarities to Thomas Jefferson and the strict constructionist view/state’s rights view of the constitution.
National Republicans
When- began in after 1812 while the Federalist Party was collapsing Where- all over the US Who/What- led by John Quincy Adams and Henry Clay and later Daniel Webster, it was the political party that leaned toward loose construction, strong federal government, and other “Federalist” ideas. Did What- was the main adversary of Andrew Jackson during his presidency. It defended the national bank and the American System of tariffs, and ran John Q. Adams and Henry Clay against Andrew Jackson in the presidential races. However, the National Republicans agreed with Jackson on the Nullification crisis. So What- in all of the sharply contested debates and crises of the Jackson presidency and of Van Buren’s presidency, this party was a regular opponent. Jackson’s temper and radical action divided the country into the two rival factions, a component of the causes of the Civil War.
Independent Treasury Bill
When-1846 Where- effected the whole country who- Maritn Van Buren What-Pulled federal money out of the state banks which jackson had put them in response to closing the national bank. The money was then put away in a national vault. So What- Severely delayed economic recovery from the previous recession. Hurt farmers and the middle class because it required people to pay with specie aka gold or silver. Restricted the expansion of business and trade because of lack of credit. Was a major problem in the following decades and in the civil war.
Nominating Conventions
When- Around the election of 1824 Where- all across the country Who-Martin Van Buren inovated this What- Would be a meeting in which a candidate would be chosen for a particular party would be chosen by a caucus. This intended to unify this group of people's political views and to chose a candidate that would best represent their ideas and had a good chance at being elected So What-changed the face of American politics completely. This saw a shift in the previous system where a bunch of notable men would run for office and the lay people would vote for them. In this new system men would chose who best represented their views by way of parties. Turned politics into a career. Presidents no longer aloof aristocrats, were seemingly commen men. Is still a mainstay in our country, Democratic and Republican Conventions for Obama and Romney.
Ordinance of Nullification
Who/What: Ordinance given inside the borders of south carolina by state government When: November 24, 1832 Where: South carolina Did what: declared the Tariff of 1828 and 1832 null and void within the state borders of South Carolina. It began the Nullification Crisis So what: Passed by a state convention on November 24, 1832, it led, on December 10, to President Andrew Jackson's proclamation against South Carolina, the Nullification Proclamation of 1832, which sent a naval flotilla and a threat of sending government ground troops to enforce the tariffs. In the face of the military threat, and following a Congressional revision of the tariff, South Carolina repealed the ordinance.The protest that led to the Ordinance of Nullification was caused by the belief that the tariffs of 1828 and 1832 favored the North over the South. This led to an emphasis on the differences between the two regions.(I copied this from wikipedia. Sue me)
Panic of 1837
What: a financial crisis When: 1948(yup) Where: United states Did what: End of the Second Bank of the United States had produced a period of runaway inflation, but on May 10, 1837, in New York City, every bank began to accept payment only in specie (gold and silver coinage), forcing a dramatic, deflationary backlash. So what: Was one of many panics that the US would experience in trying to figure out the bank crisis. All mercantile states were in a "panic". The Panic was followed by a seven-year depression, with the failure of banks and then-record-high unemployment levels.
Whig Party
What: A political party formed in opposition to the policies of Andrew Jackson. It’s main political leaders were Daniel Webster, William Henry Harrison, and Henry Clay (aka. ugliest motherfucker in American history). When: 1833-1860 Where: In the United States Did What: Two members of the Whig Party were ultimately elected presidents, William Henry Harrison and Zachary Taylor. So What: Whiggery as a policy orientation persisted for decades and played a major role in shaping the modernizing policies of the state governments during Reconstruction after 1865.
Worcester v.Georgia
What: A US Supreme Court Case between Samuel Worcester, a missionary, and the state of Georgia. In this case, Worcester challenged that the Georgian law that all whites that traveled in Indian lands must have a license was unconstitutional because Georgia did not have the authority to dictate whether or not missionaries in sovereign Indian lands had to be licensed. Where: Georgia When: 1832 Did What: The SC released Worcester from his conviction and declared that the Georgian law in question was unconstitutional. So What: It established the doctrine that the national government of the United States, and not individual states, had authority in American Indian affairs.
Tippecanoe and Tyler too
When : 1840 Presidential Election Where: America What/Who : very popular and influential campaign song of the Whig Party's colorful Log Cabin Campaign Did What : lyrics sang the praises of Whig candidates William Henry Harrison (the "hero of Tippecanoe") and John Tyler, while denigrating incumbent Democrat Martin Van Buren So What: the song "firmly established the power of singing as a campaign device" in the United States, and that this and the other songs of 1840 represent a "Great Divide" in the development of American campaign music
South Carolina Exposition and Protest (1828)
When : December 1828 Where: South Carolina What/Who : also known as Calhoun's Exposition, was written in by John C. Calhoun Did What : protest against the Tariff of 1828, also known as the Tariff of Abominations. Stated that if the tariff was not repealed, South Carolina would secede. Also, Calhoun's Doctrine of nullification, i.e., the idea that a state has the right to reject federal law, first introduced by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in their Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions. So What: Fight for state's rights and issues over the power of the federal government
Webster-Hayne Debate (1830)
Who: Webster vs. Hayne When: hahaha Where: Congress What: Debate about protective tariffs Did What: (This one's for you Johnny V) the men were arguing over whether or not land west should be continued to be surveyed until the current land on the market was bought So what: Well Webster went into beast mode and rattled off the most eloquent speech in congress ever. Also, he said the "gov. for the people by the people spiel"
Spoils system
Who Andrew Jackson did it first When: After his election, in 1828/1831 Where U.S government Did What: Political strategy in which Jackson gathered supporters by promising them gov. positions during his presidency. He ended up replacing 919 people with his own supporters Importance: Demostrated Jackson's different way of doing things and should a patronage system vs. a merit system for first time in America Trail of Tears Who: involved the indian tribes When 1830 Where movement to present day Oklahoma What: Name given to forced relocation of indian tribes following the Indian Removal Act of 1830. Name arose from movement of Chocktaw indian tribe. Importance: Well we were hugggge dicks to the indians especially after we had gotten past the whole "God wants us to kill the indians crap" so it was a low blow to them and showed how much we (Upper class white americans" felt superior to other races and manifest destiny of course.
Workingmen’s Party
When: late 1820's, dissolved in 1830's Where: Philadelphia, New York, and Boston What: first labor-oriented political organizations in the United States Did What: wanted state-supported public education, universal male suffrage, protection from debtor imprisonment and compulsory service in the militia, and shorter working hours. So What: The Workingmen's Party attacked both the Whigs and the Democrats for their lack of interest in labor, and they achieved sizable votes in some elections. Set the stage for labor reform and caused labor issues to be addressed more in government.
Anti-Masonic Party
When: 1828-1838 Where: New York What: first "third party," founded as a single issue party against Freemasonry Did What: formed in upstate New York and was strongly against Jacksonian presidency and Freemasonry, led to Whig Party So What: It introduced important innovations to American politics, such as nominating conventions and the adoption of party platforms. members gradually united with the National Republicans and other opponents of Jacksonian democracy in forming the Whig Party
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
What: an American social activist, abolitionist, and leading figure of the early women's rights movement. Where: US When: mid to late 1800s Did what: Credited with initiating the first organized women's rights and women's suffrage movements in the United States. Aside from voting rights, she was also concerned with women's parental and custody rights, property rights, employment and income rights, divorce, the economic health of the family, and birth control Why Important: She caused a split in the women's rights movement when she refused to support Black voting rights (14 and 15 Amendments) b/c black and white women were still not able to vote. Later the two rejoined with Stanton the president of the joint organization
Harriet Tubman
What: an African-American, escaped slave, abolitionist, humanitarian, and Union spy during the Civil War Where: Maryland When: late 1800s Did What: helped rescue more than 70 slaves using the network of antislavery activists and safe houses known as the Underground Railroad. In the post-war era she struggled for women's suffrage. Why Important: Freed many slaves. She took action and stood up for what she beieved in. It was also important because she's a woman.
Henry David Thoreau
Who: Henry David Thoreau was an American author, poet, philosopher, and leading transcendentalist. When: 1817-1862 Where: New England Did What: Thoreau dedicated his life to the exploration of nature, living in solitude for years, and wrote Walden recounting his experiences and contributing to the transcendental movement. So What: Thoreau was a philosopher and creative artist in the transcendental movement, an antislavery activist, and a founder of environmentalism who exerted a profound, enduring influence on American thought in the 19th century
Horace Mann
Who: Horace Mann was an American politician and education reformer in the Whig party When: (1796-1859) Where: New England Did What: Horace petitioned for public education regardless of class or wealth and founded the Massachusets board of education. So What: Horace redefined education making it available to almost everyone in America
Maine Law of 1851
Who/What: a Maine state law that outlawed the sale of alcoholic beverages in the state. When: 1851 Where: the state of Maine, in the US Did What: it was upheld by the Maine Supreme Court, and was an example that led twelve other states to enact so-called “Maine Laws.” So What: the first legislative victory of the enormous temperance movement going on at the time. It created a movement to pass similar laws in other states, and foreshadowed the Prohibition.
McGuffey’s Reader
Who/What: a group of books used for different grades in school, written by a teacher, William Holmes McGuffey, and his brother. They contained poems, essays, and speeches, as well as moral and religious learning material. They sold an enormous number of copies. When: first published in 1836 but widely sold and used up to 1960 Where: all across the US Did What: they were one of if not the first textbooks. It was a result of the push for better education in the early 1800s, the organized school system put in place in the west by the
Land Ordinance of 1784
and the moral and religious revivalism of the Second Great Awakening and reform era. So What: this was one of the first major steps in building the strong education system of America that gives us such high literacy rates and such a strong work force. It was one of the most lasting effects of moral and religious revivalism as it was republished innumerable times and was so widely used for so long, and it is even still used for some homeschooling.
Methodists
When: 1800 or 1801 Where: all across the south What: evangelical church that was similar to Baptist in they both had egalitarian religious culture marked by communal singing and emotional churches. Also both evangelized cities. Did what: reshape s the spiritual landscape of the south brought religion to unchurched individuals and attracted lots of converts. Big part of the second great awakening So what: initially in the south it was disruptive because many preachers criticized slavery. Husbands and plantations grew angry when their wives became more assertive and when blacks joined their congregation. Increased tensions led further toward civil war
Nat Turner’s Revolt
When-1831 Where-Virginia Who- Nate Turner, a literate/religious slave who saw a vision of Christ to rise up against the whites What- Was a slave revolt in which 55 whites were killed by Nat Turner and his band of 60 men. The militia eventually got them and many were killed including Nat. Slave Codes in the south were tightened as a result and prohibited the education of blacks. So What- Entrenched slavery even more in the South and baisically ended propositions for emancipation. Pushed us closer to the Civil War.
Oneida Community
Who/what: a religious commune founded by John Humphrey Noyes When: 1848 Where: Oneida, New york Did What: The community believed that Jesus had already returned in A.D. 70, making it possible for them to bring about Jesus's millennial kingdom themselves, and be free of sin and perfect in this world, not just Heaven (a belief called Perfectionism). The Oneida Community practiced Communalism (in the sense of communal property and possessions), Complex Marriage, Male Continence, Mutual Criticism and Ascending Fellowship. So What: Was part of several revivalist movements that made people believe the time was now to get rid of sin and prepare for the kingdom. Made people try to form ideal communities.
Ralph Emerson
Who/what: American essayist, lecturer, and poet, who led the Transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century When: May 25, 1803 – April 27, 1882 Where: born in Boston, Massachusetts on May 25, 1803 Did what: He was seen as a champion of individualism and a prescient critic of the countervailing pressures of society, and he disseminated his thoughts through dozens of published essays and more than 1,500 public lectures across the United States. So what: Emphasis on the individual and self worth. Believed you could make yourself into whatever you wanted to be. Each person was an exceptional being. His influences called for many people to move west in order to fulfill the self made life style he championed.
Seneca Falls Convention
What: An influential women's rights convention Where: Seneca Falls, NY When: July 19-20, 1848 Did What: THey sat around and debated laws and women's right to vote. The talks were centered around Lucretia Mott, a Quaker woman who had been invited as a guest speaker. All in all, no substantial legal proceedings were caused by a these women complaining, so they went back to their kitchens and left government to the men. So What: This convention brought the issue of woman's suffrage to national prominence because of the attention the convention's petition received.
Sentimentalism
When: Again, has been around for a while, but came to be popular again in the 17th and 18th century Where: Same European countries, and America Who/What: a theory in moral epistemology concerning how one knows moral truths. It is a view in meta-ethics according to which morality is somehow grounded in moral sentiments or emotions. Some take it to be primarily a view about the nature of moral facts or moral beliefs (a primarily metaphysical view)—this form of the view more often goes by the name "sentimentalism". One thing it Did: Gave a new system of ethics where the Church and politics were failing. Involved indivdual interpretation of the issue, while basing moral virtues on emotion. There's really not much to it. Emotions dictate ethics, ie if something makes you happy, it is good. Can't see this one failing at all. Why Important: The concept of it was not groundbreaking, but the fact that there were other ethical systems out there that relied on the individuals emotions and ideals was new. IT uses senses to perceive the world.
Seventh Day Adventists
When: founded 1863 Where: originated in Northern USA What: a Protestant Christian denomination that arose from the second great awakening and one of the founders was Ellen White Did What: They placed heavy importance on the Sabbath (Saturday). Ellen White made claims that she saw slaves and slave masters at the second coming and also said slavery was a sin and would come back after the civil war (correct) So What: it quickly gained followers for its beliefs and is still a very important religious sect today
Shakers
Who: First successful American communal movement founded by Ann Lee Stanley Where: she came from England and started Shakers in New York When: started 1770s Did What: Started many communities which went against marriage and sex, common ownership of property, abstain from war, alcohol, politics. Viewed God as male and female So What: viewed male and female as equal, repudiated the male rule in government. Because went against sex, relied on converts to populate communities and once converts ran out, Shakers died out by 1900
Sojourner Truth
WHEN: 1843 onward WHERE: Born: Swartekill, New York Died. Died: Battle Creek, Michigan WHAT: the self-given name of Isabella Baumfree, an African-American abolitionist and women's rights activist. DID WHAT: Born into slavery but escaped with her infant daughter in 1826. Went to court to recover her son, and won. Her best-known extemporaneous speech on gender inequalities, "Ain't I a Woman?" Also during the Civil War, Truth helped recruit black troops for the Union Army
Susan B. Anthony
WHEN: February 15, 1820 – March 13, 1906 WHERE: Born: Adams, Massachusetts Died: Rochester, New York WHAT: Occupation was a suffragist and women's rights advocate DID WHAT: American civil rights leader, played a pivotal role to introduce women's suffrage. Co-founder of the first Women's Temperance Movement with Elizabeth Cady Stanton as President and co-founded the women's rights journal, The Revolution. She traveled the United States and Europe, and averaged 75 to 100 speeches per year. WHY IMPORTANT: one of the important advocates in leading the way for women's rights to be acknowledged and instituted in the American government
Temperance Crusade
Ok not like 100% sure this is 100% right. the dates and stuff seem a little out of place... When 1825, 73 it was always being revitalized with each generation Who: women mostly Where: Ohio What: Basically, women were sick and tired of being abused by their drunk husbands so they pushed for this temperance movement. It was for levelness, not necessarily abstinence from alcohol Why Important: Demonstrated women's efforts and abilities to cause change in their society as they fought for their own protection when they saw the harmful effects of cheap, strong alcohol. Represented their plea and struggle to have a voice.
Underground Railroad
Who: Harriet Tubman among others When Height from 1850-60 Where From deep south into Ohio where slaves were considered free What: network of houses in which a runaway slave could reside in and be helped to the North. Many abolitionists, both black and white, would provide shelter from slaves and bring them to the next checkpoint. Importance: Well, it demonstrated American's true courage to risk everything so that a slave could be freed and it's super noble, but for an ID, it's importance would stem from a growing abolitionist movement, so strong that some were going against their government secretly.
Unitarians
WHEN: 1565 - present WHERE: US WHAT: a liberal Christian theology known for the rejection of the Trinity and other traditional Christian doctrines. WHY IMPORTANT: some notable unitarians: John Locke, Charles Dickens, Susan B. Anthony, Charles Darwin, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson
Walt Whitman
WHEN: 1819-1892 WHERE: America WHO: an american poet, essayist, and journalist who was also a poet DID WHAT: He wrote Leaves of Grass which was very controversial, but popular, because of its extreme use of sexuality. Whitman was a humanist, critical in the link between the transcendentalism of Thoreau and Emerson and the realism that followed. WHY IMPORTANT: He was another succesful americn writer who helped to shape the USA into its own country and seperate it even more from Europe. He was America's first "poet of democracy," able to express truly American ideals in his writing.
William Lloyd Garrison
When: 1830s through 1850s Where: New England What: prominent American abolitionist, journalist, and social reformer Did What: He is best known as the editor of the abolitionist newspaper The Liberator, and was one of the founders of the American Anti-Slavery Society. He promoted "immediate emancipation" of slaves in the United States. So What: was one of the most articulate opponents of slavery, also radical as he argued for immediate rather than gradual emancipation, and his non-violent passive resistance gathered a following and laid the ground work for other civil rights protests such as the civil rights movement in the 1960s and Martin Luther King, Jr
Abolitionism
When: 1790s – 1860s Where: Throughout America, centered in the North Who/What: A movement denouncing human bondage as contrary to the ideals of republicanism and liberty demanding an end to slavery. Three separate ideologies: religious abolitionism, legal abolitionsim, and violent abolitionism. Notable members included: Richard Allen, David Walker, Nat Turner, and William Lloyd Garrison Did What: Demanded an immeadiate end to slavery through pamphlets such as David Walker's An Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World and other publications. Nat Turner led a slave revolt showing the more violent, frustrated side of the movement. William Lloyd Garrison condemned slaveholders and used religion to denounce their actions as sin. Significance: Was the first organized movement to come together in an organized voice to demand an end to slavery. Encouraged protests and petitions to advance the cause. It led to much violence against free blacks in the North and fear among Southern planters, who tightened regulations on slaves. It can be seen as one of the primary factors leading to the Civil War.
Dorothea Dix
When: 1801 – 1887 Where: Massachusets Who/What: She set out to improve public institutions and worked to promote the welfare of society. Did What: She persuaded Massachusets lawmakers to enlarge the state hospital to accommodate indigent mental patients. Began a national movement to establish state asylums for those with mental illnesses. Later served as the Superintendent of Army Nurses in the Civil War. Significance: Dorothea Dix demonstrated that women could have considerable influence on society and was a role model for many young women. Dix prompted many states to expand their public hospitals and improve their prisons, beginning the first generation of American mental asylums.
John Humphrey Noyes
When: lived 19th century, were concerned with 1848 Where: from New England, and his main activity was in Oneida, New York Who: a religious perfectionist and utopian socialist Did what: created a perfectionist community in Oneida New York that believed that the second coming had already happened and tried to live completely free of sin in a socialist community. Practiced complex marriage, and called for women’s rights. Other Noyesian communities were established elsewhere in the US as well, but they all petered out by the end of the 19th cent. So what: He represented the feminist aspect of the Second Great Awakening, and was a vital part of that social movement. He also coined the term “free love.” And Oneida became the world’s largest silverware factory.
Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, and Mormons
When: Smith formed Mormonism (latter-day saint movement) in the 1830s, Young led the movement from 1847-1877, and the Mormons are ongoing but these dates are really important to them (generally during the 2nd great awakening) Where: Smith was from New England (NY’s burned-over district), Brigham Young moved west and established Utah, and mormonism is a religion very focused on North America Who: Smith: revivalist spiritual guy, created LDS movement, which considers him a prophet
American Colonization Society
When-Established in 1816 Where-Established in Washington, Concerned the south Who-Founder Robert Finley What-an attempt to satisfy two groups in America. Two groups had different views involving slavery in the early 1800's. One group wanted to free African slaves and their descendants and let them return to Africa. The other group was the slave owners who feared free people of color and wanted to expel them from America. Established colonies in Sierra Leone and helped create country of Liberia So What-The attempt at solving the problem of slavery did some good but was merely a bandaid. The society shows the drastically different views from abolisionists and the pro-slave south. These different views would eventually lead to the Civil War. (Created a whole country that is still here today as well)
Doughface Democrats
What: Northern democrats who sided with Southern Democratic political views and voted that way. They were considered weak men without a firm commitment to their political party’s positions. Who: John Randolph is credited with coming up with this name for these Northerners. Did What: The Kansas-Nebraska Act allowed settlers in these two territories to determine with they would allow slavery or not (Popular Sovereignty). Why important: The Missouri Compromise of 1820 was made possible by 17 doughfaces. In 1854, the Kansas-Nebraska Act repealed the Compromise
Gadsden Purchase
What: A negotiated purchase of land from Mexico by the U. S. Ambassador to Mexico, James Gadsden When: 1853 Where: The land became the southern portion of Arizona and the South western portion of New Mexico. Did What: The purchase allowed for a more suitable route to avoid mountain terrain for the completion of the transcontinental railroad. Why significant: The Mexican leader, Santa Anna, was willing to make the deal because he was raising money for his Mexican army to fight the U.S.
The Halls of Montezuma
Who: Polk called for an invasion of central Mexico designed to capture the capital at Mexico City. To command this campaign, Polk selected General Winfield Scott. What: The Halls of Montezuma refers to the Battle of Chapultepec, during the Mexican American War, where a force of Marines stormed th Chapultepec Castle. When: September 1847 during the Mexican-American War Where: Chapultepec Castle west of Mexico City Why important: a United States victory over Mexican forces. The efforts of the U.S. Marines in this battle and subsequent occupation of Mexico City are memorialized by the opening lines of the Marines' Hymn, "From the Halls of Montezuma."
Harper’s Ferry
Who/What: John Brown, a radical abolitionist, raided the Harpers Ferry weapons arsenal with his small force of 18 men in an attempt to supply slaves with weapons for a larger rebellion. Where: Harpers Ferry, Virginia When: October 1859 Did What: While republicans condemned Browns actions, democrats called it “a natural, logical, and inevitable result” supporting Brown fully
Higher Law
What: Phrase coined by William Seward stating that all laws must conform to universal principle of all people. When: Mid 1800s Where: America Did What: Argument used to condemn slavery based on the principle of equality So What: Angered many southerners adding to the huge tension already present between the two sides. Also, concept is now used by all governments and has been used in scenarios like the Nuremberg Trials.
Jefferson Davis
Who: A southern senator who lead the moderates, a southern group who demanded ironclad political protection for slavery rather than succession. When: Mid 1800s Where: The South Did What: Davis’s many anti succession speeches were instrumental in delaying the breakup union unfortunately, they were not enough as situation was out of control. So What: Davis had earned universal popularity prewar in the south and was elected as their leader when succession took place.
John Bell
When- 1860 Where- nation-wide election, he only won Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia. What- the candidate for the Constitutional Union party in the 1860 election Did What- lost the election that Abe Lincoln won, came in third. So What- the division of the electorate between a Northern Democrat candidate, a Southern Democrat candidate, and John Bell, as well as the distribution of electoral votes, allowed Abraham Lincoln to easily win the 1860 election with an overwhelming electoral majority even though he only captured 40% of the popular vote.
John Breckinridge
When- 1860 Where- nation-wide election, he swept states in the Deep South, and won Delaware, Maryland, and North Carolina. What- the candidate for the Southern Democrats in the 1860 election Did What- lost the election that Abe Lincoln won, came in second. So What- the division of the Democratic Party (that had dominated the elections of the past twelve years with a national presence) between a Northern Democrat candidate and John Breckinridge, as well as the distribution of electoral votes, allowed Abraham Lincoln and the Republican party to easily win the 1860 election and finally overthrow Democratic dominance with an overwhelming electoral majority.
John Brown
When- 1856 and 1859 Where- Kansas and Virginia What- a 56-year-old abolitionist who led a free-state militia Did What- during the conflict over slavery in Kansas, he and his followers reacted to a proslavery attack on the free-soil town of Lawrence by murdering 5 proslavery settlers in Pottawatomie. In 1859, he led 18 men (both black and white) in raids on federal armories in Harper’s Ferry, Virginia to steal weapons to give to slaves to mount a rebellion to end slavery. He didn’t succeed. So What- the attack on Lawrence, and Brown’s bloody response started a guerilla war in Kansas, between proslavery settlers and free-soil settlers, that led to almost 200 deaths. In 1859, Republicans condemned Brown’s raids on federal property, but Democrats said they were natural responses to the radical abolitionist Republican party. Transcendentalists like Emerson and Thoreau praised Brown as a saint, especially after Virginia charged him with treason and sentenced him to hanging. This made the South fear the radical Republicans more and more.
Kansas-Nebraska Act
When-1854 Where-Kansas and Nebraska but it also affected the whole nation Who- Stephen Douglas What-Allowed both Kansas and Nebraska to decide whether or not they wanted to join as slave states by popular sovereignty. This essentially repealed the Missouri Compromise of 1820. This was heralded as a major pro slave victory So What- Increased tensions btw north and south even more
Lecompton Constitution
When-1857 Where-Kansas What-Was a proposed state constitution for Kansas that was pro slavery. This was in contrast with other proposed constitutions such as the Topeka Constitution which was anti-slavery. It ultimately did not pass, and Kansas eventually entered as a free state. So What-Once again further pushed our country to the brink of civil war over slavery.
Lincoln-Douglas Debates
When-1858 Where-Illinois What-Were a series of debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas for the Illinois senate. The main issue that was discussed in the seven debates was slavery (Douglas-Pro slavery Lincoln-anti slavery. There was incredible media attention given to these debates and Lincoln would latter publish a book containing the debates, which helped him garner popularity to become president latter. So What-Was one of the steps toward Lincoln becoming one of if not the most influential leader in our history. These debates also stirred up tensions which would lead to the Civil War
Ostend Manifesto
What: a document written that described rationale for US to purchase Cuba from Spain. Pierre Soule was the driving force behind it When:1854 during Franklin Pierce presidency Where: US dealing with Cuba Did What: outlined the reasons that a US purchase of Cuba would be beneficial to all parties involved and declared that the U.S. would be "justified in wresting" the island from Spanish hands if Spain refused to sell. So What: it was immediately denounced in both the Northern states and Europe. It became a rallying cry for Northerners in the events that would later be termed Bleeding Kansas, and the political fallout was a significant setback for the Pierce Administration, effectively ending any possibility of Cuba's annexation until after the Civil War
Personal Liberty Laws
What: a series of laws passed by several US States in the North in response to the Fugitive Slave Acts of 1793 and 1850 Where: States in North When: implemented between 1800s and beginning of civil war Did What: designed to make the legal system fairer for all people and to ensure safety of freedmen and escaped slaves without employing nullification. Wanted to avoid more feuding between northern and southern states So What: They did little to resolve tension amongst north and south. The strained relationship kept building until the civil war
Squatter (Popular) Sovereignty
Jefferson Davis When: 1840-1860s Where: congress i think What: influx of new citizens in order to manipulate the ultimate sovereign votes Importance: The doctrine of "Squatter Sovereignty" was based on the theory that the people of any state or territory should have the right to regulate their domestic institutions as they might see fit, particularly the institution of slavery
Spot Resolutions
Who: Honesto Abe When: 1847 Where: Congress What: He wanted to know exactly which "spot" (location) american blood had been spilt be the Mexicans Importance: He went against President Polk because Polk needed a reason to go to war against Mexico and he got the nickname "spotty lincoln" hehehe :)
Seventh of March Speech
Daniel Webster WHen: 1850 Where: congress What: a speech showing his support for Compromise of 1850 Importance: One of the best speeches ever I guess..."not as a Massachusetts man, nor as a Northern man but as an American..but it screwed him for any chance of becomng preisdent because abolitionsits hated him now
Treaty of Guadeloupe Hidalgo
WHEN: 1848 WHERE: Mexico/ USA WHAT: ended the Mexican-American War DID WHAT: it gave the USA the Rio Grande boundary for Texas, California, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, and Wyoming WHY IMPORTANT: Gave America more land to expand to and exemplified both American Exceptionalism and Manifest Destiny
Webster Ashburton Treaty
WHEN: Aug 9, 1842 WHERE: united states and northern british borders WHAT: resolved border issues between us and Britian DID WHAT: reaffirmed the whole northern border which included the 49th parallel, and called for an end on the slave trade in the high seas WHY IMPORTANT: Gave America the borders it has today while it also was a step forward in ending slavery by stopping the slave trade all together
Pottawatomie Massacre
WHEN: MAY 25-25 1856 WHERE: Kansas WHAT: Abolitionists led by John Brown killed pro slavery people DID WHAT: revealed the problem of slavery and how it was dividing our nation WHY IMPORTANT: this was just one of many events like this that happend in Kansas leading it to be called Bloddy Kansas. It showed the increased tensions between the north and the south.
Wimont Proviso
When: 1840s Where: Southwest and future territories What: an additional provision added to several bills Did What: the proviso banned slavery in any territory to be acquired from Mexico in the Mexican War or in the future. David Wilmot introduced the proviso in the House on a bill concerning the final negotiations to end the Mexican-American War, and then later on the Treaty of Guadalipe Hidalgo. In both cases it passed in the house, but not the senate, as the South had greater representation So What: Combined with other slavery related issues, the Wilmot Proviso led to the Compromise of 1850, which helped buy another shaky decade of peace. similar to the Tallmadge amendment, the debate further heightened tensions between the North and South
Young Guard
When: 1840s - 1850s Where: United States, DC What: a group of newer congressional leaders Did What: the young guard was interested in purging and purifying the nation rather than preserving it. the main leader was William Seward from New York. who was strongly anti-slavery and said that Americans must follow a “higher law” (God’s law) that is above the constitution So What: (not really sure if this is accurate, not a lot of info) the young guard politicians were influential in shaping the policies of Zachary Taylor, as he was supported by the young guard and avoided all compromise. When Taylor died, the young guard faded away and the compromise of 1850 was passed
“Conscience” Whigs
When: Period after the Mexican-American War (1848) Where: From Massachusets Who/What: Were a faction of the Whig party that opposed slavery (notably Charles Adames and James Kent) Did What: Accused James K. Polk of fighting the Mexican-American War of conquest in order to add new slave states to the Union and give Democrats permanent control of the federal government. They split from the mainstream Whig party to create the Free-Soil Party, then later returned. So What: They are an example of how factions tore the Second Party System apart and these men would later play a crucial role in the establishment of Abraham Lincoln's party, the Republican Party.
“Fifty-four Forty or Fight”
When: Election of 1844 Where: Throughout the US Who/What: Was James K. Polk's campaign slogan in his bid for the presidency. Did What: It played a key role in demonstrating Polk's message, and helped him to the presidency (its more the So What on this one). The quote itself refers to a geographical latitude and longitude. So What: “Fifty-four Forty or Fight” demonstrates Polk's staunch expansionist policy. He insisted that the United States claim the whole of the Oregon Territory, from actual Oregon to Alaska. This manifest destiny mindset would lead Polk to succeed in annexing Texas and expanding the country through the Mexican-American War. These territorial acquisitions would then in turn spark debate over the expansion of slavery and lead to the Civil War.
Beecher's Bibles
When: 1855-1856 Where: Kansas Who/What: Was a name given to Breech-loading Sharps Rifles supplied to the anti-slavery immigrants to Kansas. The name references Henry Ward Beecher who helped supply arms to the fighters and also the fact that the rifles were often shipped in crates labled “books.” Did What: Contributed to the violence over the issue of slavery in the fighting known as “Bleeding Kansas.” Pro-slavery and anti-slavery combatants battled throughout Kansas to decide the direction of the state. So What: It represents one of the failings of the system known as “popular sovereignty” in the state of Kansas. (This was the notion that the people of the state decide whether the state is slave or free.) It also shows the inevitability of confict over slavery, and can be seen as a prelude to the larger conflict of the Civil War.
Border Ruffians
When: 1854 Where: Missouri-Kansas border What: a group of fraudulent, pro-slavery advocates led by a MO senator Did what: When Kansas was being made a state, Missouri, which was adjacent to Kansas and already a slave state, wanted Kansas to be slave state. So, in the Kansas popular election, an MO senator led 1, 700 men across the Kansas border to vote for pro-slavery reps (illegally). These were known as the border ruffians, and their movement made Kansas a slave state, because they succeeded in manipulating Kansas’s election. So what: without the ruffians, Kansas would have been a free state, because there were more anti-slavery people actually in the state
Democratic Convention of 1860
Where: First in Charleston, SC, then in Baltimore What: democratic party trying to nominate someone for pres. Did what: northern democrats refused to protect slavery in the territories, prompting, southern dem.s to quit the Charleston meeting. They reconvened in Baltimore, and the northern/midwestern democrats nominated stephen Douglas for pres. while the southern ones nominates John Breckinridge of Kentucky So What: even the parties themselves were divided by the argument over slavery
Freeport Doctrine
When: 1858 Where: Illinois (senate race) What: a defensive argument by Douglas during the Lincoln-Douglas debates Did what: Douglas was pro-slavery, and in the debates Lincoln asked him how he could protect slavery in the territories while also advocating popular sovereignty in the territories (which would allow settlers to exclude slavery if they want). Douglas responded with the Freeport Doctrine: that a territory’s residents could exclude slavery by not adopting laws to protect it. So what: the doctrine didn’t satisfy pro or anti- slavery advocates, showing how hard it was becoming to justify slavery. Also, it highlighted Lincoln’s badassery, even though he wasn’t elected during that cycle
Dred Scott Decision
What: Huge/controversial decision made by he Supreme Court When: 1857 Where: America, Supreme Court Did What: Decreed that current slaves, children of slaves, free blacks, decedents(all black people) were not full citizens of the United states and were not protected under the constitution, and had no right to sue anyone for rights, because they didn't have them So what: Known as the single worst decision the Supreme court has ever made, it expanded the gap between Blacks and whites, which was already growing, and it took away all rights the slaves and free blacks may have had, including their citizenship and right to court. Evidence of the further expanding debate on what role blacks would play in expanding American affairs, big step back for those who stood for abolitionist
Forty Niners
What: Term used for people who flocked to California for the gold rush of 1848 When: 18(49)-1855 Where: California Did What: Word spread all over America that gold was discovered in California and millions of people began the hard journey across the country to get a piece of the rush. Caused the mass migrations of millions of people from the east to out west, further increasing settlement of the west, which had began slowly. So what: The effects of the Gold Rush were substantial. San Francisco grew from a small settlement of about 200 residents in 1846 to a boomtown of about 36,000 by 1852. Roads, churches, schools and other towns were built throughout California. In 1849 a state constitution was written, a governor and legislature chosen and California became a state in 1850 as part of the Compromise of 1850. Different methods of transportation were cultivated to bring settlers over to California, most notably Steam boat and railroads.
Free Soil Party
What: Political party When: 1848-1852, during the presidential elections Where: All around America, but appealed mostly to New York Did What: It was a third party and a single-issue party that largely appealed to and drew its greatest strength from New York State. The party leadership consisted of former anti-slavery members of the Whig Party and the Democratic Party. Its main purpose was opposing the expansion of slavery into the western territories, arguing that free men on free soil comprised a morally and economically superior system to slavery. They opposed slavery in the new territories and sometimes worked to remove existing laws that discriminated against freed African Americans in states such as Ohio. So what: Wasn't really that large of a movement, just another single issue party that would later be assimilated into the republican party. Showed the growing debate for slavery in the expanding west as it began to take official statehood in the union. Had some power in the congress that didn't really lead to much.
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| Ralph Waldo Emerson |
During this week in 1940, the evacuation of 340,000 allied troops, known as Operation Dynamo, was accomplished from what French port city? | UU World: Emerson's Mirror, by Richard Higgins
March/April 2003
Emerson's Mirror
What do we see in the legacy of Ralph Waldo Emerson, "the most recognized and revered figure in the Unitarian movement"? His two-hundredth birthday makes this a good time to ask.
by Richard Higgins
One of the most famous public speakers of his day, Ralph Waldo Emerson drew all sorts of listeners. A scrubwoman who went to his lyceum lectures is reported to have said that she didn't really understand him, "but I like to go and see him stand up there and look as though he thought everyone else is as good as he is." A version of this story appears in most Emerson biographies. Sometimes it is a workman or farmer who braves a snowstorm to hear Emerson talk and explains his devotion by saying, "We don't know what he said, but we're sure he's giving us the best there is." As Wesley Mott, the founder and president of the Emerson Society, puts it: "People went away tremendously uplifted and had no idea what they just heard."
See also Emerson's Shadow by Forrest Church
Celebrate the Bicentennial
Emerson as Unitarian , March 7-June 30, 25 Beacon St., Boston. An exhibit sponsored by the Unitarian Universalist Historical Society opens March 7 with presentations by David Robinson and Wesley Mott and a reception at the First and Second Church in Boston.
Ralph Waldo Emerson: A Bicentennial Exhibition , March 26-June 7, Harvard University Houghton Library. Poet Robert Pinsky reads from Emerson's work on April 24.
"Spires of Form": The Emerson Bicentennial Conference , April 25-26, 1154 Boylston St., Boston. Massachusetts Historical Society, Ralph Waldo Emerson Society, and the Ralph Waldo Emerson Memorial Association.
Emerson and His Study: An Inside Look , through April 6, Concord Museum, 200 Lexington Rd., Concord, Massachusetts. A recreation of Emerson's study reopens in May. Until then, take a closer look at the study's contents.
Emerson in Concord , March 5-May 31, Concord Free Public Library, 129 Main St., Concord. Displays about his house, town life in his day, and the Transcendentalists.
Bicentennial Birthday Celebration , May 25, First Parish in Concord. Emerson biographer Robert D. Richardson Jr. will speak.
UUA General Assembly , June 26-30, Boston. Literary scholars Lawrence Buell and Sarah Wider, essayist Scott Russell Sanders, and a host of historians will discuss everything from Emerson's significance for twenty-first-century religion to his female influences and friends. The GA Choir will perform an anthem commissioned for the bicentennial.
The Living Legacy of Ralph Waldo Emerson, July 1-3, First Parish in Concord. A post-GA conference with the Rev. Barry Andrews, chair of the UUA's Emerson Bicentennial Committee, Jayne Gordon of the Thoreau Institute, and others.
Two hundred years after his birth on May 25, 1803, Emerson is recognized as the architect of American intellectual culture. School syllabi swell with his works and most Americans assume some familiarity with his thought. Aphorisms such as "hitch your wagon to a star," "a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds," or "trust thyself" pervade the American mind, although some people may not know that Emerson coined them.
Emerson is also "the most recognized and revered figure in the Unitarian movement," proclaims the Unitarian Universalist Historical Society. His advice to greenhorn ministers in 1838 still inspires those who climb the pulpit stairs today: "The true preacher can be known by this, that he deals out to the people his life life passed through the fire of thought."
In other ways, though, things haven't changed much since Emerson's day. More people admire Emerson because of his moral character, his reputation for brilliance, or his nobility in the face of loss than understand what he actually believed and wrote. He is sometimes presumed, for example, to have sanctioned unbridled individualism, been an atheist, or preached an easy, feel-good optimism. Emerson felt misunderstood in his time, too. But take heart, ye who would draw nearer the Sage of Concord.
Getting a clearer image of Emerson and perhaps even a feel for the extraordinary and complex human being he was will be easier this year. The bicentennial of the birth of this American Plato is being marked with exhibits, conferences, and lectures at universities and public libraries across the country. The Unitarian Universalist Association also plans to celebrate Emerson's legacy. The Historical Society and the UUA are sponsoring addresses this spring by two leading Unitarian Universalist Emerson scholars, Wesley Mott and David M. Robinson, along with an exhibit and curricula about Emerson's ministry and influence. New books including Robinson's The Spiritual Emerson from the UUA's Beacon Press and Barry Andrews's Emerson as Spiritual Guide from the UUA's Skinner House Books will mark the occasion. And Emerson will be a palpable presence at the UUA's General Assembly in June, where an unprecedented number of religious liberals is expected to gather in Boston, cradle of American Unitarianism and birthplace of Ralph Waldo Emerson. (See page 32.)
But getting in the Emersonian mode doesn't have to be a studious affair. Visit Emerson's house in Concord, Massachusetts, a charmingly low-budget historical site operated and maintained by the Emerson family, and see the blackened water buckets that Emerson used to help douse fires in town or the thick blue cotton and linen robe he wore when he rose before dawn to write. Go to the barn beside the house and look for the path he took to his wood lot at Walden Pond, made famous by a certain freeloading squatter. Read "Threnody," his poem about the death of his five-year-old son and one of the great elegies in English literature. Or read the opening of Robert Richardson's biography, Emerson: The Mind on Fire, which tells how an inconsolable young Emerson walked from Boston to Roxbury each day to his first wife's grave; he eventually opened her coffin to see for himself that she was gone. Now that is first-hand experience.
The bicentennial provides a wider point of access to Emerson. It does not, alas, make evaluating his legacy and relevance easy. "Emerson's legacy is a mirror in which each generation of scholars finds what it is seeking," said Ronald Bosco, an English professor at the State University of New York at Albany and past president of the Emerson Society. Emerson left behind such a vast corpus of work shaping American poetry, nature writing, religion, politics, and philosophy that one can easily find Emerson the Visionary, the Intellectual, the quintessential American Poet, and the cryptic Mystic among other personae in his writings.
But a mirror can be deceptive, too. At a forum in Concord last year on Emerson's influence, Mott, who is an English professor at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, said that reading Emerson is too often "an exercise in narcissism instead of the unsettling experience of being provoked, which for Emerson was the aim of preaching, writing, and reading."
Whether we look to Emerson for reassurance or provocation, his legacy as a religious seeker, as a Unitarian heretic-turned-saint, as a person seeking his true calling, as an archetypal individual, as a lover of nature, and as a visionary optimist promises inspiration and reward.
Emerson's Faith
"Emerson and the Transcendentalists are probably more relevant now than they were in their time," said the Rev. Suzanne Meyer, associate minister of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Atlanta. "They speak out of our UU tradition to a postmodern mindset that is tired of scientism and reductionism, just as they were reacting against the Enlightenment rationalism of their day. They offer us a naturalist spirituality, a naturalist mysticism, without metaphysics and supernaturalism."
She has found, for example, that Emerson speaks to young adults who want to awaken a reverence for nature. (Another young man, Henry Thoreau, once said that Emerson's "influence upon young persons is greater than any man's.")
"I think Emerson is appealing today because UUs want an authentic Unitarianism," said Meyer, who teaches adult religious education courses on his work. "We're tired of borrowing from other traditions. We've tried everything else. Now we want an authentic Unitarian Universalist spirituality, one embedded in our own history as a movement."
Emerson was born into a line of Puritan and Congregationalist ministers, but his father, the Rev. William Emerson, who died in 1811, was regarded as a liberal. Emerson moved in that direction, too, favoring a nonliteral reading of the Bible and a nondogmatic Christianity that emphasized the moral law and ongoing revelation. After some hesitation, Emerson was ordained to the Unitarian ministry and became pastor of Boston's Second Church in 1829. He resigned after just three years, ostensibly over his opposition to the communion ritual, but more likely because he questioned his vocation. By the late 1830s, finding the institutional church in New England more dead than alive, he went beyond even the liberals of his day, calling into question the foundation of historical Christianity.
Recent scholarship has shown his views to be more complex, and perhaps less radical, than has generally been thought. It is true that Emerson condemned religious "formalism," that he characterized the miracles of the New Testament as "Monster," and that he told the ministers graduating from Harvard Divinity School in 1838 that Christianity "dwells with noxious exaggeration about the person of Jesus." But Emerson remained throughout his life a religious as well as spiritual person. His goal, many scholars say, was to vivify religion, not destroy it, to free it from the oppressive conventions of the day.
He wasn't quite the enemy of the church that he is sometimes portrayed to have been. After resigning the pulpit of the Second Church, Emerson wrote a hymn for the ordination of his successor. It was, "We Love the Venerable House Our Fathers Built to God." He continued preaching in East Lexington and other Boston-area churches through 1836. In his 1836 manifesto, Nature, Emerson wrote, "The best moments of life are these delicious awakenings of the higher powers, and the reverential withdrawing of nature before its God." In his journal, he wrote, "I count it the great object of my life to explore the nature of God" although by God Emerson meant not the static focus of conventional piety but a continually creating, form-shifting God available anew to each generation. In the final quarter of his life, Emerson sometimes attended Unitarian services at the First Parish church, up the road from his house in Concord.
Emerson had "a raw undeniable will to believe," Mott wrote in The Strains of Eloquence, a book on Emerson's sermons. Undoubtedly, Emerson's will to believe was reinforced by his beloved and brilliant aunt, Mary Moody Emerson, a religious woman and voracious reader who blended the self-scrutiny of Calvinism with a skeptical and inquiring mind. As the author Phyllis Cole has pointed out, it was Mary Moody Emerson who urged "Waldo" to pursue solitude in nature and inward communion with God.
David Robinson, an English professor at Oregon State University and author of two books on Emerson's religious development, is the editor of a new Beacon Press book, The Spiritual Emerson. In an interview, Robinson, a member of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Corvallis, Oregon, said that Emerson opposed the notion of a personal, historical God. Instead, he saw the "Over-Soul," a term he sometimes substituted for God, as a "unifying force or energy, a structure in all things."
Fittingly for one who belittled consistency, Emerson was inconsistent in his use of "God" versus "Over-Soul," Robinson said. "He was often pushing language to get to a closer approximation of what he meant. In some contexts, to emphasize he meant that which is of ultimate concern, he would use 'God.'"
Emerson did not believe in personal immortality. "The soul does not know persons," he wrote. The aspiration of men and women for a personal consciousness that goes on forever after death seemed misguided to him, and he disparaged it wittily: "Here are people who cannot dispose of a day; an hour hangs heavy on their hands. Will you offer them rolling ages without end?"
Emerson moved away from his early emphasis on mystical experience, according to Robinson, and "increasingly came to emphasize right action as the fundamental core of religion, the notion that pure religion equals pure morality." Emerson expressed his belief in religion as action in the world when he wrote in his journal, "I like not the man who is thinking how to be good, but the man thinking how to accomplish his work."
The "moral sense" that Emerson preached did not refer to ethics alone, but to intuition as well. It was a rejection of the passivity and moral incapacity of Calvinism, Robinson added. Emerson believed, above all, in the moral authority of the individual intellect and conscience. "The real Copernican revolution in New England religion was the Emersonian notion of the human spirit being empowered that the individual could intuit religious truth," he said.
Emerson stressed not obedience to codes of behavior but a dynamic response to the soul's intuition. Indeed, intuition and perception the ability to see anew were critical to Emerson's understanding of morality. For Emerson, Mott said in an interview, "perception was the heart of religion."
Emerson's Unitarianism
Emerson's status as a Unitarian saint emerged only slowly and after a very rocky start. Emerson was ordained only ten years after the Rev. William Ellery Channing rallied theological liberals to the "Unitarian" banner. In 1838, the year Emerson delivered his famous Divinity School Address, Unitarian ministers were still defending themselves against charges of heresy from their Congregational colleagues.
Emerson gave his address, which would become one of his best-known major statements, at the invitation of Harvard's graduating ministers. In it, he rejected the notion of a personal God and lashed the church for suffocating the soul through empty forms and lifeless preaching. His address electrified some of the younger ministers, including Theodore Parker, but horrified the faculty and leading Unitarian clergy. One professor denounced it in a Boston newspaper as "the latest form of infidelity," and a vigorous war of words ensued although Emerson himself stayed out of the debate.
Emerson's charge to the students drew scorn for its rhetorical missiles and theological bromides, but it was ultimately a message of reform, an effort to awaken the church from its "indolent sleep," Robinson said. "He focused on preaching because he continued to see it as a great tool, and he did not call for people to leave the church."
At the time, most Unitarians nevertheless saw Emerson as an outcast. The Christian Examiner, the leading Unitarian periodical, praised Henry Ware's book, The Personality of the Deity, and criticized Emerson's views, saying, "Defend us from the wordiness and mysticism, which are pretending to be a better literature, a higher theology, and almost a new revelation." Yet by 1861, the same periodical rejoiced in Emerson's "prophetic mission" of challenging the church and awakening a new religious sense.
A factor in this shift was the influence of Theodore Parker, who preached Emerson's ideas and applied his view of religion as morality to the abolitionist movement in the years leading up to the Civil War. By the 1870s and 1880s, Unitarians began to see Transcendentalism as part of their heritage, and by the 1890s, Emerson had been fully reclaimed.
"Emerson's place as a Unitarian saint is secure," said Robinson. "But there has also been, and still is today, resistance to him because he is seen, fairly or not, as too individualistic, as someone who's not a strong supporter of institutions. Conrad Wright [a leading Unitarian historian who taught for decades at Harvard] has said that one difficulty with Emerson is that you can't build a movement out of individualists."
If anyone doubts Emerson's ability to speak to Unitarian Universalists today, the Rev. Victoria Weinstein is happy to set them straight. Weinstein, the minister of the First Parish Church in Norwell, Massachusetts, grew up in a Humanist-oriented Unitarian Universalist congregation. She was a high school English teacher after college and drifted away from Unitarian Universalism. It was an encounter with Emerson, she said, that helped her to develop her faith in God and eventually to decide to go to Harvard Divinity School to become a minister.
"I was never excited by the Emerson selections in the standard anthologies," she said, "but I was drawn to him in a personal way when I began to read the essays. He spoke across the ages, in eternal truths expressed in a very intimate and immediate way. He appealed to me as my friend. I would say I've had an intimate relationship with Mr. Emerson ever since."
While participating in a summer seminar on Emerson led by Robinson Weinstein said she acknowledged a call to go divinity school. "I knew I really needed to follow this path." Weinstein, who has continued to study Emerson, said she is still drawn by his passion for an original relationship to God and the universe. "I can't read the Divinity School Address without being excited."
"The Divinity School Address is really a loving charge," she said. "There is a sense of affection and care throughout all his writing. He is saying, 'I want you to be everything you can be, to know all the beauty of who you are,' but he says it in a very loving way. And friendship was one of his central religious values and personal commitments."
Emerson's Calling
Weinstein's experience highlights another reason why Unitarian Universalists are drawn to Emerson: He emphasized the importance of discerning who one is called to be in the world.
The young Emerson was rather shockingly unsure of his abilities, his self-doubt compounded by recurrent illnesses. On the question of vocation, he was, until at least age thirty, completely at sea. He was happy neither as teacher nor minister. "I wish I knew where and how I ought to live," he wrote in 1833 while sailing home to America from Europe, the year after he left the ministry. Yet three months later, growing in resolve to write his own thoughts and give public lectures, he would write: "The call of our calling is the loudest call."
Emerson described that call in more detail three years later, when he was thirty-three. His first book, Nature, had just appeared. What, he asked rhetorically in his journal, shall be his lot?
"I am to new name all the beasts in the fields and all the gods in the sky," he wrote. "I am to invite men drenched in Time to recover themselves and come out of time, and taste their native immortal air. I am to fire with what skill I can the artillery of sympathy and emotion. I am to indicate constantly, though all unworthy, the Ideal and Holy Life, the life within life the Forgotten Good, the Unknown Cause in which we sprawl and sin."
Emerson took to his new vocation with enthusiasm and was an enduring success at it. He gave more than 1,500 lectures, in places as far away as California and England. And yet the "new" vocation was not completely new. As author and publisher Elizabeth Palmer Peabody said two years after Emerson's death in 1882, his new calling did not require a rejection of what he previously was. "Mr. Emerson was always pre-eminently the preacher to his own generation and future ones, but as much if not more out of the pulpit as in it; faithful unto the end to his early chosen profession and the vows of his youth."
Emerson was born into a ministerial legacy; seven of his ancestors served New England churches. As such, he acknowledged feeling some pressure to continue the legacy (from his Aunt Mary, for example), but for Emerson a true call could never come from outside. It required intuition, choice, and action a self-trusting process that was a radical departure from the prevailing Calvinism.
Indeed, one may say that Emerson's life project was to discern and unlock not only his own potential morally, spiritually, creatively but to help all people do the same. "This is what I find so appealing about Emerson," said Robert D. Richardson Jr., the author of an award-winning biography, Emerson: The Mind on Fire.
"There is this sense and sometimes I find it very consoling that we can do it," Richardson said. "Emerson writes somewhere that we are not just 'porters' of the fire, but rather we ourselves are 'children of the fire.' Calvinism teaches just the opposite, that we are fundamentally inadequate, that our minds and hearts are darkened by sin. Emerson is saying, No, our minds are a match for things. We have within us the resources we need to understand the world."
Emerson's Self
He was not universally admired in his lifetime, of course, and is not now. In his letters, Emerson sarcastically observed that as he walked around town, some Concord ladies out with their children would hurriedly cross the street to avoid contact with "Mad-dog Emerson." H.L. Mencken dismissed Emerson as a "moon-struck parson." Emerson, who was accused (falsely) of lacking a sense of evil, did not help his cause when he said that if he were sent to hell, he would "make a heaven there."
But by far the most serious charge against Emerson was that he somehow promoted a kind of navel-gazing narcissism. This was often the opinion of leftist intellectuals during the 1930s, at the peak of their infatuation with Marxism and Communism. And indeed, certain conservatives had appropriated Emerson. "Self-Reliance," perhaps his most famous essay, "has been employed as a homegrown rationale for rugged individualism and aggressive foreign policy," Mott said at the Concord forum on Emerson's influence, which was part of the Thoreau Society's annual 2002 gathering. "It was invoked by the robber barons through our country's Gilded Age as a kind of philosophical justification of unbridled capitalism and predatory business practices." He added: "Emerson was the favorite author of Henry Ford."
Nevertheless, Ford and the leftist intellectuals were wrong. In the 1850s, as Emerson overcame his early reluctance and increased his engagement with the social issues of the day including abolition and women's rights he frequently attacked the excesses of capitalism and the consumerist qualities of American culture. "It is the vulgarity of this country which came to us, with commerce, out of England to believe that naked wealth, unrelieved by any use or design, is merit," he said at Williams College in 1854.
Emerson felt misunderstood in his lifetime, too, although he never took a question after his lectures and refused to defend his ideas. After publishing "Self-Reliance" in 1841, he largely stopped using the term because people confused it with insular self-sufficiency. Emerson believed that each person "is an inlet" to the "one mind" of creation. Through authentic self-development, we discover this mind and are united with others in a shared creation guided by common moral laws. True individuality is thus never selfish in Emerson's view. "Self-reliance, the height and perfection of man," Emerson wrote in 1854, "is God-reliance."
While Emerson did indeed distrust institutions, the individualism he advocated was not of the isolationist kind. Self-reliance disclosed the link between the individual soul and the Universal Mind, bringing the individual into relation with all. In practice, despite his Yankee reserve and high expectations of himself and others, Emerson was quite sociable, at times turning his home in Concord into a rooming house for relatives, friends, and intellectual pilgrims.
Mott noted that a famous nineteenth-century caricature of Emerson depicted him as a transparent eyeball out for a walk on a town common. (He brought it on himself in his first book: "Standing on the bare ground my head bathed by the blithe air, and uplifted into infinite space all mean egotism vanishes. I become a transparent eye-ball; I am nothing; I see all. . . .") The caricature suggested that Emerson was a self-involved mystic. "What people often fail to grasp is that the 'transparent eyeball' experience is a posture of abandonment of the self, not assertion of the self," Mott said in an interview. "When it occurs, as Emerson says in that same passage, 'All mean egoism vanishes.' In the rapture of that moment, the self temporarily ceases to exist."
Suzanne Meyer agreed. "We have misinterpreted Emerson's self-reliance to mean the self is autonomous, that individual will should come ahead of anything else," she said. "But being a free individual is only the first step and not the end-point. To be self-actualized, as Emerson saw it, was ultimately a communal vision. That's where Unitarian Universalism has fallen short. It hasn't always gone the next step."
Emerson's Perception
Of course, Emerson's mark extends far beyond religion. Scholars have traditionally seen him as the founding father of American literary culture. Emerson was at the hub of the Transcendentalist circle that created the first enduring body of work in American literature. He is also an important American poet who, following the English Romantics, rejected the poetic formalism of the day and helped to pave the way for poets like Walt Whitman.
In 1903, at the Concord celebration of the centenary of Emerson's birth, the philosopher William James focused on Emersonian perception. The "cawing of a crow, a weed, a snowflake, or a farmer planting in his field" could become for Emerson "symbols of the intellect of truths equal to those which the most majestic phenomena can open," James said in his address. He called Emerson a "spiritual seer" yet also a "reporter in worthy form of each perception." He also noted that for Emerson, true perception is moral because it engages the heart and leads out of mere observation into action.
Lawrence Buell, a Harvard professor and scholar of nineteenth-century American literature, studies what he calls "the environmental imagination." According to Buell, one of Emerson's contributions as a writer was his emphasis on the power of perception, recording the flow of external phenomena "in the context of an interactive relation between the observing consciousness and the environment."
The importance Emerson placed on "the act of beholding" led to two important and distinctively American literary developments, Buell writes. The first was a move "toward autobiographical discourse or protagonist-centered narrative," and the second was a move toward "a descriptive or ethnographic engagement with the physical environment." The memoir and the nature essay are both heirs to Emerson's influence.
Emerson's Optimism
One of the extraordinary things about Emerson is the amount of personal grief he bore. He buried not only his nineteen-year-old first wife, Ellen Tucker, and his first son, Waldo, but three brothers as well. When his brother Edward died of tuberculosis at age twenty-nine, Emerson expressed his dejection, if not despair. "So falls one pile more of hope for this world," he wrote in his journal. Given his Puritan family culture, which prized stoicism, it is striking that Emerson did not abandon his fundamental optimism, that he was able, somehow, to grieve and heal.
But he did. Richardson believes it was Emerson's habit of expressing himself in his journal, letters, and poetry that saved him; he mourned in a torrent of words. Waldo was five when he came down with scarlet fever. He suffered scorching fevers for days; doctors could do nothing; the family hovered and watched. The boy died in the early evening. Although Emerson must have been exhausted, he wrote four letters to relatives that night, expressing his grief and describing Waldo's life in each. He began to compose "Threnody."
"I think Emerson faced his grief, both over Ellen and over Waldo, by expressing it," Richardson said. "He does not roll over in bed and face the wall and just die inside." Emerson's behavior stands in contrast to that of Thoreau, he added. "When Henry's brother, John, died from lockjaw, he was unable to say anything for a long time."
"Anybody who says that Emerson didn't suffer, that he didn't have an adequate sense of the awful things that happen in life, that he was just a feel-good optimist, simply doesn't know the man," Richardson said. "Emerson's optimism is so strong because it was fired in his grief."
Emerson's Future
Emerson's age is not our age, so why does he retain such a hold on us? Robinson said that Emerson's views have a dynamic quality, taking on new meanings in new historical contexts. An example, he said, is self-reliance.
"In Emerson's day," he said, "people did not have enough freedom. They had too many things controlling them. Emerson wanted to give them a fresh and wider perspective on what was possible." He added "today, things would seem very different, with the personal freedom we have. But if you scratch below the surface, you see that the forces of constraint and conformity in our media-driven, materialistic society are just as great if perhaps not greater. We are challenged to be faithful to who we are, so, yes, I do think his message is as relevant as ever."
For at least one Unitarian Universalist minister, the Rev. Gary Smith of the First Parish in Concord, Massachusetts, Emerson's presence is palpable. "It's haunting to imagine him sitting up there in the balcony," he said, recalling that it was the sermon style of his predecessor in Concord, the Rev. Barzillai Frost, that burst the dam holding back Emerson's wrath at lifeless, soulless preaching, "a decaying church and a wasting unbelief."
But Smith, who said he turns more often to Emerson's poetry than to his prose, said he also finds Emerson's presence comforting.
"I often feel, what a blessing to be a minister in these precincts. I feel Emerson and the other Transcendentalists walking with me. Because of them, we are so aware in this congregation of the notion that the holy is found in common places." On a personal level, he added, "It feels good to have a sense of convergence between my theology and the place in which I serve.''
With the approach of Emerson's bicentennial, there is a sense of convergence too among scholars. Mott, the president of the Emerson Society, says that a burst of new research makes it a grand time to celebrate. "We've always had Emerson the idealist and Emerson the poet," he said. "But now we have new Emersons to appreciate: the abolitionist and social activist, the natural scientist, the minister, the philosopher anticipating modernism. In my view, these new ways of seeing Emerson are complementary, not contradictory. They help to fill out our understanding of him and make reading Emerson the challenge that it ought to be."
Richard Higgins has written recently for the Boston Globe, Christian Century, DoubleTake, and Smithsonian magazines, contributed commentaries to National Public Radio, and is writing a book about Henry David Thoreau and trees. He is a member of the First Parish in Concord, Massachusetts.
UU World XVII:2 (March/April 2003): 22-28
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What 11 time Grammy award winner was born Robert Allen Zimmerman, in Duluth, MN, but took a stage name from a favorite Welsh poet? | Bob Dylan - TV.com
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Robert Allen Zimmerman was born 24 May 1941 in Duluth MN; his father Abe worked for the Standard Oil Company. Six years later the family moved to Hibbing, often the coldest place in the US, where he taught himself piano and guitar and formed several high school rock… more
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S�ur Emmanuelle (born Madeleine Cinquin, November 16, 1908) is a Belgian-born French nun. She died on October 20, 2008 in Callian . She was born in Brussels, Belgium, the daughter of a family of lingerie manufacturers. At the age of six she saw her father drown. She was educated at the Sorbonne, earning a degree in philosophy. In 1929 she took her religious vows and became a nun. She worked in Notre-Dame de Sion high school in İstanbul in 1930s. In 1971 she witnessed the impoverished conditions of the trash collectors in Cairo, Egypt, and decided to live among them. She remained there until 1993, when she returned to France. It was upon her return that she gained the status of a media sensation in France, as she was well received by audiences and talk-show hosts. In additi...
186,278 clicks, 48th woman, 86th celebrity
Biography of Alyssa Milano
Alyssa Jayne Milano (born December 19, 1972) is an American actress. She is best known for her roles in the sitcom Who's the Boss? and on the supernatural series Charmed. At the beginning of her career, Alyssa was known mainly for her role as Samantha Micelli on Who's the Boss? (1984-1992). She tried to shed her "nice girl" image by appearing in several films targeted at adults, such as Casualties of Love: The Long Island Lolita Story (1992), Embrace of the Vampire (1994), Confessions of Sorority Girls (1994), Deadly Sins (1995), and Poison Ivy II: Lily (1995), where she starred opposite Johnathon Schaech and Xander Berkley. She gained more mainstream success in TV as Jennifer Mancini on Melrose Place (1997-1998), Meg Winston in Spin City and most notably as Phoebe Halliwell on Charmed ...
175,485 clicks, 53rd woman, 98th celebrity
Biography of Oprah Winfrey
Dr. Oprah Gail Winfrey (born January 29, 1954) is the American multiple-Emmy Award winning host of The Oprah Winfrey Show, the highest rated talk show in television history. She is also an influential book critic, an Academy Award-nominated actress, and a magazine publisher. She has been ranked the richest African American of the 20th century, the most philanthropic African American of all time, and the world's only black billionaire for three straight years. She is also, according to several assessments, the most influential woman in the world. Dr. Oprah Gail Winfrey (born January 29, 1954) is the American multiple-Emmy Award winning host of The Oprah Winfrey Show, the highest rated talk show in television history. She is also an influential book critic, an Academy Award-nominated actres...
173,878 clicks, 56th woman, 102nd celebrity
Biography of Paris Hilton
Paris Whitney Hilton (born February 17, 1981) is an American celebrity and socialite. She is an heiress to a share of the Hilton Hotel fortune, as well as to the real estate fortune of her father Richard Hilton. Hilton rose to fame when a home-made sex video of her was leaked onto the Internet in late 2003. The release of the tape, later titled 1 Night in Paris (2004), attracted worldwide publicity and contributed to the success of Hilton's Fox reality series The Simple Life. As an actress, she has appeared in several minor roles, most notably in the horror film House of Wax (2005), and in 2006, she released the self-titled album Paris which reached number six on the Billboard 200. In September 2006, she was arrested for driving under the influence and subsequently sentenced to 36 mo...
172,181 clicks, 48th man, 104th celebrity
Biography of Bruce Lee
Bruce Lee (November 27, 1940 � July 20, 1973) was a Chinese American martial artist, philosopher, instructor, and martial arts actor widely regarded as one of the most influential martial artists of the twentieth century. Lee is iconic for his presentation of Chinese martial arts to the non-Chinese world. Lee's films, especially his performance in the Hollywood-produced Enter the Dragon, elevated the traditional Hong Kong martial arts film to a new level of popularity and acclaim. Lee's films sparked the first major surge of interest of Chinese martial arts in the West. The direction and tone of his films changed and influenced martial arts and martial arts films in Hong Kong, China, and the rest of the world. Lee became an iconic figure particularly to Chinese; as he portrayed Chinese ...
171,669 clicks, 57th woman, 105th celebrity
Biography of Jennifer Lawrence
Jennifer Shrader Lawrence (born August 15, 1990 (birth time source: Viktor E., Astrodatabank, birth certificate)) is an American actress. Her first major role was as a lead cast member on the TBS sitcom The Bill Engvall Show (2007�09). She subsequently appeared in the independent drama films The Burning Plain (2008) and Winter's Bone (2010), for which she received her first Academy Award for Best Actress nomination; at the time, she was the second youngest person to receive a nomination in the category. At age 22, Lawrence's performance as Tiffany Maxwell in the David O. Russell-directed romantic comedy Silver Linings Playbook (2012) earned her critical acclaim and several awards, including the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress (Musical or Comedy) and the Academy Award for Best Actres...
170,384 clicks, 49th man, 106th celebrity
Biography of Prince William, Duke of Cambridge
Prince William, Duke of Cambridge KG FRS (William Arthur Philip Louis; born 21 June 1982) is the elder son of Charles, Prince of Wales, and Diana, Princess of Wales, and third eldest grandchild of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. He is second in the line of succession, behind his father, to the thrones of sixteen independent sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize, Antigua and Barbuda, and Saint Kitts and Nevis. Consequently, he is also second in line, again behind his father, to the position of Supreme Governor of the Church of England. He was educated at four ...
165,930 clicks, 52nd man, 112th celebrity
Biography of Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando, Jr. (April 3, 1924 (birth time source: Astrodatabank, birth certificate) � July 1, 2004) was a two-time Academy Award-winning iconic actor whose body of work spanned over half a century. Brando is best known for his roles in A Streetcar Named Desire and On the Waterfront, both directed by Elia Kazan in the early 1950s, and his Academy-Award winning performance as Vito Corleone in The Godfather and as Colonel Walter E. Kurtz in Apocalypse Now, the latter two directed by Francis Ford Coppola in the 1970s. His acting style, combined with his public persona as an outsider uninterested in the Hollywood of the early 1950s, had a profound effect on a generation of actors including Jack Nicholson, Robert De Niro, Paul Newman, Al Pacino, Robert Duvall, James Dean, Dustin Hoffman, Rus...
164,572 clicks, 62nd woman, 114th celebrity
Biography of Elizabeth Taylor
Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor, DBE (February 27, 1932 (birth time source: her birth certificate, Astrodatabank) � March 23, 2011), also known as Liz Taylor, was an English-American actress. A former child star, she grew to be known for her acting talent and beauty, as well as her Hollywood lifestyle, including many marriages. Taylor was considered one of the great actresses of Hollywood's golden age. The American Film Institute named Taylor seventh on its Female Legends list. Early years (1932�1942) Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor was born in Hampstead, a wealthy district of North West London, the second child of Francis Lenn Taylor (1897�1968) and Sara Viola Warmbrodt (1895�1994), who were Americans residing in England. Taylor's older brother, Howard Taylor, was born in 1929. Her pare...
142,936 clicks, 69th man, 141st celebrity
Biography of Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942 � September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter. He is widely considered to be the greatest electric guitarist in music history, and one of the most influential musicians of his era. After initial success in Europe with his group The Jimi Hendrix Experience, he achieved fame in the United States following his 1967 performance at the Monterey Pop Festival. Later, Hendrix headlined the iconic 1969 Woodstock Festival and the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival. He often favored raw overdriven amplifiers with high gain and treble and helped develop the previously undesirable technique of guitar amplifier feedback. Hendrix, as well as his friend Eric Clapton, popularized use of the wah-wah pedal in main...
141,820 clicks, 72nd man, 146th celebrity
Biography of Jude Law
Jude Law (born 29 December 1972) is an English actor, film producer and director. He began acting with the National Youth Music Theatre in 1987, and had his first TV role in 1989. After starring in films directed by Andrew Niccol, Clint Eastwood and David Cronenberg, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1999 for his performance in Anthony Minghella's The Talented Mr. Ripley. In 2000 he won a BAFTA Award as "Best Supporting Actor" for his work in the film. In 2003, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in another Minghella film, Cold Mountain. He is on the Top Ten List from the 2006 A-list of the most bankable movie stars in Hollywood. In 2007, he was honoured with the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres conferred by the Fre...
136,094 clicks, 83rd man, 161st celebrity
Biography of Bob Marley
Robert "Bob" Nesta Marley OM (February 6, 1945 � May 11, 1981) was a Jamaican singer, songwriter, guitarist, and political activist. He is the most widely known performer of reggae music, and is famous for popularising the genre outside Jamaica. A faithful Rastafari, Marley is regarded by many as a prophet of the religion. Marley is best known for his reggae songs, which include the hits "I Shot the Sheriff", "No Woman, No Cry", "Three Little Birds", "Exodus", "Could You Be Loved", "Jammin", "Redemption Song", and "One Love". His posthumous compilation album Legend (1984) is the best-selling reggae album ever, with sales of more than 12 million copies.Early life and career Marley was born in the small village of Nine Mile in the Saint Ann Parish, Jamaica. His father, Norval Sinclair Ma...
134,533 clicks, 87th man, 167th celebrity
Biography of Nelson Mandela
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (Xhosa pronunciation: ) (18 July 1918 � 5 December 2013) was a South African anti-apartheid revolutionary who was imprisoned and then became a politician and philanthropist who served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. He was the first black South African to hold the office, and the first elected in a fully representative, multiracial election. His government focused on dismantling the legacy of apartheid through tackling institutionalised racism, poverty and inequality, and fostering racial reconciliation. Politically an African nationalist and democratic socialist, he served as the President of the African National Congress (ANC) from 1991 to 1997. Internationally, Mandela was the Secretary General of the Non-Aligned Movement from 1998 to 1999. A...
133,510 clicks, 81st woman, 171st celebrity
Biography of Mila Kunis
Milena Markovna "Mila" Kunis (Ukrainian: Милена Маркoвна Кунис) (born August 14, 1983), is a Ukrainian-American actress. She is best known for playing Jacqueline "Jackie" Burkhart on That '70s Show, and also reprises Lacey Chabert's role as Meg Griffin on the popular animated series Family Guy. The source for her birth time is http://www.librarising.com/astrology/celebs/milakunis.html. Early life Kunis was born in Chernivtsi, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union (now Ukraine), to a Jewish family, with whom she moved to Los Angeles, California, when she was seven. Kunis learned English by watching The Price Is Right; host Bob Barker spoke slowly enough for her to understand. In Los Angeles...
132,338 clicks, 93rd man, 175th celebrity
Biography of Lambert Wilson
Lambert Wilson (born August 3, 1958 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France) is a French actor. He is the son of actor Georges Wilson. He is half Irish, half French. He screen tested for The Living Daylights (1986) for the role of James Bond, appearing in test footage opposite Maryam D'Abo (the Bond girl in The Living Daylights) as Tatiana Romanova, re-enacting scenes from From Russia with Love (1963). He released the album Musicals on the EMI label in 2004, with John McGlinn conducting Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo. It features him singing songs of the American Musical Theatre catalogue, those well-known ("Maria" from West Side Story, "There But For You Go I" from Lerner & Loewe's Brigadoon, "The Cafe Song" from Les Miserables, "Johanna" from Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd), rare...
132,008 clicks, 94th man, 177th celebrity
Biography of Sylvester Stallone
Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone (/stəˈloʊn/; born July 6, 1946 (birth time source: Jany Bessiere quotes his astrologer mom, Astrodatabank), nicknamed Sly Stallone, is an American actor, screenwriter and film director. Stallone is well known for his Hollywood action roles. Two notable characters he has portrayed are the boxer Rocky Balboa and soldier John Rambo. He wrote every episode of the two eponymous franchises, and directed some of their installments as well. Stallone's film Rocky was inducted into the National Film Registry as well as having its film props placed in the Smithsonian Museum. Stallone's use of the front entrance to the Philadelphia Museum of Art in the Rocky series led the area to be nicknamed the Rocky Steps. Philadelphia has a statue of his Rocky charac...
125,872 clicks, 103rd man, 198th celebrity
Biography of G�rard Depardieu
G�rard Xavier Marcel Depardieu (French pronunciation: ( listen); born 27 December 1948 (birth time source: Didier Geslain)) is a French actor and filmmaker. He is a Chevalier of the L�gion d'honneur, Chevalier of the Ordre national du M�rite and has twice won the C�sar Award for Best Actor. He also won the Golden Globe award for Best Actor in Green Card and was nominated for an Academy Award for the title role in Cyrano de Bergerac. Early life G�rard Depardieu was born in Ch�teauroux, Indre, France. He is one of five children of Anne Jeanne Jos�phe "la Liette" (n�e Marillier) and Ren� Maxime Lionel "le D�d�" Depardieu, a metal worker and volunteer fireman. Depardieu spent more time on the street than in the classroom and left school at 15. Career At the age of 16, Depardieu l...
107,319 clicks, 112th woman, 234th celebrity
Biography of Ellen DeGeneres
Ellen Lee DeGeneres (born January 26, 1958 (birth time source: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001122/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm)) is an American actress, stand-up comedian, and currently the Emmy Award-winning host of the syndicated talk show The Ellen DeGeneres Show. Early life DeGeneres was born in Metairie, Louisiana to Elliot DeGeneres, a salesman, and Elizabeth (Betty) Jane. She is of French, English, German and Irish descent. Along with her brother Vance DeGeneres, actor and guitarist for the rock band Cowboy Mouth, Ellen was raised as a Christian Scientist until the age of 13. Ellen's mother, Betty and her father, Elliot, filed for separation on December 4, 1973. The divorce was finalized in January 1974. Shortly after the divorce, Betty Jane married Roy Gruessendorf, who also worked...
105,823 clicks, 115th woman, 239th celebrity
Biography of Angela Merkel
Angela Dorothea Merkel (pronounced ( listen); n�e Kasner; born 17 July 1954 (birth time source: Astrodatabank)) is a German politician and former research scientist who has been the Chancellor of Germany since 2005, and the leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) since 2000. She is the first woman to hold either office. Having initially trained as a physical chemist, Merkel entered politics in the wake of the Revolutions of 1989, briefly serving as the deputy spokesperson for the East German Government. Following reunification in 1990, she was elected to the Bundestag for Stralsund-Nordvorpommern-R�gen in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, a position she has held since. She was later appointed as the Federal Minister for Women and Youth in 1991 under Chancellor Helmut Kohl, bein...
105,226 clicks, 117th woman, 241st celebrity
Biography of Alicia Keys
Alicia Augello Cook (born January 25, 1981 (birth time source: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1006024/bio)), better known by her stage name Alicia Keys, is an American R&B singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress. Keys was raised by a single mother in the Hell's Kitchen area of Manhattan in New York City. At age seven, Keys began playing the piano. She attended Professional Performing Arts School and graduated at 16 as valedictorian. Keys released her debut album with J Records, having had previous record deals first with Columbia and then Arista Records. Keys' debut album, Songs in A Minor, was a commercial success, selling over 12 million copies worldwide. She became the best-selling new artist and best-selling R&B artist of 2001. The album earned Keys five Grammy Awards in 2002, i...
103,549 clicks, 119th woman, 248th celebrity
Biography of Anne Hathaway
Anne Jacqueline Hathaway (born November 12, 1982 (birth time source: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0004266/bio)) is an American film and stage actress. Hathaway made her acting debut in the 1999 television series Get Real, but her first prominent role was in Disney's family comedy The Princess Diaries (2001), which established her career. She continued to appear in Disney films in the next three years, and she had the lead roles in Ella Enchanted and The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement (both 2004). Hathaway took more creative control over her career in 2005 and co-starred in the adult-themed Havoc and Brokeback Mountain. The Devil Wears Prada (2006), in which she starred opposite Meryl Streep, has become the highest-grossing film of her career, and Becoming Jane, in which she stars as Ja...
103,536 clicks, 130th man, 249th celebrity
Biography of Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan (born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941 (birth time source: Astrodatabank, Steinbrecher, Bob Garner, BC)) is a Grammy, Golden Globe and Academy Award-winning American singer-songwriter, author, musician, and poet who has been a major figure in popular music for five decades. Much of Dylan's most notable work dates from the 1960s, when he became an informal documentarian and reluctant figurehead of American unrest. Some of his songs, such as "Blowin' in the Wind" and "The Times They Are a-Changin'", became anthems of the anti-war and civil rights movements. His most recent studio album, Modern Times, released on August 29, 2006, entered the U.S. album charts at #1, making him, at age 65, the oldest living person to top those charts. Dylan's early lyrics incorporated politics...
101,362 clicks, 137th man, 256th celebrity
Biography of Sean Penn
Sean Justin Penn (born August 17, 1960 (birth time source: Astrodatabank, Aaron Fischer) is an American actor, screenwriter, film director, activist, and politician. He is known for his left-wing political and social activism, including humanitarian work. He is a two-time Academy Award winner for his roles in Mystic River (2003) and Milk (2008), as well as the recipient of a Golden Globe Award for the former and a Screen Actors Guild Award for the latter. Penn began his acting career in television with a brief appearance in a 1974 episode of Little House on the Prairie, directed by his father Leo Penn. Following his film debut in 1981's Taps and a diverse range of film roles in the 1980s, Penn emerged as a prominent leading actor with the 1995 drama film Dead Man Walking, for which he ear...
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Biography of Jessica Biel
Jessica Claire Biel (born March 3, 1982 (birth time source: Nick Dagan Best, Astrodatabank, birth certificate)) is an American actress and former fashion model, and probably best known for her role as Mary Camden in the long-running family-drama series 7th Heaven and her roles in Hollywood feature films, most notably Summer Catch (2001), the 2003 remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Illusionist (2006). Early life Jessica Biel was born in Ely, Minnesota to Jonathan Edward Biel and Kimberly Conroe. Biel, who has a younger brother, Justin, grew up in Boulder, Colorado, where her family had moved when she was very young. She initially trained to become a vocalist with the hope of performing in musical theater and appeared in several musicals at an early age including The Sound of ...
99,795 clicks, 141st man, 262nd celebrity
Biography of Bradley Cooper
Bradley Cooper (born January 5, 1975 (birth time source: People magazine)) is an American film, stage, and television actor. He's best known for the roles of Will Tippin in the TV series Alias and Zachary "Sack" Lodge in the successful film Wedding Crashers. Personal life Cooper was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His mother, Gloria, is Italian-American and his father is Irish-American. After graduating from Germantown Academy in 1993, Cooper attended Georgetown University, from which he graduated with a B.A. in English in 1997. Later, he studied at the Actors Studio Drama School at New School University. He was married to actress Jennifer Esposito in a small ceremony on December 30, 2006. They have since divorced. In October 2007, rumors came out that Bradley Cooper dated actre...
98,538 clicks, 123rd woman, 267th celebrity
Biography of Pink (singer)
Alecia Beth Moore (born September 8, 1979 in Doylestown, Pennsylvania (birth time source: Imdb http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0600877/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm))), known by her stage name Pink (stylized as P!nk), is an American singer-songwriter, musician and actress. In 2000, she released her first single "There You Go", from her debut album Can't Take Me Home. The song was a commercial success, peaking at number 7 on the Billboard Hot 100. In 2001 she released her second studio album Missundaztood, which was critically acclaimed, and her most commercially successful album to date. The album produced the hit singles "Get the Party Started", "Don't Let Me Get Me", "Just Like a Pill" and "Family Portrait". In November 2003, Pink released her third studio album Try This, which produced the hit singl...
97,909 clicks, 145th man, 269th celebrity
Biography of Nicolas Cage
Nicolas Cage (born Nicholas Coppola on January 7, 1964) is an Academy Award-winning American actor. Cage has also worked as a director and producer, through his production company Saturn Films. As of 2007, he has been nominated twice for an Academy Award as Best Actor in a Leading Role, winning one of them for his performance in Leaving Las Vegas. Early life Cage was born Nicholas Kim Coppola in Long Beach, California. His father, August Floyd Coppola, is a comparative literature professor and a pioneer of studies for the blind, while his part German American mother, Joy Vogelsang, is a choreographer and dancer who suffered from chronic depression; the two divorced in 1976. Cage's father is an Italian American, with his paternal grandparents being Carmine Coppola and Italia Pennino, an a...
94,361 clicks, 133rd woman, 285th celebrity
Biography of Winona Ryder
Winona Ryder (born October 29, 1971) is a two-time Academy Award-nominated and Golden Globe-winning American actress. She has received a Golden Globe Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award and two Academy Award nominations in 1993 and 1994, respectively. Ryder made her screen debut in Lucas (1986) playing a teenage girl with a crush on the film's title character, Lucas. In 1988 she had what some may consider her breakout role in Beetlejuice as a Gothic teenager named Lydia. After making various appearances in film and television, Ryder received her breakthrough role in the cult classic high-school set black comedy, Heathers (1989) alongside Christian Slater. Since then, Ryder's acting career has developed greatly. Her performances in films such as Edward Scissorhands (1990), Mermaids (1990)...
94,243 clicks, 134th woman, 288th celebrity
Biography of Jenifer (singer)
Jenifer Ya�l Dadouche-Bartoli (born on 15 November 1982 in Nice), better known as simply Jenifer, is a pop singer who has, since 2002, had a number of hit singles in the French and Swiss charts. Biography Jenifer was raised with her younger brother Jonathan, by her mother and father, Michel Dadouche and Christine Bartoli. Her mother is part Corsican and part Spanish; her father is a Jewish-Algerian pied noir. She comes from a modest background. She participated in the Graines de star television broadcast in 1997, but this was a failure. Jenifer decided to go to Paris and attend the casting for the first series of Star Academy in France . She was selected, and eventually won. The hit single "J'attends L'amour" (I'm waiting for love) soon followed. After the tour with her band that ...
91,545 clicks, 139th woman, 299th celebrity
Biography of Coco Chanel
Gabrielle Bonheur "Coco" Chanel (August 19, 1883 � January 10, 1971) was a pioneering French fashion designer whose modernist philosophy, menswear-inspired fashions, and pursuit of expensive simplicity made her arguably the most important figure in the history of 20th-century fashion. Her influence on haute couture was such that she was the only person in the field to be named on TIME Magazine's 100 most influential people of the 20th century. Life Chanel herself presented many versions of her childhood. In fact, she was named by the legendary Joseph Clark, after his father spent all of their savings on a girl he met, and later married, Gabrielle. However, it seems certain that she was born the second illegitimate daughter of traveling salesman Albert Chanel and his companion Jeanne De...
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Biography of Christy Turlington
Christy Nicole Turlington Burns (born Christy Nicole Turlington; January 2, 1969 (birth time source: Viktor E., Astrodatabank, BC)) is an American supermodel. She first represented Calvin Klein's Eternity campaign in 1989 and again in 2014 and also represents Maybelline. Turlington was named one of Glamour's Women of the Year in 2013, and was named as one of Time's 100 Most Influential People of 2014. Turlington gained fame in the late 80s and early 90s as a supermodel and was during the peak of her career as a top designer favourite. She, Naomi Campbell and Linda Evangelista are called the "Trinity" because of the power and fame that all three gained. In 2010, Turlington founded Every Mother Counts, a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to making pregnancy and childbirth safe f...
84,428 clicks, 183rd man, 338th celebrity
Biography of Michael Fassbender
Michael Fassbender (born April 2, 1977 (birth time source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/theobserver/2012/may/20/observer-profile-michael-fassbender)) is an actor, born in Heidelberg, Germany, brought up in Killarney, county Kerry, Ireland, and currently a resident of London. He played Azazeal in the Sky One UK Television series Hex. Other credits include Band of Brothers and the Frank Miller film 300 in which he plays Spartan soldier Stelios ("Then we shall fight in the shade"). Has been cast in the lead role of Heathcliff in the John Maybury version of "Wuthering Heights" due in 2009 ] Early years and facts Michael Fassbender was born on April 2, 1977 in Heidelberg, Germany. His parents moved to Killarney, County Kerry, Ireland only a few years after his birth. Michael attended St. Br...
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Biography of Warren Buffett
Warren Edward Buffett (pronounced /ˈbʌfɨt/; born August 30, 1930 (birth time source: Paul Hewitt, Astrodatabank), from himself)) is an American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. He is widely regarded as one of the most successful investors in the world. Often introduced as "legendary investor, Warren Buffett", he is the primary shareholder, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. He is consistently ranked among the world's wealthiest people. He was ranked as the world's wealthiest person in 2008 and is the third wealthiest person in the world as of 2011. Buffett is called the "Wizard of Omaha", "Oracle of Omaha" or the "Sage of Omaha" and is noted for his adherence to the value investing philosophy and for his personal frugality despite his immense wealth. B...
75,515 clicks, 217th man, 385th celebrity
Biography of Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John CBE (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight on 25 March 1947) is a multiple Grammy and Academy Award-winning English pop/rock singer, composer and pianist. In his four-decade career, John has been one of the dominant forces in rock and popular music, especially in the 1970s. John has sold more than 250 million albums plus hundreds of millions of singles , making him one of the most successful artists of all time. He has more than 50 Top 40 hits including seven consecutive #1 U.S. albums, 59 Top 40 singles, 16 Top 10, 4 #2 hits, and nine #1 hits (Crocodile Rock; Bennie and the Jets; Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds; Island Girl; Philadelphia Freedom; Don't Go Breaking my Heart (with Kiki Dee); That's What Friends are For (with Dionne Warwick, Stevie Wonder, and Gladys Knight...
67,580 clicks, 253rd man, 449th celebrity
Biography of Liam Neeson
William John 'Liam' Neeson OBE (born June 7, 1952 (birth time source: a rectification from http://noeltyl.com/discussion/index.php?topic=558.0)) is an Oscar-nominated Northern Irish actor. He is known for his role as Oskar Schindler in the 1993 film Schindler's List, and has since appeared in several popular film series, including the Star Wars prequel trilogy, The Chronicles of Narnia and Batman Begins. He has also continued to play real-life characters, including Michael Collins and Alfred Kinsey. Early life Neeson was born in Ballymena, County Antrim, Northern Ireland to Barnard Neeson, a caretaker at the local Catholic girls' school, and Katherine "Kitty" Brown, a cook. He was called Liam, the Irish equivalent to William, after the local priest. He was the third child in the family...
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Biography of Shania Twain
Shania Twain, OC (play /ʃəˈnaɪ.ə ˈtweɪn/; born Eilleen Regina Edwards; August 28, 1965) is a Canadian country pop singer-songwriter. She rose to fame in the mid 1990s with her album The Woman in Me (1995), and achieved worldwide success with her 1997 album Come On Over, which became the best-selling album of all time by a female musician in any genre, and the best-selling country album of all time. It has sold over 40 million copies worldwide and is the 9th best-selling album in the U.S. Her 4th album, titled Up! was released late 2002. To date it has sold 20 million copies worldwide. The source for her birth time is her autobiography. A five-time Grammy Award winner, Twain has also achieved major success as a songwriter, winning 27 BMI Songwriter awar...
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Biography of Robert Plant
Robert Anthony Plant (born August 20, 1948, West Bromwich, West Midlands, England) is an English rock singer and songwriter, most famous for his membership in the rock band Led Zeppelin, but also for his successful solo career. He is known for his powerful style, often mystical lyrics, and wide vocal range. As the lead singer of Led Zeppelin he is often defined as the quintessential rock front man, combining rare musical adeptness and knowledge with a large measure of stage bravado and braggadocio. As a solo artist following Led Zeppelin's demise, he is often credited for his wide range of musical taste and his ability to perform an eclectic range of songs in a refined and critically acclaimed manner....
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Biography of M�lissa Theuriau
M�lissa Theuriau (born 18 July 1978, Grenoble, Is�re, France (birth time source: Didier Geslain)) is a French journalist and news anchor for M6. Broadcasting career Theuriau obtained a DUT in News-Communication from the Technical University (IUT) Pierre Mend�s-France in Grenoble, and later a Master's degree in Audiovisual Journalism from the Institute of Communication and Media (ICM) at �chirolles. Theuriau was a reporter at Match TV in 2002. Since 2003, she has been a reporter and anchor for La Cha�ne Info, where she became better known to the French general public. She made her breakthrough as a newscaster and travel show host for LCI, the news channel and for TF1. Her programs were LCI Matin (LCI Morning), the 6:40 news on LCI and TF1 from Monday to Thursday and the Voyages trave...
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What nation was eventually held liable for the bombing of the Navy destroyer U.S.S. Cole in 2000? | USS Cole Bombing Fast Facts - CNN.com
USS Cole Bombing Fast Facts
CNN Library
Updated 6:28 PM ET, Thu October 6, 2016
Chat with us in Facebook Messenger. Find out what's happening in the world as it unfolds.
The USS Cole sits off the coast of Yemen after a terrorist attack blew a hole in its side. Seventeen US sailors died in the 2000 attack.
(CNN)
Here is some background information about the bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen on October 12, 2000.
Facts:
In October 2000, the USS Cole was attacked by suicide bombers, while in port in Aden, Yemen, for refueling. The attack was attributed to al Qaeda and foreshadowed the attack on the US less than one year later on September 11, 2001 .
The explosion ripped a hole in the hull of the ship, killing 17 US sailors. Thirty-nine others were injured.
Timeline:
October 12, 2000 - During a refueling stop in the harbor of Aden, the USS Cole is attacked by suicide bombers in a small boat laden with explosives.
October 13, 2000 - The FBI arrives in Yemen to investigate the bombing.
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October 16, 2000 - The Yemeni government acknowledges the USS Cole has been the target of a terrorist attack. Initially, it considers the explosion to have been an "accident," set off by a detonation on board the ship.
October 30, 2000 - The USS Cole begins its return to the US, leaving the port of Aden. It is brought back to the US by a Norwegian transport ship.
January 19, 2001 - The results of a Navy investigation are released, concluding that the incident could not have been prevented.
March 1, 2001 - Al-Jazeera broadcasts Osama bin Laden reading a poem mentioning the attack. ''In Aden, the young man stood up for holy war and destroyed a destroyer feared by the powerful.''
June 2001 - A video circulates showing followers of Osama bin Laden training in Afghanistan, singing, "We thank God for granting us victory the day we destroyed Cole in the sea."
October 12, 2001 - The USS Cole Memorial dedication ceremony takes place at Norfolk Naval Station.
November 2002 - US officials announce Abd al Rahim al-Nashiri, an alleged planner of the attack, has been captured and is being interrogated at a secret location.
April 2003 - Pakistani officials announce they have arrested suspected USS Cole attack planner Walid bin Attash , also known as Khallad (or Khalid) bin Attash.
May 15, 2003 - The Justice Department announces indictments against Jamal al-Badawi and Fahd al-Quso for their roles in the USS Cole attack. Three unindicted co-conspirators are also named, Walid bin Attash, Abd al Rahim al-Nashiri and Osama bin Laden.
November 29, 2003 - The USS Cole departs on its first overseas deployment since the bombing. The hallway floor on the ship now features 17 stars, one for each of the sailors killed.
July 2004 - Yemen charges six men in the Cole bombing. Five accused in court are Jamal al-Badawi, Maamoun Msouh, Fahd al-Quso, Ali Mohamed Saleh and Murad al-Sirouri. Abd al Rahim al-Nashiri will be tried in absentia as he is in U.S. custody. Also, the judge names two of the suicide bombers for the first time, Ibrahim al-Thawr and Abdullah al-Misawa.
July 16, 2004 - Family members of the sailors killed file a lawsuit against Sudan for more than $100 million, alleging the Sudanese government provided support that allowed al Qaeda to attack the USS Cole.
September 29, 2004 - A Yemen judge sentences Jamal al-Badawi and Abd al Rahim al-Nashiri to death for organizing the attack on the USS Cole. Fahd al-Quso is given a 10-year jail sentence, Maamoun Msouh, eight years, and both Ali Mohamed Saleh and Murad al-Sirouri are given five year sentences. Yemeni authorities say all six defendants belong to the al-Qaeda network.
February 26, 2005 - A Yemeni appeals court reduces Jamal al-Badawi's death sentence to 15 years in jail but upholds the death sentence against Abd al Rahim al-Nashiri. The court also reduces Maamoun Msouh's sentence from eight to five years.
February 3, 2006 - Interpol announces Jamal al-Badawi's escape from jail.
September 2006 - Abd al Rahim al-Nashiri, who has been held at various undisclosed locations by the CIA, is transferred to Guantanamo Bay prison .
March 19, 2007 - Hearing transcripts are released by the Defense Department in which Walid bin Attash confesses to his role in the attack.
March 2007 - Pentagon transcripts of a military tribunal are released in which Abd al Rahim al-Nashiri claims he made a false confession because he was tortured. The CIA has previously admitted al-Nashiri was among terrorist suspects subjected to waterboarding while being interrogated.
March 14, 2007 - Ruling at the end of a two day civil bench trial, US District Judge Robert Doumar finds Sudan liable for the USS Cole attack.
July 25, 2007 - Judge Doumar orders the Sudanese government to pay close to $8 million to the families of the sailors killed.
June 30, 2008 - U.S. military prosecutors charge Guantanamo detainee Abd al Rahim al-Nashiri with murder for allegedly planning the attack on the USS Cole. Al-Nashiri is the first alleged Cole plotter charged by the US, and has been in US custody since 2002.
December 19, 2008 - The Defense Dept. formally approves war crimes charges against Abd al Rahim al-Nashiri. Al-Nashiri has been imprisoned at Guantanamo since 2006.
February 5, 2009 - Susan J. Crawford, the top legal authority for trials at Guantanamo, drops all charges against Abd al Rahim al-Nashiri to uphold President Barack Obama's executive order freezing pending cases. The suspect remains in prison and may face new charges.
February 6, 2009 - President Obama meets relatives of victims of the Cole bombing and September 11th attacks to explain his rationale for ordering the Guantanamo detention center to be closed and delay the military trials of terrorist suspects being held there.
2010 - Fifteen injured sailors and three surviving spouses file a federal lawsuit claiming the Sudanese government provided material support to the terrorists responsible for the attack. According to the plaintiffs, the Republic of Sudan provided funding, training and additional support to al Qaeda. They are seeking assets in Sudanese banks to compensate for the injuries and deaths.
April 20, 2011 - The Defense Department announces new charges against Abd al Rahim al-Nashiri: planning the attack on the USS Cole in 2000, the attempted attack on the USS The Sullivans in 2000 and the attack on the French oil tanker MV Limburg in 2002. He faces the death penalty.
November 9, 2011 - The trial of Abd al Rahim al-Nashiri begins at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
March 30, 2012 - The US District Court issues a final judgment awarding $314,705,896 in compensatory and punitive damages to the plaintiffs who filed suit again the Sudanese government for their role in assisting the terrorists in the execution of the USS Cole bombing.
January 2014 - The Republic of Sudan appeals the decision made by the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals claiming it were not properly alerted to the plaintiff's claims, and the proper procedures were not followed.
September 23, 2015 - The 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals denies the Sudanese government's appeal and orders Sudanese bank assets to be turned over.
Casualties:
Hull Maintenance Technician Second Class Kenneth Eugene Clodfelter, 21
Electronics Technician Chief Petty Officer Richard Costelow, 35
Mess Management Specialist Seaman Lakeina Monique Francis, 19
Information Systems Technician Timothy Lee Gauna, 21
Signalman Seaman Cherone Louis Gunn, 22
Seaman James Rodrick McDaniels, 19
Engineman Second Class Marc Ian Nieto, 24
Electronics Warfare Technician Second Class Ronald Scott Owens, 24
Seaman Lakiba Nicole Palmer, 22
Engineman Fireman Joshua Langdon Parlett, 19
Fireman Patrick Howard Roy, 19
Electronics Warfare Technician First Class Kevin Shawn Rux, 30
Mess Management Specialist Third Class Ronchester Manangan Santiago, 22
Operations Specialist Second Class Timothy Lamont Saunders, 32
Fireman Gary Graham Swenchonis Jr., 26
Ensign Andrew Triplett, 31
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Bifrost is a burning rainbow bridge between Earth and what realm of the gods? | Middle Eastern Terrorist Incidents - Wikisource, the free online library
Middle Eastern Terrorist Incidents
Middle Eastern Terrorist Incidents. Congressional Record : December 14, 2001 (Extensions of Remarks) Page E2315-E2317. DOCID:cr14de01-75.
313016Middle Eastern Terrorist IncidentsBenjamin A. Gilman
MIDDLE EASTERN TERRORIST INCIDENTS
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Thursday, December 13, 2001
Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, on September 11th, the U.S. suffered the most destructive terrorist attack on its soil by Middle Eastern terrorists with the suicide bombing of the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., which killed over three thousand Americans and wounded many more. This was the highest casualty toll ever recorded for a single terrorist incident anywhere. Yet the U.S. is by no means the only country to feel the wrath of Middle Eastern terrorists in recent months.
The cancer of terrorism that has plagued the Middle East for decades has now transformed into new and more deadly forms that pose grave challenges to the United States and our allies. Middle Eastern terrorists are now striking outside their home region, boldly attacking high-profile targets, and killing in a more indiscriminant manner.
Nonetheless, the Middle East is a hotbed of state-sponsored terrorism. Five of the seven states that have been branded by the U.S. government as sponsors of international terrorism--Iran, Iraq, Libya, Sudan, and Syria--are part of the troubled Middle East region. The Middle East is not only infested with more terrorist groups than any other region, but the Middle East remains the world's foremost exporter of terrorism, with most of the spillover afflicting Western Europe and the United States. These state sponsors of terrorism are concerned with furthering their national goals only through the use of their terrorist networks. It remains imperative, therefore that the United States and our allies track down and destroy these terrorist groups and their global reach whereever they may be.
Accordingly, in wanting to bring to the attention of my colleagues a list of the significant Middle Eastern terrorist incidents from 1961- 2001 based on the findings of the State Department's Office of the Historian, I request that this terrorism list be printed at this point in the Record.
Significant Middle Eastern Terrorist Incidents: 1961-2001
1961-1982
Munich Olympic Massacre, September 5, 1972: Eight Palestinian "Black September" terrorists seized 11 Israeli athletes in the Olympic Village in Munich, West Germany. In a bungled rescue attempt by West German authorities, nine of the hostages and five terrorists were killed.
Ambassador to Sudan Assassinated, March 2, 1973: U.S. Ambassador to Sudan Cleo A. Noel and other diplomats were assassinated at the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Khartoum by members of the Black September organization.
Entebbe Hostage Crisis, June 27, 1976: Members of the Baader-Meinhof Group and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) seized an Air France airliner and its 258 passengers. They forced the plane to land in Uganda, where on July 3, Israeli commandos successfully rescued the passengers.
Iran Hostage Crisis, November 4, 1979: After President Carter agreed to admit the Shah of Iran into the U.S., Iranian radicals seized the U.S. embassy in Tehran and took 66 American diplomats hostage. Thirteen hostages were soon released, but the remaining 53 were held until their release on January 20, 1981.
Grand Mosque Seizure, November 20, 1979: 200 Islamic terrorists seized the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, taking hundreds of pilgrims hostage. Saudi and French security forces retook the shrine after an intense battle in which some 250 people were killed and 600 wounded.
Assassination of Egyptian President, October 6, 1981: Soldiers who were secretly members of the Takfir Wal-Hajira sect attacked and killed Egyptian President Anwar Sadat during a troop review.
Assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister, September 14, 1982: Premier Bashir Gemayel was assassinated by a car bomb parked outside his party's Beirut headquarters.
1983
Bombing of U.S. Embassy in Beirut, April 18, 1983: Sixty- three people including the CIA's Middle East director, were killed, and 120 were injured in a 400-pound suicide truck- bomb attack on the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon. The Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility.
Bombing of Marine Barracks, Beirut, October 23, 1983: Simultaneous suicide truck-bomb attacks were made on American and French compounds in Beirut, Lebanon. A 12,000-pound bomb destroyed the U.S. compound, killing 242 Americans, while 58 French troops were killed when a 400-pound device destroyed a French base. Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility.
1984
Kidnapping of Embassy Official, March 16, 1984: The Islamic Jihad kidnapped and later murdered Political Officer William Buckley in Beirut, Lebanon. Other U.S. citizens not connected to the U.S. Government were seized over a succeeding 2-year period.
Hizballah Restaurant Bombing, April 12, 1984: Eighteen U.S. servicemen were killed, and 83 people were injured in a bomb attack on a restaurant near a U.S. Air Force Base in Torrejon, Spain. Responsibility was claimed by Hizballah.
1985
TWA Hijacking, June 14, 1985: A Trans-World Airlines flight was hijacked en route to Rome from Athens by two Lebanese Hizballah terrorists and forced to fly to Beirut. The eight crew members and 145 passengers were held for 17 days, during which one American hostage, a U.S. Navy sailor, was murdered. After being flown twice to Algiers, the aircraft was returned to Beirut after Israel released 435 Lebanese and Palestinian prisoners.
Soviet Diplomats Kidnapped, September 30, 1985: In Beirut, Lebanon, Sunni terrorists kidnapped four Soviet diplomats. One was killed, but three were later released.
Achille Lauro Hijacking, October 7, 1985: Four Palestinian Liberation Front terrorist seized the Italian cruise liner in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, taking more than 700 hostages. One U.S. passenger was murdered before the Egyptian Government offered the terrorists safe haven in return for the hostages' freedom.
Egyptian Airliner Hijacking, November 23, 1985: An EgyptAir airplane bound from Athens to Malta and carrying several U.S. citizens was hijacked by the Abu Nidal Group.
1986
Aircraft Bombing in Greece, March 30, 1986: A Palestinian splinter group detonated a bomb as TWA Flight 840 approached Athens Airport, killing four U.S. citizens.
Berlin Discoteque Bombing, April 5, 1986: Two U.S. soldiers were killed, and 79 American servicemen were injured in a Libyan bomb attack on a nightclub in West Berlin, West Germany. In retaliation, U.S. military jets bombed targets in and around Tripoli and Benghazi.
1988
Kidnapping of William Higgins, February 17, 1988: U.S. Marine Corps Lt. Col. W. Higgins was kidnapped and murdered by the Iranian-backed Hizballah group while serving with the United Nations Truce Supervisory Organization (UNTSO) in southern Lebanon.
Naples USO Attack, April 14, 1988: The Organization of Jihad Brigades exploded a car bomb outside a USO Club in Naples, Italy, killing one U.S. sailor.
Pan Am 103 Bombing, December 21, 1988: Pan American Airlines Flight 103 was blown up over Lockerbie, Scotland, by a bomb believed to have been placed on the aircraft in Frankfurt, West Germany, by Libyan terrorists. All 259 people on board were killed.
1991
Attempted Iraqi Attacks on U.S. Posts, January 18-19, 1991: Iraqi agents planted bombs at the U.S. Ambassador to Indonesia's home residence and at the USIS library in Manila.
1992
Bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Argentina, March 17, 1992: Hizballah claimed responsibility for a blast that leveled the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina, causing the deaths of 29 and wounding 242.
1993
World Trade Center Bombing, February 26, 1993: The World Trade Center in New York City was badly damaged when a car bomb planted by Islamic terrorists explodes in an underground garage. The bomb left six people dead and 1,000 injured. The men carrying out the attack were followers of Umar Abd al- Rahman, an Egyptian cleric who preached in the New York City area.
Attempted Assassination of President Bush by Iraqi Agents, April 14, 1993: The Iraqi intelligence service attempted to assassinate former U.S. President George Bush during a visit to Kuwait. In retaliation, the U.S. launched a cruise missile attack 2 months later on the Iraqi capital Baghdad.
1994
Hebron Massacre, February 25, 1994: Jewish right-wing extremist and U.S. citizen Baruch Goldstein machine-gunned Moslem worshippers at a mosque in West Bank town of Hebron, killing 29 and wounding about 150.
Air France Hijacking, December 24, 1994: Members of the Armed Islamic Group seized an Air France Flight to Algeria. The four terrorists were killed during a rescue effort.
1995
Jerusalem Bus Attack, August 21, 1995: Hamas claimed responsibility for the detonation of a bomb that killed six and injured over 100 persons, including several U.S. citizens.
Saudi Military Installation Attack, November 13, 1995: The Islamic Movement of Change planted a bomb in a Riyadh military compound that killed one U.S. citizen, several foreign national employees of the U.S. Government, and more than 40 others.
Egyptian Embassy Attack, November 19, 1995: A suicide bomber drove a vehicle into the Egyptian Embassy compound in Islamabad, Pakistan, killing at least 16 and injuring 60 persons. Three militant Islamic groups claimed responsibility.
1996
Hamas Bus Attack, February 26, 1996: In Jerusalem, a suicide bomber blew up a bus, killing 26 persons, including three U.S. citizens, and injuring some 80 persons, including three other US citizens.
Dizengoff Center Bombing, March 4, 1996: Hamas and the Palestine Islamic Jihad (PIJ) both claimed responsibility for a bombing outside of Tel Aviv's largest shopping mall that killed 20 persons and injured 75 others, including two U.S. citizens.
West Bank Attack, May 13, 1996: Arab gunmen opened fire on a bus and a group of Yeshiva students near the Bet El settlement, killing a dual U.S.-Israeli citizen and wounding three Israelis. No one claimed responsibility for the attack, but Hamas was suspected.
Zekharya Attack, June 9, 1996: Unidentified gunmen opened fire on a car near Zekharya, killing a dual U.S./Israeli citizen and an Israeli. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) is suspected.
Khobar Towers Bombing, June 25, 1996: A fuel truck carrying a bomb exploded outside the U.S. military's Khobar Towers housing facility in Dhahran, killing 19 U.S. military personnel and wounding 515 persons, including 240 U.S. personnel. Several groups claimed responsibility for the attack.
Bombing of Archbishop of Oran, August 1, 1996: A bomb exploded at the home of the French Archbishop of Oran, killing him and his chauffeur. The attack occurred after the Archbishop's meeting with the French Foreign Minister. The Algerian Armed Islamic Group (GIA) is suspected.
PUK Kidnapping, September 13, 1996: In Iraq, Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) militants kidnapped four French workers for Pharmaciens Sans Frontieres, a Canadian United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) official, and two Iraqis.
1997
Egyptian Letter Bombs, January 2-13, 1997: A series of letter bombs with Alexandria, Egypt, postmarks were discovered at Al-Hayat newspaper bureaus in Washington, New York City, London, and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Three similar devices, also postmarked in Egypt, were found at a prison facility in Leavenworth, Kansas. Bomb disposal experts defused all the devices, but one donated at the Al-Hayat office in London, injuring two security guards and causing minor damage.
Empire State Building Sniper Attack, February 23, 1997: A Palestinian gunman opened fire on tourists at an observation deck atop the Empire State Building in New York City, killing a Danish national and wounding visitors from the United States, Argentina, Switzerland, and France before turning the gun on himself. A handwritten note carried by the gunman claimed this was a punishment attack against the "enemies of Palestine."
Israeli Shopping Mall Bombing, September 4, 1997: Three suicide bombers of Hamas detonated bombs in the Ben Yehuda shopping mall in Jerusalem, killing eight persons, including the bombers, and wounding nearly 200 others. A dual U.S./ Israeli citizen was among the dead, and seven U.S. citizens were wounded.
Yemeni Kidnapping, October 30, 1997: Al-Sha'if tribesman kidnapped a U.S. businessman near Sanaa. The tribesman sought the release of two fellow tribesmen who were arrested on smuggling charges and several public works projects they claim the government promised them. They released the hostage on November 27.
Tourist killings in Egypt, November 17, 1997: Al-Gama'at al-Islamiyya (IG) gunmen shot and killed 58 tourists and four Egyptians and wounded 26 others at the Hatshepsut Temple in the Valley of the Kings near Luxor. Thirty-four Swiss, eight Japanese, five Germans, four Britons, one French, one Colombian, a dual Bulgarian/British citizen, and four unidentified persons were among the dead. Twelve Swiss, two Japanese, two Germans, one French, and nine Egyptians were among the wounded.
1998
U.S. Embassy Bombings in East Africa, August 7, 1998: A bomb exploded at the rear entrance of the U.S. embassy in Nariobi, Kenya, killing 12 U.S. citizens, 32 Foreign Service Nationals (FSNs), and 247 Kenyan citizens. About 5,000 Kenyans, six U.S. citizens, and 13 FSNs were injured. The U.S. embassy building sustained extensive structural damage. Almost simultaneously, a bomb detonated outside the U.S. embassy in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, killing seven FSNs and three Tanzanian citizens, and injuring one U.S. citizen and 76 Tanzanians. The explosion caused major structural damage to the U.S. embassy facility. The U.S. Government held Usama Bin Ladin responsible.
2000
Attack on U.S.S. Cole, October 12, 2000: In Aden, Yemen, a small dingy carrying explosives rammed the destroyer U.S.S. Cole, killing 17 sailors and injuring 39 others. Supporters of Usama Bin Ladin were suspected.
2001
Bus Stop Bombing, April 22, 2001: A member of Hamas detonated a bomb he was carrying near a bus stop in Kfar Siva, Israel, killing one person and injuring 60.
Tel-Aviv Nightclub Bombing, June 1, 2001: Hamas claimed responsibility for the bombing of a popular Israeli nightclub that caused over 140 causalities.
Hamas Restaurant Bombing, August 9, 2001: A Hamas-planted bomb detonated in a Jeruselum pizza restaurant, killing 15 people and wounding more than 90.
Terrorist Attacks on U.S. Homeland, September 11, 2001: Two hijacked airliners crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center. Soon thereafter, the Pentagon was struck by a third hijacked plane. A fourth hijacked plane, suspected to be bound for a high-profile target in Washington, crashed into a field in southern Pennsylvania. More than 5,000 U.S. citizens and other nationals were killed as a result of these acts. President Bush and Cabinet officials indicated that Usama Bin Laden was the prime suspect and that they considered the United States in a state of war with international terrorism. In the aftermath of the attacks, the United States formed the Global Coalition Against Terrorism.
Downtown Jerusalem Bombing, December 2, 2001: Two suicide bombers blew themselves up in downtown Jerusalem killing ten people and wounding more than 130. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
Haifa Bus Attack, December 3, 2001: A Hamas suicide bomber blew himself up on a public bus in the northern Israeli city of Haifa, killing at least 15 people and wounding dozens of others.
West Bank Bus Attack, December 12, 2001: Palestinian gunman killed eight people and wounded 30 in a grenade and shooting ambush on an Israel bus in the West Bank just minutes before 2 suicide bombers struck in the Gaza Strip.
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Which holiday, which had its first official recognition in 1868, was originally called Decoration Day? | Memorial Day History - Office of Public and Intergovernmental Affairs
Office of Public and Intergovernmental Affairs
Memorial Day History
Three years after the Civil War ended, on May 5, 1868, the head of an organization of Union veterans — the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) — established Decoration Day as a time for the nation to decorate the graves of the war dead with flowers. Maj. Gen. John A. Logan declared that Decoration Day should be observed on May 30. It is believed that date was chosen because flowers would be in bloom all over the country.
The first large observance was held that year at Arlington National Cemetery, across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C.
The ceremonies centered around the mourning-draped veranda of the Arlington mansion, once the home of Gen. Robert E. Lee. Various Washington officials, including Gen. and Mrs. Ulysses S. Grant, presided over the ceremonies. After speeches, children from the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Orphan Home and members of the GAR made their way through the cemetery, strewing flowers on both Union and Confederate graves, reciting prayers and singing hymns.
Local Observances Claim To Be First Local springtime tributes to the Civil War dead already had been held in various places. One of the first occurred in Columbus, Miss., April 25, 1866, when a group of women visited a cemetery to decorate the graves of Confederate soldiers who had fallen in battle at Shiloh. Nearby were the graves of Union soldiers, neglected because they were the enemy. Disturbed at the sight of the bare graves, the women placed some of their flowers on those graves, as well.
Today, cities in the North and the South claim to be the birthplace of Memorial Day in 1866. Both Macon and Columbus, Ga., claim the title, as well as Richmond, Va. The village of Boalsburg, Pa., claims it began there two years earlier. A stone in a Carbondale, Ill., cemetery carries the statement that the first Decoration Day ceremony took place there on April 29, 1866. Carbondale was the wartime home of Gen. Logan. Approximately 25 places have been named in connection with the origin of Memorial Day, many of them in the South where most of the war dead were buried.
Official Birthplace Declared In 1966, Congress and President Lyndon Johnson declared Waterloo, N.Y., the “birthplace” of Memorial Day. There, a ceremony on May 5, 1866, honored local veterans who had fought in the Civil War. Businesses closed and residents flew flags at half-staff. Supporters of Waterloo’s claim say earlier observances in other places were either informal, not community-wide or one-time events.
By the end of the 19th century, Memorial Day ceremonies were being held on May 30 throughout the nation. State legislatures passed proclamations designating the day, and the Army and Navy adopted regulations for proper observance at their facilities.
It was not until after World War I, however, that the day was expanded to honor those who have died in all American wars. In 1971, Memorial Day was declared a national holiday by an act of Congress, though it is still often called Decoration Day. It was then also placed on the last Monday in May, as were some other federal holidays.
Some States Have Confederate Observances Many Southern states also have their own days for honoring the Confederate dead. Mississippi celebrates Confederate Memorial Day on the last Monday of April, Alabama on the fourth Monday of April, and Georgia on April 26. North and South Carolina observe it on May 10, Louisiana on June 3 and Tennessee calls that date Confederate Decoration Day. Texas celebrates Confederate Heroes Day January 19 and Virginia calls the last Monday in May Confederate Memorial Day.
Gen. Logan’s order for his posts to decorate graves in 1868 “with the choicest flowers of springtime” urged: “We should guard their graves with sacred vigilance. ... Let pleasant paths invite the coming and going of reverent visitors and fond mourners. Let no neglect, no ravages of time, testify to the present or to the coming generations that we have forgotten as a people the cost of a free and undivided republic.”
The crowd attending the first Memorial Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery was approximately the same size as those that attend today’s observance, about 5,000 people. Then, as now, small American flags were placed on each grave — a tradition followed at many national cemeteries today. In recent years, the custom has grown in many families to decorate the graves of all departed loved ones.
The origins of special services to honor those who die in war can be found in antiquity. The Athenian leader Pericles offered a tribute to the fallen heroes of the Peloponnesian War over 24 centuries ago that could be applied today to the 1.1 million Americans who have died in the nation’s wars: “Not only are they commemorated by columns and inscriptions, but there dwells also an unwritten memorial of them, graven not on stone but in the hearts of men.”
To ensure the sacrifices of America ’s fallen heroes are never forgotten, in December 2000, the U.S. Congress passed and the president signed into law “The National Moment of Remembrance Act,” P.L. 106-579, creating the White House Commission on the National Moment of Remembrance. The commission’s charter is to “encourage the people of the United States to give something back to their country, which provides them so much freedom and opportunity” by encouraging and coordinating commemorations in the United States of Memorial Day and the National Moment of Remembrance.
The National Moment of Remembrance encourages all Americans to pause wherever they are at 3 p.m. local time on Memorial Day for a minute of silence to remember and honor those who have died in service to the nation. As Moment of Remembrance founder Carmella LaSpada states: “It’s a way we can all help put the memorial back in Memorial Day.”
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What is the name of the crew member who steers the boat in competitive rowing? | These are the words that James A. Garfield spoke at Arlington Cemetery on May 30, 1868 : Research History
Research the lessons in history. “Study the past if you would define the future.” Confucius
These are the words that James A. Garfield spoke at Arlington Cemetery on May 30, 1868
November 25, 2011 · Posted in Uncategorized
In answer to a question I received today”Message:
Gen. Garfield made a speech dedicating Arlington National Cemetery.
Can you provide the text of that speech?” scroll down in article to These are the words that James A. Garfield spoke at Arlington Cemetery on May 30, 1868:
ADRIAN MORGAN: WE SHOULD GUARD THEIR GRAVES WITH SACRED VIGILANCE:
By Ruth King on May 30th, 2011
http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/id.9625/pub_detail.asp
“We Should Guard Their Graves with Sacred Vigilance” Adrian Morgan , The Editor
The first official celebration of Memorial Day began unofficially in the cemeteries of the south in the years immediately after the end of the Civil War. Here, ceremonies began where the graves of the fallen were decorated. There are several locations which vie for the claim to be the first place where such ceremonies took place. These celebrations, called “Decoration Days” were officially enacted from at least 1866 onwards in various locations, on varying days. In 1865, freed slaves had decorated the graves of 257 Union soldiers at Charleston in South Carolina, the first known example of a Decoration Day.
The first official national Decoration Day took place exactly 143 years ago today in Washington D.C., on May 30, 1868. Here at Arlington Cemetery, as reported in the Evening Star of the same date:
The exercises were opened at one o’clock in front of the Arlington Mansion, by W.T. Collins, Esq., who read the general order (G.A.R.) designating the 30th of May as a day to be observed throughout the United States in decorating the graves of the Union dead. Rev. Byron Sunderland then offered an impressive prayer, after which an appropriate hymn was sung. Hon. James A. Garfield was then introduced and delivered the oration, which was very appropriate and listened to with marked attention. The lateness of the hour prevents us from giving Mr. Garfield’s address. At its conclusion, a patriotic song was sung by the assemblage and an original poem was read by Hon. J.C. Smith. The services at this point concluded with a solemn dirge by the 44th Infantry band.
James Abram Garfield’s speech on that day has a resonance that still has meaning almost a century and a half later. Garfield had been a Major General in the Union Army and had fought in the battles of Shiloh (1862) and Chickamauga (1863). Garfield would go on to become the 20th President of the United States on March 4, 1881, though he would soon be shot , dying 80 days after being hit on 19 September, 1881.
These are the words that James A. Garfield spoke at Arlington Cemetery on May 30, 1868:
I am oppressed with a sense of the impropriety of uttering words on this occasion. If silence is ever golden, it must be here, beside the graves of fifteen thousand men, whose lives were more significant than speech, and whose death was a poem, the music of which can never be sung. With words we make promises, plight faith, praise virtue. Promises may not be kept, plighted faith may be broken, and vaunted virtue be only the cunning mask of vice. We do not know one promise these men made, one pledge they gave, one word they spoke: but we do know they summed up and perfected, by one supreme act, the highest virtues of men and citizens. For love of country they accepted death, and thus resolved all doubts, and made immortal their patriotism and their virtue.
On the same day, other graves were decorated. The decision to set the date of this 1868 Decoration Day had been made on the order of General John A. Logan of the Grand Army of the Republic. On May 5, 1868 , he had issued a proclamation (General Orders Number 11) that began:
The 30th day of May, 1868, is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village, and hamlet church-yard in the land. In this observance no form of ceremony is prescribed, but posts and comrades will in their own way arrange such fitting services and testimonials of respect as circumstances may permit.
We are organized, comrades, as our regulations tell us, for the purpose among other things, “of preserving and strengthening those kind and fraternal feelings which have bound together the soldiers, sailors, and marines who united to suppress the late rebellion.” What can aid more to assure this result than cherishing tenderly the memory of our heroic dead, who made their breasts a barricade between our country and its foes? Their soldier lives were the reveille of freedom to a race in chains, and their deaths the tattoo of rebellious tyranny in arms. We should guard their graves with sacred vigilance…
Decoration Day was first called Memorial Day in 1882, but it was not until after the end of World War I (1918) that the name gained popularity. On June 28, 1968 , President Lyndon Johnson signed the Uniform Holiday Bill (H.R. 15951), which would come into force on January 1st, 1971. This bill assigned fixed dates for three holidays, including Memorial Day:
–Washington’s Birthday on the third Monday in February,
–Memorial Day on the last Monday in May,
–Veterans Day on the fourth Monday in October.
In Arlington Cemetery in 1865, the graves of fallen soldiers would be decorated with flowers. Nowadays, it is more usual for graves to be decorated with Stars and Stripes flags, while flowers are laid by relatives. One particular flower has a symbolic importance on this day.
Memorial Day is held when flowers are in bloom. Poppies are traditionally associated with Memorial Day. The tradition of making and selling paper poppies, reflecting the poppies that grew in Flanders Fields in the First World War (known at the time as The Great War) is 93 years old. American teacher Moina Michael in 1918 had been touched by a poem written by Canadian serviceman Colonel John McCrae. In 1915, struck by the way red poppies (Papaver rhoeas) bloomed in abundance upon battlefields that had earlier been broken up by shell bursts, McCrae had written a poem that was originally known as “We Shall Not Sleep.” It is now more popularly known by the title “In Flanders Fields”:
In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
In Flanders Fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders Fields.
In 1917 America joined the Great War in Europe, and soon American serviceman would be buried in Flanders Fields. Moina Belle Michael, who worked as a volunteer in this war with the YMCA, responded with a poem of her own in November 1918:
We Shall Keep the Faith
Oh! you who sleep in Flanders Fields,
Sleep sweet – to rise anew!
We caught the torch you threw
And holding high, we keep the Faith
With All who died.
We cherish, too, the poppy red
That grows on fields where valor led;
It seems to signal to the skies
That blood of heroes never dies,
But lends a lustre to the red
Of the flower that blooms above the dead
In Flanders Fields.
And now the Torch and Poppy Red
We wear in honor of our dead.
Fear not that ye have died for naught;
We’ll teach the lesson that ye wrought
In Flanders Fields.
On November 9th 1918 , Moina Michael had the idea to commemorate the fallen with a symbol of the red poppy. She began wearing artificial poppies herself, and The poppy was adopted first by the YMCA Conference of Overseas Secretaries, then in 1919 various local American organizations, particularly in Georgia. On September 29th, 1920 the poppy became the emblem of the National American Legion. Soon, veterans’ organizations in Britain, France, Canada, Australia and New Zealand had adopted the red poppy as their emblem.
Memorial Day 2011
Today, there will be ceremonies across the United States to celebrate the fallen, and overseas there will be more remembrance of those who have given their all for their country. Today is also a national holiday, and this weekend has also been a time of celebration. Ideally there should be a balance between the solemnity of remembering those who laid down their lives, and gratitude that through their sacrifice, America remains a free country, and the greatest democracy that the world has ever seen.
As well as remembering the fallen, we should also remember the families of the fallen, and also those families who wait patiently, giving their support to loved ones who are still fighting overseas for their country. All who join the military do so knowing full well that they may be asked to make that ultimate sacrifice.
So today, let us honor all those who have given up their lives, and also express gratitude to those who have become disabled in battle. Until all wars end, there will always be more good Americans who will be called upon to give up their lives so that those at home can stay free.
| i don't know |
May 25th is the anniversary of the release of the epic space opera, Star Wars. In what year was it released? | May 25th Is 'Star Wars' Day!
May 25th Is 'Star Wars' Day!
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Star Wars
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It's hard to believe, but May 25th marks the 30th anniversary of the release of the first installment in George Lucas's career-defining, not-at-all-silly epic space opera, making it as good an excuse as any to push through some civic legislation designating it Star Wars Day in Los Angeles. Our friends at Curbed LA snagged a copy of the resolution :
RESOLVE to DECLARE May 25, 2007 as Star Wars Day in the City of Los Angeles and also recognize George Lucas' 1977 film Star Wars for its tremendous impact on the citizenry of Los Angeles, the film industry and the world, and for continuing to inspire after thirty years millions of people to explore movies, fantasy, literature, and science as means of achieving their goals and dreams,
Presented by: [signed] Jan Perry Councilwoman Ninth District
The citywide festivites are timed to coincide with the Celebration IV international fan gathering, where, among a mindboggling array of Star Wars-themed activities, the "largest Slave Leia photo shoot ever" will be mounted around an actual-size replica of their fearsome mafioso mollusk keeper, Jabba the Hutt. Mark you calendars: It will surely be a joyous time to have landed on the Paved Planet of Hollywood, as our finer dining establishments and social clubs are inifiltrated by Princess Padmes and Admiral Akbars from around the globe, and local year-round zealot, Head-Butting Chewbacca , will receive an official pardon from Mayor Villaraigosa at a planned clemency ceremony outside the Chinese Theater.
| 1977 |
What can be a canning company, a type of lightning, or a social gathering? | Star Wars | Know Your Meme
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Updated Mar 15, 2016 at 07:24PM EDT by Synge .
Added Oct 18, 2011 at 02:24PM EDT by Tomberry .
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About
Star Wars is an American space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film Star Wars was originally released on May 25th, 1977 and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon. It was followed by two sequels, released at three-year intervals, in 1980 and 1983. Three prequel films were released in 1999, 2002 and 2005 respectively.
History
The first three Star Wars films take place after the events in the final three Star Wars films, known as the “prequel trilogy.”
Episode I: The Phantom Menace
Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace [9] was released in 1999. It was the start of a three-part prequel to the original Star Wars trilogy. The film follows the Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn and his apprentice Obi-Wan Kenobi. While escorting and protecting Queen Amidala they meet Anakin Skywalker, a young slave boy who seems to be unusually strong with The Force. Along the way they must contend with the mysterious return of the Sith and the Sith apprentice Darth Maul.
Episode II: Attack of the Clones
Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones [10] was released in 2002 as part two of the prequel trilogy. The film is set ten years after the events in Episode I, when the galaxy is on the brink of civil war. The film follows Anakin Skywalker, who has become an adult, and his mentor Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith [11] was released in 2005 and is the third part in the prequel trilogy, but the final film that was released of the saga. The film takes place three years after the onset of the Clone Wars. It connects the prequel trilogy with the start of the original trilogy, showing the the rise of the Sith and the defeat of the Jedi. This film features the creation of Darth Vader and birth of the Skywalker twins, Luke and Leia
Episode IV: A New Hope
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope [12] was originally released in 1977 under the title Star Wars is a space opera that followed the adventures of Luke Skywalker and his quest to escape from his home-world and join the Rebel Alliance, becoming a Jedi and mastering the force in the process.
Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back [13] was originally released in 1980 under the title The Empire Strikes Back. It is set 3 years after the events after A New Hope and again follows the story of Luke Skywalker.
Episode VI: Return Of The Jedi
Star Wars Episode VI: Return Of The Jedi [14] was originally released in 1984 under the title Return of the Jedi. The plot revolves around Luke Skywalker and the Rebel Alliance defeating the Galactic Empire. It is set one year after the events of The Empire Strikes Back.
Disney Acquisition
On October 30th, 2012, The Walt Disney Company announced in a press release [21] that it had acquired the Lucasfilms production company for $4.05 billion and planned to release a new Star Wars trilogy with the first installment, Episode 7, set for release sometime in 2015. According to the Associated Press, [15] the new trilogy would continue where Return of the Jedi left off, following the stories of Luke Skywalker, Han Solo and Princess Leia. Shortly after the announcement was made, The Daily What [22] published a post titled “In Light of Recent Events of the Day,” which featured an image macro of Princess Leia with caption “Disney Princess” (shown below).
The same day, posts about the acqusition reached the front page of the /r/scifi, [16] /r/StarWars [17] and /r/movies [18] subreddits. Also on October 30th, the tech news blog Mashable [19] published a post titled “This is What a Disney Star Wars Universe Looks Like,” which included a slideshow of image macros mocking the Disney purchase (shown below).
On October 31st, the Internet news blog The Daily Dot [20] published a post titled “The ‘Nooooo!’ Heard Round the Internet: Disney Buys Lucasfilm,” which included a round-up of Internet activity surrounding the announcement.
Reception
As of June 2008, the overall box office revenue generated by the six Star Wars films has totalled approximately $4.49 billion, [1] making it the third-highest-grossing film series behind only the Harry Potter and James Bond films. Aside from the box office revenue, the franchise has generated about $33 billion, nearly half of which comes from the Star Wars toy lines.
The Star Wars film series has spawned a media franchise selling a wide variety of merchandise, including books, television series, video games and comic books. These supplements have resulted in significant development of the series’ fictional universe, in addition to keeping the franchise going in the interim between the film trilogies.
In 2008, Star Wars: The Clone Wars was released in theaters as the first-ever worldwide theatrical Star Wars film outside of the main trilogies. The first animated film in the franchise, it was intended as an introduction to the Expanded Universe series of the same name.
Fandom
Expanded Universe
The term Expanded Universe (EU) is an umbrella term for officially licensed Star Wars material outside of the six feature films. The material expands the stories told in the films, taking place anywhere from 25,000 years before The Phantom Menace to 140 years after Return of the Jedi. This included various other films, [2] animated series, [3] books, [4] games [5] and action figures.
The Star Wars saga has inspired many fans to create their own non-canon material set in the Star Wars galaxy. In recent years, this has ranged from writing fan-fiction to creating fan films. The fan-driven expansion of the original canon also encouraged by Lucasfilm when, in 2002, it sponsored the first annual Official Star Wars Fan Film Awards, officially recognizing filmmakers and the genre. Because of concerns over potential copyright and trademark issues, however, the contest was initially open only to parodies, mockumentaries, and documentaries. Fan-fiction films set in the Star Wars universe were initially ineligible for competition, but in 2007 Lucasfilm changed the submission standards to allow in-universe fiction entries. [6]
While many fan films have used elements from the licensed Expanded Universe to tell their story, they are not considered an official part of the Star Wars canon. However, the lead character from the Pink Five series was incorporated into Timothy Zahn’s 2007 novel Allegiance, marking the first time a fan-created Star Wars character has ever crossed into the official canon. [7] Lucasfilm, for the most part, has allowed but not endorsed the creation of these derivative fan-fiction works, so long as no such work attempts to make a profit from or tarnish the Star Wars franchise in any way. [8]
Uncanonization of the Expanded Universe
On April 25th, 2014, Star Wars’ official website released a statement titled “The Legendary Star Wars Expanded Universe Turns a New Page,” which announced that Star Wars Episode VII and the subsequent new films would not necessarily adhere to the rules and timelines as laid out in the Expanded Universe, essentially downgrading its stature to a non-canonical alternate universe . The same day, the official Star Wars YouTube channel uploaded a video titled “The Star Wars Expanded Universe: Past, Present, and Future,” which features members of the Lucas Film staff discussing the meaning and importance of the Expanded Universe. In less than one week, the video gained over 570,000 views.
May the Fourth Be With You
May the 4th, also known as Star Wars day, was chosen as the series’ unofficial holiday because the date sounds like, “May the force.” One of the original uses of the phrase can be traced back Margaret Thatcher’s May 4th, 1979, victory in England’s Prime Minister race. To celebrate her victory her conservative party put out an ad [2] in the London Evening News which read:
“May the Fourth Be With You, Maggie. Congratulations.
One of the first mentions of May the 4th as Star Wars day online appeared in a post titled “Why go out?” published in The Guardian [4] on May 4th, 2006. By 2009 it was common for websites to devote entire pieces to Star Wars day, with New York Daily News [5] publishing a post titled “Star Wars fans celebrate unofficial holiday, May the Fourth Be With You,” and The Daily Mail [6] publishing a post titled “May the fourth be with you: Sci-fi film fanatics tie the knot in Star Wars themed ceremony.”
Impact
The franchise is crammed with cult one-liners that are still abused as pop culture references up to these days. It also found its place on Internet as a generator of many famous memes. These pop culture impacts have shown up on commercials as well as forums and television. It is one of the primary sources for parody reference when referring to cliches in the television and movie landscape. The other impact that it has had is the expanded universe which has spawned multiple fan novella.
Related Memes
It’s a Trap!
Originally quoted by Admiral Ackbar in The Return of the Jedi, “It’s a Trap” is often used as a reaction to photos of people or things that have a deceptive appearance. The snowclone “It’s a X!” is also used to caption image macros (sometimes accompanied by a picture of Admiral Ackar ) in which the name of subject rhymes with “trap.”
Red Leader Standing By
A popular game on forums and image-boards coming from a scene in Episode IV: A New Hope. it involves relay-posting images that are explicitly red, or more ambiguous items associated with the word “red”. It comes from Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope where the rebel alliance is launching their assault on the Death Star.
Star Wars Kid
Star Wars Kid is a viral video featuring Ghyslain Razaa, a Canadian teenager who filmed himself fighting against imaginary sentries with a golf-ball retriever, as though it were a double-sided light saber such as the one Darth Maul uses in Star Wars: Episode I.
Do Not Want
A scene from Episode III: Revenge of the Siths where Darth Vader finds out that his wife, Padme, has been killed has become a widespread phenomenon both for its anti-climactic shout and because of a Chinese mistranslation.
Do Not Want and Do Want are catchphrases typically used in image macros to express ones displeasure, or yearning. It spawned from a poorly translated copy of Episode 3: Revenge Of The Sith blogger Jeremy Winterson purchased in Shanghai. The scene where Darth Vader shouts “Nooo!” has been translated in the subtitles as “Do Not Want”. In addition, Darth Vader’s Noooo! is used to emphasize a situation where other cries of regret or distaste.
I Am Your Father
I Am Your Father (Often misquoted as “Luke, I Am Your Father”) is quote from Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back when Darth Vader Informs Luke that he is his son. The quote is subject to much parody and use in 4panes.
I Find Your Lack Of Faith Disturbing
I find your lack of faith disturbing is a response phrase originally used by Darth Vader, in Star Wars: A New Hope, to denote disapproval, with a sinister edge and implications.
Lightsaber Duels
The first lightsaber duel ever made appeared on Star Wars (a new hope, 1977) between Darth Vader and Obi-Wan Kenobi and fans of Star Wars have been creating their own ever since. Many of these fan duels use video effects to achieve the visuals needed to resemble the originals found in the movies.
May the Force be With You
“May the Force Be With You” is a famous quote said by numerous characters as an expression of good luck throughout the Star Wars film series. Since making its first appearance in Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope, the quote has gained cult status among the fans and served as an inspiration for the Star Wars Day, an unofficial holiday honoring the franchise on May 4th.
Dancing Stormtrooper
Dancing Stormtrooper (a.k.a StormHumper) is a short video clip starring a Star Wars fan dressed as Imperial Stormtrooper and dancing to an acapella rendition of Johann Strauss’ waltz composition The Blue Danube. Since its debut on YouTube in March 2007, the clip has been viewed over 26 million times and generated over 100 response videos.
Force Push
Force Push started as a YTMND fad using an exploitable scene taken from the 1999 film Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. The animated gifs used in many of these YTMNDs have also spread to 4chan, and a number of the YTMND Compilation videos can be found on YouTube.
Vadering
Vadering is a photo fad that involves two people recreating the Star Wars scene in which Darth Vader uses the Force to grab an opposing character in a choke hold.
You Were the Chosen One
You Were the Chosen One is a quote from the 2005 science fiction film Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith that is used to express disappointment in someone or something that was once previously seen as promising.
Yodaspeak
Yodaspeak refers to sentences in which the logical syntax of the sentence has been inverted, mimicking the speech of the Star Wars Jedi Master Yoda.
Han Shot First
“Han Shot First” is a notable phrase used by fans of the Star Wars franchise to state their opinion in a scene in Episode IV: A New Hope, in which one of the main characters, Han Solo, is in a standoff with the bounty hunter Greedo. In the original 1977 version of the film, Han is the only one that fires a shot, whereas the 1997 altered version of Star Wars depicts Greedo firing a shot at Han Solo shortly before Han responds in kind. The difference in these scenes has resulted in discussion amongst the fans regarding who actually shot first.
Opening Crawl Parodies
Star Wars opening crawl parodies refers to parodies of the opening sequence featured in the Star Wars franchise which features a prologue slowly scrowling up towards the top of the screen before dissapearing into the horizon.
Grieve-Tan
Grieve-tan is an alternate interpretation of the character General Grievous from the Star Wars franchise as a Japanese schoolgirl. The character has risen in popularity on 4chan’s /co/ (Comics and Cartoons) board.
I Am Altering The X
I Am Altering the X is an exploitable phrase used as a response to someone’s disapproval of change, in a similar fashion to Deal With It.
Search Interest
| i don't know |
Known as The Magnolia State or The Hospitality State, what was the 20th state to join the union on Dec 10, 1817? | Major Rivers: Mississippi River, Big Black River, Pearl River, Yazoo River.
Major Lakes: Ross Barnett Reservoir, Arkabutla Lake, Sardis Lake, Grenada Lake.
Highest Point: Woodall Mountain
807 feet above sea level
State Motto: Virtute et Armis
State Bird: Mockingbird
State Fish: Largemouth or Black Bass
State Tree: Magnolia
| Mississippi |
May 25, 1992 saw Jay Leno take the reins of the Tonight Show, following the retirement of what host, who had a 30 run behind the Burbank desk? | Mississippi facts, information, pictures | Encyclopedia.com articles about Mississippi
ORIGIN OF STATE NAME: Derived from the Ojibwa Indian words misi sipi, meaning great river.
NICKNAME: The Magnolia State.
ENTERED UNION: 10 December 1817 (20th).
SONG: "Go, Mississippi."
MOTTO: Virtute et armis (By valor and arms).
COAT OF ARMS: An American eagle clutches an olive branch and a quiver of arrows in its talons.
FLAG: Crossed blue bars, on a red field, bordered with white and emblazoned with 13 white stars—the motif of the Confederate battle flag—cover the upper left corner. The field consists of three stripes of equal width, blue, white, and red.
OFFICIAL SEAL: The seal consists of the coat of arms surrounded by the words "The Great Seal of the State of Mississippi."
BIRD: Mockingbird; wood duck (waterfowl).
FISH: Largemouth or black bass.
FLOWER: Magnolia.
TREE: Magnolia.
LEGAL HOLIDAYS: New Year's Day, 1 January; Birthdays of Robert E. Lee and Martin Luther King Jr ., 3rd Monday in January; Washington's Birthday, 3rd Monday in February; Confederate Memorial Day, last Monday in April; Memorial Day and Jefferson Davis 's Birthday, last Monday in May; Independence Day, 4 July; Labor Day, 1st Monday in September; Veterans' Day and Armistice Day, 11 November; Thanksgiving Day, 4th Thursday in November; Christmas Day, 25 December.
TIME: 6 AM CST = noon GMT.
LOCATION, SIZE, AND EXTENT
Located in the eastern south-central United States , Mississippi ranks 32nd in size among the 50 states.
The total area of Mississippi is 47,689 sq mi (123,514 sq km), of which land takes up 47,233 sq mi (122,333 sq km) and inland water 456 sq mi (1,181 sq km). Mississippi's maximum e-w extension is 188 mi (303 km); its greatest n-s distance is 352 mi (566 km).
Mississippi is bordered on the n by Tennessee ; on the e by Alabama ; on the s by the Gulf of Mexico and Louisiana ; and on the w by Louisiana (with the line partially formed by the Pearl and Mississippi rivers) and Arkansas (with the line formed by the Mississippi River ). Several small islands lie off the coast.
The total boundary length of Mississippi is 1,015 mi (1,634 km). The state's geographic center is in Leake County, 9 mi (14 km) wnw of Carthage.
TOPOGRAPHY
Mississippi lies entirely within two lowland plains. Extending eastward from the Mississippi River, the Mississippi Alluvial Plain, popularly known as the Delta, is very narrow south of Vicksburg but stretches as much as a third of the way across the state farther north. The Gulf Coastal Plain, covering the rest of the state, includes several subregions, of which the Red Clay Hills of north-central Mississippi and the Piney Woods of the south and southeast are the most extensive. Mississippi's generally hilly landscape ascends from sea level at the Gulf of Mexico to reach its maximum elevation, 806 ft (246 m), at Woodall Mountain, in the extreme northeastern corner of the state. The mean elevation of the state is approximately 300 ft (92 m).
The state's largest lakes—Grenada, Sardis, Enid, and Arkabutla—are all manmade. Numerous smaller lakes—called oxbow lakes because of their curved shape—extend along the western edge of the state; once part of the Mississippi River, they were formed when the river changed its course. Mississippi's longest inland river, the Pearl, flows about 490 mi (790 km) from the eastern center of the state to the Gulf of Mexico, its lower reaches forming part of the border with Louisiana. The Big Black River, some 330 mi (530 km) long, begins in the northeast and cuts diagonally across the state, joining the Mississippi about 20 mi (32 km) below Vicksburg. Formed by the confluence of the Tallahatchie and Yalobusha rivers at Greenwood, the Yazoo flows 189 mi (304 km) southwest to the Mississippi just above Vicksburg.
CLIMATE
Mississippi has short winters and long, humid summers. Summer temperatures vary little from one part of the state to another. Biloxi, on the Gulf coast, averages 82°f (28°c) in July, while Oxford, in the north-central part of the state, averages 80°f (27°c). During the winter, however, because of the temperate influence of the Gulf of Mexico, the southern coast is much warmer than the north; in January, Biloxi averages 51°f (10°c) to Oxford's 44°f (6°c). The lowest temperature ever recorded in Mississippi was −19°f (−28°c) on 30 January 1966 in Corinth; the highest, 115°f (46°c), was set on 29 July 1930 at Holly Springs.
Precipitation in Mississippi increases from north to south. The north-central region averages 53 in (135 cm) of precipitation a year; the coastal region, 62 in (157 cm). Annual precipitation at Jackson is about 56 in (142 cm). Some snow falls in northern and central sections. Mississippi lies in the path of hurricanes moving northward from the Gulf of Mexico during the late summer and fall. On 17-18 August 1969, Hurricane Camille ripped into Biloxi and Gulfport and caused more than 100 deaths throughout the state. In August 2005, Hurricane Katrina swept through the same region causing floodwater surges of over 30 ft (9 m). Biloxi and Gulfport suffered severe damage to homes and businesses. As of late 2005, the estimated death toll for the cities and the rest of the county was over 100 people. One month later, Hurricane Rita passed through the area, causing severe flooding inland as well as near the coastal regions of the state. Two tornado alleys cross Mississippi from the southwest to northeast, from Vicksburg to Oxford and McComb to Tupelo.
FLORA AND FAUNA
Post and white oaks, hickory, maple, and magnolia grow in the forests of the uplands; various willows and gums (including the tupelo) in the Delta; and longleaf pine in the Piney Woods. Characteristic wild flowers include the green Virginia creeper, black-eyed Susan, and Cherokee rose. In April 2006, the US Fish and Wildlife listed Price's potato-bean as a threatened species. The Louisiana quillwort, pondberry, and American chaffseed were listed as endangered plant species the same year.
Common among the state's mammals are the opossum, eastern mole, armadillo, coyote, mink, white-tailed deer, striped skunk, and diverse bats and mice. Birds include varieties of wren, thrush, warbler, vireo, and hawk, along with numerous waterfowl and seabirds, Franklin's gull, the common loon, and the wood stork among them. Black bass, perch, and mullet are common freshwater fish. Rare species in Mississippi include the hoary bat, American oystercatcher, mole salamander, pigmy killifish, Yazoo darker, and five species of crayfish. Listed as threatened or endangered in 2006 were 30 species of animals (vertebrates and invertebrates), including the American and Louisiana black bears, eastern indigo snake, Indiana bat, Mississippi sandhill crane, bald eagle, Mississippi gopher frog, brown pelican, red-cockaded woodpecker, five species of sea turtle, and the bayou darter.
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
Except for the drinking water program, housed in the State Health Department, and regulation of noncommercial oil field waste disposal activities, assigned to the State Oil and Gas Board, the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) is responsible for environmental regulatory programs in the state. MDEQ regulates surface and groundwater withdrawals through its Office of Land and Water Resources and surface mining reclamation through its Office of Geology. All other environmental regulatory programs, including those federal regulatory programs delegated to Mississippi by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), are administered through MDEQ's Office of Pollution Control. The state has primacy for almost all federally delegable programs; the one notable exception is the federal hazardous waste corrective action program (under the federal Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments of 1984). MDEQ implements one of the premier Pollution Prevention programs in the nation.
In 1996, wetlands accounted for 13% of the state's lands. The Natural Heritage Program helps manage these wetlands.
In 2003, 63.1 million lb of toxic chemicals were released in the state. In 2003, Mississippi had 83 hazardous waste sites listed in the EPA database, three of which were on the National Priorities List as of 2006, including American Creosote Works, Inc, Davis Timber Company, and Picayune Wood Treating Site. In 2005, the EPA spent over $1.5 million through the Superfund program for the cleanup of hazardous waste sites in the state. The same year, federal EPA grants awarded to the state included $9.7 million for the clean water revolving loan fund, as well as over $9 million dollars in funds for other water quality and protection projects.
POPULATION
Mississippi ranked 31st in population in the United States with an estimated total of 2,921,088 in 2005, an increase of 2.7% since 2000. Between 1990 and 2000, Mississippi's population grew from 2,573,216 to 2,844,658, an increase of 10.5%. The population was projected to reach 3.01 million by 2015 and 3.06 million by 2025.
After remaining virtually level for 30 years, Mississippi's population during the 1970s grew 13.7%, but increased only 2.1% from 1980 to 1990. In 2004, the median age of Mississippians was 34.9. In the same year, 25.8% of the on under the age of 18 while 12.2% was age 65 or older. The population density in 2004 was 23.9 persons per sq km (61.9 persons per sq mi).
Mississippi remains one of the most rural states in the United States, although the urban population has increased fivefold since 1920, when only 13% of state residents lived in cities. Mississippi's largest city, Jackson, had an estimated 2004 population of 179,298, down from 193,097 in 1994. Biloxi and Gulfport are other major cities with large populations. The Jackson metropolitan area had an estimated population of 517,275 in 2004.
ETHNIC GROUPS
Since 1860, blacks have constituted a larger proportion of the population of Mississippi than of any other state. By the end of the 1830s, blacks outnumbered whites 52% to 48%, and from the 1860s through the early 20th century, they made up about three-fifths of the population. Because of out-migration, the proportion of black Mississippians declined to about 36% in 2000 (still the highest in the country). By 2004, 36.8% of the population was black. In 2000, the state had 1,746,099 whites, 1,033,809 blacks, 18,626 Asians, 11,652 American Indians, and 667 Pacific Islanders. In 2000, there were 39,569 (1.4%) Hispanics and Latinos. In 2004, 0.7% of the population was Asian and 1.7% Hispanic or Latino. That year, 0.6% of the population reported origin of two or more races.
Until the 1940s, the Chinese, who numbered 3,099 in 2000, were an intermediate stratum between blacks and whites in the social hierarchy of the Delta Counties. There also were 5,387 Vietnamese and 2,608 Filipinos in 2000. Although the number of foreign-born almost tripled in the 1970s, Mississippi still had the nation's smallest percentage of foreign-born residents (1.4%, or 39,908) in 2000.
Mississippi has only a small American Indian population—0.4% of the state's population in 2000 (11,652). Many of them live on the Choctaw reservation in the east-central region. In 2004, 0.5% of the population was American Indian.
LANGUAGES
English in the state is largely Southern, with some South Midland speech in northern and eastern Mississippi because of population drift from Tennessee. Typical are the absence of final /r/ and the lengthening and weakening of the diphthongs /ai/ and /oi/ as in ride and oil. South Midland terms in northern Mississippi include tow sack (burlap bag), dog irons (andirons), plum peach (clingstone peach), snake doctor (dragonfly), and stone wall (rock fence). In the eastern section are found jew's harp (harmonica) and croker sack (burlap bag). Southern speech in the southern half features gallery for porch, mosquito hawk for dragonfly, and press peach for clingstone peach. Louisiana French has contributed armoire (wardrobe).
In 2000, 96.4% of Mississippi residents five years old and older spoke only English in the home, down from 97.2% in 1990.
The following table gives selected statistics from the 2000 Census for language spoken at home by persons five years old and over. The category "Other Native North American languages" includes Apache, Cherokee, Choctaw, Dakota, Keres, Pima, and Yupik.
LANGUAGE
0.0
RELIGIONS
Protestants have dominated Mississippi since the late 18th century. The Baptists are the leading denomination and many adherents are fundamentalists. Partly because of the strong church influence, Mississippi was among the first states to enact prohibition and among the last to repeal it.
In 2000, the Southern Baptist Convention was the largest denomination in the state with 916,440 known adherents; there were 14,947 new members in 2002. The United Methodist Church is considered to be the second-largest denomination in the state, with 189,149 members in 2004. Also in 2004, the Roman Catholic Church reported a statewide membership of about 124,150. In 2000, there were an estimated 3,919 Muslims and about 1,400 Jews . Over 1.2 million people (about 45.4% of the population) did not claim any religious affiliation in 2000.
TRANSPORTATION
At the end of 2003, there were 2,658 rail mi (4,279 km) of mainline railroad track in Mississippi, including 2,016 mi (3,245 km) operated by five Class I railroads, which in 2003, were the Burlington Northern Santa Fe, CSX, Illinois Central Gulf, Kansas City Southern, and Norfolk Southern lines. As of 2006, Amtrak provided rail passenger service via its City of New Orleans train, serving the cities of Greenwood, Yazoo, Jackson, Hazlehurst, Brookhaven, and McComb on its route between Chicago and New Orleans, and the Crescent, serving Meridian, Laurel, Hattiesburg, and Picayune in Mississippi, on its route between Atlanta and New Orleans.
Mississippi had 74,129 mi (119,347 km) of public roads as of 2004. Interstate highways 55, running north-south, and 20, running east-west, intersect at Jackson. I-220 provides a loop from I-55 north of Jackson to I-20 west of Jackson. I-10 runs across the Mississippi Gulf Coast, and I-110 provides a connector from I-10 to US Highway 90 in Biloxi. I-59 runs diagonally through the southeastern corner of Mississippi from Meridian to New Orleans.
Development of four-lane highways was financed by a "pay-as-you-go" public works program passed by the Mississippi legislature in 1987 to provide a four-lane highway within 30 minutes or 30 mi (48 km) of every citizen in the state. Originally, the $1.6 billion, three-phase agenda called for the creation of four lanes for 1,077 mi (1,733 km) of highway as of 2001. During the 1994 regular legislative session, an additional 619 mi (996 km), known as Phase IV, were added to the program at an expected cost of $1.3 billion. In 2004, there were 1,896,008 licensed drivers in Mississippi and 1.159 million registered motor vehicles, including some 1.113 million automobiles and 815,000 trucks of all types.
Mississippi's ports and waterways serve a surrounding 16-state market where nearly 40% of the nation's total population is located. Mississippi has two deepwater seaports, Gulfport and Pascagoula, both located on the Gulf of Mexico. In 2004, Gulfport handled 2.374 million tons of cargo, and Pascagoula handled 34.099 million tons, making it the 22nd-busiest port in the United States. Much of Pascagoula's heavy volume consists of oil and gas imports. Other ports located on the Gulf include Port Bienville in Hancock County and Biloxi in Harrison County. Biloxi handled 2.670 million tons of cargo in 2004.
The Mississippi River flows along the western border of the state, linking the Gulf of Mexico to inland river states as far away as Minneapolis , Minnesota . The Mississippi is the largest commercial river in the country and the third-largest river system in the world, and it carries the majority of the nation's inland waterway tonnage. Approximately 409 mi (658 km) of the Mississippi River flow through the state, with ports in Natchez, Vicksburg, Yazoo County, Greenville, and Rosedale. In 2004, the Port of Vicksburg handled 3.922 million tons of cargo, while the Port of Greenville handled 3.045 million tons.
To the east of Mississippi lies the Tennessee-Tombigbee (Tenn-Tom) Waterway, completed in 1984, which links the Tennessee and Ohio rivers with the Gulf of Mexico. Stretching 95 mi (153 km) through Mississippi from the northeast corner of the state down to a point just south of Columbus, the Tenn-Tom Waterway's overall length is 232 mi (373 km). Five local ports are located on the waterway: Yellow Creek, Itawamba, Amory, Aberdeen, and Columbus-Lowndes County. In 2004, Mississippi had 873 mi (1,405 km) of navigable inland waterways. In 2003, waterborne shipments totaled 47.446 million tons.
In 2005, Mississippi had a total of 243 public and private-use aviation-related facilities. This included 191 airports, 51 heliports, and 1 STOLport (Short Take-Off and Landing). Jackson-Evers International Airport is the state's main air terminal. In 2004, the airport had 639,947 enplanements.
HISTORY
The earliest record of human habitation in the region that is now the state of Mississippi goes back perhaps 2,000 years. The names of Mississippi's pre-Columbian inhabitants are not known. Upon the appearance of the first Spanish explorers in the early 16th century, Mississippi Indians numbered some 30,000 and were divided into 15 tribes. Soon after the French settled in 1699, however, only three large tribes remained: the Choctaw, the Chickasaw, and the Natchez. The French destroyed the Natchez in 1729–30 in re-taliation for the massacre of a French settlement on the Natchez bluffs.
Spanish explorers, of whom Hernando de Soto in 1540–41 was the most notable, explored the area that is now Mississippi in the first half of the 16th century. De Soto found little of the mineral wealth he was looking for, and the Spanish quickly lost interest in the region. The French explorer Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle, penetrated the lower Mississippi Valley from New France ( Canada ) in 1682. La Salle discovered the mouth of the Mississippi and named the entire area Louisiana in honor of the French king, Louis XIV.
An expedition under French-Canadian Pierre Lemoyne, Sieur d'Iberville, established a settlement at Biloxi Bay in 1699. Soon the French opened settlements at Mobile (1702), Natchez (1716), and finally New Orleans (1718), which quickly eclipsed the others in size and importance. After losing the French and Indian War, France ceded Louisiana to its Spanish ally in 1762. The following year, Spain ceded the portion of the colony that lay east of the Mississippi to England , which governed the new lands as West Florida. During the American Revolution , the Spanish, who still held New Orleans and Louisiana, marched into Natchez, Mobile, and Pensacola (the capital) and took West Florida by conquest.
Although the United States claimed the Natchez area after 1783, Spain continued to rule it. However, the Spanish were unable to change the Anglo-American character of the settlement. Spain agreed to relinquish its claim to the Natchez District by signing the Treaty of San Lorenzo on 27 October 1795, but did not evacuate its garrison there for another three years.
The US Congress organized the Mississippi Territory in 1798. Between 1798 and 1817, the territory grew enormously in population, attracting immigrants mainly from the older states of the South but also from the Middle Atlantic states and even from New England . During this period, the territory included all the land area that is today within the borders of Mississippi and Alabama. However, sectionalism and the territory's large size convinced Congress to organize the eastern half as the Alabama Territory in 1817. Congress then offered admission to the western half, which became the nation's 20th state-Mississippi on 10 December.
Until the Civil War , Mississippi exemplified the American frontier; it was bustling, violent, and aggressive. By and large, Mississippians viewed themselves as westerners, not southerners. Nor was Mississippi, except for a few plantations around Natchez, a land of large planters. Rather, Mississippi's antebellum society and government were dominated by a coalition of prosperous farmers and small landowners. At the time of statehood, the northern two-thirds of Mississippi, though nominally under US rule since 1783, remained in the hands of the Choctaw and Chickasaw and was closed to settlement. Under intense pressure from the state government and from Andrew Jackson 's presidential administration, these tribes signed three treaties between 1820 and 1832, ceding their Mississippi lands and agreeing to move to what is now Oklahoma .
The opening of fertile Indian lands for sale and settlement produced a boom of speculation and growth unparalleled in Mississippi history. Cotton agriculture and slavery—introduced by the French and carried on by the British and Spanish, but hitherto limited mostly to the Natchez area—swept over the state. As the profitability and number of slaves increased, so did attempts by white Mississippians to justify slavery morally, socially, and economically. The expansion of slavery also produced a defensive attitude, which focused the minds of white Mississippians on two dangers: that the slaves outnumbered the whites and would threaten white society unless kept down by slavery; and that any attack on slavery, whether from the abolitionists or from Free-Soilers like Abraham Lincoln , was a threat to white society. The danger, they believed, was so great that no price was too high to pay to maintain slavery, even secession and civil war .
After Lincoln's election to the US presidency, Mississippi became, on 9 January 1861, the second southern state to secede. When the war began, Mississippi occupied a central place in Union strategy. The state sat squarely astride the major Confederate east-west routes of communication in the lower South, and the Mississippi River twisted along the state's western border. Control of the river was essential to Union division of the Confederacy . The military campaign fell into three phases: the fight for northeastern Mississippi in 1862, the struggle for Vicksburg in 1862–63, and the battle for east Mississippi in 1864–65. The Union advance on Corinth began with the Battle of Shiloh (Tenn.) in April 1862. The first Union objective was the railroad that ran across the northeastern corner of Mississippi from Corinth to Iuka and linked Memphis , Tenn., to Atlanta, Ga. Losses in the ensuing battle of Shiloh, which eventually led to the occupation of Corinth by Union troops, exceeded 10,000 men on each side.
The campaign that dominated the war in Mississippi—and, indeed, along with Gettysburg provided the turning point of the Civil War—was Vicksburg. Perched atop high bluffs overlooking a bend in the Mississippi and surrounded by hills on all sides, Vicksburg provided a seemingly impregnable fortress. Union forces maneuvered before Vicksburg for more than a year before Grant besieged the city and forced its surrender on 4 July 1863. Along with Vicksburg went the western half of Mississippi. The rest of the military campaign in the state was devoted to the fight for the east, which Union forces still had not secured when the conflict ended in 1865. Of the 78,000 Mississippians who fought in the Civil War, nearly 30,000 died.
Ten years of political, social, and economic turmoil followed. Reconstruction was a tumultuous period during which the Republican Party encouraged blacks to vote and hold political office, while the native white Democrats resisted full freedom for their former slaves. The resulting confrontation lasted until 1875, when, using violence and intimidation, the Democrats recaptured control of the state from the Republicans and began a return to the racial status quo antebellum. However, reconstruction left its legacy in minds of Mississippians: to the whites it seemed proof that blacks were incapable of exercising political power; to the blacks it proved that political and social rights could not long be maintained without economic rights.
The era from the end of Reconstruction to World War II was a period of economic, political, and social stagnation for Mississippi. In many respects, white Mississippians pushed blacks back into slavery in all but name. Segregation laws and customs placed strict social controls on blacks, and a new state constitution in 1890 removed the last vestiges of their political rights. Mississippi's agricultural economy, dominated by cotton and tenant farming, provided the economic equivalent of slavery for black sharecroppers. As a continuing agricultural depression ground down the small white farmers, many of them also were driven into the sharecropper ranks; in 1890, 63% of all Mississippi farmers were tenants. Whether former planter-aristocrats like John Sharp Williams or small-farmer advocates like James K. Vardaman (1908–12) and Theodore Bilbo (1916–20 and 1928–32) held office as governor, political life was dominated by the overriding desire to keep the blacks subservient. From Reconstruction to the 1960s, white political solidarity was of paramount importance. Otherwise, the whites reasoned, another Reconstruction would follow. According to the Tuskegee Institute, 538 blacks were lynched in Mississippi between 1883 and 1959, more than in any other state.
The Great Depression of the 1930s pushed Mississippians, predominantly poor and rural, to the point of desperation, and the state's agricultural economy to the brink of disaster. In 1932, cotton sank to five cents a pound, and one-fourth of the state's farmland was forfeited for nonpayment of taxes. World War II unleashed the forces that would later revolutionize Mississippi's economic, social, and political order, bringing the state its first prosperity in a century. By introducing outsiders to Mississippi and Mississippians to the world, the armed forces and the war began to erode the state's insularity. It also stimulated industrial growth and agricultural mechanization and encouraged an exodus of blacks to better-paying jobs in other states. By the early 1980s, according to any standard, Mississippi had become an industrial state. In the agricultural sector, cotton had been dethroned and crop diversification accomplished. Politics in Mississippi also changed considerably after World War II. Within little more than a generation, from 1945 to 1975, legal segregation was destroyed, and black people exercised their political rights for the first time since Reconstruction. The "Mississippi Summer" (also called Freedom Summer) civil rights campaign—and the violent response to it, including the abduction and murder of three civil rights activists in June 1964—helped persuade white Mississippians to accept racial equality. Charles Evers, the brother of slain civil rights leader Medgar Evers, was elected mayor of Fayette in 1969, becoming Mississippi's first black mayor since Reconstruction.
Following the 1990 redistricting that boosted the number of blacks in the Mississippi House of Representatives, the Mississippi legislature was nearly 23% black in a state in which blacks constituted 33% of the population. In 1998 African Americans accounted for 36% of the state's population.
In 1988 reformist governor Ray Mabus, elected in 1987, enacted the nation's largest teacher pay increase by that date. Nevertheless, teacher salaries in 1992 were still, on average, the second-lowest in the nation and public education remained a priority for the state in the early 2000s. Democratic Governor Ronnie Musgrove, elected in 2000, was able to win additional teacher pay increases from the legislature in 2001. Education was Musgrove's main focus in his 2003 State of the State Address, as he proposed a program that would place children in school two months before kindergarten and one that would attempt to keep top faculty members at Mississippi's state colleges and universities.
Mississippi's economy was hard hit by the 1986 decline in oil and gas prices. Unemployment in the state rose to 13%. By 1992 it had fallen to about 8%. The 1990s saw increasing industrial diversification and rising personal incomes, although many agricultural workers in the Mississippi Delta area remained jobless due to the increasing mechanization of farm work. By 1999 the jobless rate had dropped to 5.1%, though still above the national average of 4.2%. Nevertheless, the state remained among the nation's poorest, with nearly 18% of its population living below the poverty level as of 1998, a poverty rate that persisted into the early 2000s. Only three states had higher poverty rates. In 2003, Mississippi was facing a budget shortfall of at least $500 million.
Former chairman of the Republican National Committee, Haley Barbour, was elected governor in November 2003. Upon becoming governor, Barbour focused on job creation, job training, workplace development efforts, and tort reform. He launched "Momentum Mississippi," a long-range economic development strategy group composed of the state's business and community leaders. In 2005, he introduced comprehensive education reform legislation to reward teacher and school performance, reduce state bureaucracy, and strengthen discipline in the state's public schools. With regard to the abortion debate, Barbour introduced and passed six pro-life laws in 2004.
Southern Mississippi was devastated by Hurricane Katrina in August 2005. A 30-ft (10-m) storm surge came ashore, destroying 90% of buildings along the Biloxi-Gulfport coastline. Casino barges in the area were washed ashore. About 800,000 people suffered power outages in Mississippi in the aftermath of the storm.
STATE GOVERNMENT
Mississippi has had four state constitutions. The first (1817) accompanied Mississippi's admission to the Union. A second constitution (1832) was superseded by that of 1869, redrafted under Republican rule to allow Mississippi's readmission to the Union after the Civil War. The state's present constitution, as amended, dates from 1890. By January 2005 it had 123 amendments.
Mississippi's bicameral legislature includes a 52-member Senate and a 122-member House of Representatives. Annual sessions begin in January and extend 90 calendar days, except in the first year of a gubernatorial administration, when they run 125 calendar days. All state legislators are elected to four-year terms. State representatives must be at least 21 years old and senators 25. Representatives must be qualified voters and must have been Mississippi residents for four years and residents of their district for at least two years before election. Senators must have been qualified voters and state residents for at least four years and residents of their district for at least two years before election. The legislative salary was $10,000 in 2004, unchanged from 1999.
The governor and lieutenant governor (separately elected), secretary of state, attorney general, state treasurer, state auditor, commissioner of insurance, and the commissioner of agriculture and commerce all serve four-year terms. (Voters also elect three transportation commissioners and three public service commissioners, who also serve four-year terms.) The governor and lieutenant governor must be qualified voters, at least 30 years old, US citizens for 20 years, and Mississippi residents for 5 years before election. As of December 2004, the governor's salary was $122,160. The governor is limited to a maximum of two consecutive terms.
A bill passed by both houses is sent to the governor, who has five days to veto or sign it before it becomes law. If the legislature adjourns, the governor has 15 days after the bill was presented to him to act on it before the measure becomes law. The governor's veto can be overridden by a two-thirds vote of the elected members of both houses. Constitutional amendments must first receive the approval of two-thirds of the members of each house of the legislature. The electorate may also initiate amendments, provided petitions are signed by 12% of total votes for all candidates for governor at the last election. A majority of voters must approve the amendment on a statewide ballot.
Every US citizen over the age of 18 may vote in Mississippi upon producing evidence of 30 days of residence in the state and county (and city, in some cases). Restrictions apply to those convicted of certain crimes and to those judged by the court as mentally incompetent to vote.
POLITICAL PARTIES
Mississippi's major political parties are the Democratic Party and the Republican Party, each an affiliate of the national party organization. Mississippi Democrats have often been at odds with each other and with the national Democratic Party. In the 1830s, party affiliation in the state began to divide along regional and economic lines: woodsmen and small farmers in eastern Mississippi became staunch Jacksonian Democrats, while the conservative planters in the western river counties tended to be Whigs. An early demonstration of the power of the Democrats was the movement of the state capital from Natchez in 1821 to a new city named after Andrew Jackson. During the pre-Civil War years, the secessionists were largely Democrats; the Unionists, western Whigs.
During Reconstruction, Mississippi had its first Republican governor. After the Democrats returned to power in 1875, they systematically deprived blacks of the right to vote, specifically by inserting into the constitution of 1890 a literacy clause that could be selectively interpreted to include illiterate whites but exclude blacks. A poll tax and convoluted residency requirements also restricted the electorate. Voter registration among blacks fell from 130,607 in 1880 to 16,234 by 1896.
Mississippi Presidential Vote by Political Parties, 1948–2004
YEAR
1,759
1,793
In 1948, Mississippi Democrats seceded from the national party over the platform, which opposed racial discrimination. That November, Mississippi voters backed the States' Rights Democratic (Dixiecrat) presidential ticket. At the national Democratic convention in 1964, the black separatist Freedom Democratic Party asked to be allotted 40% of Mississippi's seats but was turned down. A further division in the party occurred during the 1960s between the (black) Loyalist Democrats and the (white) Regular Democrats, who were finally reunited in 1976. During the 1950s and early 1960s, the segregationist White Citizens' Councils were so widespread and influential in the state as to rival the major parties in political importance.
Since the passing of the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965, black Mississippians have registered and voted in substantial numbers. According to estimates by the Voter Education Project, only 5% of voting-age blacks were registered in 1960; by 1992, 23% were registered.
Mississippi was one of the most closely contested states in the South during the 1976 presidential election, and that again proved to be the case in 1980, when Ronald Reagan edged Jimmy Carter by a plurality of fewer than 12,000 votes. In 1984, however, Reagan won the state by a landslide, polling 62% of the vote. In the 2000 election, Republican George W. Bush won 57% of the vote; Democrat Al Gore received 42%; and Independent Ralph Nader garnered 1%. In 2004 Bush won 59.6% to Democrat John Kerry's 39.6%. In 2002 there were 1,754,560 registered voters; there is no party registration in the state. The state had seven electoral votes in the 2000 presidential election.
Elected in 1991, Mississippi's governor Kirk Fordice was the first Republican governor since Reconstruction. But a Democrat soon regained the office: David Ronald Musgrove was elected governor in 1999. In 2003, former chairman of the Republican National Committee, Haley Barbour, was elected governor. Following the 2004 elections, the state's two US senators were Republicans Trent Lott and Thad Cochran. Lott became majority leader of the Senate in 1996 following the departure of Bob Dole (R-Kansas); he stepped down from that post in December 2002 following controversy over remarks he made praising former South Carolina senator Strom Thurmond's 1948 segregationist campaign for the presidency. Until the 1994 midterm elections all of Mississippi's US representatives were Democrats; in that election, Republican Roger Wicker won a House seat that had been in Democratic hands since Reconstruction. Following the 2004 elections, the House delegation was comprised of two Democrats and two Republicans. Following the 2004 elections, the state Senate comprised 28 Democrats and 24 Republicans; the state House had 75 Democrats and 47 Republicans.
LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Each of Mississippi's 82 counties is divided into 5 districts, each of which elects a member to the county board of supervisors. As of 2005, Mississippi had 296 municipal governments (incorporated as cities, towns, or villages), typically administered by a mayor and council. Some smaller municipalities were run by a commission or by a city manager, appointed by council members. There were 152 public school districts and 458 special districts in 2005.
In 2005, local government accounted for about 132,139 full-time (or equivalent) employment positions.
STATE SERVICES
To address the continuing threat of terrorism and to work with the federal Department of Homeland Security, homeland security in Mississippi operates under the authority of executive order; the homeland security director is designated as the state homeland security advisor.
The Mississippi Ethics Commission, established by the state legislature in 1979, is composed of eight members who administer a code of ethics requiring all state officials and elected local officials to file statements of sources of income.
The Mississippi Department of Education is primarily a planning and service organization whose role is to assist local schools from kindergarten through junior college and adult education. A separate Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning administers Mississippi's public college and university system. The Department of Health administers a statewide system of public health services, but other bodies, including the Department of Mental Health, also have important functions in this field. The Department of Human Services provides welfare services in the areas of assistance payments, child support, food stamp distribution, and such social services as foster home care.
Public protection is afforded by the Office of the Attorney General, Military Communities Council, Bureau of Narcotics, Department of Public Safety (including the Highway Safety Patrol), and Department of Corrections.
JUDICIAL SYSTEM
The Mississippi Supreme Court consists of a chief justice, two presiding justices, and eight associate justices, all elected to eight-year terms. The constitution stipulates that the Supreme Court must hold two sessions a year in the state capital; one session is to commence on the second Monday of September; the other on the first Monday of March. A new Court of Appeals was created in 1995. It consists of one chief judge, two presiding judges, and seven judges. Principal trial courts are the circuit courts, which try both civil and criminal cases; their 49 judges are elected to four-year terms. Municipal court judges are appointed. Small-claims courts are presided over by justices of the peace, who need not be lawyers.
As of 31 December 2004, a total of 20,983 prisoners were held in Mississippi's state and federal prisons, an increase of 1.9% (from 20,589) from the previous year. As of year-end 2004, a total of 1,796 inmates were female, up 2.3% (from 1,755) from the year before. Among sentenced prisoners (one year or more), Mississippi had an incarceration rate of 669 per 100,000 population in 2004, the third-highest in the United States.
According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Mississippi in 2004, had a violent crime rate (murder/nonnegligent manslaughter; forcible rape; robbery; aggravated assault) of 295.1 reported incidents per 100,000 population, or a total of 8,568 reported incidents. Crimes against property (burglary; larceny/theft; and motor vehicle theft) in that same year totaled 100,980 reported incidents or 3,478.5 reported incidents per 100,000 people. Mississippi has a death penalty, of which lethal injection is the sole method of execution. Following capital punishment's reinstatement in 1977, the state has executed seven persons (as of 5 May 2006); one execution was carried out in 2005. As of 1 January 2006, Mississippi had 65 inmates on death row.
In 2003, Mississippi spent $217,949,581 on homeland security, an average of $75 per state resident.
ARMED FORCES
In 2004, there were 17,917 active-duty military personnel and 4,514 civilian personnel stationed in Mississippi. There were two major US Air Force bases, Keesler (Biloxi) and Columbus. Among the four US naval installations were an oceanographic command at Bay St. Louis, an air station at Meridian, and a construction battalion center at Gulfport. In 2004, Mississippi received about $1.86 billion in federal defense contracts, and $708 million in Defense Department payroll outlays.
There were 240,109 veterans of US military service living in Mississippi as of 2003. Of those who served in wartime, 29,837 were veterans of World War II; 25,845 of the Korean conflict; 66,717 of the Vietnam era; and 44,950 during the Persian Gulf War. Expenditures on veterans amounted to some $844 million during 2004.
As of 31 October 2004, the Mississippi Highway State Patrol employed 531 full-time sworn officers.
MIGRATION
In the late 18th century, most Mississippians were immigrants from the South and predominantly of Scotch-Irish descent. The opening of lands ceded by the Indians beginning in the 1820s brought tens of thousands of settlers into northern and central Mississippi, and a resulting population increase between 1830 and 1840 of 175% (including an increase of 197% in the slave population).
After the Civil War, there was little migration into the state, but much out-migration, mainly of blacks. The exodus from Mississippi was especially heavy during the 1940s and 1950s, when at least 720,000 people, nearly three-quarters of them black, left the state. During the 1960s, between 267,000 and 279,000 blacks departed, while net white out-migration came to an end. Black out-migration slowed considerably during the 1970s, and more whites settled in the state than left. Also during the 1970s there was considerable intrastate migration to Hinds County (Jackson) and the Gulf Coast. Between 1980 and 1990, Mississippi had a net loss from migration of 144,128 (38% whites). Only 12 of the state's 82 counties recorded a net gain from migration during the 1980s, mostly in Rankin, DeSoto, Madison, and Hancock counties. Between 1990 and 1998, Mississippi had net gains of 43,000 in domestic migration and 6,000 in international migration. In 1998, the state admitted 701 foreign immigrants. Between 1990 and 1998, Mississippi's overall population increased 6.9%. In the period 2000–05, net international migration was 10,653 and net internal migration was −10,578, for a net gain of 75 people.
INTERGOVERNMENTAL COOPERATION
The Mississippi Commission on Interstate Cooperation oversees and encourages the state's participation in interstate bodies, especially the Council of State Governments and the National Conference of State Legislatures. Mississippi also participates in the Appalachian Regional Commission, Arkansas-Mississippi Great River Bridge Construction Compact, Highway 82 Four Lane Construction Compact, Mississippi-Alabama Railroad Authority Compact, Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission, Southeastern Forest Fire Protection Compact, Southern Growth Policies Board, Southern States Energy Board, Southern Regional Education Board, and Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway Development Authority. Mississippi received $4.532 billion in federal aid in fiscal year 2005, an estimated $4.746 billion in fiscal year 2006, and an estimated $4.876 billion in fiscal year 2007.
ECONOMY
Between the Civil War and World War II, Mississippi's economy remained poor, stagnant, and highly dependent on the market for cotton—a bitter legacy from which the state took decades to recover. As in the pre-Civil War years, Mississippi exports mainly raw materials and imports mainly manufactures. In the 1930s, state leaders began to realize the necessity of diversifying the economy. By the mid-1960s, many more Mississippians recognized that political and economic inequality and racial conflict did not provide an environment attractive to the industries the state needed.
Once the turmoil of the 1950s and early 1960s had subsided, the impressive industrial growth of the immediate postwar years resumed. By the mid—1960s, manufacturing—attracted to the state, in part, because of low wage rates and a weak labor movement—surpassed farming as a source of jobs. During the following decade, the balance of industrial growth changed somewhat. The relatively low-paying garment, textile, and wood-products industries, based on cotton and timber, grew less rapidly in both value added and employment than a number of heavy industries, including transportation equipment and electric and electronic goods. The debut of casino gambling in the state in 1992 stimulated Mississippi's economy in the early and mid-1990s, and by 2002 accounted for 2.7% of total state employment (close to 31,000). In early 1995, however, the manufacturing sector began losing jobs, contributing to a deceleration in annual growth rates in the late 1990s. These losses created stress in other sectors, particularly in the retail trade and transportation and public utilities sectors. Areas of moderate growth in 2002 were business services and government. The number of personal bankruptcies in the state set a record in 2002, but the growth rate in filings moderated to 1.2%, down from 19.5% in 2001. The opening of a $1.4 billion Nissan plant near Jackson boosted the state's economy. Southern Mississippi, where the Ship System division of Northrop Grumman, Keesler Air Force Base, and the Stennis Space Center are located, should also benefit from increased national defense spending.
Mississippi's gross state product (GSP) in 2004 was $76.166 billion, of which manufacturing (durable and nondurable goods) accounted for the largest share at $12.161 billion or 15.9% of GSP, followed by the real estate sector at $7.221 billion (9.4% of GSP) and healthcare and social assistance at $5.497 billion (7.2% of GSP). In that same year, there were an estimated 197,586 small businesses in Mississippi. Of the 54,117 businesses that had employees, an estimated total of 52,403 or 96.8% were small companies. An estimated 6,141 new businesses were established in the state in 2004, up 2% from the year before. Business terminations that same year came to 7,380, up 1.6% from 2003. There were 170 business bankruptcies in 2004, down 39.7% from the previous year. In 2005, the state's personal bankruptcy (Chapter 7 and Chapter 13) filing rate was 765 filings per 100,000 people, ranking Mississippi as the ninth-highest in the nation.
INCOME
In 2005 Mississippi had a gross state product (GSP) of $80 billion, which accounted for 0.6% of the nation's gross domestic product and placed the state at number 36 in highest GSP among the 50 states and the District of Columbia.
According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, in 2004 Mississippi had a per capita personal income (PCPI) of $24,518. This ranked 51st in the United States and was 74% of the national average of $33,050. The 1994–2004 average annual growth rate of PCPI was 4.2%. Mississippi had a total personal income (TPI) of $71,122,091,000, which ranked 33rd in the United States and reflected an increase of 6.1% from 2003. The 1994–2004 average annual growth rate of TPI was 5.0%. Earnings of persons employed in Mississippi increased from $47,031,531,000 in 2003 to $49,796,304,000 in 2004, an increase of 5.9%. The 2003–04 national change was 6.3%.
The US Census Bureau reported that the three-year average median household income for 2002–04 in 2004 dollars was $33,659, compared to a national average of $44,473. During the same period an estimated 17.7% of the population was below the poverty line, as compared to 12.4% nationwide.
LABOR
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), in April 2006 the seasonally adjusted civilian labor force in Mississippi numbered 1,314,300, with approximately 101,000 workers unemployed, yielding an unemployment rate of 7.7%, compared to the national average of 4.7% for the same period. Preliminary data for the same period placed nonfarm employment at 1,133,400. Since the beginning of the BLS data series in 1976, the highest unemployment rate recorded in Mississippi was 13.7% in May 1983. The historical low was 4.9% in January 2001. Preliminary nonfarm employment data by occupation for April 2006 showed that 4.8% of the labor force was employed in construction; 15.5% in manufacturing; 19.8% in trade, transportation, and public utilities; 7.9% in professional and business services; 10.8% in education and health services; 10.2% in leisure and hospitality services; and 21.4% in government.
The US Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that in 2005, a total of 77,000 of Mississippi's 1,089,000 employed wage and salary workers were formal members of a union. This represented 7.1% of those so employed, up from 4.9% in 2004, but still below the national average of 12%. Overall in 2005, a total of 105,000 workers (9.7%) in Mississippi were covered by a union or employee association contract, which includes those workers who reported no union affiliation. Mississippi is one of 22 states with a right-to-work law.
As of 1 March 2006, Mississippi did not have a state-mandated minimum wage law. However, employees in that state were covered under federal minimum wage statutes. In 2004, women in the state accounted for 47.3% of the employed civilian labor force.
AGRICULTURE
In 2005, Mississippi ranked 26th among the states in income from agriculture, with marketings of over $3.85 billion; crops accounted for $1.24 billion and livestock and livestock products for $2.61 billion.
The history of agriculture in the state is dominated by cotton, which from the 1830s through World War II was Mississippi's principal cash crop. During the postwar period, however, as mechanized farming replaced the sharecropper system, agriculture became more diversified. During 2000–04, Mississippi ranked third in cotton and fourth in rice production, among the 50 states. About 2,370,000 bales of cotton worth $591 million were harvested in 2004 (second after Texas ). Soybean output in 2004 totaled 62,320,000 bushels, worth $367.7 million, and rice production was 16,146,000 hundredweight in 2004, with a value of $117.9 million.
Federal estimates for 2004 showed some 42,200 farms with a total area of 11 million acres (4.5 million hectares. The richest soil is in the Delta, where most of the cotton is raised. Livestock has largely taken over the Black Belt, a fertile area in the northwest.
ANIMAL HUSBANDRY
Cattle are raised throughout the state, though principally in the Black Belt and Delta. The main chicken-raising area is in the eastern hills.
In 2005, there were around 1.07 million cattle and calves, valued at $834.6 million. In 2004, there were around 315,000 hogs and pigs, valued at $34.6 million. Mississippi is a leading producer of broilers, ranking fifth in 2003; some 4.3 billion lb (2 billion kg) of broilers, worth $1.51 billion, were produced in that year.
FISHING
In 2004, Mississippi ranked ninth among the 50 states in size of commercial fish landings, with a total of 183.7 million lb (83.5 million kg) valued at $43.8 million. Of this total, 162.8 million lb (74 million kg) was landed at Pascagoula-Moss Point, the nation's eighth-largest port for commercial landings. Shrimp and blue crab made up the bulk of the commercial landings. The saltwater catch also includes mullet and red snapper; the freshwater catch is dominated by buffalo fish, carp, and catfish. In 2003, the state had 35 processing and 31 wholesale plants employing about 2,706 people. In 2002, the commercial fishing fleet had 1,365 boats and vessels.
Mississippi is one of the leading states in catfish farming, mostly from ponds in the Yazoo River basin. There are 410 catfish farms in operation, covering about 101,000 acres (48,900 hectares) of water surface, with a combined 2006 inventory of 641 million fingerlings and 346 million stocker-sized catfish. Sales of catfish in 2004 totaled $275 million. In 2004, the state issued 369,252 sport fishing licenses. The Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks operates 21 fishing lakes. The National Fish Hatchery System stocks more than 1.5 million fish annually to support fish resources in the coastal rivers of the Gulf of Mexico.
FORESTRY
Mississippi had approximately 18,605,000 acres (7,529,000 hectares) of forested land in 2004, over 60% of the total land area of the state. Six national forests extend over 1.1 million acres (445,000 hectares). The state's most heavily forested region is the Piney Woods in the southeast. Of the state's total commercial timberland, 90% is privately owned. Some of this land was also used for agricultural purposes (grazing). Lumber production in 2004 totaled 2.74 billion board feet (sixth in the United States).
MINING
According to preliminary data from the US Geological Survey (USGS), the estimated value of nonfuel mineral production by Mississippi in 2003 was $174 million, a decrease from 2002 of about 2%.
According to the preliminary data, Mississippi's top nonfuel mineral by value in 2003 was construction sand and gravel, which accounted for around 40% of all nonfuel mineral output by value. It was followed by fuller's earth, crushed stone, portland cement, and industrial sand and gravel. More than 65% by value of all nonfuel mineral production by Mississippi in 2003 was accounted for by construction sand and gravel, crushed stone, and portland cement.
Construction sand and gravel production in 2003 totaled 12.8 million metric tons and was valued at $69.1 million, while fuller's earth output that year totaled 411,000 metric tons and was valued at $29.9 million, according to the preliminary data from the USGS. The data also showed that crushed stone output in 2003 totaled 2.5 million metric tons and was worth $26.8 million.
The data listed Mississippi as ranking second among the states in production of fuller's earth, third in bentonite, and fourth in ball clay, by volume.
ENERGY AND POWER
As of 2003, Mississippi had 51 electrical power service providers, of which 23 were publicly owned and 25 were cooperatives. Of the remainder, two were investor owned, and one was federally operated. As of that same year there were 1,420,571 retail customers. Of that total, 605,653 received their power from investor-owned service providers. Cooperatives accounted for 683,124 customers, while publicly owned providers had 131,787 customers. There were seven federal customers.
Total net summer generating capability by the state's electrical generating plants in 2003 stood at 17.282 million kW, with total production that same year at 40.148 billion kWh. Of the total amount generated, 78.1% came from electric utilities, with the re-mainder coming from independent producers and combined heat and power service providers. The largest portion of all electric power generated, 17.082 billion kWh (42.5%), came from coal -fired plants, with nuclear power plants in second place at 10.902 billion kWh (27.2%) and natural gas fired plants in third place at 9.477 billion kWh (23.6%). Other renewable power sources accounted for 2.5% of all power generated, with petroleum fired plants at 4.1% and plants using other types of gases at 0.1%.
The Grand Gulf Nuclear Station boiling-water reactor, built by Mississippi Power Company in Claiborne County, continues to provide power to consumers within Mississippi. As of 2006, it was the state's sole nuclear power plant.
Mississippi is a major petroleum producer. As of 2004, the state had proven crude oil reserves of 178 million barrels, or 1% of all proven US reserves, while output that same year averaged 47,000 barrels per day. Including federal offshore domains, the state that year ranked 14th (13th excluding federal offshore) in proven reserves and 13th (12th excluding federal offshore) in production among the 31 producing states. In 2004 Mississippi1 had 1,412 producing oil wells. As of 2005, the state's four refineries had a combined crude oil distillation capacity of 364,800 barrels per day.
In 2004, Mississippi had 437 producing natural gas and gas condensate wells. In that same year, marketed gas production (all gas produced excluding gas used for repressuring, vented and flared, and nonhydrocarbon gases removed) totaled 145.692 billion cu ft (4.13 billion cu m). As of 31 December 2004, proven reserves of dry or consumer-grade natural gas totaled 995 billion cu ft (28.2 billion cu m). Most production comes from the south-central part of the state.
Mississippi in 2004 had one producing coal mine, a surface operation. Coal production that year totaled 3,586,000 short tons, down from 3,695,000 short tons in 2003. One short ton equals 2,000 lb (0.907 metric tons).
INDUSTRY
According to the US Census Bureau's Annual Survey of Manufactures (ASM) for 2004, Mississippi's manufacturing sector covered some 19 product subsectors. The shipment value of all products manufactured in the state that same year was $43.862 billion. Of that total, transportation equipment manufacturing accounted for the largest share at $7.694 billion. It was followed by food manufacturing at $5.798 billion; chemical manufacturing at $4.832 billion; furniture and related product manufacturing at $3.678 billion; and petroleum and coal products manufacturing at $3.412 billion.
In 2004, a total of 169,947 people in Mississippi were employed in the state's manufacturing sector, according to the ASM. Of that total, 134,189 were actual production workers. In terms of total employment, the food manufacturing industry accounted for the largest portion of all manufacturing employees at 28,815, with 25,274 actual production workers. It was followed by furniture and related product manufacturing at 26,292 employees (20,094 actual production workers); transportation equipment manufacturing at 25,689 employees (19,568 actual production workers); wood product manufacturing at 11,894 employees (9,934 actual production workers); and fabricated metal product manufacturing with 11,532 employees (9,118 actual production workers).
ASM data for 2004 showed that Mississippi's manufacturing sector paid $5.545 billion in wages. Of that amount, the transportation equipment manufacturing sector accounted for the largest share at $1.003 billion. It was followed by furniture and related product manufacturing at $709.476 million; food manufacturing at $655.124 million; fabricated metal product manufacturing at $390.577 million; and wood product manufacturing at $368.544 million.
COMMERCE
According to the 2002 Census of Wholesale Trade, Mississippi's wholesale trade sector had sales that year totaling $19.2 billion from 2,948 establishments. Wholesalers of durable goods accounted for 1,758 establishments, followed by nondurable goods wholesalers at 1,040 and electronic markets, agents, and brokers accounting for 150 establishments. Sales by durable goods wholesalers in 2002 totaled $5.9 billion, while wholesalers of nondurable goods saw sales of $11.6 billion. Electronic markets, agents, and brokers in the wholesale trade industry had sales of $1.5 billion.
In the 2002 Census of Retail Trade, Mississippi was listed as having 12,561 retail establishments with sales of $25.01 billion. The leading types of retail businesses by number of establishments were: gasoline stations (2,009); motor vehicle and motor vehicle parts dealers (1,664); food and beverage stores (1,513); clothing and clothing accessories stores (1,476); and miscellaneous store retailers (1,220). In terms of sales, motor vehicle and motor vehicle parts dealers accounted for the largest share of retail sales at $6.4 billion, followed by general merchandise stores at $5.1 billion; gasoline stations at $3.2 billion; and food and beverage stores at $2.8 billion. A total of 135,838 people were employed by the retail sector in Mississippi that year.
Exports from Mississippi totaled $4 billion in 2005.
CONSUMER PROTECTION
The Consumer Protection Division of the Office of the Attorney General, and the Bureau of Regulatory Services under the Department of Agriculture and Commerce, are each responsible for a range of consumer protection activities within the state of Mississippi. The Consumer Protection Division, established in 1974, may investigate complaints of unfair or deceptive trade practices and, in specific cases, may issue injunctions to halt them. Under 1994 amendments, a violation of the Consumer Protection Act is now a criminal misdemeanor. The Bureau of Regulatory Services consumer protection activities are centered on its Petroleum Products Inspection Division and its Weights and Measures Division, which respectively check petroleum product quality and pump calibration at the retail level, and scales and measurement equipment used in commerce and trade.
When dealing with consumer protection issues, the state's Attorney General's Office can initiate civil and criminal proceedings, but cannot represent the state before state and federal regulatory agencies. The office administers consumer protection and education programs, handle consumer complaints and has broad subpoena powers. In antitrust actions, the Attorney General's Office can act on behalf of those consumers who are incapable of acting on their own; initiate damage actions on behalf of the state in state courts; initiate criminal proceedings; and represent counties, cities and other governmental entities in recovering civil damages under state or federal law.
Offices of the Consumer Protection Division and the Bureau of Regulatory Services are each located in the state capitol of Jackson.
BANKING
As of June 2005, Mississippi had 100 insured banks, savings and loans, and saving banks, plus 30 state-chartered and 81 federally chartered credit unions (CUs). Excluding the CUs, the Memphis market area (which included portions of Tennessee, Mississippi, and Arkansas accounted for the largest portion of the state's financial institutions and deposits in 2004, with 52 institutions and $26.946 billion in deposits, followed by Jackson with 24 institu-tions and $7.492 billion in deposits for that same year. As of June 2005, CUs accounted for 5.8% of all assets held by all financial institutions in the state, or some $2.720 billion. Banks, savings and loans, and savings banks collectively accounted for the remaining 94.2% or $43.960 billion in assets held.
Mississippi—State Government Finances
23,288,104
8,027.61
In 2004, median past-due/nonaccrual loan levels stood at 2.38% of total loans, down from 2.79% in 2003. The median net interest margin (the difference between the lower rates offered to savers and the higher rates charged on loans) in that same year stood at 4.18%, unchanged from the previous year.
The Banking Division of the Mississippi Department of Banking and Consumer Finance is responsible for regulating state-chartered financial institutions.
INSURANCE
In 2004 there were over 2.1 million individual life insurance policies in force with a total value of over $99.8 billion; total value for all categories of life insurance (individual, group, and credit) was about $149 billion. The average coverage amount was $45,800 per policy holder. Death benefits paid that year totaled $526 million.
At the end of 2003, 26 life and health and 18 property and casualty insurance companies were domiciled in Mississippi. In 2004, direct premiums for property and casualty insurance totaled $3.6 billion. That year, there were 42,320 flood insurance policies in force in the state, with a total value of $5.2 million. About $1.6 billion of coverage was in force through beach and windstorm insurance.
In 2004, 47% of state residents held employment-based health insurance policies, 4% held individual policies, and 30% were covered under Medicare and Medicaid; 18% of residents were uninsured. In 2003, employee contributions for employment-based health coverage averaged 15% for single coverage and 29% for family coverage. The state offers a 12-month health benefits expansion program for small-firm employees in connection with the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA, 1986), a health insurance program for those who lose employment-based coverage due to termination or reduction of work hours.
In 2003, there were over 1.6 million auto insurance policies in effect for private passenger cars. Required minimum coverage includes bodily injury liability of up to $25,000 per individual and $50,000 for all persons injured in an accident, as well as property damage liability of $25,000. In 2003, the average expenditure per vehicle for insurance coverage was $709.45.
SECURITIES
There are no securities exchanges in Mississippi. In 2005, there were 420 personal financial advisers employed in the state and 610 securities, commodities, and financial services sales agents. In 2004, there were over 27 publicly traded companies within the state, with over eight NASDAQ companies, eight NYSE listings, and three AMEX listings.
PUBLIC FINANCE
Two state budgets are prepared annually—one by the State Department of Finance and Administration, for the executive branch; and one by the Joint Legislative Budget Committee, for the legis-lative branch—and submitted to the legislature for reconciliation and approval. The fiscal year runs from 1 July through 30 June.
Fiscal year 2006 general funds were estimated at $4.3 billion for resources and $4.0 billion for expenditures. In fiscal year 2004, federal government grants to Mississippi were $5.3 billion.
In the fiscal year 2007 federal budget, Mississippi was slated to receive: $5 million to replace the air traffic control tower at Gulf-port-Biloxi International Airport.
TAXATION
In 2005, Mississippi collected $5,432 million in tax revenues or $1,860 per capita, which placed it 39th among the 50 states in per capita tax burden. The national average was $2,192 per capita. Property taxes accounted for 0.8% of the total, sales taxes, 47.6%; selective sales taxes, 17.2%; individual income taxes, 21.6%; corporate income taxes, 5.2%; and other taxes, 7.5%.
As of 1 January 2006, Mississippi had three individual income tax brackets ranging from 3.0% to 5.0%. The state taxes corporations at rates ranging from 3.0% to 5.0% depending on tax bracket.
In 2004, state and local property taxes amounted to $1,859,756,000, or $641 per capita. The per capita amount ranks the state 40th nationally. Local governments collected $1,819,515,000 of the total and the state government $40,241,000.
Mississippi taxes retail sales at a rate of 7%. In addition to the state tax, local taxes on retail sales can reach as much as 0.25%, making for a potential total tax on retail sales of 7.25%. Food purchased for consumption off-premises is taxable. The tax on cigarettes is 18 cents per pack, which ranks 49th among the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Mississippi taxes gasoline at 18.4 cents per gallon. This is in addition to the 18.4 cents per gallon federal tax on gasoline.
According to the Tax Foundation, for every federal tax dollar sent to Washington in 2004, Mississippi citizens received $1.77 in federal spending, which ranks the state fourth nationally.
ECONOMIC POLICY
In 1936, the state began implementing a program called Balance Agriculture with Industry (BAWI), designed to attract manufacturing to Mississippi. The BAWI laws offered industry substantial tax concessions and permitted local governments to issue bonds to build plants that would be leased to companies for a 20-year period, after which the company would own them. Mississippi continues to offer low tax rates and numerous tax incentives to industry.
The Mississippi Development Authority is charged with encouraging economic growth in the specific fields of industrial development, marketing of state products, and development of tourism. A high-technology asset is the John C. Stennis Space Center (SSC) in Hancock County, which is NASA's largest rocket engine test facility.
In September 2005, President George W. Bush announced he would create a Gulf Opportunity Zone for Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama in the aftermath of the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina. Congress passed the Gulf Opportunity Zone Act in December 2005, which provides a number of tax incentives to encourage the rebuilding of areas ravaged by Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma.
HEALTH
The infant mortality rate in October 2005 was estimated at 9.6 per 1,000 live births, representing the second-highest rate in the country that year (following the District of Columbia). The birth rate in 2003 was 14.7 per 1,000 population. The abortion rate stood at 5.9 per 1,000 women in 2000. In 2003, about 84.9% of pregnant woman received prenatal care beginning in the first trimester. In 2004, approximately 84% of children received routine immunizations before the age of three.
The crude death rate in 2003 was 9.9 deaths per 1,000 population. As of 2002, the death rates for major causes of death (per 100,000 resident population) were: heart disease, 315.5; cancer, 211.3; cerebrovascular diseases, 67.1; chronic lower respiratory diseases, 48; and diabetes, 23.4. Mississippi ranked third in the nation for the highest death rates by heart disease, following West Virginia and Oklahoma. The state also had the third-highest homicide rate at 10.6 per 100,000 (following the District of Columbia and Louisiana). The accidental death rate of 57.2 per 100,000 is also one of the highest in the country. The mortality rate from HIV infection was 6.4 per 100,000 population. In 2004, the reported AIDS case rate was at about 16.5 per 100,000 population. In 2002, about 60.8% of the population was considered overweight or obese; this represented the third-highest rate in the country, following West Virginia and Alabama. As of 2004, about 24.4% of state residents were smokers.
In 2003, Mississippi had 92 community hospitals with about 13,000 beds. There were about 416,000 patient admissions that year and 4 million outpatient visits. The average daily inpatient census was about 7,400 patients. The average cost per day for hospital care was $882. Also in 2003, there were about 204 certified nursing facilities in the state with 18,149 beds and an overall occupancy rate of about 88.5%. In 2004, it was estimated that about 59.4% of all state residents had received some type of dental care within the year; this was the lowest percentage for dental care in the nation. Mississippi had 182 physicians per 100,000 resident population in 2004 and 889 nurses per 100,000 in 2005. In 2004, there was a total of 1,159 dentists in the state.
About 30% of state residents were enrolled in Medicaid and Medicare programs in 2004. Approximately 18% of the state population was uninsured in 2004. In 2003, state health care expenditures totaled $4.2 million.
SOCIAL WELFARE
In 2004, about 60,000 people received unemployment benefits, with the average weekly unemployment benefit at $172. In fiscal year 2005, the estimated average monthly participation in the food stamp program included about 391,485 persons (158,539 households); the average monthly benefit was about $98.55 per person. That year, the total of benefits paid through the state for the food stamp program was about $462.9 million.
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), the system of federal welfare assistance that officially replaced Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) in 1997, was reauthorized through the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005. TANF is funded through federal block grants that are divided among the states based on an equation involving the number of recipients in each state. In 2004, the state TANF program had 42,000 recipients; state and federal expenditures on this TANF program totaled $67 million in fiscal year 2003.
In December 2004, Social Security benefits were paid to 545,710 Mississippians. This number included 289,380 retired workers, 56,860 widows and widowers, 103,870 disabled workers, 25,310 spouses, and 70,290 children. Social Security beneficiaries represented 18.7% of the total state population and 92.5% of the state's population age 65 and older. Retired workers received an average monthly payment of $875; widows and widowers, $765; disabled workers, $835; and spouses, $422. Payments for children of retired workers averaged $423 per month; children of deceased workers, $552; and children of disabled workers, $244. Federal Supplemental Security Income payments in December 2004 went to 125,180 Mississippi residents, averaging $369 a month.
HOUSING
In 2004, Mississippi had an estimated 1,221,240 housing units, of which 1,074,503 were occupied; 69.6% were owner-occupied. About 69.4% of all units were single-family, detached homes; 13.7% were mobile homes. Utility gas and electricity were the most common energy sources to all units. It was estimated that 92,908 units lacked telephone service, 8,325 lacked complete plumbing facilities, and 9,387 lacked complete kitchen facilities. The average household had 2.61 members.
In 2004, 14,500 privately owned units were authorized for construction. The median home value was $79,023, the second-lowest in the country (above Arkansas). The median monthly cost for mortgage owners was $843. Renters paid a median of $529 per month. In September 2005, the state received grants of $949,098 from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for rural housing and economic development programs. For 2006, HUD allocated to the state over $30.3 million in community development block grants. Also in 2006, HUD offered an additional $5 billion to the state in emergency funds to rebuild housing that was destroyed by Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma in late 2005.
EDUCATION
In 2004, 83% of Mississippians age 25 and older had completed high school, almost reaching the national average of 84%. Some 20.1% had obtained a bachelor's degree or higher, below the national average of 26%.
Mississippi's reaction to the US Supreme Court decision in 1954 mandating public school desegregation was to repeal the constitutional requirement for public schools and to foster the development of segregated private schools. In 1964, the state's schools did begin to integrate, and compulsory school attendance was restored 13 years later. As of 1980, 26% of minority (nonwhite) students were in schools in which minorities represented less than 50% of the student body, and 19% were in 99-100% minority schools—a considerable degree of de facto segregation, but less so than in some northern states. In 1982, the compulsory school age was raised to 14, and as of 2001, it was 17; also in 1982, a system of free public kindergartens was established for the first time.
The total enrollment for fall 2002 in Mississippi's public schools stood at 493,000. Of these, 360,000 attended schools from kindergarten through grade eight, and 132,000 attended high school. Approximately 47.3% of the students were white, 50.7% were black, 1.1% were Hispanic, 0.7% were Asian/Pacific Islander, and 0.2% were American Indian/Alaskan Native. Total enrollment was estimated at 489,000 in fall 2003 and was expected to be 469,000 by fall 2014, a decline of 4.8% during the period 2002–14. There were 49,729 students enrolled in 240 private schools in fall 2003. Expenditures for public education in 2003/04 were estimated at $3.4 billion or $6,237 per student, the fifth-lowest among the 50 states. Since 1969, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) has tested public school students nationwide. The resulting report, The Nation's Report Card, stated that in 2005 eighth graders in Mississippi scored 262 out of 500 in mathematics compared with the national average of 278.
As of fall 2002, there were 147,077 students enrolled in college or graduate school; minority students comprised 39.1% of total postsecondary enrollment. In 2005 Mississippi had 40 degree-granting institutions including 9 public 4-year institutions, 17 public 2-year institutions, and 11 nonprofit private 4-year schools. Important institutions of higher learning in Mississippi include the University of Mississippi, established in 1844, Mississippi State University, and the University of Southern Mississippi. Predominantly black institutions include Tougaloo College, Alcorn State University, Jackson State University, and Mississippi Valley State University.
ARTS
The Mississippi Arts Commission was founded in 1968 and supports and promotes the arts in community life as well as education. In 2005, the Mississippi Arts Commission and other Mississippi arts organizations received seven grants totaling $701,500 from the National Endowment for the Arts. The commission also receives significant sums from the state and private sources. In 2005, the National Endowment for the Humanities contributed $891,547 to eight state programs.
Jackson has two ballet companies, a symphony orchestra, and two opera companies. Opera South, an integrated but predominantly black company, presents free operas during its summer tours and mounts two major productions yearly. The Mississippi Opera was incorporated in 1947 and is noted as the 11th-oldest continuously producing professional opera company in the nation. There are local symphony orchestras in Meridian, Starkville, Tupelo, and Greenville.
The established professional theaters in the state are the Sheffield Ensemble in Biloxi and the New Stage in Jackson. The Greater Gulf Coast Arts Center has been very active in bringing arts programs into the coastal area.
A distinctive contribution to US culture is the music of black sharecroppers from the Delta, known as the blues. The Delta Blues Museum in Clarksdale has an extensive collection documenting blues history. The annual Mississippi Delta Blues and Heritage Festival is held in Greenville. In September 2005 the 28th annual festival was held showcasing performances by artists such as Shirley Brown and Bobby Rush. Past performers include B.B. King, Muddy Waters, and Stevie Ray Vaughn.
LIBRARIES AND MUSEUMS
As of September 2001, Mississippi had 49 public library systems, with a total of 237 libraries, of which 189 were branches. In that same year, there were 5,615,000 volumes of books and serial publications in Mississippi libraries, and a total circulation of 8,898,000. The system also had 138,000 audio and 168,000 video items, 7,000 electronic format items (CD-ROMs, magnetic tapes, and disks), and two bookmobiles. The finest collection of Mississippiana is at the Mississippi State Department of Archives and History in Jackson. In the Vicksburg-Warren County Public Library are collections on the Civil War and state history and oral history collections. Tougaloo College has special collections of African materials, civil rights papers, and oral history. The Gulf Coast Research Library of Ocean Springs has a marine biology collection. In fiscal year 2001, operating income for the state's public library system totaled $37,393,000, including $746,000 in federal grants and $7,084,000 in state grants.
There are 65 museums, including the distinguished Mississippi State Historical Museum at Jackson. Pascagoula, Laurel, and Jackson all have notable art museums. The Mississippi Museum of Natural Science in Jackson has been designated the state's official natural science museum by the legislature. Also in Jackson is the Mississippi Agriculture and Forestry Museum. In Meridian is a museum devoted to country singer Jimmie Rodgers, and in Jackson one to pitcher Dizzy Dean.
Beauvoir, Jefferson Davis's home at Biloxi, is a state shrine and includes a museum. The Mississippi governor's mansion—completed in 1845, restored in 1975, and purportedly the second-oldest executive residence in the United States—is a National Historical Landmark.
COMMUNICATIONS
In 2004, only 89.6% of Mississippi's occupied housing units had telephones, the second-lowest rate in the United States. In addition, by June of that same year there were 1,411,277 mobile wireless telephone subscribers. In 2003, 48.3% of Mississippi households had a computer and 38.9% had Internet access, the lowest in the United States in both categories. By June 2005, there were 191,768 high-speed lines in Mississippi, 165,095 residential and 26,673 for business.
In 2005, the state had 64 major operating radio stations (7 AM, 57 FM) and 14 major television stations. A total of 17,234 Internet domain names had been registered in Mississippi as of 2000.
PRESS
In 2005, Mississippi had 23 daily newspapers: 8 morning dailies and 15 evening dailies. There were 18 Sunday papers in the state. The state's leading newspaper, located in Jackson and owned by the Gannett Company, is The Clarion-Ledger, a morning daily with a weekday circulation of 94,938 (107,865 Sunday).
Other leading dailies with approximate 2005 circulation rates are:
AREA
A monthly, Mississippi Magazine, is published in Jackson.
ORGANIZATIONS
In 2006, there were over 1,789 nonprofit organizations registered within the state, of which about 1,057 were registered as charitable, educational, or religious organizations.
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the Congress of Racial Equality, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC, later the Student National Coordinating Committee) were among the organizations that played key roles in the civil rights struggles in Mississippi during the 1950s and 1960s.
Other organizations with headquarters in Mississippi are the American Association of Public Health Physicians (Greenwood), the Sons of Confederate Veterans (Hattiesburg), the Sacred Heart League (Wallis), the National Band Association (Hattiesburg), and the Amateur Field Trial Clubs of America (Hernando). The International Dodge Ball Federation has a base in Gulfport.
TOURISM, TRAVEL, AND RECREATION
In 2004, there were 30 million overnight travelers in Mississippi, with 83% of all visitors traveling from out of state. In 2002 tourists spent an estimated $6.4 billion, which supported over 126,500 travel-related jobs. Jobs in the gaming industry represented about one-third of the total.
Among Mississippi's major tourist attractions are its floating riverboat casinos and its mansions and plantations, many of them in the Natchez area. Tunica, 30 miles south of Memphis, Tennessee, has Las Vegas-style casinos with hotels and entertainment, generating a significant source of revenue for the state. McRaven Plantation in Vicksburg was built in 1797. The Delta and Pine Land Co. plantation near Scott is one of the largest cotton plantations in the United States. At Greenwood is the Florewood River Plantation, a museum recreating 19th-century plantation life. The Mississippi State Fair is held annually in Jackson during the second week in October. Natchez Trace Parkway is a scenic route, running 444 mi (740 km) from Natchez, Mississippi, to Nashville , Tennessee. Among the tourist attractions along this route is the Emerald Mound, the second-largest Indian ceremonial earthwork. The city of Oxford was the home of William Faulkner and visitors can tour his former home, Rowan Oak. Although Memphis, Tennessee, is the site of Elvis Presley 's home (Graceland), Tupelo is the site of his birthplace. As of 2006, many attractions had not yet recovered from the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
National parks include the Natchez Trace Parkway, Gulf Islands National Seashore, and Vicksburg National Military Park. There are also 6 national forests and 24 state parks.
SPORTS
There are no major professional sports teams in Mississippi. There are minor league hockey teams in Biloxi and Jackson. The University of Mississippi has long been prominent in college football. "Ole Miss" teams won the Sugar Bowl in 1958, 1960, 1961, 1963, and 1970, and the Cotton Bowl in 1956. The Rebels play in the Southeastern Conference, as do the Mississippi State Bulldogs. Southern Mississippi is a member of Conference USA.
Other annual sporting events of interest include the Dixie National Livestock Show and Rodeo, held in Jackson in February, and the Southern Farm Bureau Classic, held in Madison in October and November.
Football greats Walter Payton and Jerry Rice, along with boxing legend Archie Moore, were born and raised in Mississippi.
FAMOUS MISSISSIPPIANS
Mississippi's most famous political figure, Jefferson Davis (b.Kentucky, 1808–89), came to the state as a very young child, was educated at West Point , and served in the US Army from 1828 to 1835. He resigned a seat in Congress in 1846 to enter the Mexican War from which he returned home a hero after leading his famous regiment, the 1st Mississippi Rifles, at the Battle of Buena Vista, Mexico. From 1853 to 1857, he served as secretary of war in the cabinet of President Franklin Pierce. Davis was representing Mississippi in the US Senate in 1861 when the state withdrew from the Union. In February 1861, he was chosen president of the Confederacy, an office he held until the defeat of the South in 1865. Imprisoned for two years after the Civil War (though never tried), Davis lived the last years of his life at Beauvoir, an estate on the Mississippi Gulf Coast given to him by an admirer. There he wrote The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government, completed eight years before his death in New Orleans.
Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar (b.Georgia, 1825–93) settled in Oxford in 1855 and only two years later was elected to the US House of Representatives. A supporter of secession, he served as Confederate minister to Russia in 1862. After the war, Lamar was the first Mississippi Democrat returned to the House; in 1877, he entered the US Senate. President Grover Cleveland made Lamar his secretary of the interior in 1885, later appointing him to the US Supreme Court. Lamar served as associate justice from 1888 until his death.
Some of the foremost authors of 20th-century America had their origins in Mississippi. Supreme among them is William Faulkner (1897–1962), whose literary career began in 1924 with the publication of The Marble Faun, a book of poems. His novels included such classics as The Sound and the Fury (1929), Light in August (1932), and Absalom , Absalom! (1936). Faulkner received two Pulitzer Prizes (one posthumously), and in 1949 was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature.
Richard Wright (1908–60), born near Natchez, spent his childhood years in Jackson. He moved to Memphis as a young man, and from there migrated to Chicago; he lived his last years in Paris . A powerful writer and a leading spokesman for the black Americans of his generation, Wright is best remembered for his novel Native Son (1940) and for Black Boy (1945), an autobiographical account of his Mississippi childhood.
Other native Mississippians of literary renown (and Pulitzer Prize winners) are Eudora Welty (1909–2001), Tennessee Williams (Thomas Lanier Williams, 1911–83), and playwright Beth Henley (b.1952). Welty's work, like Faulkner's, is set in Mississippi; her best-known novels include Delta Wedding (1946), The Ponder Heart (1954), and Losing Battles (1970). Although Tennessee Williams spent most of his life outside Mississippi, some of his most famous plays are set in the state. Other Mississippi authors are Hodding Carter (b.Louisiana, 1907–72), Shelby Foote (1916–2005), Walker Percy (b.Alabama, 1916–1990), and Willie Morris (1934–99).
Among the state's numerous musicians are William Grant Still (1895–1978), a composer and conductor, and Leontyne Price (Mary Leontine Price, b.1927), a distinguished opera singer. Famous blues singers are Charlie Patton (1887–1934), William Lee Conley "Big Bill" Broonzy (1898–1958), Howlin' Wolf (Chester Arthur Burnett, 1910–1976), Muddy Waters (McKinley Morgan-field, 1915–83), John Lee Hooker (1917–2001), and Riley "B. B." King (b.1925). Mississippi's contributions to country music include Jimmie Rodgers (1897–1933), Conway Twitty (1933–1994), and Charley Pride (b.1939). Elvis Presley (1935–77), born in Tupelo, was one of the most popular entertainers in US history.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Alampi, Gary (ed.). Gale State Rankings Reporter. Detroit : Gale Research, Inc., 1994.
Ballard, Michael B. Civil War Mississippi: A Guide. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2000.
Bond, Bradley G. Mississippi: A Documentary History. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2003.
――――――. Political Culture in the Nineteenth-century South: Mississippi, 1830–1900. Baton Rouge : Louisiana State University, 1995.
Brinkley, Douglas. The Great Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, and the Mississippi Gulf Coast. New York : Morrow, 2006.
Busbee, Westley F. Mississippi: A History. Wheeling, Ill.: Harlan Davidson, 2005.
Cities of the United States. 5th ed. Farmington Hills: Thomson Gale, 2005.
Coleman, Mary DeLorse. Legislators, Law, and Public Policy: Political Change in Mississippi and the South. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1993.
Council of State Governments. The Book of the States, 2006 Edition. Lexington, Ky.: Council of State Governments, 2006.
Dittmer, John. Local People: The Struggle for Civil Rights in Mississippi. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1994.
Ferris, William (ed.). The South. Vol. 7 in The Greenwood Encyclopedia of American Regional Cultures. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2004.
Nelson, Lawrence J. King Cotton's Advocate: Oscar G. Johnston and the New Deal . Knoxville : University of Tennessee Press, 1999.
Norman, Corrie E., and Don S. Armentrout (eds.). Religion in the Contemporary South: Changes, Continuities, and Contexts. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 2005.
Saikku, Mikko. This Delta, This Land: An Environmental History of the Yazoo-Mississippi Floodplain. Athens : University of Georgia Press, 2005.
US Department of Commerce, Economics and Statistics Administration, US Census Bureau. Mississippi, 2000. Summary Social, Economic, and Housing Characteristics: 2000 Census of Population and Housing. Washington, D.C.: US Government Printing Office, 2003.
US Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. Office of Educational Research and Improvement. Digest of Education Statistics, 1993. Washington, D.C.: US Government Printing Office, 1993.
US Department of the Interior, US Fish and Wildlife Service. Endangered and Threatened Species Recovery Program. Washington, D.C.: US Government Printing Office, 1990.
Welty, Eudora. One Time, One Place: Mississippi in the Depression. New York: Random House, 1971.
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Percent change, 1990–2000: 10.5%
U.S. rank in 2004: 31st
Percent of residents born in state: 74.3% (2000)
Density: 60.6 people per square mile (2000)
2002 FBI Crime Index Total: 119,442
Racial and Ethnic Characteristics (2000)
White: 1,746,099
Black or African American: 1,033,809
American Indian and Alaska Native: 11,652
Asian: 18,626
Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander: 667
Hispanic or Latino (may be of any race): 39,569
Other: 13,784
Population under 5 years old: 204,364
Population 5 to 19 years old: 668,850
Percent of population 65 years and over: 12.9%
Median age: 33.8 years (2000)
Vital Statistics
Total number of births (2003): 42,150
Total number of deaths (2003): 28,882 (infant deaths, 425)
AIDS cases reported through 2003: 2,875
Economy
Major industries: Transportation equipment, food products, government, trade, agriculture, manufacturing
Unemployment rate: 6.4% (December 2004)
Per capita income: $15,853 (2003; U.S. rank: 51st)
Median household income: $31,887 (3-year average, 2001-2003)
Percentage of persons below poverty level: 17.9% (3-year average, 2001-2003)
Income tax rate: Ranges from 3.0% to 5.0%
Sales tax rate: 7.0%
MISSISSIPPI
The words " Mississippi " and "delta" are closely associated in the public's mind with Mississippi history. The delta region indeed dominated the cotton-growing economy that was the mainstay of life in the state for many decades. Contemporary Mississippi, however, has diversified its economy and now has a significant industrial sector. In the late 1990s, the state continued to struggle to bring itself out of a past which has often placed it last among all states in per capita income.
The Spanish explorers who came to the region of Mississippi with Hernando de Soto in 1540–1541 did not find the wealth they sought and soon lost interest in further exploration. A Frenchman, Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle, explored the lower Mississippi Valley in 1682. He discovered the mouth of the Mississippi River , naming the whole region Louisiana in honor of his king, Louis XIV. The French soon established settlements at Biloxi Bay, Mobile, Natchez, and New Orleans . The area changed hands several times, first from the French to the Spanish in 1762. In 1763 Spain ceded the portion east of the Mississippi to England , but the Spanish recaptured West Florida during the American Revolution (1775–1783). Spain relinquished its hold on the Natchez region, ceding it to the United States in 1795.
The U.S. Congress reorganized the Mississippi Territory in 1798. Alabama , originally part of Mississippi, became a separate territory in 1817. After many settlers from the South, Mid-Atlantic, and New England states had migrated to Mississippi to farm its rich alluvial soil, Congress made it the twentieth state in 1817.
Mississippi was a true frontier territory prior to the American Civil War (1861–1865): It was freewheeling, violent, and full of aggressive adventurers. Joseph G. Baldwin, a Virginia lawyer who came to Mississippi, described the speculative furor of the period: "Money, or what passed for money, was the only cheap thing to be had. . . . Credit was a thing of course. To refuse it . . . were an insult for which a bowie knife were not a too summary or exemplary means of redress. The State banks were issuing their bills by the sheet. . . ."
When Mississippi became a state, the northern two-thirds of the region was still dominated by Native American tribes. During the presidency of Andrew Jackson (1829–1837), treaties ceded most of this land to the United States and sent Native Americans off to the Oklahoma Territory. Although an aristocratic planter economy grew up around the Natchez area, large plantations did not dominate the whole economy prior to the war. Mississippi society was instead governed by an alliance of large and small landowners. An indication of the importance of slavery to the state's economy was that slaves comprised 52 percent of the population and whites only 48 percent by the end of the 1830s.
The opening of the fertile lands of northern Mississippi caused an inrush of settlers and a flurry of land speculation. The cotton economy, with its slave workforce, came to dominate the state. The land was rich and the cotton economy made many planters wealthy, but the work was hard and life was monotonous in Mississippi. Aside from church and the general store, there was little in the way of recreational or cultural institutions. Jefferson Davis , the President of the Confederacy , came from a family which in one generation had risen from poverty in Kentucky to affluence, social standing and political preeminence in the new land of Mississippi.
After the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1861, Mississippi was the second state to secede from the Union in an attempt to preserve the slave system as the mainstay of the state's economy. During the Civil War , Mississippi was at the center of much of the action. Much political, social, and economic turmoil followed the war under the governance of Reconstruction (1865–1877) Republicans . After the Democrats successfully regained power in 1875, the bitter memories of Reconstruction caused Mississippi whites to institute a system that repressed the rights of former slaves even further.
The prime cotton-growing country in Mississippi was always the fertile Yazoo-Mississippi Delta, located in the northwestern part of the state. Because of persistent flooding problems, this area did not become a plantation economy until after the Civil War. Planters along this section of the Mississippi, according to historian John Ray Skates, "drained the lands, built the levees, and cleared the forests, [achieving] some of the grandiose style of their prewar Natchez counterparts. Here the plantation system still dominates, in recent times with machines and chemicals rather than sharecroppers."
Economic stagnation plagued Mississippi from the postwar period into the 1940s. Black sharecroppers on the cotton farms fared nearly as badly as they had under slavery. Many white small farmers were also driven into sharecropping; in 1890, 63 percent of Mississippi farmers were tenants. During this period the practice of leasing convicts to private plantations was also widespread, adding yet another layer of poor and underprivileged workers to the economy. For some of these leased convicts life was possibly harder than it had been under slavery. With a nearly totally agrarian system, the state exported raw materials and had to import most of its manufactured goods. Many former planter-aristocrats dominated state government and all tried to keep the blacks in an inferior position. Fearing a return to Reconstruction and exhibiting deep-set prejudices, whites above all succeeded in maintaining their political and economic domination.
The Great Depression of the 1930s (1929–1939) made things even worse in the state, bringing Mississippi's poor farmers to desperation. Cotton sank to five cents a pound in 1932, while one-fourth of the state's farmland was given up for nonpayment of taxes. Although federal agricultural payments begun during the New Deal helped to hasten the end of tenant farming, had World War II (1939–1945) not brought economic relief to Mississippi, the state might have headed for disaster. Armed forces personnel who came into the state helped to lift it out of its provincialism. Industrial growth and increased mechanization of agriculture finally began to bring Mississippi into the twentieth century. Between 1941 and 1945 the per capita annual income in Mississippi rose from $313 to $627, and more and more citizens began to retire their debts. At the same time many African Americans, encouraged by reports of better economic conditions elsewhere, began to move out of the state to find higher-paying jobs.
The waterways of Mississippi have always been vital to its development. The Mississippi, the largest commercial river in the country, links the Gulf of Mexico to many inland river states. The Tennessee -Tombigbee canal, completed in 1984, links the Tennessee and Ohio rivers with the Gulf. The state has two deepwater ports, Gulfport and Pascagoula; other ports include Biloxi and Port Bienville.
By the 1980s Mississippi was an industrial state, and cotton was no longer the only important agricultural product. Agricultural production was now dominated by cotton, rice, soybeans, and cattle. Mississippi had survived the dark days of segregation and the upheaval of the civil rights movement. Its leaders had finally recognized that the inequalities built into a segregated system did not tend to attract the kind of industries the state sought. By the mid-1960s manufacturing was providing more jobs than agriculture, in part because of a weak labor movement and low wages. In the 1970s many of the low-paying industries such as the garment and wood product trades were de-emphasized in favor of heavy industries manufacturing products like transportation and electronics equipment. In spite of the state's economic strides in the last few decades of the twentieth century, Mississippi remained poor in the late 1990s. In 1996 it ranked 50th among all states in per capita personal income, at only $17,471, and nearly 24 percent of the population fell below the federal poverty level. In 1995–1996, however, the per capita income growth rate was ranked fifteenth in the nation.
See also: Civil Rights Movement, Mississippi River, Plantations, Sharecropping
FURTHER READING
Baldwin, Joseph G. The Flush Times of Alabama and Mississippi. New York : D. Appleton and Co., 1853.
Bettersworth, John K. Your Mississippi. Austin, TX: Steck-Vaughn, 1975.
Council of State Governments. The Book of the States, 1994–1995 Edition, vol. 30. Lexington: KY: The Council of State Governments, 1994.
McLemore, Richard A., ed. A History of Mississippi. 2 vols. Hattiesburg, MS: University and College Press of Mississippi, 1973.
Skates, John Ray. Mississippi: A Bicentennial History. New York: Norton, 1979.
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On May 24, 1844, Alfred Vail received the message “WHAT HATH GOD WROUGHT” in Baltimore, MD, sent via what means? | A Forgotten History: Alfred Vail and Samuel Morse | Smithsonian Institution Archives
Smithsonian Institution Archives
The Bigger Picture: Visual Archives and the Smithsonian
A Forgotten History: Alfred Vail and Samuel Morse
by Courtney Bellizzi on May 24, 2011
Type “history of the telegraph” into a search engine and the results will point you to Samuel F. B. Morse. History largely credits him with the invention of both the electromagnetic telegraph and Morse code, which enabled people to send instant messages across long distances. With Morse’s successful test of the electromagnetic telegraph on May 24, 1844, the potential for worldwide communication changed forever. The message he sent, “What Hath God Wrought?” traveled via his electromagnetic telegraph from Washington, DC to Baltimore, MD. But who, you might wonder, was on the other end of the line? Alfred Vail, Morse’s colleague, received Morse’s message in Baltimore and then successfully returned the same message back to Morse in the national Capitol Building’s Rotunda. For Vail, this event was the culmination of years of his own labor and financial investment, yet his influence has largely been lost in the historical record.
Born to Bethiah and Stephan Vail on September 25, 1807 in Morristown, New Jersey, Vail’s father owned the Speedwell Iron Works where, after completing public school, Vail worked as a machinist. In 1832, he began coursework in theological studies at the University of the City of New York, now New York University, with the hope of becoming a Presbyterian minister. However, in 1837 Vail saw Morse demonstrate an early version of his electric telegraph at the university, and shortly after convinced Morse to take him on as a partner. The contract between the two, stated that Vail—for a share of interest in Morse’s rights to the telegraph—would work on constructing the telegraph machines and financing the American and foreign patents.
Vail vastly improved Morse’s original design of the machine. Instead of using pendulums, Vail added weights to the machine’s turning key. He also substituted a steel pointed pen for the pencil Morse had employed, to indent the code into the paper tape the machine used and improved the mechanics of the register, the instrument that punched out the code via electric impulse, as well. Additionally, Vail developed a simpler alphabetic system of code to replace Morse’s original, but more complicated numerical code, in which dashes and dots were interpreted as numbers and then translated into words in a code book. Vail’s alpha code greatly sped up the process of deciphering messages. Though his contributions to the project were extremely significant, it was Morse’s name that appeared on the patents. Consequently, Morse is remembered, and Vail is often not.
But, that is the great thing about archives: they save the history, and fortunately for me, the Smithsonian Institution Archives holds Vail’s papers in Record Unit 7055 . His papers contain research notebooks, correspondence with Morse, letters to family, patent applications, journals and scrapbooks, all documenting the development of the telegraph and Vail’s personal and professional life in the 1800s. Needless to say I was fascinated by reading through Vail’s scientific journals and his correspondence with Morse. From these materials which shed light on the rapport that he and Morse had with one another, I learned about Vail’s impact on the project.
What is perhaps ironic about this, is that Vail’s papers eventually came to the Smithsonian. In 1845, Vail published a book about his experience working with Morse on the electric telegraph. Vail wrote about some of the previous work done by others on telegraphs that influenced his and Morse’s work. However, Vail’s account failed to give recognition to Joseph Henry, first Secretary of the Smithsonian, who met with Morse and had invented the high intensity magnet used in Morse’s electric telegraph. For several years, a controversy ensued over the degree of Henry’s contribution to the mechanism. (For more about the controversy read David Hochfelder’s article, Joseph Henry: Inventor of the Telegraph? ). So, “What Hath God Wrought?” For Alfred Vail it would seem to have been a lack of notoriety. However, in reading his letters, it seems that fame was neither his motivation nor goal. Vail’s work on the electric telegraph provided him with a life’s work and sense of accomplishment. And maybe, for him, that was enough.
| Telegraphy |
May 23, 1969 saw the release of the world's first rock opera, when the English rock band The Who released what album? | RailsWest.com Telegraph Enables Communication Between Stations
Telegraph Enables More Flexible Train Order Operation
Increasing traffic on single track railroad lines required more efficient operation and flexibility. Use of the telegraph provided the railroad dispatcher with the time each train arrived and departed from a station, allowing him to make and communicate changes to the scheduled meeting places when one train was running late. This also allowed the railroads to safely schedule more trains and to move people and goods more quickly.
Development of the Telegraph
Samuel Morse, a professor of arts and design at New York University, proved that signals could be transmitted by wire by using pulses of electrical current to deflect an electromagnet, which moved a marker to produce written codes on a strip of paper in 1835. His telegraph was patented in 1837. Morse and his assistant, Alfred Vail, developed the Morse code signaling alphabet which became known as American Morse Code. He gave a public demonstration across two miles of wire in New Jersey in January 1838.
It was not until 1843 that Congress funded $30,000 to construct an experimental telegraph line from Washington to Baltimore, a distance of 40 miles. The message, "What hath God wrought?" sent by "Morse Code" from the old Supreme Court chamber in the United States Capitol to his partner at the old Mt. Clare Depot in Baltimore, officially opened the completed line on May 24, 1844. Morse's early system produced a paper tape copy with raised dots and dashes, which were translated later by an operator.
Samuel Morse and his associates obtained private funds to extend their line to Philadelphia and New York. Small telegraph companies, meanwhile began functioning in the East, South, and Midwest. The device soon changed how distant news was communicated. In 1848, news of the Mexican War was received by anxious North Americans within mere hours of the battles, not weeks later as in the past. By 1850, the telegraph expanded from Boston to New Orleans and as far west as Chicago.
Western Union Telegraph Company was founded in Rochester, New York, in 1851 as The New York and Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company. After a series of acquisitions of competing companies by Hiram Sibley & Don Alonzo Watson the company changed its name to Western Union Telegraph Company in 1856. By forming cooperative contracts with the railroads during the 1850's an 1860's, the Western Union Telegraph Company developed a dominate network of telegraph lines running alongside railroad tracks.
The Pacific Telegraph Act of 1860 awarded a contract for $40,000 to build and operate the first transcontinental telegraph link to Hiram Sibley, the president of the Western Union Company. Hiram Sibley contracted with the Overland Telegraph Company to build the line from San Francisco to Salt Lake City. The Pacific Telegraph Company was formed to construct the line westward from Omaha to Salt Lake City, essentially using the eastern portion of the Oregon Trail. The line was completed on October 24th, 1861. Stephen J. Field, Chief Justice of California and brother of Atlantic cable promoter Cyrus Field, sent a cable to Abraham Lincoln stating that this line "will be the means of strengthening the attachment which binds both the East and the West to the Union." The Pacific Telegraph Company and Overland Telegraph Company of California were eventually absorbed into the Western Union Telegraph Company. The original line was operated until May 1869 when the transcontinental railroad was completed and the telegraph lines were then moved to follow its route.
First use of a telegraph to direct train operation
In 1851 Charles Minot, Superintendent of the Erie, used a recently installed telegraph line to issue the first train order, a message changing the meeting point between two trains. To make this work safely, Minot needed a confirmation that the train being held at the new meeting point had "gotten the word." This alteration to the timetable allowed more efficient movement.
The record of the very first train order sent in the U.S. was documented by Edward H. Mott in his book on the history of the Erie Railroad, Between the Ocean and the Lakes. According to William H. Stewart, a retired Erie Railroad conductor, in the "fall of 1851," Charles Minot was on a west bound train stopped at Turner, N. Y. waiting for an east bound train coming from Goshen, N. Y., fourteen miles to the west. The impatient Minot telegraphed Goshen to see if the train had left yet. Upon receiving a reply of "no," Minot wrote out the order: "To Agent and Operator at Goshen: Hold the train for further orders, signed, Charles Minot, Superintendent." Minot then gave Stewart, who was the conductor of Minot's train, a written order to be handed to the engineer: "Run to Goshen regardless of opposing train." The engineer, Isaac Lewis, refused Minot's order because it violated the time interval system. Minot proceeded to verbally direct Lewis to move the train but he again refused. Lewis then became a passenger on the rear seat of the rear car and Minot, who had experience as an engineer, took control of the train and proceeded safely to Goshen. Shortly thereafter, the Erie adopted the train order for the movement of its trains and within a few years the telegraph was adopted by railroads throughout the U.S.
Timetable and Train Order operation
With the introduction of the telegraph, a more sophisticated system became possible because the telegraph provided a means to transmit messages faster than the trains moved. The telegraph could be used to communicate the arrival and departure of trains at stations along railroad lines. If a train was running behind schedule, the points where it would meet other trains could be safely moved to other sidings, allowing the other trains to continue and avoid long delays, providing more efficient operation along the railroad line. The railroad telegrapher was the eyes and ears of the train dispatcher, who was usually many miles away, enabling him to know the location of trains directly manage train movement. The telegrapher maintained communication between the train dispatcher and trains operating on the rail system. He copied train orders and messages for the train crews, and reported the passing of trains to the dispatcher.
A train order would be issued by the railroad dispatcher giving the train crew instructions and permission to occupy a block or section track. These would typically be telegraphed to the station on the approach to the block where they would be handed to the train crews. Train orders allowed train dispatchers to set up meets at sidings, force a train to wait at a siding for a priority train to pass from behind, and to keep at least one block spacing between trains going the same direction.
Train Orders override the timetable, allowing the cancellation, rescheduling and addition of trains, and almost anything else. Sufficient time must be given, however, so that all train crews can receive the changed orders at the next station they arrived at. Sometimes orders are handed up to a locomotive 'on the run' via a train order hoop, a long staff with a loop at one end, or later a the "Y" shaped train order stick with the order in a string threaded around the stick.
Train orders follow a specific format to eliminate any uncertainty as to their meaning and to insure accurate transmission, delivery and observance.
A typical train order might read "NO 1 ENG 10 MEET NO 2 ENG 11 AT PERRIS " or "NO 3 ENG 30 MEET SECOND 4 ENG 40 AT HIGHGROVE."
Telegraphers at most small stations, in addition to their railroad duties, worked for Western Union and at many small stations were also agents for the Railway Express Company. Commissions from Western Union and Railway Express supplemented wages from the railroad.
Today timetable and train order operation has been replaced by radio dispatching on many light-traffic lines and electronic signals on higher-traffic lines. Train movements are still authorized in the name of the superintendent of each railroad division, by the current employee timetable, and by orders issued by the train dispatcher. Rules governing timetable and train order operation include superiority of trains or which train will take the siding at a meeting point, time spacing or the time a train following another must wait before leaving a meeting point, and methods of signaling.
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With a weight limit of 200 pounds, what boxing class comes between light heavyweight and heavyweight? | Weight divisions - BoxRec
Weight divisions
5 History of the Weight Divisions
Current Weight Divisions
In January 2015, the World Boxing Council , World Boxing Association and the International Boxing Federation reached an agreement to standardize the names of the 17 weight categories. (The World Boxing Organization has yet to adopt these standard class names.)
The currently-recognized weight divisions/classes for professional male boxers, listed in maximum allowable weight, as defined by these four major sanctioning bodies , are:
Division/Class
Pinweight: up to 101 pounds
Light Flyweight: 106
Light Flyweight: up to 106 pounds
Flyweight: 112
Super Heavyweight: over 201
Traditional Eight Divisions
These are commonly known today as the "traditional divisions," which were basically the only weight classes throughout the early 20th Century, before the numerous "super," "junior" and "light" classes were added.
Flyweight: 8 st (50,802 Kg / 112 lbs)
Bantamweight: 8 st 6 lbs (53,525 kg / 118 lbs)
Featherweight: 9 st (57,153 kg / 126 lbs)
Lightweight: 9 st 9 lbs (61,235 kg / 135 lbs)
Welterweight: 10½ st (66,678 kg / 147 lbs)
Middleweight: 11 st 6 lbs (72,574 kg / 160 lbs)
Light Heavyweight: 12½ st (79,378 kg / 175 lbs)
Heavyweight: (unlimited)
See also, 15 Feb 1909 Los Angeles Herald article re: necessity for revision to universal 8 divisions: [1]
History of the Weight Divisions
The 21 National Sporting Club ( NSC ) Rules- (1891-?) London-based private club amends 12 Queensberry Rules , modifying with new augment rules with nine specific criteria, such as designating role of officials; devised a system of scoring bouts; and enabled referee to determine who won. Major accomplishment transpired in 1909 ratification vote and 1910 implementation of 8 traditional weight classes:
Heavyweight [176 lbs plus; at least 75.3 kg; over 12 stone, 7 lbs]
Cruiserweight [175 lb maximum; 79.5 kg; or 12 stone, 7 pounds] later called "lighter heavyweight" by the English and "light heavyweight" by the Americans. Solidified under the New York State Athletic Commission and National Boxing Association as one division, with a uniform name.
Middleweight [160 lbs maximum; 72.7 kg; or 11 stone, 4 pounds]
Welterweight [147 lbs maximum; 66.8 kg; or 10 stone, 7 pounds]
Lightweight [135lbs maximum; 61.4 kg; or 9 stone, 9 pounds]
Featherweight [126lbs maximum; 57.3 kg; or 9 stone]
Bantamweight [118lbs maximum; 53.6 kg; or 8 stone, 6 pounds]
Flyweight [112lbs maximum; 50.9 kg; or 8 stone]
NOTE: weight class key- one pound equals .45359237 kilograms one pound equals .0714285714 stone- sixteen ounces equals one pound, 14 stone and 6 kilograms.
Olympic Boxing Classes & Weight Divisions: [American lbs, European kilograms, English stones]
One pound (lb as unit of mass) is equal to 16 ounces (oz)
One kilogram (also equal to 1,000 grams) is equal to 2.2 lbs
One stone is equal to 14 pounds (with pounds rounding 5/8th)
Super Heavyweight: [202lbs + above; 91.6 kg or 14 stone, 6 pounds] – (est. 1984-end 2004): legislation pending before International Olympic Congress , not subject to change by AIBA .
Heavyweight: [179-201lbs*; 81.2 – 91.2 kg; 12 stone, 11 pounds – 14 stone, 5 pounds]– (est. 1904)
Light Heavyweight: [166-178lbs; 75.3 – 80.7 kg; or 11 stone, 12 pounds – 12 stone, 10 pounds – (est. 1920)
Middleweight: [157-165lbs; 71.2 – 74.8; or 11 stone, 3 pounds – 11 stone, 11 pounds] – (est. 1904)
Light Middleweight: [148-156lbs; 67.1 – 70.8 kg; or 10 stone, 8 pounds – 11 stone, 2 pound] – (est. 1952)
Welterweight: [140-147lbs; 63.5 – 66.7 kg; or 10 stone – 10 stone, 7 pounds] – (est. 1904)
Light Welterweight: [133-139lbs; 60.3 – 63.0 kg; or 9 stone, 7 pounds – 9 stone, 13 pounds] – (est. 1952)
Lightweight: [126-132lbs; 57.2 – 59.9 kg; or 9 stone – 9 stone, 6 pounds] – (est. 1904)
Featherweight: [120-125lbs; 54.4 – 56.7 kg; or 8 stone, 8 pounds – 8 stone, 13 pounds] – (est. 1904)
Bantamweight: [113-119lbs; 51.3 – 53.9 kg; or 8 stone, 1 pound – 8 stone, 7 pounds] – (est. 1904)
Flyweight: [107-112lbs; 48.5 – 50.8 kg; or 7 stone, 9 pounds – 8 stone] – (est. 1904)
Light Flyweight: [106 – below; less than 48.1 kg; or 7 stone, 8 pounds and below] – (est. 1968)
Detailed Weight Division History
[in American lbs, European kilograms, English stones]
Heavyweight (over 200 pounds-unlimited; over 91.4 kg; 14 stone, 5 pounds - unlimited): First originated as 160 pounds plus (over 72.7 kg or 11 stone, 4 pounds) by Jack Broughton (in 1738); next established by the ABA as unlimited (in 1889); reaffirmed no limit by the NSC (in 1909); changed by the NYSAC to 175 plus in 1920; modified again in 1979 by the WBC (followed by the WBA in 1982 and the IBF in 1983); again modified in 2004 by the WBA, WBC and IBF to mean 201-plus pounds.
Cruiserweight [also called junior heavyweight] (176-200 lbs; 80.0 – 90.0 kg; 12 stone 8 pounds – 14 stone 4 pounds): First originated in England (later called lighter-heavyweight); next established as 176-190 lbs (80.0 – 86.2 kg or 12 stone, 8 pounds – 13 stone, 8 pounds) by the WBC in 1979, then the WBA in 1982, and the IBF in 1983; modified in 2004 first by the WBC, then the WBA and next by the IBF to allow a maximum limit of 200 pounds. NOTE: the English class cruiserweights (from 1889-1937) became light heavyweight (1937-present). The name reappeared in America (in 1980) for a new class of 190, then 195, and currently 200 pound boxers.
Light Heavyweight [also called lighter-heavyweight] (169-175 lbs; 76.8 – 79.5 kg; 12 stone, 1 pounds – 12 stones, 7 pounds): Initially created by Lou Houseman for his fighter Jack Root (in 1903); first established by the NSC (in 1909) as 12 stone, 7 pounds or 175 lbs.
Super Middleweight [also called Junior Light Heavyweight] (161-168 lbs; 73.2 – 76.4 kg; 11 stone, 7 pounds – 12 stones): First established in Salt Lake City, Utah, in 1967 (see Don Fullmer vs. Joe Hopkins) ; then re-established by the Ohio Boxing Commission (in 1974); then "resurrected" by the World Athletic Association (in 1982); next recognized by the IBF (in 1984); then the WBA (in 1987): and last by the WBC (in 1988). (The IBRO , however, says this class was created in 1984 by the IBF; followed by the WBA in 1987; and the WBC in 1988. [2] ))
Middleweight (155-160 lbs; 70.5 – 72.7 kg; 11 stone, 1 pound – 11 stone, 6 pounds): First established by the ABA as 11 stone, 4 pounds (in 1889); modified by the NSC (in 1909) as 11 stone, 6 pounds or 160 lbs.
Junior Middleweight [also called Light Middleweight, Super Welterweight] (148-154 lbs; 67.3 – 70.0 kg; 10 stone, 8 pounds – 11 stone): First created by the New York Walker Law (in 1920); first established by the NBA (in 1956). Recognized by the Austrian Boxing Board of Control and European Boxing Union (in 1962). NOTE: this weight class can be divided into two historical periods: 1956-1962 and 1963-present. (The IBRO says it was created by the WBA in 1962- the WBA's first world junior middleweight title bout was held on October 20, 1962, three days after a "world" junior middleweight title bout sanctioned by the Austrian Boxing Board of Control. The WBC recognized the division in 1963 and later renamed it the "Super Welterweight" division.)
Welterweight (141-147 lbs; 64.1 – 66.8 kg; 10 stone, 1 pound – 10 stone, 7 pounds): First recognized in England as 142-145 pounds (in 1889, then 1892). Next established by the NSC (in 1909) as 10 stone, 7 pounds or 147 lbs and made uniform as 147 pounds by the NYSAC and NBA (in 1920).
Junior Welterweight (also called Light Welterweight or Super Lightweight): (136-140 lbs; 61.8 – 63.6 kg; 9 stone, 10 pounds – 10 stone): First created by the New York Walker Law (in 1920). First recognized by Boxing Blade and also sanctioned by the NBA (in 1922); first established by the WBC in 1968. NOTE: This weight class can be divided into three distinct historical periods: 1922-1935, 1946, and 1959-present. (The IBRO says that was weight class was mentioned in the rules of the NYSAC in 1920 but basically ignored. In the fall of 1922, The Blade, a Midwestern boxing weekly, held a "write-in" contest to name the first champion and the readers chose Pinky Mitchell as the first champion. In the 1930s title recognition got muddled for awhile until Barney Ross reunified the title on November 17, 1933. Ross relinquished the title in 1935 when it got muddled again. Tippy Larkin won NBA and NYSAC recognition as champion in 1946 but forfeited it in 1947. The title was dormant until 1959 when the NBA sanctioned a title bout between Carlos Ortiz and Kenny Lane . Late in 1968 the WBC withdrew title recognition from “Lineal” champion Paul Fuji and established their own champion. The WBC renamed the division "Super Lightweight" in 1976.)
Lightweight (131-135 lbs; 59.5 – 61.4 kg; 9 stone, 5 pounds – 9 stone, 9 pounds): First originated as any fighter whose weight was less than 160 pounds by Jack Broughton (in 1738); under London Prize Ring , weight class ranged from (130-150); next established by the ABA as 10 stone (in 1889); modified by the NSC (in 1909) as 9 stone, 9 pounds or 135 lbs. First English Champion John Moneghan (in 1850).
Junior Lightweight [also called Super Featherweight] (127-130 lbs; 57.7 – 59.1 kg; or 9 stone, 1 pound – 9 stone, 4 pounds): Created by the New York Walker Law (in 1920), though first established by the NYSAC (in 1930). NOTE: this weight class can be divided into distinct historical periods: 1921-1933 and 1959-present. (The IBRO says this weight class appeared in Europe in 1914. Johnny Dundee won the first world junior lightweight title recognition by the NYSAC on November 18, 1921. The division ceased to exist after 1934. It reappeared for a short time on December 6, 1949, when Sandy Saddler won recognition as champion. The NBA revised the class on July 20, 1959 when Harold Gomes defeated Paul Jorgensen for the vacant title. The WBC recognized the division in 1968 and established their own champion. The IBF followed suit in 1984 and the WBO in 1989.)
Featherweight (123-126 lbs; 55.9 – 57.3 kg: or 8 stone, 11 pounds – 9 stone): First created under London Prize Ring Rules (in 1860) as 118 lbs (53.6 kg or 8 stone, 6 pounds); first established by the ABA as 126 lbs (57.3 kg or 9 stone in 1889); changed under Marquess Rules to 110 lbs (in 1889); next changed to 115 pounds (52.3 kg or 8 stone, 3 pounds) when George Dixon beat Cal McCarthy in 1890; his manager then changed to 120 lbs (54.4 kg or 8 stone, 8 pounds) when Dixon beat Abe Willis ; modified by the NSC (in 1909) as 126 lbs (57.3 kg or 9 stone).
Junior Featherweight [also called Light Featherweight, Super Bantamweight] (119-122 lbs; 54.1 – 55;5 kg; or 8 stone, 7 pounds – 8 stone, 10 pounds): First created by the New York Walker Law, though not fully established by the NYSAC (1920); first sanctioned by the WBC (in 1976) (The IBRO says the WBC called it "Super Bantamweight.") The WBA followed in 1977.
Bantamweight (116-118 lbs; 52.7 – 53.6 kg; or 8 stone, 4 pound – 8 stone, 6 pounds): First established by the ABA (in 189), then fully sanctioned by the NSC (in 1909) as 118 lbs (53.6 kg or 8 stone, 6 pounds). Later solidified by the New York Walker Law for standardized weight divisions (in 1920); endorsed by the NYSAC, and sanctioned by the NBA. Under London Prize Ring Rules, the weight division was 105 lbs (47.7 kg or 7 stone, 7 pounds). Under Queensberry Rules , it increased to 112 lbs (50.9 kg or 8 stone in 1880) and then 115 pounds (52.3 kg or 8 stone, 3 pounds in 1890). The weight class was set at 116 pounds (52.7 kg or 8 stone, 4 pounds in 1898). The present 118 pound limit was first adopted in England (in 1904), then by the NSC (in 1909).
Junior Bantamweight [also called Light Bantamweight, Super Flyweight] (113-115 lbs; 51.4 – 52.3 kg; or 8 stone, 1 pound – 8 stone, 3 pounds): First created by the New York Walker Law (in 1920) regulating standardized weight divisions. (The IBRO says it was mentioned in the rules of the NYSAC in 1920, but apparently no titles were ever held. The WBC re-introduced the division as "Super Flyweight" in 1980. The WBA followed in 1981.)
Flyweight [also called Paperweight in England] (109-112 lbs; 49.5 – 50.0 kg; or 7 stone, 11 pounds – 8 stone): First established by the NSC (in 1909) as 112 lbs (50.9 kg or 8 stone). English boxing authorities followed suit and set the weight limit as 108 lbs (49.1 kg or 7 stone, 10 pounds in 1910). The NBA and NYSAC recognized this weight class in 1927. New York’s 1920 Walker Law established the weight class at 112 pounds.
Junior Flyweight [also called Light Flyweight] (106-108 lbs; 48.2 – 49.1 kg; 7 stone, 8 pounds – 7 stone, 10 pounds): First established by the 1920 Walker Law regulating standardized weight divisions. First sanctioned by the WBC in 1975. (The IBRO says it was established by the NYSAC at 109 pounds in 1920. Not much happened and it disappeared quickly. The WBC and WBA re-introduced the class at 108 pounds in 1975. The WBC called the division "Light Flyweight.")
Strawweight [also called Minimumweight, Mini-Flyweight] (96-105 lbs; 43.6 – 47.7 kg; or 6 stone, 12 pounds – 7 stone, 7 pounds): First established as a "worldwide" division by the IBF (in 1987) and later recognized by both the WBA and WBC. (The IBRO says it was established by the Thai Boxing Commission at 105 pounds in 1984. The IBF, WBC and WBA created the division in 1987. The IBF called it "Mini Flyweight"; the WBC "Strawweight"; and the WBA "Minimumweight." The IBF held its first world title bout for the division in June 1987; the WBC in October 1987, and the WBA in January 1988.)
Paperweight (95lbs and below; less than 43.2 kg; or 6 stone, 11 pounds): First established by the Queensberry Amateur Championship and ABA as 95 lbs and less (in 1880). In time the paperweight champion became synonymous with the flyweight and bantamweight champions, although the weight actually increased 17 pounds by sanctioning of the NSC around 1896-1898.
Supplemental Information:
17 alphabetical weight classes [Cruiserweight by the World Boxing Council (in 1979); Super Middleweight (or junior light heavyweight) in Utah in 1967, by the Ohio Boxing Commission (in 1974), by the World Athletic Association in 1982, and officially by the International Boxing Federation (in 1984); and Mini-Flyweight (Strawweight or Minimumweight) by the International Boxing Federation (in 1987). NOTE: Cruiserweight limit was changed from 190-195 to a uniform 200, and was recognized by the World Boxing Council , World Boxing Association and International Boxing Federation (in 2004)].
14 conventional weight classes (Junior Middleweight, Junior Welterweight, Junior Lightweight, Junior Featherweight, Junior Bantamweight and Junior Flyweight) amended by the NBA and NYSAC after implemented New York Walker Law of 1920).
8 traditional weight classes (Light Heavyweight, Welterweight and Flyweight) established by the National Sporting Club of London (ratified in 1909) as championship divisions (est. 1910).
5 professional divisions throughout the 19th century (in 1889) with Bantamweight (Flyweight later modified three times as Featherweight) as set forth by the Pelican Club (a combination entity of the Pugilistic Society and Club ; later gave way to the National Sporting Club, which in time became the modern day British Board of Boxing Control ).
4 original weight classes (Middleweight and Featherweight) adopted by the Amateur Boxing Association (in 1880).
2 inaugural weight classes (Heavyweight and Light(er)weight) set by Broughton’s Rules governing prize fights (in 1738).
Primary source: The History of Modern Day Weight Categories (as edited by BoxRec Wikipedia Editors)--Boxing Press, Editor in Chief, Greg Goodrich; International Boxing Research Organization
| Cruiserweight |
What American, founder of the Standard Oil company, was the first American to amass $1 billion, and is generally thought to have been the richest man in history? | What are the Different Weight Classes in Women’s Boxing? | INSIDEWOMENSBOXING.COM
What are the Different Weight Classes in Women’s Boxing?
BY insidewo ON May 29th, 2011
There are 17 weight class divisions in women’s boxing which is the same number as in men’s boxing. In most weight classes the weight requirements for men and women do not differ, the exception being in the heavyweight division where men must top 200 pounds and women must top 175 pounds. The Super Welterweight and Cruiserweight classes apply only to men while the Junior Middleweight and Mini Flyweight classes apply only to women. The women’s weight ratings or divisions below are expressed in pounds according to the IFBA and the WIBA, both international women’s boxing regulatory agencies.
Strawweight – up to 102
Mini Flyweight – up to 105
Junior Flyweight – 105 to 108
Flyweight – 108 to 112
Super Flyweight/ Junior Bantamweight – 112 to 115
Bantamweight -115 to 118
Super Bantamweight/ Junior Featherweight – 118 to 122
Featherweight – 122 to 126
Super Featherweight/ Junior Lightweight – 126 to 130
Lightweight – 130 to 135
Super Lightweight/ Junior Welterweight – 135 to 140
Welterweight – 140 to 147
Junior Middleweight – 147 to 154
Middleweight – 154 to 160
Super Middleweight – 160 to 168
Light Heavyweight – 168 to 175
Heavyweight – over 175
The narrow differences between both men’s and women’s weight classes require that boxers maintain strict fitness standards.
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Going out of business in 2001, what company had the first mail order sales in 1872? | Montgomery Ward | Store Closings Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia
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Montgomery Ward ( and Wards) are brands currently owned by an online and catalog-based merchant, Montgomery Ward, Inc., based in Monroe, Wisconsin, that carries the same names as the former American department store chain, founded as the world's #1 mail order business in 1872 by Aaron Montgomery Ward, and which went out of business in 2001. At its height, the original Montgomery Ward company (Wards) was one of the largest retailers in the United States, but declining sales in the late 20th century forced the original Montgomery Ward to close all of its retail stores and catalog operations by early 2001. Montgomery Ward was revived in late 2004 online.
By the 1990s, however, even its old rivals had begun to lose ground to low-price competition from Kmart , Target , and especially Wal-Mart , which stripped away even more of Montgomery Ward's old customer base. In 1997, it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy , emerging from bankruptcy court protection in August 1999 as a wholly owned subsidiary of GE Capital , by then its largest shareholder. As part of a last-ditch effort to remain competitive, the company closed 250 retail locations in 30 U.S. states , closed all the Lechmere stores, abandoned the speciality store strategy, renamed and rebranded the chain as simply Wards (although unrelated, Wards was the original name for the now-defunct Circuit City ), and spent millions of dollars to renovate its remaining outlets to be flashier and more consumer-friendly. But GE reneged on promises of further financial support of Wards' restructuring plans.
On December 28, 2000, the company, after lower-than-expected sales during the Christmas season, announced it was going out of business and would close its remaining 250 retail outlets and lay off its 37,000 employees. All the stores closed within weeks of the announcement. The subsequent liquidation was at the time the largest retail bankruptcy liquidation in U.S. history. Roger Goddu, Wards' CEO, was offered the CEO position of J.C. Penney . Goddu declined on pressure from GE. One of the last stores to close was the Salem, Oregon location in which the head of the Human Resources Division was located. By May 2001 Montgomery Ward was gone.
| Montgomery Ward |
What comic strip, created by Brant Parker and Johnny Hart, follows the antics of a large cast of characters in a shabby medieval kingdom, featuring a King who refers to his subjects as "idiots"? | Montgomery Ward's History | eHow
Montgomery Ward's History
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Montgomery Ward, which was incorporated in 1889, has no more stores with the "Montgomery Ward" name but has more than 400 stores in more than 43 states, touting sales in the billions under other titles. These brands include Rooms&more, Auto Express, The Apparel Store and Gold N' Gems. It is estimated that the company has more than 60,000 employees nationwide. Throughout Montgomery Ward's decades, the company has gone through many reiterations to stay competitive.
Beginnings
Chicagoan Aaron Montgomery Ward set out in 1871 to undercut rural retails by selling directly to farmers via mail order. Initially, things moved at slow pace, so much so that his partners decided to bail on the venture. He decided to move forward with distributing his catalog to rural farmers, even though most of his inventory was destroyed during the Great Chicago Fire. The first catalog for Montgomery Ward was distributed in 1872 and was an 8-by-12-inch single-sheet price list, which listed 163 items for sale. Ward wrote the catalog.
Illinois Grange
A break occurred for Ward when the Illinois Grange decided to name Ward its purchasing agent. This gave Ward access to mailing lists, and his business began to grow. Running short on capital, Ward turned to his brother-in-law, RIchard Thorne, who invested in the company and became a partner, managing the day-to-day aspects of the business.
1875 Slogan
The company continued to grow because Ward offered goods to rural communities that they could not find elsewhere. In 1875, Ward started using the slogan "Satisfaction guaranteed or your money back," with great success. During this time, Ward also became active in the community, for which he gained much recognition, especially for his work in establishing parkland along Lake Michigan.
The Wish Book
By 1883, Montgomery Ward's catalog had gained much steam and was even dubbed "The Wish Book." The catalog was 240 pages and had 10,000 items. Unfortunately, in 1896, others began to take note of Ward's success, and competition entered the playing field. The first serious competitor was Alvah Roebuck, co-founder of Sears, Roebuck and Co., who mailed out his catalog.
Catalog Warehouse
Because of large demand and sales of more than $8.5 million, Montgomery Ward opened a catalog warehouse in Chicago known as Montgomery Ward & Co. Catalog House. It was the company headquarters until 1974 and continues to be a historic landmark.
First Retail Outlet
In 1908, Montgomery Ward opened its first retail outlet in Plymouth, Indiana. By 1928, it was operating more than 244 stores. Its flagship store was on Michigan Avenue in Chicago between Madison and Washington streets. After World War II, Montgomery Ward was the third-largest chain of department stores in the country.
Downfall
The company continued on a popular path until 1950, when Americans began settling in suburbia, and malls started sprouting up everywhere. Montgomery Ward thought it too expensive to invest in these areas, and soon its catalog business was declining. The company soon merged with Container Corp. of America and became Marcor Inc. In the 1970s, the company continued to struggle and was acquired by Mobil Oil, which brought great cash infusion. The company decided that after 113 years, it was time to close the catalog business. Unhappy with the arrangement, the company's management undertook a successful $3.8 million leveraged buyout by 1988.
Unfortunately, in the 1990s, Montgomery Ward lost ground to competitors such as Wal-Mart and Target. In 1997, the company filed for bankruptcy. In 2000, it formally announced it was going out of business, after seeking help from General Electric. In 2004, the company was resurrected in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, as an online retailer and continues with diversified store offerings throughout the nation.
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May 26, 1868 saw the first impeachment trial in the US, when which US President, the 17th, was charged with illegally removing a cabinet member? | President Andrew Johnson impeached - Feb 24, 1868 - HISTORY.com
President Andrew Johnson impeached
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The U.S. House of Representatives votes 11 articles of impeachment against President Andrew Johnson, nine of which cite Johnson’s removal of Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, a violation of the Tenure of Office Act. The House vote made President Johnson the first president to be impeached in U.S. history.
At the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, Andrew Johnson, a senator from Tennessee, was the only U.S. senator from a seceding state who remained loyal to the Union. In 1862, President Abraham Lincoln appointed him military governor of Tennessee, and in 1864 he was elected vice president of the United States. Sworn in as president after Lincoln’s assassination in April 1865, President Johnson enacted a lenient Reconstruction policy for the defeated South, including almost total amnesty to ex-Confederates, a program of rapid restoration of U.S.-state status for the seceded states, and the approval of new, local Southern governments, which were able to legislate “Black Codes” that preserved the system of slavery in all but its name.
The Republican-dominated Congress greatly opposed Johnson’s Reconstruction program and in March 1867 passed the Tenure of Office Act over the president’s veto. The bill prohibited the president from removing officials confirmed by the Senate without senatorial approval and was designed to shield members of Johnson’s Cabinet like Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, who had been a leading Republican radical in the Lincoln administration. In the fall of 1867, President Johnson attempted to test the constitutionality of the act by replacing Stanton with General Ulysses S. Grant. However, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to rule on the case, and Grant turned the office back to Stanton after the Senate passed a measure in protest of the dismissal.
On February 21, 1868, Johnson decided to rid himself of Stanton once and for all and appointed General Lorenzo Thomas, an individual far less favorable to the Congress than Grant, as secretary of war. Stanton refused to yield, barricading himself in his office, and the House of Representatives, which had already discussed impeachment after Johnson’s first dismissal of Stanton, initiated formal impeachment proceedings against the president. On February 24, Johnson was impeached, and on March 13 his impeachment trial began in the Senate under the direction of U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase. The trial ended on May 26 with Johnson’s opponents narrowly failing to achieve the two-thirds majority necessary to convict him.
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| Andrew Johnson |
What 2 spices come from the nutmeg tree? | History in the Raw (The bare facts of history that you don't get to read very often): June 2007
History in the Raw (The bare facts of history that you don't get to read very often)
My name is Jack Stanley, I have studied history for many years. This blog is about history in a more raw view, not over done. I often use original materials to bring a historic event or story to life or an interview I may have done with the person mentioned. If you cook a vegetable too long it loses much. The same can be said of many histories. They are the history of the history written before it. Over done history. THIS IS HISTORY IN THE RAW. Comments send to [email protected]
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Thursday, June 28, 2007
The famous picture of William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt together for the election of 1900. They were not together for it!
Perhaps one of the first uses of new technology was this campaign picture of McKinley and Roosevelt for the election of 1900.
However, McKinley's picture here was taken in 1896 and Roosevelt's was taken in 1900. So through some clever photographic work they put the two of them together.
McKinley was not extremely fond of Roosevelt, and Roosevelt was not at all impressed by McKinley. So this photo was made through the wonder of technology. If you look carefully you will see the line between the men, and the spot where the two photos were merged.
In those days the Vice Presidential office was a waste land. It was a good place to put someone and keep them away from anything. Roosevelt had been banished into the VP spot by the powerful Republican leaders.
But one person saw the situation. Senator Hanna. Who basically said to them all that they had put only one life between the Presidency and that damned cowboy.
It was his greatest gift of prophecy...In 1901 McKinley was assassinated and that damned cowboy became President!
Posted by Jack Stanley at 6:19 AM
Monday, June 18, 2007
Six months in the White House..The story of a not so great painting that could have been an amazing one.. by Francis Carpenter 1830-1900
Francis Carpenter 1830-1900..His unique painting of the first reading of the Emancipation Proclamation was made over a period of years.(although it was finished in 1864, it was added too for years).. Was not accepted by the government till quite a while after it was painted.
He wrote a book on the event, of which I am lucky to have a copy. It gives the story from this artists perspective as to how a painting was created. It was published within a year of the assassination and it seems Carpenter made the most of his association with Lincoln. Which as far as I can see makes sense, one should if in such a remarkable position. The sad part is, I wonder how great a painting we could have had if the artist was of a higher quality.
Here is the bookend and the cover page of his 1866 narrative on his his 6 month association with Lincoln in the White House
Carpenter had a good pull on Lincoln it seems and he had a number of photographs made of Lincoln to aid with his painting. But when one looks at the painting you wonder what he was really looking at.
Carpenter was a good artist, NOT a great one. He spent a lot of time retouching parts of the work. Till it was so retouched to look amateurish!!
The engravings of the work are far better than Carpenter's original as he just did what many a good cook can do..he worked too long on his masterpiece and spoiled the broth.
He just retouched it till it was awful!
After its exhibition in the principal northern cities in 1865, it was purchased by Mrs. Elizabeth Thompson for $25,000, and presented to the government; and it now hangs on the staircase of the house of representatives in Washington.
It seems The United States government was not very interested in it at all. Understandably so, as it was not a good piece of art.
Robinson as he aged lost much of his artistic ability, yet worked hard to capitalize on his association with Lincoln.
Lincoln trying to look like he is at his cabinet table from a Brady photo on a broken negative from Carpenter's notebook.. Carpenter was given wonderful access to the President and was a Nocturnal companion to him on many of the President's sleepless nights.
Here we have 3 photos of Lincoln in his office at his cabinet table. The first one above here he is sitting with Francis Carpenter. Carpenter's legs are seen here. He would reincorporate this into the picture using the legs as seen here to fit with William Seward.
Sadly he left most of the other features I see in the photos out of the picture. The wall paper for one and the many pictures on the mantel. It had the chance to be great, but was reduced to being good.
The second one he is standing by his cabinet table. Although the picture is blurry, they are the only photos of Lincoln's office made. You can see Lincoln's stand up desk placed in a doorway to block access as the President was an easy target to talk to and bother in those early days.
Carpenter spent a lot of time taking pictures and documenting the office. Today in the rebuilt White House, Lincoln's office was in the basic location of what is the Lincoln bedroom that is popular with Presidential guests.
The last is of Lincoln sitting at his chair at his cabinet table. This is a poor picture and out of focus. I have not helped the matter. But another unissued at the time picture of the President. There were a few others used by Carpenter that I have not added so not to bore you too much. But to end this all I will say it was a wonderful idea that was not too well conceived and would have been better served by being a posed photograph.
For as we know many historic photos of historic events were not taken at the exact moment the historic event was taking place, but after when they all discovered how historic the moment was!!!!!
But that is another story and it will be a real good one!
Posted by Jack Stanley at 11:23 PM
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Every President from the first onward has always had one great perk for life!
Free postage!
All they had to do was sign the envelope and it was free. Today they can have the name printed on envelopes as the volume of mail for a President or ex-President is nothing short of massive! But for all of their lives they will never have to pay postage. Until the 20th century that was one of the few perks that they received after office..This practice has given autograph collectors a lot of signatures. Until well into the 20th century every letter was signed for free postage. Here you see John Quincy Adams signature on a letter ..
Posted by Jack Stanley at 9:05 AM
Friday, June 15, 2007
It was a lovely machine....gold plated ..and well decorated...But sounded rather poor.
The small doors in front of the horn exposed..
The motor of the machine. It was completely plated/ Below an add for the Victrola XVI and XII from late 1909/early 1910
It was earmarked to be the great smaller machine to compliment the Victor records. But it was all fancy, gold plated, mahogany, and a horn smaller than the least expensive machine. It was made for just a year....Although it was beautiful and well designed. It had such a small horn it sounded anemic. But here are a few pictures of this most bizarre machine. Victor never made another like it... It is still one of my favorites.....
Posted by Jack Stanley at 1:42 AM
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
A picture of Saxe and a facsimile of his signature from his expanded book of poetry in 1853.
Below you will see his autograph that was in that book from April 11, 1859.
Sadly the book and the autograph have not fared well. I cannot make out where it was(what town or city) that he signed the book, for it is so faded.
It seems that he wrote the name of where he was, but now it is so hard to read (almost looks like Concord). But the signature is in the back of the book on one of the blank pages after the proper part of the book. I have always been one to look in all parts of old books to see if anyone wrote anything anywhere. It is on the blank pages I have found many interesting things on many old books.
I was wondering who this fellow was. It seems he was quite famous in his day. I must confess though, I had never heard of him.
The faceplate of his book and a picture of him taken many years after the fact in New York.
Here's what was said of John G. Saxe by Evert A. & George L. Duyckinck in The Cyclopedia of American Literature in 1880..........
"John G. Saxe was born at Highgate, Franklin County, Vermont, June 2, 1816. He was graduated at Middlebury College in 1839, studied law, was admitted to the bar, and has since been engaged in the practice of the profession in his native State.
"In 1849 Mr. Saxe published a volume of Poems including Progress, a Satire, originally delivered at a college commencement, and a number of shorter pieces, many of which had previously appeared in the Knickerbocker magazine.
"In the same year Mr. Saxe delivered a poem on The Times before the Boston Mercantile Library Association. This production is included in the enlarged edition of his volume, in 1852. He has since frequently appeared before the public on college and other anniversaries, as the poet of the occasion, well armed with the light artillery of jest and epigram."
A lawyer and a poet. Quite a combo. But it seems he was always in many magazines of the period and always could be found in monthly periodicals such as Century, Harper's, Knickerbocker, and many others. He seemed highly prolific till his death in 1887.
I took it on a whim as I had never heard of this man...Little did I know it was not only quite an interesting read but also autographed!
Here is a piece from that book....Also one the earliest uses of the term "happy as a clam"
..............................................................
INGLORIOUS friend! most confident I am
Thy life is one of very little ease;
Albeit men mock thee with their similes
And prate of being "happy as a clam!"
What though thy shell protects thy fragile head
From the sharp bailiffs of the briny sea?
Thy valves are, sure, no safety-valves to thee,
While rakes are free to desecrate thy bed,
And bear thee off--as foemen take their spoil--
Far from thy friends and family to roam;
Forced, like a Hessian, from thy native home,
To meet destruction in a foreign broil!
Though thou art tender yet thy humble bard
Declares, O clam! thy case is shocking hard!
. . . . .
Here is another, but a little later in 1859
.............................................................
How Cyrus Laid the Cable
A Ballad
COME, listen all unto my song;
It is no silly fable;
'T is all about the mighty cord
They call the Atlantic Cable.
Bold Cyrus Field he said, says he,
I have a pretty notion
That I can run a telegraph
Across the Atlantic Ocean.
Then all the people laughed, and said,
They'd like to see him do it;
He might get half-seas-over, but
He never could go through it.
To carry out his foolish plan
He never would be able;
He might as well go hang himself
With his Atlantic Cable.
But Cyrus was a valiant man,
A fellow of decision;
And heeded not their mocking words,
Their laughter and derision.
Twice did his bravest efforts fail,
And yet his mind was stable;
He wa'n't the man to break his heart
Because he broke his cable.
"Once more, my gallant boys!" he cried:
"Three times!--you know the fable,--
(I'll make it thirty," muttered he,
"But I will lay the cable!")
Once more they tried,--hurrah! hurrah!
What means this great commotion?
The Lord be praised! the cable's laid
Across the Atlantic Ocean!
Loud ring the bells,--for, flashing through
Six hundred leagues of water,
Old Mother England's benison
O'er all the land the tidings speed,
And soon, in every nation,
They'll hear about the cable with
Profoundest admiration!
Now, long live President and Queen;
And long live gallant Cyrus;
And may his courage, faith, and zeal
With emulation fire us;
And may we honor evermore
The manly, bold, and stable;
And tell our sons, to make them brave,
How Cyrus laid the cable!
John Godfrey Saxe......For me now I can say to you sir, Nice to meet you!
Posted by Jack Stanley at 1:36 AM
Saturday, June 09, 2007
Zachary Taylor-1784-1850..He lived his life as a soldier moving all the time, as President one place was fine, but he moved again after death.etc.
Old Rough and ready
These first two pictures are of him around 1848 or so. However the photo below was of him in 1850. He aged greatly and was not as strong as his image implied
Old rough and ready he was called. He was a general who had been in the military since the days of the War of 1812. By the time he was nominated for President. (He did not even know he had been nominated as he sent back the letter as it was short postage!)
He was always on the move all his life. Suddenly he was President of the United States and a Whig! The entire country was at war with itself it seemed.
It looked as though Civil War would break out. Taylor while a slave owner was not going to allow a state to leave the Union. He was ready to lead the army himself if need be. Everyone was on pins and needles as to what would happen next. What happened next opened up a slot that would be filled by Abraham Lincoln 10 years later.
On July 4, 1850 a very tired and worn Taylor was at a special ceremony at the base of what would become the Washington Monument. It was beastly hot that day, and Taylor drank large amounts of iced water. When he returned to the White House he announced that he was very hungry and ate a large amounts of cherries and cold milk. Soon after he started to suffer from stomach pains.
As per Wikipedia
The cause of Zachary Taylor's death is not well understood, nor is it well documented. On July 4 , 1850 , Taylor was diagnosed by his physicians with cholera morbus, a term that included diarrhea and dysentery but not true cholera . Cholera, typhoid fever , and food poisoning have all been indicated as the source of the president's ultimately fatal gastroenteritis. More specifically, a hasty snack of iced milk, cold cherries and pickled cucumbers consumed at an Independence Day celebration might have been the culprit. [2] By July 9 , Taylor was dead.
There is some strong evidence that Taylor died from complications of heat stroke . On July 4, 1850, the weather in Washington was hot and rather humid. Taylor was there to preside over ceremonies at the laying of the cornerstone of the Washington Monument. Taylor was sporting a thick coat, vest, high-collared shirt, and a top hat. Shortly after arriving, Taylor complained that he was very thirsty. He went to the reception table and downed a large amount of water directly from a pitcher.
Since the water was sitting in the sun, the idea of cholera is a possibility. But Taylor exhibited classic symptoms of heat stroke, particularly red, flushed skin on the face. Records also indicate that Taylor was having trouble walking and exhibiting slurred speech. At no time while outside did anyone loosen or remove Taylor's clothing. Only after returning to the White House was some of his clothing loosened. It was only a short time before Taylor collapsed. [
At this point his clothing was removed, but internal organs had already been damaged. In fact, his doctors were mystified as to the cause of multiple organ failure. Medical sciences had not addressed heat stroke and the internal damage caused by it. According to author Charles Panati, Taylor actually awoke briefly and said- "I should not be surprised if this were to result in my death." He took a few sips of iced milk, again adding to the possibility of cholera. He lapsed again into unconsciousness and died on July 9 , 1850 .
Since Taylor was dead, his Vice President Millard Filmore took over and help solve the issue with Congress..Leading to the Compromise of 1850. Which just held off the Civil War by 10 years...But for the moment the crisis was solved and everyone let go a tremendous sigh of relief.
His funeral went on for days as the body was finally stored at the Congressional cemetery in Washington DC. After that it was moved to Louisville, Kentucky. Then in 1926 it was finally moved to its present location. One would think that was enough moving for a dead President. But it was not!!
There were questions if someone tried to get the old boy out of the picture quickly to avoid civil war....There were talks of poisoning and finally the descendants of the Presidents pushed for the old soldier to be moved one more time!
The President had not been embalmed and the coffin suffered from a large amount of bodily fluids that had basically rotted the iron coffin. But with great skill they got the rotted coffin out and one more time old Rough and Ready, who really looked that way by now was on one more journey. To the research lab and an autopsy that should had been done 141 years earlier.
I return to Wikipedia
In 1991 , Taylor's body was exhumed, and Larry Robinson and Frank Dyer conducted an autopsy at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory . At the exhumation, observers noted that Taylor's body, while somewhat decomposed, was still instantly recognizable as the 12th President — Taylor's brow ridge remained intact. Investigating the possibility of assassination by means of deliberate poisoning, Dyer and Robinson detected traces of arsenic and sent the results to a Kentucky medical examiner, who determined the quantity of arsenic present — there is a faint amount of arsenic present naturally in the human body — was several hundred times less than there would have been had he been poisoned with arsenic..
After this Taylor was put back into his crypt and has for the moment not moved!
March 4, 1865.....The day Lincoln's heart skipped a beat
The Capital that grey rainy March day. It was overcast till Lincoln got up to speak
On that day..March 4, 1865....Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States was ready to enter his second term as President. He would be the first President to do so since the 7th one..Andrew Jackson. Now as he sat there on this cool day..The slightly drunk Andrew Johnson, his new Vice President was at his side.
Before they went outside there was the Vice-Presidential swearing in the capital....Johnson was under the weather and he took some whiskey to fortify himself.
It had a completely opposite effect. He quickly became quite drunk and gave a rambling speech, as a very embarrassed Lincoln try to find a way to hide his six foot four inch frame in his chair to no success.
After that wonderful moment the election party went outside to where Lincoln would take the oath of office for the second time.
This photograph was taken as they were ready to begin. Lincoln looks like a stone figure in his chair as he sits next to Johnson...It was quite cloudy and rainy out.
Soon it came time for Lincoln to speak. He rose, and as he did a sunburst of rays shown down on him from a break in the clouds!! It was an amazing moment not unnoticed by the crowds there. To Lincoln it was shocking. He said after the event that his heart fairly skipped a beat....
Posted by Jack Stanley at 11:08 PM
Friday, June 01, 2007
The Impeachment of President Andrew Johnson in 1868.
Andrew Johnson 1808-1875
A ticket for the impeachment trial. It was one of the great social events of the late 1860's
Here is copy of the Impeachment proceedings. These publications are very rare today. I sadly have only Vol 2. But just that one part is most unique.
If you look at the notes on the bottom here ...It gives notes by the editor....It says this "phonographic report"...You can see that word as given in my intro to my blog was well known and lost favor when Edison invented the phonograph.
The Impeachment committee below......
With the Assassination of Lincoln, the Presidency fell upon an old-fashioned southern Jacksonian Democrat of pronounced states' rights views. Although an honest and honorable man, Andrew Johnson was one of the most unfortunate of Presidents. Arrayed against him were the Radical Republicans in Congress, brilliantly led and ruthless in their tactics. Johnson was no match for them.
Born in Raleigh, North Carolina, in 1808, Johnson grew up in poverty. He was apprenticed to a tailor as a boy, but ran away. He opened a tailor shop in Greeneville, Tennessee, married Eliza McCardle, and participated in debates at the local academy.
Entering politics, he became an adept stump speaker, championing the common man and vilifying the plantation aristocracy. As a Member of the House of Representatives and the Senate in the 1840's and '50's, he advocated a homestead bill to provide a free farm for the poor man.
During the secession crisis, Johnson remained in the Senate even when Tennessee seceded, which made him a hero in the North and a traitor in the eyes of most Southerners. In 1862 President Lincoln appointed him Military Governor of Tennessee, and Johnson used the state as a laboratory for reconstruction. In 1864 the Republicans, contending that their National Union Party was for all loyal men, nominated Johnson, a Southerner and a Democrat, for Vice President.
After Lincoln's death, President Johnson proceeded to reconstruct the former Confederate States while Congress was not in session in 1865. He pardoned all who would take an oath of allegiance, but required leaders and men of wealth to obtain special Presidential pardons.
By the time Congress met in December 1865, most southern states were reconstructed, slavery was being abolished, but "black codes" to regulate the freedmen were beginning to appear.
Radical Republicans in Congress moved vigorously to change Johnson's program. They gained the support of northerners who were dismayed to see Southerners keeping many prewar leaders and imposing many prewar restrictions upon Negroes.
The Radicals' first step was to refuse to seat any Senator or Representative from the old Confederacy. Next they passed measures dealing with the former slaves. Johnson vetoed the legislation. The Radicals mustered enough votes in Congress to pass legislation over his veto--the first time that Congress had overridden a President on an important bill. They passed the Civil Rights Act of 1866, which established Negroes as American citizens and forbade discrimination against them.
A few months later Congress submitted to the states the Fourteenth Amendment, which specified that no state should "deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law."
All the former Confederate States except Tennessee refused to ratify the amendment; further, there were two bloody race riots in the South. Speaking in the Middle West, Johnson faced hostile audiences. The Radical Republicans won an overwhelming victory in Congressional elections that fall.
In March 1867, the Radicals effected their own plan of Reconstruction, again placing southern states under military rule. They passed laws placing restrictions upon the President. When Johnson allegedly violated one of these, the Tenure of Office Act, by dismissing Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, the House voted eleven articles of impeachment against him. He was tried by the Senate in the spring of 1868 and acquitted by one vote.
In 1875, Tennessee returned Johnson to the Senate. He died a few months later.
He was a self-educated man of humble origin who was Abraham Lincoln's vice president during his second term and became President upon the assassination of Lincoln in April of 1865.
Born to a poor family in Raleigh, North Carolina, as a boy Johnson never attended school. He was apprenticed to a tailor but ran away at age 16 and later settled in Greeneville, Tennessee, where he eventually set up his own prosperous tailor shop. He married Eliza McCardle, the daughter of a shoemaker, who helped him improve his reading, writing and math. They had five children.
Johnson discovered a flair for public speaking and entered politics, championing local farmers and small merchants against the wealthy land owners. He enjoyed a rapid rise, serving as a mayor, congressman, governor, and senator. Although he was a slave holder, he remained loyal to the Union and refused to resign as the U.S. Senator from Tennessee when the state seceded at the outbreak of the Civil War, which brought him to the attention of President Lincoln.
In 1862, Lincoln appointed him military governor of Tennessee. In an effort to win votes from Democrats, Lincoln (a Republican) chose Johnson (a War Democrat) as his running mate in 1864 and they swept to victory in the presidential election.
Events Leading to the Impeachment of the President:
A series of bitter political quarrels between President Johnson and Radical Republicans in Congress over Reconstruction policy in the South eventually led to his impeachment.
Radical Republicans wanted to enact a sweeping transformation of southern social and economic life, permanently ending the old planter class system, and favored granting freed slaves full-fledged citizenship including voting rights.
The Radicals included such notable figures as Representative Thaddeus Stevens of Pennsylvania and Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts. Most Radicals had been associated with the Abolitionist movement before the Civil War.
After the war, they came to believe whites in the South were seeking to somehow preserve the old slavery system under a new guise. They observed an unrepentant South featuring new state governments full of ex-Confederates passing repressive labor laws and punitive Black Codes targeting freed slaves.
Black Codes in Mississippi prohibited freedmen from testifying against whites, allowed unemployed blacks to be arrested for vagrancy and hired out as cheap labor, and mandated separate public schools. Blacks were also prohibited from serving on juries, bearing arms or holding large gatherings.
When the U.S. Congress convened on December 4, 1865, representatives sent from the South included the former vice president of the Confederacy, Alexander Stephens of Georgia, along with four ex-Confederate generals, eight colonels, six cabinet members and numerous lesser known Rebels. Northern congressmen, furious upon realizing this, omitted the southerners from the roll call and thus denied seats in Congress to all representatives from the eleven former Confederate states.
Radical Republican views gathered momentum in Congress and were in the majority by the end of 1865. In April of 1866, Congress enacted a Civil Rights Act in response to southern Black Codes. The Act granted new rights to native-born blacks, including the right to testify in court, to sue, and to buy property. President Johnson vetoed the Act claiming it was an invasion of states' rights and would cause "discord among the races." Congress overrode the veto by a single vote. This marked the beginning of an escalating power struggle between the President and Congress that would eventually lead to impeachment.
Bitter personal attacks also occurred with Johnson labeled as a "drunken imbecile" and "ludicrous boor," while the President called Radicals "factious, domineering, tyrannical" men. Unfortunately for Johnson, he had appeared drunk in public during his vice presidential inauguration. Weakened by a fever at the time, he had taken brandy to fortify himself but wound up incoherent and lambasted several high ranking dignitaries who were present.
In June of 1866, Congress passed the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guaranteeing civil liberties for both native-born and naturalized Americans and prohibiting any state from depriving citizens of life, liberty, or property, without due process. The Amendment granted the right to vote to all males twenty-one and older. Johnson opposed the Amendment on the grounds it did not apply to southerners who were without any representation in Congress. Tennessee was the only southern state to ratify the Amendment. The others, encouraged in part by Johnson, refused.
Amid increasing newspaper reports of violence against blacks in the South, moderate voters in the North began leaning toward the Radicals. Johnson made matters worse by attempting to join all moderates in a new political party, the National Union Party, to counter the Radicals. To drum up support, he went on a nationwide speaking tour, but his gruff, uncouth behavior toward his political opponents alienated those who heard him and left many with the impression that Johnson's true supporters were mainly ex-Rebels. As a result, the Radicals swept the elections of November 1866, resulting in a two-thirds anti-Johnson majority in both the House and Senate.
With this majority, three consecutive vetoes by Johnson were overridden by Congress in 1867, thus passing the Military Reconstruction Act, Command of the Army Act, and Tenure of Office Act against his wishes.
The Military Reconstruction Act divided the South into five military districts under federal control and imposed strict requirements on southern states in order for them to be re-admitted to the Union including ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment and new state constitutions in conformity with the U.S. Constitution.
The other two Acts limited Johnson's power to interfere with Congressional Reconstruction. The Command of the Army Act required Johnson to issue all military orders through the General of the Army (at that time General Ulysses S. Grant) instead of dealing directly with military governors in the South. The Tenure of Office Act required the consent of the Senate for the President to remove an officeholder whose appointment had been originally confirmed by the Senate.
Many in Congress wanted to keep Radical sympathizer, Secretary of War, Edwin M. Stanton, in Johnson's cabinet. The political feud between the President and Congress climaxed as Johnson sought to oust Stanton in violation of the Tenure of Office Act.
During a cabinet meeting in early August, Stanton had informed the President that the five military governors in the South were now answerable to Congress and not to the President and that the new military chain of command passed from the Commander of the Army through the House of Representatives.
On August 12, 1867, an outraged Johnson suspended Stanton and named General Ulysses S. Grant to replace him. However, the Senate refused to confirm Johnson's action. Grant then voluntarily relinquished the office back to Stanton.
On February 21, 1868, challenging the constitutionality of the Tenure of Office Act, Johnson continued his defiance of Congress and named General Lorenzo Thomas as the new Secretary of War and also ordered the military governors to report directly to him. This time Stanton refused to budge and even barricaded himself inside his office.
Three days later, the House of Representatives voted impeachment on a party-line vote of 126 to 47 on the vague grounds of "high crimes and misdemeanors," with the specific charges to be drafted by a special committee.
The special committee drafted eleven articles of impeachment which were approved a week later. Articles 1-8 charged President Johnson with illegally removing Stanton from office. Article 9 accused Johnson of violating the Command of the Army Act. The last two charged Johnson with libeling Congress through "inflammatory and scandalous harangues."
Here we go with the Articles of Impeachment:
Article 1:
That said Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, on the 21st day of February, in the year of our Lord, 1868, at Washington, in the District of Columbia, unmindful of the high duties of his oath of office and of the requirements of the Constitution, that he should take care that the laws be faithfully executed, did unlawfully, in violation of the Constitution and laws of the United States, issue an order in writing for the removal of Edwin M. Stanton from the office of Secretary of the Department of War, said Edwin M. Stanton having been, therefor, duly appointed and commissioned by and with the advice and consent of the Senate of the United States as such Secretary; and said Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, on the 12th day of August, in the year of our Lord 1867, and during the recess of said Senate, having suspended by his order Edwin M. Stanton from said office, and within twenty days after the first day of the next meeting of said Senate, on the 12th day of December, in the year last aforesaid, having reported to said Senate such suspension, with the evidence and reasons for his action in the case, and the name of the person designated to perform the duties of such office temporarily, until the next meeting of the Senate, and said Senate therafterwards, on the 13th day of January, in the year of our Lord 1868, having duly considered the evidence and reasons reported by said Andrew Johnson for said suspension, did refuse to concur in said suspension; whereby and by force of the provisions of an act entitled "an act regulating the tenure of civil officer," passed March 2, 1867, said Edwin M. Stanton did forthwith resume the functions of his office, whereof the said Andrew Johnson had then and there notice, and the said Edwin M. Stanton, by reason of the premises, on said 21st day of February, was lawfully entitled to hold said office of Secretary for the Department of War, which said order for the removal of said Edwin M. Stanton is, in substance, as follows, that is to say:
Executive Mansion, Washington, D.C., Feb. 21, 1868.
Sir: By virtue of the power and authority vested in me, as President, by the Constitution and laws of the United States, you are hereby removed from the office of Secretary for the Department of War, and your functions as such will terminate upon receipt of their communication. You will transfer to Brevet Major-General L. Thomas, Adjutant-General of the Army, who has this day been authorized and empowered to act as Secretary of War ad interim, all books, paper and other public property now in your custody and charge. Respectfully, yours,
Andrew Johnson.
To the Hon. E. M. Stanton, Secretary of War
Which order was unlawfully issued, and with intent then are there to violate the act entitled "An act regulating the tenure of certain civil office," passed March 2, 1867, and contrary to the provisions of said act, and in violation thereof, and contrary to the provisions of the Constitution of the United States, and without the advice and consent of the Senate of the United States, the said Senate then and there being in session, to remove said E. M. Stanton from the office of Secretary for the Department of War, whereby said Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, did then and there commit, and was guilty of a high misdemeanor in office.
Article 2:
That on the 21st day of February, in the year of our Lord 1868, at Washington, in the District of Columbia, said Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, unmindful of the high duties of his oath of office, and in violation of the Constitution of the United States, and contrary to the provisions of an act entitled "An act regulating the tenure of certain civil office," passed March 2, 1867, without the advice and consent of the Senate, then and there being in session, and without authority of law, did appoint one L. Thomas to be Secretary of War ad interim, by issuing to said Lorenzo Thomas a letter of authority, in substance as follows, that is to say:
Executive Mansion, Washington, D.C., Feb. 21, 1868.
Sir: The Hon. Edwin M. Stanton having been this day removed from office as Secretary of the Department of War, you are hereby authorized and empowered to act as Secretary of War ad interim, and will immediately enter upon the discharge of the duties pertaining to that office. Mr. Stanton has been instructed to transfer to you all the records, books, papers and other public property now in his custody and charge. Respectfully yours,
Andrew Johnson.
To Brevet Major-General Lorenzo Thomas, Adjutant-General United States Army, Washington, D.C.
Whereby said Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, did then and there commit, and was guilty of a high misdemeanor in office.
Article 3:
That said Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, on the 21st day of February, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, at Washington in the District of Columbia, did commit, and was guilty of a high misdemeanor in office, in this:? That without authority of law, while the Senate of the United States was then and there in session, he did appoint one Lorenzo Thomas to be Secretary for the Department of War, ad interim, without the advice and consent of the Senate, and in violation of the Constitution of the United States, no vacancy having happened in said office of Secretary for the Department of War during the recess of the Senate, and no vacancy existing in said office at the time, and which said appointment so made by Andrew Johnson of said Lorenzo Thomas is in substance as follows, that is to say:
Executive Mansion, Washington, D.C., Feb. 21, 1868.
Sir: The Hon. E. M. Stanton having been this day removed from office as Secretary for the Department of War, you are hereby authorized and empowered to act as Secretary of War ad interim, and will immediately enter upon the discharge of the duties pertaining to that office. Mr. Stanton has been instructed to transfer to you all the records, books, papers and other public property now in his custody and charge. Respectfully yours,
Andrew Johnson
To Brevet Major-General L. Thomas, Adjutant-General
United States Army, Washington, D.C.
Article 4:
That said Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, unmindful of the high duties of his office, and of his oath of office, in violation of the Constitution and laws of the United States, on the 21st day of February, in the year of our Lord 1868, at Washington, in the District of Columbia, did unlawfully conspire with one Lorenzo Thomas, and with other persons to the House of Representatives unknown, with intent, by intimidation and threats, to hinder and prevent Edwin M. Stanton, then and there, the Secretary for the Department of War, duly appointed under the laws of the United States, from holding said office of Secretary for the Department of War, contrary to and in violation of the Constitution of the United States, and of the provisions of an act entitled "An act to define and punish certain conspiracies," approved July 31, 1861, whereby said Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, did then and there commit and was guilty of high crime in office.
Article 5:
That said Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, unmindful of the high duties of his office and of his oath of office, on the 21st of February, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, and on divers others days and time ins aid year before the 28th day of said February, at Washington, in the District of Columbia, did unlawfully conspire with one Lorenzo Thomas, and with other persons in the House of Representatives unknown, by force to prevent and hinder the execution of an act entitled "An act regulating the tenure of certain civil office," passed March 2, 1867, and in pursuance of said conspiracy, did attempt to prevent E. M. Stanton, then and there being Secretary for the Department of Ward, duly appointed and commissioned under the laws of the United States, from holding said office, whereby the said Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, did then and there commit and was guilty of high misdemeanor in office.
Article 6:
That Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, unmindful of the duties of his high office and of his oath of office, on the 21st day of February, in the year of our Lord 1868, at Washington, in the District of Columbia, did unlawfully conspire with one Lorenzo Thomas, by force to seize, take and possess the property of the United Sates at the War Department, contrary to the provisions of an act entitled "An act to define and punish certain conspiracies," approved July 31, 1861, and with intent to violate and disregard an act entitled "An act regulating the tenure of certain civil offices," passed March 2, 1867, whereby said Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, did then and there commit a high crime in office.
Article 7:
That said Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, unmindful of the high duties of his office, and of his oath of office, on the 21st day of February, in the year of our Lord 1868, and on divers other days in said year, before the 28th day of said February, at Washington, in the District of Columbia, did unlawfully conspire with one Lorenzo Thomas to prevent and hinder the execution of an act of the United States, entitled "An act regulating the tenure of certain civil office," passed March 2, 1867, and in pursuance of said conspiracy, did unlawfully attempt to prevent Edwin M. Stanton, then and there being Secretary for the Department of War, under the laws of the United States, from holding said office to which he had been duly appointed and commissioned, whereby said Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, did there and then commit and was guilty of a high misdemeanor in office.
Article 8:
That said Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, unmindful of the high duties of his office, and of his oath of office, on the 21st day of February, in the year of our Lord, 1868, at Washington, in the District of Columbia, did unlawfully conspire with one Lorenzo Thomas, to seize, take and possess the property of the United States in the War Department, with intent to violate and disregard the act entitled "An act regulating the tenure of certain civil office," passed March 2, 1867, whereby said Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, did then and there commit a high misdemeanor in office.
Article 9:
That said Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, on the 22nd day of February, in the year of our Lord 1868, at Washington, in the District of Columbia, in disregard of the Constitution and the law of Congress duly enacted, as Commander-in-Chief, did bring before himself, then and there, William H. Emory, a Major-General by brevet in the Army of the United States, actually in command of the Department of Washington, and the military forces therefor, and did and there, as Commander-in-Chief, declare to, and instruct said Emory, that part of the law of the United States, passed March 2, 1867, entitled "an act for making appropriations for the support of the army for the year ending June 30, 1868, and for other purposes," especially the second section thereof, which provides, among other things, that all orders and instructions relating to military operations issued by the President and Secretary of War, shall be issued through the General of the Army, and in case of his inability, through the next in rank was unconstitutional, and in contravention of the commission of Emory, and therefore not binding on him, as an officer in the Army of the United States, which said provisions of law had been therefore duly and legally promulgated by General Order for the government and direction of the Army of the United States, as the said Andrew Johnson then and there well knew, with intent thereby to induce said Emory, in his official capacity as Commander of the Department of Washington, to violate the provisions of said act, and to take and receive, act upon and obey such orders as he, the said Andrew Johnson, might make and give, and which should not be issued through the General of the Army of the United States, according to the provisions of said act, whereby said Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, did then and there commit, and was guilty of a high misdemeanor in office; and the House of Representatives, by protestation, saving to themselves the liberty of exhibition, at any time hereafter, any further articles of their accusation or impeachment against the said Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, and also or replying to his answers, which will make up the articles herein preferred against him, and of offering proof to the same and every part thereof, and to all and every other article, accusation or impeachment which shall be exhibited by them as the case shall require, do demand that the said Andrew Johnson may be put to answer the high crimes and misdemeanors in office herein charged against him, and that such proceedings, examinations, trials and judgments may be thereupon had and given had and given as may be agreeable to law and justice.
Article 10:
That said Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, unmindful of the high duties of his high office and the dignity and proprieties thereof, and of the harmony and courtesies which ought to exist and be maintained between the executive and legislative branches of the Government of the United States, designing and intending to set aside the rightful authorities and powers of Congress, did attempt to bring into disgrace, ridicule, hatred, contempt and reproach, the Congress of the United States, and the several branches thereof, to impair and destroy the regard and respect of all the good people of the United States for the Congress and the legislative power thereof, which all officers of the government ought inviolably to preserve and maintain, and to excite the odium and resentment of all good people of the United States against Congress and the laws by it duly and constitutionally enacted; and in pursuance of his said design and intent, openly and publicly and before divers assemblages of citizens of the United States, convened in divers parts thereof, to meet and receive said Andrew Johnson as the Chief Magistrate of the United States, did, on the eighteenth day of August, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, and on divers other days and times, as well before as afterwards, make and declare, with a loud voice, certain intemperate, inflammatory and scandalous harangues, and therein utter loud threats and bitter menaces, as well against Congress as the laws of the United States duly enacted thereby, amid the cries, jeers and laughter of the multitudes then assembled in hearing, which are set forth in the several specifications hereinafter written, in substance and effect, that it to say: "Specification First. In this, that at Washington, in the District of Columbia, I the Executive Mansion, to a committee of citizens who called upon the President of the United States, speaking of and concerning the Congress of the United States, heretofore, to wit:? On the 18th day of August, in the year of our Lord, 1866, in a loud voice, declare in substance and effect, among other things, that is to say:?
"So far as the Executive Department of the government is concerned, the effort has been made to restore the Union, to heal the breach, to pour oil into the wounds which were consequent upon the struggle, and, to speak in a common phrase, to prepare, as the learned and wise physician would, a plaster healing in character and co-extensive with the wound. We thought and we think that we had partially succeeded, but as the work progresses, as reconstruction seemed to be taking place, and the country was becoming reunited, we found a disturbing and moving element opposing it. In alluding to that element it shall go no further than your Convention, and the distinguished gentleman who has delivered the report of the proceedings, I shall make no reference that I do not believe, and the time and the occasion justify. We have witnessed in one department of the government every endeavor to prevent the restoration of peace, harmony and union. We have seen hanging upon the verge of the government, as it were, a body called or which assumes to be the Congress of the United States, while in fact it is a Congress of only part of the States. We have seen this Congress pretend to be for the Union, when its every step and act tended to perpetuate disunion and make a disruption of States inevitable. We have seen Congress gradually encroach, step by step, upon constitutional rights, and violate day after day, and month after month, fundamental principles of the government. We have seen a Congress that seemed to forget that there was a limit to the sphere and scope of legislation. We have seen a Congress in a minority assume to exercise power which, if allowed to be consummated, would result in despotism or monarchy itself." "Specification Second. In this, that at Cleveland, in the State of Ohio, heretofore to wit:? On the third day of September, in the year of our Lord, 1866, before a public assemblage of citizens and others, said Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, speaking of and concerning the Congress of the United States, did, in a loud voice, declare in substance and effect, among other things, that is to say:?
�I will tell you what I did do? I called upon your Congress that is trying to break up the government. In conclusion, beside that Congress had taken much pains to poison the constituents against him, what has Congress done? Have they done anything to restore the union of the States? No. On the contrary, they had done everything to prevent it: and because he stood now where he did when the Rebellion commenced, he had been denounced as a traitor, Who had run greater risks or made greater sacrifices than himself? But Congress, factions and domineering, had undertaken to poison the minds of the American people." "Specification Third. In this case, that at St. Louis, in the State of Missouri, heretofore to wit:? On the 8th day of September, in the year of our Lord 1866, before a public assemblage of citizens and others, said Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, speaking of acts concerning the Congress of the United States, did, in a loud voice, declare in substance and effect, among other things, that is to say:?
"Go on; perhaps if you had a word or two on the subject of New Orleans you might understand more about it than you do, and if you will go back and ascertain the cause of the riot at New Orleans, perhaps you will not be so prompt in calling out "New Orleans." If you will take up the riot of New Orleans and trace it back to its source and its immediate cause, you will find out who was responsible for the blood that was shed there. If you will take up the riot at New Orleans and trace it back to the Radical Congress, you will find that the riot at New Orleans was substantially planned. If you will take up the proceedings in their caucuses you will understand that they knew that a convention was to be called which was extinct by its powers having expired; that it was said that the intention was that a new government was to be organized, and on the organization of that government the intention was to enfranchise one portion of the population, called the colored population, and who had been emancipated, and at the same time disfranchise white men. When you design to talk about New Orleans you ought to understand what you are talking about. When you read the speeches that were made, and take up the facts on the Friday and Saturday before that convention sat, you will find that speeches were made incendiary in their character, exciting that portion of the population? the black population? to arm themselves and prepare for the shedding of blood. You will also find that convention did assemble in violation of law, and the intention of that convention was to supersede the organized authorities in the State of Louisiana, which had been organized by the government of the United States, and every man engaged in that rebellion, in the convention, with the intention of superseding and upturning the civil government which had been recognized by the Government of the United States, I say that he was a traitor to the Constitution of the United States, and hence you find that another rebellion was commenced, having its origin in the Radical Congress. So much for the New Orleans riot. And there was the cause and the origin of the blood that was shed, and every drop of blood that was shed is upon their skirts and they are responsible. I could test this thing a little closer, but will not do it here to-night. But when you talk about the causes and consequences that resulted from proceedings of that kind, perhaps, as I have been introduced here and you have provoked questions of this kind, though it does not provoke me, I will tell you a few wholesome things that have been done by this Radical Congress in connection with New Orleans and the extension of the elective franchise. I know that I have been traduced and abused. I know it has come in advance of me here, as elsewhere, that I have attempted to exercise an arbitrary power in resisting laws that were intended to be forced upon the government; that I had exercised that power; that I had abandoned the party that elected me, and that I was a traitor, because I exercised the veto power in attempting, and did arrest for a time, that which was called a "Freedmen�s Bureau" bill. Yes, that I was a traitor. And I have been traduced; I have been slandered; I have been maligned; I have been called Judas Iscariot, and all that. Now, my countrymen, here to-night, it is very easy to indulge in epithets; it is easy to call a man a Judas, and cry out traitor, but when he is called upon to give arguments and facts he is very often found wanting. Judas Iscariot? Judas! There was a Judas, and he was one of the twelve Apostles. O, yes, the twelve Apostles had a Christ, and he never could have had a Judas unless he had twelve Apostles. If I have played the Judas who has been my Christ that I have played the Judas with? Was it Thad. Stevens? Was it Wendell Phillips? Was it Charles Sumner? They are the men that stop and compare themselves with the Savior, and everybody that differs with them in opinion, and tries to stay and arrest their diabolical and nefarious policy is to be denounced as a Judas. Well, let me say to you, if you will stand by me in this action, if you will stand by me in trying to give the people a fair chance? soldiers and citizens? to participate in these office, God be willing, I will kick them out. I will kick them out just as fast as I can. Let me say to you, in concluding, that what I have said is what I intended to say; I was not provoked into this, and care not for their menaces, the taunts and the jeers. I care not for threats, I do not intend to be bullied by enemies, nor overawed by my friends. But, God willing, with your help, I will veto their measures whenever any of them come to me."
"Which said utterances, declarations, threats and harangues, highly censurable in any, are peculiarly indecent and unbecoming in the Chief Magistrate of the United States, by means whereof the said Andrew Johnson has brought the high office of the President of the United States into contempt, ridicule and disgrace, to the great scandal of all good citizens, whereby said Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, did commit, and was then and there guilty of a high misdemeanor in office.
Article 11:
That the said Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, unmindful of the high duties of his office and his oath of office, and in disregard of the Constitution and laws of the United States, did, heretofore, to wit:? On the 18th day of August, 1866, at the city of Washington, and in the District of Columbia, by public speech, declare and affirm in substance, that the Thirty-ninth Congress of the United States was not a Congress of the United States authorized by the Constitution to exercise legislative power under the same, but on the contrary, was a Congress of only part of the States, thereby denying and intending to deny, that the legislation of said Congress was valid or obligatory upon him, the said Andrew Johnson, except in so far as he saw fit to approve the same, and also thereby denying the power of the said Thirty-ninth Congress to propose amendments to the Constitution of the United States. And in pursuance of said declaration, the said Andrew John, President of the United States, afterwards, to wit:? On the 21st day of February, 1868, at the city of Washington, D.C., did, unlawfully and in disregard of the requirements of the Constitution that he should take care that the laws be faithfully executed, attempt to prevent the execution of an act entitled "An act regulating the tenure of certain civil office," passed March 2, 1867, by unlawfully devising and contriving and attempting to devise and contrive means by which he should prevent Edwin M. Stanton from forthwith resuming the functions of the office of Secretary for the Department of War, notwithstanding the refusal of the Senate to concur in the suspension theretofore made by the said Andrew Johnson of said Edwin M. Stanton from said office of Secretary for the Department of War; and also by further unlawfully devising and contriving, and attempting to devise and contrive means then and there to prevent the execution of an act entitled "An act making appropriations for the support of the army for the fiscal year ending June 30,1868, and for other purposes," approved March 20, 1867. And also to prevent the execution of an act entitled "An act to provide for the more efficient government of the Rebel States," passed Mach 2, 1867. Whereby the said Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, did then, to wit, on the 21st day of February, 1868, at the city of Washington, commit and was guilty of a high misdemeanor in office.
Consequences:
The trial in the Senate began on March 5, 1868, with Supreme Court Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase presiding. The prosecution was conducted by seven managers from the House including Thaddeus Stevens and Benjamin F. Butler. Johnson did not appear in person.
On March 16, a crucial vote occurred on Article 11 concerning Johnson's overall behavior toward Congress. A straw poll indicated the Senate was one vote shy of the necessary two thirds (36 votes out of a total of 54 Senators) needed for conviction. Johnson's fate rested upon the single undecided vote of a young Radical Republican named Edmund G. Ross.
Despite monumental pressure from fellow Radicals and dire warnings that a vote for acquittal would end his political career, Ross stood up at the appropriate moment and quietly announced "not guilty," effectively ending the impeachment trial.
On May 26, two more ballots produced the same 35-19 result. Thus Johnson's impeachment was not upheld by a single vote and he remained in office. Had it been different the power of the Presidency would have been destroyed, and it would have led to a Consitutional crisis.
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This weekend saw the opening of what they claim will be the final installment of the Shrek franchise. What is the name of the movie? | DreamWorks Animation
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Scared Shrekless
Halloween is Shrek's favorite holiday - and this year he's planning a night of frights, ogre style. Instead of the usual tricks and treats, Shrek ups the ante and challenges Fiona, Donkey, Puss in Boots and the other fairy tale characters to spend the night in Lord Farquaad's castle telling scary stories.
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Puss In Boots
"Puss in Boots" - one of the most beloved characters of the Shrek universe - tells the hilarious and courageous (daring, bold, brave) tale of Puss's early adventures as he teams with mastermind Humpty Dumpty and the street-savvy Kitty to steal the famed Goose that lays the Golden Eggs.
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Shrek Forever After
The movie begins just before Shrek rescues Princess Fiona in Shrek. Desperate to lift their daughter's curse, King Harold and Queen Lillian meet with con artist Rumpelstiltskin, who requests becoming king of Far Far Away in exchange.
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Shrek The Third
Being king isn't for everyone - especially if you're an ornery ogre who smells like the shallow end of a swamp. When Shrek married Fiona, the last thing he wanted was to rule Far Far Away, but when his father-in-law, King Harold, suddenly croaks, Shrek is quickly fitted for the crown.
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Shrek 2
The natural order of fairy tales is interrupted in the sequel to the Academy Award(r)-winning blockbuster "Shrek." "Shrek 2" sends Shrek, Donkey and Princess Fiona on a whirlwind of new adventures with more fairy-tale favorites to lampoon along the way.
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Shrek
Once upon a time in a far away swamp there lived an ornery ogre named Shrek whose precious solitude is suddenly shattered by an invasion of annoying fairytale characters. There are blind mice in his food, a big, bad wolf in his bed, three little homeless pigs and more, all banished from their kingdom by the evil Lord Farquaad.
| Shrek Forever After |
May 28, 1787 saw the death of an Austrian composer, most famous as the father of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. What was his first name? | Weekend Box Office: Family-Friendly Shrek 4 Overtakes Wimpy Prince of Persia and Sex and the City 2 | IndieWire
Weekend Box Office: Family-Friendly Shrek 4 Overtakes Wimpy Prince of Persia and Sex and the City 2
Weekend Box Office: Family-Friendly Shrek 4 Overtakes Wimpy Prince of Persia and Sex and the City 2
May 31, 2010 4:46 am
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Holdover family film Shrek 4 carried the anemic four-day Memorial Day Weekend holiday; its estimated $55.7 million gross bested two weak openers in the high-to-low $37-million range, Disney ’s Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and R-rated Sex and the City 2, reports Anthony D’Alessandro:
With the top twelve films totaling $182 million, this Memorial Day weekend was a disaster at the domestic box office : the holiday has posted in excess of $200 million over the last six years. Overall, ticket sales are off as much as 15% from last year and 26% from the 2007 high of $246.4 million when Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End posted the all-time holiday record of $139.8 million.
Blame the product. Memorial Day weekend is neither the ideal place to launch a franchise (Disney’s Prince of Persia: The Sand of Time) nor play R-rated femme fare (Sex and the City 2). Family films and tentpole sequels catering to males tend to click turnstiles.
Heading into the weekend, distribution executives warned that Paramount’s DreamWorks Animation title Shrek Forever After could trump the competition, and it did, grabbing $55.7 million from 4,367 venues over four days. This is the second time since 2004 that a Shrek film has rallied the Memorial Day frame and its the third best return for the DreamWorks film over the holiday, queueing behind Shrek 2’s $95.6 million and Shrek the Third’s $67 million.
While being 3D doesn’t hurt, Shrek’s ability to thrive doesn’t necessarily stem from its visual format. It’s more that Memorial Day has always been a strong play time for family and event films, particularly those starring cartoon ogres. Walt Disney’s videogame adaptation Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, which nabbed second place with $37.8 million, and Iron Man 2 which earned $20.6 million in fourth, only serve as further evidence of audience taste. Shrek Forever After saw fewer returns from its 3D huts, dropping to 55% this weekend from 61%, suggesting sticker shock over sky-high premium tickets.
While producer Jerry Bruckheimer and Mike Newell’s Prince of Persia should have dominated the frame, the $200-million fantasy adventure barely managed to squeeze past Sex and the City 2. “People thought we were going to be third place, but based on today’s numbers, it appears we are No. 2,” said Disney distribution chief Chuck Viane. Prince of Persia drew 60% males, 40% females; 44% of the audience was under 25. It earned a B Cinemascore. Fortunately for Disney, the sword-and-sandal film played better foreign: scoring No. 1 worldwide; after bows in China, India and Russia, it has grossed $104.8 million overseas. (Here’s how Prince of Persia went wrong .)
Going into the weekend, it was clear that Sex and the City 2 would claim the biggest opening for a chick pic over Memorial Day weekend (it drew 90% femmes) and the largest R-rated bow for the holiday. But the question is, should Warner Bros./New Line have bowed Sex 2 in the post-Memorial Day period, when the first installment minted a $57 million opening? True, four wide releases will break next weekend, but the competition might have shied away had Sex 2 claimed the date first.
The sequel took in less than the original in five days — $51.4 million – which removes any “wow” factor from the franchise’s B.O. prestige. When Sex first opened, it was an anomaly at the multiplex; a pre-sold girls-night-out film for fangirls. The future of Sex 2 is not bright, even though it’s the only female-driven film in the market prior to The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (June 30). But its B+ Cinemascore, young demo (54% of Sex 2’s crowd was under 35) and rotten Tomatometer review ranking of 15% indicate that like the first Sex (which fell 63% in it second weekend), attendance will plummet in week two.
The top 10 is as follows. The percent changes reflects a four-day to previous four-day run comparison:
1. Shrek Forever After (Paramount/DreamWorks Animation): $55.7 million down 27% in its second weekend at 4,367 theaters. $12,760 theater average. Domestic total: $145.5 million.
2. Prince of Persia (Disney): $37.8 million in its first four days at 3,646 theaters. $10,362 theater average. Domestic total: $37.8 million.
3. Sex and the City 2 (Warner Bros.): $37.1 million from Friday-Monday at 3,445 theaters. $10,782 theater average. Domestic total: $51.4 million.
4. Iron Man 2 (Paramount): $20.6 million down 28% in its fourth weekend at 3,804 theaters. $5,415 theater average. Domestic total: $279.2 million.
5. Robin Hood (Universal): $13.6 million down 34% in its third weekend at 3,373 theaters. $4,025 theater average. Domestic total: $86.3 million.
6. Letters to Juliet (Summit): $7.3 million down 26% in its third weekend at 2,825 theaters. $2,566 theater average. Domestic total: $37.9 million.
7. Just Wright (Fox): $2.7 million down 43% in its third weekend at 1,195 theaters. $2,259 theater average. Domestic total: $18.7 million.
8. Date Night (Fox): $2.25 million down 30% in its eighth weekend at 1,126 theaters. $1,998 theater average. Domestic total: $93.9 million.
9. MacGruber (Universal/Rogue): $1.9 million in its second weekend down 58% at 2,546 theaters. $765 theater average. Domestic total: $7.6 million.
10. How to Train Your Dragon (Paramount/DreamWorks Animation): $1.465 million down 30% in its tenth weekend at 825 theaters. $1,776 theater average. Domestic total: $213.1million.
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May 27, 1949 saw the death of Robert Ripley, who made his fame by publishing what newspaper series? | Robert Ripley - 必应
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Robert Ripley
LeRoy Robert Ripley (December 25, 1890 – May 27, 1949), better known by the name Robert Ripley, was an American cartoonist, entrepreneur, and amateur anthropologist, who is known for creating the Ripley's Believe It or Not! newspaper panel series, radio show, and television show which feature odd facts from around the world. Subjects covered in Ripley's cartoons and text ranged from sports feats to little known facts about unusual and exotic sites; but what ensured the concept's popularity may have been that Ripley also includ ... (展开) ed items submitted by readers, who supplied photographs of a wide variety of small town American trivia, ranging from unusually shaped vegetables to oddly marked domestic animals, all documented by photographs and then depicted by Ripley's drawings.
robert ripley biography
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In 1919 Ripley married Beatrice Roberts. He made his first trip around the world in 1922, delineating a travel journal in installments. This ushered in a new topic for his cartoons: unusual and exotic foreign locales and cultures. Because he took the veracity of his work quite seriously, in 1923, Ri...
Robert Ripley Biography
In 1919 Ripley married Beatrice Roberts. He made his first trip around the world in 1922, delineating a travel journal in installments. This ushered in a new topic for his cartoons: unusual and exotic foreign locales and cultures. Because he took the veracity of his work quite seriously, in 1923, Ripley hired a researcher and polyglot named Norbert Pearlroth as a full-time assistant. In 1926, his feature moved from the New York Globe to the New York Post.
Throughout the 1920s, Mr. Ripley continued to broaden the scope of his work and his popularity increased greatly. He published both a travel journal and a guide to the game of handball in 1925. In 1926, Ripley became the New York state handball champion and also wrote a book on boxing. With a proven track record as a versatile writer and artist, he attracted the attention of publishing mogul William Randolph Hearst, who managed the King Features Syndicate. In 1929, Hearst was responsible for Believe It or Not! making its syndicated debut in seventeen papers worldwide. With the success of this series assured, Ripley capitalized on his fame by getting the first book collection of his newspaper panel series published.
On November 3, 1929, he drew a panel in his syndicated cartoon saying "Believe It or Not, America has no national anthem." Despite the widespread belief that "The Star-Spangled Banner", with its lyrics by Francis Scott Key set to the music of the English drinking song "To Anacreon in Heaven", was the United States national anthem, Congress had never officially made it so. In 1931, John Philip Sousa published his opinion in favor of giving the song official status, stating that "it is the spirit of the music that inspires" as much as it is Key's "soul-stirring" words. By a law signed on March 3, 1931, by President Herbert Hoover, "The Star-Spangled Banner" was adopted as the national anthem of the United States.
The 1930s saw Ripley expand his presence into other media. In 1930, he began a fourteen-year run on radio and a nineteen-year association with the show's producer, Doug Storer. Funding for his celebrated travels around the world were provided by the Hearst organization, and Ripley recorded live radio shows from underwater, the sky, caves, snake pits, and foreign countries. The next year he hosted the first of a series of two dozen Believe It or Not! theatrical short films for Warner Bros. & Vitaphone, and King Features published a second collected volume of Believe it or Not! panels. He also appeared in a Vitaphone musical short, Seasons Greetings (1931), with Ruth Etting, Joe Penner, Ted Husing, Thelma White, Ray Collins, and others. After a trip to Asia in 1932, Ripley opened his first museum, the Odditorium, in Chicago in 1933. The concept was a success, and at one point there were Odditoriums in San Diego, Dallas, Cleveland, San Francisco, and New York City. By this point in his life, Ripley had been voted the most popular man in America by the New York Times, received an honorary degree from Dartmouth College, and visited 201 foreign countries.
During World War II, Ripley concentrated on charity pursuits rather than world travel, but after the war, he re-expanded his media efforts. In 1948, the year of the 20th anniversary of the Believe it or Not! cartoon series, the Believe it or Not! radio show drew to a close and was replaced with a Believe it or Not! television series. This was a rather bold move on Ripley's part because of the small number of Americans with access to television at this early time in the medium's development. Ripley completed only thirteen episodes of the series before he became incapacitated by severe health problems. He reportedly passed out during the filming of his final show.
His health worsened, and on May 27, 1949, at age 58, he succumbed to a heart attack in New York City. He was buried in his home town of Santa Rosa, in the Oddfellows Lawn Cemetery, which is adjacent to the Santa Rosa Rural Cemetery.
Robert Ripley The comic strip
Ripley's cartoon series was estimated to have 80 million readers worldwide, and it was said that he received more mail than the President of the United States. He became a wealthy man, with homes in New York and Florida, but he always retained close ties to his home town of Santa Rosa, California, and he made a point of bringing attention to The Church of the One Tree, a church built entirely from the wood of a single 300-ft (91.4-m)-tall redwood tree, which stands on the north side of Juilliard Park in downtown Santa Rosa.
Ripley claimed to be able to "prove every statement he made", because he worked with professional fact researcher Norbert Pearlroth, who assembled Believe it or Not!s array of odd facts and also verified the small-town claims submitted by readers. Pearlroth spent 52 years as the feature's researcher, finding and verifying unusual facts for Ripley and, after Ripley's death, for the King Features syndicate editors who took over management of the Believe it or Not!' panel.[citation needed]
Other employees who edited the newspaper cartoon series over the years were Lester Byck. Others who drew the series after Ripley's death include Don Wimmer, Joe Campbell (1946 to 1956), Art Slogg, Clem Gretter (1941 to 1949), Carl Dorese, Bob Clarke (1943 and 1944), Stan Randall, Paul Frehm (1938–1975), who became the panel's full-time artist in 1949; and his brother Walter Frehm (1948–1989).[citation needed]
1890 Born in Santa Rosa, California
1901 Receives his formal education
1906 Becomes a semi-pro in baseball
1908 Sells first cartoon to Life
1908 Quits baseball briefly to support mother
1909 Moves from the San Francisco Bulletin to the San Francisco Chronicle
1912 Creates his last drawing for the San Francisco Chronicle and moves to New York that winter
1913 On January 2, writes his first comic for the New York Globe and tries out for the New York Giants, but an injury ends his baseball hopes
1914 Takes his first trip to Europe
1918 On December 19, publishes Champs and Chumps in the New York Globe
1919 Married Beatrice Roberts
1920 Takes his first solo trip to Europe to cover the Olympics, held in Antwerp, Belgium
1922 On December 3, takes first trip around the world; writes in installments in his travel journal
1923 On April 7, returns to the U.S. and hires researcher and linguist Norbert Pearlroth; the Globe ceases publication and the series moves to the New York Evening News; divorces Beatrice Roberts after being separated for some time.
1925 Writes travel journal, handball guide
1926 Becomes New York handball champion and writes book on boxing score
1929 On July 9, William Randolph Hearst's King Features Syndicate features Believe It or Not! in hundreds of papers worldwide
1930 Begins an eighteen-year run on radio and a nineteen-year association with show producer Doug Storer; Hearst funds Ripley's travels around the world, where Ripley records live radio shows from underwater, the sky, caves, snake pits and foreign countries
1931 Releases movie shorts for Vitaphone, second book of Believe it or Not!
1932 Takes trip to the Far East
1933 First Odditorium opens in Chicago
1934 Does the first radio show broadcast simultaneously around the world and purchases 28-room home in Mamaroneck, New York
1935 Odditorium opens in San Diego
1936 Odditorium opens in Dallas
1937 Odditorium opens in Cleveland; Peanuts creator Charles Schulz's first published drawing appears in Believe it or Not!
1939 Odditoriums open in San Francisco and New York City; Ripley receives honorary degree from Dartmouth College
1940 Purchases a 13-room Manhattan apartment; receives two more honorary degrees; number of foreign countries visited through funding by Hearst reaches 201
1945 Stops foreign travel to do World War II charity work
1946 Purchases a Chinese junk, the Mon Lei (万里)
1947 Purchases third home, at High Mount, Florida
1948 Radio program ends; the 30th anniversary of Believe it or Not! is celebrated at a New York costume party
1949 Ripley dies of a heart attack on May 27 in New York City, shortly after thirteenth telecast of first television show and is buried in Santa Rosa; auction of his estate is held; estate is purchased by John Arthur.
| Ripley's Believe It or Not! |
In which hand is the Statue of Liberty's torch? | Robert Ripley
Robert Ripley
May 27, 1949 (aged 58)
New York City, U.S.
Oddfellows Lawn Cemetery, Santa Rosa, California, U.S.
Residence
Ethel Ripley (sister)
Ripley’s Odditorium in Hollywood
LeRoy Robert Ripley (December 25, 1890 – May 27, 1949), [1] better known by the name Robert Ripley, was an American cartoonist , entrepreneur , and amateur anthropologist , who is known for creating the Ripley’s Believe It or Not! newspaper panel series, radio show, and television show which feature odd facts from around the world.
Subjects covered in Ripley’s cartoons and text ranged from sports feats to little known facts about unusual and exotic sites; but what ensured the concept’s popularity may have been that Ripley also included items submitted by readers, who supplied photographs of a wide variety of small town American trivia, ranging from unusually shaped vegetables to oddly marked domestic animals, all documented by photographs and then depicted by Ripley’s drawings.
Contents
6 External links
Biography
In 1919 Ripley married Beatrice Roberts . He made his first trip around the world in 1922, delineating a travel journal in installments. This ushered in a new topic for his cartoons: unusual and exotic foreign locales and cultures. Because he took the veracity of his work quite seriously, in 1923, Ripley hired a researcher and polyglot named Norbert Pearlroth as a full-time assistant. In 1926, his feature moved from the New York Globe to the New York Post . [2]
Throughout the 1920s, Mr. Ripley continued to broaden the scope of his work and his popularity increased greatly. He published both a travel journal and a guide to the game of handball in 1925. In 1926, Ripley became the New York state handball champion and also wrote a book on boxing. With a proven track record as a versatile writer and artist, he attracted the attention of publishing mogul William Randolph Hearst , who managed the King Features Syndicate . In 1929, Hearst was responsible for Believe It or Not! making its syndicated debut in seventeen papers worldwide. With the success of this series assured, Ripley capitalized on his fame by getting the first book collection of his newspaper panel series published.
On November 3, 1929, he drew a panel in his syndicated cartoon saying “Believe It or Not, America has no national anthem.” [3] Despite the widespread belief that “ The Star-Spangled Banner “, with its lyrics by Francis Scott Key set to the music of the English drinking song “ To Anacreon in Heaven “, was the United States national anthem, Congress had never officially made it so. In 1931, John Philip Sousa published his opinion in favor of giving the song official status, stating that “it is the spirit of the music that inspires” as much as it is Key’s “soul-stirring” words. By a law signed on March 3, 1931, by President Herbert Hoover , “The Star-Spangled Banner” was adopted as the national anthem of the United States.
The 1930s saw Ripley expand his presence into other media. In 1930, he began a fourteen-year run on radio and a nineteen-year association with the show’s producer, Doug Storer. [4] Funding for his celebrated travels around the world were provided by the Hearst organization, and Ripley recorded live radio shows from underwater, the sky, caves, snake pits, and foreign countries. The next year he hosted the first of a series of two dozen Believe It or Not! theatrical short films for Warner Bros. & Vitaphone , and King Features published a second collected volume of Believe it or Not! panels. He also appeared in a Vitaphone musical short, Seasons Greetings (1931), with Ruth Etting , Joe Penner , Ted Husing , Thelma White , Ray Collins , and others. After a trip to Asia in 1932, Ripley opened his first museum, the Odditorium , in Chicago in 1933. The concept was a success, and at one point there were Odditoriums in San Diego , Dallas , Cleveland , San Francisco, and New York City. By this point in his life, Ripley had been voted the most popular man in America by the New York Times , [5] received an honorary degree from Dartmouth College , and visited 201 foreign countries.
During World War II, Ripley concentrated on charity pursuits rather than world travel, but after the war, he re-expanded his media efforts. In 1948, the year of the 20th anniversary of the Believe it or Not! cartoon series, the Believe it or Not! radio show drew to a close and was replaced with a Believe it or Not! television series. This was a rather bold move on Ripley’s part because of the small number of Americans with access to television at this early time in the medium’s development. Ripley completed only thirteen episodes of the series before he became incapacitated by severe health problems. He reportedly passed out during the filming of his final show.
His health worsened, and on May 27, 1949, at age 58, he succumbed to a heart attack in New York City. He was buried in his home town of Santa Rosa , in the Oddfellows Lawn Cemetery, which is adjacent to the Santa Rosa Rural Cemetery. [6]
The comic strip
Early cartoon by Ripley, pre-”Believe It or Not,” published in 1920. Pat McDonald , American Olympian.
Ripley’s cartoon series was estimated to have 80 million readers worldwide, and it was said that he received more mail than the President of the United States. He became a wealthy man, with homes in New York and Florida, but he always retained close ties to his home town of Santa Rosa, California, and he made a point of bringing attention to The Church of the One Tree, a church built entirely from the wood of a single 300-ft (91.4-m)-tall redwood tree, which stands on the north side of Juilliard Park in downtown Santa Rosa.
Ripley claimed to be able to “prove every statement he made” because he worked with professional fact researcher Norbert Pearlroth , who assembled Believe it or Not!’s array of odd facts and also verified the small-town claims submitted by readers. Pearlroth spent 52 years as the feature’s researcher, finding and verifying unusual facts for Ripley; after Ripley’s death, for the King Features syndicate editors who took over management of the Believe it or Not! panel.
Another employee who edited the newspaper cartoon series over the years was Lester Byck. Others who drew the series after Ripley’s death include Don Wimmer; Joe Campbell (1946-1956); Art Slogg; Clem Gretter (1941-1949); Carl Dorese; Bob Clarke (1943-1944); Stan Randall; Paul Frehm (1938–1975), who became the panel’s full-time artist in 1949; and his brother Walter Frehm (1948–1989).
Legacy
Ripley’s ideas and legacy live on in Ripley Entertainment , a company bearing his name and owned since 1985 by the Jim Pattison Group , Canada’s 3rd-largest privately held company. Ripley Entertainment airs national television shows, features publications of oddities, and has holdings in a variety of public attractions, including Ripley’s Aquarium, Ripley’s Believe it or Not! Museums, Ripley’s Haunted Adventure, Ripley’s Mini-Golf and Arcade, Ripley’s Moving Theater, Ripley’s Sightseeing Trains, Guinness World Records Attractions, and Louis Tussaud’s wax Museums.
Chronology
| i don't know |
Who is the only US president to win the Nobel Peace Prize after leaving office? | Obama joins 3 other US presidents who have won the Nobel Peace Prize - CSMonitor.com
Obama joins 3 other US presidents who have won the Nobel Peace Prize
President Obama delivers remarks from the Rose Garden on Friday after receiving word that he won the Nobel Peace Prize.
NEWSCOM
View Caption
of
Barack Obama is not the only one. The other US Presidents who have won the Nobel Peace Prize are, in chronological order, Theodore Roosevelt , Woodrow Wilson , and Jimmy Carter . (You can watch President Obama's remarks here ).
Theodore Roosevelt was the first American to won a Nobel in any category. His Peace Prize was for his work in helping broker the end of the Russo-Japanese War in 1905.
Normally, a US Secretary of State would have handled such diplomatic chores. But Roosevelt’s Secretary of State, John Hay , died in July 1905, and the forceful TR took charge of the duties himself.
Photos of the Day Photos of the day 02/08
Further talks took place at the US Naval Base at Portsmouth, New Hampshire . The Treaty of Portsmouth was signed on September 5, 1905.
Roosevelt did not pick up his Nobel medal, or his prize money, until 1910. He said he did not feel right accepting them while in office.
Woodrow Wilson won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1919 for his services in establishing the League of Nations.
Following the tragedy of World War I, Wilson decided to lead the US peace delegation personally. He traveled to Paris in 1919 to press his idealistic vision of a world united against war.
While the peace treaty itself did not reflect all the magnanimity of his famous “Fourteen Points” in support of peace, he did secure the adoption of a covenant for a League of Nations , a precursor to today’s UN .
He barnstormed around the US in the months that followed in an effort to push ratification of American membership in the League through the Senate. But the strain of the effort resulted in a stroke that robbed him of his health. In the end, the US did not join, as ratification was defeated.
Jimmy Carter is the only president to have won the Nobel following his time in office. His was awarded in 2002, for “his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development,” in the words of the Norwegian Nobel Committee .
Many commentators at the time felt that the award was in recognition for a man who appeared to have redefined how much an ex-president could accomplish.
Carter previously had come close to winning the Peace Prize in 1978 for his efforts in bringing together Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat to sign the Camp David Peace Accords.
Next up
| Jimmy Carter |
Who is missing: Catherine of Aragon, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard, Catherine Parr? | Did You Know? | Hoover Presidential Foundation
Here is a list of interesting facts regarding President Herbert Hoover and his family.
Did you know...
The Hoovers were eyewitnesses to the Boxer Rebellion?
Herbert Hoover was the first President born west of the Mississippi?
Herbert Hoover organized the fourth (not the first) Cal-Stanford game?
Herbert Hoover held the Florida state record for largest bonefish caught from 1947 to 1958?
Herbert Hoover had a comet named for him?
Personal Information
Herbert Hoover had one brother, Theodore, who was 3 1/2 years older, and one sister, Mary (called May) who was 2 years younger.
Herbert Hoover was 5 ft. 11 inches tall.
Herbert Hoover's shoe size was 11.5 and his hat size was 7.25.
Honors & Awards
Herbert Hoover was tendered 87 honorary degrees, which may have been a world record during his lifetime.
Herbert Hoover was nominated five times for the Nobel Peace Prize - in 1921, 1933, 1941, 1946 and 1964.
There are currently 53 schools in the United States, 1 in Germany, and 1 in Poland named for Herbert Hoover.
There are two asteroids named for Herbert Hoover, Hooveria (discovered 1920) and Herberta (discovered 1935).
Pre-Presidency
Herbert Hoover was born in West Branch, Iowa on the night of August 10-11, 1874, but no one noticed the exact time. Some documents list his birthday as August 11, but most records, and Mr. Hoover himself, went with August 10.
Herbert Hoover became an orphan at the age of nine when his mother died in February, 1884. His father had died in December, 1880. Herbert was raised by relatives in Iowa and Oregon.
Herbert Hoover was one of the very first students at Leland Stanford, Jr. University, graduating as a member of the "Pioneer" class of 1895 with a bachelor's degree in geology.
Herbert Hoover rose to public prominence during World War I as the Chairman of the Commission for Relief in Belgium, a non-profit, multi-national, non-governmental organization that provided food for more than 9,000,000 Belgian and French civilians trapped behind the front lines.
Herbert Hoover served as Secretary of Commerce from March 5, 1921 to August 21, 1928, when he resigned to run for President. To date, he is the longest serving Commerce Secretary in U. S. history.
In 1923 Herbert Hoover founded the American Child Health Association, an organization dedicated to raising public awareness of child health problems throughout the United States. Mr. Hoover served as the president of the ACHA until 1928.
Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover was the first person to appear on television, on April 7, 1927, in a demonstration transmission conducted between Washington and New York by Bell Laboratories.
Presidency
Herbert Hoover was the first President born west of the Mississippi River and the only President born in Iowa.
Herbert Hoover was the first President to have a telephone on his desk in the Oval Office.
To help President Hoover stay fit, White House doctor Cdr. Joel Boone invented a game called "Hooverball," which is a combination of volleyball and tennis using a weighted medicine ball.
Post-Presidency
Former-President Hoover lived for 31 years, 231 days after leaving office, longer than any other Former-President until President Jimmy Carter surpassed him on September 7, 2012.
Former-President Hoover chaired two Commissions on Organization of the Executive Branch of the Government, one under President Truman and the other under President Eisenhower. The Hoover Commissions studied the organization and methods of operation of the Executive branch of the Federal Government, and recommended changes to promote economy, efficiency, and improved service.
In 1949, Former-President Hoover declined an offer from Gov. Thomas Dewey of New York to appoint Hoover to the U. S. Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Robert F. Wagner. John Foster Dulles was instead nominated to fill the vacancy.
Former-President Hoover served as Chairman of the Boys' Clubs of America from 1936 until his death in 1964.
Herbert & Lou
Herbert and Lou Henry Hoover were both born in Iowa, Lou in Waterloo and Herbert in West Branch. They met as students at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California.
Herbert and Lou Henry Hoover both graduated from Stanford University with degrees in Geology.
As newlyweds, the Hoovers lived for almost 2 years in China while Herbert worked as a mining engineer and executive. In the summer of 1900 they were caught up in the Boxer Rebellion and were besieged for three weeks in the city of Tientsin.
During the Hoovers' residence in China, Lou Henry Hoover became fairly fluent in Chinese, Herbert less so. In later years they would occasionally speak Chinese to each other when they didn't want people around them to understand what they were saying.
Herbert and Lou Henry Hoover had two sons, Herbert Charles Hoover (Aug. 4, 1903-Jul. 9, 1969) and Allan Henry Hoover (Jul. 17, 1907-Nov. 4, 1993). Both graduated from Stanford like their parents.
Between 1907 and 1912, Herbert and Lou Henry Hoover collaborated on translating into English Georgius Agricola's massive Renaissance mining treatise De Re Metallica. The Hoovers' translation is still in print.
| i don't know |
Named for a revolutionary war general, what is the capital of Alabama? | History of Montgomery, Alabama
More Info
History of Montgomery, Alabama
Montgomery, the second largest city in Alabama, lies southeast of Birmingham on Interstate 65, on the banks of the Alabama River. Montgomery is the state capital and has a number of connections with the Civil Rights movement .
Between 1817 and 1819, three towns were established close together in Alabama: New Philadelphia, Alabama Town, and East Alabama. In 1819, they were consolidated into Montgomery, named for General Richard Montgomery, who died in the Revolutionary War attempting to capture Quebec. Montgomery gained status as a city in 1837 and was named the state's capital in 1846. In 1861, the convention that created the Confederate States of America was held in Montgomery. The city served as the first capital of the Confederacy, until it was moved to Richmond, Virginia .
Montgomery is close to Maxwell Air Force Base, presently the home of Air University. Maxwell AFB is on the site where Wilbur and Orville Wright operated the world's first flight training school in 1910.
On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks , a black seamstress, was arrested for not relinquishing her seat to a white bus rider. The reaction to this act of defiance led to the 382-day Montgomery bus boycott that forced the city to desegregate its transit system on December 21, 1956.
Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. , an American Nobel Laureate , achieved national attention for civil rights issues during his occupancy term as pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church. In 1965, he led a four-day, nationally-publicized march for justice from Selma to Montgomery.
- - - Books You May Like Include: ----
| Montgomery, Alabama |
According to the legend, in which city did the Pied Piper lure all the children away? | History of Montgomery, Alabama
More Info
History of Montgomery, Alabama
Montgomery, the second largest city in Alabama, lies southeast of Birmingham on Interstate 65, on the banks of the Alabama River. Montgomery is the state capital and has a number of connections with the Civil Rights movement .
Between 1817 and 1819, three towns were established close together in Alabama: New Philadelphia, Alabama Town, and East Alabama. In 1819, they were consolidated into Montgomery, named for General Richard Montgomery, who died in the Revolutionary War attempting to capture Quebec. Montgomery gained status as a city in 1837 and was named the state's capital in 1846. In 1861, the convention that created the Confederate States of America was held in Montgomery. The city served as the first capital of the Confederacy, until it was moved to Richmond, Virginia .
Montgomery is close to Maxwell Air Force Base, presently the home of Air University. Maxwell AFB is on the site where Wilbur and Orville Wright operated the world's first flight training school in 1910.
On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks , a black seamstress, was arrested for not relinquishing her seat to a white bus rider. The reaction to this act of defiance led to the 382-day Montgomery bus boycott that forced the city to desegregate its transit system on December 21, 1956.
Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. , an American Nobel Laureate , achieved national attention for civil rights issues during his occupancy term as pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church. In 1965, he led a four-day, nationally-publicized march for justice from Selma to Montgomery.
- - - Books You May Like Include: ----
| i don't know |
What U.S. president claimed that he was once attacked by a mysterious swamp rabbit while on a fishing trip? | FLASHBACK:Jimmy Carter Attacked by Killer Rabbit (April 20, 1979
FLASHBACK:Jimmy Carter Attacked by Killer Rabbit (April 20, 1979
Unknown | Unknown
Posted on 08/29/2003 3:03:45 PM PDT by NC Conservative
Today in Odd History, President Jimmy Carter was attacked by a rabbit during a fishing trip in Plains, Georgia. The rabbit, which may have been fleeing a predator, swam toward his boat, "hissing menacingly, its teeth flashing and nostrils flared." President Carter was forced to swat at the vicious beast with a canoe paddle, which apparently scared it off.
Upon his return to the White House, Carter told his staff about the furry amphibian's assault. Most of them refused to believe him, insisting that rabbits can't swim (although since most mammals can swim, there's no reason to believe that rabbits cannot), and that even if they could, they certainly wouldn't attack humans, and certainly not presidents. Fortunately, a White House photographer had been on the scene, and had recorded the bizarre attack. The photograph showed Carter with his paddle raised, warding off a small creature which might, or might not, have been a rabbit. One staffer was quoted as saying, "You couldn't tell what it was." Undaunted by their skepticism, Carter had the image enlarged, and there it was--a killer bunny rabbit, apparently bent on assassinating the president.
The story might have ended there, except that White House Press Secretary Jody Powell mentioned the incident to Associated Press reporter Brooks Jackson in August. The Washington Post ran it as front page news. The original photograph was not available (until the Reagan administration leaked it in 1981), but the paper filled the gap with a cartoon modeled on the poster for the movie Jaws, starring the rabbit and entitled Paws. Powell made a belated attempt to impress the public with the seriousness of the attack, calling the creature a "swamp rabbit," but since Carter had to appease his rabbit-loving constituents by insisting that he had not actually smacked his buck-toothed opponent with his paddle, but only splashed water at it to drive it away, it seemed unlikely that he had been in danger. The entire episode became a symbol of Carter's floundering presidency. According to Powell, "[I]t shows the extent to which an insignificant incident can snowball and end up in newspapers and news shows across the country. Carter biographer Douglas Brinkley says, It just played up the Carter flake factor.... I mean, he had to deal with Russia and the Ayatollah and here he was supposedly fighting off a rabbit.
Note: While some presidential apologists have suggested that Carter might actually have been attacked by a nutria, a large, aggressive aquatic rodent, others have insisted that the President's assailant was a simple, if unusually vicious, bunny rabbit. Fulk, the 12th century king of Jerusalem, was killed by a rabbit. (Well, really he was killed by a fall from his horse, but the horse had been startled by a rabbit.) And many years ago, I was the owner of a Blue Dutch rabbit named Sequin. One of my friends still bears the scars of an encounter with Sequin--a perfectly matched set of parallel teeth marks, where Sequin's fangs closed on her hand and ripped through the flesh when she pulled her hand away. Bunnies are, indeed, fiercer than anyone but Monty Python has generally given them credit for.
To: NC Conservative
MONTY PYTHON HOLY GRAIL BUMP!
3 posted on 08/29/2003 3:07:58 PM PDT by Old Sarge (Serving You... on Operation Noble Eagle!)
To: NC Conservative
Never send in a bunny to do a professional hitman's job. :)
4 posted on 08/29/2003 3:11:02 PM PDT by KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle ("The Clintons have damaged our country. They have done it together, in unison." -- Peggy Noonan)
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To: NC Conservative
"...And the Lord spake, saying, 'First shalt thou take out the Holy Pin. Then, shalt thou count to three. No more. No less. Three shalt be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shall be three. Four shalt thou not count, nor either count thou two, excepting that thou then proceed to three. Five is right out. Once the number three, being the third number, be reached, then, lobbest thou thy Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch towards thy foe, who, being naughty in My sight, shall snuff..."
5 posted on 08/29/2003 3:12:07 PM PDT by TrebleRebel
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To: JeanS
I've been looking for that picture forever, but I think all traces have been wiped off the internet. SOMEBODY has to have an old newspaper clipping they can scan!!!
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To: T Minus Four
I was just looking too. I can't find it. The new sources that published this no longer have the picture available although the articles are still there.
11 posted on 08/29/2003 3:19:39 PM PDT by Jean S
To: NC Conservative
"Carter told his staff about the furry amphibian's assault"
I didn't do too well in biology in school, but I think I can remember that a rabbit is not an amphibian. I can see why Carter has failed at almost everything he has touched.
12 posted on 08/29/2003 3:23:43 PM PDT by Redwood71
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To: NC Conservative
13 posted on 08/29/2003 3:23:59 PM PDT by 4mycountry (You say I'm a brat like it's a bad thing.)
President Carter was forced to swat at the vicious beast with a canoe paddle
Never bring a canoe paddle to a rabbit fight.
14 posted on 08/29/2003 3:26:46 PM PDT by GreenHornet
To: NC Conservative
I praise God Jimmy Carter left the Southern Baptists. Now hope Slick Willie follows him out.
15 posted on 08/29/2003 3:31:00 PM PDT by tame (If I must be the victim of a criminal, please let it be Catwoman! Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!)
To: tame
Did Jimma join with the Episcopalians??? Their anti everything beliefs fits Jimmas master plan of appeasing everyone.
16 posted on 08/29/2003 3:35:22 PM PDT by Porterville (I spell stuff wrong sometimes.... get over yourself, you're not that great.)
Swamp rabbits
Other Comments
To avoid predation, these rabbits flee in a zig-zag pattern. They can reach speeds of up to 48 mph. They also are good swimmers, and they are known to hide from enemies by lying motionless underwater with only their nose clearing the surface of the water.
(from a University of Michigan website)
21 posted on 08/29/2003 3:40:50 PM PDT by Howie
To: T Minus Four
Go to your library and pull up Time Magazine from June 29, 1981, U.S. Edition.
22 posted on 08/29/2003 3:41:41 PM PDT by ElkGroveDan (It's time for Arnold to stop splitting the Republican vote and step aside for the good of the party)
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To: ElkGroveDan
(It's time for Arnold to stop splitting the Republican vote and step aside for the good of the party)
I Love tht tagline :o)
23 posted on 08/29/2003 3:42:55 PM PDT by tame (If I must be the victim of a criminal, please let it be Catwoman! Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!)
It might have been a Jackalope. They are ferocious.
24 posted on 08/29/2003 3:53:18 PM PDT by microgood (They will all die......most of them.)
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To: NC Conservative
Actually, lost in the translation from Peanutfarmer to English was the fact that it was actually Lorena Bobbit, not a rabbit.
25 posted on 08/29/2003 3:57:05 PM PDT by thoughtomator (Welcome to the Iraq Roach Motel - Islamofascists check in, but they don't check out!)
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To: NC Conservative
Leave it to carter to get his ass beat by the easter bunny. No wonder they waited for the Gipper's inoguration to release the hostages
26 posted on 08/29/2003 3:57:08 PM PDT by Squat830 (Reality has a conservative bias)
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To: NC Conservative
I once heard an interview with Carter in which he was asked if it was true that he had been attacked by a rabbit. He said that it wasn't true but he couldn't very well have a press conference and say: "I wasn't attacked by a rabbit". It seems like this story might have just been something that fit in with Carter's weak image during his term. As I recall this interview was in connection with a book Carter had written about his experiences outdoors. So it appears that he is not someone who is unfamiliar with or afraid of wildlife in general.
I notice that there is no source or author listed on this article. If you post the picture (undoctored) that is claimed to exist of the rabbit attacking Carter, it might make the story more believable.
27 posted on 08/29/2003 3:57:15 PM PDT by wideminded
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To: tame
manfromlamancha and an abreviation of my name... I left God's valley for the coast, to many corrupt everything in the valley, it has a corrupting force that brings out the worst in me... that being women of low character and beer... always a bad combo.
28 posted on 08/29/2003 4:01:50 PM PDT by Porterville (I spell stuff wrong sometimes.... get over yourself, you're not that great.)
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To: tame
Besides, summer gets way too hot for me after knowing what summer by the coast is like... 115 degrees in the shade??? No way, not after living near Pismo. I'd rather be a poor man on the Central Coast, than a rich man in Montana.
30 posted on 08/29/2003 4:06:05 PM PDT by Porterville (I spell stuff wrong sometimes.... get over yourself, you're not that great.)
To: Porterville
The valley has sooooo many women of beautiful character...beautiful everything for that matter :o)
31 posted on 08/29/2003 4:08:21 PM PDT by tame (If I must be the victim of a criminal, please let it be Catwoman! Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!)
Wasn't there a killer rabbit scene in "Monty Python and the Holy Grail"?
33 posted on 08/29/2003 4:16:02 PM PDT by vrwconspiracist
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To: Old Sarge
And the Lord spake, saying, 'First shalt thou take out the Holy Pin. Then, shalt thou count to three. No more. No less. Three shalt be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shall be three. Four shalt thou not count, nor either count thou two, excepting that thou then proceed to three. Five is right out. Once the number three, being the third number, be reached, then, lobbest thou thy Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch towards thy foe, who, being naughty in My sight, shall snuff it.'
34 posted on 08/29/2003 4:18:41 PM PDT by LibKill (Heaven frowns on all things french, and democrat, AND ESPECIALLY CAT.)
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To: tame
1. That is true, very many women of beautiful character too, but their seems to be a dark force in Porterville like a cosmic black hole that just pulls myself and everyone I ever grew up with into a infinitely crushing force that stretches our souls beyond measure to a thin chord of lifeless roofing pitch.... like a puddle of Budweiser on that spills onto the rocks on the way to a jet ski financed at 15% towed to the lake in a large jacked up F-150 financed at 12%, rising from a rusty, broken lawn chair over looking highway 190 and Lake Success, Porterville will leave you, muddied, soiled, and fizzless, begging to get to Visalia (of all places) on the weekend...
35 posted on 08/29/2003 4:22:41 PM PDT by Porterville (I spell stuff wrong sometimes.... get over yourself, you're not that great.)
To: FroedrickVonFreepenstein
Ah, my favorite Easter movie!
36 posted on 08/29/2003 4:54:36 PM PDT by Reverend Bob (Emoticons are for people that can't handle irony.)
| Jimmy Carter |
What English write, author of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and The Diamond Smugglers, plus dozens of others, lived on the Jamaican estate Goldeneye? | The American Pageant, 13th Edition Textbook Notes
The American Pageant, 13th Edition Textbook Notes
Here you will find AP US History notes for the American Pageant, 13th edition textbook. These American Pageant notes will you study more effectively for your AP US History tests and exams.
Additional Information:
Publisher: Cengage Learning; 13 edition (February 15, 2005)
Language: English
Chapter 01 - New World Beginnings
I. The Shaping of North America
Recorded history began 6,000 years ago. It was 500 years ago that Europeans set foot on the Americas to begin colonization
The theory of Pangaea exists suggesting that the
continents were once nestled together into one mega-continent. They
then spread out as drifting islands.
Geologic forces of continental plates created the Appalachian and Rocky Mountains.
The Great Ice Age thrust down over North America & scoured the present day American Midwest.
II. Peopling the Americas
As the Great Ice Age diminished, so did the glaciers over North America.
The theory holds that a Land Bridge emerged
linking Asia & North America across what is now known as the Bering
Sea. People were said to have walked across the "bridge" before the sea
level rose and sealed it off; thus populating the Americas.
The Land Bridge is said to have occurred an estimated 35,000 years ago.
Many peoples
Those groups that traversed the bridge spread across North, Central, and South America.
Countless tribes emerged with an estimated 2,000 languages. Notably:
Incas: Peru, with elaborate network of roads and bridges linking their empire.
Mayas: Yucatan Peninsula, with their step pyramids.
Aztecs: Mexico, with step pyramids and huge sacrifices of conquered peoples.
III. The Earliest Americans
Development of corn or maize around 5,000 B.C. in Mexico was revolutionary in that:
Then, people didn't have to be hunter-gatherers, they could settle down and be farmers.
This fact gave rise to towns and then cities.
Corn arrived in the present day U.S. around 1,200 B.C.
Pueblo Indians
The Pueblos were the 1st American corn growers.
They lived in adobe houses (dried mud) and pueblos ("villages" in
Spanish). Pueblos are villages of cubicle shaped adobe houses, stacked
one on top the other and often beneath cliffs.
They had elaborate irrigation systems to draw water away from rivers to grown corn.
Mound Builders
These people built huge ceremonial and burial mounds and were located in the Ohio Valley.
Cahokia, near East St. Louis today, held 40,000 people.
Eastern Indians
Eastern Indians grew corn, beans, and squash in three sister farming:
Corn grew in a stalk providing a trellis for beans, beans grew up
the stalk, squash's broad leaves kept the sun off the ground and thus
kept the moisture in the soil.
This group likely had the best (most diverse) diet of all North American Indians and is typified by the Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw (South) and Iroquois (North).
Iroquois Confederation
Hiawatha was the legendary leader of the group.
The Iroquois Confederation was a group of 5 tribes in New York state.
They were matrilineal as authority and possessions passed down through the female line.
Each tribe kept their independence, but met occasionally to discuss matters of common interest, like war/defense.
This was not the norm. Usually, Indians were scattered and separated (and thus weak).
Native Americans had a very different view of things as compared to Europeans.
Native Americans felt no man owned the land, the tribe did. (Europeans liked private property)
Indians felt nature was mixed with many spirits. (Europeans were Christian and monotheistic)
Indians felt nature was sacred. (Europeans felt nature and land was
given to man by God in Genesis to be subdued and put to use).
Indians had little or no concept or interest in money. (Europeans loved money or gold)
IV. Indirect Discoverers of the New World
The 1st Europeans to come to America were the Norse (Vikings from Norway).
Around 1000 AD, the Vikings landed, led by Erik the Red and Leif Erikson.
They landed in Newfoundland or Vinland (because of all the vines).
However, these men left America and left no written record and therefore didn't get the credit.
The only record is found in Viking sagas or songs.
The Christian Crusaders of Middle Ages fought in Palestine to
regain the Holy Land from Muslims. This mixing of East and West created
a sweet-tooth where Europeans wanted the spices of the exotic East.
V. Europeans Enter Africa
Marco Polo traveled to China and stirred up a storm of European interest.
Mixed with desire for spices, an East to West (Asia to Europe)
trade flourished but had to be overland, at least in part. This
initiated new exploration down around Africa in hopes of an easier (all
water) route.
Portugal literally started a sailing school to find better ways to get to the Spice Islands, eventually rounding Africa's southern Cape of Good Hope.
New developments:
caravel: a ship with triangular sail that could better tack (zig-zag) ahead into the wind and thus return to Europe from Africa coast.
compass: to determine direction.
astrolabe: a sextant gizmo that could tell a ship's latitude.
Slave trade begins
The 1st slave trade was across the Sahara Desert.
Later, it was along the West African coast. Slave traders purposely
busted up tribes and families in order to squelch any possible uprising.
Slaves wound up on sugar plantations the Portuguese had set up on the tropical islands off Africa's coast.
Spain watched Portugal's success with exploration and slaving and wanted a piece of the pie.
VI. Columbus Comes upon a New World
Christopher Columbus convinced Isabella and Ferdinand to fund his expedition.
His goal was to reach the East (East Indies) by sailing west, thus bypassing the around-Africa route that Portugal monopolized.
He misjudged the size of the Earth though, thinking it 1/3 the size of what it was.
So, after 30 days or so at sea, when he struck land, he assumed
he'd made it to the East Indies and therefore mistook the people as "Indians."
This spawned the following system:
Europe would provide the market, capital, technology.
Africa would provide the labor.
The New World would provide the raw materials (gold, soil, lumber).
VII. When Worlds Collide
Of huge importance was the biological flip-flop of Old and New
Worlds. Simply put, we traded life such as plants, foods, animals,
germs.
From the New World (America) to the Old
corn, potatoes, tobacco, beans, peppers, manioc, pumpkin, squash, tomato, wild rice, etc.
also, syphilis
From the Old World to the New
cows, pigs, horses, wheat, sugar cane, apples, cabbage, citrus, carrots, Kentucky bluegrass, etc.
devastating diseases (smallpox, yellow fever, malaria), as Indians had no immunities.
The Indians had no immunities in their systems built up over generations.
An estimated 90% of all pre-Columbus Indians died, mostly due to disease.
VIII. The Spanish Conquistadores
Treaty Line of Tordesillas 1494: Portugal and Spain feuded over who got what land. The Pope drew this line as he was respected by both.
The line ran North-South, and chopped off the Brazilian coast of South America
Portugal got everything east of the line (Brazil and land around/under Africa)
Spain got everything west of the line (which turned out to be much more, though they didn't know it at the time)
Conquistadores = "conquerors"
Vasco Balboa: "discovered" the Pacific Ocean across isthmus of Panama
Ferdinand Magellan: circumnavigates the globe (1st to do so)
Ponce de Leon: touches and names Florida looking for legendary Fountain of Youth
Hernando Cortes: enters Florida, travels up into present day Southeastern U.S., dies and is "buried" in Mississippi River
Francisco Pizarro: conquers Incan Empire of Peru
and begins shipping tons of gold/silver back to Spain. This huge influx
of precious metals made European prices skyrocket (inflation).
Francisco Coronado: ventured into current Southwest U.S. looking for legendary El Dorado, city of gold. He found the Pueblo Indians.
Encomienda system established
Indians were "commended" or given to Spanish landlords
The idea of the encomienda was that Indians would work and be
converted to Christianity, but it was basically just slavery on a sugar
plantation guised as missionary work.
IX. The Conquest of Mexico
Hernando Cortez conquered the Aztecs at Tenochtitlan.
Cortez went from Cuba to present day Vera Cruz, then marched over mountains to the Aztec capital.
Montezuma, Aztec king, thought Cortez might be the
god Quetzalcoatl who was due to re-appear the very year. Montezuma
welcomed Cortez into Tenochtitlan.
The Spanish lust for gold led Montezuma to attack on the noche
triste, sad night. Cortez and men fought their way out, but it was
smallpox that eventually beat the Indians.
The Spanish then destroyed Tenochtitlan, building the Spanish capital (Mexico City) exactly on top of the Aztec city.
A new race of people emerged, mestizos, a mix of Spanish and Indian blood.
X. The Spread of Spanish America
Spanish society quickly spread through Peru and Mexico
A threat came from neighbors:
English: John Cabot (an Italian who sailed for England) touched the coast of the current day U.S.
France: Giovanni de Verrazano also touched on the North American seaboard.
France: Jacques Cartier went into mouth of St. Lawrence River (Canada).
To oppose this, Spain set up forts (presidios) all over the California coast. Also cities, like St. Augustine in Florida.
Don Juan de Onate followed Coronado's old path
into present day New Mexico. He conquered the Indians ruthlessly,
maiming them by cutting off one foot of survivors just so they'd
remember.
Despite mission efforts, the Pueblo Indians revolted in Pope's Rebellion.
Robert de LaSalle sailed down the Mississippi
River for France claiming the whole region for their King Louis and
naming the area "Louisiana" after his king. This started a slew of
place-names for that area, from LaSalle, Illinois to "Louisville" and
then on down to New Orleans (the American counter of Joan of Arc's
famous victory at Orleans).
Black Legend: The Black Legend was the notion that
Spaniards only brought bad things (murder, disease, slavery); though
true, they also brought good things such as law systems, architecture,
Christianity, language, civilization, so that the Black Legend is
partly, but not entirely, accurate.
Subject:
Chapter 02 - The Planting of English America
I. England’s Imperial Stirrings
North America in 1600 was largely unclaimed, though the Spanish had much control in Central and South America.
Spain had only set up Santa Fe, while France had founded Quebec and Britain had founded Jamestown.
In the 1500s, Britain failed to effectively colonize due to internal conflicts.
King Henry VIII broke with the Roman Catholic Church in the 1530s and launched the English Protestant Reformation.
After Elizabeth I became queen, Britain became basically Protestant, and a rivalry with Catholic Spain intensified.
In Ireland, the Catholics sought Spain’s help in revolting against
England, but the English crushed the uprising with brutal atrocity, and
developed an attitude of sneering contempt for natives.
II. Elizabeth Energizes England
After Francis Drake pirated Spanish ships for gold then circumnavigated the globe, Elizabeth I knighted him on his ship. Obviously, this reward angered the Spanish who sought revenge.
Meanwhile, English attempts at colonization in the New World failed embarrassingly. Notable of these failures was Sir Walter Raleigh and the Roanoke Island Colony, better known as “The Lost Colony.”
Seeking to get their revenge, Spain attacked Britain but lost in the Spanish Armada’s
defeat of 1588. This opened the door for Britain to cross the Atlantic.
They swarmed to America and took over the lead in colonization and
power.
Chapter 03 - Settling in the Northern Colonies
I. The Protestant Reformation Produces Puritanism
1517, Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door of the Wittenberg Cathedral. Luther had several explosive ideas including…
The Bible alone was the source of God’s word (not the Bible and the church or pope).
People are saved simply by faith in Christ alone (not by faith and good works).
His actions ignited the Protestant Reformation.
John Calvin preached Calvinism which stressed “predestination” (those going to Heaven or hell has already been determined by God).
Basic doctrines were stated in the 1536 document entitled Institutes of the Christian Religion.
Stated that all humans were weak and wicked.
Only the predestined could go to heaven, no matter what.
Calvinists were expected to seek “conversions,” signs that they
were one of the predestined, and afterwards, lead “sanctified lives.”
Calvinists are famous for working hard, dusk to dawn, to “prove” their worthiness.
The impact of Calvinism has been vividly stamped on the psyche of Americans, and been called the “Protestant Work Ethic”
In England, King Henry VIII was breaking his ties with the Holy Roman Catholic Church in the 1530s.
Some people, called Puritans, were influenced to totally reform (“purify”) the Church of England.
The Puritans
Believed that only “visible saints” should be admitted to church membership.
Separatists vowed to break away from the Church of England (AKA, the Anglican Church) because the “saints” would have to sit with the “damned.” These folks became the Pilgrims.
King James I, father of the beheaded Charles I,
harassed the Separatists out of England because he thought that if
people could defy him as their spiritual leader, they might defy him as
their political ruler.
II. The Pilgrims End Their Pilgrimage at Plymouth
The Pilgrims or Separatists, came from Holland, where they had fled to after they had left England.
They were concerned that their children were getting too “Dutchified.”
They wanted a place where they were free to worship their own religion and could live and die as good Pilgrims.
After negotiating with the Virginia Company, the Separatists left
Holland and sailed for 65 days at sea on the Mayflower until they
arrived off the rocky coast of New England in 1620, a trip in which
only one person died and one person was born.
Less than half of the pilgrims on the Mayflower were actually Separatists.
Contrary to myth, the Pilgrims undertook a few surveys before deciding to settle at Plymouth, an area far from Virginia.
The Pilgrims became squatters, people without legal right to land and without specific authority to establish government.
Captain Myles Standish (AKA, “Captain Shrimp”) proved to be a great Indian fighter and negotiator.
Before leaving the ship, the Pilgrims signed the Mayflower Compact, a set of rules by which to obey.
Though it wasn’t a constitution, it did set the standard for later
constitutions. It also set the first step toward self-rule in the
Northern colonies.
Chapter 05 - Colonial Society on the Eve of Revolution
I. Conquest by the Cradle
By 1775, Great Britain ruled 32 colonies in North America.
Only 13 of them revolted (the ones in what’s today the U.S.).
Canada and Jamaica were wealthier than the “original 13.”
All of them were growing by leaps and bounds.
By 1775, the population numbered 2.5 million people.
The average age was 16 years old (due mainly to having several children).
Most of the population (95%) was densely cooped up east of the
Alleghenies, though by 1775, some had slowly trickled into Tennessee
and Kentucky.
Chapter 06 - The Duel for North America
I. France Finds a Foothold in Canada
Like England and Holland, France was a latecomer in the race for colonies.
It was convulsed in the 1500s by foreign wars and domestic strife.
In 1598, the Edict of Nantes was issued, allowing limited toleration to the French Huguenots.
When King Louis XIV became king, he took an interest in overseas colonies.
In 1608, France established Quebec, overlooking the St. Lawrence River.
Samuel de Champlain, an intrepid soldier and explorer, became known as the “Father of New France.”
He entered into friendly relations with the neighboring Huron Indians and helped them defeat the Iroquois.
The Iroquois, however, did hamper French efforts into the Ohio Valley later.
Unlike English colonists, French colonists didn’t immigrate
to North America by hordes. The peasants were too poor, and the
Huguenots weren’t allowed to leave.
II. New France Fans Out
New France’s (Canada) one valuable resource was the beaver.
Beaver hunters were known as the coureurs de bois
(runners of the woods) and littered the land with place names,
including Baton Rouge (red stick), Terre Haute (high land), Des Moines
(some monks) and Grand Teton (big breasts).
The French voyageurs also recruited Indians to
hunt for beaver as well, but Indians were decimated by the white
man’s diseases, and the beaver population was heavily
extinguished.
French Catholic missionaries zealously tried to convert Indians.
To thwart English settlers from pushing into the Ohio Valley, Antoine Cadillac founded Detroit (“city of straits”) in 1701.
Louisiana was founded, in 1682, by Robert de LaSalle, to halt Spanish expansion into the area near the Gulf of Mexico.
Three years later, he tried to fulfill his dreams by returning, but
instead landed in Spanish Texas and was murdered by his mutinous men in
1687.
Chapter 09 - The Confederation and the Constitution
I. The Pursuit of Equality
The American Revolution was more of an accelerated evolution than a revolution.
However, the exodus of some 80,000 Loyalists left a great lack of conservatives.
This weakening of the aristocratic “upper crust” let Patriot elites emerge.
The fight for separation of church and state resulted in notable gains.
The Congregational church continued to be legally established (tax
supported) by some New England states, but the Anglican Church was
humbled and reformed as the Protestant Episcopal Church.
Slavery was a large, problematic issue, as the Continental Congress
of 1774 had called for the abolition of slavery, and in 1775, the
Philadelphia Quakers founded the world’s first antislavery
society.
This new spirit that “all men are created equal” even inspired a few slave owners to free their slaves.
Another issue was women. They still were unequal to men, even
though some had served (disguised as men) in the Revolutionary War.
There were some achievements for women such as New Jersey’s 1776 constitution which allowed women to vote (for a time).
Mothers devoted to their families were developed as an idea of
“republican motherhood” and elevated women to higher
statuses as keepers of the nation’s conscience. Women raised the
children and thereby held the future of the republic in their hands.
II. Constitution Making in the States
The Continental Congress of 1776 called upon colonies to draft new
constitutions (thus began the formation of the Articles of the
Confederation).
Chapter 11 - The Triumphs and Travails of Jeffersonian Republic
I. Federalist and Republican Mudslingers
In the election of 1800, the Federalists had a host of enemies stemming from the Alien and Sedition Acts.
The Federalists had been most damaged by John Adams’ not declaring war against France.
They had raised a bunch of taxes and built a good navy, and then
had not gotten any reason to justify such spending, making them seem
fraudulent as they had also swelled the public debt.
John Adams became known as “the Father of the American Navy.”
Federalists also launched attacks on Jefferson, saying that he had
robbed a widow and her children of a trust fund, fathered numerous
children with his slaves (which turned out to be true), called him an
atheist (he was a Deist), and used other inflammatory remarks.
II. The Jeffersonian “Revolution of 1800”
Thomas Jefferson won the election of 1800 by a majority of 73
electoral votes to 65, and even though Adams got more popular votes,
Jefferson got New York. But, even though Jefferson triumphed, in a
technicality he and Aaron Burr tied for presidency.
The vote, according to the Constitution, would now go to the Federalist-dominated House of Representatives.
Hateful of Jefferson, many wanted to vote for Burr, and the vote
was deadlocked for months until Alexander Hamilton and John Adams
persuaded a few House members to change their votes, knowing that if
the House voted for Burr, the public outcry would doom the Federalist
Party.
Chapter 13 - The Rise of Mass Democracy
I. The “Corrupt Bargain” of 1824
After the Era of Good Feelings, politics was transformed. The big
winner of this transformation was the common man. Specifically, the
common white man as universal white manhood suffrage (all white men
could vote) became the norm.
In the election of 1824, there were four towering candidates:
Andrew Jackson of Tennessee, Henry Clay of Kentucky, William H.
Crawford of Georgia, and John Q. Adams of Massachusetts.
All four called themselves Republicans.
Three were a “favorite son” of their respective region but Clay
thought of himself as a national figure (he was Speaker of the House
and author of the “American System”).
In the results, Jackson got the most popular votes and the most
electoral votes, but he failed to get the majority in the Electoral
College. Adams came in second in both, while Crawford was fourth in the
popular vote but third in the electoral votes. Clay was 4th in the
electoral vote.
Chapter 14 - Forging the National Economy (1790 - 1860)
I. The Westward Movement
The U.S. marched quickly toward the West which proved to be very hard with disease and loneliness.
Frontier people were individualistic, superstitious and ill-informed of current matters.
II. Shaping the Western Landscape
The westward movement molded the environment.
Tobacco overuse had exhausted the land forcing settlers to move on, but “Kentucky bluegrass” thrived.
Settlers trapped beavers, sea otters, and bison for fur to ship back East.
The spirit of nationalism led to an appreciation of the American wilderness.
Artist George Catlin pushed for national parks and later achieved it with Yellowstone in 1872.
III. The March of the Millions
In the mid-1800s, the population continued to double every 25 years.
By 1860, the original 13 states now had become 33 states; the
American population was 4th in the world (behind Russia, France,
Austria).
Urban growth continued explosively.
In 1790, only New York & Philadelphia had more than 20,000 people, but by 1860, 43 cities had.
With growth came poor sanitation ‡ later, sewage systems and piped-in water came about.
A high birthrate had accounted for population growth, but near 1850s, millions of Irish and German came.
They came due to a surplus population in Europe, but not all came to the U.S.
The appeal of the U.S. was for land, freedom from church, no aristocracy, 3 meat meals a day.
Also, transoceanic steamships were used meaning travel time dropped to 12 days and it was safer.
IV. The Emerald Isle Moves West
The Irish potato famine in the mid-1840s led to the death of 2 million and saw many flee to the U.S.
“Black Forties”—they mainly came to cities like Boston and especially New York (biggest Irish city).
They were illiterate, discriminated against by older Americans, and received lowest-paying jobs (railroad-building).
They were hated by Protestants because they’re Catholic.
Americans hated the Irish (such as “NINA”—No
Irish Need Apply); the Irish hated competition with blacks for the
low-paying jobs.
Chapter 16 - The South and the Slavery Controversy
I. “Cotton’s Is King!”
Before the 1793 invention of Eli Whitney’s cotton gin,
slavery was a dying business, since the South was burdened with
depressed prices, unmarketable goods, and over-cropped lands.
After the gin was invented, growing cotton became wildly profitable and easier, and more slaves were needed.
The North also transported the cotton to England and the rest of
Europe, so they were in part responsible for the slave trade as well.
The South produced more than half the world’s supply of
cotton, and held an advantage over countries like England, an
industrial giant, which needed cotton to make cloth, etc…
The South believed that since England was so dependent on them
that, if civil war was to ever break out, England would support the
South that it so heavily depended on.
II. The Planter “Aristocracy”
Chapter 17 - Manifest Destiny and Its Legacy
I. The Accession of “Tyler Too”
The Whig leaders, namely Henry Clay and Daniel Webster, had planned
to control newly elected President William H. Harrison, but their plans
hit a snag when he contracted pneumonia and died—only four weeks
after he came to the White House.
The new president was John Tyler, a Virginian gentleman who was a lone wolf.
He did not agree with the Whig party, since the Whigs were pro-bank
and pro-protective tariff, and pro-internal improvements, but hailing
from the South, he was not. Tyler was really more of a Democrat.
II. John Tyler: A President Without a Party
After their victory, the Whigs unveiled their platform for America:
Financial reform would come in the form of a law ending the independent treasury system; Tyler agreeably signed it.
A new bill for a new Bank of the U.S. was on the table, but Clay
didn’t try hard enough to conciliate with Tyler and get it
passed, and it was vetoed.
Whig extremists now started to call Tyler “his accidency.”
His entire cabinet resigned, except for Webster.
Also, Tyler vetoed a proposed Whig tariff.
The Whigs redrafted and revised the tariff, taking out the
dollar-distribution scheme and pushing down the rates to about the
moderately protective level of 1832 (32%), and Tyler, realizing that a
tariff was needed, reluctantly signed it.
III. A War of Words with England
At this time, anti-British sentiment was high because the
pro-British Federalists had died out, there had been two wars with
Britain, and the British travelers in America scoffed at the
“uncivilized” Americans.
Chapter 21 - The Furnace of Civil War
I. Bull Run Ends the “Ninety-Day War”
When President Abraham Lincoln called for 75,000 militiamen on
April 15, 1861, he and just about everyone else in the North expected a
swift war lasting about 90 days, with a quick suppression of the South
to prove the North’s superiority and end this foolishness.
On July 21, 1861, ill-trained Yankee recruits swaggered out toward
Bull Run to engage a smaller Confederate unit. They expected one big
battle and a quick victory for the war.
The atmosphere was like that of a sporting event, as spectators gathered in picnics to watch.
However, after initial success by the Union, Confederate
reinforcements arrived and, coupled with Stonewall Jackson’s line
holding, sent the Union soldiers into disarray.
The Battle of Bull Run showed the North that this would not be a
short, easy war and swelled the South’s already too-large ego.
II. “Tardy George” McClellan and the Peninsula Campaign
Later in 1861, command of the Army of the Potomac (name of the
Union army) was given to 34 year old General George B. McClellan, an
excellent drillmaster and organizer of troops, but also a perfectionist
who constantly believed that he was outnumbered, never took risks, and
held the army without moving for months before finally ordered by
Lincoln to advance.
Chapter 23 - Political Paralysis in the Gilded Age
I. The “Bloody Shirt” Elects Grant
The Republicans nominated Civil War General Ulysses S. Grant, who was a great soldier but had no political experience.
The Democrats could only denounce military Reconstruction and
couldn’t agree on anything else, and thus, were disorganized.
The Republicans got Grant elected (barely) by “waving the
bloody shirt,” or reliving his war victories, and used his
popularity to elect him, though his popular vote was only slightly
ahead of rival Horatio Seymour. Seymour was the Democratic candidate
who didn’t accept a redemption-of-greenbacks-for-maximum-value
platform, and thus doomed his party.
However, due to the close nature of the election, Republicans could not take future victories for granted.
II. The Era of Good Stealings
Despite the Civil War, the population still mushroomed, partially
due to immigration, but during this time, politics became very corrupt.
Railroad promoters cheated gullible customers.
Stock-market investors were a cancer in the public eye.
Too many judges and legislators put their power up for hire.
Two notorious millionaires were Jim Fisk and Jay Gould.
In 1869, the pair concocted a plot to corner the gold market that
would only work if the treasury stopped selling gold, so they worked on
President Grant directly and through his brother-in-law, but their plan
failed when the treasury sold gold.
The infamous Tweed Ring (AKA, “Tammany Hall) of NYC, headed
by “Boss” Tweed, employed bribery, graft, and fake
elections to cheat the city of as much as $200 million.
Tweed was finally caught when The New York Times secured evidence of his misdeeds, and later died in jail.
Samuel J. Tilden gained fame by leading the prosecution of Tweed,
and he would later use this fame to become the Democratic nominee in
the presidential election of 1876.
Thomas Nast, political cartoonist, constantly drew against Tammany’s corruption.
III. A Carnival of Corruption
Grant, an easy-going fellow, apparently failed to see the
corruption going on, even though many of his friends wanted offices and
his cabinet was totally corrupt (except for Secretary of State Hamilton
Fish), and his in-laws, the Dent family, were especially terrible.
The Credit Mobilier, a railroad construction company that paid
itself huge sums of money for small railroad construction, tarred
Grant.
Chapter 30 - The War to End Wars
I. War by Act of Germany
On January 22, 1917, Woodrow Wilson made one final, attempt to
avert war, delivering a moving address that correctly declared only a
“peace without victory” (beating Germany without
embarrassing them) would be lasting.
Germany responded by shocking the world, announcing that it would
break the Sussex pledge and return to unrestricted submarine warfare,
which meant that its U-boats would now be firing on armed and unarmed
ships in the war zone.
Wilson asked Congress for the authority to arm merchant ships, but a band of Midwestern senators tried to block this measure.
Then, the Zimmerman note was intercepted and published on March 1, 1917.
Written by German foreign secretary Arthur Zimmerman, it secretly
proposed an alliance between Germany and Mexico. It proposed that if
Mexico fought against the U.S. and the Central Powers won, Mexico could
recover Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona from the U.S.
The Germans also began to make good on their threats, sinking
numerous ships. Meanwhile, in Russia, a revolution toppled the tsarist
regime.
Chapter 33 - The Great Depression and the New Deal
I. FDR: A Politician in a Wheelchair
In 1932, voters still had not seen any economic improvement, and they wanted a new president.
President Herbert Hoover was nominated again without much vigor and
true enthusiasm, and he campaigned saying that his policies prevented
the Great Depression from being worse than it was.
The Democrats nominated Franklin Delano Roosevelt, a tall, handsome
man who was the fifth cousin of famous Theodore Roosevelt and had
followed in his footsteps.
FDR was suave and conciliatory while TR was pugnacious and confrontational.
FDR had been stricken with polio in 1921, and during this time, his wife, Eleanor, became his political partner.
Franklin also lost a friend in 1932 when he and Al Smith both sought the Democratic nomination.
Eleanor was to become the most active First Lady ever.
II. Presidential Hopefuls of 1932
In the campaign, Roosevelt seized the opportunity to prove that he
was not an invalid, and his campaign also featured an attack on
Hoover’s spending (ironically, he would spend even more during
his term).
Chapter 35 - America in World War II
I. The Allies Trade Space for Time
When Japan attacked the United States at Pearl Harbor, millions of
infuriated Americans, especially on the west coast, instantly changed
their views from isolationist to avenger.
However, America, led by the wise Franklin D. Roosevelt, resisted
such pressures, instead taking a “get Germany first”
approach to the war, for if Germany were to defeat Britain before the
Allies could beat Japan, there would be no stopping Hitler and his men.
Meanwhile, just enough troops would be sent to fight Japan to keep it in check.
America had the hardship of preparing for war, since it had been in
isolation for the preceding decades, and the test would be whether or
not it could mobilize quickly enough to stop Germany and make the world
safe for democracy (again).
II. The Shock of War
After the attack at Pearl Harbor, national unity was strong as steel, and the few Hitler supporters in America faded away.
Most of America’s ethnic groups assimilated even faster due
to WWII, since in the decades before the war, few immigrants had been
allowed into America.
Chapter 38 - The Stormy Sixties
I. Kennedy’s “New Frontier” Spirit
In 1960, young, energetic John F. Kennedy was elected as president
of the United States—the youngest man ever elected to that office.
The 1960s would bring a sexual revolution, a civil rights
revolution, the emergence of a “youth culture,” a
devastating war in Vietnam, and the beginnings of a feminist revolution.
JFK delivered a stirring inaugural address (“Ask not, what
your country can do for you…”), and he also assembled a
very young cabinet, including his brother, Robert Kennedy, as attorney
general.
Robert Kennedy tried to recast the priorities of the FBI, but was resisted by J. Edgar Hoover.
Business whiz Robert S. McNamara took over the Defense Department.
Early on, JFK proposed the Peace Corps, an army of idealist and
mostly youthful volunteers to bring American skills to underdeveloped
countries.
A graduate of Harvard and with a young family, JFK was very vibrant and charming to everyone.
II. The New Frontier at Home
Kennedy’s social program was known as the New Frontier, but
conservative Democrats and Republicans threatened to kill many of its
reforms.
Chapter 39 - The Stalemated Seventies
I. Sources of Stagnation
After the flurry of economic growth in the 1950s and 1960s, the U.S. economy grew stagnant in the 1970s. No year during that decade had a growth rate that matched any year of the preceding two decades.
Part of the slowdown was caused by more women and teens in the work force who typically had less skill and made less money than males, while deteriorating machinery and U.S. regulations also limited growth.
A large reason for the 1970s economic woes was the upward spiral of inflation.
Former President Lyndon B. Johnson’s spending on the Vietnam War and on his Great Society program also depleted the U.S. treasury, and this caused too much money in people’s hands and too little products to buy.
Also, since the U.S. did not continue advancing, Americans were caught by the Japanese and the Germans in industries that the U.S. had once dominated: steel, automobiles, consumer electronics.
II. Nixon “Vietnamizes” the War
Upon taking office, President Richard Nixon urged American’s to stop tearing each other apart and to cooperate.
He was very skilled in foreign affairs, and to cope with the Vietnam dilemma, he used a policy called “Vietnamization” in which 540,000 American troops would be pulled out of the Southeast Asian nation and the war would be turned back over to the Vietamese.
The South Vietnamese would slowly fight their own war, and the U.S. would only supply arms and money but not American troops; this was called the “Nixon Doctrine.”
While outwardly seeming to appease, Nixon divided America into his supporters and opponents.
Nixon appealed to the “Silent Majority,” Americans who supported the war, but without noise.
The war was fought generally by the lesser-privileged Americans, since college students and critically skilled civilians were exempt, and there were also reports of dissension in the army.
Soldiers slogged through grimy mud and jungle, trusting nothing and were paranoid and bitter toward a government that “handcuffed” them and a war against a frustrating enemy.
The My Lai Massacre of 1968, in which American troops brutally massacred innocent women and children in the village of My Lai, illustrated the frustration and led to more opposition to the war.
In 1970, Nixon ordered an attack on Cambodia, Vietnam’s neighbor.
III. Cambodianizing the Vietnam War
North Vietnamese had been using Cambodia as a springboard for funneling troops and arms along the Ho Chi Minh Trail, and on April 29, 1970, Nixon suddenly ordered U.S. troops to invade Cambodia to stop this.
Much uproar was caused, as riots occurred at Kent State University (where the National Guard opened fire and killed 4 people) and at Jackson State College.
Two months later, Nixon withdrew U.S. troops from Cambodia.
The Cambodian incident split even wider the gap beween the “hawks” and the “doves.”
The U.S. Senate repealed the Tonkin Gulf Resolution, and in 1971, the 26th Amendment, lowering the voting age to eighteen, was also passed.
In June 1971, The New York Times published a top-secret Pentagon study of America’s involvement of the Vietnam War—papers that had been leaked by Daniel Ellsberg, a former Pentagon official—these “Pentagon Papers” exposed the deceit used by the Kennedy and Johnson administrations regarding Vietnam and people spoke of a “credibility gap” between what the government said and the reality.
IV. Nixon’s Détente with Beijing (Peking) and Moscow
Meanwhile, China and the Soviet Union were clashing over their own interpretations of Marxism, and Nixon seized this as a chance for the U.S. to relax tensions and establish “détente.”
He sent national security adviser Dr. Henry A. Kissinger to China to encourage better relations, a mission in which he succeeded, even though he used to be a big anti-Communist.
Nixon then traveled to Moscow in May 1972, and the Soviets, wanting foodstuffs and alarmed over the possibility of a U.S.—China alliance against the U.S.S.R., made deals with America in which the U.S. would sell the Soviets at least $750 million worth of wheat, corn, and other cereals, thus ushering in an era of détente, or relaxed tensions.
The ABM Treaty (anti-ballistic missile treaty) and the SALT (Strategic Arms Limitation Talks) also lessened tension, but the U.S. also went ahead with its new MIRV (Multiple Independently-targeted Reentry Vehicles) missiles, which could overcome any defense by overwhelming it with a plethora of missiles; therefore, the U.S.S.R. did the same.
However, Nixon’s détente policy did work, at least in part, to relax U.S.—Soviet tensions.
V. A New Team on the Supreme Bench
When Earl Warren was appointed as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, he headed many controversial but important decisions:
Griswold v. Connecticut (1965) struck down a state law that banned the use of contraceptives, even by married couples, but creating a “right to privacy.”
Gideon v. Wainwright (1963) said that all criminals were entitled to legal counsel, even if they were too poor to afford it.
Escobedo (1964) and Miranda (1966) were two cases in which the Supreme Court ruled that the accused could remain silent.
Engel v. Vitale (1962) and School District of Abington Township vs. Schempp (1963) were two cases that led to the Court ruling against required prayers and having the Bible in public schools, basing the judgment on the First Amendment, which was argued separated church and state.
Following its ruling against segregation in the case Brown v. Board of Education, the Court backed up its ruling with other rulings:
Reynolds v. Sims (1964) ruled that the state legislatures, both upper and lower houses, would have to be reapportioned according to the human population. This was to ensure each person’s vote was weighed evenly.
Trying to end this liberalism, Nixon chose Warren E. Burger to replace the retiring Earl Warren in 1969, and this succeeded—by the end of 1971, the Supreme Court had four new members that Nixon had appointed.
Strangely though, this “conservative” court made the controversial Roe v. Wade decision allowing abortion.
VI. Nixon on the Home Front
Nixon also expanded Great Society programs by increasing appropriations for Medicare and Medicaid, as well as Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), and created the Supplemental Security Income (SSI), which gave benefits to the indigent, aged, blind, and disabled, and he raised Social Security.
Nixon’s so-called “Philadelphia Plan” of 1969 required construction-trade unions working on the federal payroll to establish “goals and timetables” for Black employees.
This plan changed “affirmative action” to mean preferable treatment on groups (minorities), not individuals, and the Supreme Court’s decision on Griggs v. Duke Power Co. (1971) supported this.
However, whites protested to “reverse discrimination” (hiring of minorities for fear of repercussions if too many whites were hired).
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was also created to protect nature, as well as OSHA, or the Occupational Health and Safety Administration.
In 1962, Rachel Carson boosted the environmental movement with her book Silent Spring, which exposed the disastrous effects of pesticides (namely, DDT), and in 1950, Los Angeles already had an Air Pollution Control Office.
The Clean Air Act of 1970 and the Endangered Species Act of 1973 both aimed to protect and preserve the environment and animals.
Worried about inflation, Nixon also imposed a 90-day wage freeze and then took the nation off the gold standard, thus ending the “Bretton Woods” system of international currency stabilization, which had functioned for more than a quarter of a century after WWII.
VII. The Nixon Landslide of 1972
In 1972, the North Vietnamese attacked again, surprisingly, and Nixon ordered massive retaliatory air attacks, which ground the Vietnamese offense to a stop when neither China nor Russia stepped in to help, thanks to Nixon’s shrew diplomacy.
Nixon was opposed by George McGovern in 1972, who promised to end the war within 90 days after the election and also appealed to teens and women, but his running mate, Thomas Eagleton was found to have undergone psychiatric care before, and Nixon won in a landslide.
Nixon also sought to “bomb Vietnam to the peace table.”
Despite Kissinger’s promise of peace being near, Nixon went on a bombing rampage that eventually drove the North Vietnamese to the bargaining table to agree to a cease-fire, which occurred on January 23, 1973
This peace was little more than a barely-disguised American retreat.
In the terms of the peace, the U.S. would withdraw its remaining 27,000 troops and get back 560 prisoners of war.
VIII. The Secret Bombing of Cambodia and the War Powers Act
It was then discovered that there had been secret bombing raids of North Vietnamese forces in Cambodia that had occurred since March of 1969, despite federal assurances to the U.S. public that Cambodia’s neutrality was being respected.
The public now wondered what kind of a government the U.S. had if it couldn’t be trusted and the credibility gap widened.
Finally, Nixon ended this bombing in June of 1973.
However, soon Cambodia was taken over by the cruel Pol Pot, who tried to commit genocide by killing over 2 million people over a span of a few years.
The War Powers Act of November 1973 (1) required the president to report all commitments of U.S. troops to Congress within 48 hours and and (2) setting a 60 day limit on those activities.
There was also a “New Isolationism” that discouraged the use of U.S. troops in other countries, but Nixon fended off all efforts at this.
IX. The Arab Oil Embargo and the Energy Crisis
After the U.S. backed Israel in its war against Syria and Egypt which had been trying to regain territory lost in the Six-Day War, the Arab nations imposed an oil embargo, which strictly limited oil in the U.S. and caused a fuel crisis.
A speed limit of 55 MPH was imposed, and the oil pipeline in Alaska was approved in 1974 despite environmentalists’ cries, and other types of energy were pursued.
Since 1948, the U.S. had been importing more oil than it exported, and oil production had gone down since 1970; thus, this marked the end of the era of cheap energy.
OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) lifted the embargo in 1974, and then quadrupled the price of oil by decade’s end.
X. Watergate and the Unmaking of a President
On June 17, 1972, five men working for the Republican Committee for the Re-election of the President (CREEP) were caught breaking into the Watergate Hotel and planting some bugs in the room.
What followed was a huge scandal in which many prominent administrators resigned.
It also provoked the improper or illegal use of the FBI and the CIA.
Lengthy hearings proceeded, headed by Senator Sam Erving, and John Dean III testified about all the corruption, illegal activities, and scandal that took place.
Then, it was discovered that there were tapes that had recorded conversations that could solve all the mysteries in this case. But Nixon, who had explicitly denied participation in this Watergate Scandal earlier to the American people, refused to hand over the tapes to Congress.
Also, Vice President Spiro Agnew was forced to resign in 1973 due to tax evasion.
Thus, in accordance with the new 25th Amendment, Nixon submitted a name to Congress to approve as the new vice president—Gerald Ford.
Then came the “Saturday Night Massacre” (Oct. 20, 1973), in which Archibald Cox, special prosecutor of the case who had issued a subpoena of the tapes, was fired and the attorney general and deputy general resigned because they didn’t want to fire Cox.
Nixon’s presidency was coming unraveled.
On July 24, 1974, the Supreme Court ruled that Nixon had to give all of his tapes to Congress.
The tapes that had already been handed over showed Nixon cursing and swearing—poor behavior for our president.
Late in July 1974, the House approved its first article of impeachment for obstruction of the administration of justice.
On August 5, 1974, Nixon finally released the three tapes that held the most damaging information—the same three tapes that had been “missing.” The tapes showed Nixon had indeed ordered a cover-up of the Watergate situation.
On August 8 of the same year, he resigned, realizing that he would be convicted if impeached, and with resignation, at least he could still keep the privileges of a former president.
Through it all, the lesson learned was that the Constitution indeed works.
XI. The First Unelected President
Gerald Ford was the first unelected president ever, since his name had been submitted by Nixon as a V.P. candidate when Spiro Agnew resigned due to a bribery scandal while he was Maryland governor. All the other V.P.’s that had ascended to the presidency had at least been supported as running mates of the president that had been elected.
He was also seen as a dumb jock of a president (he was a former Univ. of Michigan football player), and his popularity and respect further sank when he issued a full pardon of Nixon, thus setting off accusations of a “buddy deal.”
His popularity also declined when he granted amnesty to “draft dodgers” thus allowing them to return to the U.S. from wherever they’d run to (usually Canada or Europe).
In July 1975, Ford signed the Helsinki accords, which recognized Soviet boundaries, guaranteed human rights, and eased the U.S.—Soviet situation.
Critics charged that détente was making the U.S. lose grain and technology while gaining nothing from the Soviets.
XII. Defeat in Vietnam
Disastrously for Ford, South Vietnam fell to the communist North in 1975, and American troops had to be evacuated, the last on April 29, 1975, thus ending the U.S. role in Vietnam War.
America seemed to have lost the war, and it had also lost a lot of respect.
XIII. Feminist Victories and Defeats
During the 1970s, the feminist movement became energized and took a decidedly aggressive tone.
Title IX prohibited sex discrimination in any federally funded education program.
It’s largest impact was seen in the emergence of girls’ sports.
The Supreme Court entered the fray in the feminist movement.
The Court’s decisions challenged sex discrimination in legislation and employment.
The super-hot Roe v. Wade case legalized abortion, arguing that ending a pregnancy was protected under a right to privacy.
Even more ambitious was the ERA (Equal Rights Amendment) to the Constitution.
ERA sought to guarantee gender equality through words.
Phyllis Schlafly led other women against ERA. Schlafly said ERA advocates were, “bitter women seeking a constitutional cure for their personal problems.” She used the following arguments against the ERA amendment:
It would deprive a woman’s right to be a wife.
It would require women to serve in combat.
It would legalize homosexual marriage.
38 state legislatures adopted the amendment, 41 were necessary, and the ERA ended.
XIV. The Seventies in Black and White
Race was a burning issue, and in the 1974 Milliken v. Bradley case, the Supreme Court ruled that desegregation plans could not require students to move across school-district lines.
This reinforced the “white flight” to the suburbs that pitted the poorest whites and blacks against each other, often with explosively violent results.
Affirmative action, where minorities were given preference in jobs or school admittance, was another burning issue, but some whites used this to argue “reverse discrimination.”
In the Bakke case of 1978, the Supreme Court ruled 5 to 4 that Allan Bakke (a white applicant claiming reverse discrimination) should be admitted to U.C.—Davis med school. The decision was ambiguous saying (1) admission preference based on any race was not allowed, but conversely that (2) race could be factored into the admission policy.
The Supreme Court’s only black justice, Thurgood Marshall, warned that the denial of racial preferences might sweep away the progress gained by the civil rights movement.
XV. The Bicentennial Campaign and the Carter Victory
In 1976, Jimmy Carter barely squeezed by Gerald Ford (297 to 240) for president, promising to never lie to the American public. He also had Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress.
He capitalized on being a “Washington outsider,” and therefore untainted by the supposed corruption of D.C. (He’d previously been governor of Georgia.)
In 1978, Carter got an $18 billion tax cut for America, but the economy soon continued sinking.
Despite an early spurt of popularity, Carter soon lost it.
XVI. Carter’s Humanitarian Diplomacy
Carter was a champion for human rights, and in Rhodesia (later Zimbabwe) and South Africa, he championed for black rights and privileges.
On September 17, 1978, President Anwar Sadat of Egypt and Prime Minister Menachem Begin of Israel signed peace accords at Camp David.
Mediated by Carter after relations had strained, this was Carter’s greatest foreign policy success.
Israel agreed to withdraw from territory gained in the 1967 war, while Egypt would respect Israel’s territories.
In Africa, though, several Communist revolutions took place—not all successful, but disheartening and threatening still.
Carter also pledged to return the Panama Canal to Panama by the year 2000, and resumed full diplomatic relations with China in 1979.
XVII. Economic and Energy Woes
Inflation had been steadily rising, and by 1979, it was at a huge 13%. Americans would learn that they could no longer hide behind their ocean moats and live happily insulated from foreign affairs.
Carter diagnosed America’s problems as stemming primarily from the nation’s costly dependence on foreign oil, which was true.
He called for legislation to improve energy conservation, but the gas-guzzling American people, who had already forgotten about the long gas lines of 1973, didn’t like these ideas.
Energy problems escalated under Carter.
In, 1979, Iran’s shah Mohammed Reza Pahlevi, who had been installed by America in 1953 and had ruled his land as a dictator, was overthrown and succeeded by the Ayatollah Khomeini.
Iranian fundamentalists were very much against Western/U.S. customs, and Iran stopped exporting oil; OPEC also hiked up oil prices, thus causing another oil crisis.
In July 1979, Carter retreated to Camp David and met with hundreds of leaders of various things to advise and counsel him, then he came back on July 15, 1979 and chastised the American people for their obsession of material woes (“If it’s cold, turn down the thermostat and put on a sweater.”) This tough talking stunned the nation.
Then, a few days later, he fired four cabinet secretaries and tightened the circle around his Georgian advisors even more tightly.
XVIII. Foreign Affairs and the Iranian Imbroglio
Carter signed the SALT II agreements with Soviet Premier Leonid Brezhnev, but the U.S. Senate wouldn’t ratify it.
Then, on November 4, 1979, a bunch of anti-American Muslim militants stormed the U.S. embassy in Tehran and took the people inside hostage, demanding that the U.S. return the exiled shah who had arrived in the U.S. two weeks earlier for cancer treatments.
Then, in December 27, 1979, the U.S.S.R. invaded Afghanistan, which later turned into their version of Vietnam.
However, at the moment, their action threatened precious oil supplies.
Carter put an embargo on the Soviet Union and boycotted the Olympic games in Moscow.
He also proposed a “Rapid Deployment Force” that could respond to crises anywhere in the world in a quick manner.
President Carter and America fell into an Iran hostage mess.
The American hostages languished in cruel captivity while night TV news reports showed Iranian mobs burning the American flag and spitting on effigies of Uncle Sam.
At first Carter tried economic sanctions, but that didn’t work.
Later, he tried a daring commando rescue mission, but that had to be aborted, and when two military aircraft collided, eight of the would-be rescuers were killed.
It was a humiliating failure for the U.S. and for Carter especially.
The stalemated hostage situation dragged on for most of Carter’s term, and was never released until January 20, 1981—the inauguration day of Ronald Reagan.
Subject:
US History
Chapter 40 - The Resurgence of Conservatism
President Jimmy Carter’s administration seemed to be befuddled and bungling, since it could not control the rampant double-digit inflation or handle foreign affairs, and he would not remove regulatory controls from major industries such as airlines.
Late in 1979, Edward (Ted) Kennedy declared his candidacy for the Democratic nomination for 1980. But, he was hurt by his suspicious Chappaquiddick 1969 driving accident in when a young female passenger drowned and he delayed reporting the incident.
As the Democrats dueled it out, the Republicans chose conservative former actor Ronald Reagan, signaling the return of conservatism, since the average American was older than during the stormy sixties and was more likely to favor the right (conservatives).
New groups that spearheaded the “new right” movement included Moral Majority and other conservative Christian groups.
Ronald Reagan was a man whose values had been formed before the turbulent sixties, and Reagan adopted a stance that depicted “big government” as bad, federal intervention in local affairs as condemnable, and favoritism for minorities as negative.
He drew on the ideas of a group called the “neoconservatives,” a group that included Norman Podhortz, editor of Commentary magazine, and Irving Kristol, editor of Public Interest, two men who championed free-market capitalism.
Reagan had grown up in an impoverished family, become a B-movie actor in Hollywood in the 1940s, became president of the Screen Actors Guild, purged suspected “reds” in the McCarthy era, acted as spokesperson for General Electric, and become 3Californian governor.
Reagan’s photogenic personality and good looks on televised debates, as well as his attacks on President Carter’s problems, helped him win the election of 1980 by a landslide (489-49).
Also, Republicans regained control of the Senate.
Carter’s farewell address talked of toning down the nuclear arms race, helping human rights, and protecting the environment (one of his last acts in office was to sign a bill protecting 100 million acres of Alaskan land as a wildlife preserve).
II. The Reagan Revolution
Reagan’s inauguration day coincided with the release by the Iranians of their U.S. hostages, and Reagan also assembled a cabinet of the “best and brightest,” including Secretary of the Interior James Watt, a controversial man with little regard to the environment.
Watt tried to hobble the Environmental Protection Agency and permit oil drilling in scenic places, but finally had to resign after telling an insulting ethnic joke in public.
For over two decades, the government budget had slowly and steadily risen, much to the disturbance of the tax-paying public. By the 1980s, the public was tired of the New Deal and the Great Society programs’s costs and were ready to slash bills, just as Reagan proposed.
His federal budget had cuts of some $35 billion, and he even wooed some Southern Democrats to abandon their own party and follow him.
But on March 30, 1981, the president was shot and wounded by a deranged John Hinckley. He recovered in only twelve days, showing his devotion to physical fitness despite his age (near 70) and gaining massive sympathy and support.
III. The Battle of the Budget
Reagan’s budget was $695 billion with a $38 billion deficit. He planned cuts, and vast majority of budget cuts fell upon social programs, not on defense, but there were also sweeping tax cuts of 25% over three years.
The president appeared on national TV pleading for passage of the new tax-cut bill, and bolstered by “boll weevils,” or Democrats who defected to the Republican side, Congress passed it.
The bill used “supply side economics” or “Reaganomics” (policies favorable to businesses) to lower individual taxes, almost eliminate federal estate taxes, and create new tax-free savings plans for small investors.
However, this theory backfired as the nation slid into its worst recession since the Great Depression, with unemployment reaching nearly 11% in 1982 and several banks failing.
Critics (Democrats) yapped that Reagan’s programs and tax cuts had caused this mayhem, but in reality, it had been Carter’s “tight money” policies that had led to the recession, and Reagan and his advisors sat out the storm, waiting for a recovery that seemed to come in 1983.
However, during the 1980s, income gaps widened between the rich and poor for the first time in the 20th century (this was mirrored by the emergence of “yuppies”—Young Urban Professionals, very materialistic professionals). And it was massive military spending (a $100 billion annual deficit in 1982 and nearly $200 million annual deficits in the later years) that upped the American dollar. The trade deficit, also rose to a record $152 billion in 1987. These facts helped make America the world’s biggest borrowers.
IV. Reagan Renews the Cold War
Reagan took a get-tough stance against the USSR, especially when they continued to invade Afghanistan, and his plan to defeat the Soviets was to wage a super-expensive arms race that would eventually force the Soviets into bankruptcy and render them powerless.
He began this with his Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), popularly known as “Star Wars,” which proposed a system of lasers that could fire from space and destroy any nuclear weapons fired by Moscow before they hit America—a system that many experts considered impossible as well as upsetting to the “balance of terror” (don’t fire for fear of retaliation) that had kept nuclear war from being unleashed all these years. SDI was never built.
Late in 1981, the Soviets clamped down on Poland’s massive union called “Solidarity” and received economic sanctions from the U.S.
The deaths of three different aging Soviet oligarchs from 1982-85 and the breaking of all arms-control negotiations in 1983 further complicated dealings with the Soviets.
V. Troubles Abroad
Israel invaded Lebanon in 1982 to destroy guerilla bases, and the next year, Reagan sent U.S. forces as part of an international peace-keeping force. But, when a suicide bomber crashed a bomb-filled truck into U.S. Marine barracks on October 23, 1983 killing over 200 marines, Reagan had to withdraw the troops, though he miraculously suffered no political damage.
Afterwards, he became known as the “Teflon president,” the president to which nothing harmful would stick.
Reagan accused Nicaraguan “Sandinistas,” a group of leftists that had taken over the Nicaraguan government, of turning the country into a forward base from which Communist forces could invade and conquer all of Latin America.
He also accused them of helping revolutionary forces in El Salvador, where violence had reigned since 1979, and Reagan then helped “contra” rebels in Nicaragua fight against the Sandinistas.
In October 1983, Reagan sent troops to Grenada, where a military coup had killed the prime minister and brought communists to power. The U.S. crushed the communist rebels.
VI. Round Two for Reagan
Reagan was opposed by Democrat Walter Mondale and V.P. candidate Geraldine Ferraro, the first woman to appear on a major-party presidential ticket, but won handily.
Foreign policy issues dominated Reagan’s second term, one that saw the rise of Mikhail Gorbachev, a personable, energetic leader who announced two new Soviet policies: glasnost, or “openness,” which aimed to introduce free speech and political liberty to the Soviet Union, and perestroika, or “restructuring,” which meant that the Soviets would move toward adopting free-market economies similar to those in the West.
At a summit meeting at Geneva in 1985, Gorbachev introduced the idea of ceasing the deployment of intermediate-range nuclear forces (INF). At a second meeting at Reykjavik, Iceland, in November 1985, there was stalemate. At the third one in Washington D.C., the treaty was finally signed, banning all INF’s from Europe.
The final summit at Moscow saw Reagan warmly praising the Soviet chief for trying to end the Cold War.
Also, Reagan supported Corazon Aquino’s ousting of Filipino dictator, Ferdinand Marcos.
He also ordered a lightning raid on Libya, in 1986, in retaliation for Libya’s state-sponsored terrorist attacks, and began escorting oil tankers through the Persian Gulf during the Iran—Iraq War.
VII. The Iran-Contra Imbroglio
In November 1986, it was revealed that a year before, American diplomats led by Col. Olive North had secretly arranged arms sales to Iranian diplomats in return for the release of American hostages (at least one was) and had used that money to aid Nicaraguan contra rebels.
This brazenly violated the congressional ban on helping Nicaraguan rebels, not to mention Reagan’s personal vow not to negotiate with terrorists.
An investigation concluded that even if Reagan had no knowledge of such events, as he claimed, he should have. This scandal not only cast a dark cloud over Reagan’s foreign policy success, but also brought out a picture of Reagan as a somewhat senile old man who slept through important cabinet meetings.
Still, Reagan remained ever popular.
VIII. Reagan’s Economic Legacy
Supply-side economics claimed that cutting taxes would actually increase government revenue, but instead, during his eight years in office, Reagan accumulated a $2 trillion debt—more than all his presidential predecessors combined.
Much of the debt was financed by foreign bankers like the Japanese, creating fear that future Americans would have to work harder or have lower standards of living to pay off such debts for the United States.
Reagan did triumph in containing the welfare state by incurring debts so large that future spending would be difficult, thus prevent any more welfare programs from being enacted successfully.
Another trend of “Reaganomics” was the widening of the gap between the rich and the poor. The idea of “trickle-down economics” (helping the rich who own business would see money trickle down to working classes) seemed to prove false.
IX. The Religious Right
Beginning in the 1980s, energized religious conservatives began to exert their political muscle in a cultural war.
Rev. Jerry Falwell started the Moral Majority, consisting of evangelical Christians.
2-3 million registered as Moral Majority voters in its first two years.
Using the power of media, they opposed sexual permissiveness, abortion, feminism, and homosexuality.
In large part, the conservative movement of the 80s was an answer to the liberal movement of the 60s. The pendulum was swinging back.
Conservatives viewed America as being hijacked in the 60s by a minority of radicals with political aims; the conservatives saw themselves as taking back America.
X. Conservatism in the Courts
Reagan used the courts as his instrument against affirmative action and abortion, and by 1988, the year he left office, he had appointed a near-majority of all sitting federal judges.
Included among those were three conservative-minded judges, one of which was Sandra Day O’Connor, a brilliant Stanford Law School graduate and the first female Supreme Court justice in American history.
In a 1984 case involving Memphis firefighters, the Court ruled that union rules about job seniority could outweigh affirmative-action concerns.
In Ward’s Cove Packing v. Arizona and Martin v. Wilks, the Court ruled it more difficult to prove that an employer practiced discrimination in hiring and made it easier for white males to argue that they were victims of reverse-discrimination.
The 1973 case of Roe v. Wade had basically legalized abortion, but the 1989 case of Webster v. Reproductive Health Services seriously compromised protection of abortion rights.
In Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992), the Court ruled that states could restrict access to abortion as long as they didn’t place an “undue burden” on the woman.
XI. Referendum on Reaganism in 1988
Democrats got back the Senate in 1986 and sought to harm Reagan with the Iran-Contra scandal and unethical behavior that tainted an oddly large number of Reagan’s cabinet.
They even rejected Robert Bork, Reagan’s ultraconservative choice to fill an empty space on the Supreme Court.
The federal budget and the international trade deficit continued to soar while falling oil prices hurt housing values in the Southwest and damaged savings-and-loans institutions, forcing Reagan to order a $500 million rescue operation for the S&L institutions.
On October 19, 1987, the stock market fell 508 points, sparking fears of the end of the money culture, but this was premature.
In 1988, Gary Hart tried to get the Democratic nomination but had to drop out due to a sexual misconduct charge while Jesse Jackson assembled a “rainbow coalition” in hopes of becoming president. But, the Democrats finally chose Michael Dukakis, who lost badly to Republican candidate and Reagan’s vice president George Herbert Walker Bush, 112 to 426.
XII. George H. W. Bush and the End of the Cold War
Bush had been born into a rich family, but he was committed to public service and vowed to sculpt “a kindler, gentler America.”
In 1989, it seemed that Democracy was reviving in previously Communist hot-spots.
In China, thousands of democratic-seeking students protested in Tiananmen Square but they were brutally crushed by Chinese tanks and armed forces.
In Eastern Europe, Communist regimes fell in Poland (which saw Solidarity rise again), Hungary, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, and Romania.
Soon afterwards, the Berlin Wall came tumbling down.
In 1990, Boris Yeltsin stopped a military coup that tried to dislodge Gorbachev, then took over Russia when the Soviet Union fell and disintegrated into the Commonwealth of Independent States, of which Russia was the largest member. Thus, the Cold War was over.
This shocked experts who had predicted that the Cold War could only end violently.
Problems remained however, as the question remained of who would take over the U.S.S.R.’s nuclear stockpiles or its seat in the U.N. Security Council? Eventually, Russia did.
In 1993, Bush signed the START II accord with Yeltsin, pledging both nations to reduce their long-range nuclear arsenals by two-thirds within ten years.
Trouble was still present when the Chechnyen minority in Russia tried to declare independence and was resisted by Russia; that incident hasn’t been resolved yet.
Europe found itself quite unstable when the economically weak former communist countries re-integrated with it.
America then had no rival to guard against, and it was possible that it would revert back to its isolationist policies. Also, military spending had soaked up so much money that upon the end of the Cold War, the Pentagon closed 34 military bases, canceled a $52 billion order for a navy attack plane, and forced scores of Californian defense plants to shut their doors.
However, in 1990, South Africa freed Nelson Mandela, and he was elected president 4 years later.
Free elections removed the Sandinistas in Nicaragua in 1990, and in 1992, peace came to Ecuador at last.
XIII. The Persian Gulf Crisis
On August 2, 1990, Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein invaded oil-rich Kuwait with 100,000 men, hoping to annex it as a 19th province and use its oil fields to replenish debts incurred during the Iraq—Iran War, a war which oddly saw the U.S. supporting Hussein despite his bad reputation.
Saddam attacked swiftly, but the U.N. responded just as swiftly, placing economic embargoes on the aggressor and preparing for military punishment.
Fighting “Operation Desert Storm”
Some 539,000 U.S. military force members joined 270,000 troops from 28 other countries to attack Iraq in a war, which began on January 12, 1991, when Congress declared it.
On January 16, the U.S. and U.N. unleashed a hellish air war against Iraq for 37 days.
Iraq responded by launching several ultimately ineffective “scud” missiles at Saudi Arabia and Israel, but it had far darker strategies available, such as biological and chemical weapons and strong desert fortifications with oil-filled moats that could be lit afire if the enemy got too close.
American General Norman Schwarzkopf took nothing for granted, strategizing to suffocate Iraqis with an onslaught of air bombing raids and then rush them with troops.
On February 23, “Operation Desert Storm” began with an overwhelming land attack that lasted four days, saw really little casualties, and ended with Saddam’s forces surrender.
American cheered the war’s rapid end and well-fought duration and was relieved that this had not turned into another Vietnam, but Saddam Hussein had failed to be dislodged from power and was left to menace the world another day.
The U.S. found itself even more deeply ensnared in the region’s web of mortal hatreds.
XIV. Bush on the Home Front
President Bush’s 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act was a landmark law that banned discrimination against citizens with disabilities.
Bush also signed a major water projects bill in 1992 and agreed to sign a watered-down civil rights bill in 1991.
In 1991, Bush proposed Clarence Thomas (a Black man) to fill in the vacant seat left by retiring Thurgood Marshall (the first Black Supreme Court justice), but this choice was opposed by the NAACP since Thomas was a conservative and by the National Organization for Women (NOW), since Thomas was supposedly pro-abortion.
In early October 1991, Anita Hill charged Thomas with sexual harassment, and even though Thomas was still selected to be on the Court, Hill’s case publicized sexual harassment and tightened tolerance of it (Oregon’s Senator Robert Packwood had to step down in 1995 after a case of sexual harassment).
A gender gap arose between women in both parties.
In 1992, the economy stalled, and Bush was forced to break an explicit campaign promise (“Read my lips, no new taxes”) and add $133 billion worth of new taxes to try to curb the $250 billion annual budget.
When it was revealed that many House members had written bad checks from a private House “bank,” public confidence lessened even more.
The 27th Amendment banned congressional pay raises from taking effect until an election had seated a new session of Congress, an idea first proposed by James Madison in 1789.
Subject:
Chapter 41 - America Confronts the Post-Cold War Era
I. Bill Clinton: the First Baby-Boomer President
In 1992, the Democrats chose Bill Clinton as their candidate (despite accusations of womanizing, drug use, and draft evasion) and Albert Gore, Jr. as his running mate.
The Democrats tried a new approach, promoting growth, strong defense, and anticrime policies while campaigning to stimulate the economy.
The Republicans dwelt on “family values” and selected Bush for another round and J. Danforth Quayle as his running mate. They claimed that “character matters” and so Clinton and his baggage should not be elected.
Third party candidate Ross Perot added color to the election by getting 19,742,267 votes in the election (no electoral votes, though), but Clinton won, 370 to 168 in the Electoral College.
Democrats also got control of both the House and the Senate.
Congress and the presidential cabinet were filled with minorities and more women, including the first female attorney general ever, Janet Reno, Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna Shalala, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg in the Supreme Court
II. A False Start for Reform
Upon entering office, Clinton called for accepting homosexuals in the armed forces, but finally had to settle for a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that unofficially accepted gays and lesbians.
Clinton also appointed his wife, Hillary, to revamp the nation’s health and medical care system, and when it was revealed in October 1993, critics blasted it as cumbersome, confusing, and unpractical, thus suddenly making Hillary Rodham Clinton a liability whereas before, she had been a full, equal political partner of her husband.
By 1996, Clinton had shrunk the federal deficit to its lowest level in a decade, and in 1993, he passed a gun-control law called the Brady Bill, named after presidential aide James Brady who had been wounded in President Reagan’s attempted assassination.
In July 1994, Clinton persuaded Congress to pass a $30 billion anticrime bill.
During the decade, a radical Muslim group bombed the World Trade Center in New York, killing six. An American terrorist, Timothy McVeigh, bombed the federal building in Oklahoma in 1995, taking 169 lives. And a fiery standoff at Waco, Texas, between the government and the Branch Davidian religious cult ended in a huge fire that killed men, women, and children.
By this time, few Americans trusted the government, the reverse of the WWII generation.
III. The Politics of Distrust
In 1994, Newt Gingrich led Republicans on a sweeping attack of Clinton’s liberal failures with a conservative “Contract with America,” and that year, Republicans won all incumbent seats as well as eight more seats in the Senate and 53 more seats in the House. Gingrich became the new Speaker of the House.
However, the Republicans went too far, imposing federal laws that put new obligations on state and local governments without providing new revenues and forcing Clinton to sign a welfare-reform bill that made deep cuts in welfare grants.
Clinton tried to fight back, but gradually, the American public grew tired of Republican conservatism, such as Gingrich’s suggestion of sending children of welfare families to orphanages, and of its incompetence, such as the 1995 shut down of Congress due to a lack of a sufficient budget package.
In 1996, Clinton ran against Republican Bob Dole and won, 379 to 159, and Ross Perot again finished a sorry third.
IV. Clinton Again
| i don't know |
What nursery rhyme character “runs through the town, Up stairs and down stairs in his night-gown, Tapping at the window, crying at the lock, Are the children in their bed, for it’s past ten o’clock?” | Wee Willie Winkie - Scottish Children's Songs - Scotland - Mama Lisa's World: Children's Songs and Rhymes from Around the World
Wee Willie Winkie rins through the toun,
Up stairs and doon stairs in his nicht-goun,
Tirlin' at the window, cryin' at the lock,
"Are the a' the bairnies in their beds, it's noo past ten o'clock."
"Hey, Willie Winkie, are ye comin' ben?
The cat's singin' grey thrums to the sleepin' hen,
The dog's spelder'd on the floor, and disna gi'e a cheep,
But here's a waukrife laddie that winna fa' asleep!"
Onything but sleep, you rogue! glow'ring like the mune,
Rattlin' in an airn jug wi' an airn spune,
Rumblin', tumblin' round about, crawin' like a cock,
Skirlin' like a kenna-what, wauk'nin' sleepin' folk.
"Hey, Willie Winkie - the wean's in a creel!
Wambling aff a bodie's knee like a verra eel,
Ruggin' at the cat's lug, and ravelin' a' her thrums
Hey, Willie Winkie - see, there he comes!"
Wearit is the mither that has a stoorie wean,
A wee stumple stoussie, that canna rin his lane,
That has a battle aye wi' sleep before he'll close an ee
But a kiss frae aff his rosy lips gies strength anew to me.
Wee Willie Winkie
Wee Willie Winkie runs through the town,
Up stairs and down stairs in his night-gown,
Tapping at the window, crying at the lock,
"Are the children in their bed, for it's now past ten o'clock?"
"Hey, Willie Winkie, are you coming in?
The cat's singing purring to the sleeping hen,
The dog's spread out on the floor, and doesn't give a cheep,
But here's an insomniac boy who will not fall asleep!"
Anything but sleep, you rogue! glowering like the moon,
Rattling in an iron jug with an iron spoon,
Rumbling, tumbling round about, crowing like a cock,
Shrieking like I don't know what, waking sleeping folk.
"Hey, Willie Winkie - the child's in a basket!
Wriggling from everyone's knee like an eel,
Tugging at the cat's ear, and confusing all her purrs
Hey, Willie Winkie - see, there he comes!"
Weary is the mother who has a dusty child,
A small short child, who can't run on his own,
Who always has a battle with sleep before he'll close an eye
But a kiss from his rosy lips gives strength anew to me.
Wee Willie Winkie
Wee Willie Winkie rins through the toun,
Up stairs and doon stairs in his nicht-goun,
Tirlin' at the window, cryin' at the lock,
"Are the a' the bairnies in their beds, it's noo past ten o'clock."
"Hey, Willie Winkie, are ye comin' ben?
The cat's singin' grey thrums to the sleepin' hen,
The dog's spelder'd on the floor, and disna gi'e a cheep,
But here's a waukrife laddie that winna fa' asleep!"
Onything but sleep, you rogue! glow'ring like the mune,
Rattlin' in an airn jug wi' an airn spune,
Rumblin', tumblin' round about, crawin' like a cock,
Skirlin' like a kenna-what, wauk'nin' sleepin' folk.
"Hey, Willie Winkie - the wean's in a creel!
Wambling aff a bodie's knee like a verra eel,
Ruggin' at the cat's lug, and ravelin' a' her thrums
Hey, Willie Winkie - see, there he comes!"
Wearit is the mither that has a stoorie wean,
A wee stumple stoussie, that canna rin his lane,
That has a battle aye wi' sleep before he'll close an ee
But a kiss frae aff his rosy lips gies strength anew to me.
Wee Willie Winkie runs through the town,
Up stairs and down stairs in his night-gown,
Tapping at the window, crying at the lock,
"Are the children in their bed, for it's now past ten o'clock?"
"Hey, Willie Winkie, are you coming in?
The cat's singing purring to the sleeping hen,
The dog's spread out on the floor, and doesn't give a cheep,
But here's an insomniac boy who will not fall asleep!"
Anything but sleep, you rogue! glowering like the moon,
Rattling in an iron jug with an iron spoon,
Rumbling, tumbling round about, crowing like a cock,
Shrieking like I don't know what, waking sleeping folk.
"Hey, Willie Winkie - the child's in a basket!
Wriggling from everyone's knee like an eel,
Tugging at the cat's ear, and confusing all her purrs
Hey, Willie Winkie - see, there he comes!"
Weary is the mother who has a dusty child,
A small short child, who can't run on his own,
Who always has a battle with sleep before he'll close an eye
But a kiss from his rosy lips gives strength anew to me.
| Wee Willie Winkie |
What is the name of the stick used by a conductor to control an orchestra? | WEB's New York Times Crossword Solution @ NYTCrossword.com: 1009-12 New York Times Crossword Answers 9 Oct 12, Tuesday
1009-12 New York Times Crossword Answers 9 Oct 12, Tuesday
Solution to today's SYNDICATED New York Times crossword in all other publications
CROSSWORD SETTER: John Guzzetta
THEME: $20 … each of the theme answers related to a US $20 note:
20A. On the front : ANDREW JACKSON
27A. On the back : THE WHITE HOUSE
43A. On both sides : TWENTY DOLLARS
51A. 20-, 27- and 43-Across locale, in slang : DOUBLE SAWBUCK
COMPLETION TIME: 07m 49s
Across
5. Cold war inits. : CCCP
The acronym CCCP stands for "Сою́з Сове́тских Социалисти́ческих Респу́блик", which translates from Russian as the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the USSR.
The term "Cold War" was first used by the novelist George Orwell in a 1945 essay about the atomic bomb. Orwell described a world under threat of nuclear war as having a "peace that is no peace", in a permanent state of "cold war". The specific use of "cold war" to describe the tension between the Eastern bloc and the Western allies is attributed to a 1947 speech by Bernard Baruch.
15. Soothing plant : ALOE
Aloe vera has a number of alternate names that are descriptive of its efficacy as a medicine. These include the First Aid plant, Wand of Heaven, Silent Healer and Miracle Plant.
16. ___ Krishna : HARE
The Hare Krishna mantra dates back to the 15th century. It is a 16-word mantra that can be written as:
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna
Rama Rama Hare Hare
17. New Zealand native : MAORI
The Māori are the indigenous people of New Zealand. The Māori are eastern Polynesian in origin and began arriving in New Zealand relatively recently, starting sometime in the late 13th century. The word "māori" simply means "normal", distinguishing the mortal human being from spiritual entities.
20. On the front : ANDREW JACKSON
Like many of the earlier US presidents, Andrew Jackson was a career military man. Jackson distinguished himself as commander of American forces during the War of 1812, particularly in the defense of New Orleans. He had a reputation of being fair to his troops, but strict. It was during this time that he was described as "tough as old hickory", giving rise to the nickname "Old Hickory" that stuck with him for life.
27. On the back : THE WHITE HOUSE
Did you know that the White House was designed by an Irishman? James Hoban from County Kilkenny emigrated to the US in his twenties, and won the design competition for the White House in 1792.
32. Buenos ___ : AIRES
Buenos Aires is the capital of Argentina, located on the estuary of the Ria de la Plata. As a port city, the people of Buenos Aires are known as porteños ("people of the port").
34. ___ of Sharon : ROSE
Rose of Sharon is a name given to several species of flowering plants.
42. Common blockage locale : SINUS
In anatomical terms a sinus is a cavity in tissue. Sinuses are found all over the body, in the kidney and heart for example, but we most commonly think of the paranasal sinuses that surround the nose.
43. On both sides : TWENTY DOLLARS
Today’s US twenty-dollar bill features Andrew Jackson on the front, and has done so since 1928. Jackson’s image replaced Grover Cleveland at that time, and there doesn’t seem to be any record documenting why the change was made.
49. "I kiss'd thee ___ I kill'd thee": Othello : ERE
"I kissed thee ere I killed thee, no way but this, Killing myself, to die upon a kiss." is a line from Shakespeare’s “Othello”. The words are spoken by Othello as he kisses his murdered wife, and then takes his own life.
50. Kind of scan : CAT
A CT (or "CAT") scan produces (via computer manipulation) a three dimensional image of the inside of an object, usually the human body. It does so by taking a series of two dimensional x-ray images while rotating the camera around the patient. The issue with CT scans is that they use x-rays, and high doses of radiation can be harmful causing damage that is cumulative over time. An MRI on the other hand (Magnetic Resonance Imaging), uses powerful magnetic fields to generate its images so there is no exposure to ionizing radiation (such as X-rays). We used MRI equipment in our chemistry labs at school, way back in the days when the technology was still called Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Imaging (NMRI). Apparently the marketing folks didn't like the term "nuclear" because of its association with atomic bombs, so now it's just called MRI.
51. 20-, 27- and 43-Across locale, in slang : DOUBLE SAWBUCK
"Sawbuck" is slang for a ten dollar bill. The term was applied to the bill as the Roman numeral X (ten) resembles the end of sawhorse.
57. Gang woman : MOLL
The slang term “moll” is a used for the female companion of a gangster. “Moll” is short for “Molly”, which is a nickname for “Mary”. In 17th century England a moll was a prostitute.
58. Macaroni, e.g. : TUBES
In many cases, the name given to a type of pasta comes from its shape. The name macaroni, however, comes from the type of dough used to make the noodle. Here in the US macaroni is usually elbow-shaped tubes, but it doesn’t have to be.
61. And others: Abbr. : ET AL
Et alii (et al.) is the equivalent of et cetera (etc.), with et cetera being used in place of a list of objects, and et alii used for a list of names. In fact "et al." can stand for et alii (for a group of males, or males and females), aliae (for a group of women) and et alia (for a group of neuter nouns, or for a group of people where the intent is to retain gender-neutrality).
66. Horse-pulled cart : DRAY
A dray is a side-less, 4-wheeled cart used for hauling goods.
Down
2. Santa ___ : ANA
Santa Ana is the county seat of Orange County, California and takes its name from the Santa Ana River that runs through the city. The Santa Ana winds are the very dry air currents that sweep offshore late in the year in Southern California. Because these air currents are so dry, they are noted for their influence over forest fires in the area, especially in the heat of the fall. The winds arise from a buildup of air pressure in the Great Basin that lies between the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada. Under the right conditions, that air spills over the peaks of the Sierra Nevada and basically "falls" down the side of the Sierra range, heading for the ocean. As the air falls it becomes drier and heats up, so that relative humidity can fall to below 10% by the time it hits the coast.
4. Alpine lake : TARN
A tarn is a mountain lake that has been formed by glacial excavation.
6. Something of interest to Miss Marple : CLEW
“Clew” is a variant of “clue” that was once used in Britain.
Miss Jane Marple is a much-loved character in detective stories penned by Agatha Christie. Miss Marple has been played by a number of excellent actresses on the large and small screens, but my favorite has to be Margaret Rutherford. Rutherford starred in very light comedic “Miss Marple” films that were very popular, although Christie herself didn’t care for them at all.
8. Antifur org. : PETA
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is a very large animal rights organization, with 300 employees and two million members and supporters worldwide. Although the group campaigns for animal rights across a broad spectrum of issues, it has a stated focus in opposition of four practices:
- factory farming
- use of animals in entertainment
10. CBS series for 17 seasons : LASSIE
We owe the character Lassie to one Eric Knight who wrote a short story that he expanded into a novel called "Lassie Come Home", published in 1940. "Lassie Come Home" was turned into a movie three years later, the first of a very successful franchise. The original Lassie (a female) was played by a dog called Pal, a male dog. In fact, all of the dogs that played Lassie over the years were males because they looked better on camera, retaining a thick coat even during the summer months.
11. The Hunter : ORION
The very recognizable constellation of Orion is of course named after the Greek God Orion, the Hunter. If you take a look at the star in Orion's "right shoulder", the second brightest star in the constellation, you might notice that it is quite red in color. This is the famous star called Betelgeuse, a red supergiant, a huge star that is on its way out. Betelgeuse is expected to explode into a supernova within the next thousand years or so. You don't want to miss that ...
12. Jack's purchase in a children's story : BEANS
“Jack and the Beanstalk” is a fairy tale from England. In the story, young Jack sells the family cow for some magic beans. He plants the beans and a massive beanstalk grows up into the sky. At the top of the beanstalk there lives an ogre. Jack climbs the beanstalk and adventures ensue …
14. C, D and EEE : WIDTHS
C, D and EEE are shoe widths.
21. Le ___ Soleil : ROI
Louis XIV is perhaps the most famous of the kings ("rois") of France and was known as the "Sun King" (le Roi Soleil"). Louis XIV was king from 1638 to 1715, a reign of over 72 years and the longest reign of any European monarch.
22. Mötley ___ : CRUE
Mötley Crüe is an American rock band, from Los Angeles. They've been around since 1981, co-founded by the famous drummer Tommy Lee. Tommy Lee is also known for his two celebrated marriages, the first with Heather Locklear and the second with Pamela Anderson. The name “Mötley Crüe” was chosen as the band members were called a “motley looking crew”. The spelling was made to look a little more exotic, with the umlauts added over the “o” and “u” one day as the band was drinking bottles of Löwenbräu beer.
23. White dwarf, e.g. : STAR
A white dwarf is a star at the end of its life. As such, a white dwarf is very compact, perhaps with the mass of our Sun yet only the size of the Earth.
24. The Allegheny and Monongahela join to form it : OHIO
The Ohio River is formed in Pittsburgh where the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers meet. The Ohio empties into the Mississippi near the city of Cairo, Illinois.
28. Like Willie Winkie : WEE
“Wee Willie Winkie” is a nursery rhyme from Scotland that starts out:
Wee Willie Winkie runs through the town,
Up stairs and down stairs in his night-gown,
Tapping at the window, crying at the lock,
Are the children in their bed, for it's past ten o'clock?
31. Hockey defender Bobby : ORR
Bobby Orr is regarded as one of the greatest hockey players who ever played the game. By the time he retired in 1978, Orr had undergone over a dozen knee surgeries. At 31 years of age, he concluded that he just couldn't skate anymore. Reportedly, he was even having trouble walking ...
41. Whimper : MEWL
To mewl is to cry weakly, like a baby, with the word being somewhat imitative.
42. Miss Marple, e.g. : SLEUTH
The word "sleuth" came in to English from Old Norse as far back as 1200 when it meant the "track or trail of a person". In the mid-1800s, a sleuthhound described a keen investigator, a hound close on the trail of the suspect. Sleuthhound was shortened to "sleuth" and was used for a detective in general.
43. Winner of 1948 : TRUMAN
Harry Truman wanted to go to West Point having served with the Missouri Army National Guard on active duty in WWI, but he couldn't get in because of his poor eyesight. He didn't have the money to pay for college anywhere else. He did manage to study for two years towards a law degree at the Kansas City Law School in the twenties, but he never finished his schooling. So, Harry S. Truman was the last US President (out of a list of ten) who did not have a college degree.
45. Iguana feature : DEWLAP
Dewlap is that flap of skin that hangs below the neck of some creatures. Dewlaps are found on anything from dogs to iguanas.
48. A FedEx driver may have one : ROUTE
FedEx began operations in 1973 as Federal Express, but now operates very successfully under it's more catchy abbreviated name. Headquartered in Memphis with its "SuperHub" at Memphis International Airport, FedEx is the world's largest airline in terms of tons of freight flown. And due to the presence of FedEx, Memphis Airport has the largest-volume cargo operation of any airport worldwide.
52. Arab ruler : EMIR
An emir is a prince or chieftain, most notably in the Middle East. In English, “emir” can also be written as “amir” and “ameer” (watch out for those spellings in crosswords!).
54. Naughty Goose and Moose Drool : ALES
Naughty Goose is a brown ale made by Goose Island Brewery located in Chicago, Illinois.
Moose Drool and Trout Slayer are two beers brewed by Big Sky Brewing Company in Missoula, Montana. Moose Drool is the most popular "crafted" beer consumed in the state.
59. Cy Young's was 2.63, in brief : ERA
Cy Young was a pitcher in the major leagues from 1890-1911. Young is remembered for pitching the first perfect game of baseball's modern era. Soon after he died in 1955, the Cy Young Award was created and is presented to the best pitcher in each baseball season.
For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Shooter through whitewater rapids : RAFT
5. Cold war inits. : CCCP
9. Neatnik's opposite : SLOB
13. Visitor for the holidays, maybe : IN-LAW
15. Soothing plant : ALOE
17. New Zealand native : MAORI
18. Minor collision reminder : DENT
19. Wall Street Journal ___ : ASIA
20. On the front : ANDREW JACKSON
23. Habitual drunk : SOT
25. Ship unit or shipping unit : TON
26. Plow driver's handful : REINS
27. On the back : THE WHITE HOUSE
32. Buenos ___ : AIRES
33. Greedy person's demand : MORE
34. ___ of Sharon : ROSE
37. Immediately, on a memo : ASAP
41. Converge : MEET
42. Common blockage locale : SINUS
43. On both sides : TWENTY DOLLARS
47. Symbol on a "This way" sign : ARROW
49. "I kiss'd thee ___ I kill'd thee": Othello : ERE
50. Kind of scan : CAT
51. 20-, 27- and 43-Across locale, in slang : DOUBLE SAWBUCK
56. Boneheaded : DUMB
1. Air balls miss it : RIM
2. Santa ___ : ANA
3. People in 1-Acrosses, e.g. : FLOATERS
4. Alpine lake : TARN
6. Something of interest to Miss Marple : CLEW
7. "And" or "or": Abbr. : CONJ
8. Antifur org. : PETA
9. Drinks with straws : SHAKES
10. CBS series for 17 seasons : LASSIE
11. The Hunter : ORION
12. Jack's purchase in a children's story : BEANS
14. C, D and EEE : WIDTHS
21. Le ___ Soleil : ROI
23. White dwarf, e.g. : STAR
24. The Allegheny and Monongahela join to form it : OHIO
28. Like Willie Winkie : WEE
29. Evacuate : EMPTY
31. Hockey defender Bobby : ORR
35. Egg layer : HEN
36. For the present : YET
37. Feel unwell : AIL
38. Establishment that might sell 9-Down and 53-Downs : SNACK BAR
39. Glow : AURA
| i don't know |
Maybe she’s born with it. Maybe it’s? | Maybe She's Born With It? Maybe its HALLOWEEN!!!! - YouTube
Maybe She's Born With It? Maybe its HALLOWEEN!!!!
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Uploaded on Feb 10, 2011
Please watch: "MAKEUP TRENDS THAT NEED TO DIE IN 2017!!!!"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKwz2...
-~-~~-~~~-~~-~-
Maybelline Eraser Foundation. I'm trying to find something nice to say about this but i can't! From the texture to the applicator - its just horrible horrible horrible! What can i say - i'm hard to please ;)
Category
| Maybelline |
May 24, 1941 saw the birth, in Duluth MN, of one Robert Allen Zimmerman, who has spent the last 50 years entertaining us under what name? | Maybelline Ask Her Age Commercial (1993) - YouTube
Maybelline Ask Her Age Commercial (1993)
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Uploaded on Jan 24, 2011
"Who do they think they're fooling? EVERYONE."
Maybe she's born with it. Maybe it's Maybelline. Or maybe it's sexist, makeup company drivel preying on the insecurities of early-nineties America.
No, you're right, it's Maybelline.
Hey! Are you looking for the video still for the subliminal ghost-woman? Check it out here:
| i don't know |
Which actor, born in Winterset, Iowa on May 26th, 1907, holds the record as the actor with the most leading parts, with142? | John Wayne Net Worth 2017-2016, Biography, Wiki - UPDATED! - Celebrity Net Worth
He was booed while visiting soldiers in Burma and China during World War II.
2
In 2014 Marc Eliot's book "American Titan: Searching for John Wayne" alleged that Wayne deliberately avoided enlisting in the armed forces during World War II because he was afraid it would end the affair he was having with Marlene Dietrich. He also feared military service might end his career as he would be too old to be "an action-oriented leading man". Wayne used an old shoulder injury as an excuse, although it had never impacted his movie work as a stuntman.
3
Shortly before he began filming Legend of the Lost (1957) Wayne was devastated when the US government sided with the Soviet Union during the Suez Crisis, and took no action in response to the Soviet invasion of Hungary. Wayne believed Richard Nixon learned from the mistakes of November 1956 to correctly handle the Yom Kippur War in 1973.
4
By the beginning of 1978 Wayne had become so disappointed with the direction of the United States under Jimmy Carter that he considered moving to Mexico. His son Michael Wayne managed to dissuade him from this.
5
Often billed as 6'4", although Wayne said his exact height was 6'3 3/4".
6
Is portrayed by David James Elliott in Trumbo (2015).
7
Wayne's name consistently came up over the years for proposals that he portray WWII General George S. Patton. Through the 1950's studios proposed films about Patton, but Patton's family objected to such projects and objected to Wayne specifically. In the mid 1960's he was director 'Michael Anderson''s choice to play Patton in a Columbia Pictures epic, "16th of December: The Battle of the Bulge", which had the blessing of Eisenhower and the Defence Department, but the project was abandoned after Warner Brothers appropriated the title Battle of the Bulge (1965) for a generic war film with Henry Fonda. Finally Wayne was considered in the role for Patton (1970) ultimately played by George C. Scott, turning it down at one point, a decision he reportedly later regretted.
8
Per Ben Mankiewicz with Turner Classic Movies, in his early years he would have coffee in the studio cafeteria with Wyatt Earp who served as technical advisor for several cowboy movies. Wayne later claimed his portrayals of cowboys and Western lawmen were based on these conversations with Wyatt Earp.
9
When wife Chata charged that Wayne had had affairs with Gail Russell and Marlene Dietrich in their divorce proceedings, the actor countered that Nicky Hilton had become a constant house-guest of Chata's.
10
According to many members of the "John Wayne Stock Company"--the informal name of a group of actors and friends that Wayne often used in his films, including Harry Carey Jr.--Wayne's rolling walk was copied from Carey's father, actor Harry Carey.
11
In April 2014, he was honored as Turner Classic Movie's Star of the Month.
12
Was the acting mentor to actor James Arness.
13
Longtime friend of Harry Morgan.
15
In the DVD documentary for 1941 (1979), Steven Spielberg says he first met Wayne at the memorial service for Joan Crawford. The two became friends and Spielberg offered the role of Gen. Joseph W. Stilwell to Wayne. He sent Wayne the script and got a call back the same day, criticizing Spielberg for making a film that Wayne felt was anti-American. The two remained friends and never discussed the film again. Spielberg says that later on Wayne pitched him a script idea about a camel race in Morocco starring Wayne and long-time friend and co-star Maureen O'Hara. Spielberg says it sounded like a good idea. However, Wayne later passed away and the film was never made.
16
In 1959 he was considered for the role of the sergeant in a film that director Samuel Fuller wanted to make about his war experiences, "The Big Red One". When the film was finally made in 1980, The Big Red One (1980), the role went to Lee Marvin after Fuller asked that Wayne be replaced so as not to overshadow his film's story.
17
According to Mel Brooks in his commentary of Blazing Saddles (1974), he wanted Wayne as The Waco Kid. Wayne told Brooks that he thought the script was "funny as hell", but turned it down because he feared the role would have been detrimental to his persona.
18
Aa a young man, Ethan Wayne was never allowed to leave the house without carrying cards that his father had autographed to hand out to fans.
19
He appeared in at least one film for every year from 1926-76, a record of 51 consecutive years. He did not act in a movie in 1975, though both Brannigan (1975) and Rooster Cogburn (1975) were released in that year.
20
Great Western Savings erected a bronze statue by Harry Jackson of Wayne on a horse at its headquarters in Beverly Hills. Although the building was later bought by Larry Flynt, the statue still stands at its original location.
21
He considered Maureen O'Hara one of his best friends; over the years he was more open to her than anyone. When asked about her he always replied, "The greatest guy I ever knew." They were friends for 39 years, from 1940 until his death in 1979. Today she is considered by many to be his best leading lady; they starred in five films together. She refers to a wing in her home as the "John Wayne Wing".
22
Visited Stepin Fetchit in hospital in 1976 after the actor had suffered a stroke which ended his career.
23
Was a heavy smoker. After he died of lung cancer, his son made a point not to license footage of him smoking cigarettes. An exception was made for a scene in Thank You for Smoking (2005), a satire of the tobacco industry.
24
On Monday, May 18th, 1953, during divorce proceedings from his second wife Esperanza Baur, Wayne's annual gross income was publicly revealed to be $502,891.
25
In his later years Wayne lived near Newport Beach, just south of Los Angeles, where he had a beach house and a yacht, "The Wild Goose". His house has been torn down, but The Wild Goose sails on. It's now a tour boat offering dinner cruises to Wayne fans young and old alike. Originally a decommissioned Navy minesweeper, it was rebuilt and customized by Wayne as a yacht; the custom interior has polished wood almost everywhere you look. It was there that in his later years he often entertained, hosting card games with his good friends Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr. and other name stars of the time.
26
Wayne was asked to be the running mate for Alabama Governor George Wallace, who was running for the US presidency on a segregationist ticket in 1968, but Wayne vehemently rejected the offer and actively campaigned for Richard Nixon. He addressed the Republican National Convention on its opening day in August 1968.
27
After leaving the stage, during 1979's Academy Awards ceremony, he was greeted by his old pal Sammy Davis Jr., who gave him a big bear hug. Davis later told a friend he regretted hugging Wayne so hard in his fragile condition, but he was told that "Duke Wouldn't have missed that hug for anything" (the idea of the 125-pound Davis worrying about hugging him "too hard" was a sad commentary on Wayne's failing health).
28
Allegedly gave Sammy Davis Jr. the first cowboy hat he ever wore in a film.
29
Actors Steve McQueen, Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis and Chuck Norris all cited Wayne as a huge influence on them, both professionally and personally. Like Wayne, each man rose to fame playing men of heroic action. Also, like Wayne, each man is a supporter of conservative causes and the Republican party, the exception being McQueen who, although a lifelong Republican, died in 1980.
30
His first wife Josephine Alicia Saenz died of cancer in 2003, at the age of 94.
31
Michael Caine recalled in his 1992 autobiography "What's It All About?" that Wayne gave him two pieces of advice when they first met in Hollywood early in 1967. Firstly, on acting, Wayne told him, "Talk low, talk slow, and don't talk too much." Then Wayne added, "And never wear suede shoes. One time I was taking a piss when a guy next to me turned round and said, 'John Wayne!', and pissed all over my shoes.".
32
He very much wanted the role of Wild Bill Hickok in The Plainsman (1936), which he felt certain would make him a star, but director Cecil B. DeMille wanted Gary Cooper instead.
33
His father died of a heart attack in March 1937.
34
Spoilers: Of the near 200 films Wayne made, he died in only eight: Reap the Wild Wind (1942) (octopus attack), The Fighting Seabees (1944) (gunshot/explosion), Wake of the Red Witch (1948) (drowning), Sands of Iwo Jima (1949) (gunshot wounds), The Alamo (1960) (lance/explosion), The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) (natural causes), The Cowboys (1972) (gunshot wounds) and The Shootist (1976) (shotgun wounds). His fate in The Sea Chase (1955) is undetermined - he may have died when his ship sank, or he (and Lana Turner) may have made it to shore.
35
During his career his movies grossed an estimated half a billion dollars worldwide.
36
The Shootist (1976) is widely considered the best final film by any major star, rivaled only by Clark Gable's role in The Misfits (1961) and Henry Fonda's role in On Golden Pond (1981).
37
His Oscar win for True Grit (1969) was widely seen as more of a lifetime achievement award, since his performance had been criticized as over-the-top and hammy. In his Reader's Digest article on Wayne from October 1979, Ronald Reagan wrote that the award was both in recognition of his whole career, and to make up for him not receiving nominations for Red River (1948), She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949) and The Searchers (1956).
38
On Wednesday, January 25th, 1950, he became the 125th star to put his hand and footprints outside of Grauman's Chinese Theatre.
39
Actor and later California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger cited Wayne as a role model from his childhood.
40
In the late 1970s Wayne made a series of commercials for the Great Western Savings Bank in Los Angeles. The day after the first one aired, a man walked into a GW Bank branch in West Hollywood with a suitcase, asked to see the bank manager, and when he was shown to the manager's desk, he opened up the suitcase to reveal $500,000 in cash. He said, "If your bank is good enough for John Wayne, it's good enough for me." He had just closed his business and personal accounts at a rival bank down the street and walked to the GW branch to open accounts there because John Wayne had endorsed it.
41
Voice actor Peter Cullen based the voice of his most famous character, heroic Autobot leader Optimus Prime from Transformers (2007), on the voice of John Wayne.
42
He was a member of the National Rifle Association (NRA).
43
Prior to making The Big Trail (1930), director Raoul Walsh told Wayne to take acting lessons. Wayne duly took three lessons, but gave up when the teacher told him he had no talent.
44
He has 25 appearances in the Top 10 at the US Box Office: 1949-1957 and 1959-1974.
45
Ranked #11 in the 100 Most Influential People in the History of the Movies, according to the authors of the Film 100 Web site.
46
Often stated how he wished his first Oscar nomination had been for She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949) instead of Sands of Iwo Jima (1949).
47
After undergoing major lung surgery in 1964, Wayne would sometimes have to use an oxygen mask to breathe for the rest of his life. An oxygen tank was always kept in his trailer on locations. His breathing problems were particularly severe on airplanes, and while filming True Grit (1969) and Rooster Cogburn (1975), due to the high altitude. No photographs were allowed to be taken by the press of the veteran star breathing through an oxygen mask.
48
On 20 August 2007, the Republican Governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger and First Lady Maria Shriver announced that Wayne will be inducted into the California Hall of Fame located at The California Museum for History, Women and the Arts in Sacramento on 5 December 2007.
49
In 1962 he was paid a record $250,000 for four days work on The Longest Day (1962), and in the following year he was paid the same amount for two days work on The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965).
50
Suffered a stroke in 1974, which is why he can be seen talking out the side of his mouth in Brannigan (1975) and Rooster Cogburn (1975).
51
Bought a 135-foot yacht called "The Wild Goose" in 1962. Wayne agreed to make Circus World (1964), a film he hated, just so he could sail the vessel to Europe.
52
The Governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, issued a proclamation making 26 May 2007 "John Wayne Day" in California.
53
In the mid-1930s Wayne was hired by Columbia Pictures to make several westerns for its "B" unit. Columbia chief Harry Cohn, a married man, soon got the idea that Wayne had made a pass at a Columbia starlet with whom Cohn was having an affair. When he confronted Wayne about it Wayne denied it, but Cohn called up executives at other studios and told them that Wayne would show up for work drunk, was a womanizer and a troublemaker and requested that they not hire him. Wayne didn't work for several months afterward, and when he discovered what Cohn had done, he burst into Cohn's office at Columbia, grabbed him by the neck and threatened to kill him. After he cooled off he told Cohn that "as long as I live, I will never work one day for you or Columbia no matter how much you offer me." Later, after Wayne had become a major star, he received several lucrative film offers from Columbia, including the lead in The Gunfighter (1950), all of which he turned down cold. Even after Cohn died in 1958, Wayne still refused to entertain any offers whatsoever from Columbia Pictures, including several that would have paid him more than a a million dollars.
54
He had intended to make a trilogy of films featuring the character Rooster Cogburn, but the third film was canceled after Rooster Cogburn (1975) proved to be only a moderate hit at the box office. The third film was intended to be called "Sometime".
55
At one time Wayne was considered for Rock Hudson's role as rancher Bick Benedict in George Stevens's epic western Giant (1956).
56
Fittingly, Wayne was buried in Orange County, the most Republican district in the United States. The conservative residents admired Wayne so much that they named their international airport after him. It is about four miles from the cemetery where he is buried.
57
During the 1968 presidential election Wayne narrated a television advertisement vilifying the Democratic candidate Hubert H. Humphrey. The commercial was so controversial that the Republican National Committee had to stop it being shown, following thousands of complaints.
58
Broke his leg while filming Legend of the Lost (1957).
59
He regarded Rio Bravo (1959) as the film marking his transition into middle age. At 51 Wayne was starting to get overweight and he believed he was too old to play the romantic lead any more. His last four movies since The Searchers (1956) had been unsuccessful, and he felt the only way to keep audiences coming was to revert to playing "John Wayne" in every film.
60
Robert Aldrich, then president of the Directors Guild of America, stated in support of awarding the Congressional Gold Medal to Wayne in 1979: "It is important for you to know that I am a registered Democrat and, to my knowledge, share none of the political views espoused by Duke. However, whether he is ill- disposed or healthy, John Wayne is far beyond the normal political sharp-shooting in this community. Because of his courage, his dignity, his integrity, and because of his talents as an actor, his strength as a leader, his warmth as a human being throughout his illustrious career, he is entitled to a unique spot in our hearts and minds. In this industry, we often judge people, sometimes unfairly, by asking whether they have paid their dues. John Wayne has paid his dues over and over, and I'm proud to consider him a friend, and am very much in favor of my Government recognizing in some important fashion the contribution that Mr. Wayne has made.".
61
He was badly sunburnt while filming 3 Godfathers (1948) and was briefly hospitalized.
62
In his will were instructions that, because of his suffering from lung cancer, no film of him smoking should ever be shown again. The director of Thank You for Smoking (2005), Jason Reitman, had to petition Wayne's family in order to allow him to use a scene from Sands of Iwo Jima (1949), in which Wayne's character, Sgt. Striker, survives the battle only to be killed by a sniper after lighting a cigarette. After showing them the script and describing to them what the movie was about the family agreed to allow the scene to be shown.
63
He lost the leading role in The Gunfighter (1950) to Gregory Peck because of his refusal to work for Columbia Pictures after Columbia chief Harry Cohn had mistreated him years before as a young contract player (Cohn had heard a rumor, which turned out to be untrue, that Waynel was pursuing a young starlet that Cohn was already having an affair with, and had him blackballed among the other Hollywood studios). Cohn had bought the _"The Gunfighter" project specifically with Wayne in mind for it, but Wayne's grudge was too deep, and Cohn sold the script to Twentieth Century-Fox, which cast Peck in the role Wayne badly wanted but refused to bend for. When the Reno Chamber of Commerce named Peck the top western star for 1950 and presented him with the Silver Spurs award, an angry Wayne said, "Well, who the hell decided that you were the best cowboy of the year?". Wayne also reportedly turned down the lead in "Twelve O'Clock High," which also became an iconic part for Peck.
64
Along with Humphrey Bogart, Wayne was regarded as the heaviest smoker in Hollywood, sustaining five packs of unfiltered Camels until his first battle with cancer in 1964. While recovering from losing his lung he began to chew tobacco, and then he started smoking cigars.
65
Lauren Bacall once recalled that while Wayne hardly knew her husband Humphrey Bogart at all, he was the first to send flowers and good wishes after Bogart was diagnosed with esophageal cancer in January 1956.
66
During the early 1960s Wayne traveled extensively to Panama. During this time, the star reportedly purchased the island of Taborcillo off the main coast of Panama. It was sold by his estate after his death and changed many hands before being opened as a tourist attraction.
67
In 1965, after his battle with lung cancer, Wayne moved out of Hollywood to Newport Beach, where he lived until his death 14 years later. His house was demolished after he died.
68
At the Memorial Day finale at Knott's Berry Farm in Anaheim in 1964, Wayne and Rock Hudson flanked Ronald Reagan as the future President led 27,000 Goldwater enthusiasts in a roaring Pledge of Allegiance.
69
Campaigned for Gerald Ford in the 1976 presidential election.
70
Was a member of the conservative John Birch Society.
71
Wayne did not serve during World War II. Knee injuries he received in college kept him from running the distances required by military standards.
72
After he finally won the Best Actor Oscar for True Grit (1969) his career declined. Chisum (1970), seemingly having little to do with Wayne, was released to mixed reviews and moderate business. Rio Lobo (1970) received very poor critical reception and proved to be a commercial disappointment. Big Jake (1971), pumped up with graphic action scenes and plenty of humor, made twice as much money as either of the previous two films. However, The Cowboys (1972) struggled to find an audience when first released, despite the fact that it received positive reviews and featured a very different performance from Wayne as an aging cattleman. The Train Robbers (1973) was largely forgettable and Cahill U.S. Marshal (1973) garnered him his worst reviews since The Conqueror (1956). His attempts to emulate Clint Eastwood as a tough detective were generally ridiculed due to his age, increasing weight and the predictable nature of the plots. McQ (1974) was only a moderate success and Brannigan (1975), although it was a better picture, made even less money. A sequel to True Grit (1969) titled Rooster Cogburn (1975), co-starring Katharine Hepburn, was critically reviled, but managed to be a minor hit. For the first time Wayne gave serious thought to retirement; however, he was able to make one final movie, a stark story of a gunfighter dying of cancer called The Shootist (1976) which, although Wayne received some of the best reviews of his career, struggled to get its money back.
73
Eventually the line between his personal views and his screen image blurred beyond recognition. His active membership in right-wing political organizations like the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals allowed him to use his celebrity to further causes he deemed worthy. In the 1950s he joined Walt Disney, Clark Gable, James Stewart and other entertainers to aid the House Un-American Activities Committee in ferreting out alleged Communists working in the film industry. He began hand-picking roles and financing the production of certain films, like Big Jim McLain (1952), which fit his strong anti-Communist political beliefs. These "message films" would often cost him, both personally and professionally; he lost a small fortune on the Vietnam War film The Green Berets (1968), allowing an errant sense of patriotism to oversimplify the story of soldiers conducting covert military actions in Southeast Asia. As TV images exposed the horrors of battle to Americans, the film's romantic portrait of "gung-ho" optimism was often cited as an example of how completely out of touch Wayne and many of his conservative colleagues were with the complexities of the conflict.
74
His TV appearances in the late 1960s showed that Wayne had overcome his indifference to television. In addition to appearing on The Dean Martin Show (1965), The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour (1969), he became a semi-regular visitor to Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (1967), often good-naturedly spoofing his macho image and even dressing up as The Easter Bunny in a famous 1972 episode.
75
Directed most of Big Jake (1971) himself because director George Sherman, an old friend from Wayne's days at Republic, was in his mid-60s and ill at the time, and not up to the rigors of directing an action picture in the wilds of Mexico, where much of the film was shot. Wayne refused to take co-director credit.
76
Announced his intention to campaign for Senator Barry Goldwater in the 1964 presidential election after Goldwater had voted against the Civil Rights Act. However, Wayne was unable to do so when he was diagnosed with lung cancer in August of that year, and forced to undergo major surgery in the next month.
77
His great-nephew Tommy Morrison was diagnosed with HIV in 1996.
78
Campaigned for Sam Yorty in the 1969 election for Mayor of Los Angeles.
79
In 1960 Frank Sinatra hired a blacklisted screenwriter, Albert Maltz, to write an anti-war screenplay for a film to be called "The Execution of Private Slovik", based on a William Bradford Huie book about the only US soldier to be executed for desertion during World War II. Wayne, who had actively supported the Joseph McCarthy anti-Communist witch hunts for nearly 20 years, recalled, "When I heard about it, I was so goddamn mad I told a reporter, 'I wonder how Sinatra's crony, Senator John F. Kennedy, feels about Sinatra hiring such a man'. The whole thing became a minefield . . . I heard that Kennedy put pressure on Frank and he had to back down . . . He ended up paying Maltz $75,000 not to write the goddamn thing". The film wasn't made for another 14 years (The Execution of Private Slovik (1974)).
80
In 1967 Wayne wrote to Democratic President Lyndon Johnson requesting military assistance for his pro-war film about Vietnam. Jack Valenti told the President, "Wayne's politics are wrong, but if he makes this film he will be helping us." Wayne got enough firepower to make The Green Berets (1968), which became one of the most controversial movies of all time.
81
In 1975, for the first time since his arrival in Hollywood 47 years earlier, he did not act in any movies. Production began in January of the following year for his last, The Shootist (1976).
82
After Ronald Reagan's election as Governor of California in 1966, Wayne was exiting a victory celebration when he was asked by police not to leave the building - a mob of 300 angry anti-war demonstrators were waiting outside. Instead of cowering indoors, Wayne confronted the demonstrators head on. When protesters waved the Viet Cong flag under his nose, Wayne grew impatient. "Please don't do that fellows," Duke warned the assembled. "I've seen too many kids your age wounded or dead because of that flag. So I don't take too kindly to it." The demonstrators persisted, so he chased a group of them down an alley.
83
Pilar Wayne wrote in her book "My Life with The Duke": "Duke always said family came first, career second, and his interest in politics third. In fact, although he loved the children and me, there were times when we couldn't compete with his career or his devotion to the Republican Party.".
84
Although he actively supported Ronald Reagan's failed bid for the Republican presidential nomination in 1976, Wayne paid a visit to the White House as a guest of President Jimmy Carter for his inauguration. "I'm pleased to be present and accounted for in this capital of freedom to witness history as it happens - to watch a common man accept the uncommon responsibility he won 'fair and square' by stating his case to the American people - not by bloodshed, be-headings, and riots at the palace gates. I know I'm a member of the loyal opposition - accent on the loyal. I'd have it no other way.".
85
While filming True Grit (1969), Wayne was trying to keep his weight off with drugs - uppers for the day, downers to sleep at night. Occasionally, he got the pills mixed up, and this led to problems on a The Dean Martin Show (1965) taping in 1969. Instead of taking an upper before leaving for the filming, he took a downer - and was ready to crash by the time he arrived on the set. "I can't do our skit," Wayne reportedly told Martin when it was time to perform. "I'm too doped up. Goddamn, I look half smashed!" Naturally, Martin didn't have a problem with that. "Hell, Duke, people think I do the show that way all the time!" The taping went on as scheduled.
86
In 1920, lived at 404 N. Isabel Street, Glendale, California, according to U.S. Census.
87
Listed in the 1910 U.S. Census as Marion R. Morrison, living with his parents in Madison, Iowa.
88
Wayne nearly got into a fight with British film critic Barry Norman on two occasions, both times over politics. In November 1963, on the set of Circus World (1964), the two had a serious argument over Barry Goldwater's presidential campaign. Nearly six years later, while Wayne was promoting True Grit (1969), the two nearly came to blows on a train over the Vietnam War. Despite this, Norman wrote favorably of Wayne as an actor in his book "The Hollywood Greats" (1986).
89
Wayne was buried in secret and the grave went unmarked until 1999, in case Vietnam War protesters desecrated the site. Twenty years after his death he finally received a headstone made of bronze which was engraved with a quotation from his infamous Playboy interview.
90
Some of his films during the mid-1950s were less successful, forcing Wayne to work with pop singers in order to attract young audiences. He acted alongside Ricky Nelson in Rio Bravo (1959), Frankie Avalon in The Alamo (1960) and Fabian in North to Alaska (1960).
91
Worked with Robert Mitchum's youngest son Christopher Mitchum in three films, Chisum (1970), Rio Lobo (1970) and Big Jake (1971). Wayne had intended on Christopher becoming part of his regular stock company of supporting actors, but fell out with him in 1973 in an argument over politics. Wayne told him, "I didn't know you was a pinko.".
92
Had plastic surgery to remove the lines around his eyes in 1969, which left him with black eyes and forced him to wear dark glasses for two weeks. He also had surgery to remove the jowls around his mouth.
93
Gave the eulogy at the funerals of Ward Bond, John Ford and Howard Hawks.
94
Directed most of The Comancheros (1961) because credited director Michael Curtiz was dying of cancer and was often too ill to work. Wayne refused to be credited as a co-director.
95
In his films Wayne often surrounded himself with a group of friends/fellow actors (often unknown names but recognized faces), such as Ward Bond, Jim Hutton, Bruce Cabot, Ben Johnson, Edward Faulkner, Jay C. Flippen, Richard Boone, Chuck Roberson and his son, Patrick Wayne.
96
Cited as America's favorite movie star in a Harris Poll conducted in 1995.
97
After his third wife Pilar Wayne left him in 1973, Wayne became (happily) involved with his secretary Pat Stacy for the remaining six years of his life.
98
Barry Goldwater visited the set of Stagecoach (1939) during filming. They had a long friendship and in 1964 Wayne helped in Goldwater's presidential campaign.
99
His image appeared on a wide variety of products including: 1950 popcorn trading cards given at theaters, 1951 Camel cigarettes, 1956 playing cards, Whitman's Chocolates and - posthumously - Coors beer. The money collected on the Coors beer cans with his image went to the John Wayne Cancer Institute. One of the most unusual was as a puppet on H.R. Pufnstuf (1969), who also put out a 1970 lunch box with his image among the other puppet characters.
100
"The Greatest Cowboy Star of All Time" was the caption to a series of comic books dedicated to him. The "John Wayne Adventure Comics" were first published in 1949.
101
When he was honored with a square at the Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood the sand used in the cement was brought in from Iwo Jima, in honor of his film Sands of Iwo Jima (1949).
102
Produced and starred in a 1940s radio show about an alcoholic detective titled "Three Sheets to the Wind".
103
In 1973 he was honored with the Veterans of Foreign Wars highest award
The National Americanism Gold Medal.
104
Honored with an Army RAH-66 helicopter, named "The Duke". Many people attended the naming ceremony in Washington, DC, on May 12, 1998, including his children and grandchildren, congressmen, the president of the USO Metropolitan Washington, dignitaries and many military personnel. His eldest son Michael Wayne said at the ceremony, "John Wayne loved his country and he loved its traditions".
105
Re-mortgaged his house in Hollywood in order to finance The Alamo (1960). While the movie was a success internationally, it lost him a great deal of money personally. For the next four years he had to make one film after another, including The Longest Day (1962), for which he was paid $250,000 for four days work. By early 1962 his financial problems were resolved.
106
Although media reports suggested he was to attend Elvis Presley's funeral in August 1977, Wayne didn't show up for it. Presley had once been considered for Glen Campbell's role in True Grit (1969).
107
Separated from his wife Pilar Wayne in 1973, though they never divorced. When Louis Johnson, his business partner, sold all of their holdings in Arizona, The 26 Bar Ranch and the Red River Land and Cattle Company, Wayne's children got one half of it, $24,000,000. Pilar had already been taken care of at their separation.
108
Offered Charlton Heston the roles of Jim Bowie and Col. William Travis in The Alamo (1960), saying the young actor would be ideal for either part. Heston declined the offer because he did not want to be directed by Wayne, and because he feared the critical response to the ideologically conservative movie. Wayne intended the epic to be an allegory for America's Cold War with the Soviet Union.
109
In the final years of his life, with the resignation of President Richard Nixon and the end of the Vietnam War, Wayne's political beliefs appeared to have moderated. He attended the inauguration of President Jimmy Carter on 20 January 1977, and along with his fellow conservative James Stewart he could be seen applauding Jane Fonda at AFI Life Achievement Award: A Tribute to Henry Fonda (1978). Later in 1978, Wayne uncharacteristically sided with the Democrats and President Carter against his fellow conservative Republicans over the issue of the Panama Canal, which Wayne believed belonged to the people of Panama and not the United States of America.
110
In 1971 Wayne and James Stewart were traveling to Ronald Reagan's second inauguration as Governor of California when they encountered some anti-war demonstrators with a Vietcong flag. Stewart's stepson Ronald had been killed in Vietnam in 1969. Wayne walked over to speak to the protesters and within minutes the flag had been lowered.
111
Despite his numerous anti-gay remarks in interviews over the years, Wayne co-starred with Rock Hudson in The Undefeated (1969), even though he knew of the actor's homosexuality. In this Civil War epic, the champion of political conservatism worked well with and even became good friends with Hudson, Hollywood's gayest (although it wasn't publicly known at the time) leading man.
112
During the Vietnam War he was highly critical of teenagers who went to Europe to dodge the draft, calling them "cowards", "traitors" and "communists".
113
Allegedly thrust his Best Actor Oscar for True Grit (1969) to Richard Burton at the The 42nd Annual Academy Awards (1970), telling the Welsh actor, "You should have this, not me."
114
His image was so far-reaching that when Emperor Hirohito visited America in 1975, he asked to meet the veteran star. Wayne was quoted in the Chicago Sun Times as saying, "I must have killed off the entire Japanese army."
115
Producer-director Robert Rossen offered the role of Willie Stark in All the King's Men (1949) to Wayne. Rossen sent a copy of the script to Wayne's agent, Charles K. Feldman, who forwarded it to Wayne. After reading the script, Wayne sent it back with an angry letter attached. In it, he told Feldman that before he sent the script to any of his other clients, he should ask them if they wanted to star in a film that "smears the machinery of government for no purpose of humor or enlightenment", that "degrades all relationships", and that is populated by "drunken mothers; conniving fathers; double-crossing sweethearts; bad, bad, rich people; and bad, bad poor people if they want to get ahead." He accused Rossen of wanting to make a movie that threw acid on "the American way of life." If Feldman had such clients, Wayne wrote that the agent should "rush this script . . . to them." Wayne, however, said to the agent that "you can take this script and shove it up Robert Rossen's derrière." Wayne later remarked that "to make Huey Long a wonderful, rough pirate was great, but, according to this picture, everybody was shit except for this weakling intern doctor who was trying to find a place in the world." Broderick Crawford, who had played a supporting role in Wayne's Seven Sinners (1940), eventually got the part of Stark. In a bit of irony, Crawford was Oscar-nominated for the part of Stark and found himself competing against Wayne, who was nominated the same year for Sands of Iwo Jima (1949). Crawford won the Best Actor Oscar, giving Rossen the last laugh.
116
In December 1978, just a month before he was diagnosed with stomach cancer, he joined Bob Hope and Johnny Carson in offering his services to speak out publicly against government corruption, poverty, crime and drug abuse.
117
While visiting the troops in Vietnam in June 1966, a bullet struck Wayne's bicycle. Although he was not within 100 yards of it at the time, the newspapers reported he had narrowly escaped death at the hands of a sniper.
118
Due to his political activism, in 1968 Wayne was asked to be the segregationist Governor of Alabama George Wallace's running mate in that year's presidential election. Wayne's response made headlines: "Wayne Wallace candidates? Wayne SAID 'B------t!'", as if he was shouting to the reporters.
119
By the early 1960s, 161 of his films had grossed $350 million, and he had been paid as much as $666,000 to make a movie.
120
In 1971, owing to the success of Big Jake (1971), he was #1 at the US box office for the last time.
121
Wayne denounced the subject of homosexuality in Tennessee Williams' Suddenly, Last Summer (1959) as "too disgusting even for discussion"--even though he had not seen it and had no intention of seeing it. "It is too distasteful," he claimed, "to be put on a screen designed to entertain a family, or any member of a decent family." He considered the youth-oriented, anti-establishment film Easy Rider (1969) and Midnight Cowboy (1969), which to his dismay won the Best Picture Oscar in 1970, as "perverted" films. Especially when early in "Midnight Cowboy" Jon Voight dons his newly acquired Western duds and, posing in front of a mirror, utters the only words likely to come to mind at the moment one becomes a cowboy: "John Wayne!" Wayne told Playboy magazine, "Wouldn't you say that the wonderful love of these two men in 'Midnight Cowboy', a story about two fags, qualifies as a perverse movie?".
122
Wayne appeared in a very uncomplimentary light in the Public Enemy song "Fight the Power," from the 1990 album "Fear of a Black Planet". Wayne has frequently come under fire for racist remarks he made about black people and Native American Indians in his infamous Playboy magazine interview from May 1971. He was also criticized for supporting Senator Barry Goldwater in the 1964 presidential election, after Goldwater had voted against the Civil Rights Act, and for supporting segregationist former Alabama governor George Wallace during his presidential campaign in 1968.
123
As a member of the conservative Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals, Wayne gave himself the role of super-personnel chief - ostensibly acting on behalf of political virtue, in "reviewing" the hiring of writers, actors and technicians with known or suspected left-wing sympathies.
124
In a 1960 interview Wayne criticized the homosexual themes of Suddenly, Last Summer (1959) and They Came to Cordura (1959).
125
Was named the #1 box office star in North America by Quigley Publications, which has published its annual Top 10 Poll of Money-Making Stars since 1932. In all, the Duke was named to Quigley Publications' annual Top 10 Poll a record 25 times. (Clint Eastwood, with 25 appearances in the Top 10, is #2, and Wayne's contemporary Gary Cooper, with 18 appearances, is tied for #3 with Tom Cruise.) Wayne had the longest ride on the list, first appearing on it in 1949 and making it every year but one (1958) through 1974. In four of those years he was No. 1.
126
Ranked in the top four box office stars, as ranked by Quigley Publications' annual poll of the Top Ten Money Making Stars, an astounding 19 times from 1949 to 1972. (Only Clint Eastwood, with 21 appearances in the Top 10 to the Duke's 25, has been in the Top 10, let alone the top four, more times.) He made the top three a dozen times, the top two nine times, and was the #1 box office champ four times (1950, '51, '54 and 1971).
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Although it has often been written that Wayne was dying of cancer when he made The Shootist (1976), his final film, this is not actually true. Following the removal of his entire left lung in 1964, he was cancer-free for the next 12 years. It wasn't until Christmas 1978 that he fell seriously ill again, and in January of the following year the cancer was found to have returned.
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On Friday, January 12th, 1979, Wayne entered hospital for gall bladder surgery, which turned in a nine and a half hour operation when doctors discovered cancer in his stomach. His entire stomach was removed. On May 2nd, Wayne returned to the hospital, where the cancer was found to have spread to his intestines. He was taken to the 9th floor of the UCLA Medical Center, where President Jimmy Carter visited him, and Queen Elizabeth II sent him a get well card. He went into a coma on Sunday, June 10th, 1979, and died at 5:35 P.M., in the late afternoon the next day, Monday, June 11th, 1979.
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During a visit to London in January 1974 to appear on The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour (1969) and Parkinson (1971), Wayne caught pneumonia. For a 66-year-old man with one lung this was very serious, and eventually he was coughing so hard that he damaged a valve in his heart. This problem went undetected until March 1978, when he underwent emergency open heart surgery in Boston. Bob Hope delivered a message from the The 50th Annual Academy Awards (1978), saying, "We want you to know Duke, we miss you tonight. We expect you to amble out here in person next year, because there is nobody who can fill John Wayne's boots." According to Loretta Young, that message from Hope made Wayne determined to live long enough to attend the Oscars in 1979.
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Wayne tried not to make films that exploited sex or violence, deploring the vulgarity and violence in Rosemary's Baby (1968), which he saw and did not like, and A Clockwork Orange (1971) or Last Tango in Paris (1972) which he had no desire to see. He thought Deep Throat (1972) was repulsive - "after all, it's pretty hard to take your daughter to see it." And he refused to believe that Love Story (1970) "sold because the girl went around saying 'shit' all the way through it." Rather, "the American public wanted to see a little romantic story." He took a strong stance against nudity: "No one in any of my pictures will ever be served drinks by a girl with no top to her dress." It was not sex per se he was against. "Don't get me wrong. As far as a man and a woman are concerned, I'm awfully happy there's a thing called sex," he said, "It's an extra something God gave us, but no picture should feature the word in an unclear manner." He therefore saw "no reason why it shouldn't be in pictures," but it had to be "healthy, lusty sex."
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Wayne's westerns were full of action but usually not excessively violent. "Fights with too much violence are dull," claimed Wayne, insisting that the straight-shooting, two-fisted violence in his movies have been "sort of tongue-in-cheek." He described the violence in his films as "lusty and a little humorous," based on his belief that "humor nullifies violence." His conservative taste deplored the increasing latitude given to violence and sex in Hollywood. In the 1960s he launched a campaign against what he termed "Hollywood's bloodstream polluted with perversion and immoral and amoral nuances." Most of his westerns steered clear of graphic violence.
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The fact that all three of his wives were Latin-American surprised Hollywood; this was the only "non-American" aspect of his life. "I have never been conscious of going for any particular type," Wayne said in response to a challenge from the press, "it's just a happenstance".
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It was no surprise that Wayne would become such an enduring icon. By the early 1970s his contemporaries Humphrey Bogart, Tyrone Power, Errol Flynn, Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy, Paul Muni and Gary Cooper were dead. James Cagney and Cary Grant both retired from acting at 62. The careers of other stars declined considerably--both Henry Fonda and James Stewart ended up working on television series that wound up being canceled. Wayne, however, continued to star in movies until 1976, remaining one of the top ten US box-office stars until 1974.
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Following his retirement from making movies in 1976, Wayne received thousands of letters from fans who accused him of selling out by advertising insurance in television commercials. Wayne responded that the six-figure sum he was offered to star in the advertisements was too good to refuse.
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Wore a toupee in every film from Wake of the Red Witch (1948) onwards. For some scenes towards the end of The Wings of Eagles (1957) he left it off in order to play his character in later life. Wayne's hairpiece can be seen to fall off during a fight scene in North to Alaska (1960).
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Returned to Harvard in January 1974, at the height of his political activism, for a celebrity roast of himself. During the ceremony, the head said, "We're not here to make fun of you, we're here to hurt your feelings." Later, Wayne said jokingly, "You know, I accepted this invitation over a wonderful invitation to a Jane Fonda rally.".
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During his conservative political speeches in the late 1960s and early 1970s, students opposed to his political stances would often walk out of or boycott university film classes that screened his films.
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After seeing Wayne's performance in Red River (1948), directed by rival director Howard Hawks, John Ford is quoted as saying, "I never knew the big son of a bitch could act."
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His performance as Ethan Edwards in The Searchers (1956) is ranked #23 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time.
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According to Michael Munn's "John Wayne: The Man Behind the Myth", in 1959, Wayne was personally told by Nikita Khrushchev, when the Soviet Premier was visiting the United States on a goodwill tour, that Joseph Stalin and China's Zedong Mao had each ordered Wayne to be killed. Both dictators had considered Wayne to be a leading icon of American democracy, and thus a symbol of resistance to Communism through his active support for blacklisting in Hollywood, and they believed his death would be a major morale blow to the United States. Khrushchev told Wayne he had rescinded Stalin's order upon his predecessor's demise in March 1953, but Mao supposedly continued to demand Wayne's assassination well into the 1960s.
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Despite being best known as a conservative Republican, Wayne's politics throughout his life were fluid. He later claimed to have considered himself a socialist during his first year of college. As a young actor in Hollywood, he described himself as a liberal, and voted for Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1936 presidential election. In 1938 he attended a fund raiser for a Democratic candidate in New York, but soon afterwards "realized Democrats didn't stand for the same things I did". Henry Fonda believed Wayne called himself a liberal just so he wouldn't fall out with director John Ford, an activist liberal Democrat. It really wasn't until the 1940s that Wayne moved fully to the right on the political spectrum. But even then, he was not always in lockstep with the rest of the conservative movement - a fact that was nonetheless unknown to the public until 1978, when he openly differed with the Republican Party over the issue of the Panama Canal. Conservatives wanted America to retain full control, but Wayne, believing that the Panamanians had the right to the canal, sided with President Jimmy Carter and the Democrats to win passage of the treaty returning the canal in the Senate. Carter openly credited Wayne with being a decisive factor in convincing some Republican Senators to support the measure.
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Although never hailed as a great actor in the classic sense, Wayne was quite accomplished on stage in high school. He even represented Glendale High School in the prestigious 1925 Southern California Shakespeare Competition, performing a passage from "Henry VIII".
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The inscription on the Congressional Gold Medal awarded to him in 1979 reads, simply, "John Wayne, American."
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Wayne publicly criticized director Sam Peckinpah for his film The Wild Bunch (1969), which he claimed "destroyed the myth of the Old West".
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One of the most unusual Oscar moments happened when anti-war liberal Barbra Streisand presented Vietnam war hawk Wayne with his Best Actor Oscar at The 42nd Annual Academy Awards (1970).
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He made three movies with Kirk Douglas, despite the fact that the two men did not like each other and had very different political ideologies. Wayne was a very conservative Republican while Douglas was a very liberal Democrat. Wayne criticized Douglas for playing Vincent van Gogh in Lust for Life (1956), and publicly criticized him for hiring blacklisted screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, one of the "Hollywood Ten", to write the screenplay for Spartacus (1960). Douglas later praised Wayne as a true professional who would work with anybody if he felt they were right for the part.
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He allegedly turned down Dirty Harry (1971) because he felt the role of Harry Callahan was too far removed from his screen image. When he saw the movie he realized it wasn't so different from the roles he had traditionally played, and made two cop dramas of his own, McQ (1974) and Brannigan (1975). Director Don Siegel later commented, "Wayne couldn't have played Harry. He was too old. He was too old to play McQ, which was a poor copy of Bullitt (1968)".
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His final public appearance was to present the Best Picture Oscar to The Deer Hunter (1978) at The 51st Annual Academy Awards (1979). It was not a film Wayne was fond of, since it presented a very different view of the Vietnam War than his own movie, The Green Berets (1968), had a decade earlier.
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In 1973 Clint Eastwood wrote to Wayne, suggesting they star in a western together. Wayne wrote back an angry response criticizing the revisionist style and violence of Eastwood's latest western, High Plains Drifter (1973). Consequently Eastwood did not reply and no film was made.
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After meeting the late Superman (1978) star Christopher Reeve at the 1979 Academy Awards, Wayne turned to Cary Grant and said, "This is our new man. He's taking over.".
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His performance as Ethan Edwards in The Searchers (1956) is ranked #87 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Performances of All Time (2006).
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According to "The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows" (8th Edition, pg. 495), Wayne was the first choice to play Marshal Matt Dillon on Gunsmoke (1955), but declined because he did not want to commit to a weekly TV series. He did, however, recommend his friend James Arness for the role, and gave the on-camera introduction in the pilot episode.
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Underwent surgery for an enlarged prostate in December 1976.
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Along with Charlton Heston, Wayne was offered and turned down the role of Gen. Joseph W. Stilwell in Steven Spielberg's 1941 (1979), because he felt the film was an insult to World War II veterans, and also due to his own declining health.
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Mentioned in many songs, including Jimmy Buffett's "Incommunicado", Tom Lehrer's "Send The Marines", Ray Stevens' "Beside Myself", Paula Cole's "Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?", Queen's "Bicycle Race" and Bruce Dickinson's (of Iron Maiden fame) "Sacred Cowboys".
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On Saturday, June 9th, 1979, the Archbishop of Panama arrived at the hospital and baptized Wayne into the Roman Catholic Church. Wayne was given a Catholic funeral service, but his grave went unmarked until 1999 when he finally received a headstone.
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In 1974, with the Vietnam war still continuing, The Harvard Lampoon invited Wayne to The Harvard Square Theater to award him the "Brass Balls Award" for his "Outstanding machismo and a penchant for punching people". Wayne accepted and arrived riding atop an armored personnel carrier manned by the "Black Knights" of Troop D, Fifth Regiment. Wayne took the stage and ad-libbed his way through a series of derogatory questions with adroitness, displaying an agile wit that completely won over the audience of students.
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In 1979, as it became known that Wayne was dying of cancer, Barry Goldwater introduced legislation to award him the Congressional Gold Medal. Maureen O'Hara and Elizabeth Taylor flew to Washington to give testimony, and signed statements in support of the motion from Frank Sinatra, Gregory Peck, Jack Lemmon, Kirk Douglas, James Stewart and Katharine Hepburn were read out. The bill was passed unanimously, and the medal was presented to the Wayne family in the following year.
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Of his many film roles, his personal favorite was that of Ethan Edwards from The Searchers (1956). Wayne even went so far as to name his son Ethan after that character.
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In 1971 he displayed a sense of humor when he appeared on The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour (1969) in his usual western screen costume, flashing the peace sign to the show's other guests that week, the then-hot rock band Three Dog Night.
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He made several films early in his career as a "singing" cowboy. His singing voice was supplied by a singer hidden off camera.
162
Increasingly by the early 1960s Wayne used to wear three or four-inch lifts in his shoes, a practice that mystified friends and co-stars like Bobby Darin', Capucine' and Robert Mitchum' because he stood 6'4". It was possibly due to his increasing weight, health problems, and age that he wasn't able to loom as tall without lifts.
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In November 2003 he once again commanded a top-ten spot in the annual Harris Poll asking Americans to name their favorite movie star. No other deceased star has achieved such ranking since Harris began asking the question in 1993. In a 2001 Gallup Poll, Americans selected Wayne as their favorite movie star of all time.
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In 1978, after recovering from open heart surgery, he had a script commissioned for a film called "Beau John" in which he would star with Ron Howard, but due to his declining health it never happened.
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Regretted playing Temujin in The Conqueror (1956) so much that he visibly shuddered whenever anyone mentioned the film's name. He once remarked that the moral of the film was "not to make an ass of yourself trying to play parts you're not suited for."
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He underwent surgery to have a cancerous left lung removed on Wednesday, September 16th, 1964, in a six-hour operation. Press releases at the time reported that Wayne was in Los Angeles' Good Samaritan Hospital to be treated for lung congestion. When Hollywood columnist James Bacon went to the hospital to see Wayne, he was told by a nurse that Wayne wasn't having visitors. According to a Monday, June 27th, 1978, "Us" magazine article, Wayne said to his nurse from his room, "Let that son of a bitch come in." When Bacon sat down in his room, Wayne told him, "Well, I licked the Big C." Wayne confessed that his five-packs-a-day cigarette habit had caused a lung tumor the size of a golf ball, necessitating the removal of the entire lung. One day following surgery, Wayne began coughing so violently he ruptured his stitches and damaged delicate tissue. His face and hands began to swell up from a mixture of fluid and air, but the doctors didn't dare operate again so soon. Five days later they drained the fluid and repaired the stitches. On Tuesday, December 29th, 1964, Wayne held a press conference at his Encino ranch, against the advice of his agent and advisers, where he announced, "I licked the Big C. I know the man upstairs will pull the plug when he wants to, but I don't want to end my life being sick. I want to go out on two feet, in action." Before he had left the hospital on 19 October 19th, Wayne received the news that his 52-year-old brother Robert E. Morrison had lung cancer.
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According to movie industry columnist James Bacon, Wayne's producers issued phony press releases when he was hospitalized for cancer surgery in September 1964, claiming the star was being treated for lung congestion. "Those bastards who make pictures only think of the box office," he told Bacon, as recounted in 1979 by the columnist. "They figure Duke Wayne with cancer isn't a good image. I was too doped up at the time to argue with them, but I'm telling you the truth now. You know I never lie." After Bacon broke the story of the Duke's cancer, thousands of cancer victims and their relatives wrote to Wayne saying that his battle against the disease had given them hope.
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During the filming of The Undefeated (1969), he fell from his horse and fractured three ribs. He couldn't work for almost two weeks. Then he tore a ligament in his shoulder and couldn't use one arm at all. The director, Andrew V. McLaglen, could only film him from an angle for the rest of the picture. His only concern throughout was not to disappoint his fans, despite being in terrible pain.
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Maureen O'Hara presented him with the People's Choice Award for most popular motion picture actor in 1976.
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On Monday, June 11th, 1979, the flame of the Olympic Torch at the Coliseum in Los Angeles, was lit for honoring him, in memory. It remained lit until the funeral four days later, Friday, June 15th, 1979.
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Addressed the Republican National Convention on its opening day in 1968.
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Brother of Robert E. Morrison.
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Posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian award, by President Jimmy Carter in 1980.
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Eagerly sought the role of Gen. George S. Patton in Patton (1970), but was turned down by the producer.
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Was named the #13 greatest actor on The 50 Greatest Screen Legends list by the American Film Institute
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He was voted the 4th Greatest Movie Star of all time by Premiere Magazine.
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While making The Barbarian and the Geisha (1958), he apparently became so enraged with director John Huston (who was something of a tough guy himself and was nearly as tall as Wayne but not as massive) that he throttled and punched him out. It is unknown what Huston did to earn the beating, but the director was known to have a mean streak. Wayne later re-enacted the incident for Peter Bogdanovich, who was somewhat terrified to be used as a substitute for Huston.
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He had English, Scots-Irish (Northern Irish), and Irish ancestry.
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Although he complained that High Noon (1952) was "un-American", when he collected Gary Cooper's Oscar on his behalf, he also complained that he wasn't offered the part himself. He later teamed up with director Howard Hawks to tell the story his way in Rio Bravo (1959).
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Was a member of the first class to be inducted into the DeMolay Hall of Fame on Monday, November 13th, 1986.
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Pictured on a 37¢ USA commemorative stamp in the Legends of Hollywood series, issued on Thursday, September 9th, 2004. The first-day ceremonies were held at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.
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He was a Master Mason.
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Received the DeMolay Legion of Honor in 1970.
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Wayne was initiated into DeMolay in 1924 at the Glendale Chapter in Glendale California.
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Just on his sheer popularity and his prominent political activism, the Republican party in 1968 supposedly asked him to run for President of the USA, even though he had no previous political experience. He turned them down because he did not believe America would take a movie star running for the President seriously. He did however support Ronald Reagan's campaigns for governor of California in 1966 and 1970, as well as his bid for the Republican presidential nomination in 1976.
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He was voted the 5th Greatest Movie Star of all time by Entertainment Weekly.
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Because his on-screen adventures involved the slaying of a slew of Mexicans, Native Americans and Japanese, he has been called a racist by his critics. They believe this was strengthened by a Playboy Magazine interview in which he suggested that blacks were not yet qualified to hold high public office because "discrimination prevented them from receiving the kind of education a political career requires". Yet all of his three wives were of Latin descent.
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Grandfather of actor Brendan Wayne.
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Inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in 1974.
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He was buried at Pacific View Cemetery in Corona del Mar, California, (a community within his hometown of Newport Beach). His grave finally received a plaque in 1999.
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Among his favorite leisure activities were playing bridge, poker, and chess.
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Arguably Wayne's worst film, The Conqueror (1956), in which he played Genghis Kahn, was based on a script that director Dick Powell had every intention of throwing into the wastebasket. According to Powell, when he had to leave his office at RKO for a few minutes during a story conference, he returned to find a very enthused Wayne reading the script, which had been in a pile of possible scripts on Powell's desk, and insisting that this was the movie he wanted to make. As Powell himself summed it up, "Who am I to turn down John Wayne?".
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In 1973 he was awarded the Gold Medal from the National Football Foundation for his days playing football for Glendale High School and USC.
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He once made a cameo appearance on The Beverly Hillbillies (1962). In episode, The Beverly Hillbillies: The Indians Are Coming (1967). And when asked how he wanted to be paid, his answer, in return, was "Give me a fifth of bourbon - that'll square it.".
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Upon being cast by Raoul Walsh in Fox's The Big Trail (1930) the studio decided his name had to be changed. Walsh said he was reading a biography on General "Mad" Anthony Wayne and suggested that name. The studio liked the last name but not the first and decided on "John Wayne" as the final rendition.
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Pictured on one of four 25¢ US commemorative postage stamps issued on Friday, March 23rd, 1990 honoring classic films released in 1939. The stamp featured Wayne as The Ringo Kid in Stagecoach (1939). The other films honored were Beau Geste (1939), The Wizard of Oz (1939), and Gone with the Wind (1939).
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His spoken album "America: Why I Love Her" became a surprise best-seller and Grammy nominee when it was released in 1973. Reissued on CD in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, it became a best-seller all over again.
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He was a member of the Sigma Chi Fraternity.
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The evening before a shoot he was trying to get some sleep in a Las Vegas hotel. The suite directly below his was that of Frank Sinatra (never a good friend of Wayne), who was having a party. The noise kept Wayne awake, and each time he made a complaining phone call it quieted temporarily but each time eventually grew louder. Wayne at last appeared at Sinatra's door and told Frank to stop the noise. A Sinatra bodyguard of Wayne's size approached saying, "Nobody talks to Mr. Sinatra that way." Wayne looked at the man, turned as though to leave, then backhanded the bodyguard, who fell to the floor, where Wayne knocked him out by crashing a chair on top of him. The party noise stopped.
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He was offered the lead in The Dirty Dozen (1967), but went to star in and direct The Green Berets (1968) instead. The part was eventually given to Lee Marvin.
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His favorite drink was Sauza Commemorativo Tequila, and he often served it with ice that he had chipped from an iceberg during one of his voyages on his yacht, "The Wild Goose".
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He and his drinking buddy, actor Ward Bond, frequently played practical jokes on each other. In one incident, Bond bet Wayne that they could stand on opposite sides of a newspaper and Wayne wouldn't be able to hit him. Bond set a sheet of newspaper down in a doorway, Wayne stood on one end, and Bond slammed the door in his face, shouting "Try and hit me now!" Wayne responded by sending his fist through the door, flooring Bond (and winning the bet).
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An entry in the logbook of director John Ford's yacht "Araner", during a voyage along the Baja peninsula, made a reference to one of Wayne's pranks on Ward Bond: "Caught the first mate [Wayne] pissing in [Ward] Bond's flask this morning - must remember to give him a raise."
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Great-uncle of boxer/actor Tommy Morrison, aka "The Duke".
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In the comic "Preacher", his ghost appears in several issues, clothed in his traditional gunfighter outfit, as a mentor to the hero of the series, Jesse Custer.
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His production company, Batjac, was originally to be called Batjak, after the shipping company owned by Luther Adler's character in the film Wake of the Red Witch (1948). A secretary's typo while she was drawing up the papers resulted in it being called Batjac, and Wayne, not wanting to hurt her feelings, kept her spelling of it.
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Most published sources refer to Wayne's birth name as Marion Michael Morrison. His birth certificate, however, gives his original name as Marion Robert Morrison. According to Wayne's own statements, after the birth of his younger brother in 1911, his parents named the newborn Robert Emmett and changed Wayne's name from Marion Robert to Marion Michael. It has also been suggested by several of his biographers that Wayne's parents actually changed his birth name from Marion Robert to Marion Mitchell. In "Duke: The Life and Times of John Wayne" (1985), Donald Shepherd and Robert F. Slatzer state that when Wayne's younger brother was born, "the Duke's middle name was changed from Robert to Mitchell. . . . After he gained celebrity, Duke deliberately confused biographers and others by claiming Michael as his middle name, a claim that had no basis in fact."
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Sons with Josephine: Michael Wayne (producer) (died 2003, age 68) and Patrick Wayne (actor); daughters Toni Wayne (died 2000, age 64) and Melinda Wayne.
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Children with Pilar Wayne: Aissa Wayne, Ethan Wayne and Marisa Wayne.
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Born at 1:00pm-CST.
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Ranked #16 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list. (October 1997)
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Holds the record for the actor with the most leading parts - 142. In all but 11 films he played the leading part.
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Wayne's name consistently came up over the years for proposals that he portray WWII General George S. Patton. Through the 1950's studios proposed films about Patton, but Patton's family objected to such projects and objected to Wayne specifically. In the mid 1960's he was director Michael Anderson's choice to play Patton in a Columbia Pictures epic, "16th of December: The Battle of the Bulge," which had the blessing of Eisenhower and the Defense Department, but the project was abandoned after Warner Brothers appropriated the title "The Battle of the Bulge" for a generic war film with Henry Fonda. Finally Wayne was considered in the role ultimately played George C. Scott, turning it down at one point, a decision he reportedly later regretted.
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Per Ben Mankiewicz with Turner Classic Movies, in John Wayne's early years he would have coffee in the studio cafeteria with Wyatt Earp who served as technical advisor for several cowboy movies. Wayne later claimed his portrayals of cowboys and Western lawmen were based on these conversations with Wyatt Earp.
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When wife Chata charged that Wayne had had affairs with Gail Russell and Marlene Dietrich in their divorce proceedings, the actor countered that Nicky Hilton had become a constant house-guest of Chata's.
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According to many members of the "John Wayne Stock Company"--the informal name of a group of actors and friends that Wayne often used in his films, including Harry Carey Jr.--Wayne's rolling walk was copied from Carey's father, actor Harry Carey.
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In April 2014, he was honored as Turner Classic Movie's Star of the Month.
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Was the acting mentor to actor James Arness.
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Longtime friend of Harry Morgan.
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In the DVD documentary for 1941 (1979), Steven Spielberg says he first met Wayne at the memorial service for Joan Crawford. The two became friends and Spielberg offered the role of Gen. Joseph W. Stilwell to Wayne. He sent Wayne the script and got a call back the same day, criticizing Spielberg for making a film that Wayne felt was anti-American. The two remained friends and never discussed the film again. Spielberg says that later on Wayne pitched him a script idea about a camel race in Morocco starring Wayne and long-time friend and co-star Maureen O'Hara. Spielberg says it sounded like a good idea. However, Wayne later passed away and the film was never made.
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In 1959 he was considered for the role of the sergeant in a film that director Samuel Fuller wanted to make about his war experiences, "The Big Red One". When the film was finally made in 1980, _The Big Red One (1980)_ (qav), the role went to Lee Marvin after Fuller asked that Wayne be replaced so as not to overshadow his film's story.
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According to Mel Brooks in his commentary of Blazing Saddles (1974), he wanted Wayne as The Waco Kid. Wayne told Brooks that he thought the script was "funny as hell", but turned it down because he feared the role would have been detrimental to his persona.
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Aa a young man, Ethan Wayne was never allowed to leave the house without carrying cards that his father had autographed to hand out to fans.
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He appeared in at least one film for every year from 1926-76, a record of 51 consecutive years.
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Great Western Savings erected a bronze statue by Harry Jackson of Wayne on a horse at its headquarters in Beverly Hills. Although the building was later bought by Larry Flynt, the statue still stands at its original location.
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He considered Maureen O'Hara one of his best friends; over the years he was more open to her than anyone. When asked about her he always replied, "The greatest guy I ever knew." They were friends for 39 years, from 1940 until his death in 1979. Today she is considered by many to be his best leading lady; they starred in five films together. She refers to a wing in her home as the "John Wayne Wing".
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Visited Stepin Fetchit in hospital in 1976 after the actor had suffered a stroke which ended his career.
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Was a heavy smoker. After he died of lung cancer, his son made a point not to license footage of him smoking cigarettes. An exception was made for a scene in Thank You for Smoking (2005), a satire of the tobacco industry.
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On Monday, May 18th, 1953, during divorce proceedings from his second wife Esperanza Baur, Wayne's annual gross income was publicly revealed to be $502,891.
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In his later years Wayne lived near Newport Beach, just south of Los Angeles, where he had a beach house and a yacht, "The Wild Goose". His house has been torn down, but The Wild Goose sails on. It's now a tour boat offering dinner cruises to Wayne fans young and old alike. Originally a decommissioned Navy minesweeper, it was rebuilt and customized by Wayne as a yacht; the custom interior has polished wood almost everywhere you look. It was there that in his later years he often entertained, hosting card games with his good friends Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr. and other name stars of the time.
232
Wayne was asked to be the running mate for Alabama Governor George Wallace, who was running for the US presidency on a segregationist ticket in 1968, but Wayne vehemently rejected the offer and actively campaigned for Richard Nixon. He addressed the Republican National Convention on its opening day in August 1968.
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After leaving the stage, during 1979's Academy Awards ceremony, he was greeted by his old pal Sammy Davis Jr., who gave him a big bear hug. Davis later told a friend he regretted hugging Wayne so hard in his fragile condition, but he was told that "Duke Wouldn't have missed that hug for anything" (the idea of the 125-pound Davis worrying about hugging him "too hard" was a sad commentary on Wayne's failing health).
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Allegedly gave Sammy Davis Jr. the first cowboy hat he ever wore in a film.
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Actors Steve McQueen, Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis and Chuck Norris all cited Wayne as a huge influence on them, both professionally and personally. Like Wayne, each man rose to fame playing men of heroic action. Also, like Wayne, each man is a supporter of conservative causes and the Republican party, the exception being McQueen who, although a lifelong Republican, died in 1980.
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His first wife Josephine Alicia Saenz died of cancer in 2003, at the age of 94.
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Michael Caine recalled in his 1992 autobiography "What's It All About?" that Wayne gave him two pieces of advice when they first met in Hollywood early in 1967. Firstly, on acting, Wayne told him, "Talk low, talk slow, and don't talk too much." Then Wayne added, "And never wear suede shoes. One time I was taking a piss when a guy next to me turned round and said, 'John Wayne!', and pissed all over my shoes.".
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He very much wanted the role of Wild Bill Hickok in The Plainsman (1936), which he felt certain would make him a star, but director Cecil B. DeMille wanted Gary Cooper instead.
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His father died of a heart attack in March 1937.
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Spoilers: Of the near 200 films Wayne made, he died in only eight: Reap the Wild Wind (1942) (octopus attack), The Fighting Seabees (1944) (gunshot/explosion), Wake of the Red Witch (1948) (drowning), Sands of Iwo Jima (1949) (gunshot wounds), The Alamo (1960) (lance/explosion), The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) (natural causes), The Cowboys (1972) (gunshot wounds) and The Shootist (1976) (shotgun wounds). His fate in The Sea Chase (1955) is undetermined - he may have died when his ship sank, or he (and Lana Turner) may have made it to shore.
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During his career his movies grossed an estimated half a billion dollars worldwide.
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The Shootist (1976) is widely considered the best final film by any major star, rivaled only by Clark Gable's role in The Misfits (1961) and Henry Fonda's role in On Golden Pond (1981).
243
His Oscar win for True Grit (1969) was widely seen as more of a lifetime achievement award, since his performance had been criticized as over-the-top and hammy. In his Reader's Digest article on Wayne from October 1979, Ronald Reagan wrote that the award was both in recognition of his whole career, and to make up for him not receiving nominations for Red River (1948), She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949) and The Searchers (1956).
244
On Wednesday, January 25th, 1950, he became the 125th star to put his hand and footprints outside of Grauman's Chinese Theatre.
245
Actor and later California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger cited Wayne as a role model from his childhood.
246
In the late 1970s Wayne made a series of commercials for the Great Western Savings Bank in Los Angeles. The day after the first one aired, a man walked into a GW Bank branch in West Hollywood with a suitcase, asked to see the bank manager, and when he was shown to the manager's desk, he opened up the suitcase to reveal $500,000 in cash. He said, "If your bank is good enough for John Wayne, it's good enough for me." He had just closed his business and personal accounts at a rival bank down the street and walked to the GW branch to open accounts there because John Wayne had endorsed it.
247
Voice actor Peter Cullen based the voice of his most famous character, heroic Autobot leader Optimus Prime from Transformers (2007), on the voice of John Wayne.
248
He was a member of the National Rifle Association (NRA).
249
Prior to making The Big Trail (1930), director Raoul Walsh told Wayne to take acting lessons. Wayne duly took three lessons, but gave up when the teacher told him he had no talent.
250
He has 25 appearances in the Top 10 at the US Box Office: 1949-1957 and 1959-1974.
251
Ranked #11 in the 100 Most Influential People in the History of the Movies, according to the authors of the Film 100 Web site.
252
Often stated how he wished his first Oscar nomination had been for She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949) instead of Sands of Iwo Jima (1949).
253
After undergoing major lung surgery in 1964, Wayne would sometimes have to use an oxygen mask to breathe for the rest of his life. An oxygen tank was always kept in his trailer on locations. His breathing problems were particularly severe on airplanes, and while filming True Grit (1969) and Rooster Cogburn (1975), due to the high altitude. No photographs were allowed to be taken by the press of the veteran star breathing through an oxygen mask.
254
On 20 August 2007, the Republican Governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger and First Lady Maria Shriver announced that Wayne will be inducted into the California Hall of Fame located at The California Museum for History, Women and the Arts in Sacramento on 5 December 2007.
255
In 1962 he was paid a record $250,000 for four days work on The Longest Day (1962), and in the following year he was paid the same amount for two days work on The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965).
256
Suffered a stroke in 1974, which is why he can be seen talking out the side of his mouth in Brannigan (1975) and Rooster Cogburn (1975).
257
Bought a 135-foot yacht called "The Wild Goose" in 1962. Wayne agreed to make Circus World (1964), a film he hated, just so he could sail the vessel to Europe.
258
The Governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, issued a proclamation making 26 May 2007 "John Wayne Day" in California.
259
In the mid-1930s Wayne was hired by Columbia Pictures to make several westerns for its "B" unit. Columbia chief Harry Cohn, a married man, soon got the idea that Wayne had made a pass at a Columbia starlet with whom Cohn was having an affair. When he confronted Wayne about it Wayne denied it, but Cohn called up executives at other studios and told them that Wayne would show up for work drunk, was a womanizer and a troublemaker and requested that they not hire him. Wayne didn't work for several months afterward, and when he discovered what Cohn had done, he burst into Cohn's office at Columbia, grabbed him by the neck and threatened to kill him. After he cooled off he told Cohn that "as long as I live, I will never work one day for you or Columbia no matter how much you offer me." Later, after Wayne had become a major star, he received several lucrative film offers from Columbia, including the lead in The Gunfighter (1950), all of which he turned down cold. Even after Cohn died in 1958, Wayne still refused to entertain any offers whatsoever from Columbia Pictures, including several that would have paid him more than a a million dollars.
260
He had intended to make a trilogy of films featuring the character Rooster Cogburn, but the third film was canceled after Rooster Cogburn (1975) proved to be only a moderate hit at the box office. The third film was intended to be called "Sometime".
261
At one time Wayne was considered for Rock Hudson's role as rancher Bick Benedict in George Stevens's epic western Giant (1956).
262
Fittingly, Wayne was buried in Orange County, the most Republican district in the United States. The conservative residents admired Wayne so much that they named their international airport after him. It is about four miles from the cemetery where he is buried.
263
During the 1968 presidential election Wayne narrated a television advertisement vilifying the Democratic candidate Hubert H. Humphrey. The commercial was so controversial that the Republican National Committee had to stop it being shown, following thousands of complaints.
264
Broke his leg while filming Legend of the Lost (1957).
265
He regarded Rio Bravo (1959) as the film marking his transition into middle age. At 51 Wayne was starting to get overweight and he believed he was too old to play the romantic lead any more. His last four movies since The Searchers (1956) had been unsuccessful, and he felt the only way to keep audiences coming was to revert to playing "John Wayne" in every film.
266
Robert Aldrich, then president of the Directors Guild of America, stated in support of awarding the Congressional Gold Medal to Wayne in 1979: "It is important for you to know that I am a registered Democrat and, to my knowledge, share none of the political views espoused by Duke. However, whether he is ill- disposed or healthy, John Wayne is far beyond the normal political sharp-shooting in this community. Because of his courage, his dignity, his integrity, and because of his talents as an actor, his strength as a leader, his warmth as a human being throughout his illustrious career, he is entitled to a unique spot in our hearts and minds. In this industry, we often judge people, sometimes unfairly, by asking whether they have paid their dues. John Wayne has paid his dues over and over, and I'm proud to consider him a friend, and am very much in favor of my Government recognizing in some important fashion the contribution that Mr. Wayne has made.".
267
He was badly sunburnt while filming 3 Godfathers (1948) and was briefly hospitalized.
268
In his will were instructions that, because of his suffering from lung cancer, no film of him smoking should ever be shown again. The director of Thank You for Smoking (2005), Jason Reitman, had to petition Wayne's family in order to allow him to use a scene from Sands of Iwo Jima (1949), in which Wayne's character, Sgt. Striker, survives the battle only to be killed by a sniper after lighting a cigarette. After showing them the script and describing to them what the movie was about the family agreed to allow the scene to be shown.
269
He lost the leading role in The Gunfighter (1950) to Gregory Peck because of his refusal to work for Columbia Pictures after Columbia chief Harry Cohn had mistreated him years before as a young contract player (Cohn had heard a rumor, which turned out to be untrue, that Waynel was pursuing a young starlet that Cohn was already having an affair with, and had him blackballed among the other Hollywood studios). Cohn had bought the _"The Gunfighter" project specifically with Wayne in mind for it, but Wayne's grudge was too deep, and Cohn sold the script to Twentieth Century-Fox, which cast Peck in the role Wayne badly wanted but refused to bend for. When the Reno Chamber of Commerce named Peck the top western star for 1950 and presented him with the Silver Spurs award, an angry Wayne said, "Well, who the hell decided that you were the best cowboy of the year?". Wayne also reportedly turned down the lead in "Twelve O'Clock High," which also became an iconic part for Peck.
270
Along with Humphrey Bogart, Wayne was regarded as the heaviest smoker in Hollywood, sustaining five packs of unfiltered Camels until his first battle with cancer in 1964. While recovering from losing his lung he began to chew tobacco, and then he started smoking cigars.
271
Lauren Bacall once recalled that while Wayne hardly knew her husband Humphrey Bogart at all, he was the first to send flowers and good wishes after Bogart was diagnosed with esophageal cancer in January 1956.
272
During the early 1960s Wayne traveled extensively to Panama. During this time, the star reportedly purchased the island of Taborcillo off the main coast of Panama. It was sold by his estate after his death and changed many hands before being opened as a tourist attraction.
273
In 1965, after his battle with lung cancer, Wayne moved out of Hollywood to Newport Beach, where he lived until his death 14 years later. His house was demolished after he died.
274
At the Memorial Day finale at Knott's Berry Farm in Anaheim in 1964, Wayne and Rock Hudson flanked Ronald Reagan as the future President led 27,000 Goldwater enthusiasts in a roaring Pledge of Allegiance.
275
Campaigned for Gerald Ford in the 1976 presidential election.
276
Was a member of the conservative John Birch Society.
277
Wayne did not serve during World War II. Knee injuries he received in college kept him from running the distances required by military standards.
278
After he finally won the Best Actor Oscar for True Grit (1969) his career declined. Chisum (1970), seemingly having little to do with Wayne, was released to mixed reviews and moderate business. Rio Lobo (1970) received very poor critical reception and proved to be a commercial disappointment. Big Jake (1971), pumped up with graphic action scenes and plenty of humor, made twice as much money as either of the previous two films. However, The Cowboys (1972) struggled to find an audience when first released, despite the fact that it received positive reviews and featured a very different performance from Wayne as an aging cattleman. The Train Robbers (1973) was largely forgettable and Cahill U.S. Marshal (1973) garnered him his worst reviews since The Conqueror (1956). His attempts to emulate Clint Eastwood as a tough detective were generally ridiculed due to his age, increasing weight and the predictable nature of the plots. McQ (1974) was only a moderate success and Brannigan (1975), although it was a better picture, made even less money. A sequel to True Grit (1969) titled Rooster Cogburn (1975), co-starring Katharine Hepburn, was critically reviled, but managed to be a minor hit. For the first time Wayne gave serious thought to retirement; however, he was able to make one final movie, a stark story of a gunfighter dying of cancer called The Shootist (1976) which, although Wayne received some of the best reviews of his career, struggled to get its money back.
279
Eventually the line between his personal views and his screen image blurred beyond recognition. His active membership in right-wing political organizations like the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals allowed him to use his celebrity to further causes he deemed worthy. In the 1950s he joined Walt Disney, Clark Gable, James Stewart and other entertainers to aid the House Un-American Activities Committee in ferreting out alleged Communists working in the film industry. He began hand-picking roles and financing the production of certain films, like Big Jim McLain (1952), which fit his strong anti-Communist political beliefs. These "message films" would often cost him, both personally and professionally; he lost a small fortune on the Vietnam War film The Green Berets (1968), allowing an errant sense of patriotism to oversimplify the story of soldiers conducting covert military actions in Southeast Asia. As TV images exposed the horrors of battle to Americans, the film's romantic portrait of "gung-ho" optimism was often cited as an example of how completely out of touch Wayne and many of his conservative colleagues were with the complexities of the conflict.
280
His TV appearances in the late 1960s showed that Wayne had overcome his indifference to television. In addition to appearing on The Dean Martin Show (1965), The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour (1969), he became a semi-regular visitor to Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (1967), often good-naturedly spoofing his macho image and even dressing up as The Easter Bunny in a famous 1972 episode.
281
Directed most of Big Jake (1971) himself because director George Sherman, an old friend from Wayne's days at Republic, was in his mid-60s and ill at the time, and not up to the rigors of directing an action picture in the wilds of Mexico, where much of the film was shot. Wayne refused to take co-director credit.
282
Announced his intention to campaign for Senator Barry Goldwater in the 1964 presidential election after Goldwater had voted against the Civil Rights Act. However, Wayne was unable to do so when he was diagnosed with lung cancer in August of that year, and forced to undergo major surgery in the next month.
283
His great-nephew Tommy Morrison was diagnosed with HIV in 1996.
284
Campaigned for Sam Yorty in the 1969 election for Mayor of Los Angeles.
285
In 1960 Frank Sinatra hired a blacklisted screenwriter, Albert Maltz, to write an anti-war screenplay for a film to be called "The Execution of Private Slovik", based on a William Bradford Huie book about the only US soldier to be executed for desertion during World War II. Wayne, who had actively supported the Joseph McCarthy anti-Communist witch hunts for nearly 20 years, recalled, "When I heard about it, I was so goddamn mad I told a reporter, 'I wonder how Sinatra's crony, Senator John F. Kennedy, feels about Sinatra hiring such a man'. The whole thing became a minefield . . . I heard that Kennedy put pressure on Frank and he had to back down . . . He ended up paying Maltz $75,000 not to write the goddamn thing". The film wasn't made for another 14 years (The Execution of Private Slovik (1974)).
286
In 1967 Wayne wrote to Democratic President Lyndon Johnson requesting military assistance for his pro-war film about Vietnam. Jack Valenti told the President, "Wayne's politics are wrong, but if he makes this film he will be helping us." Wayne got enough firepower to make The Green Berets (1968), which became one of the most controversial movies of all time.
287
In 1975, for the first time since his arrival in Hollywood 47 years earlier, he did not act in any movies. Production began in January of the following year for his last, The Shootist (1976).
288
After Ronald Reagan's election as Governor of California in 1966, Wayne was exiting a victory celebration when he was asked by police not to leave the building - a mob of 300 angry anti-war demonstrators were waiting outside. Instead of cowering indoors, Wayne confronted the demonstrators head on. When protesters waved the Viet Cong flag under his nose, Wayne grew impatient. "Please don't do that fellows," Duke warned the assembled. "I've seen too many kids your age wounded or dead because of that flag. So I don't take too kindly to it." The demonstrators persisted, so he chased a group of them down an alley.
289
Pilar Wayne wrote in her book "My Life with The Duke": "Duke always said family came first, career second, and his interest in politics third. In fact, although he loved the children and me, there were times when we couldn't compete with his career or his devotion to the Republican Party.".
290
Although he actively supported Ronald Reagan's failed bid for the Republican presidential nomination in 1976, Wayne paid a visit to the White House as a guest of President Jimmy Carter for his inauguration. "I'm pleased to be present and accounted for in this capital of freedom to witness history as it happens - to watch a common man accept the uncommon responsibility he won 'fair and square' by stating his case to the American people - not by bloodshed, be-headings, and riots at the palace gates. I know I'm a member of the loyal opposition - accent on the loyal. I'd have it no other way.".
291
While filming True Grit (1969), Wayne was trying to keep his weight off with drugs - uppers for the day, downers to sleep at night. Occasionally, he got the pills mixed up, and this led to problems on a The Dean Martin Show (1965) taping in 1969. Instead of taking an upper before leaving for the filming, he took a downer - and was ready to crash by the time he arrived on the set. "I can't do our skit," Wayne reportedly told Martin when it was time to perform. "I'm too doped up. Goddamn, I look half smashed!" Naturally, Martin didn't have a problem with that. "Hell, Duke, people think I do the show that way all the time!" The taping went on as scheduled.
292
In 1920, lived at 404 N. Isabel Street, Glendale, California, according to U.S. Census.
293
Listed in the 1910 U.S. Census as Marion R. Morrison, living with his parents in Madison, Iowa.
294
Wayne nearly got into a fight with British film critic Barry Norman on two occasions, both times over politics. In November 1963, on the set of Circus World (1964), the two had a serious argument over Barry Goldwater's presidential campaign. Nearly six years later, while Wayne was promoting True Grit (1969), the two nearly came to blows on a train over the Vietnam War. Despite this, Norman wrote favorably of Wayne as an actor in his book "The Hollywood Greats" (1986).
295
Wayne was buried in secret and the grave went unmarked until 1999, in case Vietnam War protesters desecrated the site. Twenty years after his death he finally received a headstone made of bronze which was engraved with a quotation from his infamous Playboy interview.
296
Some of his films during the mid-1950s were less successful, forcing Wayne to work with pop singers in order to attract young audiences. He acted alongside Ricky Nelson in Rio Bravo (1959), Frankie Avalon in The Alamo (1960) and Fabian in North to Alaska (1960).
297
Worked with Robert Mitchum's youngest son Christopher Mitchum in three films, Chisum (1970), Rio Lobo (1970) and Big Jake (1971). Wayne had intended on Christopher becoming part of his regular stock company of supporting actors, but fell out with him in 1973 in an argument over politics. Wayne told him, "I didn't know you was a pinko.".
298
Had plastic surgery to remove the lines around his eyes in 1969, which left him with black eyes and forced him to wear dark glasses for two weeks. He also had surgery to remove the jowls around his mouth.
299
Gave the eulogy at the funerals of Ward Bond, John Ford and Howard Hawks.
300
Directed most of The Comancheros (1961) because credited director Michael Curtiz was dying of cancer and was often too ill to work. Wayne refused to be credited as a co-director.
301
In his films Wayne often surrounded himself with a group of friends/fellow actors (often unknown names but recognized faces), such as Ward Bond, Jim Hutton, Bruce Cabot, Ben Johnson, Edward Faulkner, Jay C. Flippen, Richard Boone, Chuck Roberson and his son, Patrick Wayne.
302
Cited as America's favorite movie star in a Harris Poll conducted in 1995.
303
After his third wife Pilar Wayne left him in 1973, Wayne became (happily) involved with his secretary Pat Stacy for the remaining six years of his life.
304
Barry Goldwater visited the set of Stagecoach (1939) during filming. They had a long friendship and in 1964 Wayne helped in Goldwater's presidential campaign.
305
His image appeared on a wide variety of products including: 1950 popcorn trading cards given at theaters, 1951 Camel cigarettes, 1956 playing cards, Whitman's Chocolates and - posthumously - Coors beer. The money collected on the Coors beer cans with his image went to the John Wayne Cancer Institute. One of the most unusual was as a puppet on H.R. Pufnstuf (1969), who also put out a 1970 lunch box with his image among the other puppet characters.
306
"The Greatest Cowboy Star of All Time" was the caption to a series of comic books dedicated to him. The "John Wayne Adventure Comics" were first published in 1949.
307
When he was honored with a square at the Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood the sand used in the cement was brought in from Iwo Jima, in honor of his film Sands of Iwo Jima (1949).
308
Produced and starred in a 1940s radio show about an alcoholic detective titled "Three Sheets to the Wind".
309
In 1973 he was honored with the Veterans of Foreign Wars highest award
The National Americanism Gold Medal.
310
Honored with an Army RAH-66 helicopter, named "The Duke". Many people attended the naming ceremony in Washington, DC, on May 12, 1998, including his children and grandchildren, congressmen, the president of the USO Metropolitan Washington, dignitaries and many military personnel. His eldest son Michael Wayne said at the ceremony, "John Wayne loved his country and he loved its traditions".
311
Re-mortgaged his house in Hollywood in order to finance The Alamo (1960). While the movie was a success internationally, it lost him a great deal of money personally. For the next four years he had to make one film after another, including The Longest Day (1962), for which he was paid $250,000 for four days work. By early 1962 his financial problems were resolved.
312
Although media reports suggested he was to attend Elvis Presley's funeral in August 1977, Wayne didn't show up for it. Presley had once been considered for Glen Campbell's role in True Grit (1969).
313
Separated from his wife Pilar Wayne in 1973, though they never divorced. When Louis Johnson, his business partner, sold all of their holdings in Arizona, The 26 Bar Ranch and the Red River Land and Cattle Company, Wayne's children got one half of it, $24,000,000. Pilar had already been taken care of at their separation.
314
Offered Charlton Heston the roles of Jim Bowie and Col. William Travis in The Alamo (1960), saying the young actor would be ideal for either part. Heston declined the offer because he did not want to be directed by Wayne, and because he feared the critical response to the ideologically conservative movie. Wayne intended the epic to be an allegory for America's Cold War with the Soviet Union.
315
In the final years of his life, with the resignation of President Richard Nixon and the end of the Vietnam War, Wayne's political beliefs appeared to have moderated. He attended the inauguration of President Jimmy Carter on 20 January 1977, and along with his fellow conservative James Stewart he could be seen applauding Jane Fonda at AFI Life Achievement Award: A Tribute to Henry Fonda (1978). Later in 1978, Wayne uncharacteristically sided with the Democrats and President Carter against his fellow conservative Republicans over the issue of the Panama Canal, which Wayne believed belonged to the people of Panama and not the United States of America.
316
In 1971 Wayne and James Stewart were traveling to Ronald Reagan's second inauguration as Governor of California when they encountered some anti-war demonstrators with a Vietcong flag. Stewart's stepson Ronald had been killed in Vietnam in 1969. Wayne walked over to speak to the protesters and within minutes the flag had been lowered.
317
Despite his numerous anti-gay remarks in interviews over the years, Wayne co-starred with Rock Hudson in The Undefeated (1969), even though he knew of the actor's homosexuality. In this Civil War epic, the champion of political conservatism worked well with and even became good friends with Hudson, Hollywood's gayest (although it wasn't publicly known at the time) leading man.
318
During the Vietnam War he was highly critical of teenagers who went to Europe to dodge the draft, calling them "cowards", "traitors" and "communists".
319
Allegedly thrust his Best Actor Oscar for True Grit (1969) to Richard Burton at the The 42nd Annual Academy Awards (1970), telling the Welsh actor, "You should have this, not me."
320
His image was so far-reaching that when Emperor Hirohito visited America in 1975, he asked to meet the veteran star. Wayne was quoted in the Chicago Sun Times as saying, "I must have killed off the entire Japanese army."
321
Producer-director Robert Rossen offered the role of Willie Stark in All the King's Men (1949) to Wayne. Rossen sent a copy of the script to Wayne's agent, Charles K. Feldman, who forwarded it to Wayne. After reading the script, Wayne sent it back with an angry letter attached. In it, he told Feldman that before he sent the script to any of his other clients, he should ask them if they wanted to star in a film that "smears the machinery of government for no purpose of humor or enlightenment", that "degrades all relationships", and that is populated by "drunken mothers; conniving fathers; double-crossing sweethearts; bad, bad, rich people; and bad, bad poor people if they want to get ahead." He accused Rossen of wanting to make a movie that threw acid on "the American way of life." If Feldman had such clients, Wayne wrote that the agent should "rush this script . . . to them." Wayne, however, said to the agent that "you can take this script and shove it up Robert Rossen's derrière." Wayne later remarked that "to make Huey Long a wonderful, rough pirate was great, but, according to this picture, everybody was shit except for this weakling intern doctor who was trying to find a place in the world." Broderick Crawford, who had played a supporting role in Wayne's Seven Sinners (1940), eventually got the part of Stark. In a bit of irony, Crawford was Oscar-nominated for the part of Stark and found himself competing against Wayne, who was nominated the same year for Sands of Iwo Jima (1949). Crawford won the Best Actor Oscar, giving Rossen the last laugh.
322
In December 1978, just a month before he was diagnosed with stomach cancer, he joined Bob Hope and Johnny Carson in offering his services to speak out publicly against government corruption, poverty, crime and drug abuse.
323
While visiting the troops in Vietnam in June 1966, a bullet struck Wayne's bicycle. Although he was not within 100 yards of it at the time, the newspapers reported he had narrowly escaped death at the hands of a sniper.
324
Due to his political activism, in 1968 Wayne was asked to be the segregationist Governor of Alabama George Wallace's running mate in that year's presidential election. Wayne's response made headlines: "Wayne Wallace candidates? Wayne SAID 'B------t!'", as if he was shouting to the reporters.
325
By the early 1960s, 161 of his films had grossed $350 million, and he had been paid as much as $666,000 to make a movie.
326
In 1971, owing to the success of Big Jake (1971), he was #1 at the US box office for the last time.
327
Wayne denounced the subject of homosexuality in Tennessee Williams' Suddenly, Last Summer (1959) as "too disgusting even for discussion"--even though he had not seen it and had no intention of seeing it. "It is too distasteful," he claimed, "to be put on a screen designed to entertain a family, or any member of a decent family." He considered the youth-oriented, anti-establishment film Easy Rider (1969) and Midnight Cowboy (1969), which to his dismay won the Best Picture Oscar in 1970, as "perverted" films. Especially when early in "Midnight Cowboy" Jon Voight dons his newly acquired Western duds and, posing in front of a mirror, utters the only words likely to come to mind at the moment one becomes a cowboy: "John Wayne!" Wayne told Playboy magazine, "Wouldn't you say that the wonderful love of these two men in 'Midnight Cowboy', a story about two fags, qualifies as a perverse movie?".
328
Wayne appeared in a very uncomplimentary light in the Public Enemy song "Fight the Power," from the 1990 album "Fear of a Black Planet". Wayne has frequently come under fire for racist remarks he made about black people and Native American Indians in his infamous Playboy magazine interview from May 1971. He was also criticized for supporting Senator Barry Goldwater in the 1964 presidential election, after Goldwater had voted against the Civil Rights Act, and for supporting segregationist former Alabama governor George Wallace during his presidential campaign in 1968.
329
As a member of the conservative Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals, Wayne gave himself the role of super-personnel chief - ostensibly acting on behalf of political virtue, in "reviewing" the hiring of writers, actors and technicians with known or suspected left-wing sympathies.
330
In a 1960 interview Wayne criticized the homosexual themes of Suddenly, Last Summer (1959) and They Came to Cordura (1959).
331
Was named the #1 box office star in North America by Quigley Publications, which has published its annual Top 10 Poll of Money-Making Stars since 1932. In all, the Duke was named to Quigley Publications' annual Top 10 Poll a record 25 times. (Clint Eastwood, with 25 appearances in the Top 10, is #2, and Wayne's contemporary Gary Cooper, with 18 appearances, is tied for #3 with Tom Cruise.) Wayne had the longest ride on the list, first appearing on it in 1949 and making it every year but one (1958) through 1974. In four of those years he was No. 1.
332
Ranked in the top four box office stars, as ranked by Quigley Publications' annual poll of the Top Ten Money Making Stars, an astounding 19 times from 1949 to 1972. (Only Clint Eastwood, with 21 appearances in the Top 10 to the Duke's 25, has been in the Top 10, let alone the top four, more times.) He made the top three a dozen times, the top two nine times, and was the #1 box office champ four times (1950, '51, '54 and 1971).
333
Although it has often been written that Wayne was dying of cancer when he made The Shootist (1976), his final film, this is not actually true. Following the removal of his entire left lung in 1964, he was cancer-free for the next 12 years. It wasn't until Christmas 1978 that he fell seriously ill again, and in January of the following year the cancer was found to have returned.
334
On Friday, January 12th, 1979, Wayne entered hospital for gall bladder surgery, which turned in a nine and a half hour operation when doctors discovered cancer in his stomach. His entire stomach was removed. On May 2nd, Wayne returned to the hospital, where the cancer was found to have spread to his intestines. He was taken to the 9th floor of the UCLA Medical Center, where President Jimmy Carter visited him, and Queen Elizabeth II sent him a get well card. He went into a coma on Sunday, June 10th, 1979, and died at 5:35 P.M., in the late afternoon the next day, Monday, June 11th, 1979.
335
During a visit to London in January 1974 to appear on The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour (1969) and Parkinson (1971), Wayne caught pneumonia. For a 66-year-old man with one lung this was very serious, and eventually he was coughing so hard that he damaged a valve in his heart. This problem went undetected until March 1978, when he underwent emergency open heart surgery in Boston. Bob Hope delivered a message from the The 50th Annual Academy Awards (1978), saying, "We want you to know Duke, we miss you tonight. We expect you to amble out here in person next year, because there is nobody who can fill John Wayne's boots." According to Loretta Young, that message from Hope made Wayne determined to live long enough to attend the Oscars in 1979.
336
Wayne tried not to make films that exploited sex or violence, deploring the vulgarity and violence in Rosemary's Baby (1968), which he saw and did not like, and A Clockwork Orange (1971) or Last Tango in Paris (1972) which he had no desire to see. He thought Deep Throat (1972) was repulsive - "after all, it's pretty hard to take your daughter to see it." And he refused to believe that Love Story (1970) "sold because the girl went around saying 'shit' all the way through it." Rather, "the American public wanted to see a little romantic story." He took a strong stance against nudity: "No one in any of my pictures will ever be served drinks by a girl with no top to her dress." It was not sex per se he was against. "Don't get me wrong. As far as a man and a woman are concerned, I'm awfully happy there's a thing called sex," he said, "It's an extra something God gave us, but no picture should feature the word in an unclear manner." He therefore saw "no reason why it shouldn't be in pictures," but it had to be "healthy, lusty sex."
337
Wayne's westerns were full of action but usually not excessively violent. "Fights with too much violence are dull," claimed Wayne, insisting that the straight-shooting, two-fisted violence in his movies have been "sort of tongue-in-cheek." He described the violence in his films as "lusty and a little humorous," based on his belief that "humor nullifies violence." His conservative taste deplored the increasing latitude given to violence and sex in Hollywood. In the 1960s he launched a campaign against what he termed "Hollywood's bloodstream polluted with perversion and immoral and amoral nuances." Most of his westerns steered clear of graphic violence.
338
The fact that all three of his wives were Latin-American surprised Hollywood; this was the only "non-American" aspect of his life. "I have never been conscious of going for any particular type," Wayne said in response to a challenge from the press, "it's just a happenstance".
339
It was no surprise that Wayne would become such an enduring icon. By the early 1970s his contemporaries Humphrey Bogart, Tyrone Power, Errol Flynn, Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy, Paul Muni and Gary Cooper were dead. James Cagney and Cary Grant both retired from acting at 62. The careers of other stars declined considerably--both Henry Fonda and James Stewart ended up working on television series that wound up being canceled. Wayne, however, continued to star in movies until 1976, remaining one of the top ten US box-office stars until 1974.
340
Following his retirement from making movies in 1976, Wayne received thousands of letters from fans who accused him of selling out by advertising insurance in television commercials. Wayne responded that the six-figure sum he was offered to star in the advertisements was too good to refuse.
341
Wore a toupee in every film from Wake of the Red Witch (1948) onwards. For some scenes towards the end of The Wings of Eagles (1957) he left it off in order to play his character in later life. Wayne's hairpiece can be seen to fall off during a fight scene in North to Alaska (1960).
342
Returned to Harvard in January 1974, at the height of his political activism, for a celebrity roast of himself. During the ceremony, the head said, "We're not here to make fun of you, we're here to hurt your feelings." Later, Wayne said jokingly, "You know, I accepted this invitation over a wonderful invitation to a Jane Fonda rally.".
343
During his conservative political speeches in the late 1960s and early 1970s, students opposed to his political stances would often walk out of or boycott university film classes that screened his films.
344
After seeing Wayne's performance in Red River (1948), directed by rival director Howard Hawks, John Ford is quoted as saying, "I never knew the big son of a bitch could act."
345
His performance as Ethan Edwards in The Searchers (1956) is ranked #23 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time.
346
According to Michael Munn's "John Wayne: The Man Behind the Myth", in 1959, Wayne was personally told by Nikita Khrushchev, when the Soviet Premier was visiting the United States on a goodwill tour, that Joseph Stalin and China's Zedong Mao had each ordered Wayne to be killed. Both dictators had considered Wayne to be a leading icon of American democracy, and thus a symbol of resistance to Communism through his active support for blacklisting in Hollywood, and they believed his death would be a major morale blow to the United States. Khrushchev told Wayne he had rescinded Stalin's order upon his predecessor's demise in March 1953, but Mao supposedly continued to demand Wayne's assassination well into the 1960s.
347
Despite being best known as a conservative Republican, Wayne's politics throughout his life were fluid. He later claimed to have considered himself a socialist during his first year of college. As a young actor in Hollywood, he described himself as a liberal, and voted for Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1936 presidential election. In 1938 he attended a fund raiser for a Democratic candidate in New York, but soon afterwards "realized Democrats didn't stand for the same things I did". Henry Fonda believed Wayne called himself a liberal just so he wouldn't fall out with director John Ford, an activist liberal Democrat. It really wasn't until the 1940s that Wayne moved fully to the right on the political spectrum. But even then, he was not always in lockstep with the rest of the conservative movement - a fact that was nonetheless unknown to the public until 1978, when he openly differed with the Republican Party over the issue of the Panama Canal. Conservatives wanted America to retain full control, but Wayne, believing that the Panamanians had the right to the canal, sided with President Jimmy Carter and the Democrats to win passage of the treaty returning the canal in the Senate. Carter openly credited Wayne with being a decisive factor in convincing some Republican Senators to support the measure.
348
Although never hailed as a great actor in the classic sense, Wayne was quite accomplished on stage in high school. He even represented Glendale High School in the prestigious 1925 Southern California Shakespeare Competition, performing a passage from "Henry VIII".
349
The inscription on the Congressional Gold Medal awarded to him in 1979 reads, simply, "John Wayne, American."
350
Wayne publicly criticized director Sam Peckinpah for his film The Wild Bunch (1969), which he claimed "destroyed the myth of the Old West".
351
One of the most unusual Oscar moments happened when anti-war liberal Barbra Streisand presented Vietnam war hawk Wayne with his Best Actor Oscar at The 42nd Annual Academy Awards (1970).
352
He made three movies with Kirk Douglas, despite the fact that the two men did not like each other and had very different political ideologies. Wayne was a very conservative Republican while Douglas was a very liberal Democrat. Wayne criticized Douglas for playing Vincent van Gogh in Lust for Life (1956), and publicly criticized him for hiring blacklisted screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, one of the "Hollywood Ten", to write the screenplay for Spartacus (1960). Douglas later praised Wayne as a true professional who would work with anybody if he felt they were right for the part.
353
He allegedly turned down Dirty Harry (1971) because he felt the role of Harry Callahan was too far removed from his screen image. When he saw the movie he realized it wasn't so different from the roles he had traditionally played, and made two cop dramas of his own, McQ (1974) and Brannigan (1975). Director Don Siegel later commented, "Wayne couldn't have played Harry. He was too old. He was too old to play McQ, which was a poor copy of Bullitt (1968)".
354
His final public appearance was to present the Best Picture Oscar to The Deer Hunter (1978) at The 51st Annual Academy Awards (1979). It was not a film Wayne was fond of, since it presented a very different view of the Vietnam War than his own movie, The Green Berets (1968), had a decade earlier.
355
In 1973 Clint Eastwood wrote to Wayne, suggesting they star in a western together. Wayne wrote back an angry response criticizing the revisionist style and violence of Eastwood's latest western, High Plains Drifter (1973). Consequently Eastwood did not reply and no film was made.
356
After meeting the late Superman (1978) star Christopher Reeve at the 1979 Academy Awards, Wayne turned to Cary Grant and said, "This is our new man. He's taking over.".
357
His performance as Ethan Edwards in The Searchers (1956) is ranked #87 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Performances of All Time (2006).
358
According to "The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows" (8th Edition, pg. 495), Wayne was the first choice to play Marshal Matt Dillon on Gunsmoke (1955), but declined because he did not want to commit to a weekly TV series. He did, however, recommend his friend James Arness for the role, and gave the on-camera introduction in the pilot episode.
359
Underwent surgery for an enlarged prostate in December 1976.
360
Along with Charlton Heston, Wayne was offered and turned down the role of Gen. Joseph W. Stilwell in Steven Spielberg's 1941 (1979), because he felt the film was an insult to World War II veterans, and also due to his own declining health.
361
Mentioned in many songs, including Jimmy Buffett's "Incommunicado", Tom Lehrer's "Send The Marines", Ray Stevens' "Beside Myself", Paula Cole's "Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?", Queen's "Bicycle Race" and Bruce Dickinson's (of Iron Maiden fame) "Sacred Cowboys".
362
On Saturday, June 9th, 1979, the Archbishop of Panama arrived at the hospital and baptized Wayne into the Roman Catholic Church. Wayne was given a Catholic funeral service, but his grave went unmarked until 1999 when he finally received a headstone.
363
In 1974, with the Vietnam war still continuing, The Harvard Lampoon invited Wayne to The Harvard Square Theater to award him the "Brass Balls Award" for his "Outstanding machismo and a penchant for punching people". Wayne accepted and arrived riding atop an armored personnel carrier manned by the "Black Knights" of Troop D, Fifth Regiment. Wayne took the stage and ad-libbed his way through a series of derogatory questions with adroitness, displaying an agile wit that completely won over the audience of students.
364
In 1979, as it became known that Wayne was dying of cancer, Barry Goldwater introduced legislation to award him the Congressional Gold Medal. Maureen O'Hara and Elizabeth Taylor flew to Washington to give testimony, and signed statements in support of the motion from Frank Sinatra, Gregory Peck, Jack Lemmon, Kirk Douglas, James Stewart and Katharine Hepburn were read out. The bill was passed unanimously, and the medal was presented to the Wayne family in the following year.
365
Of his many film roles, his personal favorite was that of Ethan Edwards from The Searchers (1956). Wayne even went so far as to name his son Ethan after that character.
366
In 1971 he displayed a sense of humor when he appeared on The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour (1969) in his usual western screen costume, flashing the peace sign to the show's other guests that week, the then-hot rock band Three Dog Night.
367
He made several films early in his career as a "singing" cowboy. His singing voice was supplied by a singer hidden off camera.
368
Increasingly by the early 1960s Wayne used to wear three or four-inch lifts in his shoes, a practice that mystified friends and co-stars like Bobby Darin', Capucine' and Robert Mitchum' because he stood 6'4". It was possibly due to his increasing weight, health problems, and age that he wasn't able to loom as tall without lifts.
369
In November 2003 he once again commanded a top-ten spot in the annual Harris Poll asking Americans to name their favorite movie star. No other deceased star has achieved such ranking since Harris began asking the question in 1993. In a 2001 Gallup Poll, Americans selected Wayne as their favorite movie star of all time.
370
In 1978, after recovering from open heart surgery, he had a script commissioned for a film called "Beau John" in which he would star with Ron Howard, but due to his declining health it never happened.
371
Regretted playing Temujin in The Conqueror (1956) so much that he visibly shuddered whenever anyone mentioned the film's name. He once remarked that the moral of the film was "not to make an ass of yourself trying to play parts you're not suited for."
372
He underwent surgery to have a cancerous left lung removed on Wednesday, September 16th, 1964, in a six-hour operation. Press releases at the time reported that Wayne was in Los Angeles' Good Samaritan Hospital to be treated for lung congestion. When Hollywood columnist James Bacon went to the hospital to see Wayne, he was told by a nurse that Wayne wasn't having visitors. According to a Monday, June 27th, 1978, "Us" magazine article, Wayne said to his nurse from his room, "Let that son of a bitch come in." When Bacon sat down in his room, Wayne told him, "Well, I licked the Big C." Wayne confessed that his five-packs-a-day cigarette habit had caused a lung tumor the size of a golf ball, necessitating the removal of the entire lung. One day following surgery, Wayne began coughing so violently he ruptured his stitches and damaged delicate tissue. His face and hands began to swell up from a mixture of fluid and air, but the doctors didn't dare operate again so soon. Five days later they drained the fluid and repaired the stitches. On Tuesday, December 29th, 1964, Wayne held a press conference at his Encino ranch, against the advice of his agent and advisers, where he announced, "I licked the Big C. I know the man upstairs will pull the plug when he wants to, but I don't want to end my life being sick. I want to go out on two feet, in action." Before he had left the hospital on 19 October 19th, Wayne received the news that his 52-year-old brother Robert E. Morrison had lung cancer.
373
According to movie industry columnist James Bacon, Wayne's producers issued phony press releases when he was hospitalized for cancer surgery in September 1964, claiming the star was being treated for lung congestion. "Those bastards who make pictures only think of the box office," he told Bacon, as recounted in 1979 by the columnist. "They figure Duke Wayne with cancer isn't a good image. I was too doped up at the time to argue with them, but I'm telling you the truth now. You know I never lie." After Bacon broke the story of the Duke's cancer, thousands of cancer victims and their relatives wrote to Wayne saying that his battle against the disease had given them hope.
374
During the filming of The Undefeated (1969), he fell from his horse and fractured three ribs. He couldn't work for almost two weeks. Then he tore a ligament in his shoulder and couldn't use one arm at all. The director, Andrew V. McLaglen, could only film him from an angle for the rest of the picture. His only concern throughout was not to disappoint his fans, despite being in terrible pain.
375
Maureen O'Hara presented him with the People's Choice Award for most popular motion picture actor in 1976.
376
On Monday, June 11th, 1979, the flame of the Olympic Torch at the Coliseum in Los Angeles, was lit for honoring him, in memory. It remained lit until the funeral four days later, Friday, June 15th, 1979.
377
Addressed the Republican National Convention on its opening day in 1968.
378
Brother of Robert E. Morrison.
379
Posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian award, by President Jimmy Carter in 1980.
380
Eagerly sought the role of Gen. George S. Patton in Patton (1970), but was turned down by the producer.
381
Was named the #13 greatest actor on The 50 Greatest Screen Legends list by the American Film Institute
382
He was voted the 4th Greatest Movie Star of all time by Premiere Magazine.
383
While making The Barbarian and the Geisha (1958), he apparently became so enraged with director John Huston (who was something of a tough guy himself and was nearly as tall as Wayne but not as massive) that he throttled and punched him out. It is unknown what Huston did to earn the beating, but the director was known to have a mean streak. Wayne later re-enacted the incident for Peter Bogdanovich, who was somewhat terrified to be used as a substitute for Huston.
384
He had English, Scots-Irish (Northern Irish), and Irish ancestry.
385
Although he complained that High Noon (1952) was "un-American", when he collected Gary Cooper's Oscar on his behalf, he also complained that he wasn't offered the part himself. He later teamed up with director Howard Hawks to tell the story his way in Rio Bravo (1959).
386
Was a member of the first class to be inducted into the DeMolay Hall of Fame on Monday, November 13th, 1986.
387
Pictured on a 37¢ USA commemorative stamp in the Legends of Hollywood series, issued on Thursday, September 9th, 2004. The first-day ceremonies were held at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.
388
He was a Master Mason.
389
Received the DeMolay Legion of Honor in 1970.
390
Wayne was initiated into DeMolay in 1924 at the Glendale Chapter in Glendale California.
391
Just on his sheer popularity and his prominent political activism, the Republican party in 1968 supposedly asked him to run for President of the USA, even though he had no previous political experience. He turned them down because he did not believe America would take a movie star running for the President seriously. He did however support Ronald Reagan's campaigns for governor of California in 1966 and 1970, as well as his bid for the Republican presidential nomination in 1976.
392
He was voted the 5th Greatest Movie Star of all time by Entertainment Weekly.
393
Because his on-screen adventures involved the slaying of a slew of Mexicans, Native Americans and Japanese, he has been called a racist by his critics. They believe this was strengthened by a Playboy Magazine interview in which he suggested that blacks were not yet qualified to hold high public office because "discrimination prevented them from receiving the kind of education a political career requires". Yet all of his three wives were of Latin descent.
394
Grandfather of actor Brendan Wayne.
395
Inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in 1974.
396
He was buried at Pacific View Cemetery in Corona del Mar, California, (a community within his hometown of Newport Beach). His grave finally received a plaque in 1999.
397
Among his favorite leisure activities were playing bridge, poker, and chess.
398
Arguably Wayne's worst film, The Conqueror (1956), in which he played Genghis Kahn, was based on a script that director Dick Powell had every intention of throwing into the wastebasket. According to Powell, when he had to leave his office at RKO for a few minutes during a story conference, he returned to find a very enthused Wayne reading the script, which had been in a pile of possible scripts on Powell's desk, and insisting that this was the movie he wanted to make. As Powell himself summed it up, "Who am I to turn down John Wayne?".
399
In 1973 he was awarded the Gold Medal from the National Football Foundation for his days playing football for Glendale High School and USC.
400
He once made a cameo appearance on The Beverly Hillbillies (1962). In episode, The Beverly Hillbillies: The Indians Are Coming (1967). And when asked how he wanted to be paid, his answer, in return, was "Give me a fifth of bourbon - that'll square it.".
401
Upon being cast by Raoul Walsh in Fox's The Big Trail (1930) the studio decided his name had to be changed. Walsh said he was reading a biography on General "Mad" Anthony Wayne and suggested that name. The studio liked the last name but not the first and decided on "John Wayne" as the final rendition.
402
Pictured on one of four 25¢ US commemorative postage stamps issued on Friday, March 23rd, 1990 honoring classic films released in 1939. The stamp featured Wayne as The Ringo Kid in Stagecoach (1939). The other films honored were Beau Geste (1939), The Wizard of Oz (1939), and Gone with the Wind (1939).
403
His spoken album "America: Why I Love Her" became a surprise best-seller and Grammy nominee when it was released in 1973. Reissued on CD in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, it became a best-seller all over again.
404
He was a member of the Sigma Chi Fraternity.
405
The evening before a shoot he was trying to get some sleep in a Las Vegas hotel. The suite directly below his was that of Frank Sinatra (never a good friend of Wayne), who was having a party. The noise kept Wayne awake, and each time he made a complaining phone call it quieted temporarily but each time eventually grew louder. Wayne at last appeared at Sinatra's door and told Frank to stop the noise. A Sinatra bodyguard of Wayne's size approached saying, "Nobody talks to Mr. Sinatra that way." Wayne looked at the man, turned as though to leave, then backhanded the bodyguard, who fell to the floor, where Wayne knocked him out by crashing a chair on top of him. The party noise stopped.
406
He was offered the lead in The Dirty Dozen (1967), but went to star in and direct The Green Berets (1968) instead. The part was eventually given to Lee Marvin.
407
His favorite drink was Sauza Commemorativo Tequila, and he often served it with ice that he had chipped from an iceberg during one of his voyages on his yacht, "The Wild Goose".
408
He and his drinking buddy, actor Ward Bond, frequently played practical jokes on each other. In one incident, Bond bet Wayne that they could stand on opposite sides of a newspaper and Wayne wouldn't be able to hit him. Bond set a sheet of newspaper down in a doorway, Wayne stood on one end, and Bond slammed the door in his face, shouting "Try and hit me now!" Wayne responded by sending his fist through the door, flooring Bond (and winning the bet).
409
An entry in the logbook of director John Ford's yacht "Araner", during a voyage along the Baja peninsula, made a reference to one of Wayne's pranks on Ward Bond: "Caught the first mate [Wayne] pissing in [Ward] Bond's flask this morning - must remember to give him a raise."
410
Great-uncle of boxer/actor Tommy Morrison, aka "The Duke".
411
In the comic "Preacher", his ghost appears in several issues, clothed in his traditional gunfighter outfit, as a mentor to the hero of the series, Jesse Custer.
412
His production company, Batjac, was originally to be called Batjak, after the shipping company owned by Luther Adler's character in the film Wake of the Red Witch (1948). A secretary's typo while she was drawing up the papers resulted in it being called Batjac, and Wayne, not wanting to hurt her feelings, kept her spelling of it.
413
Most published sources refer to Wayne's birth name as Marion Michael Morrison. His birth certificate, however, gives his original name as Marion Robert Morrison. According to Wayne's own statements, after the birth of his younger brother in 1911, his parents named the newborn Robert Emmett and changed Wayne's name from Marion Robert to Marion Michael. It has also been suggested by several of his biographers that Wayne's parents actually changed his birth name from Marion Robert to Marion Mitchell. In "Duke: The Life and Times of John Wayne" (1985), Donald Shepherd and Robert F. Slatzer state that when Wayne's younger brother was born, "the Duke's middle name was changed from Robert to Mitchell. . . . After he gained celebrity, Duke deliberately confused biographers and others by claiming Michael as his middle name, a claim that had no basis in fact."
414
Sons with Josephine: Michael Wayne (producer) and Patrick Wayne (actor); daughters Toni Wayne and Melinda Wayne.
415
Children with Pilar Wayne: Aissa Wayne, Ethan Wayne and Marisa Wayne.
416
Quote
1
(On Howard Hawks "Oh, yeah, Hawks and I had a few fights along the way," Wayne said, "but he accepted me as an expert, which I was, and we did not have any more trouble, and I was always happy to work for Hawks."
2
[At his divorce trial in 1953] I deeply regret I'm going to have to sling mud.
3
[in 1971] Republic Pictures gave me a screen credit on one of the early pictures and called me Michael Burns. On another one they called me Duke Morrison. Then they decided Duke Morrison didn't have enough prestige. My real name, Marion Michael Morrison, didn't sound American enough for them. So they came up with John Wayne. I didn't have any say in it, but I think it's a great name. It's short and strong and to the point. It took me a long time to get used to it, though. I still don't recognize it when somebody calls me John . . .
4
[in 1971] I licked the Big C. I know the man upstairs will pull the plug when he wants to, but I don't want to end my life being sick. I want to go out on two feet--in action.
5
Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. It comes into us at midnight very clean. It's perfect when it arrives and puts itself in our hands. It hopes we've learned something from yesterday.
6
Couches are for one thing only.
7
You may think all my parts are the same. That's just what I want you to think. You get lost on the screen if your personality doesn't show through.
8
In B-pictures all we ever did is tell a story. He's gone to Red Gap! Where's Red Gap? There's Red Gap! Let's git after him to Red Gap. Here's Red Gap! But in A-pictures you reacted more to the situations.
9
[1/46, interview in "Screenland" magazine] The picture business has grown up since I got into it 15 years ago, has acquired a dignity that is beyond reproach. Hollywood is, today, a quiet town compared to other places I have been and can, moreover, be pretty proud of itself, having pushed more charities, given more time to selling war bonds and more talent to entertaining servicemen than any other town in any other part of the country.
10
[April 1944, on Victory Committee USO tour] What go me was the way those kids out there kept their sense of humor. Through hard work, battle, or deadly monotony, they could laugh. Healthy beefing, sure, but no squawks. Taking it, day after day, and no complaining. It got me.
11
[on Maureen O'Hara] She is a woman who speaks her mind and that impressed me, despite my old-fashioned chauvinistic ways! She is feminine and beautiful, but there is something about her that makes her more like a man. It's her stubbornness and her willingness to stand up to anyone--even John Ford.
12
[About his close friend Maureen O'Hara] There's only one woman who has been my friend over the years and by that I mean a real friend, like a man would be. That woman is Maureen O'Hara. She's big, lusty, and absolutely marvelous, definitely my kind of woman. She's a great guy. I've had many friends and I prefer the company of men. Except for Maureen O'Hara.
13
You're going to think I'm being corny, but this is how I really feel: I hope my family and my friends will be able to say that I was an honest, kind and fairly decent man.
14
If I had it to do over again, I'd probably do everything I did. But that's not necessarily the right thing to do.
15
Winston Churchill's the most terrific fella of our century. If I had to make a speech on the subject of Communism, I could think of nobody that had a better insight or that said things concerning the future that have proven out so well. Let me read to you from a book of his quotes. While [Franklin D. Roosevelt] was giving the world Communism, Churchill said, "I tell you--it's no use arguing with a Communist. It's no good trying to convert a Communist, or persuade him. You can only deal with them on the following basis . . . you can only do it by having superior force on your side on the matter in question--and they must also be convinced that you will use--you will not hesitate to use these forces if necessary, in the most ruthless manner. You have not only to convince the Soviet government that you have superior force--but that you are not restrained by any moral consideration if the case arose from using that force with complete material ruthlessness. And that is the greatest chance of peace, the surest road to peace. Churchill was unparalleled. Above all, he took a nearly beaten nation and kept their dignity for them.
16
If a guy wants to wear his hair down to his ass, I'm not revolted by it. But I don't look at him and say, "Now there's a fella I'd like to spend next winter with."
17
Well, at one time in my career, I guess sexuality was part of my appeal. But God, I'm 63 years old now. How the hell do I know whether I still convey that? Jeez. It's pretty hard to answer a question like, "Are you attractive to broads?" All that crap comes from the way I walk, I guess. There's evidently a virility in it. Otherwise, why do they keep mentioning it? But I'm certainly not conscious of any particular walk. I guess I must walk different than other people, but I haven't gone to any school to learn how.
18
There's been no top authority saying what marijuana does to you. I really don't know that much about it. I tried it once, but it didn't do anything to me. The kids say it makes them think they're going thirty miles an hour when they're going eighty. If that's true, marijuana use should definitely be stopped. When I went to Hong Kong, I tried opium once, as a clinical thing. I heard it didn't make you sick the first time, and Jesus, it just didn't affect me one way or the other, either. So I'm not a very good judge of how debasing it is.
19
What the hell, in my racket I've fallen off a lot of horses. I even fell off on purpose in True Grit (1969). But that fall in The Undefeated (1969) was irritating because I tore some ligaments in my shoulder. I don't have good use of one arm anymore, and it makes me look like an idiot when I'm getting on a horse.
20
I don't have to assert my virility. I think my career has shown that I'm not exactly a pantywaist. But I do take pride in my work, even to the point of being the first one on the set in the morning. I'm a professional.
21
I had two operations six days apart - one for a cancer that was as big as a baby's fist, and then one for edema. I wasn't so uptight when I was told about the cancer. My biggest fear came when they twisted my windpipe and had to sew me back together a second time. When my family came in to see me and I saw the looks on their faces, I figured, "Well, Jeez, I must be just about all through. I kept my spirits up by thinking about God and my family and my friends and telling myself, "Everything will be all right." And it was. I licked the Big C. I know the man upstairs will pull the plug when he wants to, but I don't want to end up my life being sick. I want to go out on two feet - in action. The operation hasn't impeded anything except that I get short of breath quickly. Particularly in the higher altitudes, that slows me down. I still do my own fights and all that stuff. I'd probably do a little bit more if I had more wind, but I still do more than my share. Nobody else does anything any more than I do, whether they're young or old.
22
I've always followed my father's advice: He told me, first, to always keep my word and, second, to never insult anybody unintentionally. If I insult you, you can be goddamn sure I intend to. And, third, he told me not to go around looking for trouble. Well, I guess I have had some problems sticking to that third rule, but I'd say I've done pretty damn well with the first and second. I try to have good enough taste to insult only those I wish to insult. I've worked in a business where it's almost a requirement to break your word if you want to survive, but whenever I signed a contract for five years or for a certain amount of money, I've always lived up to it. I figured that if I was silly enough to sign it, or if I thought it was worth while at the time, that's the way she goes. I'm not saying that I won't drive as hard a bargain as I can. In fact, I think more about that end of the business than I did before, ever since 1959, when I found that my business manager was playing more than he was working. I didn't know how bad my financial condition was until my lawyer and everybody else said, "Let's all have a meeting and figure out exactly where you stand." At the conclusion of that meeting, it was quite obvious that I wasn't in anywhere near the shape that I thought I was or ought to be after twenty-five years of hard work. If they'd given me the time to sell everything without taking a quick loss, I would have come out about even. Oil and everything else. Not enough constructive thinking had been done. Then there was the shrimp fiasco. One of my dearest friends was Robert Arias, who was married to the ballerina Dame Margot Fonteyn. While his brother Tony was alive, we had control of about seventy per cent of the shrimp in Panama. We were also buying some island property near the Panama Canal. We were going to put in a ship-repair place. There were tugs standing down there at $150 a day to drag ships back up to the United States, because repair prices in the Canal Zone were so high. But our plans fell through when Tony was killed in an airplane accident. Around a half a million dollars was lost. If anything happened to me now, I have the right amount of insurance. I hope and pray, for my estate. I'm about as big a rancher as there is in Arizona, so I have outside interests other than my motion-picture work. The turning point was the moment I decided to watch what was being done with my money.
23
Many of us were being invited to supposed social functions or house parties--usually at well-known Hollywood writers' homes--that turned out to be Communist recruitment meetings. Suddenly, everybody from makeup men to stagehands found themselves in seminars on Marxism. Take this colonel I knew, the last man to leave the Philippines on a submarine in 1942. He came back here and went to work sending food and gifts to U.S. prisoners on Bataan. He'd already gotten a Dutch ship that was going to take all this stuff over. The State Department pulled him off of it and sent the poor bastard out to be the technical director on my picture Back to Bataan (1945), which was being made by Edward Dmytryk. I knew that he and a whole group of actors in the picture were pro-Reds, and when I wasn't there, these pro-Reds went to work on the colonel. He was a Catholic, so they kidded him about his religion: They even sang "The Internationale" at lunchtime. He finally came to me and said, "Mr. Wayne, I haven't anybody to turn to. These people are doing everything in their power to belittle me." So I went to Dmytryk and said, "Hey, are you a Commie?" He said, "No, I'm not a Commie. My father was a Russian. I was born in Canada. But if the masses of the American people want communism, I think it'd be good for our country." When he used the word "masses," he exposed himself. That word is not a part of Western terminology. So I knew he was a Commie. Well, it later came out that he was. I also knew two other fellas who really did things that were detrimental to our way of life. One of them was Carl Foreman, the guy who wrote the screenplay for High Noon (1952), and the other was Robert Rossen, the one who made the picture about Huey Long, All the King's Men (1949). In Rossen's version of "All the King's Men", which he sent me to read for a part, every character who had any responsibility at all was guilty of some offense against society. To make Huey Long a wonderful, rough pirate was great; but, according to this picture, everybody was a shit except for this weakling intern doctor who was trying to find a place in the world. I sent the script back to Charles Feldman, my agent, and said, "If you ever send me a script like this again, I'll fire you." Ironically, it won the Academy Award. "High Noon" was even worse. Everybody says "High Noon" is a great picture because Dimitri Tiomkin wrote some great music for it and because Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly were in it. So it's got everything going for it. In that picture, four guys come in to gun down the sheriff. He goes to the church and asks for help and the guys go, "Oh well, oh gee." And the women stand up and say, "You're rats. You're rats. You're rats." So Cooper goes out alone. It's the most un-American thing I've ever seen in my whole life. The last thing in the picture is ole Coop putting the United States marshal's badge under his foot and stepping on it. I'll never regret having helped run Foreman out of this country. Running him out of the country is just a figure of speech. But I did tell him that I thought he'd hurt Gary Cooper's reputation a great deal. Foreman said, "Well, what if I went to England?" I said, "Well, that's your business." He said, "Well, that's where I'm going." And he did.
24
I figure if we're going to send even one man to die, we ought to be in an all-out conflict. If you fight, you fight to win. And the domino theory is something to be reckoned with, too, both in Europe and in Asia. Look at what happened in Czechoslovakia and what's happened all through the Balkans. At some point we have to stop communism. So we might as well stop it right now in Vietnam.
25
Well, when I went to USC, if anybody had gone into the president's office and shit in his wastepaper basket and used the dirt to write vulgar words on the wall, not only the football team but the average kid on campus would have gone to work on the guy. There doesn't seem to be respect for authority anymore; these student dissenters act like children who have to have their own way on everything. They're immature and living in a little world all their own. Just like hippie dropouts, they're afraid to face the real competitive world.
26
[Herbert Marcuse] has become a hero only for an articulate clique. The men that give me faith in my country are fellas like Spiro Agnew, not the Marcuses. They've attempted in every way to humiliate Agnew. They've tried the old Rooseveltian thing of trying to laugh him out of political value of his party. Every comedian's taken a crack at him. But I bet if you took a poll today, he'd probably be one of the most popular men in the United States. Nobody likes Spiro Agnew but the people. Yet he and other responsible government leaders are booed and pelted when they speak on college campuses.
27
They're standing up for what they feel is right, not for what they think is right--'cause they don't think. As a kid, the Panther ideas probably would have intrigued me. When I was a little kid, you could be adventurous like that without hurting anybody. There were periods when you could blow the valve and let off some steam. Like Halloween. You'd talk about it for three months ahead of time, and then that night you'd go out and stick the hose in the lawn, turn it on and start singing "Old Black Joe" or something. And when people came out from their Halloween party, you'd lift the hose and wet them down. And while you were running, the other kids would be stealing the ice cream from the party. All kinds of rebellious actions like that were accepted for that one day. Then you could talk about it for three months afterward. That took care of about six months of the year. There was another day called the Fourth of July, when you could go out and shoot firecrackers and burn down two or three buildings. So there were two days a year. Now those days are gone. You can't have firecrackers, you can't have explosives, you can't have this, don't do this, don't do that. Don't . . . don't . . . don't. A continual "don't" until the kids are ready to do almost anything rebellious. The government makes the rules, so now the running of our government is the thing they're rebelling against. For a lot of those kids, that's just being adventurous. They're not deliberately setting out to undermine the foundations of our great country. They're doing their level worst--without knowing it. How 'bout all the kids that were at the Chicago Democratic Convention? They were conned into doing hysterical things by a bunch of activists. A lot of Communist-activated people. I know Communism's a horrible word to some people. They laugh and say, "He'll be finding them under his bed tomorrow." But perhaps that's because their kid hasn't been inculcated yet. Dr. Herbert Marcuse, the political philosopher at the University of California at San Diego, who is quite obviously a Marxist, put it very succinctly when he said, "We will use the anarchists."
28
Quite obviously, the Black Panthers represent a danger to society. They're a violent group of young men and women - adventurous, opinionated and dedicated - and they throw their disdain in our face. Now, I hear some of these liberals saying they'd like to be held as white hostages in the Black Panther offices and stay there so that they could see what happens on these early-morning police raids. It might be a better idea for these good citizens to go with the police on a raid. When they search a Panther hideout for firearms, let these do-gooders knock and say, "Open the door in the name of the law" and get shot at.
29
Entertainers like Steve Allen and his cronies who went up to Northern California and held placards to save the life of that guy Caryl Chessman. I just don't understand these things. I can't understand why our national leadership isn't willing to take the responsibility of leadership instead of checking polls and listening to the few that scream. Why are we allowing ourselves to become a mobocracy instead of a democracy? When you allow unlawful acts to go unpunished, you're moving toward a government of men rather than a government of law; you're moving toward anarchy. And that's exactly what we're doing. We allow dirty loudmouths to publicly call policemen pigs; we let a fella like William Kunstler make a speech to the Black Panthers saying that the ghetto is theirs, and that if police come into it, they have a right to shoot them. Why is that dirty, no-good son of a bitch allowed to practice law?
30
Luckily so far, it seems they kind of consider me an older friend, somebody believable and down-to-earth. I've avoided being mean or petty, but I've never avoided being rough or tough. I've only played one cautious part in my life, in Allegheny Uprising (1939). My parts have ranged from that rather dull character to Ralls in Wake of the Red Witch (1948), who was a nice enough fella sober, but bestial when he was drunk, and certainly a rebel. I was also a rebel in Reap the Wild Wind (1942) with ' Cecil B. De Mille'. I've played many parts in which I've rebelled against something in society. I was never much of a joiner. Kids do join things, but they also like to consider themselves individuals capable of thinking for themselves. So do I.
31
Let's say I hope that I appeal to the more carefree times in a person's life rather than to his reasoning adulthood. I'd just like to be an image that reminds someone of joy rather than of the problems of the world.
32
Sure it did--even if it took the industry 40 years to get around to it [awarding him an Oscar]. But I think both of my two previous Oscar nominations--for She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949) and Sands of Iwo Jima (1949)--were worthy of the honor. I know the Marines and all the American armed forces were quite proud of my portrayal of Stryker, the Marine sergeant in "Iwo". At an American Legion convention in Florida, General Douglas MacArthur told me, "You represent the American serviceman better than the American serviceman himself." And, at 42, in "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon" I played the same character that I played in True Grit (1969) at 62. But I really didn't need an Oscar. I'm a box-office champion with a record they're going to have to run to catch. And they won't.
33
Rio Lobo (1970) certainly wasn't any different from most of my Westerns. Nor was Chisum (1970), the one before that. But there still seems to be a very hearty public appetite for this kind of film--what some writers call a typical John Wayne Western. That's a label they use disparagingly . . . If I depended on the critics' judgment and recognition, I'd never have gone into the motion-picture business.
34
They made me a singing cowboy. The fact that I couldn't sing--or play the guitar--became terribly embarrassing to me, especially on personal appearances. Every time I made a public appearance, the kids insisted that I sing "The Desert Song" or something. But I couldn't take along the fella who played the guitar out on one side of the camera and the fella who sang on the other side of the camera. So finally I went to the head of the studio and said. "Screw this, I can't handle it." And I quit doing those kind of pictures. They went out and brought the best hillbilly recording artist in the country to Hollywood to take my place. For the first couple of pictures, they had a hard time selling him, but he finally caught on. His name was Gene Autry. It was 1939 before I made Stagecoach (1939)--the picture that really made me a star.
35
Rooster Cogburn's attitude toward life was maybe a little different, but he was basically the same character I've always played.
36
[on True Grit (1969)] In my other pictures, we've had an explosion or something go off when a bad word was said. This time we didn't. It's profanity, all right, but I doubt if there's anybody in the United States who hasn't heard the expression "son of a bitch" or "bastard". We felt it was acceptable in this instance. At the emotional high point in that particular picture, I felt it was OK to use it. It would have been pretty hard to say "you illegitimate sons of so-and-so!".
37
Perhaps we have run out of imagination on how to effect illusion because of the satiating realism of a real war on television. But haven't we got enough of that in real life? Why can't the same point be made just as effectively in a drama without all the gore? The violence in my pictures, for example, is lusty and a little bit humorous, because I believe humor nullifies violence. Like in one picture, directed by Henry Hathaway [The Sons of Katie Elder (1965)], this heavy was sticking a guy's head in a barrel of water. I'm watching this and I don't like it one bit, so I pick up this pick handle and I yell, "Hey!" and clock him across the head. Down he went--with no spurting blood. Well, that got a hell of a laugh because of the way I did it. That's my kind of violence.
38
When you get hairy, sweaty bodies in the foreground, it becomes distasteful, unless you use a pretty heavy gauze. I can remember seeing pictures that Ernst Lubitsch made in the '30s that were beautifully risqué--and you'd certainly send your children to see them. They were done with intimation. They got over everything these other pictures do without showing the hair and the sweat. When you think of the wonderful picture fare we've had through the years and realize we've come to this shit, it's disgusting. If they want to continue making those pictures, fine. But my career will have ended. I've already reached a pretty good height right now in a business that I feel is going to fade out from its own vulgarity.
39
But don't get me wrong. As far as a man and a woman is concerned, I'm awfully happy there's a thing called sex. It's an extra something God gave us. I see no reason why it shouldn't be in pictures. Healthy, lusty sex is wonderful.
40
Every time they rate a picture, they let a little more go. Ratings are ridiculous to begin with. There was no need for rated pictures when the major studios were in control. Movies were once made for the whole family. Now, with the kind of junk the studios are cranking out-and the jacked-up prices they're charging for the privilege of seeing it - the average family is staying home and watching television. I'm quite sure that within two or three years, Americans will be completely fed up with these perverted films.
41
I'm glad I won't be around much longer to see what they do with it. The men who control the big studios today are stock manipulators and bankers. They know nothing about our business. They're in it for the buck. The only thing they can do is say, "Jeez, that picture with what's-her-name running around the park naked made money, so let's make another one. If that's what they want, let's give it to them." Some of these guys remind me of high-class whores. Look at 20th Century-Fox, where they're making movies like Myra Breckinridge (1970). Why doesn't that son of a bitch Darryl F. Zanuck get himself a striped silk shirt and learn how to play the piano? Then he could work in any room in the house. As much as I couldn't stand some of the old-time moguls - especially Harry Cohn - these men took an interest in the future of their business. They had integrity. There was a stretch when they realized that they'd made a hero out of the goddamn gangster heavy in crime movies, that they were doing a discredit to our country. So the moguls voluntarily took it upon themselves to stop making gangster pictures. No censorship from the outside. They were responsible to the public. But today's executives don't give a damn. In their efforts to grab the box office that these sex pictures are attracting, they're producing garbage. They're taking advantage of the fact that nobody wants to be called a bluenose. But they're going to reach the point where the American people will say, "The hell with this!" And once they do, we'll have censorship in every state, in every city, and there'll be no way you can make even a worthwhile picture for adults and have it acceptable for national release.
42
[in 1973] Hell yes, I'm a liberal. I listen to both sides before I make up my mind. Doesn't that make you a liberal? Not in today's terms, it doesn't. These days, you have to be a fucking left-wing radical to be a liberal. Politically, though . . . I've mellowed.
43
[on True Grit (1969)] And that ending. I liked that. You know, in the book Mattie loses her hand from the snakebite, and I die, and the last scene in the book has her looking at my grave. But the way Marguerite Roberts wrote the screenplay, she gave it an uplift. Mattie and Rooster both go to visit her family plot, after she gets cured of the snakebite. By now it's winter. And she offers to let Rooster be buried there some day, seeing as how he has no family of his own. Rooster's happy to accept, long as he doesn't have to take her up on it too quick. So then he gets on his horse and says, "Come and see a fat old man sometime". And then he spurs the horse and jumps a fence, just to show he still can.
44
But back to True Grit (1969). Henry Hathaway used the backgrounds in such a way that it became almost a fantasy. Remember that one scene, where old Rooster is facing those four men across the meadow, and he takes the reins in his teeth and charges? Fill your hands, you varmints! That's Henry at work. It's a real meadow, but it looks almost dreamlike. Henry made it a fantasy and yet he kept it an honest Western. You get something of that in the character of Rooster. Well, they say he's not like what I've done before, and I even say that, but he does have facets of the John Wayne character, huh? I think he does. Of course, they give me that John Wayne stuff so much, claim I always play the same role. Seems like nobody remembers how different the fellas were in The Quiet Man (1952). Or Sands of Iwo Jima (1949). Or She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949), where I was 35 playing a man of 65. To stay a star, you have to bring along some of your own personality. Thousands of good actors can carry a scene, but a star has to carry the scene and still, without intruding, allow some of his character into it.
45
But you know, I'm very conscious that people criticize Hollywood. Yet we've created a form, the Western, that can be understood in every country. The good guys against the bad guys. No nuances. And the horse is the best vehicle of action in our medium. You take action, a scene, and scenery, and cut them together, and you never miss. Action, scene, scenery. But when you think about the Western--ones I've made, for example. Stagecoach (1939), Red River (1948), The Searchers (1956), a picture named Hondo (1953) that had a little depth to it--it's an American art form. It represents what this country is about. In True Grit (1969), for example, that scene where Rooster shoots the rat. That was a kind of reference to today's problems. Oh, not that "True Grit" has a message or anything. But that scene was about less accommodation, and more justice. They keep bringing up the fact that America's for the downtrodden. But this new thing of genuflecting to the downtrodden, I don't go along with that. We ought to go back to praising the kids who get good grades, instead of making excuses for the ones who shoot the neighborhood grocery man. But, hell, I don't want to get started on that!
46
[about the death of James Stewart's son, who was killed in Vietnam] Jesus, that was a terrible thing about Gloria and Jimmy Stewart's kid getting killed over there. It makes you want to cry. At least Jimmy was over there to see the kid a few months ago. That's something. But it makes you want to cry. And [Robert Taylor]'s going was terrible. He was terminal since they opened him up. I know what he went through. They ripped a lung out of me. I thank God I'm still here. All the real motion picture people have always made family pictures. But the downbeats and the so-called intelligentsia got in when the government stupidly split up the production companies and the theaters. The old giants--[Louis B. Mayer], [Irving Thalberg], even Harry Cohn, despite the fact that personally I couldn't stand him--were good for this industry. Now the goddamned stock manipulators have taken over. They don't know a goddamned thing about making movies. They make something dirty, and it makes money, and they say, "Jesus, let's make one a little dirtier, maybe it'll make more money". And now even the bankers are getting their noses into it. I'll give you an example. Take that girl, Julie Andrews, a refreshing, openhearted girl, a wonderful performer. Her stint was Mary Poppins (1964) and The Sound of Music (1965). But she wanted to be a Theda Bara. And they went along with her, and the picture fell flat on its ass. A [Samuel Goldwyn] would have told her, "Look, my dear, you can't change your sweet and lovely image".
47
[on reactions to The Green Berets (1968)] The left-wingers are shredding my flesh, but like Liberace, we're bawling all the way to the bank.
48
I know what the critics think--that I can't act. What is a great actor anyway? Of course, you could say a great actor is one who can play many different parts, like [Laurence Olivier] can. But all the parts I play are tailor-made for me.
49
[on The Fighting Kentuckian (1949)] Yates [Republic Pictures studio chief Herbert J. Yates] made me use Vera Hruba [Republic star Vera Ralston, who was also Yates' mistress] . . . I've always been mad at Yates about this, because we lost the chance to have one damn fine movie.
50
[on Republic Pictures' chief Herbert J. Yates' failed attempts to make a star out of wife Vera Ralston] Yates was one of the smartest businessmen I ever met. I respected him in many ways, and he liked me. But when it came to the woman he loved, his business brains just went flyin' out the window.
51
[on They Came to Cordura (1959)] How they got Gary Cooper to do that one! To me, at least, it simply degrades the Medal of Honor. The whole story makes a mockery of America's highest award for valor. The whole premise of the story was wrong, illogical, because they don't pick the type of men the movie picked to win the award, and that can be proved by the very history of the award.
52
[on Raoul Walsh] I've been very lucky in the men I've worked with. Raoul Walsh -- the heartiness and lustiness he gave to pictures I thought was tremendous.
53
[on High Plains Drifter (1973)] That isn't what the West was all about. That isn't the American people who settled this country.
54
I had the feeling my career was going to decline back in '68. I'd just had a big hit with The Green Berets (1968), but I wasn't getting any younger and I knew Hellfighters (1968) wasn't going to set the box office on fire. Then I read a script for a film called True Grit (1969).
55
[on Cahill U.S. Marshal (1973)] It just wasn't a well done picture. It needed better writing, it needed a little better care in making.
56
[on Jet Pilot (1957)] It is undoubtedly one of my worst movies ever.
57
[on Donovan's Reef (1963)] The script really called for a younger guy. I felt awkward romancing a young girl at my age.
58
Contrary to what people think, I'm no politician, and when I have something to say I say it through my movies.
59
Paul Newman would have been a much more important star if he hadn't always tried to be an anti-hero, to show the human feet of clay.
60
I wrote to the head man at General Motors and said, "I'm gonna have to desert you if you don't stop making cars for women.'"
61
In spite of the fact that Rooster Cogburn would shoot a fella between the eyes, he'd judge that fella before he did it. He was merely trying to make the area in which he was marshal livable for the most number of people.
62
The Green Berets (1968) made $7,000,000 in the first three months of its release. This so-called intellectual group aren't in touch with the American people, regardless of [J. William Fulbright's] blatting, and Eugene McCarthy and George McGovern and Ted Kennedy. In spite of them the American people do not feel that way. Instead of taking a census, they ought to count the tickets that were sold to that picture.
63
I said there was a tall, lanky kid that led 150 airplanes across Berlin. He was an actor, but that day, I said, he was a colonel. Colonel Jimmy Stewart [James Stewart]. So I said, "What is all this crap about Reagan [Ronald Reagan] being an actor?"
64
I think those blacklisted people should have been sent over to Russia. They'd have been taken care of over there, and if the Commies ever won over here, why hell, those guys would be the first ones they'd take care of - after me.
65
My main object in making a motion picture is entertainment. If at the same time I can strike a blow for liberty, then I'll stick one in.
66
There's a lot of yella bastards in the country who would like to call patriotism old-fashioned. With all that leftist activity, I was quite obviously on the other side. I was invited at first to a coupla cell meetings, and I played the lamb to listen to 'em for a while. The only guy that ever fooled me was the director Edward Dmytryk. I made a picture with him called Back to Bataan (1945). He started talking about the masses, and as soon as he started using that word - which is from their book, not ours - I knew he was a Commie.END.
67
The West - the very words go straight to that place of the heart where Americans feel the spirit of pride in their western heritage - the triumph of personal courage over any obstacle, whether nature or man.
68
[on his third wife Pilar Wayne] I can tell you why I love her. I have a lust for her dignity. I look at her wonderfully classic face, and I see hidden in it a sense of humor that I love. I think of wonderful, exciting, decent things when I look at her.
69
We've made mistakes along the way, but that's no reason to start tearing up the best flag God ever gave to any country.
70
When the road looks rough ahead, remember the Man Upstairs and the word "Hope". Hang onto both and tough it out.
71
A man's got to have a code, a creed to live by, no matter his job.
72
When you come slam bang up against trouble, it never looks half as bad if you face up to it.
73
[his speech at The 42nd Annual Academy Awards (1970)] Wow! Ladies and gentlemen, I'm no stranger to this podium. I've come up here and picked up these beautiful golden men before, but always for friends. One night I picked up two: one for Admiral John Ford and one for our beloved Gary Cooper. I was very clever and witty that night - the envy of, even, Bob Hope. But tonight I don't feel very clever, very witty. I feel very grateful, very humble, and I owe thanks to many, many people. I want to thank the members of the Academy. To all you people who are watching on television, thank you for taking such warm interest in our glorious industry. Good night.
74
Sure I wave the American flag. Do you know a better flag to wave? Sure I love my country with all her faults. I'm not ashamed of that, never have been, never will be. I was proud when President Nixon [Richard Nixon] ordered the mining of Haiphong Harbor, which we should have done long ago, because I think we're helping a brave little country defend herself against Communist invasion. That's what I tried to show in The Green Berets (1968) and I took plenty of abuse from the critics. Did you ever see reviews like that? Reviews with hatred and nastiness.
75
[6/78] I'm a greedy old man. Life's been good to me, and I want some more of it.
76
[1979] Listen, I spoke to the man up there on many occasions and I have what I always had: deep faith that there is a Supreme Being. There has to be, you know; it's just to me, that's just a normal thing, to have that kind of faith. The fact that He's let me stick around a little longer certainly goes great with me, and I want to hang around as long as I'm healthy and not in anybody's way.
77
[1976] And to all you folks out there, I want to thank you for the last fifty years of my career. And I hope I can keep at it another fifty years - or at least until I can get it right.
78
[on television] I don't know if I love it or hate it, but there sure has never been any form of entertainment so . . . so . . . available to the human race with so little effort since they invented marital sex.
79
[1971] Well, you like . . . each picture for . . . a different reason. But I think my favorite will always be the next one.
80
[1971] Get a checkup. Talk someone you like into getting a checkup. Nag someone you love into getting a checkup. And while you're at it, send a check to the American Cancer Society. It's great to be alive.
81
[1962] I'm a progressive thinker, even though I'm not in the liberal strain.
82
[1966] I drink for comradeship, and when I drink for comradeship, I don't bother to keep count.
83
[12/29/64] I've had lung cancer, the big C. But I've beaten the son of a bitch. Maybe I can give some poor bastard a little hope by being honest. I want people to know cancer can be licked. My advisers all told me that the public doesn't want its movie heroes associated with serious illness like cancer, that it destroys their image. Well, I don't care much about images, and, anyway, I would have thought there was a lot better image in the fact that John Wayne had cancer and licked it.
84
[1960] I suddenly found out after 25 years I was starting out all over again. I would just about break even if I sold everything right now.
85
[on The Alamo (1960)] This picture is America. I hope that seeing the battle of the Alamo will remind Americans that liberty and freedom don't come cheap. This picture, well, I guess making it has made me feel useful to my country.
86
[After failing to win the Best Actor Oscar for Sands of Iwo Jima (1949)] The best way to survive an Oscar is to never try to win another one. You've seen what happens to some Oscar winners. They spend the rest of their lives turning down scripts while searching for the great role to win another one. Hell, I hope I'm never even nominated again. It's meat-and-potato roles for me from now on.
87
[1973] I've been allowed a few more years - I hope. My lung capacity is naturally limited now, but I had a pretty good set before the disease hit me, so it isn't too noticeable in my everyday life.
88
John Ford was like a father to me, like a big brother. I got word that he wanted to see me at his home in Palm Springs, and when I got there, he said, "Hi Duke, down for the deathwatch?" "Hell no," I said, "you'll bury us all." But he looked so weak. We used to be a triumvirate - Ford and me and a guy named Ward Bond. The day I went to Palm Springs, Ford said, "Duke, do you ever think of Ward?" "All the time," I said. "Well, let's have a drink to Ward," he said. So I got out the brandy, gave him a sip and took one for myself. "All right, Duke," he said finally, "I think I'll rest for a while." I went home, and that was Pappy Ford's last day.
89
Once I was working in a movie with Harry Carey and his wife Olive [Olive Carey], and I was complaining about being typed. "Duke," Ollie said, "look at Harry over there - would you like to see Harry Carey play any other way?". "Of course not," I said. "Well," Ollie said, "the American public doesn't want to see you any other way, either. So wake up, Duke! Be what they want you to be." See, I'm not against Women's Lib. Ollie gave me some real good advice.
90
[1973] My build-up was done through constant exposure. By the time I went overseas to visit our boys during the Second World War, they had already seen my movies when they were back home. Now their kids are grown up and their kids are seeing my movies. I'm part of the family . . . I think Steve McQueen and Robert Redford have a chance of becoming lasting stars. And certainly that big kid - what the hell's his name? Jesus, I have such a hard time remembering my own name sometimes. Oh, you know the one I mean, that big kid, the one that's been directing some of his own movies lately. Yeah, that's the one - Clint Eastwood!
91
[on his separation from third wife Pilar Wayne in 1973] We have separated, and it's a sad incident in my life. It is family and personal. I'd rather keep it that way.
92
The only way to get 520,000 men home - men who had been practically sneaked into Vietnam in the first place - was to make the decision to mine Haiphong Harbor. President [Richard Nixon] had the courage to make that decision, and when the other side started using prisoners of war as pawns, he had to make the awesome decision to bomb Hanoi. Which he did, and then he brought our prisoners of war home. Richard Nixon and I have had a long acquaintance. I respected him as a goodly man - winning or losing
over the years, and I think he should be standing in the crowning
glory today for his accomplishments. Instead, they've chosen to blame him for the gradual growth of hypocrisy and individual ambition that have made our political system distasteful to the public.
93
[December 1973] They're trying to crucify Nixon [Richard Nixon], but when they're writing the history of this period, Watergate will be no more than a footnote. Believe me, I have a high respect for the bulldogged way in which our President has been able to continue to administrate this government, in spite of the articulate liberal press - whose only purpose is to sell toilet paper and Toyotas - and in spite of the ambitious politicians who would deny him the help and encouragement that a man needs to face the problems of this country. I endorsed Spiro Agnew's attitudes, but I knew nothing of his private affairs. I was sadly disappointed to discover his feet of clay.
94
It's kind of a sad thing when a normal love of country makes you a super patriot. I do think we have a pretty wonderful country, and I thank God that He chose me to live here.
95
Watergate is a sad and tragic incident in our history. They were wrong, dead wrong, those men at Watergate. Men abused power, but the system still works. Men abused money, but the system still works. Men lied and perjured themselves, but the system still works.
96
I think it was sad that Brando [Marlon Brando] did what he did. If he had something to say, he should have appeared that night and stated his views instead of taking some little unknown girl and dressing her up in an Indian outfit. What he was doing was trying to avoid the issue that was really on his mind, which was the provocative story of Last Tango in Paris (1972). Let's just say I haven't made a particular point of seeing that particular picture. Brando is one of the finest actors we've had in the business, and I'm only sorry he didn't have the benefit of older, more established friends - as I did - to help him choose the proper material in which to use his talent.
97
Not that I had thoughts of becoming a song and dance man, but, like most young actors, I did want to play a variety of roles. I remember walking down the street one day, mumbling to myself about the way my career was going, when suddenly I bumped into Will Rogers. "What's the matter, Duke?" he asked, and I said things weren't going so well. "You working?" he asked, and I said, "Yep." "Keep working, Duke," he said and smiled and walked away.
98
I'm not preaching a sermon from the mount, you know. This is just my own opinion. But it does seem to me that when our industry got vulgar and cheap, we began losing our regular customers. Sure, people are curious, and they'll go see any provocative thing once - maybe even four or five times - but eventually they'll just stay home and watch television. There used to be this little Frenchman in Hollywood who made all these risqué movies . . . what the hell was his name? . . . Lubitsch [Ernst Lubitsch, who was actually German]! He could make pictures as risqué as anything you'll see today, but he made them with taste and illusion. The only sadness in my heart for our business is that we are taking all the illusion out of it. After all, it's pretty hard to take your daughter to see Deep Throat (1972).
99
Screw ambiguity. Perversion and corruption masquerade as ambiguity. I don't trust ambiguity.
100
I read someplace that I used to make B-pictures. Hell, they were a lot farther down the alphabet than that . . . but not as far down as R and X. I think any man who makes an X-rated picture ought to be made to take his own daughter to see it.
101
To me, The Wild Bunch (1969) was distasteful. It would have been a good picture without the gore. Pictures go too far when they use that kind of realism, when they have shots of blood spurting out and teeth flying, and when they throw liver out to make it look like people's insides. "The Wild Bunch" was one of the first to go that far in realism, and the curious went to see it. That may make the bankers and stock promoters think that it is a necessary ingredient for successful motion pictures. They seem to forget the one basic principle of our business - illusion. We're in the business of magic. I don't think it hurts a child to see anything that has the illusion of violence in it. All our fairy tales have some kind of violence - the good knight riding to kill the dragon, etc. Why do we have to show the knight spreading the serpent's guts all over the candy mountain?
102
That Redford [Robert Redford] fellow is good. Brando [Marlon Brando]. Ah, Patton (1970) - George C. Scott. But the best of the bunch is Garner - James Garner. He can play anything. Comedy westerns, drama - you name it. Yeah, I have to say Garner is the best around today. He doesn't have to say anything
just make a face and you crack up.
103
[1979] I've known Jane Fonda since she was a little girl. I've never agreed with a word she's said, but would give my life defending her right to say it.
104
[on The Conqueror (1956)] The way the screenplay reads, this is a cowboy picture, and that's how I am going to play Genghis Khan. I see him as a gunfighter.
105
You know, I hear everybody talking about the generation gap. Frankly, sometimes I don't know what they're talking about. Heck, by now I should know a little bit about it, if I'm ever going to. I have seven kids and 18 grandkids and I don't seem to have any trouble talking to any of them. Never have had, and I don't intend to start now.
106
[on the studios' blacklisting of alleged "subversives" in Hollywood] If it is for the FBI, I will do anything for them. If they want me to I will even be photographed with an agent and point out a Communist for them. Tell Mr. Hoover [FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover] I am on his side.
107
Just think of it. At the Alamo there was a band of only 185 men of many nationalities and religions, all joined in a common cause for freedom. Those 185 men killed 1000 of Santa Anna's men before they died. But they knew they spent their lives for the precious time Sam Houston needed.
108
Mine is a rebellion against the monotony of life. The rebellion in these kids, particularly the S.D.S.-ers and those groups, seems to be a kind of dissension by rote.
109
Television has a tendency to reach a little. In their westerns, they are getting away from the simplicity and the fact that those men were fighting the elements and the rawness of nature and didn't have time for this couch-work.
110
[on Frank Capra] I'd like to take that little Dago son of a bitch and tear him into a million pieces and throw him into the ocean and watch him float back to Sicily where he belongs.
111
I was 32nd in the box office polls when I accepted the presidency of the Alliance [The Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals, a right-wing political organization he helped start]. When I left office eight years later, somehow the folks who buy the tickets had made me number one.
112
That little clique back there in the East has taken great personal satisfaction reviewing my politics instead of my pictures. But one day those doctrinaire liberals will wake up to find the pendulum has swung the other way.
113
Talk low, talk slow and don't talk too much.
114
I play John Wayne in every picture regardless of the character, and I've been doing all right, haven't I?
115
I don't think John Ford had any kind of respect for me as an actor until I made Red River (1948) for Howard Hawks. I was never quite sure what he did think of me as an actor. I know now, though. Because when I finally won an Oscar for my role as Rooster Cogburn in True Grit (1969), Ford shook my hand and said the award was long overdue me as far as he was concerned. Right then, I knew he'd respected me as an actor since Stagecoach (1939), even though he hadn't let me know it. He later told me his praise earlier, might have gone to my head and made me conceited, and that was why he'd never said anything to me, until the right time.
116
[on why he never wrote an autobiography] Those who like me already know me, and those who don't like me wouldn't want to read about me anyway.
117
If it hadn't been for football and the fact I got my leg broke and had to go into the movies to eat, why, who knows, I might have turned out to be a liberal Democrat.
118
Don't ever for a minute make the mistake of looking down your nose at westerns. They're art--the good ones, I mean. They deal in life and sudden death and primitive struggle, and with the basic emotions--love, hate, and anger--thrown in. We'll have westerns films as long as the cameras keep turning. The fascination that the Old West has will never die. And as long as people want to pay money to see me act, I'll keep on making westerns until the day I die.
119
Have you ever heard of some fellows who first came over to this country? You know what they found? They found a howling wilderness, with summers too hot and winters freezing, and they also found some unpleasant little characters who painted their faces. Do you think these pioneers filled out form number X6277 and sent in a report saying the Indians were a little unreasonable? Did they have insurance for their old age, for their crops, for their homes? They did not! They looked at the land, and the forest, and the rivers. They looked at their wives, their kids and their houses, and then they looked up at the sky and they said, "Thanks, God, we'll take it from here."
120
I believe in white supremacy until the blacks are educated to the point of responsibility. I don't believe in giving authority and positions of leadership and judgment to irresponsible people.
121
[on Superman (1978) star Christopher Reeve after meeting him at the 1979 Academy Awards] This is our new man. He's taking over.
122
[asked whether the Native American Indians should be allowed to camp on their land at Alcatraz] Well, I don't know of anybody else who wants it. The fellas who were taken off it sure don't want to go back there, including the guards. So as far as I am concerned, I think we ought to make a deal with the Indians. They should pay as much for Alcatraz as we paid them for Manhattan. I hope they haven't been careless with their wampum.
123
Look, I'm sure there have been inequalities. If those inequalities are presently affecting any of the Indians now alive, they have a right to a court hearing. But what happened 100 years ago in our country can't be blamed on us today.
124
I'm not going to give you those I-was-a-poor-boy-and-I-pulled-myself-up-by-my-bootstraps-stories, but I've gone without a meal or two in my lifetime, and I still don't expect the government to turn over any of its territory to me. Hard times aren't something I can blame my fellow citizens for. Years ago, I didn't have all the opportunities, either. But you can't whine and bellyache 'cause somebody else got a good break and you didn't, like these Indians are. We'll all be on a reservation soon if the socialists keep subsidizing groups like them with our tax money.
125
This may come as a surprise to you, but I wasn't alive when reservations were created - even if I do look that old. I have no idea what the best method of dealing with the Indians in the 1800s would have been. Our forefathers evidently thought they were doing the right thing.
126
I'm quite sure that the concept of a government-run reservation would have an ill effect on anyone. But that seems to be what the socialists are working for now - to have everyone cared for from cradle to grave.
127
[on The Green Berets (1968)] When I saw what our boys are going through - hell - and how the morale was holding up, and the job they were doing, I just knew they had to make this picture.
128
My problem is that I'm not a handsome man like Cary Grant, who will be handsome at 65. I may be able to do a few more man-woman things before it's too late, but then what? I never want to play silly old men chasing young girls, as some of the stars are doing. I have to be a director - I've waited all these years to be one. The Alamo (1960) will tell what my future is.
129
I have tried to live my life so that my family would love me and my friends respect me. The others can do whatever the hell they please.
130
I've always had deep faith that there is a Supreme Being, there has to be. To me that's just a normal thing to have that kind of faith. The fact that He's let me stick me around a little longer, or She's let me stick around a little longer, certainly goes great with me -- and I want to hang around as long as I'm healthy and not in anybody's way.
131
God, how I hate solemn funerals. When I die, take me into a room and burn me. Then my family and a few good friends should get together, have a few good belts, and talk about the crazy old time we all had together.
132
High Noon (1952) was the most un-American thing I have ever seen in my whole life. The last thing in the picture is ol' Coop [Gary Cooper] putting the United States marshal's badge under his foot and stepping on it. I'll never regret having run [screenwriter Carl Foreman] out of this country.
133
Some people tell me everything isn't black and white. But I say why the hell not?
134
Very few of the so-called liberals are open-minded . . . they shout you down and won't let you speak if you disagree with them.
135
I think that the loud roar of irresponsible liberalism . . . is being quieted down by a reasoning public. I think the pendulum is swinging back. We're remembering that the past can't be so bad. We built a nation on it. We have to look to tomorrow.
136
You can't whine and bellyache because somebody else got a good break and you didn't.
137
I am an old-fashioned, honest-to-goodness, flag-waving patriot.
138
I don't want ever to appear in a film that would embarrass a viewer. A man can take his wife, mother, and his daughter to one of my movies and never be ashamed or embarrassed for going.
139
I want to play a real man in all my films, and I define manhood simply: men should be tough, fair, and courageous, never petty, never looking for a fight, but never backing down from one either.
140
I don't think a fella should be able to sit on his backside and receive welfare. I'd like to know why well-educated idiots keep apologizing for lazy and complaining people who think the world owes them a living. I'd like to know why they make excuses for cowards who spit in the faces of the police and then run behind the judicial sob sisters. I can't understand these people who carry placards to save the life of some criminal, yet have no thought for the innocent victim.
141
I do not want the government to take away my human dignity and insure me anything more than a normal security. I don't want handouts.
142
We must always look to the future. Tomorrow - the time that gives a man just one more chance - is one of the many things that I feel are wonderful in life. So's a good horse under you. Or the only campfire for miles around. Or a quiet night and a nice soft hunk of ground to sleep on. A mother meeting her first-born. The sound of a kid calling you dad for the first time. There's a lot of things great about life. But I think tomorrow is the most important thing. Comes in to us at midnight very clean. It's perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we've learned something from yesterday.
143
Westerns are closer to art than anything else in the motion picture business.
144
There's been a lot of stories about how I got to be called Duke. One was that I played the part of a duke in a school play--which I never did. Sometimes, they even said I was descended from royalty! It was all a lot of rubbish. Hell, the truth is that I was named after a dog!
145
I have found a certain type calls himself a liberal . . . Now I always thought I was a liberal. I came up terribly surprised one time when I found out that I was a right-wing conservative extremist, when I listened to everybody's point of view that I ever met, and then decided how I should feel. But this so-called new liberal group, Jesus, they never listen to your point of view . . .
146
I don't act . . . I react.
147
I am a demonstrative man, a baby picker-upper, a hugger and a kisser - that's my nature.
148
Every country in the world loved the folklore of the West - the music, the dress, the excitement, everything that was associated with the opening of a new territory. It took everybody out of their own little world. The cowboy lasted a hundred years, created more songs and prose and poetry than any other folk figure. The closest thing was the Japanese samurai. Now, I wonder who'll continue it.
149
I stick to simple themes. Love. Hate. No nuances. I stay away from psychoanalyst's couch scenes. Couches are good for one thing.
150
Courage is being scared to death - and saddling up anyway.
151
[on America] I can tell you why I love her. I have a lust for her dignity. I look at her wonderfully classic face, and I see hidden in it a sense of humor that I love. I think of wonderful, exciting, decent things when I look at her . . .
152
I made up my mind that I was going to play a real man to the best of my ability. I felt many of the western stars of the twenties and thirties were too goddamn perfect. They never drank or smoked. They never wanted to go to bed with a beautiful girl. They never had a fight. A heavy might throw a chair at them, and they just looked surprised and didn't fight in this spirit. They were too goddamn sweet and pure to be dirty fighters. Well, I wanted to be a dirty fighter if that was the only way to fight back. If someone throws a chair at you, hell, you pick up a chair and belt him right back. I was trying to play a man who gets dirty, who sweats sometimes, who enjoys kissing a gal he likes, who gets angry, who fights clean whenever possible but will fight dirty if he has to. You could say I made the western hero a roughneck.
153
[on the Oscars] You can't eat awards -- nor, more to the point, drink 'em.
154
I was overwhelmed by the feeling of friendship, comradeship, and brotherhood . . . DeMolay will always hold a deep spot in my heart.
155
God-damn, I'm the stuff men are made of!
156
I never had a goddamn artistic problem in my life, never, and I've worked with the best of them. John Ford isn't exactly a bum, is he? Yet he never gave me any manure about art. He just made movies and that's what I do.
157
[on being asked about his "phony hair" at Harvard in 1974] It's not phony. It's real hair. Of course, it's not mine, but it's real.
158
Communism is quite obviously still a threat. Yes, they are human beings, with a right to their point of view . . .
159
When I started, I knew I was no actor and I went to work on this Wayne thing. It was as deliberate a projection as you'll ever see. I figured I needed a gimmick, so I dreamed up the drawl, the squint and a way of moving meant to suggest that I wasn't looking for trouble but would just as soon throw a bottle at your head as not. I practiced in front of a mirror.
160
[on Native Americans:] I don't feel we did wrong in taking this great country away from them. There were great numbers of people who needed new land, and the Indians were selfishly trying to keep it for themselves.
161
I'm an American actor. I work with my clothes on. I have to. Riding a horse can be pretty tough on your legs and elsewheres.
162
[upon accepting his Oscar for True Grit (1969)] If I'd known this was all it would take, I'd have put that eyepatch on 40 years ago.
163
[poem, "The Sky", he read on his 1969 Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (1967) appearance] The sky is blue, the grass is green. Get off your ass and join the Marines.
164
[Time Magazine interview, 1969] I would like to be remembered, well . . . the Mexicans have a phrase, "Feo fuerte y formal". Which means he was ugly, strong and had dignity.
165
[When asked if he believed in God] There must be some higher power or how else does all this stuff work?
166
When people say a John Wayne picture got bad reviews, I always wonder if they know it's a redundant sentence, but hell, I don't care. People like my pictures and that's all that counts.
167
[on presenting the Best Picture Oscar in 1979] Oscar and I have something in common. Oscar first came to the Hollywood scene in 1928. So did I. We're both a little weatherbeaten, but we're still here and plan to be around for a whole lot longer.
168
[at Harvard in 1974, on being asked whether then-President Richard Nixon ever advised him on the making of his films] No, they've all been successful.
169
I never trust a man that doesn't drink.
170
[At his divorce trial in 1953] I deeply regret I'm going to have to sling mud.
171
[in 1971] Republic Pictures gave me a screen credit on one of the early pictures and called me Michael Burns. On another one they called me Duke Morrison. Then they decided Duke Morrison didn't have enough prestige. My real name, Marion Michael Morrison, didn't sound American enough for them. So they came up with John Wayne. I didn't have any say in it, but I think it's a great name. It's short and strong and to the point. It took me a long time to get used to it, though. I still don't recognize it when somebody calls me John . . .
172
[in 1971] I licked the Big C. I know the man upstairs will pull the plug when he wants to, but I don't want to end my life being sick. I want to go out on two feet--in action.
173
Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. It comes into us at midnight very clean. It's perfect when it arrives and puts itself in our hands. It hopes we've learned something from yesterday.
174
Couches are for one thing only.
175
You may think all my parts are the same. That's just what I want you to think. You get lost on the screen if your personality doesn't show through.
176
In B-pictures all we ever did is tell a story. He's gone to Red Gap! Where's Red Gap? There's Red Gap! Let's git after him to Red Gap. Here's Red Gap! But in A-pictures you reacted more to the situations.
177
[1/46, interview in "Screenland" magazine] The picture business has grown up since I got into it 15 years ago, has acquired a dignity that is beyond reproach. Hollywood is, today, a quiet town compared to other places I have been and can, moreover, be pretty proud of itself, having pushed more charities, given more time to selling war bonds and more talent to entertaining servicemen than any other town in any other part of the country.
178
[April 1944, on Victory Committee USO tour] What go me was the way those kids out there kept their sense of humor. Through hard work, battle, or deadly monotony, they could laugh. Healthy beefing, sure, but no squawks. Taking it, day after day, and no complaining. It got me.
179
[on Maureen O'Hara] She is a woman who speaks her mind and that impressed me, despite my old-fashioned chauvinistic ways! She is feminine and beautiful, but there is something about her that makes her more like a man. It's her stubbornness and her willingness to stand up to anyone--even John Ford.
180
[About his close friend Maureen O'Hara] There's only one woman who has been my friend over the years and by that I mean a real friend, like a man would be. That woman is Maureen O'Hara. She's big, lusty, and absolutely marvelous, definitely my kind of woman. She's a great guy. I've had many friends and I prefer the company of men. Except for Maureen O'Hara.
181
You're going to think I'm being corny, but this is how I really feel: I hope my family and my friends will be able to say that I was an honest, kind and fairly decent man.
182
If I had it to do over again, I'd probably do everything I did. But that's not necessarily the right thing to do.
183
Winston Churchill's the most terrific fella of our century. If I had to make a speech on the subject of Communism, I could think of nobody that had a better insight or that said things concerning the future that have proven out so well. Let me read to you from a book of his quotes. While [Franklin D. Roosevelt] was giving the world Communism, Churchill said, "I tell you--it's no use arguing with a Communist. It's no good trying to convert a Communist, or persuade him. You can only deal with them on the following basis . . . you can only do it by having superior force on your side on the matter in question--and they must also be convinced that you will use--you will not hesitate to use these forces if necessary, in the most ruthless manner. You have not only to convince the Soviet government that you have superior force--but that you are not restrained by any moral consideration if the case arose from using that force with complete material ruthlessness. And that is the greatest chance of peace, the surest road to peace. Churchill was unparalleled. Above all, he took a nearly beaten nation and kept their dignity for them.
184
If a guy wants to wear his hair down to his ass, I'm not revolted by it. But I don't look at him and say, "Now there's a fella I'd like to spend next winter with."
185
Well, at one time in my career, I guess sexuality was part of my appeal. But God, I'm 63 years old now. How the hell do I know whether I still convey that? Jeez. It's pretty hard to answer a question like, "Are you attractive to broads?" All that crap comes from the way I walk, I guess. There's evidently a virility in it. Otherwise, why do they keep mentioning it? But I'm certainly not conscious of any particular walk. I guess I must walk different than other people, but I haven't gone to any school to learn how.
186
There's been no top authority saying what marijuana does to you. I really don't know that much about it. I tried it once, but it didn't do anything to me. The kids say it makes them think they're going thirty miles an hour when they're going eighty. If that's true, marijuana use should definitely be stopped. When I went to Hong Kong, I tried opium once, as a clinical thing. I heard it didn't make you sick the first time, and Jesus, it just didn't affect me one way or the other, either. So I'm not a very good judge of how debasing it is.
187
What the hell, in my racket I've fallen off a lot of horses. I even fell off on purpose in True Grit (1969). But that fall in The Undefeated (1969) was irritating because I tore some ligaments in my shoulder. I don't have good use of one arm anymore, and it makes me look like an idiot when I'm getting on a horse.
188
I don't have to assert my virility. I think my career has shown that I'm not exactly a pantywaist. But I do take pride in my work, even to the point of being the first one on the set in the morning. I'm a professional.
189
I had two operations six days apart - one for a cancer that was as big as a baby's fist, and then one for edema. I wasn't so uptight when I was told about the cancer. My biggest fear came when they twisted my windpipe and had to sew me back together a second time. When my family came in to see me and I saw the looks on their faces, I figured, "Well, Jeez, I must be just about all through. I kept my spirits up by thinking about God and my family and my friends and telling myself, "Everything will be all right." And it was. I licked the Big C. I know the man upstairs will pull the plug when he wants to, but I don't want to end up my life being sick. I want to go out on two feet - in action. The operation hasn't impeded anything except that I get short of breath quickly. Particularly in the higher altitudes, that slows me down. I still do my own fights and all that stuff. I'd probably do a little bit more if I had more wind, but I still do more than my share. Nobody else does anything any more than I do, whether they're young or old.
190
I've always followed my father's advice: He told me, first, to always keep my word and, second, to never insult anybody unintentionally. If I insult you, you can be goddamn sure I intend to. And, third, he told me not to go around looking for trouble. Well, I guess I have had some problems sticking to that third rule, but I'd say I've done pretty damn well with the first and second. I try to have good enough taste to insult only those I wish to insult. I've worked in a business where it's almost a requirement to break your word if you want to survive, but whenever I signed a contract for five years or for a certain amount of money, I've always lived up to it. I figured that if I was silly enough to sign it, or if I thought it was worth while at the time, that's the way she goes. I'm not saying that I won't drive as hard a bargain as I can. In fact, I think more about that end of the business than I did before, ever since 1959, when I found that my business manager was playing more than he was working. I didn't know how bad my financial condition was until my lawyer and everybody else said, "Let's all have a meeting and figure out exactly where you stand." At the conclusion of that meeting, it was quite obvious that I wasn't in anywhere near the shape that I thought I was or ought to be after twenty-five years of hard work. If they'd given me the time to sell everything without taking a quick loss, I would have come out about even. Oil and everything else. Not enough constructive thinking had been done. Then there was the shrimp fiasco. One of my dearest friends was Robert Arias, who was married to the ballerina Dame Margot Fonteyn. While his brother Tony was alive, we had control of about seventy per cent of the shrimp in Panama. We were also buying some island property near the Panama Canal. We were going to put in a ship-repair place. There were tugs standing down there at $150 a day to drag ships back up to the United States, because repair prices in the Canal Zone were so high. But our plans fell through when Tony was killed in an airplane accident. Around a half a million dollars was lost. If anything happened to me now, I have the right amount of insurance. I hope and pray, for my estate. I'm about as big a rancher as there is in Arizona, so I have outside interests other than my motion-picture work. The turning point was the moment I decided to watch what was being done with my money.
191
Many of us were being invited to supposed social functions or house parties--usually at well-known Hollywood writers' homes--that turned out to be Communist recruitment meetings. Suddenly, everybody from makeup men to stagehands found themselves in seminars on Marxism. Take this colonel I knew, the last man to leave the Philippines on a submarine in 1942. He came back here and went to work sending food and gifts to U.S. prisoners on Bataan. He'd already gotten a Dutch ship that was going to take all this stuff over. The State Department pulled him off of it and sent the poor bastard out to be the technical director on my picture Back to Bataan (1945), which was being made by Edward Dmytryk. I knew that he and a whole group of actors in the picture were pro-Reds, and when I wasn't there, these pro-Reds went to work on the colonel. He was a Catholic, so they kidded him about his religion: They even sang "The Internationale" at lunchtime. He finally came to me and said, "Mr. Wayne, I haven't anybody to turn to. These people are doing everything in their power to belittle me." So I went to Dmytryk and said, "Hey, are you a Commie?" He said, "No, I'm not a Commie. My father was a Russian. I was born in Canada. But if the masses of the American people want communism, I think it'd be good for our country." When he used the word "masses," he exposed himself. That word is not a part of Western terminology. So I knew he was a Commie. Well, it later came out that he was. I also knew two other fellas who really did things that were detrimental to our way of life. One of them was Carl Foreman, the guy who wrote the screenplay for High Noon (1952), and the other was Robert Rossen, the one who made the picture about Huey Long, All the King's Men (1949). In Rossen's version of "All the King's Men", which he sent me to read for a part, every character who had any responsibility at all was guilty of some offense against society. To make Huey Long a wonderful, rough pirate was great; but, according to this picture, everybody was a shit except for this weakling intern doctor who was trying to find a place in the world. I sent the script back to Charles Feldman, my agent, and said, "If you ever send me a script like this again, I'll fire you." Ironically, it won the Academy Award. "High Noon" was even worse. Everybody says "High Noon" is a great picture because Dimitri Tiomkin wrote some great music for it and because Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly were in it. So it's got everything going for it. In that picture, four guys come in to gun down the sheriff. He goes to the church and asks for help and the guys go, "Oh well, oh gee." And the women stand up and say, "You're rats. You're rats. You're rats." So Cooper goes out alone. It's the most un-American thing I've ever seen in my whole life. The last thing in the picture is ole Coop putting the United States marshal's badge under his foot and stepping on it. I'll never regret having helped run Foreman out of this country. Running him out of the country is just a figure of speech. But I did tell him that I thought he'd hurt Gary Cooper's reputation a great deal. Foreman said, "Well, what if I went to England?" I said, "Well, that's your business." He said, "Well, that's where I'm going." And he did.
192
I figure if we're going to send even one man to die, we ought to be in an all-out conflict. If you fight, you fight to win. And the domino theory is something to be reckoned with, too, both in Europe and in Asia. Look at what happened in Czechoslovakia and what's happened all through the Balkans. At some point we have to stop communism. So we might as well stop it right now in Vietnam.
193
Well, when I went to USC, if anybody had gone into the president's office and shit in his wastepaper basket and used the dirt to write vulgar words on the wall, not only the football team but the average kid on campus would have gone to work on the guy. There doesn't seem to be respect for authority anymore; these student dissenters act like children who have to have their own way on everything. They're immature and living in a little world all their own. Just like hippie dropouts, they're afraid to face the real competitive world.
194
[Herbert Marcuse] has become a hero only for an articulate clique. The men that give me faith in my country are fellas like Spiro Agnew, not the Marcuses. They've attempted in every way to humiliate Agnew. They've tried the old Rooseveltian thing of trying to laugh him out of political value of his party. Every comedian's taken a crack at him. But I bet if you took a poll today, he'd probably be one of the most popular men in the United States. Nobody likes Spiro Agnew but the people. Yet he and other responsible government leaders are booed and pelted when they speak on college campuses.
195
They're standing up for what they feel is right, not for what they think is right--'cause they don't think. As a kid, the Panther ideas probably would have intrigued me. When I was a little kid, you could be adventurous like that without hurting anybody. There were periods when you could blow the valve and let off some steam. Like Halloween. You'd talk about it for three months ahead of time, and then that night you'd go out and stick the hose in the lawn, turn it on and start singing "Old Black Joe" or something. And when people came out from their Halloween party, you'd lift the hose and wet them down. And while you were running, the other kids would be stealing the ice cream from the party. All kinds of rebellious actions like that were accepted for that one day. Then you could talk about it for three months afterward. That took care of about six months of the year. There was another day called the Fourth of July, when you could go out and shoot firecrackers and burn down two or three buildings. So there were two days a year. Now those days are gone. You can't have firecrackers, you can't have explosives, you can't have this, don't do this, don't do that. Don't . . . don't . . . don't. A continual "don't" until the kids are ready to do almost anything rebellious. The government makes the rules, so now the running of our government is the thing they're rebelling against. For a lot of those kids, that's just being adventurous. They're not deliberately setting out to undermine the foundations of our great country. They're doing their level worst--without knowing it. How 'bout all the kids that were at the Chicago Democratic Convention? They were conned into doing hysterical things by a bunch of activists. A lot of Communist-activated people. I know Communism's a horrible word to some people. They laugh and say, "He'll be finding them under his bed tomorrow." But perhaps that's because their kid hasn't been inculcated yet. Dr. Herbert Marcuse, the political philosopher at the University of California at San Diego, who is quite obviously a Marxist, put it very succinctly when he said, "We will use the anarchists."
196
Quite obviously, the Black Panthers represent a danger to society. They're a violent group of young men and women - adventurous, opinionated and dedicated - and they throw their disdain in our face. Now, I hear some of these liberals saying they'd like to be held as white hostages in the Black Panther offices and stay there so that they could see what happens on these early-morning police raids. It might be a better idea for these good citizens to go with the police on a raid. When they search a Panther hideout for firearms, let these do-gooders knock and say, "Open the door in the name of the law" and get shot at.
197
Entertainers like Steve Allen and his cronies who went up to Northern California and held placards to save the life of that guy Caryl Chessman. I just don't understand these things. I can't understand why our national leadership isn't willing to take the responsibility of leadership instead of checking polls and listening to the few that scream. Why are we allowing ourselves to become a mobocracy instead of a democracy? When you allow unlawful acts to go unpunished, you're moving toward a government of men rather than a government of law; you're moving toward anarchy. And that's exactly what we're doing. We allow dirty loudmouths to publicly call policemen pigs; we let a fella like William Kunstler make a speech to the Black Panthers saying that the ghetto is theirs, and that if police come into it, they have a right to shoot them. Why is that dirty, no-good son of a bitch allowed to practice law?
198
Luckily so far, it seems they kind of consider me an older friend, somebody believable and down-to-earth. I've avoided being mean or petty, but I've never avoided being rough or tough. I've only played one cautious part in my life, in Allegheny Uprising (1939). My parts have ranged from that rather dull character to Ralls in Wake of the Red Witch (1948), who was a nice enough fella sober, but bestial when he was drunk, and certainly a rebel. I was also a rebel in Reap the Wild Wind (1942) with ' Cecil B. De Mille'. I've played many parts in which I've rebelled against something in society. I was never much of a joiner. Kids do join things, but they also like to consider themselves individuals capable of thinking for themselves. So do I.
199
Let's say I hope that I appeal to the more carefree times in a person's life rather than to his reasoning adulthood. I'd just like to be an image that reminds someone of joy rather than of the problems of the world.
200
Sure it did--even if it took the industry 40 years to get around to it [awarding him an Oscar]. But I think both of my two previous Oscar nominations--for She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949) and Sands of Iwo Jima (1949)--were worthy of the honor. I know the Marines and all the American armed forces were quite proud of my portrayal of Stryker, the Marine sergeant in "Iwo". At an American Legion convention in Florida, General Douglas MacArthur told me, "You represent the American serviceman better than the American serviceman himself." And, at 42, in "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon" I played the same character that I played in True Grit (1969) at 62. But I really didn't need an Oscar. I'm a box-office champion with a record they're going to have to run to catch. And they won't.
201
Rio Lobo (1970) certainly wasn't any different from most of my Westerns. Nor was Chisum (1970), the one before that. But there still seems to be a very hearty public appetite for this kind of film--what some writers call a typical John Wayne Western. That's a label they use disparagingly . . . If I depended on the critics' judgment and recognition, I'd never have gone into the motion-picture business.
202
They made me a singing cowboy. The fact that I couldn't sing--or play the guitar--became terribly embarrassing to me, especially on personal appearances. Every time I made a public appearance, the kids insisted that I sing "The Desert Song" or something. But I couldn't take along the fella who played the guitar out on one side of the camera and the fella who sang on the other side of the camera. So finally I went to the head of the studio and said. "Screw this, I can't handle it." And I quit doing those kind of pictures. They went out and brought the best hillbilly recording artist in the country to Hollywood to take my place. For the first couple of pictures, they had a hard time selling him, but he finally caught on. His name was Gene Autry. It was 1939 before I made Stagecoach (1939)--the picture that really made me a star.
203
Rooster Cogburn's attitude toward life was maybe a little different, but he was basically the same character I've always played.
204
[on True Grit (1969)] In my other pictures, we've had an explosion or something go off when a bad word was said. This time we didn't. It's profanity, all right, but I doubt if there's anybody in the United States who hasn't heard the expression "son of a bitch" or "bastard". We felt it was acceptable in this instance. At the emotional high point in that particular picture, I felt it was OK to use it. It would have been pretty hard to say "you illegitimate sons of so-and-so!".
205
Perhaps we have run out of imagination on how to effect illusion because of the satiating realism of a real war on television. But haven't we got enough of that in real life? Why can't the same point be made just as effectively in a drama without all the gore? The violence in my pictures, for example, is lusty and a little bit humorous, because I believe humor nullifies violence. Like in one picture, directed by Henry Hathaway [The Sons of Katie Elder (1965)], this heavy was sticking a guy's head in a barrel of water. I'm watching this and I don't like it one bit, so I pick up this pick handle and I yell, "Hey!" and clock him across the head. Down he went--with no spurting blood. Well, that got a hell of a laugh because of the way I did it. That's my kind of violence.
206
When you get hairy, sweaty bodies in the foreground, it becomes distasteful, unless you use a pretty heavy gauze. I can remember seeing pictures that Ernst Lubitsch made in the '30s that were beautifully risqué--and you'd certainly send your children to see them. They were done with intimation. They got over everything these other pictures do without showing the hair and the sweat. When you think of the wonderful picture fare we've had through the years and realize we've come to this shit, it's disgusting. If they want to continue making those pictures, fine. But my career will have ended. I've already reached a pretty good height right now in a business that I feel is going to fade out from its own vulgarity.
207
But don't get me wrong. As far as a man and a woman is concerned, I'm awfully happy there's a thing called sex. It's an extra something God gave us. I see no reason why it shouldn't be in pictures. Healthy, lusty sex is wonderful.
208
Every time they rate a picture, they let a little more go. Ratings are ridiculous to begin with. There was no need for rated pictures when the major studios were in control. Movies were once made for the whole family. Now, with the kind of junk the studios are cranking out-and the jacked-up prices they're charging for the privilege of seeing it - the average family is staying home and watching television. I'm quite sure that within two or three years, Americans will be completely fed up with these perverted films.
209
I'm glad I won't be around much longer to see what they do with it. The men who control the big studios today are stock manipulators and bankers. They know nothing about our business. They're in it for the buck. The only thing they can do is say, "Jeez, that picture with what's-her-name running around the park naked made money, so let's make another one. If that's what they want, let's give it to them." Some of these guys remind me of high-class whores. Look at 20th Century-Fox, where they're making movies like Myra Breckinridge (1970). Why doesn't that son of a bitch Darryl F. Zanuck get himself a striped silk shirt and learn how to play the piano? Then he could work in any room in the house. As much as I couldn't stand some of the old-time moguls - especially Harry Cohn - these men took an interest in the future of their business. They had integrity. There was a stretch when they realized that they'd made a hero out of the goddamn gangster heavy in crime movies, that they were doing a discredit to our country. So the moguls voluntarily took it upon themselves to stop making gangster pictures. No censorship from the outside. They were responsible to the public. But today's executives don't give a damn. In their efforts to grab the box office that these sex pictures are attracting, they're producing garbage. They're taking advantage of the fact that nobody wants to be called a bluenose. But they're going to reach the point where the American people will say, "The hell with this!" And once they do, we'll have censorship in every state, in every city, and there'll be no way you can make even a worthwhile picture for adults and have it acceptable for national release.
210
[in 1973] Hell yes, I'm a liberal. I listen to both sides before I make up my mind. Doesn't that make you a liberal? Not in today's terms, it doesn't. These days, you have to be a fucking left-wing radical to be a liberal. Politically, though . . . I've mellowed.
211
[on True Grit (1969)] And that ending. I liked that. You know, in the book Mattie loses her hand from the snakebite, and I die, and the last scene in the book has her looking at my grave. But the way Marguerite Roberts wrote the screenplay, she gave it an uplift. Mattie and Rooster both go to visit her family plot, after she gets cured of the snakebite. By now it's winter. And she offers to let Rooster be buried there some day, seeing as how he has no family of his own. Rooster's happy to accept, long as he doesn't have to take her up on it too quick. So then he gets on his horse and says, "Come and see a fat old man sometime". And then he spurs the horse and jumps a fence, just to show he still can.
212
But back to True Grit (1969). Henry Hathaway used the backgrounds in such a way that it became almost a fantasy. Remember that one scene, where old Rooster is facing those four men across the meadow, and he takes the reins in his teeth and charges? Fill your hands, you varmints! That's Henry at work. It's a real meadow, but it looks almost dreamlike. Henry made it a fantasy and yet he kept it an honest Western. You get something of that in the character of Rooster. Well, they say he's not like what I've done before, and I even say that, but he does have facets of the John Wayne character, huh? I think he does. Of course, they give me that John Wayne stuff so much, claim I always play the same role. Seems like nobody remembers how different the fellas were in The Quiet Man (1952). Or Sands of Iwo Jima (1949). Or She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949), where I was 35 playing a man of 65. To stay a star, you have to bring along some of your own personality. Thousands of good actors can carry a scene, but a star has to carry the scene and still, without intruding, allow some of his character into it.
213
But you know, I'm very conscious that people criticize Hollywood. Yet we've created a form, the Western, that can be understood in every country. The good guys against the bad guys. No nuances. And the horse is the best vehicle of action in our medium. You take action, a scene, and scenery, and cut them together, and you never miss. Action, scene, scenery. But when you think about the Western--ones I've made, for example. Stagecoach (1939), Red River (1948), The Searchers (1956), a picture named Hondo (1953) that had a little depth to it--it's an American art form. It represents what this country is about. In True Grit (1969), for example, that scene where Rooster shoots the rat. That was a kind of reference to today's problems. Oh, not that "True Grit" has a message or anything. But that scene was about less accommodation, and more justice. They keep bringing up the fact that America's for the downtrodden. But this new thing of genuflecting to the downtrodden, I don't go along with that. We ought to go back to praising the kids who get good grades, instead of making excuses for the ones who shoot the neighborhood grocery man. But, hell, I don't want to get started on that!
214
[about the death of James Stewart's son, who was killed in Vietnam] Jesus, that was a terrible thing about Gloria and Jimmy Stewart's kid getting killed over there. It makes you want to cry. At least Jimmy was over there to see the kid a few months ago. That's something. But it makes you want to cry. And [Robert Taylor]'s going was terrible. He was terminal since they opened him up. I know what he went through. They ripped a lung out of me. I thank God I'm still here. All the real motion picture people have always made family pictures. But the downbeats and the so-called intelligentsia got in when the government stupidly split up the production companies and the theaters. The old giants--[Louis B. Mayer], [Irving Thalberg], even Harry Cohn, despite the fact that personally I couldn't stand him--were good for this industry. Now the goddamned stock manipulators have taken over. They don't know a goddamned thing about making movies. They make something dirty, and it makes money, and they say, "Jesus, let's make one a little dirtier, maybe it'll make more money". And now even the bankers are getting their noses into it. I'll give you an example. Take that girl, Julie Andrews, a refreshing, openhearted girl, a wonderful performer. Her stint was Mary Poppins (1964) and The Sound of Music (1965). But she wanted to be a Theda Bara. And they went along with her, and the picture fell flat on its ass. A [Samuel Goldwyn] would have told her, "Look, my dear, you can't change your sweet and lovely image".
215
[on reactions to The Green Berets (1968)] The left-wingers are shredding my flesh, but like Liberace, we're bawling all the way to the bank.
216
I know what the critics think--that I can't act. What is a great actor anyway? Of course, you could say a great actor is one who can play many different parts, like [Laurence Olivier] can. But all the parts I play are tailor-made for me.
217
[on The Fighting Kentuckian (1949)] Yates [Republic Pictures studio chief Herbert J. Yates] made me use Vera Hruba [Republic star Vera Ralston, who was also Yates' mistress] . . . I've always been mad at Yates about this, because we lost the chance to have one damn fine movie.
218
[on Republic Pictures' chief Herbert J. Yates' failed attempts to make a star out of wife Vera Ralston] Yates was one of the smartest businessmen I ever met. I respected him in many ways, and he liked me. But when it came to the woman he loved, his business brains just went flyin' out the window.
219
[on They Came to Cordura (1959)] How they got Gary Cooper to do that one! To me, at least, it simply degrades the Medal of Honor. The whole story makes a mockery of America's highest award for valor. The whole premise of the story was wrong, illogical, because they don't pick the type of men the movie picked to win the award, and that can be proved by the very history of the award.
220
[on Raoul Walsh] I've been very lucky in the men I've worked with. Raoul Walsh -- the heartiness and lustiness he gave to pictures I thought was tremendous.
221
[on High Plains Drifter (1973)] That isn't what the West was all about. That isn't the American people who settled this country.
222
I had the feeling my career was going to decline back in '68. I'd just had a big hit with The Green Berets (1968), but I wasn't getting any younger and I knew Hellfighters (1968) wasn't going to set the box office on fire. Then I read a script for a film called True Grit (1969).
223
[on Cahill U.S. Marshal (1973)] It just wasn't a well done picture. It needed better writing, it needed a little better care in making.
224
[on Jet Pilot (1957)] It is undoubtedly one of my worst movies ever.
225
[on Donovan's Reef (1963)] The script really called for a younger guy. I felt awkward romancing a young girl at my age.
226
Contrary to what people think, I'm no politician, and when I have something to say I say it through my movies.
227
Paul Newman would have been a much more important star if he hadn't always tried to be an anti-hero, to show the human feet of clay.
228
I wrote to the head man at General Motors and said, "I'm gonna have to desert you if you don't stop making cars for women.'"
229
In spite of the fact that Rooster Cogburn would shoot a fella between the eyes, he'd judge that fella before he did it. He was merely trying to make the area in which he was marshal livable for the most number of people.
230
The Green Berets (1968) made $7,000,000 in the first three months of its release. This so-called intellectual group aren't in touch with the American people, regardless of [J. William Fulbright's] blatting, and Eugene McCarthy and George McGovern and Ted Kennedy. In spite of them the American people do not feel that way. Instead of taking a census, they ought to count the tickets that were sold to that picture.
231
I said there was a tall, lanky kid that led 150 airplanes across Berlin. He was an actor, but that day, I said, he was a colonel. Colonel Jimmy Stewart [James Stewart]. So I said, "What is all this crap about Reagan [Ronald Reagan] being an actor?"
232
I think those blacklisted people should have been sent over to Russia. They'd have been taken care of over there, and if the Commies ever won over here, why hell, those guys would be the first ones they'd take care of - after me.
233
My main object in making a motion picture is entertainment. If at the same time I can strike a blow for liberty, then I'll stick one in.
234
There's a lot of yella bastards in the country who would like to call patriotism old-fashioned. With all that leftist activity, I was quite obviously on the other side. I was invited at first to a coupla cell meetings, and I played the lamb to listen to 'em for a while. The only guy that ever fooled me was the director Edward Dmytryk. I made a picture with him called Back to Bataan (1945). He started talking about the masses, and as soon as he started using that word - which is from their book, not ours - I knew he was a Commie.END.
235
The West - the very words go straight to that place of the heart where Americans feel the spirit of pride in their western heritage - the triumph of personal courage over any obstacle, whether nature or man.
236
[on his third wife Pilar Wayne] I can tell you why I love her. I have a lust for her dignity. I look at her wonderfully classic face, and I see hidden in it a sense of humor that I love. I think of wonderful, exciting, decent things when I look at her.
237
We've made mistakes along the way, but that's no reason to start tearing up the best flag God ever gave to any country.
238
When the road looks rough ahead, remember the Man Upstairs and the word "Hope". Hang onto both and tough it out.
239
A man's got to have a code, a creed to live by, no matter his job.
240
When you come slam bang up against trouble, it never looks half as bad if you face up to it.
241
[his speech at The 42nd Annual Academy Awards (1970)] Wow! Ladies and gentlemen, I'm no stranger to this podium. I've come up here and picked up these beautiful golden men before, but always for friends. One night I picked up two: one for Admiral John Ford and one for our beloved Gary Cooper. I was very clever and witty that night - the envy of, even, Bob Hope. But tonight I don't feel very clever, very witty. I feel very grateful, very humble, and I owe thanks to many, many people. I want to thank the members of the Academy. To all you people who are watching on television, thank you for taking such warm interest in our glorious industry. Good night.
242
Sure I wave the American flag. Do you know a better flag to wave? Sure I love my country with all her faults. I'm not ashamed of that, never have been, never will be. I was proud when President Nixon [Richard Nixon] ordered the mining of Haiphong Harbor, which we should have done long ago, because I think we're helping a brave little country defend herself against Communist invasion. That's what I tried to show in The Green Berets (1968) and I took plenty of abuse from the critics. Did you ever see reviews like that? Reviews with hatred and nastiness.
243
[6/78] I'm a greedy old man. Life's been good to me, and I want some more of it.
244
[1979] Listen, I spoke to the man up there on many occasions and I have what I always had: deep faith that there is a Supreme Being. There has to be, you know; it's just to me, that's just a normal thing, to have that kind of faith. The fact that He's let me stick around a little longer certainly goes great with me, and I want to hang around as long as I'm healthy and not in anybody's way.
245
[1976] And to all you folks out there, I want to thank you for the last fifty years of my career. And I hope I can keep at it another fifty years - or at least until I can get it right.
246
[on television] I don't know if I love it or hate it, but there sure has never been any form of entertainment so . . . so . . . available to the human race with so little effort since they invented marital sex.
247
[1971] Well, you like . . . each picture for . . . a different reason. But I think my favorite will always be the next one.
248
[1971] Get a checkup. Talk someone you like into getting a checkup. Nag someone you love into getting a checkup. And while you're at it, send a check to the American Cancer Society. It's great to be alive.
249
[1962] I'm a progressive thinker, even though I'm not in the liberal strain.
250
[1966] I drink for comradeship, and when I drink for comradeship, I don't bother to keep count.
251
[12/29/64] I've had lung cancer, the big C. But I've beaten the son of a bitch. Maybe I can give some poor bastard a little hope by being honest. I want people to know cancer can be licked. My advisers all told me that the public doesn't want its movie heroes associated with serious illness like cancer, that it destroys their image. Well, I don't care much about images, and, anyway, I would have thought there was a lot better image in the fact that John Wayne had cancer and licked it.
252
[1960] I suddenly found out after 25 years I was starting out all over again. I would just about break even if I sold everything right now.
253
[on The Alamo (1960)] This picture is America. I hope that seeing the battle of the Alamo will remind Americans that liberty and freedom don't come cheap. This picture, well, I guess making it has made me feel useful to my country.
254
[After failing to win the Best Actor Oscar for Sands of Iwo Jima (1949)] The best way to survive an Oscar is to never try to win another one. You've seen what happens to some Oscar winners. They spend the rest of their lives turning down scripts while searching for the great role to win another one. Hell, I hope I'm never even nominated again. It's meat-and-potato roles for me from now on.
255
[1973] I've been allowed a few more years - I hope. My lung capacity is naturally limited now, but I had a pretty good set before the disease hit me, so it isn't too noticeable in my everyday life.
256
John Ford was like a father to me, like a big brother. I got word that he wanted to see me at his home in Palm Springs, and when I got there, he said, "Hi Duke, down for the deathwatch?" "Hell no," I said, "you'll bury us all." But he looked so weak. We used to be a triumvirate - Ford and me and a guy named Ward Bond. The day I went to Palm Springs, Ford said, "Duke, do you ever think of Ward?" "All the time," I said. "Well, let's have a drink to Ward," he said. So I got out the brandy, gave him a sip and took one for myself. "All right, Duke," he said finally, "I think I'll rest for a while." I went home, and that was Pappy Ford's last day.
257
Once I was working in a movie with Harry Carey and his wife Olive [Olive Carey], and I was complaining about being typed. "Duke," Ollie said, "look at Harry over there - would you like to see Harry Carey play any other way?". "Of course not," I said. "Well," Ollie said, "the American public doesn't want to see you any other way, either. So wake up, Duke! Be what they want you to be." See, I'm not against Women's Lib. Ollie gave me some real good advice.
258
[1973] My build-up was done through constant exposure. By the time I went overseas to visit our boys during the Second World War, they had already seen my movies when they were back home. Now their kids are grown up and their kids are seeing my movies. I'm part of the family . . . I think Steve McQueen and Robert Redford have a chance of becoming lasting stars. And certainly that big kid - what the hell's his name? Jesus, I have such a hard time remembering my own name sometimes. Oh, you know the one I mean, that big kid, the one that's been directing some of his own movies lately. Yeah, that's the one - Clint Eastwood!
259
[on his separation from third wife Pilar Wayne in 1973] We have separated, and it's a sad incident in my life. It is family and personal. I'd rather keep it that way.
260
The only way to get 520,000 men home - men who had been practically sneaked into Vietnam in the first place - was to make the decision to mine Haiphong Harbor. President [Richard Nixon] had the courage to make that decision, and when the other side started using prisoners of war as pawns, he had to make the awesome decision to bomb Hanoi. Which he did, and then he brought our prisoners of war home. Richard Nixon and I have had a long acquaintance. I respected him as a goodly man - winning or losing
over the years, and I think he should be standing in the crowning
glory today for his accomplishments. Instead, they've chosen to blame him for the gradual growth of hypocrisy and individual ambition that have made our political system distasteful to the public.
261
[December 1973] They're trying to crucify Nixon [Richard Nixon], but when they're writing the history of this period, Watergate will be no more than a footnote. Believe me, I have a high respect for the bulldogged way in which our President has been able to continue to administrate this government, in spite of the articulate liberal press - whose only purpose is to sell toilet paper and Toyotas - and in spite of the ambitious politicians who would deny him the help and encouragement that a man needs to face the problems of this country. I endorsed Spiro Agnew's attitudes, but I knew nothing of his private affairs. I was sadly disappointed to discover his feet of clay.
262
It's kind of a sad thing when a normal love of country makes you a super patriot. I do think we have a pretty wonderful country, and I thank God that He chose me to live here.
263
Watergate is a sad and tragic incident in our history. They were wrong, dead wrong, those men at Watergate. Men abused power, but the system still works. Men abused money, but the system still works. Men lied and perjured themselves, but the system still works.
264
I think it was sad that Brando [Marlon Brando] did what he did. If he had something to say, he should have appeared that night and stated his views instead of taking some little unknown girl and dressing her up in an Indian outfit. What he was doing was trying to avoid the issue that was really on his mind, which was the provocative story of Last Tango in Paris (1972). Let's just say I haven't made a particular point of seeing that particular picture. Brando is one of the finest actors we've had in the business, and I'm only sorry he didn't have the benefit of older, more established friends - as I did - to help him choose the proper material in which to use his talent.
265
Not that I had thoughts of becoming a song and dance man, but, like most young actors, I did want to play a variety of roles. I remember walking down the street one day, mumbling to myself about the way my career was going, when suddenly I bumped into Will Rogers. "What's the matter, Duke?" he asked, and I said things weren't going so well. "You working?" he asked, and I said, "Yep." "Keep working, Duke," he said and smiled and walked away.
266
I'm not preaching a sermon from the mount, you know. This is just my own opinion. But it does seem to me that when our industry got vulgar and cheap, we began losing our regular customers. Sure, people are curious, and they'll go see any provocative thing once - maybe even four or five times - but eventually they'll just stay home and watch television. There used to be this little Frenchman in Hollywood who made all these risqué movies . . . what the hell was his name? . . . Lubitsch [Ernst Lubitsch, who was actually German]! He could make pictures as risqué as anything you'll see today, but he made them with taste and illusion. The only sadness in my heart for our business is that we are taking all the illusion out of it. After all, it's pretty hard to take your daughter to see Deep Throat (1972).
267
Screw ambiguity. Perversion and corruption masquerade as ambiguity. I don't trust ambiguity.
268
I read someplace that I used to make B-pictures. Hell, they were a lot farther down the alphabet than that . . . but not as far down as R and X. I think any man who makes an X-rated picture ought to be made to take his own daughter to see it.
269
To me, The Wild Bunch (1969) was distasteful. It would have been a good picture without the gore. Pictures go too far when they use that kind of realism, when they have shots of blood spurting out and teeth flying, and when they throw liver out to make it look like people's insides. "The Wild Bunch" was one of the first to go that far in realism, and the curious went to see it. That may make the bankers and stock promoters think that it is a necessary ingredient for successful motion pictures. They seem to forget the one basic principle of our business - illusion. We're in the business of magic. I don't think it hurts a child to see anything that has the illusion of violence in it. All our fairy tales have some kind of violence - the good knight riding to kill the dragon, etc. Why do we have to show the knight spreading the serpent's guts all over the candy mountain?
270
That Redford [Robert Redford] fellow is good. Brando [Marlon Brando]. Ah, Patton (1970) - George C. Scott. But the best of the bunch is Garner - James Garner. He can play anything. Comedy westerns, drama - you name it. Yeah, I have to say Garner is the best around today. He doesn't have to say anything
just make a face and you crack up.
271
[1979] I've known Jane Fonda since she was a little girl. I've never agreed with a word she's said, but would give my life defending her right to say it.
272
[on The Conqueror (1956)] The way the screenplay reads, this is a cowboy picture, and that's how I am going to play Genghis Khan. I see him as a gunfighter.
273
You know, I hear everybody talking about the generation gap. Frankly, sometimes I don't know what they're talking about. Heck, by now I should know a little bit about it, if I'm ever going to. I have seven kids and 18 grandkids and I don't seem to have any trouble talking to any of them. Never have had, and I don't intend to start now.
274
[on the studios' blacklisting of alleged "subversives" in Hollywood] If it is for the FBI, I will do anything for them. If they want me to I will even be photographed with an agent and point out a Communist for them. Tell Mr. Hoover [FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover] I am on his side.
275
Just think of it. At the Alamo there was a band of only 185 men of many nationalities and religions, all joined in a common cause for freedom. Those 185 men killed 1000 of Santa Anna's men before they died. But they knew they spent their lives for the precious time Sam Houston needed.
276
Mine is a rebellion against the monotony of life. The rebellion in these kids, particularly the S.D.S.-ers and those groups, seems to be a kind of dissension by rote.
277
Television has a tendency to reach a little. In their westerns, they are getting away from the simplicity and the fact that those men were fighting the elements and the rawness of nature and didn't have time for this couch-work.
278
[on Frank Capra] I'd like to take that little Dago son of a bitch and tear him into a million pieces and throw him into the ocean and watch him float back to Sicily where he belongs.
279
I was 32nd in the box office polls when I accepted the presidency of the Alliance [The Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals, a right-wing political organization he helped start]. When I left office eight years later, somehow the folks who buy the tickets had made me number one.
280
That little clique back there in the East has taken great personal satisfaction reviewing my politics instead of my pictures. But one day those doctrinaire liberals will wake up to find the pendulum has swung the other way.
281
Talk low, talk slow and don't talk too much.
282
I play John Wayne in every picture regardless of the character, and I've been doing all right, haven't I?
283
I don't think John Ford had any kind of respect for me as an actor until I made Red River (1948) for Howard Hawks. I was never quite sure what he did think of me as an actor. I know now, though. Because when I finally won an Oscar for my role as Rooster Cogburn in True Grit (1969), Ford shook my hand and said the award was long overdue me as far as he was concerned. Right then, I knew he'd respected me as an actor since Stagecoach (1939), even though he hadn't let me know it. He later told me his praise earlier, might have gone to my head and made me conceited, and that was why he'd never said anything to me, until the right time.
284
[on why he never wrote an autobiography] Those who like me already know me, and those who don't like me wouldn't want to read about me anyway.
285
If it hadn't been for football and the fact I got my leg broke and had to go into the movies to eat, why, who knows, I might have turned out to be a liberal Democrat.
286
Don't ever for a minute make the mistake of looking down your nose at westerns. They're art--the good ones, I mean. They deal in life and sudden death and primitive struggle, and with the basic emotions--love, hate, and anger--thrown in. We'll have westerns films as long as the cameras keep turning. The fascination that the Old West has will never die. And as long as people want to pay money to see me act, I'll keep on making westerns until the day I die.
287
Have you ever heard of some fellows who first came over to this country? You know what they found? They found a howling wilderness, with summers too hot and winters freezing, and they also found some unpleasant little characters who painted their faces. Do you think these pioneers filled out form number X6277 and sent in a report saying the Indians were a little unreasonable? Did they have insurance for their old age, for their crops, for their homes? They did not! They looked at the land, and the forest, and the rivers. They looked at their wives, their kids and their houses, and then they looked up at the sky and they said, "Thanks, God, we'll take it from here."
288
I believe in white supremacy until the blacks are educated to the point of responsibility. I don't believe in giving authority and positions of leadership and judgment to irresponsible people.
289
[on Superman (1978) star Christopher Reeve after meeting him at the 1979 Academy Awards] This is our new man. He's taking over.
290
[asked whether the Native American Indians should be allowed to camp on their land at Alcatraz] Well, I don't know of anybody else who wants it. The fellas who were taken off it sure don't want to go back there, including the guards. So as far as I am concerned, I think we ought to make a deal with the Indians. They should pay as much for Alcatraz as we paid them for Manhattan. I hope they haven't been careless with their wampum.
291
Look, I'm sure there have been inequalities. If those inequalities are presently affecting any of the Indians now alive, they have a right to a court hearing. But what happened 100 years ago in our country can't be blamed on us today.
292
I'm not going to give you those I-was-a-poor-boy-and-I-pulled-myself-up-by-my-bootstraps-stories, but I've gone without a meal or two in my lifetime, and I still don't expect the government to turn over any of its territory to me. Hard times aren't something I can blame my fellow citizens for. Years ago, I didn't have all the opportunities, either. But you can't whine and bellyache 'cause somebody else got a good break and you didn't, like these Indians are. We'll all be on a reservation soon if the socialists keep subsidizing groups like them with our tax money.
293
This may come as a surprise to you, but I wasn't alive when reservations were created - even if I do look that old. I have no idea what the best method of dealing with the Indians in the 1800s would have been. Our forefathers evidently thought they were doing the right thing.
294
I'm quite sure that the concept of a government-run reservation would have an ill effect on anyone. But that seems to be what the socialists are working for now - to have everyone cared for from cradle to grave.
295
[on The Green Berets (1968)] When I saw what our boys are going through - hell - and how the morale was holding up, and the job they were doing, I just knew they had to make this picture.
296
My problem is that I'm not a handsome man like Cary Grant, who will be handsome at 65. I may be able to do a few more man-woman things before it's too late, but then what? I never want to play silly old men chasing young girls, as some of the stars are doing. I have to be a director - I've waited all these years to be one. The Alamo (1960) will tell what my future is.
297
I have tried to live my life so that my family would love me and my friends respect me. The others can do whatever the hell they please.
298
I've always had deep faith that there is a Supreme Being, there has to be. To me that's just a normal thing to have that kind of faith. The fact that He's let me stick me around a little longer, or She's let me stick around a little longer, certainly goes great with me -- and I want to hang around as long as I'm healthy and not in anybody's way.
299
God, how I hate solemn funerals. When I die, take me into a room and burn me. Then my family and a few good friends should get together, have a few good belts, and talk about the crazy old time we all had together.
300
High Noon (1952) was the most un-American thing I have ever seen in my whole life. The last thing in the picture is ol' Coop [Gary Cooper] putting the United States marshal's badge under his foot and stepping on it. I'll never regret having run [screenwriter Carl Foreman] out of this country.
301
Some people tell me everything isn't black and white. But I say why the hell not?
302
Very few of the so-called liberals are open-minded . . . they shout you down and won't let you speak if you disagree with them.
303
I think that the loud roar of irresponsible liberalism . . . is being quieted down by a reasoning public. I think the pendulum is swinging back. We're remembering that the past can't be so bad. We built a nation on it. We have to look to tomorrow.
304
You can't whine and bellyache because somebody else got a good break and you didn't.
305
I am an old-fashioned, honest-to-goodness, flag-waving patriot.
306
I don't want ever to appear in a film that would embarrass a viewer. A man can take his wife, mother, and his daughter to one of my movies and never be ashamed or embarrassed for going.
307
I want to play a real man in all my films, and I define manhood simply: men should be tough, fair, and courageous, never petty, never looking for a fight, but never backing down from one either.
308
I don't think a fella should be able to sit on his backside and receive welfare. I'd like to know why well-educated idiots keep apologizing for lazy and complaining people who think the world owes them a living. I'd like to know why they make excuses for cowards who spit in the faces of the police and then run behind the judicial sob sisters. I can't understand these people who carry placards to save the life of some criminal, yet have no thought for the innocent victim.
309
I do not want the government to take away my human dignity and insure me anything more than a normal security. I don't want handouts.
310
We must always look to the future. Tomorrow - the time that gives a man just one more chance - is one of the many things that I feel are wonderful in life. So's a good horse under you. Or the only campfire for miles around. Or a quiet night and a nice soft hunk of ground to sleep on. A mother meeting her first-born. The sound of a kid calling you dad for the first time. There's a lot of things great about life. But I think tomorrow is the most important thing. Comes in to us at midnight very clean. It's perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we've learned something from yesterday.
311
Westerns are closer to art than anything else in the motion picture business.
312
There's been a lot of stories about how I got to be called Duke. One was that I played the part of a duke in a school play--which I never did. Sometimes, they even said I was descended from royalty! It was all a lot of rubbish. Hell, the truth is that I was named after a dog!
313
I have found a certain type calls himself a liberal . . . Now I always thought I was a liberal. I came up terribly surprised one time when I found out that I was a right-wing conservative extremist, when I listened to everybody's point of view that I ever met, and then decided how I should feel. But this so-called new liberal group, Jesus, they never listen to your point of view . . .
314
I don't act . . . I react.
315
I am a demonstrative man, a baby picker-upper, a hugger and a kisser - that's my nature.
316
Every country in the world loved the folklore of the West - the music, the dress, the excitement, everything that was associated with the opening of a new territory. It took everybody out of their own little world. The cowboy lasted a hundred years, created more songs and prose and poetry than any other folk figure. The closest thing was the Japanese samurai. Now, I wonder who'll continue it.
317
I stick to simple themes. Love. Hate. No nuances. I stay away from psychoanalyst's couch scenes. Couches are good for one thing.
318
Courage is being scared to death - and saddling up anyway.
319
[on America] I can tell you why I love her. I have a lust for her dignity. I look at her wonderfully classic face, and I see hidden in it a sense of humor that I love. I think of wonderful, exciting, decent things when I look at her . . .
320
I made up my mind that I was going to play a real man to the best of my ability. I felt many of the western stars of the twenties and thirties were too goddamn perfect. They never drank or smoked. They never wanted to go to bed with a beautiful girl. They never had a fight. A heavy might throw a chair at them, and they just looked surprised and didn't fight in this spirit. They were too goddamn sweet and pure to be dirty fighters. Well, I wanted to be a dirty fighter if that was the only way to fight back. If someone throws a chair at you, hell, you pick up a chair and belt him right back. I was trying to play a man who gets dirty, who sweats sometimes, who enjoys kissing a gal he likes, who gets angry, who fights clean whenever possible but will fight dirty if he has to. You could say I made the western hero a roughneck.
321
[on the Oscars] You can't eat awards -- nor, more to the point, drink 'em.
322
I was overwhelmed by the feeling of friendship, comradeship, and brotherhood . . . DeMolay will always hold a deep spot in my heart.
323
God-damn, I'm the stuff men are made of!
324
I never had a goddamn artistic problem in my life, never, and I've worked with the best of them. John Ford isn't exactly a bum, is he? Yet he never gave me any manure about art. He just made movies and that's what I do.
325
[on being asked about his "phony hair" at Harvard in 1974] It's not phony. It's real hair. Of course, it's not mine, but it's real.
326
Communism is quite obviously still a threat. Yes, they are human beings, with a right to their point of view . . .
327
When I started, I knew I was no actor and I went to work on this Wayne thing. It was as deliberate a projection as you'll ever see. I figured I needed a gimmick, so I dreamed up the drawl, the squint and a way of moving meant to suggest that I wasn't looking for trouble but would just as soon throw a bottle at your head as not. I practiced in front of a mirror.
328
[on Native Americans:] I don't feel we did wrong in taking this great country away from them. There were great numbers of people who needed new land, and the Indians were selfishly trying to keep it for themselves.
329
I'm an American actor. I work with my clothes on. I have to. Riding a horse can be pretty tough on your legs and elsewheres.
330
[upon accepting his Oscar for True Grit (1969)] If I'd known this was all it would take, I'd have put that eyepatch on 40 years ago.
331
[poem, "The Sky", he read on his 1969 Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (1967) appearance] The sky is blue, the grass is green. Get off your ass and join the Marines.
332
[Time Magazine interview, 1969] I would like to be remembered, well . . . the Mexicans have a phrase, "Feo fuerte y formal". Which means he was ugly, strong and had dignity.
333
[When asked if he believed in God] There must be some higher power or how else does all this stuff work?
334
When people say a John Wayne picture got bad reviews, I always wonder if they know it's a redundant sentence, but hell, I don't care. People like my pictures and that's all that counts.
335
[on presenting the Best Picture Oscar in 1979] Oscar and I have something in common. Oscar first came to the Hollywood scene in 1928. So did I. We're both a little weatherbeaten, but we're still here and plan to be around for a whole lot longer.
336
[at Harvard in 1974, on being asked whether then-President Richard Nixon ever advised him on the making of his films] No, they've all been successful.
337
| John Wayne |
In a tradition that stretched back to 1933, what is the traditional beverage quaffed by the winning driver of the Indianapolis 500? | Tue, 01 Mar 2016 00:09:57 +0500
March 01, 1932: Lindbergh baby kidnapped
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February 29, 1940: McDaniel wins Oscar
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February 27, 1827: New Orleanians take to the streets for Mardi Gras
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February 26, 1919: Two national parks preserved, 10 years apart
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February 25, 1964: Clay knocks out Liston
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February 24, 1836: Alamo defenders call for help
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February 23, 1945: U.S. flag raised on Iwo Jima
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February 22, 1980: U.S. hockey team makes miracle on ice
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February 20, 1985: Ireland allows sale of contraceptives
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February 18, 1885: Twain publishes The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
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February 16, 1923: Archaeologist opens tomb of King Tut
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February 12, 2002: Milosevic goes on trial for war crimes
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February 11, 1990: Nelson Mandela released from prison
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February 10, 1996: Kasparov loses chess game to computer
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February 09, 1971: Satchel Paige nominated to Baseball Hall of Fame
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February 04, 1974: Patty Hearst kidnapped
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February 03, 2005: Gonzales becomes first Hispanic U.S. attorney general
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February 02, 1887: First Groundhog Day
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February 01, 1884: Oxford Dictionary debuts
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January 24, 1935: First canned beer goes on sale
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January 23, 1957: Toy company Wham-O produces first Frisbees
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January 22, 1998: Ted Kaczynski pleads guilty to bombings
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January 21, 1977: President Carter pardons draft dodgers
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January 20, 1981: Iran Hostage Crisis ends
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January 18, 1919: Post-World War I peace conference begins in Paris
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January 17, 1950: Boston thieves pull off historic robbery
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January 16, 1919: Prohibition takes effect
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January 15, 1967: Packers face Chiefs in first Super Bowl
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January 11, 1908: Theodore Roosevelt makes Grand Canyon a national monument
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January 10, 1901: Gusher signals start of U.S. oil industry
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January 08, 1877: Crazy Horse fights last battle
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January 07, 1789: First U.S. presidential election
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Wed, 06 Jan 2016 00:58:11 +0500
January 06, 1838: Morse demonstrates telegraph
3995634@Uncensored
Tue, 05 Jan 2016 00:10:37 +0500
January 05, 1933: Golden Gate Bridge is born
3995358@Uncensored
Mon, 04 Jan 2016 00:10:42 +0500
January 04, 1999: The euro debuts
3995071@Uncensored
Sun, 03 Jan 2016 00:24:55 +0500
January 03, 1990: Noriega surrenders to U.S.
3994550@Uncensored
Sat, 02 Jan 2016 00:32:24 +0500
January 02, 1980: U.S.-Russia detente ends
3994251@Uncensored
Fri, 01 Jan 2016 00:57:15 +0500
January 01, 1959: Batista forced out by Castro-led revolution
3994003@Uncensored
Thu, 31 Dec 2015 00:56:10 +0500
December 31, 1999: Panama Canal turned over to Panama
3993730@Uncensored
Wed, 30 Dec 2015 01:05:49 +0500
December 30, 1922: USSR established
3993557@Uncensored
Tue, 29 Dec 2015 00:59:48 +0500
December 29, 1890: U.S. Army massacres Indians at Wounded Knee
3993373@Uncensored
Mon, 28 Dec 2015 01:22:39 +0500
December 28, 1895: First commercial movie screened
3993041@Uncensored
Sun, 27 Dec 2015 00:25:41 +0500
December 27, 1932: Radio City Music Hall opens
3992454@Uncensored
Sat, 26 Dec 2015 00:18:31 +0500
December 26, 1946: Bugsy Siegel opens Flamingo Hotel
3992229@Uncensored
Fri, 25 Dec 2015 00:14:23 +0500
December 25, 1914: The Christmas Truce
3992035@Uncensored
Thu, 24 Dec 2015 00:15:10 +0500
December 24, 1979: Soviet tanks roll into Afghanistan
3991814@Uncensored
Wed, 23 Dec 2015 00:24:48 +0500
December 23, 1888: Van Gogh chops off ear
3991636@Uncensored
Tue, 22 Dec 2015 00:20:23 +0500
December 22, 1956: First gorilla born in captivity
3991165@Uncensored
Mon, 21 Dec 2015 00:35:15 +0500
December 21, 1988: Pan Am Flight 103 explodes over Scotland
3989599@Uncensored
Sun, 20 Dec 2015 00:23:16 +0500
December 20, 1957: Elvis Presley is drafted
3989447@Uncensored
Sat, 19 Dec 2015 00:21:38 +0500
December 19, 1998: President Clinton impeached
3989241@Uncensored
Fri, 18 Dec 2015 00:26:42 +0500
December 18, 1620: Mayflower docks at Plymouth Harbor
3989058@Uncensored
Thu, 17 Dec 2015 00:55:35 +0500
December 17, 1903: First airplane flies
3988767@Uncensored
Wed, 16 Dec 2015 00:56:39 +0500
December 16, 1773: The Boston Tea Party
3988296@Uncensored
Tue, 15 Dec 2015 00:48:06 +0500
December 15, 2001: Leaning Tower of Pisa reopens
3987729@Uncensored
Mon, 14 Dec 2015 01:00:11 +0500
December 14, 1911: Amundsen reaches South Pole
3987392@Uncensored
Sun, 13 Dec 2015 00:04:53 +0500
December 13, 2000: Al Gore concedes presidential election
3986999@Uncensored
Sat, 12 Dec 2015 00:07:23 +0500
December 12, 1980: Da Vinci notebook sells for over 5 million
3986682@Uncensored
Fri, 11 Dec 2015 00:41:37 +0500
December 11, 1936: Edward VIII abdicates
3986381@Uncensored
Thu, 10 Dec 2015 00:10:17 +0500
December 10, 1901: First Nobel Prizes awarded
3986077@Uncensored
Wed, 09 Dec 2015 00:20:46 +0500
December 09, 1992: U.S Marines storm Mogadishu, Somalia
3985777@Uncensored
Tue, 08 Dec 2015 01:11:19 +0500
December 08, 1980: John Lennon shot
3985363@Uncensored
Mon, 07 Dec 2015 00:41:16 +0500
December 07, 1941: Pearl Harbor bombed
3985071@Uncensored
Sun, 06 Dec 2015 01:04:12 +0500
December 06, 1884: Washington Monument completed
3984956@Uncensored
Sat, 05 Dec 2015 01:05:13 +0500
December 05, 1945: Aircraft squadron lost in the Bermuda Triangle
3984677@Uncensored
Fri, 04 Dec 2015 01:50:18 +0500
LinkedIn's revised Android app emulates Facebook
3984288@Uncensored
Fri, 04 Dec 2015 00:59:24 +0500
December 04, 1991: Hostage Terry Anderson freed in Lebanon
3984269@Uncensored
Thu, 03 Dec 2015 00:55:42 +0500
December 03, 1947: A Streetcar Named Desire opens on Broadway
3983397@Uncensored
Wed, 02 Dec 2015 00:31:56 +0500
December 02, 2001: Enron files for bankruptcy
3982930@Uncensored
Tue, 01 Dec 2015 00:58:48 +0500
December 01, 1990: Chunnel makes breakthrough
3982379@Uncensored
Mon, 30 Nov 2015 00:22:37 +0500
November 30, 1886: Folies Bergere stage first revue
3982157@Uncensored
Sun, 29 Nov 2015 00:43:31 +0500
November 29, 1947: U.N. votes for partition of Palestine
3982028@Uncensored
Sat, 28 Nov 2015 00:18:18 +0500
November 28, 1520: Magellan reaches the Pacific
3981885@Uncensored
Fri, 27 Nov 2015 00:31:44 +0500
November 27, 1095: Pope Urban II orders first Crusade
3981715@Uncensored
Thu, 26 Nov 2015 00:13:28 +0500
November 26, 1941: FDR establishes modern Thanksgiving holiday
3981474@Uncensored
Wed, 25 Nov 2015 00:39:32 +0500
November 25, 1952: Mousetrap opens in London
3981279@Uncensored
Tue, 24 Nov 2015 00:33:34 +0500
November 24, 1859: Origin of Species is published
3980991@Uncensored
Mon, 23 Nov 2015 00:39:47 +0500
November 23, 1936: First issue of Life is published
3980725@Uncensored
Sun, 22 Nov 2015 00:56:50 +0500
November 22, 1963: John F. Kennedy assassinated
3980530@Uncensored
Sat, 21 Nov 2015 00:54:54 +0500
November 21, 1980: Millions tune in to find out who shot J.R.
3980226@Uncensored
Fri, 20 Nov 2015 00:43:19 +0500
November 20, 1945: Nuremberg trials begin
3979817@Uncensored
Thu, 19 Nov 2015 00:44:18 +0500
November 19, 1863: Lincoln delivers Gettysburg Address
3979528@Uncensored
Wed, 18 Nov 2015 00:09:21 +0500
November 18, 1991: Terry Waite released
3979341@Uncensored
Tue, 17 Nov 2015 01:22:26 +0500
November 17, 1558: Elizabethan Age begins
3979178@Uncensored
Mon, 16 Nov 2015 00:47:50 +0500
November 16, 1532: Pizarro traps Incan emperor Atahualpa
3978993@Uncensored
Sun, 15 Nov 2015 00:50:23 +0500
November 15, 1867: First stock ticker debuts
3978874@Uncensored
Sat, 14 Nov 2015 00:45:40 +0500
November 14, 1851: Moby-Dick published
3978697@Uncensored
Fri, 13 Nov 2015 00:50:59 +0500
November 13, 1982: Vietnam Veterans Memorial dedicated
3978432@Uncensored
Thu, 12 Nov 2015 00:39:43 +0500
November 12, 1954: Ellis Island closes
3978277@Uncensored
Wed, 11 Nov 2015 00:42:58 +0500
November 11, 1918: World War I ends
3977956@Uncensored
Tue, 10 Nov 2015 00:55:10 +0500
November 10, 1969: Sesame Street debuts
3977727@Uncensored
Mon, 09 Nov 2015 00:55:53 +0500
November 09, 1938: Nazis launch Kristallnacht
3977582@Uncensored
Sun, 08 Nov 2015 00:56:59 +0500
November 08, 1895: German scientist discovers X-rays
3977417@Uncensored
Sat, 07 Nov 2015 00:21:12 +0500
November 07, 1991: Magic Johnson announces he is HIV-positive
3977321@Uncensored
Fri, 06 Nov 2015 00:09:45 +0500
November 06, 1962: U.N. condemns apartheid
3977180@Uncensored
Thu, 05 Nov 2015 00:22:32 +0500
November 05, 1994: George Foreman becomes oldest heavyweight champ
3976866@Uncensored
Wed, 04 Nov 2015 00:36:04 +0500
November 04, 1956: Soviets put brutal end to Hungarian revolution
3976693@Uncensored
Tue, 03 Nov 2015 00:57:42 +0500
November 03, 1964: D.C. residents cast first presidential votes
3976109@Uncensored
Mon, 02 Nov 2015 01:01:12 +0500
November 02, 1947: Spruce Goose flies
3975972@Uncensored
Sun, 01 Nov 2015 01:20:11 +0500
November 01, 1512: Sistine Chapel ceiling opens to public
3975872@Uncensored
Sat, 31 Oct 2015 00:06:41 +0500
October 31, 1517: Martin Luther posts 95 theses
3975766@Uncensored
Fri, 30 Oct 2015 15:15:52 +0500
Re: October 30, 1938: Welles scares nation
3975729@Uncensored
Fri, 30 Oct 2015 00:29:24 +0500
October 30, 1938: Welles scares nation
3975600@Uncensored
Thu, 29 Oct 2015 00:31:41 +0500
October 29, 1998: John Glenn returns to space
3974227@Uncensored
Wed, 28 Oct 2015 00:40:32 +0500
October 28, 1965: Gateway Arch completed
3973611@Uncensored
Tue, 27 Oct 2015 00:35:59 +0500
October 27, 1904: New York City subway opens
3973061@Uncensored
Mon, 26 Oct 2015 00:09:26 +0500
October 26, 1881: Shootout at the OK Corral
3972656@Uncensored
Sun, 25 Oct 2015 00:52:15 +0500
October 25, 1881: Pablo Picasso born
3972292@Uncensored
Sat, 24 Oct 2015 01:00:03 +0500
October 24, 1901: First barrel ride down Niagara Falls
3972137@Uncensored
Fri, 23 Oct 2015 00:43:09 +0500
October 23, 2002: Hostage crisis in Moscow theater
3971971@Uncensored
Thu, 22 Oct 2015 00:41:38 +0500
October 22, 1962: Cuban Missile Crisis
3971691@Uncensored
Wed, 21 Oct 2015 00:42:26 +0500
October 21, 1959: Guggenheim Museum opens in New York City
3971521@Uncensored
Tue, 20 Oct 2015 00:37:57 +0500
October 20, 1947: Congress investigates Reds in Hollywood
3971292@Uncensored
Mon, 19 Oct 2015 00:48:12 +0500
October 19, 1781: Victory at Yorktown
3971002@Uncensored
Sun, 18 Oct 2015 00:49:37 +0500
October 18, 1867: U.S. takes possession of Alaska
3970804@Uncensored
Sat, 17 Oct 2015 00:37:00 +0500
October 17, 1931: Capone goes to prison
3970712@Uncensored
Fri, 16 Oct 2015 00:15:04 +0500
October 16, 1934: The Long March
3970196@Uncensored
Thu, 15 Oct 2015 00:20:40 +0500
October 15, 1917: Mata Hari executed
3969938@Uncensored
Wed, 14 Oct 2015 00:52:09 +0500
October 14, 1947: Yeager breaks sound barrier
3969395@Uncensored
Tue, 13 Oct 2015 01:14:33 +0500
October 13, 1792: White House cornerstone laid
3969241@Uncensored
Mon, 12 Oct 2015 00:47:13 +0500
October 12, 1492: Columbus reaches the New World
3969013@Uncensored
Sun, 11 Oct 2015 00:59:28 +0500
October 11, 2002: Jimmy Carter wins Nobel Prize
3968902@Uncensored
Sat, 10 Oct 2015 00:47:43 +0500
October 10, 1985: Achille Lauro hijacking ends
3968612@Uncensored
Fri, 09 Oct 2015 00:45:30 +0500
October 09, 1967: Che Guevara is executed
3968438@Uncensored
Thu, 08 Oct 2015 00:14:02 +0500
October 08, 1871: Great Chicago Fire begins
3968065@Uncensored
Wed, 07 Oct 2015 00:28:25 +0500
October 07, 2003: Arnold Schwarzenegger becomes California governor
3967593@Uncensored
Tue, 06 Oct 2015 00:46:15 +0500
October 06, 1866: First U.S. train robbery
3967028@Uncensored
Mon, 05 Oct 2015 00:50:51 +0500
October 05, 1947: First presidential speech on TV
3966678@Uncensored
Sun, 04 Oct 2015 00:45:34 +0500
October 04, 1957: Sputnik launched
3966265@Uncensored
Sat, 03 Oct 2015 00:44:54 +0500
October 03, 1995: O.J. Simpson acquitted
3966082@Uncensored
Fri, 02 Oct 2015 00:24:30 +0500
October 02, 1985: Hollywood icon Rock Hudson dies of AIDS
3965867@Uncensored
Thu, 01 Oct 2015 00:17:53 +0500
October 01, 1890: Yosemite National Park established
3965734@Uncensored
Wed, 30 Sep 2015 00:04:21 +0500
September 30, 1954: USS Nautilus commissioned
3965553@Uncensored
Tue, 29 Sep 2015 00:21:31 +0500
September 29, 2005: Reporter Judith Miller released from prison
3965388@Uncensored
Mon, 28 Sep 2015 00:39:26 +0500
September 28, 1941: Ted Williams becomes last player to hit .400
3964973@Uncensored
Sun, 27 Sep 2015 00:06:53 +0500
September 27, 1779: John Adams appointed to negotiate peace terms with British
3964823@Uncensored
Sat, 26 Sep 2015 00:55:05 +0500
September 26, 1960: First Kennedy-Nixon debate
3964722@Uncensored
Fri, 25 Sep 2015 00:18:32 +0500
September 25, 1957: Central High School integrated
3964446@Uncensored
Thu, 24 Sep 2015 00:25:36 +0500
September 24, 1789: The First Supreme Court
3964288@Uncensored
Wed, 23 Sep 2015 00:50:01 +0500
September 23, 1875: Billy the Kid arrested for first time
3963965@Uncensored
Tue, 22 Sep 2015 01:01:23 +0500
September 22, 1862: Lincoln issues Emancipation Proclamation
3963820@Uncensored
Mon, 21 Sep 2015 01:07:19 +0500
September 21, 1780: Benedict Arnold commits treason
3963654@Uncensored
Sun, 20 Sep 2015 01:02:51 +0500
September 20, 1973: King triumphs in Battle of Sexes
3963469@Uncensored
Sat, 19 Sep 2015 00:48:40 +0500
September 19, 1957: Nevada is site of first-ever underground nuclear explosion
3963381@Uncensored
Fri, 18 Sep 2015 00:29:17 +0500
September 18, 1793: Capitol cornerstone is laid
3962928@Uncensored
Thu, 17 Sep 2015 00:50:48 +0500
September 17, 1862: Battle of Antietam
3962611@Uncensored
Wed, 16 Sep 2015 00:43:58 +0500
September 16, 1932: Gandhi begins fast in protest of caste separation
3962443@Uncensored
Tue, 15 Sep 2015 00:17:32 +0500
September 15, 1978: Ali defeats Spinks to win world heavyweight championship
3962201@Uncensored
Mon, 14 Sep 2015 00:29:51 +0500
September 14, 1901: McKinley dies of infection from gunshot wounds
3962064@Uncensored
Sun, 13 Sep 2015 00:55:39 +0500
September 13, 1814: Key pens Star-Spangled Banner
3961969@Uncensored
Sat, 12 Sep 2015 00:55:24 +0500
September 12, 1940: Lascaux cave paintings discovered
3961822@Uncensored
Fri, 11 Sep 2015 00:19:17 +0500
September 11, 2001: Attack on America
3961661@Uncensored
Thu, 10 Sep 2015 00:29:42 +0500
September 10, 1897: First drunk driving arrest
3961493@Uncensored
Wed, 09 Sep 2015 00:57:38 +0500
=?UTF-8?Q?September_09,_1893:_President=E2=80=99s_child_born_in_White_House?=
Tue, 08 Sep 2015 09:45:35 +0500
September 08, 1974: Ford pardons Nixon
3961095@Uncensored
Mon, 07 Sep 2015 00:35:19 +0500
September 07, 1813: United States nicknamed Uncle Sam
3961087@Uncensored
Sun, 06 Sep 2015 00:41:49 +0500
September 06, 1915: First tank produced
3960886@Uncensored
Sat, 05 Sep 2015 00:21:23 +0500
September 05, 1836: Sam Houston elected as president of Texas
3960622@Uncensored
Fri, 04 Sep 2015 00:34:31 +0500
September 04, 1886: Geronimo surrenders
3960417@Uncensored
Thu, 03 Sep 2015 01:08:06 +0500
September 03, 1783: Treaty of Paris signed
3960179@Uncensored
Wed, 02 Sep 2015 00:08:51 +0500
September 02, 1969: First ATM opens for business
3960050@Uncensored
Tue, 01 Sep 2015 00:52:44 +0500
September 01, 1864: Atlanta falls to Union forces
3959828@Uncensored
Mon, 31 Aug 2015 00:45:11 +0500
August 31, 1980: Polish government signs accord with Gdansk shipyard workers
3959498@Uncensored
Sun, 30 Aug 2015 00:02:45 +0500
August 30, 1967: Thurgood Marshall confirmed as Supreme Court justice
3959169@Uncensored
Sat, 29 Aug 2015 00:19:50 +0500
August 29, 2005: Hurricane Katrina slams into Gulf Coast
3959071@Uncensored
Fri, 28 Aug 2015 00:54:50 +0500
August 28, 1996: Charles and Diana divorce
3958729@Uncensored
Thu, 27 Aug 2015 00:39:02 +0500
August 27, 1883: Krakatau explodes
3958590@Uncensored
Wed, 26 Aug 2015 00:48:13 +0500
August 26, 1939: First televised Major League baseball game
3958248@Uncensored
Tue, 25 Aug 2015 00:09:29 +0500
August 25, 1835: The Great Moon Hoax
3957795@Uncensored
Mon, 24 Aug 2015 01:08:28 +0500
August 24, 79: Vesuvius erupts
3957442@Uncensored
Sun, 23 Aug 2015 00:18:52 +0500
August 23, 1902: Fannie Farmer opens cooking school
3957135@Uncensored
Sat, 22 Aug 2015 00:25:27 +0500
August 22, 1950: Althea Gibson becomes first African-American on U.S. tennis tour
3956967@Uncensored
Fri, 21 Aug 2015 00:23:25 +0500
August 21, 1959: Hawaii becomes 50th state
3956817@Uncensored
Thu, 20 Aug 2015 00:54:39 +0500
August 20, 1911: First around-the-world telegram sent, 66 years before Voyager II launch
3956494@Uncensored
Wed, 19 Aug 2015 00:53:33 +0500
August 19, 1909: First race is held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway
3956202@Uncensored
Tue, 18 Aug 2015 00:22:06 +0500
August 18, 1991: Soviet hard-liners launch coup against Gorbachev
3955856@Uncensored
Mon, 17 Aug 2015 00:34:48 +0500
August 17, 1969: Woodstock Music Festival concludes
3955673@Uncensored
Sun, 16 Aug 2015 00:30:03 +0500
August 16, 1896: Gold discovered in the Yukon
3955419@Uncensored
Sat, 15 Aug 2015 00:09:04 +0500
August 15, 1969: The Woodstock festival opens in Bethel, New York
3955242@Uncensored
Fri, 14 Aug 2015 00:12:49 +0500
August 14, 2003: Blackout hits Northeast United States
3955059@Uncensored
Thu, 13 Aug 2015 00:31:47 +0500
August 13, 1961: Berlin is divided
3954850@Uncensored
Wed, 12 Aug 2015 00:40:12 +0500
August 12, 1990: Skeleton of Tyrannosaurus rex discovered
3954647@Uncensored
Tue, 11 Aug 2015 00:48:42 +0500
August 11, 1934: Federal prisoners land on Alcatraz
3954478@Uncensored
Mon, 10 Aug 2015 00:53:29 +0500
August 10, 1846: Smithsonian Institution created
3954356@Uncensored
Sun, 09 Aug 2015 00:10:19 +0500
August 09, 1974: Unusual succession makes Ford president
3954270@Uncensored
Sat, 08 Aug 2015 01:24:45 +0500
August 08, 1974: Nixon resigns
3954184@Uncensored
Fri, 07 Aug 2015 00:15:29 +0500
August 07, 1947: Wood raft makes 4,300-mile voyage
3954064@Uncensored
Thu, 06 Aug 2015 00:51:08 +0500
August 06, 1945: American bomber drops atomic bomb on Hiroshima
3953953@Uncensored
Wed, 05 Aug 2015 00:53:28 +0500
August 05, 2002: Divers recover U.S.S. Monitor turret
3953828@Uncensored
Tue, 04 Aug 2015 00:42:41 +0500
August 04, 1944: Anne Frank captured
3953635@Uncensored
Mon, 03 Aug 2015 00:14:29 +0500
August 03, 1958: Nautilus travels under North Pole
3953521@Uncensored
Sun, 02 Aug 2015 00:48:40 +0500
August 02, 1990: Iraq invades Kuwait
3953427@Uncensored
Sat, 01 Aug 2015 01:06:29 +0500
August 01, 1961: Texans head for the thrills at Six Flags
3953336@Uncensored
Fri, 31 Jul 2015 00:46:05 +0500
July 31, 1975: Jimmy Hoffa disappears
3952947@Uncensored
Thu, 30 Jul 2015 00:15:41 +0500
July 30, 1965: Johnson signs Medicare into law
3952421@Uncensored
Wed, 29 Jul 2015 00:12:51 +0500
July 29, 1958: NASA created
3952249@Uncensored
Tue, 28 Jul 2015 00:45:32 +0500
July 28, 1868: 14th Amendment adopted
3952028@Uncensored
Mon, 27 Jul 2015 00:50:19 +0500
July 27, 1974: House begins impeachment of Nixon
3951726@Uncensored
Sun, 26 Jul 2015 00:24:53 +0500
July 26, 1775: U.S. postal system established
3951639@Uncensored
Sat, 25 Jul 2015 00:23:45 +0500
=?UTF-8?Q?July_25,_1978:_World=E2=80=99s_First_Test_Tube_Baby_Born?=
Tue, 21 Jul 2015 00:06:17 +0500
July 21, 1861: The First Battle of Bull Run
3950621@Uncensored
Mon, 20 Jul 2015 00:37:37 +0500
July 20, 1969: Armstrong walks on moon
3950489@Uncensored
Sun, 19 Jul 2015 00:50:33 +0500
July 19, 1799: Rosetta Stone found
3950288@Uncensored
Sat, 18 Jul 2015 00:46:24 +0500
July 18, 1940: FDR nominated for unprecedented third term
3950184@Uncensored
Fri, 17 Jul 2015 00:55:57 +0500
July 17, 1955: Disneyland opens
3949643@Uncensored
Thu, 16 Jul 2015 00:16:04 +0500
July 16, 1945: Atom bomb successfully tested
3948841@Uncensored
Wed, 15 Jul 2015 00:14:00 +0500
July 15, 1971: Nixon announces visit to communist China
3948591@Uncensored
Tue, 14 Jul 2015 00:59:03 +0500
July 14, 1789: French revolutionaries storm Bastille
3947934@Uncensored
Mon, 13 Jul 2015 00:29:55 +0500
July 13, 1985: Live Aid concert
3947205@Uncensored
Sun, 12 Jul 2015 00:29:44 +0500
July 12, 1984: Ferraro named vice presidential candidate
3947125@Uncensored
Sat, 11 Jul 2015 00:52:24 +0500
July 11, 1804: Burr slays Hamilton in duel
3947034@Uncensored
Fri, 10 Jul 2015 00:34:15 +0500
July 10, 1925: Monkey Trial begins
3946910@Uncensored
Thu, 09 Jul 2015 00:48:37 +0500
July 09, 1877: Wimbledon tournament begins
3946771@Uncensored
Wed, 08 Jul 2015 00:44:45 +0500
July 08, 1951: Paris celebrates 2,000th birthday
3946172@Uncensored
Tue, 07 Jul 2015 00:49:33 +0500
July 07, 1930: Building of Hoover Dam begins
3946014@Uncensored
Mon, 06 Jul 2015 01:01:37 +0500
July 06, 1957: Althea Gibson is first African American to win Wimbledon
3945752@Uncensored
Sun, 05 Jul 2015 01:04:35 +0500
July 05, 1946: Bikini introduced
3945575@Uncensored
Sat, 04 Jul 2015 01:05:27 +0500
July 04, 1776: U.S. declares independence
3945369@Uncensored
Fri, 03 Jul 2015 00:40:54 +0500
July 03, 1863: Battle of Gettysburg ends
3945206@Uncensored
Thu, 02 Jul 2015 00:58:27 +0500
July 02, 1964: Johnson signs Civil Rights Act
3944812@Uncensored
Wed, 01 Jul 2015 00:35:45 +0500
July 01, 1997: Hong Kong returned to China
3944658@Uncensored
Tue, 30 Jun 2015 01:13:25 +0500
June 30, 1936: Gone with the Wind published
3944520@Uncensored
Mon, 29 Jun 2015 00:26:01 +0500
June 29, 1995: U.S. space shuttle docks with Russian space station
3944298@Uncensored
Sun, 28 Jun 2015 00:26:30 +0500
June 28, 1953: Workers assemble first Corvette in Flint, Michigan
3944186@Uncensored
Sat, 27 Jun 2015 00:24:03 +0500
June 27, 1950: Truman orders U.S. forces to Korea
3944043@Uncensored
Fri, 26 Jun 2015 00:22:58 +0500
June 26, 1948: U.S. begins Berlin Airlift
3943854@Uncensored
Thu, 25 Jun 2015 00:18:30 +0500
June 25, 1876: Battle of Little Bighorn
3943694@Uncensored
Wed, 24 Jun 2015 00:52:47 +0500
June 24, 1997: U.S. Air Force reports on Roswell
3943507@Uncensored
Tue, 23 Jun 2015 00:46:50 +0500
June 23, 1992: Teflon Don sentenced to life
3943117@Uncensored
Mon, 22 Jun 2015 00:28:04 +0500
June 22, 1944: FDR signs G.I. Bill
3942641@Uncensored
Sun, 21 Jun 2015 00:32:18 +0500
June 21, 1788: U.S. Constitution ratified
3942460@Uncensored
Sat, 20 Jun 2015 00:59:28 +0500
June 20, 1975: Jaws released
3942193@Uncensored
Fri, 19 Jun 2015 09:13:30 +0500
Re: June 19, 1953: Rosenbergs executed
3941800@Uncensored
Fri, 19 Jun 2015 00:44:30 +0500
June 19, 1953: Rosenbergs executed
3941498@Uncensored
Thu, 18 Jun 2015 00:53:27 +0500
June 18, 1812: War of 1812 begins
3941113@Uncensored
Wed, 17 Jun 2015 01:06:27 +0500
June 17, 1885: Statue of Liberty arrives in New York Harbor
3940916@Uncensored
Tue, 16 Jun 2015 01:03:02 +0500
June 16, 1884: First roller coaster in America opens
3940537@Uncensored
Mon, 15 Jun 2015 00:36:57 +0500
June 15, 1215: Magna Carta sealed
3940159@Uncensored
Sun, 14 Jun 2015 00:52:16 +0500
June 14, 1777: Congress adopts the Stars and Stripes
3940008@Uncensored
Sat, 13 Jun 2015 01:20:42 +0500
June 13, 1966: The Miranda rights are established
3939910@Uncensored
Fri, 12 Jun 2015 01:06:09 +0500
June 12, 1987: Reagan challenges Gorbachev
3939722@Uncensored
Thu, 11 Jun 2015 00:43:09 +0500
June 11, 1979: John Wayne dies
3939312@Uncensored
Wed, 10 Jun 2015 00:22:32 +0500
June 10, 1752: Franklin flies kite during thunderstorm
3939027@Uncensored
Tue, 09 Jun 2015 00:32:19 +0500
June 09, 1973: Secretariat wins Triple Crown
3938766@Uncensored
Mon, 08 Jun 2015 00:56:33 +0500
June 08, 1968: King assassination suspect arrested
3938321@Uncensored
Sun, 07 Jun 2015 00:49:46 +0500
June 07, 1913: First successful ascent of Mt. McKinley
3938201@Uncensored
Sat, 06 Jun 2015 00:26:09 +0500
June 06, 1944: D-Day
Fri, 05 Jun 2015 09:52:40 +0500
Re: June 05, 1933: FDR takes United States off gold standard
3937577@Uncensored
Fri, 05 Jun 2015 00:25:12 +0500
June 05, 1933: FDR takes United States off gold standard
3937480@Uncensored
Thu, 04 Jun 2015 00:40:11 +0500
June 04, 1942: Battle of Midway begins
3936909@Uncensored
Wed, 03 Jun 2015 00:32:58 +0500
June 03, 1989: Crackdown at Tiananmen begins
3936379@Uncensored
Tue, 02 Jun 2015 00:13:33 +0500
June 02, 1935: Babe Ruth retires
3935937@Uncensored
Mon, 01 Jun 2015 00:49:58 +0500
June 01, 1980: CNN launches
3935622@Uncensored
Sun, 31 May 2015 00:49:51 +0500
May 31, 1859: Big Ben goes into operation in London
3934793@Uncensored
Sat, 30 May 2015 00:15:28 +0500
May 30, 1431: Joan of Arc martyred
3932674@Uncensored
Fri, 29 May 2015 00:40:15 +0500
May 29, 1953: Hillary and Tenzing reach Everest summit
3932216@Uncensored
Thu, 28 May 2015 00:35:13 +0500
May 28, 1961: Appeal for Amnesty campaign launches
3929219@Uncensored
Wed, 27 May 2015 00:48:37 +0500
May 27, 1941: Bismarck sunk by Royal Navy
3928819@Uncensored
Tue, 26 May 2015 00:52:06 +0500
May 26, 1897: Dracula goes on sale in London
3928233@Uncensored
Mon, 25 May 2015 00:10:35 +0500
May 25, 1977: Star Wars opens
3928112@Uncensored
Sun, 24 May 2015 00:59:31 +0500
May 24, 1883: Brooklyn Bridge opens
3928012@Uncensored
Sat, 23 May 2015 00:55:41 +0500
May 23, 1934: Police kill famous outlaws Bonnie and Clyde
3927796@Uncensored
Fri, 22 May 2015 00:35:53 +0500
May 22, 1843: Great Emigration departs for Oregon
3927324@Uncensored
Thu, 21 May 2015 00:49:53 +0500
May 21, 1881: American Red Cross founded
3927167@Uncensored
Wed, 20 May 2015 00:41:41 +0500
May 20, 1873: Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis receive patent for blue jeans
3927016@Uncensored
Tue, 19 May 2015 00:40:37 +0500
May 19, 1935: Lawrence of Arabia dies
3925903@Uncensored
Mon, 18 May 2015 00:21:46 +0500
May 18, 1920: Pope John Paul II born
3925416@Uncensored
Sun, 17 May 2015 00:29:38 +0500
May 17, 1954: Brown v. Board of Ed is decided
3925244@Uncensored
Sat, 16 May 2015 00:47:56 +0500
May 16, 1929: First Academy Awards ceremony
3925157@Uncensored
Fri, 15 May 2015 00:18:01 +0500
May 15, 1937: Madeleine Albright is born
3924804@Uncensored
Thu, 14 May 2015 01:07:04 +0500
May 14, 1804: Lewis and Clark depart
3924306@Uncensored
Wed, 13 May 2015 00:49:43 +0500
May 13, 1846: President Polk declares war on Mexico
3924146@Uncensored
Tue, 12 May 2015 00:44:36 +0500
May 12, 1957: Race car driver A.J. Foyt gets first pro victory
3923998@Uncensored
Mon, 11 May 2015 01:06:23 +0500
May 11, 1934: Dust storm sweeps from Great Plains across Eastern states
3923814@Uncensored
Sun, 10 May 2015 00:02:07 +0500
May 10, 1869: Transcontinental railroad completed
3923616@Uncensored
Sat, 09 May 2015 00:07:23 +0500
May 09, 1950: L. Ron Hubbard publishes Dianetics
3923482@Uncensored
Fri, 08 May 2015 00:34:31 +0500
May 08, 1945: V-E Day is celebrated in America and Britain
3923083@Uncensored
Thu, 07 May 2015 00:27:24 +0500
May 07, 1994: The Scream recovered
3922711@Uncensored
Wed, 06 May 2015 00:23:25 +0500
May 06, 1994: English Channel tunnel opens
3922050@Uncensored
Tue, 05 May 2015 00:51:16 +0500
May 05, 1961: The first American in space
3920915@Uncensored
Mon, 04 May 2015 00:18:26 +0500
May 04, 1994: Rabin and Arafat sign accord for Palestinian self-rule
3920649@Uncensored
Sun, 03 May 2015 00:43:12 +0500
May 03, 1469: Niccolo Machiavelli born
3919940@Uncensored
Sat, 02 May 2015 00:36:12 +0500
May 02, 1933: Loch Ness Monster sighted
3919316@Uncensored
Fri, 01 May 2015 00:31:25 +0500
May 01, 1931: Empire State Building dedicated
3918442@Uncensored
Thu, 30 Apr 2015 00:28:38 +0500
April 30, 1945: Adolf Hitler commits suicide
3917792@Uncensored
Wed, 29 Apr 2015 00:55:20 +0500
April 29, 2004: World War II monument opens in Washington, D.C.
3917047@Uncensored
Tue, 28 Apr 2015 00:57:18 +0500
April 28, 1945: Benito Mussolini executed
3916686@Uncensored
Mon, 27 Apr 2015 00:12:41 +0500
April 27, 4977: Universe is created, according to Kepler
3915545@Uncensored
Sun, 26 Apr 2015 01:06:29 +0500
April 26, 1954: Polio vaccine trials begin
3915434@Uncensored
Sat, 25 Apr 2015 00:57:22 +0500
April 25, 1983: Andropov writes to U.S. student
3915214@Uncensored
Fri, 24 Apr 2015 01:04:13 +0500
April 24, 1916: Easter Rebellion begins
3914684@Uncensored
Thu, 23 Apr 2015 01:00:13 +0500
April 23, 1564: William Shakespeare born
3913951@Uncensored
Wed, 22 Apr 2015 00:18:20 +0500
April 22, 1970: The first Earth Day
3912900@Uncensored
Tue, 21 Apr 2015 00:28:07 +0500
April 21, 753: Rome founded
3912719@Uncensored
Mon, 20 Apr 2015 00:16:08 +0500
April 20, 1980: Castro announces Mariel Boatlift
3912298@Uncensored
Sun, 19 Apr 2015 00:32:38 +0500
April 19, 1897: First Boston Marathon held
3912147@Uncensored
Sat, 18 Apr 2015 00:14:25 +0500
April 18, 1906: The Great San Francisco Earthquake
3911926@Uncensored
Fri, 17 Apr 2015 01:08:51 +0500
April 17, 1970: Apollo 13 returns to Earth
3911618@Uncensored
Thu, 16 Apr 2015 00:24:30 +0500
April 16, 1943: Hallucinogenic effects of LSD discovered
3910888@Uncensored
Wed, 15 Apr 2015 00:22:33 +0500
April 15, 1947: Jackie Robinson breaks color barrier
3909987@Uncensored
Tue, 14 Apr 2015 00:47:28 +0500
April 14, 1865: Lincoln is shot
3909399@Uncensored
Mon, 13 Apr 2015 00:55:51 +0500
April 13, 1997: Tiger Woods wins first major
3908745@Uncensored
Sun, 12 Apr 2015 01:03:17 +0500
April 12, 1861: The Civil War begins
3908513@Uncensored
Sat, 11 Apr 2015 00:34:22 +0500
April 11, 1814: Napoleon exiled to Elba
3908066@Uncensored
Fri, 10 Apr 2015 00:35:51 +0500
April 10, 1866: ASPCA is founded
3907413@Uncensored
Thu, 09 Apr 2015 00:53:05 +0500
April 09, 1865: Robert E. Lee surrenders
3906847@Uncensored
Wed, 08 Apr 2015 01:03:48 +0500
April 08, 1974: Aaron sets new home run record
3906080@Uncensored
Tue, 07 Apr 2015 00:50:55 +0500
April 07, 1994: Civil war erupts in Rwanda
3905112@Uncensored
Mon, 06 Apr 2015 00:54:31 +0500
April 06, 1896: First modern Olympic Games
3904653@Uncensored
Sun, 05 Apr 2015 00:14:03 +0500
April 05, 1614: Pocahontas marries John Rolfe
3904440@Uncensored
Sat, 04 Apr 2015 00:47:16 +0500
April 04, 1968: Dr. King is assassinated
3904024@Uncensored
Fri, 03 Apr 2015 00:56:59 +0500
April 03, 1860: Pony Express debuts
3903273@Uncensored
Thu, 02 Apr 2015 12:30:08 +0500
Re: April 02, 2005: Pope John Paul II Dies
3902797@Uncensored
Thu, 02 Apr 2015 00:30:32 +0500
April 02, 2005: Pope John Paul II Dies
3902337@Uncensored
Wed, 01 Apr 2015 00:33:33 +0500
April 01, 1700: April Fools tradition popularized
3901268@Uncensored
Tue, 31 Mar 2015 00:57:07 +0500
March 31, 1889: Eiffel Tower opens
3900790@Uncensored
Mon, 30 Mar 2015 00:23:09 +0500
March 30, 1981: President Reagan shot
3900122@Uncensored
Sun, 29 Mar 2015 00:01:41 +0500
March 29, 1973: U.S. withdraws from Vietnam
3899671@Uncensored
Sat, 28 Mar 2015 00:22:20 +0500
March 28, 1979: Nuclear accident at Three Mile Island
3899219@Uncensored
Fri, 27 Mar 2015 00:27:28 +0500
March 27, 1998: FDA approves Viagra
3898741@Uncensored
Thu, 26 Mar 2015 01:00:39 +0500
March 26, 1979: Israel-Egyptian peace agreement signed
3898367@Uncensored
Wed, 25 Mar 2015 00:27:28 +0500
March 25, 1911: Triangle Shirtwaist Fire in New York City
3897750@Uncensored
Tue, 24 Mar 2015 01:03:14 +0500
March 24, 1989: Exxon Valdez runs aground
3896939@Uncensored
Mon, 23 Mar 2015 00:55:52 +0500
March 23, 1839: OK enters national vernacular
3896602@Uncensored
Sun, 22 Mar 2015 00:30:59 +0500
March 22, 1765: Stamp Act imposed on American colonies
3896421@Uncensored
Sat, 21 Mar 2015 00:39:39 +0500
March 21, 1871: Stanley begins search for Livingstone
3896212@Uncensored
Fri, 20 Mar 2015 00:38:05 +0500
March 20, 1965: LBJ sends federal troops to Alabama
3895905@Uncensored
Thu, 19 Mar 2015 09:21:27 +0500
Re: March 19, 2003: War in Iraq begins
3895637@Uncensored
Thu, 19 Mar 2015 01:50:34 +0500
March 19, 2003: War in Iraq begins
3895398@Uncensored
Wed, 18 Mar 2015 00:48:47 +0500
March 18, 1852: Wells and Fargo start shipping and banking company
3894033@Uncensored
Tue, 17 Mar 2015 00:50:08 +0500
March 17, 461: Saint Patrick dies
3893411@Uncensored
Mon, 16 Mar 2015 00:30:11 +0500
March 16, 1802: U.S. Military Academy established
3893117@Uncensored
Sun, 15 Mar 2015 00:40:49 +0500
March 15, 1965: Johnson calls for equal voting rights
3892866@Uncensored
Sat, 14 Mar 2015 00:22:44 +0500
March 14, 1879: Albert Einstein born
3892620@Uncensored
Fri, 13 Mar 2015 00:52:23 +0500
March 13, 1942: U.S. Army launches K-9 Corps
3892368@Uncensored
Thu, 12 Mar 2015 00:44:12 +0500
March 12, 1933: FDR gives first fireside chat
3891908@Uncensored
Wed, 11 Mar 2015 01:08:15 +0500
March 11, 1997: Paul McCartney knighted
3891177@Uncensored
Tue, 10 Mar 2015 00:57:52 +0500
March 10, 1959: Rebellion in Tibet
3890431@Uncensored
Mon, 09 Mar 2015 00:57:58 +0500
March 09, 1959: Barbie makes her debut
3890038@Uncensored
Sun, 08 Mar 2015 00:58:32 +0500
March 08, 1917: February Revolution begins
3889797@Uncensored
Sat, 07 Mar 2015 00:51:13 +0500
March 07, 1876: Alexander Graham Bell patents the telephone
3889284@Uncensored
Fri, 06 Mar 2015 00:55:05 +0500
March 06, 1899: Bayer patents aspirin
3889039@Uncensored
Thu, 05 Mar 2015 00:55:55 +0500
March 05, 1963: Hula-Hoop patented
3888708@Uncensored
Wed, 04 Mar 2015 00:58:52 +0500
March 04, 1933: FDR inaugurated
3888393@Uncensored
Tue, 03 Mar 2015 00:32:28 +0500
March 03, 1887: Helen Keller meets her miracle worker
3887971@Uncensored
Mon, 02 Mar 2015 14:37:43 +0500
March 02, 1904: Dr. Seuss born
3887569@Uncensored
Mon, 02 Mar 2015 01:01:57 +0500
March 2, 1904: Dr. Seuss born
3887419@Uncensored
Sun, 01 Mar 2015 00:26:53 +0500
March 1, 1932: Lindbergh baby kidnapped
3887166@Uncensored
Sat, 28 Feb 2015 00:49:21 +0500
February 28, 1953: Watson and Crick discover chemical structure of DNA
3886563@Uncensored
Mon, 26 Jan 2015 00:47:40 +0500
January 26, 1788: Australia Day
3870313@Uncensored
Sun, 25 Jan 2015 01:19:27 +0500
January 25, 1905: World's largest diamond found
3869901@Uncensored
Sat, 24 Jan 2015 00:44:17 +0500
January 24, 1935: First canned beer goes on sale
3869486@Uncensored
Fri, 23 Jan 2015 00:23:30 +0500
January 23, 1957: Toy company Wham-O produces first Frisbees
3869203@Uncensored
Thu, 22 Jan 2015 00:47:40 +0500
January 22, 1998: Ted Kaczynski pleads guilty to bombings
3868533@Uncensored
Wed, 21 Jan 2015 18:08:47 +0500
Message #3868487
Wed, 21 Jan 2015 13:03:30 +0500
Re: January 21, 1977: President Carter pardons draft dodgers
3868391@Uncensored
Wed, 21 Jan 2015 00:29:21 +0500
January 21, 1977: President Carter pardons draft dodgers
3868084@Uncensored
Tue, 20 Jan 2015 01:00:15 +0500
January 20, 1981: Iran Hostage Crisis ends
3867658@Uncensored
Mon, 19 Jan 2015 00:48:34 +0500
January 19, 1809: Edgar Allan Poe is born
3866997@Uncensored
Sun, 18 Jan 2015 00:23:42 +0500
January 18, 1919: Post-World War I peace conference begins in Paris
3866331@Uncensored
Sat, 17 Jan 2015 01:09:41 +0500
January 17, 1950: Boston thieves pull off historic robbery
3865440@Uncensored
Fri, 16 Jan 2015 01:13:06 +0500
January 16, 1919: Prohibition takes effect
3865081@Uncensored
Thu, 15 Jan 2015 01:19:34 +0500
January 15, 1967: Packers face Chiefs in first Super Bowl
3864594@Uncensored
Wed, 14 Jan 2015 00:53:02 +0500
January 14, 1875: Albert Schweitzer born
3863886@Uncensored
Tue, 13 Jan 2015 00:11:44 +0500
January 13, 1128: Pope recognizes Knights Templar
3863333@Uncensored
Mon, 12 Jan 2015 20:38:24 +0500
Talk To The Student First
3863221@Uncensored
Mon, 12 Jan 2015 20:38:24 +0500
=?UTF-8?Q?10_Ways_to_Promote_Your_Child=E2=80=99s_Academic_Success?=
Mon, 12 Jan 2015 01:02:31 +0500
January 12, 1926: Original Amos n Andy debuts on Chicago radio
3862723@Uncensored
Sun, 11 Jan 2015 01:02:53 +0500
January 11, 1908: Theodore Roosevelt makes Grand Canyon a national monument
3862265@Uncensored
Sat, 10 Jan 2015 00:28:37 +0500
January 10, 1901: Gusher signals start of U.S. oil industry
3861863@Uncensored
Fri, 09 Jan 2015 00:15:29 +0500
January 9, 1493: Columbus mistakes manatees for mermaids
3861247@Uncensored
Thu, 08 Jan 2015 00:35:35 +0500
January 8, 1877: Crazy Horse fights last battle
3860765@Uncensored
Wed, 07 Jan 2015 00:38:50 +0500
January 7, 1789: First U.S. presidential election
3859708@Uncensored
Tue, 06 Jan 2015 00:32:53 +0500
January 6, 1838: Morse demonstrates telegraph
3859375@Uncensored
Mon, 05 Jan 2015 13:40:05 +0500
Re: January 5, 1933: Golden Gate Bridge is born
3859209@Uncensored
Mon, 05 Jan 2015 00:41:13 +0500
January 5, 1933: Golden Gate Bridge is born
3859058@Uncensored
Sun, 04 Jan 2015 00:46:06 +0500
January 4, 1999: The euro debuts
3858814@Uncensored
Sat, 03 Jan 2015 00:36:35 +0500
January 3, 1990: Noriega surrenders to U.S.
3858485@Uncensored
Fri, 02 Jan 2015 00:45:11 +0500
January 2, 1980: U.S.-Russia detente ends
3858126@Uncensored
Thu, 01 Jan 2015 00:11:07 +0500
January 1, 1959: Batista forced out by Castro-led revolution
3857779@Uncensored
Wed, 31 Dec 2014 00:19:10 +0500
December 31, 1999: Panama Canal turned over to Panama
3854692@Uncensored
Tue, 30 Dec 2014 00:50:26 +0500
December 30, 1922: USSR established
3854396@Uncensored
Mon, 29 Dec 2014 00:28:27 +0500
December 29, 1890: U.S. Army massacres Indians at Wounded Knee
3853814@Uncensored
Sun, 28 Dec 2014 01:06:50 +0500
December 28, 1895: First commercial movie screened
3853316@Uncensored
Sat, 27 Dec 2014 00:44:56 +0500
December 27, 1932: Radio City Music Hall opens
3852703@Uncensored
Fri, 26 Dec 2014 00:48:33 +0500
December 26, 1946: Bugsy Siegel opens Flamingo Hotel
3852122@Uncensored
Thu, 25 Dec 2014 00:24:51 +0500
December 25, 1914: The Christmas Truce
3851917@Uncensored
Wed, 24 Dec 2014 00:18:47 +0500
December 24, 1979: Soviet tanks roll into Afghanistan
3851557@Uncensored
Thu, 16 Oct 2014 10:34:18 +0500
Message #3794400
Sun, 12 Oct 2014 16:18:39 +0500
Ubuntu's Unity Turns 4, Happy Birthday!
3792639@Uncensored
Thu, 25 Sep 2014 17:55:28 +0500
Will the iPhone 6 Plus Survive the Blender Test?
3782056@Uncensored
Wed, 07 May 2014 00:00:00 +0500
May 7, 1994: Munch's The Scream recovered
3707626@Uncensored
Tue, 06 May 2014 00:00:00 +0500
May 6, 1994: English Channel tunnel opens
3707393@Uncensored
Mon, 05 May 2014 00:00:00 +0500
May 5, 1961: The first American in space
3707103@Uncensored
Sun, 04 May 2014 00:00:00 +0500
May 4, 1994: Rabin and Arafat sign accord for Palestinian self-rule
3706955@Uncensored
Sat, 03 May 2014 00:00:00 +0500
May 3, 1469: Niccolo Machiavelli born
3706561@Uncensored
Fri, 02 May 2014 00:00:00 +0500
May 2, 1933: Loch Ness Monster sighted
3704571@Uncensored
Thu, 01 May 2014 00:00:00 +0500
May 1, 1931: Empire State Building dedicated
3704204@Uncensored
Wed, 30 Apr 2014 00:00:00 +0500
April 30, 1945: Adolf Hitler commits suicide
3703446@Uncensored
Tue, 29 Apr 2014 00:00:00 +0500
April 29, 2004: World War II monument opens in Washington, D.C.
3703228@Uncensored
Mon, 28 Apr 2014 00:00:00 +0500
April 28, 1945: Benito Mussolini executed
3703006@Uncensored
Sun, 27 Apr 2014 00:00:00 +0500
April 27, 4977: Universe is created, according to Kepler
3702708@Uncensored
Sat, 26 Apr 2014 00:00:00 +0500
April 26, 1954: Polio vaccine trials begin
3702575@Uncensored
Fri, 25 Apr 2014 08:34:19 +0500
Message #3702444
Fri, 25 Apr 2014 00:00:00 +0500
April 25, 1983: Andropov writes to U.S. student
3702374@Uncensored
Thu, 24 Apr 2014 00:00:00 +0500
April 24, 1916: Easter Rebellion begins
3701829@Uncensored
Wed, 23 Apr 2014 00:00:00 +0500
April 23, 1564: William Shakespeare born
3700961@Uncensored
Tue, 22 Apr 2014 00:00:00 +0500
April 22, 1970: The first Earth Day
3700554@Uncensored
Mon, 21 Apr 2014 16:36:41 +0500
Re: April 21, 0753: Rome founded
3700303@Uncensored
Mon, 21 Apr 2014 00:00:00 +0500
April 21, 0753: Rome founded
3699610@Uncensored
Sun, 20 Apr 2014 00:00:00 +0500
April 20, 1980: Castro announces Mariel Boatlift
3699283@Uncensored
Sat, 19 Apr 2014 00:00:00 +0500
April 19, 1897: First Boston Marathon held
3698588@Uncensored
Fri, 18 Apr 2014 00:00:00 +0500
April 18, 1906: The Great San Francisco Earthquake
3698055@Uncensored
Thu, 17 Apr 2014 00:00:00 +0500
April 17, 1970: Apollo 13 returns to Earth
3697339@Uncensored
Wed, 16 Apr 2014 00:00:00 +0500
April 16, 1943: Hallucinogenic effects of LSD discovered
3696780@Uncensored
Tue, 15 Apr 2014 00:00:00 +0500
April 15, 1947: Jackie Robinson breaks color barrier
3696418@Uncensored
Mon, 14 Apr 2014 00:00:00 +0500
April 14, 1865: Lincoln is shot
3696233@Uncensored
Sun, 13 Apr 2014 00:00:00 +0500
April 13, 1997: Tiger Woods wins first major
3696120@Uncensored
Sat, 12 Apr 2014 00:00:00 +0500
April 12, 1861: The Civil War begins
3695799@Uncensored
Fri, 11 Apr 2014 00:00:00 +0500
April 11, 1814: Napoleon exiled to Elba
3695583@Uncensored
Thu, 10 Apr 2014 00:00:00 +0500
April 10, 1866: ASPCA is founded
3694856@Uncensored
Wed, 09 Apr 2014 00:00:00 +0500
April 9, 1865: Robert E. Lee surrenders
3694690@Uncensored
Tue, 08 Apr 2014 00:00:00 +0500
April 8, 1974: Aaron sets new home run record
3694451@Uncensored
Mon, 07 Apr 2014 00:00:00 +0500
April 7, 1994: Civil war erupts in Rwanda
3693015@Uncensored
Sun, 06 Apr 2014 00:00:00 +0500
April 6, 1896: First modern Olympic Games
3692523@Uncensored
Sat, 05 Apr 2014 00:00:00 +0500
April 5, 1614: Pocahontas marries John Rolfe
3692384@Uncensored
Fri, 04 Apr 2014 00:00:00 +0500
April 4, 1968: Dr. King is assassinated
3691648@Uncensored
Thu, 03 Apr 2014 12:46:31 +0500
Re: April 3, 1860: Pony Express debuts
3691388@Uncensored
Thu, 03 Apr 2014 00:00:00 +0500
April 3, 1860: Pony Express debuts
3691284@Uncensored
Wed, 02 Apr 2014 00:00:00 +0500
April 2, 2005: Pope John Paul II Dies
3690887@Uncensored
Tue, 01 Apr 2014 00:00:00 +0500
April 1, 1700: April Fools tradition popularized
3690683@Uncensored
Mon, 31 Mar 2014 00:00:00 +0500
March 31, 1889: Eiffel Tower opens
3690475@Uncensored
Sun, 30 Mar 2014 00:00:00 +0500
March 30, 1981: President Reagan shot
3689276@Uncensored
Sat, 29 Mar 2014 00:00:00 +0500
March 29, 1973: U.S. withdraws from Vietnam
3688622@Uncensored
Fri, 28 Mar 2014 00:00:00 +0500
March 28, 1979: Nuclear accident at Three Mile Island
3688106@Uncensored
Thu, 27 Mar 2014 00:00:00 +0500
March 27, 1998: FDA approves Viagra
3687920@Uncensored
Wed, 26 Mar 2014 00:00:00 +0500
March 26, 1979: Israel-Egyptian peace agreement signed
3687172@Uncensored
Tue, 25 Mar 2014 00:00:00 +0500
March 25, 1911: Triangle Shirtwaist Fire in New York City
3686273@Uncensored
Mon, 24 Mar 2014 00:00:00 +0500
March 24, 1989: Exxon Valdez runs aground
3684689@Uncensored
Sun, 23 Mar 2014 00:00:00 +0500
March 23, 1839: OK enters national vernacular
3683358@Uncensored
Sat, 22 Mar 2014 00:00:00 +0500
March 22, 1765: Stamp Act imposed on American colonies
3683213@Uncensored
Fri, 21 Mar 2014 00:00:00 +0500
March 21, 1871: Stanley begins search for Livingstone
3682494@Uncensored
Thu, 20 Mar 2014 00:00:00 +0500
March 20, 1965: LBJ sends federal troops to Alabama
3682125@Uncensored
Wed, 19 Mar 2014 00:00:00 +0500
March 19, 2003: War in Iraq begins
3681562@Uncensored
Tue, 18 Mar 2014 00:00:00 +0500
March 18, 1852: Wells and Fargo start shipping and banking company
3679734@Uncensored
Mon, 17 Mar 2014 00:00:00 +0500
March 17, 0461: Saint Patrick dies
3679226@Uncensored
Sun, 16 Mar 2014 00:00:00 +0500
March 16, 1802: U.S. Military Academy established
3678372@Uncensored
Sat, 15 Mar 2014 00:00:00 +0500
March 15, 1965: Johnson calls for equal voting rights
3678037@Uncensored
Fri, 14 Mar 2014 00:00:00 +0500
March 14, 1879: Albert Einstein born
3677383@Uncensored
Thu, 13 Mar 2014 00:00:00 +0500
March 13, 1942: U.S. Army launches K-9 Corps
3676743@Uncensored
Wed, 12 Mar 2014 00:00:00 +0500
March 12, 1933: FDR gives first fireside chat
3674970@Uncensored
Tue, 11 Mar 2014 00:00:00 +0500
March 11, 1997: Paul McCartney knighted
3670145@Uncensored
Sun, 09 Mar 2014 00:00:00 +0500
March 9, 1959: Barbie makes her debut
3669611@Uncensored
Tue, 04 Mar 2014 00:00:00 +0500
March 4, 1933: FDR inaugurated
3668032@Uncensored
Thu, 27 Feb 2014 00:00:00 +0500
February 27, 1827: New Orleanians take to the streets for Mardi Gras
3666766@Uncensored
Wed, 26 Feb 2014 00:00:00 +0500
February 26, 1919: Two national parks preserved, 10 years apart
3663628@Uncensored
Tue, 25 Feb 2014 00:00:00 +0500
February 25, 1964: Clay knocks out Liston
3662559@Uncensored
Mon, 24 Feb 2014 00:00:00 +0500
February 24, 1836: Alamo defenders call for help
3661557@Uncensored
Sun, 23 Feb 2014 00:00:00 +0500
February 23, 1945: U.S. flag raised on Iwo Jima
3661143@Uncensored
Sat, 22 Feb 2014 00:00:00 +0500
February 22, 1980: U.S. hockey team makes miracle on ice
3660723@Uncensored
Fri, 21 Feb 2014 00:00:00 +0500
February 21, 1965: Malcolm X assassinated
3659373@Uncensored
Thu, 20 Feb 2014 00:00:00 +0500
February 20, 1985: Ireland allows sale of contraceptives
3658799@Uncensored
Wed, 19 Feb 2014 00:00:00 +0500
February 19, 1847: Donner Party rescued
3658069@Uncensored
Tue, 18 Feb 2014 00:00:00 +0500
February 18, 1885: Twain publishes The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
3657341@Uncensored
Mon, 17 Feb 2014 00:00:00 +0500
February 17, 1904: Madame Butterfly premieres
3656496@Uncensored
Sun, 16 Feb 2014 00:00:00 +0500
February 16, 1923: Archaeologist opens tomb of King Tut
3656028@Uncensored
Sat, 15 Feb 2014 00:00:00 +0500
February 15, 1898: The Maine explodes
3655351@Uncensored
Fri, 14 Feb 2014 00:00:00 +0500
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Message #3648600
Fri, 31 Jan 2014 07:42:38 +0500
Re: January 31, 1950: Truman announces development of H-bomb
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January 31, 1950: Truman announces development of H-bomb
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Message #3552501
| i don't know |
Say Hey was the autobiography of what San Francisco Giants Hall of Fame baseball player? | Willie Mays (Author of Say Hey)
edit data
William Howard "Willie" Mays, Jr. is a retired American baseball player who played the majority of his career with the New York and San Francisco Giants before finishing with the New York Mets. Nicknamed The Say Hey Kid, Mays was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1979, his first year of eligibility. Many consider him to be the greatest all-around player of all time.
Mays won two MVP awards and tied a record with 24 appearances in the All-Star Game. He ended his career with 660 career home runs, third at the time of his retirement, and currently fourth all-time. In 1999, Mays placed second on The Sporting News list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players, making him the highest-ranking living player. Later that year, he was also elected t William Howard "Willie" Mays, Jr. is a retired American baseball player who played the majority of his career with the New York and San Francisco Giants before finishing with the New York Mets. Nicknamed The Say Hey Kid, Mays was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1979, his first year of eligibility. Many consider him to be the greatest all-around player of all time.
Mays won two MVP awards and tied a record with 24 appearances in the All-Star Game. He ended his career with 660 career home runs, third at the time of his retirement, and currently fourth all-time. In 1999, Mays placed second on The Sporting News list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players, making him the highest-ranking living player. Later that year, he was also elected to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team. Mays is the only Major League player to have hit a home run in every inning from the 1st through the 16th. He finished his career with a record 22 extra-inning home runs. Mays is one of five NL players to have eight consecutive 100-RBI seasons, along with Mel Ott, Sammy Sosa, Chipper Jones and Albert Pujols. Mays hit 50 or more home runs in both 1955 and 1965. This time span represents the longest stretch between 50 plus home run seasons for any player in Major League Baseball history.
Mays' first Major League manager, Leo Durocher, said of Mays: "He could do the five things you have to do to be a superstar: hit, hit with power, run, throw, and field. And he had that other ingredient that turns a superstar into a super superstar. He lit up the room when he came in. He was a joy to be around."
Upon his Hall of Fame induction, Mays was asked who was the best player that he had seen during his career. Mays replied, "I thought I was." Ted Williams once said "They invented the All-Star Game for Willie Mays."
| Willie Mays |
What do you call the container where an archer stores his arrows? | Willie Mays Memorabilia: Autographed & Signed
Willie Mays Memorabilia
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About Willie Mays Autographed Memorabilia & Collectibles
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Willie Mays is a retired American baseball player who played for the San Francisco Giants for 19 seasons before ending his career with the New York Mets. During his career, Mays set a number of records and won many accolades, including two MVP awards and tied a league record with 24 appearances in the All-Star Game. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1979 for his contributions to the MLB and many consider him to be the greatest all-around player of all time.
Not only is Willie Mays a favorite among San Francisco Giants fans, heâs a legend of Major League Baseball that will go down in league history. Due to his noteworthy career, fans and collectors alike cherish Willie Mays memorabilia. These autographed items are very rare and hold high worth that is expected to produce a large financial return in the future. Â As one of the greatest ever to play the game, every baseball fan needs a Willie Mays autographed baseball, jersey, bat, or photo for their collection. Add historic value to your collection or give a special fan the gift of a lifetime with a Willie Mays collectible.
Complete your collection with items signed by all of your favorite players with items from our broad selection of MLB Memorabilia . If youâre a fan of the San Francisco Giants, shop for items signed by other former greats, like Barry Bonds, or members of the 2012 World Series Championship team, including Matt Cain and Pablo Sandoval .
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| i don't know |
Triggered by Rosa Parks' refusal to give up her seat, the public transportation system in what US city was devastated by a year long boycott of their busses? | Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott [ushistory.org]
54b. Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott
Rosa Parks rode at the front of a Montgomery, Alabama, bus on the day the Supreme Court's ban on segregation of the city's buses took effect. A year earlier, she had been arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a bus.
On a cold December evening in 1955, Rosa Parks quietly incited a revolution — by just sitting down.
She was tired after spending the day at work as a department store seamstress. She stepped onto the bus for the ride home and sat in the fifth row — the first row of the "Colored Section."
In Montgomery, Alabama, when a bus became full, the seats nearer the front were given to white passengers.
Montgomery bus driver James Blake ordered Parks and three other African Americans seated nearby to move ("Move y'all, I want those two seats,") to the back of the bus.
Three riders complied; Parks did not.
The following excerpt of what happened next is from Douglas Brinkley's 2000 Rosa Park's biography.
"Are you going to stand up?" the driver demanded. Rosa Parks looked straight at him and said: "No." Flustered, and not quite sure what to do, Blake retorted, "Well, I'm going to have you arrested." And Parks, still sitting next to the window, replied softly, "You may do that."
After Parks refused to move, she was arrested and fined $10. The chain of events triggered by her arrest changed the United States.
King, Abernathy, Boycott, and the SCLC
Martin Luther King Jr. organized the Montgomery bus boycott of 1955, which began a chain reaction of similar boycotts throughout the South. In 1956, the Supreme Court voted to end segregated busing.
In 1955, a little-known minister named Martin Luther King Jr. led the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery.
Henry David Thoreau's work "Civil Disobedience" provided inspiration for many leaders of the Civil Rights Movement.
Born and educated in Atlanta, King studied the writings and practices of Henry David Thoreau and Mohandas Gandhi. Their teaching advocated civil disobedience and nonviolent resistance to social injustice.
A staunch devotee of nonviolence, King and his colleague Ralph Abernathy organized a boycott of Montgomery's buses.
The demands they made were simple: Black passengers should be treated with courtesy. Seating should be allotted on a first-come-first-serve basis, with white passengers sitting from front to back and black passengers sitting from back to front. And African American drivers should drive routes that primarily serviced African Americans. On Monday, December 5, 1955 the boycott went into effect.
Don't Ride the Bus
In 1955, the Women's Political Council issued a leaflet calling for a boycott of Montgomery buses.
Don't ride the bus to work, to town, to school, or any place Monday, December 5.
Another Negro Woman has been arrested and put in jail because she refused to give up her bus seat.
Don't ride the buses to work to town, to school, or any where on Monday. If you work, take a cab, or share a ride, or walk.
Come to a mass meeting, Monday at 7:00 P.M. at the Holt Street Baptist Church for further instruction.
Montgomery officials stopped at nothing in attempting to sabotage the boycott. King and Abernathy were arrested. Violence began during the action and continued after its conclusion. Four churches — as well as the homes of King and Abernathy — were bombed. But the boycott continued.
Together with Martin Luther King Jr., Ralph Abernathy (shown here) organized the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and helped lead the nonviolent struggle to overturn Jim Crow laws.
King and Abernathy's organization, the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA), had hoped for a 50 percent support rate among African Americans. To their surprise and delight, 99 percent of the city's African Americans refused to ride the buses. People walked to work or rode their bikes, and carpools were established to help the elderly. The bus company suffered thousands of dollars in lost revenue.
Finally, on November 23, 1956, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the MIA. Segregated busing was declared unconstitutional. City officials reluctantly agreed to comply with the Court Ruling. The black community of Montgomery had held firm in their resolve.
The Montgomery bus boycott triggered a firestorm in the South. Across the region, blacks resisted "moving to the back of the bus." Similar actions flared up in other cities. The boycott put Martin Luther King Jr. in the national spotlight. He became the acknowledged leader of the nascent Civil Rights Movement.
With Ralph Abernathy, King formed the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC).
This organization was dedicated to fighting Jim Crow segregation. African Americans boldly declared to the rest of the country that their movement would be peaceful, organized, and determined.
To modern eyes, getting a seat on a bus may not seem like a great feat. But in 1955, sitting down marked the first step in a revolution.
| Montgomery, Alabama |
Who on featured on the 2 dollar bill? | Montgomery Bus Boycott Essays and Research Papers | StudyMode.com
Montgomery Bus Boycott - 899 Words
The Montgomery Bus Boycott was an extremely powerful people’s movement that began December 5, 1955, lasted 381 days, and ultimately changed African-Americans’ history forever. During this time the African Americans of Montgomery walked or made car pools to get to their destination in order to avoid the racially segregated public vehicles. The intent of this movement was to go up against racial segregation in public transportation as well as stand up for black civil rights as a whole. An African...
899 Words | 2 Pages
The Montgomery Bus Boycott - 963 Words
The Montgomery Bus Boycott brought together 45,000 members of the black community in Montgomery, Alabama. This was made possible through careful planning, organization and cooperation among a few important groups of people. The Women’s Political Council (WPC), the black churches of Montgomery and The Montgomery Improvement Association MIA) were the three main institutions behind the success of the boycott. The Women’s Political Council was the first suggest the idea of a bus boycott in order...
963 Words | 3 Pages
Montgomery Bus Boycott - 630 Words
Jo Ann Gibson Robinson entered an almost empty bus on a “Saturday morning before Christmas in December 1949” (15), before entering she had no idea what was about to occur on that day. She proceeded to pay and take a seat in the fifth row from the front. While “envisioning…the wonderful week’s vacation…with family and friends in Ohio” (15) she did not realize the bus driver stopped the bus to tell her to get up from where she was sitting. The bus driver stood over Mrs. Robinson and yelled at her...
630 Words | 2 Pages
Montgomery Bus Boycott - 1305 Words
History Essay Essay Practice – Montgomery Bus Boycott The Montgomery bus boycott of 1955 was a year-long protest against the Montgomery transport system for equality and desegregation and was another turning point for the American civil rights movement. There were many causes and consequences that affected many people. The causes of the...
1,305 Words | 4 Pages
Montgomery Bus Boycott - 2059 Words
MONTGOMERY BUS BOYCOTT The Montgomery Bus Boycott was a protest against racial segregation on the public transit system. It was started in 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama and lasted 381 days. Some of the most important and influential people of this movement were Rosa Parks, and Martin Luther King Jr. There were many other people who fought for this movement though. This movement taught people about how to fight for what was right. The idea of the protest was created on...
2,059 Words | 6 Pages
Montgomery Bus Boycott - 813 Words
History essay: Montgomery bus boycott There was once a time when blacks were only slaves in America, they had no rights and no freedom. Nowadays segregation has been abolished, racism and discrimination have been broken down and blacks are now able to live their lives free as equal citizens in the American society. Blacks in America did not get these civil rights overnight; it was a long and hard fought path to freedom. There were many important events, which helped to give blacks civil rights...
813 Words | 3 Pages
The Montgomery Bus Boycott - 5270 Words
The Montgomery Bus Boycott The Montgomery bus boycott changed the way people lived and reacted to each other. The American civil rights movement began a long time ago, as early as the seventeenth century, with blacks and whites all protesting slavery together. The peak of the civil rights movement came in the 1950's starting with the successful bus boycott in Montgomery Alabama. The civil rights movement was lead by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who preached nonviolence and love for your...
5,270 Words | 14 Pages
montgomery bus boycott - 1828 Words
In considering the process of change how far can the Montgomery Bus Boycott be seen as the key turning point in African-Americans gaining equality in America? In order for an event to be considered a key turning point it must be a definitive point which causes a lasting and substantial change that last for a very long time. In this instance one that creates the largest step in African- Americans moving towards equality in America. Equality is defined as the state of being equal, especially in...
1,828 Words | 5 Pages
Causes and Consequences of the Montgomery Bus Boycott
Consequences/importance of the Montgomery Bus Protest 1. The direct result was that in 1956 the Supreme Court ruled that segregation on buses was illegal (Browder v Gayle). 2. After 13 months the bus companies gave in. This was REALLY important for the future because it showed to both Blacks and Whites in America that in racial discrimination cases - eventually - the Blacks would win. The battle was by no means finished, but after Montgomery the Whites knew they were going to lose in the end,...
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Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott
Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott Since the earliest of times African Americans have been denied their rights. Finally when having enough of this discrimination they started a movement in 1955 that would soon be called the civil rights movement. This was initially triggered by the death of a young African American boy at the age of fourteen named Emmett Till. All of which would initiate a new era in the American quest for freedom and equality of all people. Starting with Rosa Parks...
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Montgomery Bus Boycott and Physical Courage
Winston Churchill once said that “Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.” Courage is defined as the ability to confront fear, pain, danger, uncertainty or intimidation. There are four types of courage that will be presented in this essay. They are physical, moral, intellectual and social courage. "If you worried about falling off the bike you'd never get on." Lance Armstrong. Physical courage is the type most people think of first,...
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The Montgomery Bus Boycott Key Features
----------------------- December 1st 1955 Black African American citizen, Rosa Parks is arrested for refusing to give up her seat when the bus was filling up. She was allegedly arrested for violating bus segregation laws and behaving in disorderly conduct. 1955 The Montgomery Bus Boycott April 23th 1956 The Montgomery bus company decides to implement a policy of desegregation after the U. S. Supreme Court dismisses the appeal of...
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The Montgomery Bus Boycott: A Revoltion in the Making
Civil Rights- Martin Luther King, Jr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was born on January 15, 1929. His mother was a teacher and she taught him to read before he started school. She also tried to explain prejudice and the Jim Crow laws that separated Whites and Blacks. She explained the Civil War and how it ended slavery. He had a lot of books at his parent house. He decided he would do well in a white man’s world. His father was a preacher. He gave a great example to Martin...
915 Words | 5 Pages
Bus Boycott - 407 Words
Montgomery bus boycott The bus boycott was direct effect of the arrest of Rosa Parks because she would not give up her seat for a white passenger. The NAACP decided to fight the charges put against Rosa Parks, because they saw it as unconstitutional. The outcome of this situation was violent and full of hate. White citizens responded with lawsuits and violence, the boycott was a success because the Supreme Court threw out the Montgomery bus law. Rosa Parks was launched to national fame for...
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Complacency: Montgomery Bus Boycott and Better Situation
Complacency in everyday life has led to turmoil in many countries. In Germany there was the Holocaust in which nearby neighbors could sit and watch execution from their doorstep. In America during the 1960’s no one had the courage to speak up for African-Americans and their rights. Even though people don’t speak up when they should, you should by any means necessary stand up for what is right. By not speaking up things could only get worse, people can get badly hurt, or the problem could be...
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short term significance of the Montgomery bus boycott
‘Assess the short term significance of the Montgomery Bus Boycott’ Plan: Intro: The Boycott would be significant in the short term if it inspired further Black activism or gave rise to a strong leader like MLK, broke down Segregation laws in Montgomery in terms of bus segregation and if it affected segregation in other areas. Did it affect white/federal support-was there any?. Paragraph 1: Black activism It was significant, emergence of MLK, first grass roots protest, first successful mass...
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Bus Boycott - 942 Words
Allison M. 1/17/09 Mr. Bishop Writing The Montgomery Bus Boycott On December 1st, 1955, one woman’s refusal to move from a bus seat made a huge contribution to the Civil Rights Movement. As a matter of fact, it was almost as if she started it herself. Rosa Parks and her arrest are what led up to be a main event during the Civil Rights Movement. The African American community knew that by having this boycott, it would cost many white people money, but more importantly...
942 Words | 3 Pages
Assess The Role Played By The Montgomery Bus Boycott In The Struggle For Civil Rights In America
Assess the role played by The Montgomery Bus Boycott in the struggle for civil rights in America 1954 - 1965 Montgomery is the state capital. It was one of the most segregated cities in the USA in the 1950s. In 1954, the US Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka destroyed the legal basis for segregation in education. However, in the southern states of the USA Jim Crow Laws continued to enforce segregation and discrimination against black Americans in housing,...
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Mongomery Bus Boycott - 861 Words
Below is a complete timeline of the events which lead up to the boycott, were part of the boycott, and followed the boycott: 1954: May 21 - Professor Jo Ann Robinson writes a warning to the mayor of Montgomery of the possibility of a bus boycott. September 1 - Martin Luther King Jr. becomes the pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery. 1955: March 2 - Claudette Colvin, a fifteen year old African American, is arrested for violating the bus segregation...
861 Words | 4 Pages
Boycott - 793 Words
Battling Boycotts 1) Question: What type of boycotts the article is addressing? Answer: The type for the boycott is the company's nationality, it would seem that nothing could be done. The business is boycotted through no fault of its own. And a growing class of boycotts has very little to do with the actions or policies of an individual company. Instead they are related to the company's country of origin. After all, it is neither easy nor desirable to change the nationality of a company to...
793 Words | 3 Pages
The Pain and the Promise: a Story of the Tallahassee Bus Boycott
Brittani Flemons His 329 Section 2 April 14, 2010 The Pain and the Promise: The Struggle for Civil Rights in Tallahassee, FL The Pain and the Promise by Glenda Alice Rabby gives an account of the long, hard struggles blacks had to endure to achieve equality among whites in Tallahassee and throughout Florida. A lot of people had the misconception that Florida wasn’t like its neighboring Southern states. Rabby proves throughout the book that those were just mere misconceptions...
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Evaluate the Significance of the Bus Boycott to the Civil Rights Movement
Modern Extended responses b) Evaluate the significance of one of the following in the civil rights movement 2. The bus boycott The events and outcomes of the bus boycott are significant in assistance to the civil rights movement. It was the introduction of direct action and non violence, the beginning of Martin Luther's campaign in the movement and the achievements. The boycott began on the 1st December 1955 with Rosa Parks in Montgomery, Alabama, with Rosa Parks. She refused to give up...
584 Words | 2 Pages
Lysistrata's Boycott - 671 Words
Lysistrata The Peloponnesian war has been going on for eighteen long years and the beautiful Lysistrata in common with the other wives of Athens, is tired of the absence of their warrior husbands. She decides that it is time to bring an end to this situation by boycotting their husbands from their wives love. Lysistrata gathered the women of Athens and told them about her plan of how she’s going to end this situation and some of the women argued over and over, but the beautiful Lysistrata...
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The March from the Bus to Lincoln Memorial
A white man enters the bus and looks for a seat, but the white section of 10 seats is packed. He then walks further back in the bus and stops by the colored section, waits for the first row of African-American passengers to stand up; that is how the system works. Three of them give up their seats when the bus driver demands them to, but the last passenger just moves to the window seat and stays put. “I don’t think I should have to stand up,” she says, and later that day, she is in jail and...
987 Words | 3 Pages
Martin Luther King - 864 Words
Martin Luther King Martin Luther King was an extremely inspirational individual, a humanitarian, civil rights activist in fact. He led the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955, helped CSLC in 1957, helped to organise the March on Washington 1963 in which he presented his ‘I Have a Dream’ speech gaining his reputation as one of the greatest orators in American history. King, born son of Reverend Martin Luther King Sr. spent most of his early life within church, singing amongst the choir in 1939. He...
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the ones who walk away from omelas
Debbie Buckner English 1 Dr. David Morse September 22, 2013 Under what circumstances, if any is one justified in disobeying the law? Breaking the law is justifiable when one wants to make a point to change a law. As long as you don’t cause harm to anyone else, because we realize sometimes disobeying the law can have a positive or negative affect. “If you don’t stand for something you will fall for anything” (Malcolm x) Rosa Park was arrested on the evening...
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American Civil Rights Worksheet
Eyes on The Prize: Awakening 1954-56 This video series has been directly recommended by the Chief Examiner of HIS2P. Therefore, it is important to make detailed notes and to be ready to note the relevant answers down while watching the clip. The video provides a great overview for the early years of the Civil Rights Movement, taking you from the Brown verdict of 1954 to the Montgomery Bus Boycott, starting in 1956. Name 5 ways that blacks were discriminated against in the 1950s: * *...
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Cornell notes - 514 Words
Title Name date period Questions should be on the side ( left hand column) while your notes/body in the big right hand column leave a small space fire 3-5 sentence summary at the bottom. TygugufyhhhhhhggggggggghjnjsnxjsnxscdC CBC Do F V Fav FCC f fog tv BFF FIFA Fvfbfb F FFA V Ff Bf V F V F For V V Vfv F V Vf V VHF V TV F For V F Br Vv TV F V F Br V F V F Vv F V FvfvklokdkxxkxkxkxAt the same...
514 Words | 4 Pages
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Dr. King Civil Rights Movement Shelita Porter Everest University ENC1101 Composition I August 10, 2013 Topic: Dr. King Civil Rights Movement Thesis Statement: Martin Luther King Jr. didn’t like the racism that was happening to African American’s so he took action by organizing boycotts, and by writing speeches, including the “I Have a Dream” speech. He is an example of a turning point because he changed how African American people were treated. 1. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr....
402 Words | 2 Pages
The Civil Rights Movement; America 1945 Onwards
Although the civil rights era would usually be identified between 1954-1965, starting with the introduction of the “Brown” decision, in truth its roots stems all the way back to post World War II period. During the War, many black Americans had committed themselves to the American army, and as a result, the black community as a whole expected greater civil and political rights. This was aided further by the emergence of liberal ideas, and the fear the US government felt of losing...
1,282 Words | 4 Pages
Rosa Parks - 895 Words
Barbara Laugen Business Leadership Final Exam Topic Paper Rosa Louise McCauley Parks by Barbara Laugen Business Leadership Spring Term 2013 Rosa Louise McCauley Parks, many simply know of her as Rosa Parks, is one of the most amazing women in history. She achieved more things in her life than most people only dream about. Many people today look at Rosa as one of the greatest leaders of her time and she is still read about and talked about in schools all over the...
895 Words | 3 Pages
Never Never Be Afraid To Do
“Never, never be afraid to do what's right, especially if the well-being of a person or animal is at stake. Society's punishments are small compared to the wounds we inflict on our soul when we look the other way.” This quote, expressed by Martin Luther King, Jr. illustrates the tremendous impact individuals have on transforming society. Although today we live in a world in which same sex couples can get married, ailing patients can purchase cannabis in some states, and an infertile couple can...
1,022 Words | 3 Pages
Rosa - 443 Words
Tyeshia Madison February 12, 2013 5th period Rosa Parks Rosa Parks was born Feb.4th, 1913 in Tuskegee, Alabama. Her parents are Leona McCauley and James McCauley and she only had one brother name Sylvester. Rosa parks was born Rosa Louise McCauley she was in African American civil rights activist, whom the U.S. congress called ‘the first lady of civil rights and” “the mother of the free movement”. Rosa Parks went to Highland Research and Education Center and Alabama State...
443 Words | 2 Pages
March on Washington - 1561 Words
March on Washington The March on Washington was a march for jobs and freedom. It was estimated that quarter of a million people attended the march. The march was a peaceful demonstration to promote civil rights and economic equality for African Americans. The marchers marched down Constitution and Independence Avenues. Then they gathered in front of the Lincoln monument for speeches, songs, and prayers. It was televised to millions of people. The march consisted of all different kinds...
1,561 Words | 5 Pages
Martin Luther King - 807 Words
Kristen Mathieu 12/05/12 2nd Be the Change You Want to See “Change will not come if we wait for some other person or if we wait for some other time. We are the ones we have been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.” (Barack Obama) Both Martin Luther King and Trevor figured this out. They never waited for change to come their way, they changed things themselves. A lot of people who take drugs fail to recognize how much their actions affect the people around them. No matter how...
807 Words | 3 Pages
PPT Presentation MLK - 532 Words
Critical Synthesis of Historical Contexts of Leadership Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) • Leader during the civil rights movement • Fundamental in ending racial segregation • Non-violent protests - Influenced by Gandhi • Awarded Nobel Peace Price “I have a dream!” (Glass, 2012) Martin Luther King, Jr., cont’d Leadership Actions - Communication - Goal setting - Challenge status quo - Support http://www.americaslibrary.gov http://www.americaslibrary Leadership Concepts -Group...
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I Have a Dream - 1011 Words
On August 28, 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr., said the words “I Have a Dream”. On this date, he not only inspired the Negro race, he inspired a Nation. He inspired far on beyond his audience of 200,000 and his speech is still inspiring to many this day. His speech call for equality, freedom, and peace for the Negro race. The speech was center-piece of a hard fought battle of the Negro race. Such battles like the Montgomery Bus Boycott, Freedom Rides, and Martin Luther King Jr’s arrest. Such...
1,011 Words | 3 Pages
Civil rights movement - 504 Words
The Civil Rights Movement in the United States between 1954 and 1968, was one of the most important times in American history. With activities, protest marches and boycotts, organizations challenged segregation and discrimination. The Movement happened because not all Americans were being treated in the same way. In general white Americans were treated better than any other American people, especially African-American people. The Civil Rights Movement made the country a more fair and humane...
504 Words | 2 Pages
10 Significant People from the 1950s
Ed Sullivan - Ed Sullivan was known for being a famous show host. In 1948, CBS had Ed Sullivan host a new show, which was called The Ed Sullivan Show. His show was a success because he was able to appeal to the audience with great shows or acts from other famous celebrities. Sullivan was also great at recognizing talent in people. In the 1950s, he made many people into stars. The Ed Sullivan Show took place in the Ed Sullivan Theater, where a new show is now being aired, The Late Show with David...
1,304 Words | 4 Pages
Ralph Abernathy: A leader of the Civil Rights Movement
Being a prominent leader during the Civil Rights movement was a perilous position to occupy. Very few people have the guts to make themselves the face of a movement, and even fewer succeed at it. Ralph Abernathy was an American Civil Rights activist who advocated equality alongside Martin Luther King Jr. and many others. Ralph Abernathy strived to help establish a more equal and welcoming America for all. Abernathy went on a journey to help change the way America is today and help create a more...
702 Words | 2 Pages
Is Rosa Parks a True Hero
Rosa Parks-A True Hero A hero is a person, typically a man, who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities. Despite what some may argue, Rosa Parks is a perfect example of a Civil rights hero. This can be seen not only through the famous Montgomery Bus ride, but also through other examples where she showed courage, made achievements, or proved herself to have noble qualities.1 These include: Sparking the Montgomery bus boycott, helping the formation of...
2,520 Words | 8 Pages
27 Oct 1957 InterviewByAgronsky
The Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers Project Interview by Martin Agronsky for “Look Here” Oct ’957 27 27 October 1957 Montgomery, Ala. After Sunday services at Dexter on z 7 October, seventy-jive church members assembled in the auditorium to watch Agronsky, host of the weekly NBC television program “Look Here, ” interview their pastor.’ Though broadcast nationally, viewers i n more than thirty-jive counties of Alabama did not see the program after vandals sabotaged the transmission by wrapping...
4,474 Words | 15 Pages
Martin Luther King - 1635 Words
Modern History Research Assignment 2013 Semester 1 Martin Luther King in the Civil Rights Movement Due Week 4 May 6th Hypothesis: Martin Luther King was a key persona in the early Civil Rights Movement and was successful in creating positive change in African American life "Black Power!". "Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr."20th Century History. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Apr. 2013. http://history1900s.about.com/cs/martinlutherking/a/mlkassass.htm Anderson, Maureen, Anne Low, and Ian...
1,635 Words | 4 Pages
Rosa Parks - 806 Words
Harris 1 Diamond Harris English II Mr. Love 21 September 2012 I'm doing my report on Rosa Parks. What Rosa Parks did changed people from the very moment she did it. It sent a powerful message to people that she was tired of being second-guessed by people. When the white man told Rosa Parks to get to the back; when she didn't. She basically changed history after that moment. Rosa Parks stood up for what she believed in and nothing more. Mrs. Parks was born Rosa Louise McCauley Parks,...
806 Words | 3 Pages
eyes on the prize - 484 Words
“Eyes on the Prize” Individual acts of courage inspire black Southerners to fight for their rights: Mose Wright testifies against the white men who murdered his young nephew Emmett Till. The men who murdered till was found not guilty because he was beaten so bad they could not prove it was Emmett. Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat to a white man in Montgomery, Alabama. Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. emerged as the movement’s...
484 Words | 2 Pages
Rosa Parks Biography - 2185 Words
“I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will refuse to do something that I can do.” -Helen Keller. December 1st , 1955 is dated by many historians as the beginning of the modern civil rights movement in the United States. It was a lonely act of defiance that began a movement that ended legal segregation in America. This act was made by the one, and only Rosa Parks. Rosa Parks is as one of the greatest women...
2,185 Words | 6 Pages
History 2013 exam paper notes
Sample Schemes of Work and Lesson Plans GCSE History B (Modern World) OCR GCSE History B J417 Unit A971/17 The USA, 19451975 Land of Freedom This Support Material booklet is designed to accompany the OCR GCSE History B specification for teaching from September 2009. Contents TOC o 1-1 h z u HYPERLINK l _Toc214857785 Contents PAGEREF _Toc214857785 h 2 HYPERLINK l _Toc214857786 Introduction PAGEREF _Toc214857786 h 3 HYPERLINK l _Toc214857787 Scheme of Work Unit A971/17 The USA, 1945-1975...
6,248 Words | 20 Pages
Anne Bradstreet's Verses Upon the Burning of Our House
Maya Angelou went from living in a place where the religious and pious were the ones who garnered respect, to an environment in which gamblers, hustlers, prostitutes, and gangsters were the ones who held the power. I too had a similar experience when I moved from my quiet hometown to the big city when I was eight years old. I learned quickly, as Maya did, that the more diverse aspects of life I was able to experience, the more well rounded a person I could become. I could also relate, in many...
884 Words | 3 Pages
Rosa Parks Civil Rights 3
ily Kelemen L 1.20.15 Civil Rights Essay Below are four events that resulted in African-Americans gaining their civil rights. Choose one and discuss how these rights were won. Consider the roles that protest, leadership, the courts and government authorities played in helping to assure that the rights were eventually respected. -The Montgomery Bus Boycott and desegregation of seating on buses. During the first half of the twentieth century, segregation was the way of life in the south. Even...
371 Words | 2 Pages
Civil Rights - 728 Words
The Civil Rights Movement was by far, the most significant reform movement in history. What is the meaning of citizenship? Citizenship is the character of an individual viewed as a member of society; behavior in terms of the duties, obligations, and functions of a citizen. But African Americans were on a “second” level of society. Segregation, on a social level is the practice or policy of creating separate facilities within the same society for the use of a minority group, and had become deeply...
728 Words | 2 Pages
How significant was Martin Luther King’s contribution to the civil rights movement in the years 1956-68?
There is no doubt that MLK shaped the way people campaigned for black civil rights in America during these years however weather that was significant to any head way they did make, one example of his significance is the amount of peaceful protest that was carried out, now that MLK was promoting peaceful protests more people could participate in campaigning for what they believed, this made the supporters for the civil right movement far greater in numbers than ever before and opposing people...
760 Words | 2 Pages
Martain Luther King - 267 Words
In this essay I will agree with the quote and state why I do. This essay will also highlight Martin Luther Kings peaceful policies and highlight moments like Mlks "Letter from Birmingham" as well as the "March on Washington" It will also contain MLKs views beliefs and background. I agree with the quote of Martain Luther King "if you use the law, 'an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth', then you end up with everybody blind and toothless." as it states that if you combat violence with...
267 Words | 1 Page
Martin Luther King - 490 Words
How much impact did king have in changing civil rights for black Americans? Martin Luther King had made an significant impact in changing civil rights for black Americans this is evident as it is quoted ‘Shuttlesworth’s ACMHR and Bull Connor were fundamental to King’s decision to make Birmingham his next battleground.’ On the other hand, there had been progress without the King, for example the NAACP has achieved goals according to the New York Times ‘would have been impossible ten years ago’....
490 Words | 2 Pages
Civil Rights and Equality - 1043 Words
African American Civil right and Equality Tara Faircloth HIS 204 Mr. Galano October 28, 2011 The topic I have chosen to write about is how African Americans worked to end segregation, discrimination, and isolation to obtain equality and civil rights. Ever since the African Americans were slaves they have had to come a long way to get where they are today. Some have even held positions in political offices, managed corporations, and gained all the rights that everyone else has. But, it’s...
1,043 Words | 3 Pages
Rosa Parks - 1219 Words
One of the most infulential and inspirational women of all time was Rosa Parks. By one action she helped change the lives of a majority ofAfrican Americans and more importantly society as a whole. Rosa Parks sparked the attention of America when she refused to settle for the black (lower class)standards. Not only did she help change the lives for many African Americans but she helped equality for all men and women in the United States. By one brave women our world will be forever thankful....
1,219 Words | 3 Pages
Civil Rights Martin Luther King
Intro By analysing various sources a judgement is clear that Martin Luther King Jr. actions were powerful and influential. King revolted against hatred, oppression and had the desire of true freedom for the African American society. (bit emotional here) King.... the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott, helped found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1957, (narrative) serving as its first president and inspired millions of followers with his motivational speech “I have a dream”. King had...
964 Words | 2 Pages
Reflection on Non Violence Civil Rights Actions
Martin Luther King preferred to achieve Civil Rights for African Americans through non-violent actions. He believed violence would only lead to more problems and conflicts as whites would want to find a way to get revenge for the problems caused by African Americans. Martin Luther King displays success through his non-violent action with the Montgomery Bus Boycott. The Montgomery Bus Boycott is a prime example of a non-violent boycott. Rosa Parks, a member of the NAACP, decides to not give up...
306 Words | 1 Page
How far was peaceful protest responsible for the successes of the civil rights movement in the years 1955- 1964?
How far was peaceful protest responsible for the successes of the civil rights movement in the years 1955 - 1964? Peaceful protest in the years 1955 to 1964 helped the civil rights movement little by little through the use of forcing the government to implement legal change. The laws that were passed mostly ended segregation in public places such as the law passed in 1956 that banned segregation of busses. This law was a result of the Browder vs. Gayle case that revolved around Aurelia Browder...
769 Words | 2 Pages
Letter From Birmingham Jail
A.P. United States History Letter from Birmingham Jail By: Martin Luther King Junior “Letter from Birmingham Jail” is written during the 1960’s when the African-American society is struggling for civil rights. This letter was written about five years after the Montgomery bus boycott. This bus boycott was sparked after Rosa Parks, a black and educated seamstress, boarded a bus and sat in the “Whites Only” section. Martin Luther King Jr. emerged after the yearlong boycott and is one of the...
504 Words | 2 Pages
Rosa Parks - 1439 Words
Mrs. Rosa Louise Parks: The Spark that Lit the Fire The woman who earned the title "Mother of the Civil Rights Movement", Rosa Louise Parks is a n enormous inspiration to the African American race (Girl Power Guests 1). Rosa was born in Tuskegee, Alabama on February 4, 1913 to James and Leona McCauley (The Life of Rosa Parks 1). Both of Rosa's parents were born before slavery was banished from the United States. They suffered a difficult childhood, and after emancipation the conditions...
1,439 Words | 4 Pages
Martin Luther King and Malcolm X
Kenneth E. Patt Nuru Yakubu Ubangiji ENG 2100-01 03/06/2014 Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X were very important to our country’s history. They are revolutionary men. They fought battles against a bigoted nation. They fought for what they believed was right. The two gentlemen however fought very different battles although they seem to be fighting the same prejudice. If you...
776 Words | 3 Pages
Civil Right Movement - 2471 Words
Although equality was not achieved immediately, the events of the Civil Right’s movement brought about a huge amount of change. The civil rights movement was a concentrated period of time around the world of approximately one generation (1960-1980) where there was much worldwide civil unrest and popular rebellion. The process of moving toward equality under the law was long and tenuous in many countries, and most of these movements did not achieve or fully achieve their objectives. In the later...
2,471 Words | 7 Pages
Rosa Parks - 819 Words
Rosa Parks Rosa parks defense of her civil rights earned her a permanent place in American history. She did a small devotion, yet today it is known to be the most courageous action from a humble person like Rosa Parks. Her quiet fight for equality and freedom for millions impacted generations upon generations of Americans and tore down the walls of segregation and discrimination. Rosa Parks background, achievements, recognitions, honors, and death are contributions to modern civil rights...
819 Words | 3 Pages
The Opposition of Rosa Parks - 2408 Words
The Opposition of Rosa Parks Hubert Humphrey once stated, “When we say, ‘One nation under God, with liberty and justice for all,’ we are talking about all people. We either ought to believe it or quit saying it” (http://www.brainyquotes.com). During the 1960’s, a great number of people did, in fact, begin to believe it. Rosa Parks, the woman who earned the title “Mother of the Civil Rights Movement” decided on December 1st, 1955, to take a stand, or better yet a sit, against segregation....
2,408 Words | 6 Pages
Conflict Can Be Character Building
Conflict is constantly occurring in our everyday lives between individuals and groups in society as it is an inevitable factor of human existence. Conflict involves social disagreement, different interests and beliefs. It is possible to even have inner conflict with oneself. Without a clash of individual beliefs and feelings, no one would be capable of the self reflection or self assessment that enables us to work out what we believe in and stand for. Conflict opens up different personalities,...
681 Words | 2 Pages
Their Eyes Were Watching God Judgement Essay
Mahalia Bergeron Judgments All Around We, as humans, often make negative judgments when anger and our insecurities are triggered in a situation. A judgment is an opinion formed after some deliberation or consideration of someone or something. In Their Eyes Were Watching God, written by Zora Neale Hurston, the judgments made by the characters in the story are frequently based on their anger and insecurities. Many examples of judgment are spread throughout the book. In the early fifties...
738 Words | 2 Pages
freedom is never free
Dylan Benson Ms.Pierson English1- 4th 17 April 2013 Freedom is never free Sometimes in our lives, freedom isn’t free. Martin Luther King Jr. said “freedom is never voluntary given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.” Marches, Sit in’s, and the bus boycotts. The first topic to prove the quote is true is with marches, Vice President Joe Biden marched with black civil rights leaders Sunday in Selma, Alabama to commemorate the...
669 Words | 2 Pages
How Far Was Peaceful Protest Responsible for the Success of the Civil Rights Movement in the Years 1955-1964?
From 1955-1964 the civil rights movement organised a series of campaigns addressing transport, education and the segregation of public places. The civil rights movement rarely called themselves that but simply called themselves ‘the movement’ because it indicated that the goals of the movement were much bigger than civil rights’. Martin Luther King wanted not just the death of legal segregation; he wanted the birth of a ‘beloved community’ in which black and white people were an integral part of...
1,072 Words | 3 Pages
Rosa Parks - Civil Rights Activist
ESSAY OF ROSA PARKS, CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST Analyze an African American person’s racial identity using one of the racial identity models discussed in our text. I chose Rosa Louise McCauley Parks, a Civil Rights Activist, known for the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955, the same date of her trial for the crime of not giving up her seat on the bus for a White boy because she said, “I’m not moving; my feet hurt”, which at that time in Montgomery, Alabama, segregation on public bus...
1,129 Words | 4 Pages
efwef - 935 Words
The Montgomery Bus Boycott was a political and social protest campaign started in 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama, intended to oppose the city's policy of racial segregation on its public transit system. The ensuing struggle lasted from December 5, 1955, to December 21, 1956, and led to a United States Supreme Court decision that declared the Alabama and Montgomery laws requiring segregated buses unconstitutional. The protest was triggered by the arrest of African American seamstress Rosa Parks...
935 Words | 3 Pages
Rosa Parks - 629 Words
Rosa Parks Outline Rosa Parks affected history by contributing to the NAACP, by helping begin the Montgomery Bus Boycott, and by helping during the Civil Rights movements and fighting for equality for African Americans. I. Introduction A. “The only tired I was, was tired of giving in.” 1. Rosa was the youth adviser in the NAACP group, and taught her students to resist segregation whenever they could. 2. She was admired in the black community as a dedicated volunteer who served...
629 Words | 3 Pages
rosa parks - 1117 Words
In 1943, although Raymond didn't approve of it, Parks started working for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). She worked as a secretary & often worked long shifts. Parks liked working for the NAACP a lot & it ended up being an excellent job. Later in the year, Parks had her first incident with a bus driver. It had been a rainy day & Rosa had been waiting for a bus to take her home. When the bus finally arrived, she got on & paid the fare, but in...
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Who “took an axe and gave her mother 40 whacks”? | | Lizzie Borden took an axe and gave her mother 40 whacks. When she saw what she had done, she gave her father 41.
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There is cause for rejoicing in Lizzieland! Sarah Miller’s upcoming book, Lizzie Borden & The Trial of the Century is a winner. Aimed at the young adult demographic, this is a page-turner for anyone wanting to get the facts on the infamous Borden double homicide of 1892.
Miller has an appealing you-are-there style which engages the reader from the start, but best of all, this is a work based on the source documents in the case without all the speculations, theories, rumors and misinformed myths which mislead and muddy the case .
Thoughtfully organized by chapter from the events of August 4th through the inquest, preliminary, trial and aftermath, this is a sensible read which enlightens and frankly, – entertains. The text is studded with inserts of useful knowledge set off in gray which provide useful background information on everything from the jury, Lizzie’s dresses to places and people. These enrichments, along with a Who’s Who of all the important players in the story help to expand the reader’s understanding of the finer points of the case.
The author’s aim to create a balanced view of the case, along with painting a truer picture of Lizzie as a real human being, not an axe-wielding caricature, as so often portrayed , has been amply realized. It’s refreshing to see Lizzie in a neutral light while considering the possibility that she may have been innocent. This is a thinkers’ book which engages the reader from the very first page and kicks those little gray cells into overdrive.
A cold winter ‘s night, a cup of hot cocoa and Miller’s, Lizzie Borden & The Trial of the Century- nothing could be better for the true crime reader. Just be warned, it will be a long night as you will not want to put this one down! (Shelley Dziedzic for Lizzie Borden, Warps and Wefts)
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Over the years the Second Street Irregulars and the Pear Essential Players have been fortunate to be able to visit Maplecroft on many occasions, either individually or as a group. Photos allowed to be taken of the interiors were promised to be viewed privately until such time as the owner sold the house. Now these may be shared. The most remarkable feature about Maplecroft is the wood – floors, paneling and woodwork, especially the fireplace mantels. The stonework in Lizzie’s hearth in the back bedroom over the porch and the big stone chimney are memorable. It was very exciting to see her own dining room wall paper choice and the tin ceiling in the kitchen. Here is a sampling of the interiors and exteriors, from the entry to the third floor. It was thrilling to see the window seat in the front second floor room and imagine Lizzie watching out. Link to photo album below.
| Lizzie Borden |
What area of the Yukon Territory experienced the gold rush of 1897? | Lizzie Borden Murder Case Gets New Look With Discovery of Her Lawyer's Journals - ABC News
ABC News
Lizzie Borden Murder Case Gets New Look With Discovery of Her Lawyer's Journals
By OLIVIA KATRANDJIAN
WATCH Lizzie Borden Case Journals Discovered
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The notorious 19th-century trial of Lizzie Borden, a wealthy New England woman accused of killing her parents with an ax, is back in the spotlight with the discovery of her attorney's handwritten journals, providing fresh insight into the relationship with her father.
Borden was acquitted in 1892, and much of the evidence in the case ended up with Andrew Jackson Jennings, Borden's attorney. The two journals, which Jennings stored in a Victorian bathtub along with other evidence from the case, including the infamous "handless hatchet," were left to the Fall River Historical Society by Jennings' grandson, who died last year.
The society received the fragile journals about a month ago but won't be exhibited until they are properly preserved, curator Michael Martins said.
Each journal is about 100 pages. One contains a series of newspaper clippings, indexed using a lettering and number system that Jennings devised. The second contains personal notes that Jennings assembled from interviews he conducted. Some of the individuals interviewed are people mentioned in the newspaper clippings Jennings retained.
"A number of the people Jennings spoke to were people he knew intimately, on a social or business level, so many of them were perhaps more candid with him than they would have been otherwise," Martins said. "But it's also evident that there are a number of new individuals he spoke to who had previously not been connected with the case."
Martins and fellow curator Dennis A. Binette published a book last year called "Parallel Lives" that included five photographs and 40 letters and documents in Borden's hand that had not been previously published.
Borden was imprisoned in Taunton, Mass., for 10 months pending her trial, and several of the letters published in "Parallel Lives" were written from her prison cell. Borden, who was 32 at trial, has been portrayed as a cold, stoic individual who showed no emotion, but the letters show a sensitive, grieving side of her.
Borden's father, Andrew Borden, became known as an evil man who did not provide for his daughters. But Martins says the journals and letters paint Andrew Borden differently.
"You have to create villains in order to justify the murders, and Andrew Borden is portrayed as evil, but he gave his daughters a lot more than some other fathers were giving theirs," Martins said.
Jennings' notes in his journals show he interviewed people who knew the Borden family intimately and were familiar with Andrew Borden's relationship with his daughters.
"Lizzie Borden cared for her father very deeply," Martins said. "There was a tremendous outpouring of grief in the letters, and that's a new side to the story."
Because the journals are so fragile, Martins has been unable to read them in their entirety, but he said it's unlikely they include a "smoking gun" that would prove Lizzie Borden killed her father and stepmother. Instead, they provide insight into the character of Lizzie Borden, who, despite her acquittal, was deemed by the public to be a brutal ax murderess, evident in the twisted nursery rhyme:
"Lizzie Borden took an Ax, And gave her mother forty whacks, When she had seen what she had done, She gave her father forty-one."
"Most of what is known about Lizzie Borden is based on legend, innuendo and outright lies," Martins said. "Fact has been suppressed by fiction, and the fiction is much more interesting to a lot of people."
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How many laps does it take to take to complete the Indianapolis 500 | Indianapolis Motor Speedway
In what year did the first Indianapolis 500 take place?
1911. Ray Harroun won in the Marmon "Wasp."
Why was the distance of 500 miles selected?
Having decided to dispense with multi-race programs and concentrate on one major race for 1911, Speedway leader Carl Fisher and his partners envisioned an event that would appeal to the public by lasting approximately seven hours between mid-morning and late afternoon. A distance of 500 miles was settled upon, and Ray Harroun won the first Indianapolis 500 in 1911 in six hours, 42 minutes and eight seconds.
What is the distance of one lap around the oval?
2.5 miles. The track has four distinct turns and straightaways, a layout unchanged since the facility opened in 1909. The front and back straightaways are 5/8th of a mile each, with the "short chute" straightaways between Turns 1 and 2 and Turns 3 and 4 at 1/8th of a mile each. Each of the four turns is 1/4th of a mile long.
What is the degree of banking in the turns?
Each of the four turns on the oval is banked at exactly 9 degrees, 12 minutes, the same dimensions as when the track opened in 1909.
Which driver has won the Indianapolis 500 the most times?
Three drivers have won the Indianapolis 500 four times each:
A.J. Foyt (1961, 1964, 1967, 1977)
Al Unser (1970, 1971, 1978, 1987)
Rick Mears (1979, 1984, 1988, 1991)
Who is the youngest winner of the Indianapolis 500?
Troy Ruttman was 22 years, 80 days old when he won the 36th Indianapolis 500 on May 30, 1952. Q. Who is the oldest winner of the Indianapolis 500? A. Al Unser was 47 years, 360 days old when he won the 71st Indianapolis 500 on May 24, 1987.
What is the name of the trophy presented to the winner of the race each year?
The Borg-Warner Trophy, which was commissioned in 1935 by the Borg-Warner Automotive Company. In 1936, Indianapolis 500 winner Louis Meyer was the first driver to receive the trophy.
Why does the winner of the Indianapolis 500 drink milk in Victory Lane?
Three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Louis Meyer regularly drank buttermilk to refresh himself on a hot day and happened to drink some in Victory Lane as a matter of habit after winning the 1936 race. An executive with what was then the Milk Foundation was so elated when he saw the moment captured in a photograph in the sports section of his newspaper the following morning that he vowed to make sure it would be repeated in coming years. There was a period between 1947-55 when milk was apparently no longer offered, but the practice was revived in 1956 and has been a tradition ever since.
Have women competed in the Indianapolis 500?
Nine women have raced in the Indianapolis 500:
Janet Guthrie (1977-79)
Lyn St. James (1992-97, 2000)
Sarah Fisher (2000-04, 2007-10)
Helio Castroneves (2001)
Have there always been 33 cars in the starting field of the Indianapolis 500?
No. After 40 cars started in the inaugural race in 1911, the Contest Board of the American Automobile Association (AAA), the sanctioning body at the time, mandated a formula for limiting the size of a starting field according to the size of the track. It was determined that the safe distance between each car spread equally around a course would be 400 feet, thereby limiting the 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway to 33 cars. Speedway President Carl Fisher, however, placed a limit of only 30 cars for the "500" between 1912 and 1914 and did not adopt AAA's 33 maximum until 1915. Although there had been numerous occasions between 1912 and 1928 when the field was not filled, the allowed number was increased during the Depression years to 40 cars between 1930 and 1932 (only 38 made it in 1930) and further to 42 in 1933. The maximum has been at 33 ever since 1934, although extenuating circumstances expanded the field to 35 starters in 1979 and 1997.
What is the fastest official lap ever turned during the month of May?
237.498 mph by Arie Luyendyk during qualifying May 12, 1996. Luyendyk turned a lap of 239.260 during practice May 10, 1996. It was the fastest unofficial lap ever at the Speedway, as practice laps are not official.
Has any driver ever won the Indianapolis 500 three times in a row or more?
No. Five drivers have won the race two years in a row:
Wilbur Shaw (1939-40)
Al Unser (1970-71)
Helio Castroneves (2001-02).
Who was the first driver and team to earn $1 million in one year for winning the Indianapolis 500?
Emerson Fittipaldi and Patrick Racing, whose winner's share was $1,001,604 in 1989.
Has any driver raced in the Indianapolis 500, Brickyard 400 and United States Grand Prix at Indianapolis during their career?
Yes, Juan Pablo Montoya and Jacques Villeneuve. Montoya won the 2000 Indianapolis 500 in his only start in that event, drove in the United States Grand Prix from 2001-06 and raced in the Brickyard 400 in 2007-12. Villeneuve raced in the Indianapolis 500 in 1994-95, winning in 1995, drove in the United States Grand Prix from 2000-03 and 2006, and raced in the Brickyard 400 in 2010.
Fourteen drivers have raced in the Indianapolis 500 and Brickyard 400: John Andretti, Geoff Brabham, A.J. Foyt, Larry Foyt, Robby Gordon, Sam Hornish Jr., Jason Leffler, Montoya, Max Papis, Scott Pruett, Tony Stewart, Danny Sullivan, Jacques Villeneuve and J.J. Yeley.
Tomas Enge, Justin Wilson, Takuma Sato and Jean Alesi each have raced in the Indianapolis 500 and the United States Grand Prix at Indianapolis.
Scott Speed and Jacques Villeneuve have raced in the Brickyard 400 and the United States Grand Prix at Indianapolis.
Who created the term “The Greatest Spectacle In Racing?”
Alice Greene coined the phrase in 1955.
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Fun Fact #52
At speeds of 220 mph, the front tires of a race car rotate 43 times per second. During a lap at the IMS, front tires experience about 1,955 revolutions and rear tires experience 1,800 revolutions.
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Incooking, to cook quickly in boiling water, often to soften or loosen skin is called what? | Indy 500: How often do you pit? - GTPlanet
GTPlanet
#1
Hi All,
Yesterday, I did the Indy 500 with a Peugeot 908 HDI. I did some experiments on tire and tankful mileage that I wanted to share and ask about your experience. Findings:
1. A tankful of diesel lasts ~42 laps on Indy in a diesel LM car.
How many laps are you getting on petrol LM cars? The sole point of using a diesel for endurance is the lower fuel consumption. Let's try to confirm this is in the game as well.
2. Soft tires 1#: On maximum attack, soft tires last ~20-23 laps. Laptimes around 40 sec. (sometimes dipping under).
3. Hard tires: 32 laps driven hard (43-44 secs per lap).
4. Medium tires: similar result, 42-43 secs.
Findings so far: no set of tires can last a fuel tank. If so, diesel doesn't make much sense.
5. A pit stop takes around 90 seconds.
6. Soft tires second try: Now I tried to drive as smooth as possible, almost without getting any skiding and squeling from the tires. Right tires were wearing off much quicker than left under maximum attack (surely), so I tried hard to prevent that.
The result was astonishing. I did 40 laps on a set of soft tires, lapping at 42-43 secs. This is approximately as much as a fuel tank lasts, which was the main objective. Also laptimes were under the best possible on hard tires, under maximum attack, lasting less (32-32 laps).
I tried to do the same with the medium tires (in order to get over 40 laps per set), but it wasn't possible with decent pace. Actually mediums wore faster. I haven't tried hards with such aggressive tire saving approach, but I think the results will be even worse and laptimes too slow.
Conclusion: fastest around Indy endurance is on racing soft tires. Driven just under the limit of skidding/squeling, they can outlast hard tires, while maintaining much better pace. Indy 500 can be done with only 4 pit stops (908 HDI).
I guess, similar results can be recreated on other tracks. However, I am yet to test it (no time for endurance). Also, it will be much more difficult to drive under the skidding limit on other tracks (braking and slow corners, you see
).
What do you think? Do you agree and are you getting similar results?
I'm going to do the Indy 500 with the Peugeot 908 tonight. I was wondering the same thing about the mileage and tires. Thanks for your research, now I know what to do
I will give the soft tires a try and see how many laps I can manage.
Was it an easy race by the way ? Can you post your setup also ?
Click to expand...
Setup: I cannot check it right now. I did some test laps. Suspension was hard and low (obviously). Don't remember the downforce, but wasn't maxed out. However, I might try increasing it, since theoretically can help reduce even more high speed tire skidding, thus helping the tire life. Transimission was 440 km/h, due to the diesel power curve. I hit 420 in a massive draft, once. Do a few test laps.
I won by 2+ laps. However, I barely made it to the finish with the last tires. If I had to pit, it would be very close. It seems the AI have some boost enabled, once you pull off. They were actually lapping at decent pace (43-44?), but pitting much rarely than me in the beginning. Obviously, they were preserving tires better than me, before I made dedicated efforts on that.
Other remark: on maximum attack, front right tire was wearing faster than rear right (some understeer). While driving for preserving the tires, rear right was going down faster. You might want to make some adjustments (dowforce, susp.) to even that out.
Skidding wears off tires much faster than driving itself. The softs have much higher threshold. Try to corner just under that threshold without any tire squeling (or very minimal). Let's see whether you can recreate 40+ laps on soft tires with decent pace (I'm not doing this again
).
#8
On the FGT I can get 37 laps out of a tank, running lap times between 37.8 - 39.5 seconds. (Lap times < 38 seconds require lucky drafts with the backmarkers)
Don't seem to have any problem making racing softs last that distance, unless I spin out 'cos I hit a backmarker at speed. Didn't notice a lot of difference in wear/grip between racing softs and racing mediums.
Also: I tend to map the pit changes across the whole of the 200 laps, so I pit on laps 35, 70, 105, 140 & 170. I guess it's worth using a car that can go 40 laps per tank, because you could cut out the 5th pit; but I find running on ragged tyres more effort than I can be bothered with whilst driving 200 circles.
I did play around with fuel loads as well, but found that refuelling time per litre was less than the time advantage gained per lap per litre less of fuel (didn't measure anything scientifically, just used the ready-reckoner in my skull).
FGT on a DFGT, default tune, got 42 laps out of the first tank. Assumed I could get 42 out of 2nd tank of fuel.
Nope, just 41.
However, fuel ran out long before tires, so pitted on fuel.
Second pit, ran out on lap 84 at turn 2.
Third pit, ran out of fuel lap 126, turn 3.
Fourth pit was scheduled for lap 168, went in as soon as fuel turned red, no problems.
Finally learned my lesson.
AI starts pitting when I was on lap 42, and maintains same pit interval, so the AI was getting about 40 laps.
Chaosdd: I don't know for sure, but 40/45/50 seems about right.
#16
I *believe* (don't quote me on this) that Indy car drivers plan between five and eight stops in the Indy 500, depending on race pace (crashes bring out caution flags that *greatly* extend fuel mileage), how hot they have to run the engine (leaders can usually dial the power back a notch or two and save fuel), gearing (many set up their cars so that the top three gears can be used all the way around the track--fourth for passing, fifth for cruising, and sixth for fuel-misering), and what the current rule is on fuel tank size. That would indicate, depending on strategy, pitting, on average, every 25-33 laps, though this is often thrown off by full-course cautions seeing everyone pit to try and avoid a green-flag stop that can cost two laps or more.
Last I heard, IRL rules set a 35-gallon limit, running straight (denatured) ethanol fuel, very roughly equivalent in terms of energy content to 25 gallons of gasoline, so take that as you will.
#21
Zonda R '09 - 20 Laps (Racing Soft & IIRC 65L Fuel)
Using the Medium or Hard compound was worse on tyre wear (more tyre slip/squeal) as I had to push very hard to ensure I was making up enough time to win the race with double the pit stops
. Ended up winning by 1.75 laps (saw them in turn 1 as crossed the line...
) and made 9 stops (obviously). By turns 3 & 4 on lap 19 I was needing to brake to get initial turn-in of car as tyres were so badly worn
but managed 41.0-41.2 consistently or dipped into high 40.x
with good draft when passing other cars.
So, if you want a good challenge. Do it in the Zonda R!
Using the Medium or Hard compound was worse on tyre wear
Click to expand...
I had the same experience with a Minolta. I did Indy 500 the first time today using a joypad and no driving aids whatsoever, but automatic shifting.
I didn`t pay alot attention first, but later I tryed every tyre and felt hard racing tyres were worn out faster than soft. It could be such a high speed during a corner destroys hard material on a hard surface faster than softer material. Thats the only explanation i have for this experience today.
The Minolta was set to a top speed of 410km/h ...it hit 385km/h on a straight 397km/h with drafting and slowed down to 350-360km/h through corners.
Laptimes reached from 38,7 to 40,0. Although i had noticable more pitstops than the AI I won with 12 laps ahead.
I don`t see the benefit of hard racing tyres. You could use them for races about 25-30 laps on regular tracks avoiding any pitstop compared to soft tyres.
But you have to pay more attention, you can`t take certain sectors as fast and you may even have to brake or roll while you could go full throttle with soft tyres in some cases (car<>track<>corner).
Considering you risk to spin out alot more with hard tyres which takes away alot from their lifespan thats another point to choose soft racing tyres.
All in all the lifespan of hard tyres don`t seem to be noticable longer to accept all drawbacks they have.
| i don't know |
Used primarily in business presentations, what type of graphic consists of multi-colored wedges? | BCOM 328 practice midterm
a. examining data over a period of time in order to detect patterns and relationships.
b. examining the statistical relationship that exists between two or more variables.
c. calculating the mean, median, mode, and range for a set of data.
d. all of the above.
3. _____ In an ultimatum to a debtor
a. you can drop the kid gloves and become abusive.
b. you can threaten a lawsuit, even if you don't intend to sue.
c. you encourage the debtor to explain why it is taking him or her so long to respond to your collection letters.
d. you state the exact consequences of nonpayment.
4. _____ Legends are generally written as
a. short, one- or two-word descriptions.
b. descriptive phrases.
c. one or more complete sentences.
d. any of the above.
5. _____ If you are searching for information about a specific industry,
it's a good idea to know
a. its SIC and/or NAICS code.
b. how to use Boolean operators.
c. whether companies in that industry tend to be private or publicly traded.
d. some names of people who work in that industry.
6. _____ A surface chart is
a. a type of three-dimensional pie chart.
b. a form of line chart in which all the lines add up to the top line.
c. a type of map showing various terrains.
d. used to show interrelationships within an organization.
7. _____ Short sentences are best for
a. emphasizing important information.
b. grouping or combining ideas.
c. showing relationships among ideas.
d. summarizing or previewing information.
8. _____ The three categories of steps involved in preparing a business
message are
a. planning, composing, and revising.
b. informing, persuading, and collaborating.
c. defining the purpose, the main idea, and the topic.
d. satisfying the audience's informational, motivational, and practical needs.
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9. _____ About what percentage of companies have suffered financial
losses as a result of breaches in computer security?
a. 5 percent
10. _____ In a sales letter, product claims are
a. supported primarily by testimonials from satisfied customers.
b. supported primarily by statistics from scientific studies of the product.
c. supported primarily by background information on the company selling the product.
d. supported by as much information as possible, of many different types.
11. _____ An ethical persuasive argument is supported by
a. a restatement of the claim in different words.
b. information about the opponent's character.
c. any evidence you can come up with, whether or not it's relevant.
d. points or principles that can be proven or that your audience already accepts or agrees on.
12. _____ The primary audience for your message is made up of
a. all who receive it.
b. the decision makers or opinion molders.
c. those people with the highest status.
d. those people who represent the opinions and attitudes of the majority.
13. _____ An organized network that allows outsiders to have limited
access to an intranet is called
a. an extranet.
14. _____ For persuasive messages, the best approach is to
a. be honest yet kind.
b. get straight to the point.
c. begin by making an interesting point that will capture the audience's attention.
d. open with the main idea and then provide supporting points.
15. _____ Speech-recognition software
a. is used with voice-mail systems.
b. is virtually error-free under just about any conditions.
c. grasps context as well as words.
d. does all of the above.
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16. _____ Survey results are considered valid when
a. similar results would be obtained if the survey were repeated.
b. a representative group of people has been surveyed.
c. the research measures what it was intended to measure.
d. the phrasing of the questions is unbiased.
17. _____ A written message is preferable to an oral one when
a. immediate feedback is desired.
b. the audience is large and geographically dispersed.
c. the message is relatively simple.
d. the information is controversial.
18. _____ The stage of the preparation process during which you step back
to see whether you have expressed your ideas adequately is the
a. planning stage.
19. _____ Plain English is a style of writing
a. used only for casual correspondence.
b. designed to make technical materials more understandable to the audience.
c. aimed primarily at readers for whom Engish is a second language.
d. inappropriate for business communication.
20. _____ One common mistake in writing fundraising messages is to
a. use slice-of-life stories.
b. make the message personal.
c. waste space on long warm-ups.
d. waste space writing about the reader instead of about the organization.
21. _____ When meeting your audience's informational needs, you emphasize
ideas
a. of greatest interest to the audience.
b. that are uncontroversial.
c. that will have the least impact on the audience.
d. that don't need supporting evidence.
22. _____ The market for wireless phones in the United States has been
held back by
c. failure to adopt the "caller pays" system.
d. all of the above.
23. _____ Justified type will
a. darken your message's appearance.
b. lighten your message's appearance.
c. distract from your message.
d. create more white space in your message.
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24. _____ Which of the following is an example of a descriptive title for
a visual aid?
a. How CamCo Reduces Costs
b. How Cost Reductions Have Been Made at CamCo
c. Reducing Costs Is a Number-One Goal at CamCo
d. CamCo Cuts Costs Through Outsourcing and Downsizing
25. _____ Which of the following sentences contains the strongest and most
effective wording?
a. "Given the parameters of the situation, the most propitious choice would be to make adjustments in certain budget areas."
b. "We need to cut the operating budget by 12 percent or profits will plummet."
c. "Someone's going to need to do some budget cutting around here or heads will roll."
d. "Perusal of budgetary figures reveals that a 12 percent reduction in operations is called for if we are to stave off a negative impact on profits."
26. _____ Audience analysis is relatively easy when you are communicating
with
c. large groups of people.
d. customers on a mailing list.
27. _____ If you have a great deal of factual information to present, it
would be best to
b. use a pie chart.
c. use a diagram.
d. put it all in the main body of the report.
28. _____ In a fund-raising letter, you should
a. use the hard-sell approach.
b. keep your message as personal as possible.
c. make the message as long as possible.
d. emphasize the goals of your organization.
29. _____ Producing visual aids with a computer-graphics system is
a. a way to cut both costs and time.
b. cost-efficient but still labor-intensive.
c. not advisable unless you have access to extremely expensive computer equipment.
d. not likely to result in professional-looking materials.
30. _____ Which of the following sentences contains a camouflaged verb?
a. "Some do; others don't."
b. "She is a marketing manager but also serves as ad manager."
c. "It is John's recommendation that she be hired."
d. "He slowly, deliberately added the numbers."
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31. _____ For effective document design
a. take readability formulas into account.
b. use as many decorative touches as possible, to make the pages look more interesting.
c. balance the space devoted to text, artwork, and white space.
d. all of the above.
32. _____ The headings in an outline are usually
a. in descriptive form.
35. _____ When you are criticizing or correcting, it is best to
a. focus on what the person can do to improve.
b. emphasize a person's mistakes so that he or she will not make the same mistakes again.
c. call a spade a spade and call attention to the person's failures or shortcomings.
d. make the person an example for everyone else to learn from.
36. _____ "The deadline for getting taxes filed is two weeks away, and you
need to talk to your accountant soon" is an example of
a. a redundancy.
c. an indefinite pronoun starter.
d. an awkward pointer.
37. _____ What is wrong with the following sentence? "Driving to the
office, a police officer stopped me for speeding."
a. It lacks parallelism.
b. It contains a dangling modifier.
c. It contains an awkward pointer.
d. It is grammatically correct as written.
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38. _____ Which of these documents would not usually qualify as primary
research?
a. a sales report from a company rep
b. the most recent issue of a trade magazine in your industry
c. correspondence with a particular customer
d. your company's latest balance sheet
39. _____ Which of the following is not a secondary source of information?
a. books in the library
b. magazine and journal articles
c. Web pages
40. _____ Which of the following statements best reflects the "you"
attitude?
a. "You failed to enclose a check for $25."
b. "We need a check from you for $25 so that we can send the merchandise by May 15."
c. "We will send you the merchandise as soon as we receive your check for $25."
d. "You will have your merchandise by July 15 if you send us your check for $25 today."
41. _____ It is better to use the indirect approach if your audience will
a. have a positive reaction.
b. be neutral about what you have to say.
c. be displeased by what you have to say.
d. be above you in the hierarchy.
42. _____ When you send the same document to a large number of people and
you want each one to be personally addressed, you can use
a. HTML.
45. _____ A typical paragraph contains the three basic elements of
a. a topic sentence, related sentences, and transitional elements.
b. simple, compound, and complex sentences.
c. the main idea, supporting ideas, and evidence.
d. a problem, discussion, and a solution.
46. _____ Scanning technologies raise ethical questions because they allow
you to
a. retouch photos as you see fit.
b. make products and people look better or worse than they really do.
c. create situations that don't really exist.
d. do all of the above.
47. _____ Which of the following would be the best wording in a sales
letter?
a. "The NuForm desk chair is so comfortable that you won't want to go home from work."
b. "The NuForm desk chair is designed to give your lower back the ultimate in support and to relieve pressure on your legs as well."
c. "The NuForm desk chair supports your lower back and relieves pressure on your legs."
d. "The incredibly handsome NuForm desk chair is functional as well as impressive; it provides a great deal of lower back support."
48. _____ A photograph is especially useful for
a. showing progression over time.
b. showing cumulative effects.
c. demonstrating the exact appearance of a new product.
d. showing how the parts relate to the whole.
49. _____ A call-management system is
a. a type of voice mail.
b. a computerized business phone system that gives companies control over both incoming and outgoing calls.
c. a way to screen incoming phone calls to avoid solicitors.
d. a wireless phone system being tried by some businesses.
50. _____ Which of the following is not a preferred way to refer to
people?
a. "Ms. Smith is chair of the event."
b. "The dignitaries at the event included Phil Donahue and his wife, Marlo."
c. "Ms. Martinez and Mr. Wong are salespersons with the company."
d. "Nicole Kidman is one of my favorite actors."
51. _____ To downplay a dependent clause in a complex sentence, you
a. place it at the beginning of the sentence.
b. place it at the end of the sentence.
c. bury it in the middle of the sentence.
d. set it off with a semicolon.
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52. _____ If a company creates an intranet
a. employees can be expected to flock to it.
b. it can be expected to organize information for the company.
c. information systems should be moved onto the intranet gradually.
d. all of the above.
53. _____ Everything in a well-written business message
a. is included in the outline.
b. either supports the main idea or explains its implications.
c. is entertaining.
d. does all of the above.
54. _____ Companies hire information architects to
a. design more comfortable workspaces for computer users.
b. reconfigure their Web browsers.
c. reorganize company information into more effective communication.
d. construct their Web sites.
55. _____ A bar chart would be particularly useful for
a. summarizing the salaries of presidents at 20 corporations from 1987 to 1990.
b. comparing market shares of three breakfast cereals from 1987 to 1990.
c. showing the stages in production of a jet engine.
d. depicting the proportion of advertising dollars spent on various major media.
56. _____ A Web site's unique address is called a
a. hypertext transfer protocol.
d. by discussion of problem and solution
62. _____ When you develop individual visual aids for your report or
presentation, you
a. choose the least costly graphics.
b. choose the specific form that best suits your message.
c. choose primarily text visuals rather than graphic visuals.
d. do all of the above.
63. _____ Words such as "nevertheless," "however," "but," and "therefore"
a. are called pointer words.
b. introduce modifiers.
c. occur only in complex sentences.
d. are useful for making transitions.
64. _____ Flowcharts are used to
a. summarize large amounts of statistical data.
b. show the relative sizes of the parts of a whole.
c. show how something looks or operates.
d. illustrate processes and procedures.
65. _____ One of the great advantages of spreadsheet programs is that
a. they communicate a subtle message about your relationship with the audience.
b. they determine for you the appropriate way to fit your visual aids into your text.
c. they are cheap.
d. they are both an analytical tool and a communication tool.
66. _____ When people hear something that conflicts with their existing
ideas, they
a. usually remain open to what the communicator has to say.
b. tend to pay more attention to the message.
c. tend to resist the message.
d. respond better to informative messages than to persuasive messages.
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67. _____ The specific evidence included in a business message should be
a. as abstract as possible.
b. minimal if your subject is complex or unfamiliar.
c. enough to be convincing but not so much that it's boring.
d. all of the same type, such as examples or statistics.
68. _____ Fax machines are indispensable for international businesses
because they
a. overcome the status problems that can exist between employees at various levels of the corporation.
b. overcome time-zone problems of trying to contact someone by telephone.
c. decrease the pressure to perform.
d. decrease the flow of information around the world.
69. _____ The chief advantage of oral communication is
a. the ability to plan and control the message.
b. the opportunity to meet an audience's information needs.
c. the ability to transmit highly complex messages.
d. the opportunity for immediate feedback.
70. _____ Before you start writing a fundraising message, it is important
for you to know
b. the dollar amount of your goal.
c. how wealthy the potential donors are.
d. all of the above.
71. _____ A boilerplate is
a. a type of computer software used to help sort files.
b. a standard block of text that can be used in various documents without being changed.
c. an unethical means for plagiarizing the work of others.
d. a cumbersome, time-consuming series of actions required by some word processors.
72. _____ A grammar checker
a. scans visual images into your computer.
b. highlights phrases in passive voice.
c. suggests correct spelling.
d. helps you find just the right word for a given situation.
73. _____ Which of the following is a compound sentence?
a. "David is a good worker, and he deserves a raise."
b. "Because David is a good worker, he deserves a raise."
c. "David, a good worker, deserves a raise."
d. "Having been a good worker, David will no doubt receive a raise."
74. _____ You refer to each visual aid in your text by
a. number.
c. a combination of numbers and letters.
d. describing it.
75. _____ Survey results are considered reliable when
a. similar results would be obtained if the survey were repeated.
b. a representative group of people has been surveyed.
c. the research measures what it was intended to measure.
d. the phrasing of the questions is unbiased.
76. _____ People are more likely to respond to a questionnaire if
a. they can complete it within 10 or 15 minutes.
b. you allow them plenty of time to research their answers.
c. the questions are open ended.
d. all of the above.
77. _____ Directories differ from search engines in that
a. they are primarily metacrawlers.
b. they index only the most popular Web pages.
c. they index primarily Usenet newsgroups.
d. they use human beings instead of automated software to handle their indexing.
78. _____ Which of the following is a content word?
a. around
c. the beginning and ending of the message.
d. style and tone.
86. _____ If price is one of your strong selling points, you
a. mention special offers, such as volume discounts, before actually stating the price.
b. compare the price to the cost of some other product or activity ("This exercise equipment costs less than a health club membership").
c. break the total price into smaller units ("Just six easy payments of $19.95 each will bring you this lovely collector's item").
d. emphasize it in the opening of the sales letter.
87. _____ If you wanted to find information about Portland, Oregon hotels
in a database, the best Boolean search strategy would be
a. Portland hotels.
c. Portland AND hotels NOT Maine.
d. Portland AND hotels NOT Maine NOT motels OR bed-and-breakfasts.
88. _____ The purpose of the interest section of a persuasive message is
to
b. stress how the information in the message will benefit the audience.
c. increase the audience's desire to take the action that is recommended in the message.
d. get the reader to act immediately.
89. _____ Which of the following is not an advantage of e-mail?
a. It delivers messages almost instantaneously.
b. It is low in cost.
c. It helps to reduce information overload.
d. It is egalitarian.
90. _____ You would need to write for permission if you wanted to directly
quote
a. two paragraphs of 175 words total from a book titled Modern Economics.
b. three lines from the song "Takin' Care of Business."
c. six pages from Patents and Trademarks, a pamphlet from the U.S. Government Printing Office.
d. ten poems by Edgar Allan Poe.
91. _____ The number of major points in your message
a. is three or four, regardless of how long the message is.
b. is three for short messages, four or five for medium-length messages, and six or seven for longer messages.
c. depends on whether the message is oral or written.
d. can be unlimited if your audience is knowledgeable about the topic.
92. _____ When you have bad news to convey, it's a good idea to
a. put the bad news at the beginning of your message, thus getting it out of the way immediately.
b. begin with a neutral statement that leads to the bad news gradually.
c. put the bad news at the very end of your message.
d. put off communicating the bad news in hopes the person will get the bad news from someone else.
93. _____ As you consider the benefits of your product, in your sales
letter you will ultimately want to
a. pick out three or four to call attention to.
b. single out one benefit that will become the hallmark of your campaign.
c. mention as many benefits as possible.
d. choose one direct benefit and one indirect benefit.
94. _____ Once you've defined the problem and prepared an outline, your
next step is to
a. identify the best sources of information to use for your research.
b. prepare a questionnaire.
c. start writing information on notecards.
d. determine preliminary conclusions and recommendations.
95. _____ The ideal balance between the visual and the verbal depends on
a. the nature of the subject being discussed.
b. the length of the report/presentation.
c. the amount of money available for underwriting the costs of graphics.
d. internal company guidelines.
96. _____ Telnet is
a. a class of Internet application programs that allow you to connect with a remote host even though your computer is not part of the network that host supports.
b. a secured intranet area.
c. a way for Internet users to converse vocally.
d. a proprietary browser used for accessing the World Wide Web.
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97. _____ A message should be deferred or canceled if
a. your news is bad.
b. someone else wants to deliver it.
c. your audience is highly receptive.
d. the timing is wrong.
98. _____ If you use different search engines
a. you will pretty much get identical results.
b. you will find that some only index the most popular Web pages.
c. you can use the same search methods for each one.
d. you will be wasting your time.
99. _____ To hear spoken messages or other sounds attached to a document,
receivers must
a. convert the document to tape and use a tape player.
b. load the document into a computer.
c. insert the document into an optical character recognition system.
d. receive the document over a phone line.
100. _____ To overcome audience resistance to your message
a. use the hard-sell approach.
b. present all sides of the issue before making the case for your position.
c. resist compromise.
d. do all of the above.
101. _____ Which of the following is an example of a message topic?
a. "To get the board of directors to increase the research and development budget"
b. "Competitors spend more than our company does on research and development"
c. "Funding for research and development"
d. "The research and development budget is inadequate in our competitive marketplace"
102. _____ The most commonly used average is the
a. mean.
105. _____ When preparing to conduct an interview
a. you need to take into account the interviewee's cultural and language background.
b. it is helpful to get the questions to the interviewee a day or two ahead of time.
c. organize the interview to have an opening, a body, and a close.
d. all of the above.
106. _____ If you make an honest mistake, such as giving incorrect
information, the best thing to do is
a. take no action.
c. contact the primary audience immediately and correct the error.
d. start looking for a new job.
107. _____ If you use the Internet to research a company, keep in mind that
a. it may not have a Web site.
b. if the information you're looking for exists on the Web, you still may not be able to find it.
c. search engines will probably turn up a lot of information you don't need.
d. all of the above.
108. _____ Which of the following is an example of a descriptive outline
heading?
a. What is the Nature of the Industry?
b. Flour Milling Is a Mature Industry
c. The Flour Milling Industry
d. Sales Growth in the Industry Is Slow
109. _____ The typical collection series begins with
a. an inquiry.
112. _____ Inserting hypertext into documents
a. involves using HTML language to create hyperlinks.
b. is not possible yet, given current technology.
c. allows you to hear sounds over the Internet.
d. requires an expert to handle the programming.
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113. _____ When preparing a pie chart, you
a. limit the number of slices to no more than three.
b. place the largest segment at the 12 o'clock position.
c. arrange wedges of decreasing importance in a counterclockwise direction.
d. do all of the above.
114. _____ Using formal observation to obtain data is
a. too subjective to be useful in business research.
b. useful primarily for studies in which variables can be manipulated.
c. usually more reliable than other research methods.
d. useful for studying physical activities, the environment, or human behavior.
115. _____ You earn respect from your audience by
a. being brutally frank in your criticisms.
b. flattering them as much as possible.
c. being polite and diplomatic.
d. all of the above.
116. _____ To build credibility with your audience, you
a. come right out and state that you are trustworthy.
b. let them know that you're not rigid about what you have to say.
c. are enthusiastic about the subject of your message.
d. point out ways in which your knowledge is superior to that of your audience members.
117. _____ Your word processor's file merge capability allows you to
a. proofread your printed document.
b. store innumerable facts, from financial figures to texts of reports.
c. combine numerous documents into one.
d. do none of the above.
118. _____ "Surrounded on all sides" is an example of
a. a clich�.
119. _____ Making arbitrary changes in the color, size, or shape of your
visual aids may
a. stimulate the flagging interest of your audience.
b. be difficult to do without sophisticated software or the help of a graphic designer.
c. confuse your audience.
d. unnecessarily lengthen your report/presentation.
120. _____ When preparing collection letters, you emphasize
a. the benefits of complying with your request for payment.
b. your power to force the customer to comply.
c. that the person's friends and relatives will be asked to help pay the debt if payment is not forthcoming.
d. all of the above.
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121. _____ When preparing a message for a large, diverse audience, you must
a. include as many visual aids as possible.
b. solicit audience participation.
c. look for the common denominators that tie the group together.
d. do all of the above.
122. _____ In a particular set of figures or data, the number that occurs
most often is called the
a. mean.
125. _____ When selecting typefaces for a business document
a. avoid using more than two typefaces on a page.
b. make generous use of such styles as all caps, underlines, and boldface.
c. choose a nice sans serif face for your main body text.
d. all of the above.
126. _____ The main idea of a message is
a. the "hook" that sums up why a particular audience should do or think as you suggest.
b. the broad subject of a message.
c. identical with the topic.
d. all of the above.
127. _____ Starting a sentence with "It" or "There" is
a. using an indefinite pronoun starter.
b. perfectly acceptable, and you need not try to rewrite the sentence.
c. a sign of the active voice being used.
d. all of the above.
128. _____ Using the passive voice makes sense when
a. you want to be diplomatic in pointing out a problem or error.
b. you want your sentence to be easier to understand.
c. you need to make your sentences shorter.
d. you want to emphasize the subject.
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129. _____ If you need to send a short, unambiguous message, the best
electronic medium would be
130. _____ Telecommuting links people who work at home, in a suburban
satellite office, and on the road by using
a. overnight delivery services.
b. computers, phones, and faxes.
c. memos, letters, and reports.
d. all of the above.
131. _____ To conduct an effective database search
a. choose one search engine and stick with it.
b. enter variations of your search terms to increase the likelihood of obtaining desirable "hits."
c. use long search phrases rather than short ones or single terms.
d. avoid Boolean operators.
132. _____ Which of the following is not an advantage of voice mail?
a. It allows you to review your messages before sending them.
b. It reduces a substantial amount of interoffice paperwork.
c. It keeps you from having to speak to the person you're trying to reach.
d. It makes it easier to communicate with people in other time zones.
133. _____ Serif typefaces are preferable to sans serif faces for
a. display treatments.
c. large blocks of text.
d. none of the above.
134. _____ Which of the following sentences is the most preferable?
a. "Now in her fifties, Ms. Feldman can still cut a rug."
b. "Despite her WASP background, Ms. Feldman shows plenty of rhythm."
c. "Even though she suffers from epilepsy, Ms. Feldman has no problem out on the dance floor."
d. "Ms. Feldman is an excellent dancer."
135. _____ If the audience for your sales letter promoting a new security
system is made up of affluent suburbanites, the consumer benefit
you would most want to emphasize in your letter is
a. the reliability of the system when protecting the consumer's property.
b. the low cost.
c. the attractive appearance of the device.
d. easy, do-it-yourself installation.
136. _____ A complex sentence is one characterized by
a. two independent clauses joined by a coordinating conjunction.
b. a single subject and a single predicate plus any modifying phrases.
c. two or more independent clauses along with all modifying phrases.
d. an independent clause and one or more dependent clauses related to it.
137. _____ Using white space in a document
a. is considered "cheating."
b. is only an option when you can't use color.
c. makes your document look unappealing.
d. provides contrast.
138. _____ You need to determine what the audience wants to know,
anticipate unstated questions, and emphasize ideas of greatest
interest to your audience if you are to satisfy their
a. information needs.
139. _____ A firewall is a
a. type of virus protection software.
b. Web site for flamers.
c. special type of gateway that controls access to an intranet.
d. threat to intranet security.
140. _____ How text and visual aids are integrated depends on
a. the type of computer software you used to generate the graphics.
b. the type of report you are preparing.
c. the overall length of your report.
d. the quality of the graphics.
141. _____ When building an electronic presentation, you should
a. disregard any templates that come with the software program.
b. design each slide to cover one point or one graph.
c. prepare them in the exact order in which they will appear, since it is very difficult to rearrange the order once you've completed all the slides
d. keep in mind that presentation software is limited in its capabilities, so you will need to prepare handouts, speaker's notes, and outlines with other software packages.
142. _____ Once you have identified a trend, you
a. can draw conclusions and make recommendations.
b. can make a positive correlation between variables.
c. can prove a cause-and-effect relationship.
d. need to establish the cause.
143. _____ It is preferable to use the direct approach with
a. routine, good-news, and goodwill messages.
b. bad-news messages.
d. all of the above.
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144. _____ A method that allows individuals in different locations to speak
together in real time and share documents electronically is
a. Usenet newsgroups.
146. _____ Which of the following is not one of the common faults
responsible for most of the organizational problems in business
messages?
a. The writer includes irrelevant material.
b. The writer gets to the point too soon.
c. The writer presents ideas in illogical order.
d. The writer leaves out necessary information.
147. _____ To overcome audience resistance, try to
a. tell a few jokes to relax the audience.
b. arrange your message so that the information will be as acceptable as possible.
c. increase the amount of information in your message.
d. decrease the amount of information in your message.
148. _____ When it comes to employee productivity, use of the Internet has
been shown to
a. have no effect on employee productivity.
b. decrease employee productivity because of misuse of the Internet.
c. increase employee productivity because of the immediate access to desired information.
d. increase employee productivity because it eliminates the need to use other forms of communication.
149. _____ One of the best-known readability formulas is the
a. Fog Index.
154. _____ Asking "What does the competition offer?" "What is special about
my product?" and "What are potential buyers really looking for?"
helps you determine
a. which tried-and-true attention-getter to use.
b. your product's central selling point.
c. the price for your product.
d. which type of mailing list to use.
155. _____ You need to provide more information in your message if
a. you expect a favorable response.
b. you are unsure about the audience's level of understanding.
c. you and your audience share the same general background.
d. all of the above are true.
156. _____ The best type of visual aid for showing trends over time is
a. a table.
157. _____ When critiquing someone else's writing, which of the following
is not an element you should concentrate on?
a. Does the document accomplish its intended purpose?
b. Does it fit your personal preferences?
c. Is the factual material correct?
d. Is the language unambiguous?
158. _____ One of the most common uses of maps in business reports is
a. to show physical differences in variables.
b. to show concentrations of variables by geographic area.
c. to show quality differences in variables.
d. to show business locations.
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159. _____ If you face a skeptical audience, try to
a. be as straightforward as possible about stating your conclusions and recommendations.
b. avoid stating your conclusions and recommendations.
c. use less evidence in support of your points.
d. introduce your conclusions and recommendations gradually.
160. _____ Which of the following are functional words?
a. into, and, the
d. nice, wet, quickly
161. _____ An effective ending for a persuasive message would be
a. "Return the enclosed coupon by June 15 and you'll receive your bonus 'early bird' key chain."
b. "Please respond as soon as possible."
c. "Wouldn't you like to save some money?"
d. "Be sure to tell all your friends about this exciting offer."
162. _____ For general business messages, your writing should be geared to
readers at the
a. first- to fourth-grade level.
b. fifth- to sixth-grade level.
c. eighth- to eleventh-grade level.
d. twelfth- to fourteenth-grade level.
163. _____ When preparing an "organization chart" to help organize a
message, you begin with
d. whatever you want to begin with.
164. _____ When using overhead transparencies in a presentation, keep in
mind that
a. you can use special markers to write on them.
b. they require a great deal of preparation.
c. they require you to dim the lights
d. you aren't able to face the audience.
165. _____ When writing a persuasive request for action, you
a. use the direct approach.
b. demonstrate that helping you will indeed solve a significant problem.
c. ask for more than you actually want so that you'll have a cushion for negotiation.
d. avoid flattery.
166. _____ An example of a secondary research source for a report about
whether to publish a company newsletter would be
a. interviews with editors of newsletters at other companies.
b. an estimate from a printer on what it would cost to print a newsletter.
c. a magazine article on the pros and cons of company newsletters.
d. a survey of employees to determine their interest in a newsletter.
167. _____ Eliminating superfluous information from your message will
a. result in a dry, boring message.
b. save the audience's time.
c. make the message seem incomplete.
d. do all of the above.
168. _____ When taking notes on your research material
a. for each note record source information or supply a cross-reference to bibliography cards.
b. avoid trying to use computer programs for this task, as they get in the way more than they help.
c. you do not need to include subject headings.
d. try to fit as many facts as possible on each card.
169. _____ A reference to a visual aid
a. comes directly after the piece itself appears.
b. precedes the piece itself.
c. comes fairly close to the appearance of the piece.
d. can appear anywhere as long as the piece is well-labeled.
170. _____ Which of the following is not an example of demographic
information?
171. _____ Which of the following is not one of the tried and true
attention-getting devices used in sales letters?
a. offering a free sample of the product
b. insulting the reader
d. a solution to a problem
172. _____ You need a clear purpose for your message in order to
a. decide whether to proceed.
b. focus the content.
c. establish the channel and medium.
d. do all of the above.
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173. _____ Which of the following sentences is the most concisely worded
without being ambiguous?
a. "The project manager is in charge of specifications until such time as the project gets underway."
b. "The project manager should provide specifications prior to the start of a project."
c. "Project managers have the capability of changing specifications."
d. "The project managers told the engineers last week that the specifications were changed."
174. _____ It is best not to use the "you" attitude if
a. you know your audience well.
b. your organization prefers a more formal style.
c. you are filling your audience's informational needs.
d. you are preparing a persuasive message.
175. _____ If you find that Gary Harper consistently sells the most
electronic keyboards in your music store, you can conclude that
a. he is your best salesperson.
b. he knows more about electronic keyboards than any other salesperson.
c. he is more aggressive than the other salespeople.
d. none of the above.
176. _____ Bar charts can be converted into
a. pictograms.
c. the who, what, when, where, why, and how.
d. accuracy.
179. _____ Instead of using the generic pronoun he, rephrase your sentence
by
a. using he or she.
b. recasting it in the plural.
c. eliminating the need for a pronoun.
d. all of the above.
Page 25
180. _____ In a line chart, using an axis with both positive and negative
numbers is
a. always confusing to your audience.
b. best restricted to reports aimed at sophisticated audiences.
c. handy when you have to illustrate losses.
d. preferable to using a pie chart.
181. _____ The connotative meaning of a word is
a. its dictionary meaning.
c. all the associations and feelings the word evokes.
d. its objective meaning.
182. _____ Conscientious customers who have not paid their bills
a. are simply irresponsible when it comes to money, so they need to be treated firmly.
b. are embarrassed about past-due accounts.
c. are deadbeats and will do anything to avoid paying.
d. are dissatisfied with their purchase and have refused to pay as a matter of principle.
183. _____ Visual aids are useful to business professionals because
a. in our number-oriented work world, people rely heavily on visual images.
b. they are quicker and cheaper than developing text.
c. they allow speakers to lengthen their presentations considerably.
d. they take the place of having to provide any verbal information.
184. _____ To paraphrase effectively
a. avoid using any business language or jargon..
b. double-check your version against the original to make sure that you haven't altered the meaning.
c. make sure your version is the same length as or longer than the original.
d. do all of the above.
185. _____ When writing persuasive messages, one way to avoid faulty logic
is to
d. stringing together a series of nouns.
187. _____ When preparing a table, keep in mind that
a. it should never be turned sideways.
b. tabular materials should not be included within the text proper.
c. all items in a column should be expressed in the same units.
d. all of the above.
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188. _____ The best approach to getting someone to buy a magazine
subscription from your charity group would be to say
a. "Please buy a subscription; our group really needs the money."
b. "If you buy a subscription from me I'll make my quota."
c. "This magazine will keep you informed on issues that affect your daily life."
d. "Our group doesn't get any assistance from government agencies, so these magazine sales are our main source of funding."
189. _____ Which of the following is not an advantage of an intranet?
a. All company computers can link to it, even if they have different operating systems.
b. It enables employees at different sites to collaborate with one another.
c. It saves the company time and money.
d. They provide personal agents to each user.
190. _____ The first step in composing a report or presentation is
a. getting the "go ahead" from your supervisor.
b. deciding on the message.
c. deciding on the graphics.
d. deciding on the length.
191. _____ A paragraph developed by cause and effect
a. points out similarities or differences between ideas.
b. gives the reasons for something.
c. gives examples that illustrate the general idea.
d. shows how a general idea is broken into specific categories.
192. _____ Which of the following is not an example of pompous language?
a. "as per your letter"
b. "please be advised that"
c. "please let us know"
d. "under separate cover"
193. _____ Drawings, diagrams, and photographs are
a. commonly used in business reports.
b. occasionally used in business reports.
c. never used in business reports.
d. used in oral presentations but not in written reports.
194. _____ When embarking on a research project, the first thing you need
to do is
a. gather together all your research materials.
b. go to the library.
c. identify the main question you are trying to answer.
d. surf the World Wide Web.
195. _____ A system that allows you to download files from the Internet and
upload files as well is
a. FTP.
196. _____ To communicate credibility to your audience, you
a. impress them with a long list of your accomplishments.
b. are modest and deferential.
c. show that you are confident and that you believe in yourself and in your message.
d. use hedge words ("maybe," "perhaps") to demonstrate your knowledge that no issue is fully cut and dried.
197. _____ When conducting an interview
a. stick to asking only one type of question.
b. ask the most important questions first.
c. try to get in as many questions as possible, even if the interview will run over the allotted time.
d. avoid using direct open-ended questions.
198. _____ An audience assumes that the most important point will
a. receive the most visual emphasis.
b. be repeated three times by the speaker/writer.
c. be obvious.
d. be stated in the first few sentences of the report or presentation.
199. _____ "The above-mentioned book" is an example of
a. a redundancy.
c. an indefinite pronoun starter.
d. an awkward pointer.
200. _____ To help obtain valid results from a questionnaire, you
a. ask mostly compound questions.
b. use abstract terminology.
c. include questions that lead to the particular answers you are seeking.
d. formulate questions for which answers can be easily tabulated or analyzed.
201. _____ What is wrong with the following sentence? "We plan to launch
the new plastics line in France, England, Germany, and in Sweden
in 1992."
a. Items in a series are not parallel.
b. It contains a dangling modifier.
c. It contains a split infinitive.
d. It is grammatically correct as written.
202. _____ The general purpose of a business message determines
a. the gender of the speaker or writer.
b. the amount of audience participation that is needed.
c. the location of the audience.
d. none of the above.
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203. _____ If your visual aids are on separate sheets of paper, it's best
to
a. cluster them at the end of each chapter.
b. insert them prior to the pages that refer to them.
c. insert them directly after the page that refers to them.
d. cluster them at the end of the report.
204. _____ Which of the following would be considered a selling point of a
car phone?
d. none of the above
205. _____ Which of the following is not a guideline for writing effective
fundraising messages?
a. use simple, warm, and personal language.
b. make the need clear but not so urgent that it is hard to say no.
c. explain why the money is needed.
d. make the need easy to respond to.
206. _____ A disadvantage of recent advances in communication technology is
that
a. they have blurred the line between work life and home life.
b. they are more expensive than traditional communications methods.
c. they are making changes in the workplace.
d. all of the above.
207. _____ When you use an FCR worksheet, you're using a technique of
brainstorming that involves
a. consulting your friends, colleagues, and in-house reports.
b. making a list of everything that pops into your head as you think about your message.
c. visualizing the relationships among your findings, your conclusions, and your recommendations.
d. assigning columns and numbers to a group of questions and answers related to your message in order to rank their importance.
208. _____ What would be the median for the following set of monthly
salaries: $1200, $1200, $1300, $1500, $1700, $2000, $2800?
a. $1200
209. _____ You would not need to cite a source if you
a. used a direct quotation of under 250 words from a book titled Modern Economics.
b. used a table from The 1985 Farmer's Almanac.
c. described, in your own words, a plan for organizing production lines, which appeared in a professional journal.
d. made several observations about the market for soft drinks, confirmed by several articles in the popular press.
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210. _____ A personal agent is
a. a type of push technology in which software agents mold your desktop information to your personal interests.
b. a type of handheld computer.
c. someone who advises individuals about their hardware and software needs.
d. a type of search engine.
Answers
| Pie chart |
What is the traditional victory beverage guzzled in the Winner's Circle of the Indianapolis 500? | Table of Contents
1 DATA ENTRY
Data entry refers to user actions involving input of data to a computer, and computer responses to such inputs. The simplest kind of data entry consists merely of pointing at something -- selecting an item or designating a position on a computer-generated display. In more complicated modes of data entry, a user may have to control the format of data inputs as well as their contents. Thus questions of format control in text entry/editing and graphic interaction may properly be considered questions of data entry.
Note, however, that user inputs which initiate or interrupt transactions -- such as command entries, or control entries selected from a displayed menu or by function keys -- pose rather different questions of design. Such control entries are discussed in Section 3 of these guidelines.
Data can be entered into a computer in a variety of different ways. Users might designate position or direction by pointing at a display. Users might enter numbers, letters, or more extended textual material by keyed inputs, or in some applications by spoken inputs. Data might be keyed into displayed forms or tables, into constrained message formats, or as free text. In graphic interaction users might draw pictures or manipulate displayed graphic elements. These different types of data entry all merit consideration here.
The computer will also play a role in the data entry process, guiding users who need help, checking data entries to detect errors, and providing other kinds of data processing aids. A designer of user interface software must be concerned about computer processing logic as well as data input by the user.
Data entry is heavily emphasized in clerical jobs, and many other jobs involve data entry to some degree. Because data entry is so common, and because inefficiencies caused by poorly designed data entry transactions are so apparent, many published recommendations for good user interface design deal with data entry questions. Human factors specialists can probably give better advice about data entry than about any other functional area of user interface design.
Data entry requires hardware, and the proper design of input devices has received considerable attention, including concern for standardization of keyboard layouts. Future advances in hardware design may well influence data entry tasks, as suggested by current advocacy of voice input.
But the major need in today's information systems is for improving the logic of data entry, and it is there that design guidance should prove most helpful. Thus the guidelines presented here deal with data entry functions, insofar as possible, without regard to their hardware implementation.
The general objectives of designing data entry functions are to establish consistency of data entry transactions, minimize input actions and memory load on the user, ensure compatibility of data entry with data display, and provide flexibility of user control of data entry. Stated in such general terms, these principles do not provide helpful guidance to designers. Somehow these general ideas must be converted into more specific guidelines.
The process of converting general principles into more detailed guidelines will lead to a considerable proliferation of ideas. With regard to minimizing input actions, one guideline might be that a user should not have to enter the same data twice. Probably every designer knows that, even if it is sometimes forgotten. A related guideline might be that a user should not have to enter data already entered by another user. That seems to make good sense, although one could imagine occasional exceptions when cross validation of data inputs is required.
How can duplicative data entry be avoided in practice? The solution lies in designing the user interface (programming the computer) to maintain context. Thus when a user identifies a data category of interest, say a squadron of aircraft, the computer should be able to access all previously entered data relevant to that squadron and not require the user to enter such data again.
In repetitive data entry transactions the user should have some means of establishing context. One method is to allow users to define default entries for selected data items, in effect telling the computer that those items will stay the same until the default value is changed or removed. If a user enters one item of data about a particular squadron, it should be possible to enter other items thereafter without having to re-identify that squadron.
Context should also be preserved to speed correction of input errors. One significant advantage of on-line data entry is the opportunity for immediate computer validation of user inputs, with timely feedback so that a user can correct errors while the data are still fresh in mind and while documented source data are still at hand. Here the computer should preserve the context of each data entry transaction, saving correct items so that the user does not have to enter those again while changing incorrect items.
Preservation of context is, of course, important in all aspects of user-system interaction, with implications for data display, sequence control and user guidance, as well as for data entry. The importance of context is emphasized again in the discussion of those other functional areas.
Another important design concept is flexibility. It is easy to say that the interface should adapt flexibly to user needs, but the specific means of achieving such flexibility must be spelled out in design guidelines. For data entry functions it is important that the pacing of inputs be controlled flexibly by the user. Tasks where the pacing of user inputs is set by a machine are stressful and error-prone.
Aside from flexibility in pacing, users will often benefit from having some flexible choice in the ordering of inputs. What is needed for interface design is some sort of suspense file to permit flexible ordering of data entries, including temporary omission of unknown items, backup to correct mistaken entries, cancellation of incomplete transactions, etc.
As noted above, users may also benefit from flexibility in defining default options to simplify data entry during a sequence of transactions. Some systems include only those defaults anticipated by the designers, which may not prove helpful to the user in a particular instance. Thus the concept of flexibility is related to maintaining context, and is related also to many other aspects of interface design.
The guidelines proposed here deal with data entry in terms of specific functions, covering different kinds of data entry and different kinds of computer processing support. Some topics, such as "abbreviation", which pertain to all data entry are covered in an initial group of guidelines dealing generally with the subject. A summary of the functional coverage in this section is presented on the next page. These guidelines recommend specific ways to accomplish the fundamental design objectives for data entry.
Objectives
Consistency of data entry transactions Minimal entry actions by user Minimal memory load on user Compatibility of data entry with data display Flexibility for user control of data entry
When data entry is a significant part of a user's task, entered data should appear on the user's primary display.
Example
As a negative example, entry via typewriter is acceptable only if the typewriter itself, under computer control, is the primary display medium.
Comment
When the primary display is basically formatted for other purposes, such as a graphic display for process control, a separate window on the display may have to be reserved for data entry.
Provide displayed feedback for all user actions during data entry; display keyed entries stroke by stroke.
Exception
For reasons of data protection, it may not be desirable to display passwords and other secure entries.
Reference
Ensure that the computer will acknowledge data entry actions rapidly, so that users are not slowed or paced by delays in computer response; for normal operation, delays in displayed feedback should not exceed 0.2 seconds.
Example
A key press should be followed by seemingly immediate display of its associated symbol, or by some other appropriate display change.
Comment
This recommendation is intended to ensure efficient operation in routine, repetitive data entry tasks. Longer delays may be tolerable in special circumstances, perhaps to reduce variability in computer response, or perhaps in cases where data entry comprises a relatively small portion of the user's task.
Comment
Note that this guideline refers to acknowledgment, rather than final processing of entries which may be deferred pending an explicit ENTER action.
Reference
Where data entry on an electronic display is permitted only in certain areas, as in form filling, provide clear visual definition of the entry fields.
Example
Data entry fields might be underlined, or perhaps highlighted by reverse video.
Exception
For general text entry of variable (unrestricted) length, no field delimiters are needed. In effect, keyed text entries can replace nothing (null characters).
Comment
Display formats with field delimiters provide explicit user guidance as to the location and extent of data entry fields. Where delimiters extend throughout an entry field, as in underlining, then any keyed data entries should replace the delimiter characters on the display.
Reference
1.0/7 Consistent Method for Data Change
In keyed data entry, always allow users to change previous entries if necessary (including displayed default values) by delete and insert actions; if data change is sometimes made by direct character substitution ("typeover"), then that option should also be consistently available.
Example
Form filling may require typeover to replace displayed characters such as underscores that act as field delimiters.
Comment
Text editing on an electronic display can be handled with or without typeover; there seems to be no published research on the relative efficiency of user performance under these two conditions.
Comment
Using typeover, there is some risk of user confusion in replacement of an old value with a new one, during the transitional period when the item being changed is seen as a composite beginning with the new value and ending with the old. Some designers do not permit overtyping for that reason.
Comment
In some applications it may help the user to key a new entry directly above or below display of the prior entry it will replace, if that is done consistently. Here the user can compare values before confirming entry of the new data and deletion of the old.
Reference
Always require a user to take an explicit ENTER action to initiate processing of entered data; do not initiate processing as a side effect of some other action.
Example
As a negative example, returning to a menu of control options should not by itself result in computer processing of data just keyed onto a display.
Exception
In routine, repetitive data entry transactions, successful completion of one entry may automatically lead to initiation of the next, as in keying ZIP codes at an automated post office.
Comment
Deferring processing until after an explicit ENTER action will permit a user to review data and correct errors before computer processing, particularly helpful when data entry is complex and/or difficult to reverse.
Reference
Label an ENTER key explicitly to indicate its function.
Example
As a negative example, the ENTER key should not be labeled in terms of mechanism, such as CR or RETURN or XMIT.
Comment
For a novice computer user, the label should perhaps be even more explicit, such as ENTER DATA. Ideally, one consistent ENTER label would be adopted for all systems and so become familiar to all users.
Comment
Some other label might serve as well, if it were used consistently. In some current systems the ENTER key is labeled GO or DO, implying a generalized command to the computer, "Go off and do it."
Reference
Require a user to take an explicit action in order to cancel a data entry; data cancellation should not be accomplished as a side effect of some other action.
Example
As a negative example, casual interruptions of a data entry sequence, such as paging through forms, or detouring to HELP displays, should not have the effect of erasing partially completed data entries.
Comment
If a requested sequence control action implies a more definite interruption, such as a LOG-OFF command, or a command to return to a menu display, then the user should be asked to confirm that action and alerted to the loss of any data entries that would result.
See also
Ensure that the computer will acknowledge completion of a data entry transaction with a confirmation message, if data entry was successful, or else with an error message.
Exception
In a sequence of routine, repetitive data entry transactions, successful completion of one entry might result simply in regeneration of the initial (empty) data entry display, in order to speed the next entry in the sequence.
Comment
Successful data entry should not be signaled merely by automatic erasure of entered data from the display, except possibly in the case of repetitive data entries. For single data entry transactions, it may be better to leave entered data on the display until the user takes an explicit action to clear the display.
Reference
For a repetitive data entry task that is accomplished as a continuing series of transactions, indicate successful entry by regenerating the data entry display, automatically removing the just-entered data in preparation for the next entry.
Comment
Automatic erasure of entered data represents an exception to the general principle of control by explicit user action. The interface designer may adopt this approach, in the interests of efficiency, for data entry transactions that task analysis indicates will be performed repetitively.
Comment
In addition to erasure of entered data, a message confirming successful data entry might be displayed. Such a message may reassure uncertain users, especially in system applications where computer performance is unreliable.
Reference
If a user requests change (or deletion) of a data item that is not currently being displayed, offer the user the option of displaying the old value before confirming the change.
Exception
Expert users may sometimes wish to implement data changes without displayed feedback, as in "global replace" transactions, accepting the attendant risk.
Comment
Displayed feedback will help prevent inadvertent data change, and is particularly useful in protecting delete actions. Like other recommendations intended to reduce error, it assumes that accuracy of data entry is worth extra effort by the user. For some tasks, that may not be true.
See also
For coded data, numbers, etc., keep data entries short, so that the length of an individual item will not exceed 5-7 characters.
Example
Coded data may include such items as badge numbers, payroll numbers, mail stops, equipment and part numbers, etc.
Comment
For coded data, lengthy items may exceed a user's memory span, inducing errors in both data entry and data review. The nine-digit ZIP codes proposed by the US Postal Service will prove difficult to remember accurately.
Comment
Proper names, meaningful words, and other textual material are not coded data. Such items can be remembered more easily, and the length restriction recommended here need not apply.
Reference
When defining abbreviations, follow some simple abbreviation rule and ensure that users understand that rule.
Example
Simple truncation is probably the best rule when that can be done without ambiguity.
Comment
When encoding abbreviations for data entry the user must know what the rule is. Truncation provides novice users with a straightforward and highly successful method for generating abbreviations, and is a rule that can be easily explained. Moreover, truncation works at least as well, and often better than, more complicated rules, such as word contraction with omission of vowels.
Comment
Designers of military systems may wish to consult the relevant standard for abbreviations, MIL-STD-12D.
Reference
Provide prompting for the required formats and acceptable values for data entries.
Example
| Vehicle type: __ | | c = Car | | t = Truck | | b = Bus |
(Bad)
| Vehicle type: __ |
Exception
Prompting may not be needed by skilled users and indeed may hinder rather than help their performance in situations where display output is slow (as with Teletype displays); for such users prompting might be provided as an optional aid.
Comment
Prompting is particularly needed for coded data entries. Menu selection may be appropriate for that purpose, because menu selection does not require the user to remember codes but merely to choose among displayed alternatives. Other methods of prompting include labeling data fields, such as
| Vehicle type (c/t/b): __ |
and/or providing optional guidance displays.
Reference
Allow users to enter each character of a data item with a single stroke of an appropriately labeled key.
Example
As a negative example, when a keyboard is intended primarily for numeric input, with several letters grouped on each key such as a telephone keypad, do not require a user to make alphabetic entries by double keying.
Comment
Devices that involve complex keying methods for alphabetic entry (e.g., pressing more than one key, simultaneously or successively) require special user training and risk frequent data entry errors.
Comment
When hardware limitations such as those of a telephone keypad seem to require double keying of alphabetic entries, try to limit data codes so that only single-keyed (numeric) entries are required. Alternatively, consider providing software to interrogate the user to resolve any ambiguities resulting from single-keyed alphabetic entries.
Reference
Consider spoken data input only when data entry cannot be accomplished through more reliable methods such as keyed entry or pointing.
Example
Postal workers whose hands are occupied sorting packages might speak ZIP codes into a speech recognition device rather than keying entries.
Comment
Current speech recognition devices are not well developed and tend to be error prone. Thus there should be some good reason for choosing speech input over more conventional data entry methods. Speech input might be appropriate if a user cannot use his/her hands, perhaps because of a physical handicap or because the user's hands are needed to accomplish other tasks. Speech input may also be appropriate if a user does not have access to a suitable keyboard, as might be the case if data were being entered by telephone.
Structure the vocabulary used for spoken data entry so that only a few options are needed for any transaction.
Comment
To increase the likelihood that a user's valid entries are correctly identified by the system, the user's vocabulary should be predictable. This does not necessarily mean that the vocabulary must be small, though recognition systems that can only accommodate small vocabularies are more prevalent and less expensive. A vocabulary is predictable when a user's choice of inputs at any given time is small, so that the system will be more likely to make a correct match in interpreting an entry.
Ensure that the spoken entries needed for any transaction are phonetically distinct from one another.
Comment
Words which are easily distinguished by one speech recognition system may be confused by another. Thus system testing should be performed in order to determine what sounds a particular system tends to confuse, and what sounds it can distinguish reliably.
Provide feedback and simple error correction procedures for speech input, so that when a spoken entry has not been correctly recognized by the computer, the user can cancel that entry and speak again.
Comment
Simple error correction is particularly important with spoken data entry, since speech recognition systems are prone to error except under carefully controlled conditions.
When speech input is the only form of data entry available, allow alternatives for critical entries, so that if the system cannot recognize an entry after repeated attempts another entry can be substituted.
Example
"Exit" might be defined as an acceptable substitute for "Finished".
Comment
Because speech recognition systems are affected by normal variations in a user's voice, and by changes in the acoustic environment, a spoken entry that was accepted yesterday might not be accepted today. Thus for important entries a user should be able to use an alternative word.
Comment
Spelling a word letter-by-letter is not an acceptable alternative, since speech recognition systems may have trouble correctly identifying similar sounding letters.
Provide PAUSE and CONTINUE options for speech input, so that a user can stop speaking without having to log off the system.
Example
A user may wish to stop speaking data for a time in order to answer a telephone, or to speak with a fellow worker. Users should not have to log off the system every time they wish to say something that is not intended as an entry.
See also
For position designation on an electronic display, provide a movable cursor with distinctive visual features (shape, blink, etc.).
Exception
When position designation involves only selection among displayed alternatives, highlighting selected items might be used instead of a separately displayed cursor.
Comment
When choosing a cursor shape, consider the general content of the display. For instance, an underscore cursor would be difficult to see on a display of underscored text, or on a graphical display containing many other lines.
Comment
If the cursor is changed to denote different functions (e.g., to signal deletion rather than entry), then each different cursor should be distinguishable from the others.
Comment
If multiple cursors are used on the same display (e.g., one for alphanumeric entry and one for line drawing), then each cursor should be distinguishable from the others.
Reference
Design the cursor so that it does not obscure any other character displayed in the position designated by the cursor.
Example
A block cursor might employ brightness inversion ("reverse video") to show any other character that it may be marking.
When fine accuracy of positioning is required, as in some forms of graphic interaction, design the displayed cursor to include a point designation feature.
Example
A cross may suffice (like cross-hairs in a telescope), or perhaps a notched or V-shaped symbol (like a gun sight).
Comment
Precise pointing will also require a cursor control device capable of precise manipulation. Touch displays, for example, will not permit precise pointing.
Reference
For arbitrary position designation, moving a cursor from one position to another, design the cursor control to permit both fast movement and accurate placement.
Comment
Ideally, when the user moves a pointing device the displayed cursor should appear to move instantly. Rough positioning should take no more than 0.5 seconds for full screen traversal. Fine positioning may require incremental stepping of the cursor, or a control device incorporating a large control/display ratio for small displacements, or a selectable vernier mode of control use. For any given cursor control action, the rate of cursor movement should be constant, i.e., should not change with time.
Comment
Slow visual feedback of cursor movement can be particularly irritating when a user is repeatedly pressing a cursor control key, or perhaps holding the key down. In that case, slow feedback will cause the user to misjudge location and move the cursor too far.
When cursor positioning is incremental by discrete steps, design the step size of cursor movement to be consistent horizontally (i.e., in both right and left directions), and consistent vertically (in both up and down directions).
Comment
When there are areas of a display in which data entries cannot be made (blank spaces, protected field labels, etc.), make those areas insensitive to pointing actions, i.e., prevent the cursor from entering those areas.
Exception
When a user may have to modify display formats, then this automatic format protection can be provided as a general default option subject to user override.
Comment
Automatic format protection will generally make cursor positioning easier for a user, since the cursor will not have to be stepped through blank areas, and much routine cursor control can be accomplished with only casual reference to the display.
Reference
Ensure that display capacity, i.e., number of lines and line length, is adequate to support efficient performance of text entry/editing tasks.
Example
For text editing where the page format of subsequent printed output is critical, the user's terminal should be able to display full pages of text in final output form, which might require a display capacity of 50-60 lines or more.
Example
For general text editing where a user might need to make large changes in text, i.e., sometimes moving paragraphs and sections, a display capacity of at least 20 lines should be provided.
Example
Where text editing will be limited to local changes, i.e., correcting typos and minor rewording, as few as seven lines of text might be displayed.
Comment
A single line of displayed text should not be used for text editing. During text editing, a user will need to see some displayed context in order to locate and change various text entries. Displaying only a small portion of text will make a user spend more time moving forward and back in a displayed document to see other parts, will increase load on the user's memory, and will cause users to make more errors.
Reference
Allow users to do at least some simple editing during text entry without having to invoke a separate edit mode.
Example
While entering text, users will need at least some capability for text selection (by cursor movement) and deletion.
Comment
The intent of this guideline is not to endorse modeless over moded text editors. In fact, when experienced users perform editing tasks, a moded editor may offer some advantages. However if a moded editor is provided, users should be able to do some simple editing such as correcting typographical errors and making simple word changes without having to invoke that editor.
Comment
When users will compose text on-line, consider providing a modeless editor rather than a moded editor. Modeless editors offer some advantages for text composition, when users will frequently alternate between text entry and editing.
Reference
If control entries are made by keying onto the display, such as by keyed menu selections or commands, ensure that they will be distinguishable from displayed text.
Example
Keyed control entries might be made only in a reserved window in the display.
Comment
The intent here is to help ensure that a user will not inadvertently enter controls as text, or vice versa. If a command entry is keyed into the body of a text display, perhaps at the end of the last sentence, then a user cannot be certain whether the computer will interpret the command as a text entry or as a control entry.
Comment
In applications where the screen cannot display all possible format features (e.g., special fonts), format codes representing those features are usually displayed within the text. It is not practical in such cases to display format codes in a separate window, since a displayed code must mark the text that will be affected by the code. These codes should therefore be highlighted in some way to distinguish them from text.
Comment
One way of avoiding the problem altogether is to use function keys rather than command entry to control text editing. To provide a general range of text editing functions, however, many keys will be needed. A practical design approach might be to adopt double-keying logic for all keys on a standard (QWERTY) keyboard, where control-F means FILE a document, control-G means GET a document, etc., and providing appropriate extra labels for those keys.
See also
Allow users to specify segments of text in whatever units are natural for entry/editing.
Example
For unformatted ("free") text, natural units will be characters, words, phrases, sentences, paragraphs, and pages; for specially formatted text, such as computer program listings, allow specification of other logical units, including lines, subsections, sections, etc.
Allow users to specify units of text as modifiers for control entries.
Example
Consider two alternative control sequences to delete a four-character word:
(Good) DELETE WORD
(Bad) DELETE DELETE DELETE DELETE
Comment
Control entries, whether accomplished by function key, menu selection, or command entry, will be easier and more powerful when a user can specify text in natural units, rather than having to repeat an entry for each text character.
Comment
When units of text are modifiers for all control entries, the syntax for those control entries will be easier to learn. Whether a control action is to MOVE or to DELETE, the modifiers to specify text are the same.
Reference
Allow users to specify a string of text and request the computer to advance (or back up) the cursor automatically to the next (or last previous) occurrence of that string.
Comment
Novice users may prefer to move through a displayed document by units of text, such as by word or paragraph. More experienced users, however, may sometimes wish to specify cursor placement directly. An automatic string search capability will generally speed cursor placement in comparison with incremental positioning, particularly when moving over large portions of a document.
Comment
Expert users may also wish to incorporate special characters in string search, including format control characters such as those for tabbing, bolding, etc.
Reference
Unless otherwise specified by a user, treat upper and lower case letters as equivalent in searching text.
Example
"STRING", "String", and "string" should all be recognized/accepted by the computer when searching for that word.
Comment
In searching for words, users will generally be indifferent to any distinction between upper and lower case. The computer should not compel a distinction that users do not care about and may find difficult to make. In situations when case actually is important, allow users to specify case as a selectable option in string search.
Comment
It may also be useful for the computer to ignore such other features as bolding, underlining, parentheses and quotes when searching text.
See also
When systematic editing changes will be made throughout a long document, consider providing a "global search and replace" capability in which the computer will replace all occurrences of one text string with another.
Comment
Global search and replace could be designed in two different ways. One user might want the computer to make all changes automatically. Another user might want to review and confirm each change. Ideally, both options should be available.
If a global search and replace capability is provided, ensure that each time a string is replaced the case of the new string matches the case of the old string, unless otherwise specified by the user.
Example
If a word is replacing the first word in a sentence, the first letter of the new word should be capitalized; if it is replacing a word that is entirely in lower case, then the new word should also be in lower case.
Comment
On occasion, however, a user might wish to replace an erroneous lower-case word ("Mitre") with a correctly capitalized version ("MITRE").
Provide automatic pagination for text entry/editing, allowing users to specify the page size.
Exception
When automatic pagination is provided, allow users to override that pagination in order to specify page numbers at any point in a document.
Example
A user might wish to number the first page of a document "23", or perhaps skip a page number in the middle of a document.
Comment
When producing a large document, a user may wish to split it into several separate text files for convenience in editing, and hence need to control the page numbering of those component sections. In general, a user will want flexibility in assembling different computer files to create a composite document.
1.3/16 + Controlling Integrity of Text Units
When automatic pagination is provided, allow users to specify the number of lines in a paragraph that will be allowed to stand alone at the top or bottom of a page (i.e., the size of "widows" and "orphans"), and to specify any text that should not be divided between two pages, such as inserted lists or tables.
For entry/editing of unformatted text, provide an automatic line break ("carriage return") when text reaches the right margin, with provision for user override.
Comment
For specially formatted text, such as computer program listings, users may need to control line structure themselves and hence need to override any automatic line break. Even when entering unformatted text, a user will sometimes wish to specify a new line at some particular point, if only for esthetic reasons.
Unless otherwise specified by the user, ensure that entered text is left-justified to maintain constant spacing between words, leaving right margins ragged if that is the result.
See also
Provide easy means for users to specify required format control features during text entry/editing, e.g., to specify margin and tab settings.
Example
One convenient method of margin and tab control is to allow users to mark settings on a displayed "ruler" that extends the width of a page and is continuously displayed at the top of the screen.
Comment
Required format features will vary depending on the application. For instance, font size may be quite important when composing text for typesetting but unnecessary when editing computer programs. The intent of this guideline is that all required format features should be easy to control, and should take priority in interface design. Any format features which are provided but are optional for the user's task should not be made easy to use at the expense of required format features.
When text formats must follow predefined standards, provide the standard format automatically; do not rely on users to remember and specify proper formats.
Example
Standard formats might be required for letters, memos, or other transmitted messages.
See also
Allow users to label and store frequently used text segments, and later to recall (copy into current text) stored segments identified by their assigned labels.
Example
Much text processing involves repetitive elements specific to different applications, such as signature blocks, technical terms, long names, formulas or equations.
Ensure that whatever information a user needs for text entry/ editing is available for display, as an annotation to displayed text.
Example
A user might wish to see format control characters, such as tab and margin settings.
Comment
Required annotation will vary with the application. Some annotation may be so commonly needed that it should be continuously displayed -- e.g., document name, page number, indication of control mode (if any), etc. Other annotation might be displayed only at user request -- such as document status (date last changed, last printed, etc.) which might be displayed in an optional window overlay, and format control characters which might be visible in an optional display mode.
Ensure that annotations to displayed text are distinguishable from the text itself.
Example
Continuous annotation might be displayed in the top and/or bottom lines of a page, separated from the text by blank lines; optional annotation might be displayed in window overlays.
Comment
This recommendation refers to text annotations added by users, such as marginal notes on printed displays. Other annotation such as format control characters might be shown in a special display mode where text has been expanded to permit annotation between lines.
See also
Allow users to display text exactly as it will be printed.
Comment
Accurate display is particularly necessary when the format of printed output is important, as when printing letters, tables, etc.
Comment
Ideally, text displays should be able to represent all the features that are provided in printed output, including upper and lower case, underlining, bolding, subscripting, superscripting, special symbols, and different styles and sizes of type. When those features are important, the necessary display capability should be provided.
Comment
For special formatting features that are not frequently used, it may be sufficient to use extra symbols to note text features that cannot be directly displayed. In that case, care should be taken that such annotation does not disturb the spacing of displayed text. This may require two display modes, one to show text spacing as it will be printed and the other to show annotations to the text.
Comment
A corollary to this recommendation is that changes made to displayed text should appear as a user makes them. Some line-based editors show changes only after a document has been filed and later recalled for display, which does not represent good user interface design.
Reference
In printing text, allow users to select among available output formats (line spacing, margin size, etc.) and to specify the parts of a document to be printed; do not require that an entire document be printed.
Example
Permit a user to print just those portions of a document that have been changed, perhaps specifying just the first page, or page 17, or the last five pages, etc.
Comment
This is particularly important when long documents will be edited. A user should not be required to print an entire 50-page document just because of a change to one page.
Inform users concerning the status of requests for printouts.
Example
The computer should acknowledge print requests immediately, and might provide a subsequent message to indicate when a printout has been completed if the printer is remote (unobservable) from the user's work station.
Example
If there is a queue of documents waiting for printout, a user should be able to get an estimate as to when a particular document will be printed.
Comment
If a user is responsible for operating a local printer, the computer might display messages to alert the user of potential malfunctions, e.g., if its paper supply is exhausted, if the paper is not correctly loaded, etc.
See also
When a user is inserting text into a document that has already been paginated, ensure that no text is lost if the user inserts more text than a page can hold.
Comment
It is difficult for a user to keep track of page size, particularly if the size of the display screen is less than the full page specified for printed text, which is often the case. A user will often not know when more text has been inserted into a page than there is room for. The computer should accommodate text insertions with automatic repagination.
If a DELETE mode is used, highlight any text specified by a user for deletion and require the user to confirm the DELETE action before the computer will process it.
Comment
Requiring a user to confirm actions in DELETE mode is particularly important when the control entries for cursor positioning (e.g., WORD, SENTENCE, PARAGRAPH, PAGE) are also used to specify text for deletion, which is often the case. Users will associate the specification of text units primarily with cursor positioning, which is the most frequent action in text editing. In a DELETE mode, after specifying text units for deletion, a user may press a PARAGRAPH key intending to move to the next paragraph but accidentally delete the next paragraph. Confirmation of DELETE actions will tend to prevent such errors.
Comment
An alternative approach to this problem is not to provide a continuing DELETE mode, but instead require double keying to accomplish deletions. In a DELETE mode, a user might press a DELETE key followed by unlimited repetitions of a WORD key (or keys specifying other units of text). With double keying, the user would have to press DELETE before each selection of a text unit to be deleted.
See also
Design text editing logic so that any user action is immediately reversible.
Example
If a user centers a heading and then decides it would look better flush against the left margin, an UNDO action should reverse the centering and move the heading back to its original location.
Example
If a user underlines a paragraph of text and then decides it should be in all capital letters instead, an UNDO action should reverse the underlining. The user should not be required to delete the paragraph and retype it just to erase the underscoring.
Comment
Reversible actions are particularly important in a text editing environment because text formatting often involves experimentation with features such as underscoring, bolding, and spacing. If users know that they can reverse whatever they do, they will feel more free to delete text and experiment with formatting features.
Comment
An UNDO capability is currently available in some interface designs. In some applications, however, this capability is provided through the use of an UNDO key which can only reverse the most recent control action. For text editing, users must be able to reverse such formatting features as centering and bolding at any time. Therefore, if control actions are to be made reversible, an UNDO action should be able to reverse more than the most recent command, perhaps by requiring the user to specify which command to undo, and/or to place the cursor at the location of the format feature that is to be reversed.
Comment
When text segments have been deleted, it should be possible to retrieve more than the most recent deletion. Some systems do this by storing all deletions in a special file. Deleted text which the user wishes to retrieve can then be moved from the deletion file to the file in which the user is presently working.
Reference
When a user signals completion of document editing, allow the user to confirm that changes should be made to the original document, or else to choose alternative options.
Comment
A user will generally wish to replace the original document with its edited version. However, sometimes a user may decide that editing mistakes have been made, and wish to discard the new version while saving the original. Or a user might wish to save the new version as a separate document, while saving the original unchanged. Such decisions can be made best at the end of an editing session, when the user knows what has been accomplished, rather than before a session is begun.
Comment
During text editing, the computer should always retain a copy of the original document until the user confirms that it should be changed. The original document should not be changed automatically as the user enters each editing change.
See also
Data forms permit entry of predefined items into labeled fields of specially formatted displays.
Good and Bad Examples
These sample displays represent a possible form for entry and review of visa application data. In the good form, data entries are bolded to help distinguish them from labels and field delimiters. Fields are ordered consistently in relation to a (supposed) paper application form, and formatted to facilitate both data entry and data review.
The bad display is annotated to indicate violations of several of the design guidelines proposed here for data forms. The data entries in the bad display were invented to suggest what a user might have produced, if confused by inadequate labeling and the absence of field delimiters.
Good Sample Data Form
|-----------------------------------------------------| | VISA APPLICATION | | | | NAME: Jones, Andrew David_______ VISA: 356 478 | | LAST, FIRST MIDDLE | | | | BIRTH COUNTRY: UK DATE: 3/22/25 | | MM DD YY | | | | NATIONALITY: UK PASSPORT: Z196284__ | | | | ADDRESS: 5 Fairview Lane_________________ | | Loughborough, LE11 3RG__________ | | England_________________________ | | | | OTHER TRAVELERS ON THIS VISA | | BIRTH | | NAME: COUNTRY: DATE: | | Jones, Sandra Jean________ UK 10/11/28 | | Jones, Cynthia Leigh______ FR 6/12/68< | | __________________________ __ __/__/__ | | __________________________ __ __/__/__ | | LAST, FIRST MIDDLE MM DD YY | | | | * Press ENTER when done. | |-----------------------------------------------------|
Bad Sample Data Form
|-----------------------------------------------------| | Name Andrew D. Jones Visa Number 356478 | | | | Birthplace London Nationality English | | | | Passport Z196284 Birthdate Mar. 22, | | | | Address 1925 | | 5 Fairview Lane, Loughborough, L | | E11 3RG, England | | | | Other travelers on this visa | | Traveler's Name Date of Birth - Place | | Sandra J. Jones Oct. 11, - 1928 | | Birmingham | | Cynthia L. Jones June 12, - 1968 | | Paris, France# | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Press ENTER when done | |-----------------------------------------------------|
This bad data form display violates in some degree several design guidelines in this section: 1.4/3 Minimal use of delimiters 1.4/6 Consistent labeling 1.4/10 Marking field boundaries 1.4/11 Prompting field length 1.4/15 Explicit tabbing to data fields 1.4/16 Distinctive label format 1.4/18 Label punctuation as entry cue 1.4/19 Informative labels 1.4/20 Data format cueing in labels 1.4/25 Form compatible with source documents This bad data form also violates various design guidelines pertaining to data display, as noted at the end of Section 2.2.
In a form-filling dialogue, when a user is entering logically related items, require just one explicit entry action at the end of the transaction sequence, rather than separate entry of each item.
Comment
Depending on form design, this practice might involve entering the entire form, or entry by page or section of a longer form. Form design should indicate to users just where explicit entry is required.
Comment
Single entry of grouped data will generally permit faster input than item-by-item entry, and should prove more accurate as well. This practice permits user review and possible data correction prior to entry, and also helps the user understand at what point grouped data are processed. It will also permit efficient cross validation of related data items by the computer.
See also
Whenever possible, allow entry of multiple data items without keying special separator or delimiter characters, e.g., hyphens, dollar signs, etc.
Example
See sample displays in this section.
Comment
This can be accomplished either by keying into predefined entry fields or by separating sequentially keyed items with blank spaces. In this context, tabbing from field to field is not considered to be keying a special delimiter character.
Comment
When data items contain internal blanks, design the entry fields with a predefined structure so that users will not have to key any internal delimiters.
When a field delimiter must be used for data entry, adopt a standard character to be employed consistently for that purpose.
Example
A slash (/) may be a good choice.
Comment
Choose a special delimiter character that does not require shift keying. It will also be necessary to choose a character that does not occur as part of any data entry (except possibly for entry of running text where its occurrence would not be ambiguous).
For each data field, display an associated label to help users understand what entries can be made.
Example
Choose a standard symbol for input prompting and reserve that symbol only for that use.
Example
In the examples here, and also in many printed forms, a colon serves to prompt inputs, as
(Good) | TIME: ________ |
(Bad) | TIME ________ |
Comment
Consistent use of a symbol for input prompting in data entry forms, in menus, in command entry lines, etc., will help to cue users that an input is required. A standard symbol used in addition to other formatting cues will help to alert a user to differences between labels and displayed data, between messages requiring input and messages for information only.
Reference
Provide cues in field delineation to indicate when a fixed or maximum length is specified for a data entry.
Example
(Bad) | Enter ID (9 characters): |
Example
See sample displays in this section.
Comment
Prompting by delineation is more effective than simply telling the user how long an entry should be. In the example cited here, underscoring gives a direct visual cue as to the number of characters to be entered, and the user does not have to count them.
Comment
Similar implicit cues should be provided when data entry is prompted by auditory displays. Tone codes can be used to indicate the type and length of data entries.
Reference
Require users to take explicit keying ("tabbing") action to move from one data entry field to the next; the computer should not provide such tabbing automatically.
Example
See sample displays in this section.
Comment
Automatic tabbing may cause cascading of errors, if a skilled typist keys a series of items without looking at the display and has accidentally overrun one of the earlier data fields. An acceptable solution here is to design each field to end with an extra (blank) character space; software should be designed to prevent keying into a blank space, and an auditory signal should be provided to alert the user when that is attempted. This will permit consistent use of tab keying by the user to move accurately from one field to the next, even for touch typists.
Reference
When data entry involves transcription from source documents, ensure that form-filling displays match (or are compatible with) those documents, in terms of item ordering, data grouping, etc.
Example
See sample displays in this section.
Comment
If paper forms are not optimal for data entry, consider revising the layout of the paper form.
Comment
If data entries must follow an arbitrary sequence of external information (e.g., keying telephoned reservation data), employ some form of command language dialogue instead of form filling, to identify each item as it is entered so that the user does not have to remember and re-order items.
Reference
For entry of tabular data, when entries are frequently repeated, provide users with some easy means to copy duplicated data.
Example
Perhaps a DITTO key might be provided.
Comment
A DITTO capability will speed data entry, and should prove more accurate than requiring users to rekey duplicated data.
For long tables, those with many rows, provide some extra visual cue to help a user scan a row accurately across columns.
Example
A blank line might be inserted after every fifth row; or perhaps adding dots between columns in every fifth row might suffice.
Example
As an alternative, provide a displayed ruler which a user can move from one row to another.
Comment
Visual aids for scanning rows are probably needed more when a user is reviewing and changing displayed data than for initial data entry. Such aids should be provided consistently, however, so that display formats for both data entry and review will be compatible.
See also
When graphic data entry involves frequent pointing on a display surface, design the user interface so that actions for display control and sequence control are also accomplished by pointing, in order to minimize shifts from one entry device to another.
Example
In drawing a flow chart, a user should be able to link predecessor and successor elements directly by pointing at them, or by drawing lines between them, rather than by separately keyed entries.
Exception
Alphabetic entry for titles, labels, and other annotation of graphic displays will be accomplished more quickly by conventional keyboard input than by pointing.
Comment
This recommendation implies extensive use of menus in the margins of a graphic display to permit direct selection of data attributes and control options by pointing. If screen capacity is too limited to permit simultaneous display of both graphic data and menus, then the designer might provide temporary superposition of menu windows on displayed data, or might provide some separate display device to show current options for control entry. Control entry via keyboard and/or function keys will be less satisfactory.
Comment
If pointing is performed on some separate input device, such as a stylus on a digitizing tablet, then associated control actions should also be implemented via that device.
Comment
For graphics software, a pointing action by a user can accomplish several different logical functions: specifying a displayed element ("pick" function); selecting a system-defined object, attribute or action ("button" or "choice" function); or indicating a location in the conceptual drawing space ("locator" function). A designer must distinguish among these functions, although most users will not.
Reference
For most graphics data entry, pointing should be a dual action, first positioning a cursor at a desired position, and then confirming that position to the computer.
Exception
An exception to this recommendation would be the freehand drawing of continuous lines ("path specification"), where a computer must store and display a series of cursor positions as they are input by the user; when the user initiates such a line-drawing sequence, a new data point might be recorded automatically whenever the cursor has been moved a certain distance (e.g., 1 mm) or when a certain time has elapsed (e.g., 0.5 s).
Comment
During graphics data entry, a cursor will almost always be somewhere on the display, but not necessarily at a location intended by the user. In effect, a user needs some way to move the cursor around and some separate action to signal the computer when its position should be recorded.
Comment
An interesting case of position confirmation is "rubberbanding", which is a technique to aid line drawing. With rubberbanding, a user can designate the starting point for a line, then move the cursor to various possible end points while the computer continuously shows the line that would result if that end point were confirmed by the user.
Reference
When editing graphic data, allow users to reposition selected elements on the display.
Comment
Repositioning displayed elements, whether done by "dragging" or "cut-and-paste", will usually prove easier than deleting an element and then recreating it from scratch in the desired location. A capability for moving elements will aid initial data entry as well as any subsequent editing of graphic data.
Comment
If an element is moved visibly by dragging across the display, it is probably not necessary to depict it in complete detail in all of its intermediate positions. It might suffice to show it in simplified outline until its new position has been confirmed by the user (or perhaps until it remains in one position for a fixed interval of time), at which point its details could be filled in again by the computer.
See also
When editing graphic data, allow users to delete selected elements from the display.
Comment
Deletion/erasure will help when mistakes are made during data entry, as well as in any subsequent editing of graphic data. Deletion should be implemented as a reversible action. A general UNDO capability might suffice to reverse deletions. A more extended reversibility might be provided by saving deleted elements in a computer scrap basket from which they can be retrieved any time during a work session in case a deletion is discovered to be a mistake.
During graphic data entry, allow users to specify attributes for displayed elements -- e.g., text font, plotting symbol, line type, color -- by selecting from displayed samples illustrating the available options.
Example
For line drawing a user might select from displayed samples of thick or thin, solid or broken, etc.
Comment
A display of available attributes will serve as a helpful reminder to the user, and will eliminate the need to assign distinctive verbal labels to the various options.
Comment
Samples of some attributes may be difficult to display. In complex graphics, for example, specification of line type might involve selection among "brushes", each of which has a "tip" defining the size and shape of the drawing area (a group of pixels) that the user can manipulate. Brushes might have squared tips to draw sharp lines, or rounded tips to draw lines with softer edges. By analogy with artistic painting, a "smear" brush might be provided to average or blend colors along its path. Selective erasure might be accomplished with a brush applying (returning to) the color of the display background.
Comment
In most applications, the current selection of data attributes should remain in effect until a new selection is made. In some cases, e.g., following selection of an "erase" attribute, it may help the user if a selected attribute reverts automatically to a default value at the completion of a transaction sequence.
If users may select colors as an attribute of graphic elements, allow them to specify colors directly by pointing at displayed samples, rather than requiring them to name the colors.
Exception
If only a few colors are available, their names can probably be used reliably.
Comment
If many colors are available, users with normal vision can choose from displayed samples more reliably than from a list of color names. For color-blind users, however, it might be helpful to add names/labels to the displayed samples.
Comment
For more elaborate graphic art, it may be helpful to allow users to mix their own colors by sequential selection (i.e., cursor placement), either in a displayed palette or directly in a graphic image. Such color mixing could permit user control of saturation, brightness, and opacity/transparency, as well as hues.
During graphic data entry/editing, display the selected attributes that will affect current actions for ready reference by the user.
Example
When graphic attributes -- plotting symbols, character size, line type, color, etc. -- are chosen from displayed menus, it might suffice to highlight the currently selected menu options; alternatively, current selections might be shown in some sort of "reminder" window.
Example
A few attributes might be shown by the displayed cursor, i.e., by changing cursor shape, size or color depending upon current attribute selections.
Example
If rubberbanding is provided to aid line drawing, then that process itself would show the currently selected line type.
Comment
Users may forget what options have been chosen. Displayed reminders will be particularly important in situations where the consequences of a mistaken user action are difficult to reverse, e.g., where it may be hard to erase a wrongly drawn line.
Comment
In some applications, display cues may not be adequate to convey attribute information completely. There may not be sufficient room on the display. Or the attributes may derive from underlying models whose characteristics are too complex for simple display representation. In such cases, users should be able to request auxiliary display of such information to determine the operative context for current actions.
See also
When entering or editing graphic data, allow users to change display attributes -- e.g., line type, cross-hatching, color -- for selected graphic elements.
Example
If a figure was created initially with dashed lines, then a user should be able to select the figure, or portions of it, and change the dashed lines to solid lines by specifying that alternative attribute.
Comment
If it is easy to change attributes, reversing earlier data entry decisions, then the process of composing graphic displays will be generally easier.
Comment
Another approach to changing an attribute might be to rely on general editing capabilities, i.e., to delete the element in question (perhaps using an UNDO command for an element just created) and then redraw it. But a capability for specifying attribute change directly, without element deletion and reentry, will often be helpful.
See also
When editing graphic data, allow users to change display attributes by whatever means were used to select those attributes in the first place.
Example
If line type is selected initially from a menu of displayed attributes, then changing a line type should also be accomplished via menu selection.
Comment
Many editing changes will be made during data entry, rather than as separate later actions, and thus it is important that entry and editing actions be consistent.
Provide easy means for saving and retrieving graphic displays or their component elements at different stages in their creation.
Comment
A user should not have to create a graphic image more than once. Once a graphic element has been created, a user should be able to save it for possible re-use.
Comment
As a protective measure, a user might wish to save different versions of a graphic display at successive stages during its creation, in order to return to an earlier state if later results seem unsatisfactory. During creation, the elements added to a graphic display can be interrelated in complex ways, and thus stepwise deletion of unwanted elements could prove a difficult process. An UNDO command might be helpful for deleting some of the most recently added elements. But storage and subsequent retrieval of interim versions of the display may be more helpful for a foresighted user.
Allow users to name graphic displays or designated elements, in order to aid storage and retrieval or manipulation during graphic data entry/editing; and provide means for a user to review a current "catalog" of named elements.
Comment
Standard displays and graphic components might be assigned names automatically by the computer, but users will still need a capability to assign their own names to interim versions of displays in creation, or to various elements of those displays. In either case, users may forget what names have been assigned; some "catalog" of currently named elements will serve as a helpful reminder.
Comment
For currently displayed material, pointing may be more convenient than naming for the designation of selected elements; but names will certainly aid the retrieval of stored material.
Reference
Provide automatic registration or alignment of computer-generated graphic data, so that variable data are shown properly with respect to fixed background or map data at any display scale.
Comment
When users are required to enter data via some separate device such as a graphics tablet, rather than directly on the display surface, it may be necessary for a user to participate in some computer-prompted procedure for ensuring data registration. Such a procedure may prove error-prone, however, and should be considered an undesirable expedient.
When graphic data must be entered in an organized hierarchic structure, in different sections and at different levels of increasing detail, provide computer aids for that purpose.
Example
For entering map data, a user might have to specify different levels of data storage for a city's name and location, its municipal boundaries, its major road patterns, its street names and house numbers, etc.; computer aids could help that process.
See also
When complex graphic data must be entered quickly, provide computer aids to automate that process.
Example
Prestored geographic data and background maps, along with automated entry ("posting") of flight plan data and track data, will permit fast and accurate generation of graphic displays for air traffic control, far beyond the capabilities of manual entry by a user.
Comment
Users can create simple graphics or edit stored graphic material fairly quickly, but they can create complex graphic displays only much more slowly. A variety of computer aids can be provided to help enter graphic data. Entry of detailed drawings and/or photographic imagery can be accomplished via a video camera and high-resolution digitizer, perhaps with facilities for a user to edit that process.
Provide automated plotting of computer-stored data at user request, with provision for subsequent editing by a user.
Example
A computer might plot the data values from two arrays in a line graph, or three-dimensional data in XYZ coordinates.
Comment
In many applications, data intended for graphic display will already be stored in the computer. In such cases a user might specify the graphic format required and edit elements in the resulting display output, without actually having to re-enter the data. When users do have to enter data for graphic display, they might choose form filling or tabular entry for efficiency in the initial input of data and then invoke graphic capabilities for subsequent data editing. In either case, it is important that previously entered data should be accessible for graphic processing.
See also
Provide computer aids to help users specify appropriate scales for graphic data entry.
Comment
The computer should handle scaling automatically, subject to review and change by a user. The computer might provide a general template for the plotting scale and prompt the user as necessary to define the scale more exactly, including specification of the origin, linear or logarithmic axes, scale intervals, minimum and maximum values, and labels for axes.
Comment
In the process of defining scales the computer might impose rules to ensure that the resulting graphic displays are designed to permit effective information assimilation by their users, e.g., displaying scales with conventional direction, so that numbers increase in value from left to right, or from bottom to top.
Reference
When graphic data can be derived from data already available in the computer, provide machine aids for that purpose.
Example
A computer might fit a smoothed curve through plotted data values, filter out points when drawing a densely defined curve, rescale graphs, invert graphs by exchanging X- and Y-values, convert graphs to show cumulative curves, calculate and display various statistical measures of data distribution, produce a contour plot from gridded data with linear interpolation, plot map contours from latitude-longitude coordinates, calculate bearings, distances, and areas on maps, plot perspective views of objects defined in plan views, plot specified cross-sections of displayed objects, calculate a parts list for a designed assembly, identify critical paths and float time in network scheduling charts, etc.
Comment
The machine capacity for generating graphic data by computation will far exceed a user's capabilities in both speed and accuracy.
See also
When lines must be drawn at arbitrary positions, lengths and angles, provide a rubberbanding capability, in which the computer displays a tentative line extending from a designated start point to whatever is the currently proposed end point.
Comment
This technique permits users to enter or change a line segment rapidly and with confidence by designating its starting point and then simply moving the cursor to the desired end-point, thus placing the "rubberband" line in its intended position. A similar capability should be provided to aid entry/editing of specified outline figures. A rectangle might be rubberbanded by fixing one corner and moving the opposite corner. A circle might be rubberbanded to desired size by fixing its center and changing the extension of its radius.
Reference
When line segments must join or intersect, which is true in most drawing, provide computer logic to aid such connection.
Comment
An effective computer logic to aid line connection is to provide a so-called "gravity field" surrounding each line segment, so that if a line-drawing cursor is moved within that field the cursor's new line will be extended automatically to intersect the already-displayed line. Note that a "gravity field" need not itself be displayed; users will soon learn to infer its extent by its effect in aiding cursor placement. Because users often seek to join line segments at their ends, it may help to enlarge the zone of attraction at the end of each displayed line to facilitate such end-to-end connection.
Comment
The concept of "gravity field" can also be used to align drawn line segments with points in a reference grid, as well as with each other.
Reference
When graphic elements are created with vertical and horizontal alignment, provide a reference grid that can be requested by a user to aid that alignment.
Comment
A reference grid might be displayed merely as a visual aid. In some instances, however, where repeated graphic elements must be aligned in regular fashion, it may be helpful to use a grid to position graphic elements automatically at its intersections. An example might be the construction of organization charts with repeating rows of boxes connected by line segments. "Grid gravity" might be provided automatically during graphic entry, based on "gravity field" connection of drawn lines to grid points, or might be invoked as a separate editing command by a user.
Comment
A grid suitable for aiding data entry may not prove equally helpful for subsequent interpretation of data on the completed display. Therefore, after a graphic image has been composed, the user should decide whether or not to include the reference grid in the finished display.
Reference
When a reference grid is displayed to aid graphic data entry, allow users to change the grid intervals in either or both directions.
Comment
For different applications, a user may wish to work with a fine grid or a coarse grid, depending on the quantizing interval of the data being plotted. Some designers recommend a standard grid resolution of 1/20 of graph height or width, but such a standard will not be optimum for every application.
When graphic elements are created with vertical and horizontal lines, allow users to specify appropriate constraints during line drawing.
Comment
Here computer logic is invoked to interpret casual freehand gestures by a user as if they were carefully drawn -- the electronic equivalent of a draftsman's T-square. Thus a roughly vertical motion by a user could create an exactly vertical line in computer storage and display.
Comment
In applications where orthogonal lines predominate, it may be helpful to make constrained drawing the norm, while allowing users to specify free-form drawing as an exception.
Reference
For precise drawing, allow users to draw lines by specifying their geometric relations with other lines.
Example
In computer-aided design, a user might wish to create a new line by declaring it parallel with (or perpendicular to) an existing line.
When a user must draw figures, provide computer aids for that purpose.
Example
A user might select from a stored set of standard forms -- rectangles, circles, etc. -- and edit those to create figures or the component elements of figures, rather than having to draw each figure from scratch.
Example
Computer logic might be provided to allow a user to create a rectangle simply by designating two opposite corners, or a circle by first specifying its center and then any point on its circumference, with rubberbanding to show the result of any current selection.
Comment
Much graphic construction can either be aided in some way (by templates, tracing techniques, grid gravity, etc.), or can employ machine generation of computed or stored forms, often followed by user editing of those forms. A great many different figures can be created by combining simple elements or by specifying geometric parameters (e.g., conic sections). Computer aids that allow such shortcuts can speed figure drawing and make the process more accurate. In some applications, such as constructing organization charts, figures may repeat a number of standard elements. In such cases computer aids can be provided to make the production of figures almost routine.
Comment
Some capability for freehand drawing may be needed, particularly in the creation of graphic art, but freehand drawing will not provide sufficient precision for many applications.
Reference
In applications requiring a general capability for drawing figures, provide a choice of methods for specifying graphic elements.
Example
A straight line might usually be created by specifying two points, but sometimes it might be easier to specify one point plus a constraint that the line be parallel (perpendicular, tangent) to some other line.
Example
A circle might usually be created by specifying its center and a point on its circumference; but sometimes it might be easier to specify a circle by other means -- e.g., by two ends of its diameter, or by three points on its circumference, or by its center plus a constraint that it be tangent to some other figure, or by inscribing it within a square.
Example
An ellipse might usually be created by specifying two foci and a point on its perimeter, but sometimes it might be easier to specify its center and draw its long and short axes, or it might be inscribed within a rectangle.
Example
A regular polygon might usually be created by specifying the end points of one edge and the number of sides, but it also might be specified by its center and one vertex and the number of its sides.
Comment
These examples are from the demanding realm of computer-aided design. Simpler kinds of graphic entry may not require such capabilities.
Comment
In the use of various figure-drawing aids, it may be helpful if the computer can provide step-by-step prompts for each procedure, e.g., "Now indicate center point", "Now indicate radius", etc.
Reference
When editing graphic data, allow users to change the size of any selected element on the display.
Comment
Scaling displayed elements to different sizes, expanding or shrinking them, will usually prove easier than deleting an element and then recreating it from scratch in the desired size. A capability for changing the scale of a displayed element will aid initial data entry as well as any subsequent editing of graphic data.
Comment
Depending on the application, it may be helpful to provide a continuous sizing capability, or else incremental sizing to various defined scales.
In applications where users may create special symbols, provide a capability for drawing (or changing) a symbol in large scale, with automatic reduction by the computer to the needed size.
Example
Enlargement might aid in specifying shapes to be used for plotting points or for map symbols, or in designing icons or the letters in a font.
Comment
When drawing symbols in large scale, a rough sketch may suffice, requiring less dexterity from a user. The desirable degree of scale expansion will depend upon symbol complexity, and can probably be determined by testing. Some designers recommend a 20x20 grid to provide an enlarged pixel representation, on which a user can add or delete pixels to create a symbol.
See also
Allow users to copy a selected graphic element in order to duplicate it elsewhere or create a repeating pattern.
Comment
Many graphic displays contain repeating elements; copying an element already created may prove quicker than redrawing that element from scratch.
Comment
In creating patterns, a user will often need to specify a reference point in the original element and then specify where that point should be placed for each copy of that element.
Comment
In some special applications, it might help to provide an optional kind of copying capability called "instancing", in which a user can choose to copy a graphic element from a stored template, and then all copies (or instances) will be changed automatically whenever that original template is changed.
See also
When area coding is required, provide aids to allow users to fill an enclosed area with a selected attribute (color, shading or cross-hatching) by a simple specification action, rather than by having to trace over the area involved.
Example
For many applications, it may suffice if a user can simply point at one of several displayed attributes (color patches, brightness levels, hatching patterns) and then point at the area to be filled.
Comment
A user might wish to shade the bars of a bar chart, or the wedges in a pie chart, or the various components of a drawn diagram or picture.
In applications where design rules have been previously defined, provide computer aids to complete automatically any details of graphic data entry covered by those rules.
Example
The computer might automatically add dimensional annotation to drafted figures.
Example
When drawing or editing a polygon, the computer might automatically maintain closure if additional vertices are specified, rather than requiring the user to close the figure manually.
Example
In computer-aided design, if the flanges of connected components are designed with arcs of standard radius, then a user might draw those joints square and ask the computer to round them.
Example
A computer might create perspective drawings automatically from plan and elevation data, with hidden parts eliminated.
Example
In drawing flow charts, a computer might automatically add the arrow to a connecting line, depending upon the direction in which the line was drawn (or the sequence in which its points were designated).
Reference
When drawings are variations on a common theme, consider providing a computer model that will allow users to create particular instances by entering appropriate parameters.
Example
An aerodynamic model might be invoked to help create (and evaluate) an aircraft wing design.
Example
For designing a workplace for human use, it might be helpful to store a body model from which the computer could draw automatically a sample user of any specified size percentile, and then move body parts of the displayed sample user to ensure that all controls are within reach.
Comment
Different kinds of models might be needed, including models based on geometric, surface, and solid relations, as well as even more complex logical models.
Reference
Ensure that every possible correct data entry will be accepted and processed properly by the computer.
Example
As a negative example, on 1 June 1983, after several previous months of successful use, the computers controlling Massachusetts automobile emission inspections failed; it was discovered that they would not accept a "June" entry.
Comment
This guideline states the obvious, and might seem unnecessary except for occasional design lapses such as that cited in the example.
If data validation detects a probable error, display an error message to the user at the completion of data entry; do not interrupt an ongoing transaction.
See also
If a series of default values have been defined for a data entry sequence, allow a user to default all entries or to default until the next required entry.
Comment
Where a set of default values has been defined, a user may not wish to specify that each default value should be accepted for each data field individually. It might be quicker to accept the set of defaults by a single action.
When interface designers cannot predict what default values will be helpful, permit users (or perhaps a system administrator) to define, change or remove default values for any data entry field.
Reference
When data must be entered in an organized hierarchic structure, in different sections and at different levels of increasing detail, provide computer aids for that purpose.
Comment
At the least, the computer should provide the user a schematic summary display of any defined data structure for general orientation, with its branches and levels labeled for convenient reference. When a user specifies any portion of the structure for data entry or editing, the computer should display that section of data appropriately labeled, and perhaps show in the display margin a diagram indicating what portion of the overall data structure is currently being displayed.
Comment
When data at one level in a hierarchy are dependent on data entries at other (usually subordinate) levels, the computer should handle cross-level bookkeeping automatically, just as for cross-file updating.
Comment
For entering hierarchic data, a user must specify where in the data structure any new data should be added. If the data structure is complex, it may help if the computer automatically prompts the user to make the appropriate data entries at different levels.
Comment
If a user may need to change the data structure, then computer aids may be needed for that purpose as well as for data entry. The computer should bookkeep automatically any changing relations among the data in different sections that might result from changes to the overall data structure.
See also
When data entry requirements may change, which is often the case, provide some means for users (or a system administrator) to make necessary changes to data entry functions.
Comment
Data entry functions that may need to be changed are those represented in these guidelines, including changes to procedures, entry formats, data validation logic, and other associated data processing.
Comment
Many of the preceding guidelines in this section imply a need for design flexibility. Much of that needed flexibility can be provided in initial interface design. Some guidelines, however, suggest a possible need for subsequent design change, and those guidelines are cited below.
See also
| i don't know |
What was the name of the small, green space alien that visited Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble? | The Great Gazoo | Alien Species | Fandom powered by Wikia
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The Great Gazoo is a small green humanoid alien who was exiled to Earth in prehistoric times and made friends with the local "cavemen", or primitive Humans. He was banished from his homeworld of Zatox as a punishment for creating a doomsday device, so powerful that it could possibly destroy the universe. Gazoo claims that he never intended using it, although he jokingly states that "I was the first one on my block to have one." Gazoo is only seen by his cavemen friends Fred and Barney, and their young children Pebbles and Bam-Bam. The other characters are apparently unable to see him because they don't believe in his existence. He also has the ability to do magic and float in mid-air.
Behind the scenes
| The Great Gazoo |
In 1839, the estate of the late British scientist James Smithson made a large cash donation to the United States. After 8 years of congressional wrangling, what institution finally arose from the donation? | Gazoo (Character) - Comic Vine
2 appearances
The Gazoo wiki last edited by name_already_chosen on 09/24/15 02:42PM View full history
The Great Gazoo was exiled through time and space from the planet Zatox or Zetox to serve and obey whoever found him as punishment -- and he was found by Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble.
Gazoo was exiled for inventing a tiny button, smaller than a fingernail, that with a single press would have disintegrated everything in the entire universe, although he had no intention of using it -- he was merely showing off that he had the intelligence and powers necessary to create such a thing. Later episodes make it clear that no one in his world actually believed him to be evil in intent but instead considered him dangerously irresponsible and self-indulgent, and he is sent to the time of the Flintstones and Rubbles as much for rehabilitation as for punishment, intended to learn responsibility during his service to Fred and Barney.
In his first episode, the Great Gazoo describes himself to Fred and Barney this way:
"My dear fellow, I'm not only undependable, but I'm a bit of a kook. That's why I'm here, remember: I'm being punished."
"So here I am, forced to servce two prehistoric dum-dums until I prove that I'm reformed."
Also in that first episode, he warns them, "You two are the only ones who can see me." It turns out, however, that small children and animals can also see him, but he is unable to make himself visible to Wilma and Betty even if he is ordered to do so.
Despite an apparent need to be sleeping constantly, the Great Gazoo has been shown to stop time, transform people into other creatures (once turning Wilma and Betty into birds) or alter their sizes and shapes, create robotic flesh-and-blood duplicates of Fred and Barney, and otherwise control reality to whatever extent amused him, and all this while claiming that most of his powers have been taken away from him. Gazoo's powers are implied to be a combination of superscience and psionics (over half his body mass is his cranium), though he laughingly refers to himself one point as a sorcerer. One is left with the impression that in a showdown between Gazoo and the combined forces of Q, Jeannie the djinni, Mr. Mxyzptlk, and Galactus, the Great Gazoo would be the last person left standing -- if he managed to keep from falling asleep during battle.
The character was brilliantly voiced by Harvey Korman, who has stated in interviews his surprise that people still praise him for playing a character that appeared in only half the episodes of the final season of the original Flintstones series and has appeared in none of the animated sequel series.
Appears in 2 episodes
| i don't know |
From what did Little Jack Horner pull his plum? | Mother Goose in Prose by L. Frank Baum: What Jack Horner Did
Literature Network » L. Frank Baum » Mother Goose in Prose » What Jack Horner Did
What Jack Horner Did
Little Jack Horner sat in a corner, Eating a Christmas pie; He put in his thumb and pulled out a plum And said, "What a good boy am I!" -
Little Jack Horner lived in an old, tumble-down house at the edge of a big wood; and there many generations of Horners had lived before him, and had earned their living by chopping wood. Jack's father and mother were both dead, and he lived with his grandfather and grandmother, who took great pains to teach him all that a boy should know.
They lived very comfortably and happily together until one day a great tree fell upon Grandpa Horner and crushed his legs; and from that time on he could not work at all, but had to be nursed and tended very carefully.
This calamity was a great affliction to the Horners. Grandma Horner had a little money saved up in an old broken teapot that she kept in the cupboard, but that would not last them a great time, and when it was gone they would have nothing with which to buy food.
"I 'm sure I do n't know what is to become of us," she said to Jack, "for I am too old to work, and you are too young." She always told her troubles to Jack now; small though he was, he was the only one she could talk freely with, since it would only bother the poor crippled grandfather to tell him how low the money was getting in the teapot.
"It is true," replied Jack, "that you are too old to work, for your rheumatism will barely allow you to care for the house and cook our meals; and there is grandpa to be tended. But I am not too young to work, grandma, and I shall take my little hatchet and go into the wood. I cannot cut the big trees, but I can the smaller ones, and I am sure I shall be able to pile up enough wood to secure the money we need for food."
"You are a good boy, dear," said grandma Horner, patting his head lovingly, "but you are too young for the task. We must think of some other way to keep the wolf from the door."
But Jack was not shaken in his resolve, although he saw it was useless to argue further with his grandmother. So the next morning he rose very early and took his little axe and went into the wood to begin his work. There were a good many branches scattered about, and these he was able to cut with ease; and then he piled them up nicely to be sold when the wood-carter next came around. When dinner-time came he stopped long enough to eat some of the bread and cheese he had brought with him, and then he resumed his work.
But scarcely had he chopped one branch when a faint cry from the wood arrested his attention. It seemed as if some one was shouting for help. Jack listened a moment, and again heard the cry.
Without hesitation he seized his axe and ran toward the place from whence the cry had proceeded. The underbrush was very thick and the thorns caught in his clothing and held him back, but with the aid of his sharp little axe he overcame all difficulties and presently reached a place where the wood was more open.
He paused here, for often he had been told by Grandpa Horner that there were treacherous bogs in this part of the wood, which were so covered with mosses and ferns that the ground seemed solid enough to walk upon. But woe to the unlucky traveler who stepped unawares upon their surface; for instantly he found himself caught by the clinging moist clay, to sink farther and farther into the bog until, swallowed up in the mire, he would meet a horrible death beneath its slimy surface. His grandfather had told him never to go near these terrible bogs, and Jack, who was an obedient boy, had always kept away from this part of the wood. But as he paused, again that despairing cry came to his ears, very near to him now, it seemed:
"Help!"
Forgetful of all save a desire to assist this unknown sufferer, Jack sprang forward with an answering cry, and only halted when he found himself upon the edge of a vast bog.
"Where are you?" he then shouted.
"Here!" answered a voice, and, looking down, Jack saw, a few feet away, the head and shoulders of a man. He had walked into the bog and sunk into its treacherous depths nearly to his waist, and, although he struggled bravely, his efforts only seemed to draw him farther down toward a frightful death.
For a moment, filled with horror and dismay, Jack stood looking at the man. Then he remembered a story he had once heard of how a man had been saved from the bog.
"Be quiet, sir!" he called to the unfortunate stranger; "save all your strength, and I may yet be able to rescue you."
He then ran to a tall sapling that stood near and began chopping away with his axe. The keen blade speedily cut through the young but tough wood, and, then Jack dragged it to the edge of the bog, and, exerting all his strength, pushed it out until the sapling was within reach of the sinking man.
"Grab it, sir!" he called out, "and hold on tightly. It will keep you from sinking farther into the mire, and when you have gained more strength you may be able to pull yourself out."
"You are a brave boy," replied the stranger, "and I shall do as you tell me."
It was a long and tedious struggle, and often Jack thought the stranger would despair and be unable to drag his body from the firm clutch of the bog; but little by little the man succeeded in drawing himself up by the sapling, and at last he was saved, and sank down exhausted upon the firm ground by Jack's side.
The boy then ran for some water that stood in a slough near by, and with this he bathed the stranger's face and cooled his parched lips. Then he gave him the remains of his bread and cheese, and soon the gentleman became strong enough to walk with Jack's help to the cottage at the edge of the wood.
Grandma Horner was greatly surprised to see the strange man approaching, supported by her sturdy little grandson; but she ran to help him, and afterward gave him some old clothing of Grandpa Horner's, to replace his own muddy garments. When the man had fully rested, she brewed him her last bit of tea, and by that time the stranger declared he felt as good as new.
"Is this your son, ma'am?" he asked, pointing to Jack.
"He is my grandson, sir," answered the woman.
"He is a good boy," declared the stranger, "and a brave boy as well, for he has saved my life. I live far away in a big city, and have plenty of money. If you will give Jack to me I will take him home and educate him, and make a great man of him when he grows up."
Grandma Horner hesitated, for the boy was very dear to her and the pride of her old age; but Jack spoke up for himself.
"I 'll not go," he said, stoutly; "you are very kind, and mean well by me, but grandma and grandpa have only me to care for them now, and I must stay with them and cut the wood, and so keep them supplied with food."
The stranger said nothing more, but he patted Jack's head kindly, and soon after left them and took the road to the city.
The next morning Jack went to the wood again, and began chopping as bravely as before. And by hard work he cut a great deal of wood, which the wood-carter carried away and sold for him. The pay was not very much, to be sure, but Jack was glad that he was able to earn something to help his grandparents.
And so the days passed rapidly away until it was nearly Christmas time, and now, in spite of Jack's earnings, the money was very low indeed in the broken teapot.
One day, just before Christmas, a great wagon drove up to the door of the little cottage, and in it was the stranger Jack had rescued from the bog. The wagon was loaded with a store of good things which would add to the comfort of the aged pair and their grandson, including medicines for grandpa and rare teas for grandma, and a fine suit of clothes for Jack, who was just then away at work in the wood.
When the stranger had brought all these things into the house, he asked to see the old teapot. Trembling with the excitement of their good fortune, Grandma Horner brought out the teapot, and the gentleman drew a bag from beneath his coat and filled the pot to the brim with shining gold pieces.
"If ever you need more," he said, "send to me, and you shall have all you wish to make you comfortable."
Then he told her his name, and where he lived, so that she might find him if need be, and then he drove away in the empty wagon before Grandma Horner had half finished thanking him.
You can imagine how astonished and happy little Jack was when he returned from his work and found all the good things his kind benefactor had brought. Grandma Horner was herself so delighted that she caught the boy in her arms, and hugged and kissed him, declaring that his brave rescue of the gentleman had brought them all this happiness in their hour of need.
"To-morrow is Christmas," she said, "and we shall have an abundance with which to celebrate the good day. So I shall make you a Christmas pie, Jack dear, and stuff it full of plums, for you must have your share of our unexpected prosperity."
And Grandma Horner was as good as her word, and made a very delicious pie indeed for her darling grandson.
And that is was how it came that
"Little Jack Horner sat in a corner Eating a Christmas pie; He put in his thumb and pulled out a plum And said, "What a good boy am I!
And he was--a very good boy. Do n't you think so?
| Normandy, Surrey |
What product advertises itself as "the other white meat"? | The Real Story of Little Jack Horner
The Real Story of Little Jack Horner
by ghostwriter
Jack Horner was Real, the pie was real and he really did pull out a big plum ....with a twist!
The true meaning of Little Jack Horner.
Little Jack Horner sat in the corner
Eating his Christmas pie,
He put in his thumb and pulled out a plum
And said "What a good boy am I!"
Unlike the majority of nursery rhymes, Little Jack Horner really did exist and he really did 'Pull out a plum' – as to whether he was a good boy, well, that is open to interpretation.
Little Jack Horner Posters
King Henry VIII had fallen out with the Catholic Church
and was removing their property off of his land
Let's go back to a time when King Henry VIII was sending his men to demolish all monasteries in England after he had broken away from the Catholic Church.
Thomas Cromwell was tasked with this major act, not only to pull down all these religious establishments but to plunder their chattels and deliver all the gold and silver to Henry VIII, the Catholic Church being a rich and powerful organization had plenty to plunder including vast amounts of land.
Glastonbury, now famous for rock concerts and festivals was the largest and wealthiest Abbey in England.
Nursery rhyme posters
Poster
Who was Little Jack Horner?
Enter, Jack Horner he was employed as a Steward to The Bishop of Glastonbury (Richard Whiting 1461 – 1539) of Glastonbury, a Benedictine Monastery. His job was pretty much an executive position, few would be trusted as Jack Horner was to manage the household, administer the accounts and collect taxes from tenants, peasants and others connected within the manor of Glastonbury.
Glastonbury had escaped King Henry VIII's seizure and knowing the estate was the last religious property left in Somerset, he accepted that he needed to act fast as it was only a matter of time before he would lose the Abbey and suffer destruction and looting.
There was hope for Glastobury because Henry VIII didn't mind a bribe or two so the Bishop decided that he would take advantage of the shady side of the Henry.
He confided in Jack Horner and tasked him with taking a gift to the king, it was a very large pie, but secreted in the pie were twelve title deeds to an assortment of English manorial estates owned by the Bishop.
Why use a pie?
Highway robbery was common and people had to be very creative in hiding their valuables to thwart robbers. I would question whether a big delicious looking pie would really escape the starving criminals!
Jack Horner did not believe for one second that King Henry would accept twelve deeds relating to small properties against the entire Abbey and all that land, he might have even feared for his own safety too.
Jack Horner had a better idea!
He had a better idea, simply steal the deeds of the manor of Mells, because it was prime land and considered to be the real 'plum' of the twelve manors.
Jack Horner was right and the bribe was rejected by Henry, but to protect himself he basically handed over The Bishop who was consequently arrested and convicted of treason, the charge was that he acted against the crown by remaining loyal to Rome.
Another twist to the tale is that Little Jack Horner himself was appointed as one of the 'twelve good men and true' to sit on the jury. Bishop Whiting was found guilty and sentanced to death, by being hung, drawn and quartered on Glastonbury Tor.
Horner kept his deeds, so legally owning the property and he moved into the Manor of Mells.
King Henry continued with his campaign and sent his men to destroy the Abbey.
The Manor of Mells really did become the property of Jack Horner and remained in the Horner family who lived there right up until the 20th century
It is questionable as to whether Horner really did steal the deeds to the Manor of Mells
did he put in his thumb and pull out a plumb?
No, I think Henry VII rewarded Jack Horner with the Manor for handing over the Abbey
Yes, I think Jack Horner fully intended to double-cross the Bishop
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May 25, 1787 saw the sitting of the Constitutional Convention. In what city did the delegates meet? | The Constitutional Convention of 1787 in Philadelphia
The room in Independence Hall (formerly the State House) in Philadelphia
where debates over the proposed Constitution took place (photo by Doug Linder)
On May 25, 1787, a week later than scheduled, delegates from the various states met in the Pennsylvania State House in Philadelphia. Among the first orders of business was electing George Washington president of the Convention and establishing the rules--including complete secrecy concerning its deliberations--that would guide the proceedings. (Several delegates, most notably James Madison, took extensive notes, but these were not published until decades later.)
The main business of the Convention began four days later when Governor Edmund Randolph of Virginia presented and defended a plan for new structure of government (called the "Virginia Plan") that had been chiefly drafted by fellow Virginia delegate, James Madison. The Virginia Plan called for a strong national government with both branches of the legislative branch apportioned by population. The plan gave the national government the power to legislate "in all cases in which the separate States are incompetent" and even gave a proposed national Council of Revision a veto power over state legislatures.
Delegates from smaller states, and states less sympathetic to broad federal powers, opposed many of the provisions in the Virginia Plan. Charles Pinckney of South Carolina asked whether proponents of the plan "meant to abolish the State Governments altogether." On June 14, a competing plan, called the "New Jersey Plan," was presented by delegate William Paterson of New Jersey. The New Jersey Plan kept federal powers rather limited and created no new Congress. Instead, the plan enlarged some of the powers then held by the Continental Congress. Paterson made plain the adamant opposition of delegates from many of the smaller states to any new plan that would deprive them of equal voting power ("equal suffrage") in the legislative branch.
Over the course of the next three months, delegates worked out a series of compromises between the competing plans. New powers were granted to Congress to regulate the economy, currency, and the national defense, but provisions which would give the national government a veto power over new state laws was rejected. At the insistence of delegates from southern states, Congress was denied the power to limit the slave trade for a minimum of twenty years and slaves--although denied the vote and not recognized as citizens by those states--were allowed to be counted as 3/5 persons for the purpose of apportioning representatives and determining electoral votes. Most importantly, perhaps, delegates compromised on the thorny issue of apportioning members of Congress, an issue that had bitterly divided the larger and smaller states. Under a plan put forward by delegate Roger Sherman of Connecticut ("the Connecticut Compromise"), representation in the House of Representatives would be based on population while each state would be guaranteed an equal two senators in the new Senate.
By September, the final compromises were made, the final clauses polished, and it came time to vote. In the Convention, each state--regardless of its number of delegates-- had one vote, so a state evenly split could not register a vote for adoption. In the end, thirty-nine of the fifty-five delegates supported adoption of the new Constitution, barely enough to win support from each of the twelve attending state delegations. (Rhode Island, which had opposed the Convention, sent no delegation.) Following a signing ceremony on September 17, most of the delegates repaired to the City Tavern on Second Street near Walnut where, according to George Washington, they "dined together and took cordial leave of each other."
DEBATES OF THE CONVENTION (FROM NOTES)
Madison's Notes (Avalon Project at the Yale Law School)
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Which is the only vowel on a standard keyboard that is not on the top line of a standard QWERTY keyboard? | 7 Things You May Not Know About the Constitutional Convention - History in the Headlines
7 Things You May Not Know About the Constitutional Convention
September 17, 2012 By Christopher Klein
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After several failed attempts at creating a government, a 1787 convention is called to draft a new legal system for the United States. This new Constitution provides for increased federal authority while still protecting the basic rights of its citizens.
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7 Things You May Not Know About the Constitutional Convention
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For four months during the summer of 1787, the Constitutional Convention met “in order to form a more perfect union.” With the country’s legal framework finally drafted, the framers of the Constitution signed the document on September 17, 1787, before sending it to the states for ratification. Explore seven surprising facts about the delegates to the Constitutional Convention and their work in Philadelphia.
1. Several framers met with untimely deaths.
Was there a curse of the Constitution? Alexander Hamilton was famously killed by Aaron Burr in 1804, but he wasn’t even the first framer of the U.S. Constitution to die in a duel with a political rival. In 1802, North Carolina delegate Richard Spaight was mortally wounded by a dueling pistol fired by sitting congressman John Stanly. Four years later, Virginian George Wythe died of arsenic poisoning, likely at the hand of a debt-riddled grandnephew and heir. Pennsylvania delegate Gouverneur Morris died in 1816 after a ghastly bit of self-surgery in which he unsuccessfully attempted to dislodge a urinary tract blockage with a piece of whale bone, while New York’s John Lansing mysteriously vanished in December 1829 after leaving his Manhattan hotel room to mail a letter.
2. Rhode Island boycotted the Constitutional Convention.
America’s littlest state had a big independence streak. Rhode Island, distrustful of a powerful federal government, was the only one of the 13 original states to refuse to send delegates to the Constitutional Convention. It was a decision that rankled even the normally temperate George Washington, who wrote in July 1787 that “Rhode Island … still perseveres in that impolitic, unjust, and one might add without much impropriety scandalous conduct, which seems to have marked all her public councils of late.” On the condition that a Bill of Rights be included, Rhode Island became the 13th state to ratify the Constitution on May 29, 1790, more than a year after Washington was sworn in as president.
3. Some big names were absent from the Constitutional Convention.
When Thomas Jefferson gushingly called the Constitutional Convention delegates “an assembly of demigods,” he wasn’t being full of himself. Jefferson was not among the founding fathers who gathered in Philadelphia; he was in Paris serving as minister to France. John Adams was also abroad, serving as minister to Great Britain. Samuel Adams, John Hancock and Patrick Henry—who turned down an invitation because he “smelt a rat in Philadelphia, tending toward the monarchy”—also did not participate.
4. Attendance was, shall we say, spotty.
When the Constitutional Convention opened on May 14, 1787, only delegates from Pennsylvania and Virginia were present. It wasn’t until May 25 that a quorum of seven states was achieved. Weather—ever the convenient excuse—was blamed for the tardiness, but the convention was plagued throughout with attendance issues. While James Madison boasted that he never left the proceedings for more than “a casual fraction of an hour,” his fellow delegates were not as fastidious. Nineteen of the 74 delegates to the convention never even attended a single session, and of the 55 delegates who did show up in Philadelphia, no more than 30 stayed for the full four months. New Hampshire’s delegation arrived two months late, by which time two of New York’s three delegates had left in opposition to the proceedings, leaving just Hamilton behind and depriving the state of a quorum to vote. Thus, Washington wrote that the Constitution was signed by “11 states and Colonel Hamilton.”
5. Not all the delegates who attended the convention signed the Constitution.
Although 55 delegates participated in the Constitutional Convention, there are only 39 signatures on the Constitution. Fourteen men, having already left Philadelphia, were not present for the signing, and only Delaware delegate John Dickinson had a proxy sign for him. Three delegates—Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts and Edmund Randolph and George Mason of Virginia—were dissatisfied with the final document and refused to ink their signatures.
6. “We the People of the United States” was a late change.
The Constitution’s iconic opening line was not included in early drafts of the document. Instead, the preamble started with a much less pithy litany of individual states listed from north to south: “We the people of the States of New Hampshire, Massachusetts…” and so on. Credit for the late alteration goes to a five-person Committee of Style—comprised of Hamilton, Madison, Morris, William Samuel Johnson and Rufus King—and Morris is considered to have been responsible for composing much of the final text, including the revised preamble.
7. The man who handwrote the Constitution was not a delegate.
While Morris has been nicknamed the “Penman of the Constitution,” the real hand wielding the quill that scrawled the final copy of the Constitution belonged to Jacob Shallus. The assistant clerk of the Pennsylvania State Assembly was paid $30 and given just two days to write most of the document’s 4,543 words on four sheets of vellum parchment. While his script was exquisite, Shallus wasn’t totally flawless. Between the final article and the delegate signatures on the Constitution’s final page is an “errata” paragraph listing some of the minor errors he had made along with their corrections.
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May 29, 1848 saw the Badger State enter the Union as the 30th state. What is its official name? | Wisconsin State History Information Links Symbols Capital Constitution Flags Maps Song
Economy :
Agriculture: Dairy farming provides the leading agricultural activity in Wisconsin. Wisconsin is a leading producer of milk and its production accounts for about half of the state's farm income. Beef cattle and hogs are, respectivly, Wisconsin's second and third most valuable livestock products. Chickens and eggs are also important. The state's leading field crop is corn. Hay and oats are grown in Wisconsin for livestock feed. Corn is fed to hogs and corn, hay and oats are fed to beef cattle. Other field crops grown in the state are soybeans, tobacco and wheat. Wisconsin leads the states in the production of beets and snap beans and is a leading producer of cabbages, cucumbers, green peas, lima beans, potatoes and sweet corn, most of which ends up in Wisconisn canneries. Wisconsin is also a leading producer of cranberries. Apples, raspberries, strawberries and other fruits are also grown in the state. [ Find out more ]
Manufacturing: Machinery (engines and turbines, power cranes and other construction machinery, heating and cooling equipment and metalworking machinery)is Wisconsin's leading manufactured product. Transportation equipment (motor vehicles, motor vehicle parts) ranks in second place. Following transportation equipment, food products (butter, cheese, ice cream, evaporated and dried milk, meat-packing, canned fruits and vegetables, beer)form Wisconsin's third-ranked manufacturing activity. Wisconsin produces about 1/3 of the cheese made in the United States and is a leading butter-producing state. Beer is Wisconsin's most valuable processed beverage product.
Services: Community, business and personal services (private health care, law firms, hotels and resorts, repair shops) ranks as Wisconsin's number one service industry group. Generating the second most income in the services industry are the wholesale and retail trade group and the finance, insurance and real estate group. Wholesale trade products include farm products, groceries and machinery. Important retail income sources are automobile dealerships, discount stores and food stores. Milwaukee is one of the Midwest's important financial centers, home to the two largest banking companies in Wisconsin and one of the biggest insurance companies in the United States. Government services (operation of public schools and hospitals, military facilities, Indian reservations) comprise the third-ranked services group.
Mining: Used in the construction industry, Wisconsin's most important mined products are sand and gravel and crushed stone.
Wisconsin State Flag ( Find out more )
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Which is the largest nerve in the body? | History, Wisconsin, WI
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Wisconsin History
"Thirty thousand voices rose in one deafening cheer, and universal joy seemed to pervade the face of every man present." - from the new book, "General Joseph Bailey - Hero of the Red River" . The cheering was heard at Alexandria, Louisiana in the spring of 1864, when the first Union gunboat trapped above the rapids of the Red River passed down the chute of the newly-constructed dam.
The dam saved the most powerful battle fleet ever assembled in the Mississippi Valley, spared the failed Union advance up the Red from suffering another disastrous defeat, and brought national fame and honor to its creator.
This is the story of the man, the places and the events that made Joseph Bailey the hero of the Red River. Click here for information about this book.
Wisconsin was first inhabited by varied Indian tribes in the 17th century. They included the Algonquian-speaking Menominee, Kickapoo, Miami, the Siouan-speaking Winnebago, Dakota (or Sioux) and Iowa. In the mid-1600's other groups entered Wisconsin, including the Fox, Sac, Potawatomi and Ojibewa (Chippewa).
Jean Nicolet, a native of France, was the first explorer to reach the area while searching for the Northwest Passage to China in 1634. The French lost possession of Wisconsin and all of it's territories east of the Mississippi to Great Britain during the French and Indian War.
British possession of Wisconsin ended in 1783, when Britain signed the treaty ending the American Revolution. Because the U.S. government had no effective control over Wisconsin, it remained under unofficial British control. Fur trade continued as the foundation of Wisconsin's economy.
The first wave of American settlers in Wisconsin came in the 1820's as a result of a lead mining boom in northwest Illinois and southwest Wisconsin. The movement of white settlers into the Midwest caused intense conflict when the federal government and settlers attempted to move Native Americans from their lands. Federal policies included uprooting entire tribes and forcing them to resettle west of the Mississippi. When the Sac people tried to return in 1832, the Black Hawk War started ending in the Bad Axe Massacre with less than 1000 Native Americans surviving. Other Wisconsin tribes either left the area, or negotiated reservation lands.
No longer having opposition from the Native Americans, a second wave of settlers came to Wisconsin and in 1836 the Wisconsin Territory was organized. Around the 1840's a third wave of settlers came to Wisconsin, attracted by good farmland. At that time the state became the nation's leading wheat producer. On May 29, 1848, Wisconsin was admitted to the Union as the 30th state.
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What do fly fishermen keep in their creel? | Fly Fishing Creel – Keep Your Catch Fresh - Alaska Fishing TodayAlaska Fishing Today
Fly Fishing Creel – Keep Your Catch Fresh
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by Nate
One of the most iconic items in all of fly fishing is the fly fishing creel. Images of old time fly fishing are brought to mind when thinking of the creel. A vintage fly fishing creel will add a lot of character to your setup, and there is nothing like a decorative fly fishing creel for sprucing up your living room or fly tying bench. Below, we will discuss the types of fly fishing creels, and why you might want to add one to your fly fishing arsenal.
Wicker Fly Fishing Creel
The most common type of fly fishing creel is made of wicker. These fly fishing creel baskets are lightweight to carry. The purpose of a creel is to keep the fish you catch fresh during the rest of your fishing day. You won’t always be able to clean your fish and throw the fillets in a cooler, especially if you are on foot in a remote area. Imagine you are fly fishing on a remote river in Alaska’s backcountry. You plan on eating some of the fish you catch. While you are wading and walking along the river, the best way to store and transport your fish is by using a fly fishing creel.
Newer Fly Fishing Creel Options
Older wicker creels were lined with moss to help keep the fish cool. They usually come without the moss, so you can add fresh moss when you get to your fishing hole. The cracks in the wicker allow air to flow through to keep the fish as fresh as possible. Now a days, there are fly fishing creel bags that do basically the same thing, but have a few advantages. They are lighter (made of plastic), fold up very small, and can be integrated with different ice packs to form sort of a cooler (see the Polar Creel in the image below).
Whether you like the vintage look of a wicker creel, or the newer technology of plastic creel bags, look for a good deal on a fly fishing creel for sale today, so you will be able to keep your catch fresh while you continue to fish. Happy fishing!
Do you utilize a creel while fishing? Are you a wicker creel fisherman, or do you prefer the cooler bag type creels? Please leave your feedback in the comment section below. Thanks!
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Where on an engine would you find a needle, a float, diaphragm, and a throttle plate? | Caddis Report « Empty Creel Fly Fishing
Hello, I am Bo’s Yellow Labrador Retriever, Caddis
Hello, I am Bo’s yellow Labrador Retriever, Caddis. Bo named me for that wonderful aquatic insect that Arkansas trout just love to eat and yes Bo has tied some caddis fly patterns from my yellow coat.
Because I don’t have to guide, or fly fish, I have a lot of time in the boat to observe the river and the fish so I will try to give you regular updates on water conditions, fishing reports, photos of our anglers and of course the latest information on the Caddis hatch.
If you have any questions just e-mail me for the latest “Caddis Reports.”
Today is what we call “Froggy Weather,” it was cold, foggy and a steady drizzle. Perfect fly fishing weather! If we has just a little more water the streamer fishing would have really been on. Nevertheless, my good friend, George Born, caught a nice Brown Trout on one of his white streamer patterns right off the bat and that really got us excited. Unfortunately our excitement was short lived; at least as far as streamers for this day.
We quickly switched to some to some nymph rigs and had just a wonderful day of fly fishing. The RG/PT Cruiser was the best pattern and it did not seen to matter if it was dead drifted, twitched or even slowly stripped the fish jumped all over it. The post spawn Brown Trout are starting to move around a bit and if we can get some good rain this weekend and some higher flows the streamer bite should turn on. If not, we can just stick with what we did today. Either way…..
“Life is Good on the Fly!”
CADDIS
It is not that we have not been fishing, recently we have had a few issues with the website but everything is back up and running and so are the fish. The Brown Trout spawn is over and the fish are sort of in that state of suspension as the try to rest and recover from the rigors of the reproductive cycle. However, as you can see there are some nice Browns beginning to move around and they are looking for a big meal. The fish in the upper right corner has a really soft mid section typical of a post spawn fish indicating it almost time.
That is, almost Streamer Time! Don’t miss out, the next couple of months should be really cool.
“Life is Good on the Fly!”
CADDIS
We are having some beautiful fall weather with some periods of high generation creating some high water windows and some super streamer fly fishing. Yesterday was one of those high water windows so along with good friend, George Born, we headed way down river to sling some meat. Believe it, or not, we got eaten up by mosquitos as it was quite a warm fall day. The water was beautiful and the trees are really starting to show their fall colors. We have had a some amazing weather as it feels more like spring than the middle of November.
Anyway, we did not have a real big window of high water so we showed the fish a bunch of different streamers in pretty quick succession and we definitely got some takers. White streamers got the most attention and Rouse’s Poodle Fly proved to be the best pattern which is what is in the face of the Brown Trout in the above photo.
Hopefully we will get some much needed rainfall to give us some additional water for some great post spawn winter streamer fishing. In the meantime we will keep jumping on these high water windows and just enjoying a really wonderful fall season.
Happy Thanksgiving to all.
“Life is Good on the Fly!”
CADDIS
Sometimes you have to deal with extreme changes in water conditions so you just have to alter your approach to fishing that particular day. This past weekend there was absolutely no generation for several days on the Little Red River and the water was dead low, crystal clear and we had blue bird skies. We decided to take Mike and William, who are both from Memphis, TN., on a drift boat trip on the lower river to get away from the crowd of fly anglers during the fall season.
In dead low water conditions like this a stealth approach can really up the odds on a difficult fishing day. Fly fishing from a drift boat allows you move very quietly down the river giving the angler a much better opportunity to approach very spooky fish. Long, light leaders, small flys and a really good dead drift also provide better opportunities when casting to skittish fish. Mike and William took a good number of fat Rainbows and several nice Brown Trout on #14 RG/PT Cruisers and #16 Hairy Legged Sow Bugs with a Goins Gold Soft Hackle dropper.
We had a really nice seven mile float down the river and enjoyed a beautiful fall day. We even got to watch a spike buck chase a doe all the way across the river. It was quite a sight that we probably would not have seen if not for our stealthy drift boat approach to the day.
“Life is Good on the Fly!”
CADDIS
It is always a good day when you get to spend it with friends on the river. Last Friday started with a beautiful fall morning and we got to spend the day fly fishing with two great friends, George Born and Paul Broddick. The fly fishing was as good as the weather and we laughed, told stories and caught fish all day long. We each used a variety of different fly patterns and almost everything worked. Tells you how important a good dead drift really is in fly fishing.
It is finally beginning to turn into the fall season here in north central Arkansas and the fishing on the Little Red River will only get better as we move further into the fall season. Sometime with in the next month, or so, the Brown Trout will begin their annual spawning rituals. Just a reminder that we do not fish, or guide other anglers, over spawning fish. For the long term health and stability of the only completely “wild” Brown Trout population in the state please consider leaving these beautiful fish alone during the spawning season.
There a plenty of fish to catch outside the spawning areas, so get hooked up with a good friend and go fly fishing.
“Life is Good on the Fly!”
CADDIS
Ralph is very new to fly fishing but as you can see from from the photos above he catches on pretty quick. However he may still need a little more practice at hanging onto fish while posing for photos.
Some day soon the weather is going to turn into fall but on this first day of November it definitely felt like summer on the Little Red River. Regardless the water was great and it certainly was a beautiful day. Although Ralph, who is from El Dorado, Arkansas, is pretty new to fly fishing, he is one of those fishy people who really catches on quickly. Without a doubt with just more time on the water he will definitely become a competent fly fisher.
Ralph caught a bunch of fiesta Rainbows and several Brown Trout including the really nice slot limit fish pictured above. There were lots of midges in the air most of the day and few Blue Winged Olives came off mid afternoon. For most of the day a #14 Hillbilly Hare’s Ear with a #18 Olive Zebra Midge as a dropper was the most productive rig. It was a very enjoyable day with Ralph on the river and we certainly look forward to fly fishing with him again real soon.
“Life is Good on the Fly!”
CADDIS
Had the pleasure this week of fly fishing with Jimmy and Robert both of whom are from Lafayette, Louisiana. These guys have been friends since their high school days and still live right next door to one another. Their close friendship is obviously something very special and like most people from south Louisiana they are fun loving guys and just plain “good people.”
The fishing was tough both days but Jimmy and Robert really hung in there and caught some very nice Rainbows as well as a few Brown Trout like the one Jimmy has in the photo above. Our weather has been more like summer than fall and the water conditions have been excellent so it is a bit odd that we are experiencing some really great fishing on some days and on other days we are having to work really hard. Root Beer and Olive Midge patterns were good producers along with RG/PT Cruisers and Born’s Hairy Legged Sow Bug and 6X tippet was a must.
We look forward to fly fishing with Jimmy and Robert again real soon.
“Life is Good on the Fly!”
CADDIS
This week we had one of our regular groups from St. Louis, Mo, fly fishing with us on The Little Red River. Al, Joe, Larry and Glenn are all also part of the crew of T.Hargrove Fly Shop on Manchester Road in St. Louis, Missouri. If you have never been to T. Hargrove’s Fly Shop you owe it to yourself to visit. It is such a quirky, yet comfortable, place that it is a must see location with everything a fly fisher could desire piled into a really neat old house complete with a pot bellied stove and fly tying table in the entry way. Next time you go to a Cardinal baseball game be sure to stop by and visit the crew.
We had a great three days of fly fishing with great weather and good water levels. Make no mistake, these guys can flat out fly fish and they work hard at it! They caught a bunch of fish including several really stud Brown Trout and a special Rainbow. The big fish all took a #16 Original Ebbie on the last day of the trip.
This is a group of old friends that obviously enjoy each others company. We enjoyed shore lunches of grilled chicken cordon blue sandwiches, brats and chili dogs while we all told and listened to lots of great fly fishing stories. It could not have been a better three days and we certainly look forward to the next visit from our St. Louis crew.
“Life is Good on the Fly!”
CADDIS
We had a great group for our Montana trip this year and it was really nice to get out of our hot Arkansas summer weather and into the beautiful fall like weather in the mountains outside Missoula, Montana. We fished the Blackfoot, Clark Fork and Bitterroot Rivers all of which were quite low. Montana had an early and fast snow melt this year with a quick runoff and really not a lot summer rain so it is a low water fall. Regardless we fished hard and were well rewarded with some really nice Cutthroats, Rainbows, Browns and some amazing Bull Trout. We will save the Bull Trout stories for a later post.
The October Caddis were in full force and a dropper of a RG/PT Cruiser was a steady producer. Hopper-dropper rigs also produced well and the early afternoons gave us some wonderful Blue Winged Olive hatches. Getting to fish dry flys with 4X and 5X tippet is a real treat for us Arkansas boys who are used to having to go to 6x and 7X tippet on our dry fly rigs. Oh yeah, we did not forget about the streamer fishing which even on low water stuck some good Browns and Bull Trout; but the Bull Trout are for another post.
We rented a great house on the Bitterroot River near Lolo Creek and of course Tom Hawthorne, the Ozark Angler, (www.ozarkangler.com) served as the official chef for the group. Tom’s world famous spaghetti sauce was again a highlight of the trip! Clayton Paddie is an Arkansas native and he and Trent were classmates at the UofA. Clayton and Adam Spenner of Missoula Troutfitters provided the guide service and all of their guides did a wonderful job. If you are going to be fly fishing out of Missoula, Montana be sure to check their Facebook Page @missoulatroutfitters. They will do a great job for you.
We again celebrated Trent’s birthday during our Montana fly fishing adventure. We are getting really good a finding the most out-of-the-way bars in Montana. Sump’s Bar in Twin Bridges, Mt., a couple of years ago was classic and this year we found Lumber Jack’s Saloon outside Lolo, Mt. To say it is outside Lolo, Mt., is an understatement. It is way outside of Lolo down a dirt road that you would swear was going to end up at the place in the movie, A River Runs Through It, where Brad Pitt went to gamble. It is an amazing log structure that was the place for all the loggers to gather after a hard day of cutting trees fifty years ago. The old gentleman that owns it has sold it three times since 1994 and just got it back for the third time which will hopefully be the charm. The place is really unique and some of the best fried chicken I have ever eaten. Just the perfect place for a backwoods chicken farmer from Arkansas to celebrate a birthday!
Bull Trout stories to come.
“Life is Good on the Fly!”
Bo
Our good friend , Paul Broddick, just returned from a three month RV trip to Alaska, a staggering 10,000 mile adventure. Last week we had the opportunity to get him back on our home water, The Little Red River, and as usual it did not disappoint. We had a great drift boat float and caught a bunch of nice Rainbows and Brown Trout. For my part, I got to chase the tennis ball all over the river and play with a lot of beautiful fish. Paul kept us entertained with lots of stories about his trip to Alaska and all the beautiful sights of his long journey. I am sure he will be telling us a lot more during the coming weeks of fishing together here on our home water.
“Life is Good on the Fly!”
CADDIS
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What famed comedic actor starred alongside Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour and went on the Road To Singapore, Zanzibar, Morocco, Utopia, Rio, Bali, and ended up in Hong Kong? | OTR Archives - Old Time Radio Network
by oldtimeradio
Jim Eldridge
Parsley Sidings was a BBC Radio sitcom created by Jim Eldridge. It starred Arthur Lowe and Ian Lavender (who were also starring in the television wartime sitcom Dad’s Army at that time), together with Kenneth Connor from the Carry On films.
The scripts are by Jim Eldridge (who would later go on to write for many more series, the most successful being the BBC’s King Street Junior). The show is set in a sleepy out of the way railway station on the main line between London and Birmingham, in the Midlands.
The main characters are the station master, Mr Horace Hepplewhite (played by Arthur Lowe); his son, Bertrand (Ian Lavender); station porter Percy Valentine (Kenneth Connor); Mr Bradshaw, the signalman (also played by Kenneth Connor); and station tannoy announcer Gloria Simpkins (Liz Fraser, who was also in the Carry On films, and appeared in the Dad’s Army feature film). The guest cast in some episodes included Bill Pertwee (also from Dad’s army, appearing in episode 11) and Roger Delgado. The announcer for the programme was Keith Skues.
Parsley Sidings – The 1890 Rocket (1972-01-02)
psid_105 THE 1890 ROCKET_ Parsley Sidings
Arthur Lowe and Ian Lavender
The series was produced by Edward Taylor, and was broadcast on BBC Radio 2. Due to the BBC’s former practice of wiping tapes after the broadcast of a show, only a minority of the 21 episodes produced are still in their archives – Goodbye, Parsley Sidings and The Entente Cordialare aired on BBC 7 occasionally and have always been in the BBC archives, while A Night Out, A Bird in the Hand and The Secret Agent were recovered between 2001 and 2003 as off-air recordings from members of the public. These episodes too have been aired, in early 2007, on BBC 7. All the other episodes are known to exist in private hands.
Many of the voices were acted by Kenneth Connor
In 2008, more episodes were ‘discovered’, including the pilot and “The New Level Crossing”. It is not yet known whether these other episodes will be repeated.
You can hear Parsley Siding on the British Comedy Channel at the following times:
Weekdays at 16:00 GMT
by oldtimeradio
Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis
During the 1940s and early 1950s, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis created some of the most memorable hilarity in the history of entertainment. The Martin and Lewis Radio Show aired on NBC Radio from 1949 through 1953.
The comedy team was comprised of singer Dean Martin (as the “straight man”) and comedian Jerry Lewis as the comedic “foil”. The pair first met in 1945; their debut as a duo occurred at Atlantic City’s 500 Club on July 24/25, 1946.
Before they teamed up Martin was a nightclub singer, while Lewis did a comedy act in which he lip-synched to records. As a team, they worked in nightclubs, on radio and in television and films. In the team’s later years, it was no longer billed by the two men’s surnames alone, as in their early radio work, but by their full names: “Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis.” These separate identities helped them launch successful solo careers after the team’s dissolution.
Inset “Skinny” D’Amato, owner of the 500 Club
In 1945, Martin (born Dino Paul Crocetti in Steubenville, Ohio) met a young comic named Jerry Lewis (born Joseph Levitch, though some sources say Jerome Levitch; from Newark, N.J.) at the Glass Hat Club in New York, where both men were performing. Martin and Lewis’ official debut together occurred at Atlantic City’s 500 Club on July 24, 1946, and they were not a hit. The owner, Skinny D’Amato, warned them that if they didn’t come up with a better act for their second show later that same night, they would be fired.
The Martin & Lewis Show from 7th July 1953, guest Marlene Dietrich
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Huddling together out in the alley behind the club, Lewis and Martin agreed to go for broke, to throw out the pre-scripted gags that hadn’t worked and to basically just improvise their way through the act. Dean sang some songs, and Jerry came out dressed as a busboy, dropping plates and more or less making a shambles of both Martin’s performance and the club’s sense of decorum. They did slapstick, reeled off old vaudeville jokes, and did whatever else popped into their heads at the moment. This time, the audience doubled over in laughter.
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Copacabana Club
Their success at the 500 led to a series of well-paying engagements up and down the Eastern seaboard, culminating with a triumphant run at New York’s Copacabana.
Club patrons were convulsed by the act, which consisted primarily of Lewis interrupting and heckling Martin while he was trying to sing, and ultimately the two of them chasing each other around the stage and having as much fun as possible. The secret, they have both said, is that they essentially ignored the audience and played to one another.
The Martin & Lewis Radio Show went on the air on April 3, 1949, initially without a sponsor. NBC was widely reported to be almost immediately uncomfortable with their contract, which obliged them to pay for the team’s services whether they performed on-air, or not. As things developed, the team didn’t premiere their NBC sustainer until April 3, 1949, essentially getting a free ride from NBC for the first quarter of 1949. The network spent $10,000 per show, paying each star $1,000 a week.
Movie Poster from My Friend Irma
The popular My Friend, Irma film, released in 1949, only added to the buzz over the, by then, well established comics, irrespective of how well they’d been doing their over Radio appearances. Their relatively minor roles in the Irma film, made it even more difficult for NBC to negotiate for lower compensation for the team when their contract came up for renewal for 1950. After further difficulty finding a radio sponsor for their show, The Martin & Lewis Show went off the air after broadcasting what they thought was their last show on January 30, 1950. Though the first series of Martin and Lewis Show programs ended in January of 1950, by the fall of 1950, NBC had re-signed the pair for their Colgate Comedy Hour over Television. The comedy-variety format called for rotating hosts. Beginning that fall, Martin and Lewis began a series of rotating hosting appearances that eventually spanned five years–and 35 appearances.
In an attempt to capitalize on their renewed investment in the comics, NBC reintroduced The Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis Show radio program in the fall of 1951. The revised format returned to its roots, with the team performing sketches and Dean Martin performing one or two musical numbers before introducing their guest star for the remainder of the night’s program. CBS was the first to begin airing both Television and Radio versions of their most popular programming. NBC and ABC soon followed suit and by 1952, American and Canadian audiences were enjoying both Radio and Television versions of many of their favourite programs.
The Martin and Lewis Show eventually ran for seventy-three of a contracted seventy-eight instalments before being finally cancelled in July of 1953.
Martin & Lewis Show from the 19th October, 1951, guest Bing Crosby
MartinLewisShow511019_040_BingCrosby
Martin and Lewis were the hottest act in America during the early ’50s, but the pace and the pressure took their toll. Dean usually had the thankless job of the straight man, and his singing had yet to develop into his unique style of his later years. The critics praised Lewis, and while they admitted that Martin was the best partner he could have, most of them claimed that Lewis was the real talent of the team and could succeed with anyone. It is worth noting that Lewis always praised his partner, and while he appreciated the attention he was getting, he has always said with complete conviction that the act would never have worked without Martin. In the book Dean & Me Lewis calls Martin one of the great comic geniuses of all time.
Dean Martin was becoming tired of scripts limiting him to colourless romantic leads while the stories centered on the antics of Jerry Lewis. Martin also noticed that Lewis was playing comedy scenes for pathos and greed and staging more of the action himself, having lost vision of what their comedy team-up was all about in the first place.
The last straw came when Look gave Martin and Lewis a cover photo—and cropped Martin out of the picture, humiliating Martin. Martin dutifully fulfilled the rest of his movie contract, but put less and less enthusiasm into his work and becoming increasingly disillusioned about his partnership with Lewis, leading to escalating arguments with Lewis. The two finally could not possibly work together, especially when Martin angrily told his partner that he was “nothing to me but a fucking dollar sign.
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Jerry Lewis on his split from Dean Martin
Martin left the act at his first opportunity, on July 25, 1956, ten years to the day after their first official teaming.
While both Martin and Lewis went on to successful solo careers for years neither would comment on the split nor consider a reunion. They made occasional public appearances together between their breakup and 1961 but were not seen together until a surprise appearance by Martin on Lewis’s Labour Day Muscular Dystrophy Telethon in 1976 arranged by Frank Sinatra.
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Frank bringing Dean and Jerry together again in 1976
The pair eventually reconciled in the late 1980s after the death of Martin’s son, Dean Paul Martin. The two men were seen together on stage in Las Vegas when Lewis pushed out Dean’s birthday cake and sang “Happy Birthday” to him. In Lewis’s 2005 book Dean and Me (A Love Story), Lewis wrote of his kinship with Martin, who died in 1995.
The Martin and Lewis Show can be heard on the American Comedy Channel at the following times: Mon – Fri at 06:00 GMT, Saturdays at 18:00 GMT and Sundays at 10:00 GMT
by oldtimeradio
Ed Garner’s Duffy’s Tavern
Duffy’s Tavern was a popular American radio situation comedy which ran for a decade on several networks (CBS, 1941–1942; NBC-Blue Network, 1942–1944; NBC, 1944–1951), concluding with the December 28, 1951 broadcast.
The program often featured celebrity guest stars but always hooked them around the misadventures, get-rich-quick schemes and romantic missteps of the title establishment’s malaprop-prone, metaphor-mixing manager, Archie, portrayed by Ed Gardner, the writer/actor who co-created the series.
In the familiar opening, “When Irish Eyes Are Smiling,” performed either solo on an old-sounding piano or by a larger orchestra, was interrupted by the ring of a telephone and Gardner’s New York accent as he answered, “Hello, Duffy’s Tavern, where the elite meet to eat. Archie the manager speakin’. Duffy ain’t here—oh, hello, Duffy.”
Writer, Actor and Co-creator Ed Gardner
Owner Duffy was never heard over the telephone or seen (in the 1945 film adaptation or the short-lived 1954 TV series). Archie constantly bantered with Duffy’s man-crazy daughter, Miss Duffy (played by several actresses, beginning with Gardner’s real-life first wife, Shirley Booth), and especially with Clifton Finnegan (Charlie Cantor, later Sid Raymond), a likeable soul with several screws loose and a knack for falling for every other salesman’s scam. Eddie the Waiter was played by Eddie Green; the pianist Fats Pichon took over the role after Green’s death in 1950. Hoping to take advantage of the income tax free status of Puerto Rico for future projects, Gardner moved the radio show there in 1949.
The series featured many high-profile guest stars, including Fred Allen, Mel Allen, Nigel Bruce, Billie Burke, Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Boris Karloff, Alan Ladd, Veronica Lake, Peter Lorre, Tony Martin, Marie McDonald, Gene Tierney, Arthur Treacher and Shelley Winters. As the series progressed, Archie slipped in and out of a variety of quixotic, self-imploding plotlines—from writing an opera to faking a fortune to marry an heiress. Such situations mattered less than did the clever depiction of earthbound-but-dreaming New York life and its individualistic, often bizarre characters.
Duffy’s Tavern was Gardner’s creation, and he oversaw its writing intently enough, drawing also on his earlier experience as a successful radio
director. His directing credits included stints for George Burns and Gracie Allen, Ripley’s Believe It or Not, and The Rudy Vallee Hour. Gardner also brought aboard several keen writing talents, including theatric humorist Abe Burrows (the show’s co-creator and head writer for its first five years), future M*A*S*H writer Larry Gelbart and Dick Martin, who later was the co-host of television’s groundbreaking Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In.
Early in the show’s life, however, its name, Duffy’s Tavern, was changed—first to Duffy’s and, for four episodes, Duffy’s Variety. A staffer for Bristol-Myers — whose Ipana toothpaste was the show’s early sponsor—persuaded the company’s publicity director to demand the name change because the original title promoted “the hobby of drinking” too much for certain sensibilities.
DuffysTavern the Movie
Bristol-Myers eventually admitted the staffer had little to go on other than a handful of protesting letters, and—to the delight of fans who never stopped using the original name, anyway—the original title was restored permanently. The name change was often subverted by the Armed Forces Radio Network. When the AFRN rebroadcast those episodes for U.S. servicemen during World War II, the announcer referred to Duffy’s Tavern.
Listen to Duffy’s Tavern on the American Comedy Channel from the ROK Classic Radio Old Time Radio Network!
Listen Now
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Syndicated in January 1955. The TV edition wasn’t as successful as the long-running radio show. It lasted just one season!
by oldtimeradio
Much Binding
During WW2, there was a radio show for the Services called “Merry Go Round which comprised of three separate series: one for the Army, one for the Navy, and one for the Royal Air Force. These rotated, so that each was heard once every three weeks. The Army show was “Studio Stand Easy”, starring comedian Charlie Chester.
He was actually an Army Sergeant when the show was conceived, having been called-up following the outbreak of war. Unbelievably, he was actually ordered by his commanding officer to write a smash-hit radio show! This, he later remarked wryly, was easier said than done. But he was a first rate comedian, who, like Kenneth Horne, continued to be very successful on radio well into the 1960s.
The Navy’s contribution to “Merry Go Round”, initially entitled “H.M.S. Waterlogged”, starred light comedian
Kenneth Horne, Richard Murdoch, Maureen Riscoe, Sam Costa & Maurice Deham.
Eric Barker, supported by Jon Pertwee (who was later to have big successes in the BBC radio comedy “The Navy Lark” and on television as the third Doctor Who).
After the war, “H.M.S. Waterlogged” evolved into “Waterlogged Spa”, with the Naval Base becoming a health spa as the show continued into the post-war period. Many of the characters who Pertwee played in this show would later reappear in “The Navy Lark” in the 1960s!
The Air Force show, “Much Binding in the Marsh”, was the most successful of these, to judge by how long it lasted.
Richard Murdoch and Arthur Askey on Bandwagon
Broadcast by the BBC and Radio Luxembourg from 1944 to 1954, Much-Binding-in-the-Marsh was a radio comedy about a fictional RAF station which starred Richard Murdoch, who had previously appeared alongside Arthur Askey in the pre-war “Band Waggon”, and Kenneth Horne, who is now remembered mainly for his 1960s heyday in the two satirical successes “Beyond Our Ken” and “Round the Horne”.
During the run of the show, the RAF station changed from combat operations, to becoming a country and finally a newspaper, The Weekly Bind. The programme’s title is thought to have been inspired by the RAF station at Moreton-in-Marsh. The word “binding”, was RAF slang for moaning or complaining.
One of the most fondly remembered parts of the show was the closing theme tune, which was unique each week as topical lyrics referring to the plot of the episode were written and sung by members of the cast. Other cast members included Sam Costa, Maurice Denham, Maureen Riscoe, Dora Bryan and Nicholas Parsons.
Up the Pole from the 1st November 1948 (only known surviving episode)
Up The Pole – Nov 1 1948
Musical interludes were provided by Stanley Black and the Dance Orchestra, and songs from Helen Hill. The cast were occasionally joined by special guests; a prominent example of this was the Hollywood star Alan Ladd. Maurice Denham in particular played an important part in the programme, playing a multitude of roles of varying gender and age. These included Mr. Blake the Sexton (the name a homage to the fictional detective
Crooner, Sam Costa
Sexton Blake), the local Vicar, Mrs Dinsdale, young Percy and others.
The BBC cancelled the show in 1950 and it was transferred to Radio Luxembourg but returned to the BBC in 1951 until its run ended in 1954.
In 1970, two of its stars (Murdoch and Costa) appeared on several episodes of Frost on Sunday where they performed more comical lyrics to the theme tune. The show is also sometimes said to have popularised the term “Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells” for newspaper correspondents.
Kenneth Horne and Sam Costa subsequently reprised their roles from Much-Binding-in-the-Marsh in an episode of Men from the Ministry first broadcast on 21 April 1968 entitled Four Men in a Wellington. Although not specifically mentioned, the response of the audience and Sam Costa’s catchphrase ‘Good morning Sir, was there something?’ are obvious references to Much-Binding-in-the-Marsh.
HMS Waterlogged from Merry-Go-Round (8th August 1948)
“Good morning Sir, was there something?” – Sam Costa, batman
“Oh, I say, I am a fool!”
“Have you read any good books lately?”
“Leave it with me, sir”
“Leave it with him, sir”
“Would you like to see my puppies?”
“Not a word to Bessie”
“Did I ever tell you about the time I was in Sidi Barrani?”
Live broadcast of Much Binding in the Marsh (Copyright British Pathe)
Little of the BBC’s radio output of the 1940s has survived, as most shows were broadcast live and were not recorded. The 78 rpm disk recording technology, which was all that was available prior to the development of tape recording, resulted in sound quality that was significantly worse than a live broadcast, so it was better not to fill the air-time with recordings, and being a non-commercial broadcaster the BBC had no financial incentive to preserve its output.
Those factors have made BBC recordings from this period rare. Luckily a few episodes of of Much Binding in the Marsh exist and can be heard every Saturday on the British Comedy Channel at 23:30 GMT
by oldtimeradio
Ray Bradbury, one of the world’s greatest science-fiction writers, has died at the age of 91.
Famed for penning titles such as ‘Fahrenheit 451’, ‘The Martian Chronicles’ and ‘Something Wicked This Way Comes’, Bradbury passed away on Tuesday night in Southern California.
Born Ray Douglas Bradbury in Waukegan, Illinois, the acclaimed author wrote nearly 600 short stories and the 1956 film version of ‘Moby Dick’ and TV series ‘The Twilight Zone.’
In 2007, Bradbury received a special Pulitzer Prize citation “for his distinguished, prolific and deeply influential career as an unmatched author of science fiction and fantasy.”
Bradbury’s grandson, Danny Karapetian, shared his thoughts on his grandfather’s death with the Website io9.com.
“If I had to make any statement, it would be how much I love and miss him, and I look forward to hearing everyone’s memories about him,” he said.
“He influenced so many artists, writers, teachers, scientists, and it’s always really touching and comforting to hear their stories.
“Your stories. His legacy lives on in his monumental body of books, film, television and theater, but more importantly, in the minds and hearts of anyone who read him, because to read him was to know him. He was the biggest kid I know.”
Many have taken to the Twittersphere to remember his work.
English screenwriter and novelist Mark Gatiss tweeted: “RIP Ray Bradbury. A dazzling, incredibly humane imagination like no other.”
TV personality Jonathan Ross posted: “The GREAT Ray Bradbury has left the planet. When I was younger I read no one else. Was lucky enough to shake his hand. R is for RIP.”
American film critic Roger Ebert tweeted: “Ray Bradbury has died. “The Pedestrian” is one of the most famous of all short stories. Read it here. Uncanny prophecy.”
Hollywood actress Mia Farrow also paid tribute – tweeting: “You’ve got to jump off cliffs all the time and build your wings on the way down. Ray Bradbury”
Twitter feeds have also been filling up with memorable Bradbury quotes, including: “You don’t have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them,” and: “We are cups, constantly and quietly being filled. The trick is knowing how to tip ourselves over & let the beautiful stuff out.”
Bradbury’s death was announced by his daughter Alexandra Bradbury, who gave no further details.
by oldtimeradio
Galaxy Magazine
X Minus One was a 30 minute science fiction radio drama series broadcast from April 24, 1955 to January 9, 1958
on NBC. It ran for a total of 125 episodes ( episode guide ) with one pilot or audition story.
Initially a revival of NBC’s Dimension X (1950–51), the first 15 episodes of X Minus One were new versions of Dimension X episodes but the stories for the remaining shows came from two of the most popular science fiction magazines at the time; Astounding and Galaxy. Adaptations of these stories were performed by Ernest Kinoy and George Lefferts. They even wrote a few original stories of their own. The writers of the magazine stories were not well known then but now are the giants of today. These stories came from the minds of Ray Bradbury, Isaac Asimov, and Poul Anderson to name a few.
Included in the series were adaptations of Robert Sheckley’s “Skulking Permit,” Bradbury’s “Mars Is Heaven,” Heinlein’s “Universe” and “The Green Hills of Earth”, ” Pohl’s “The Tunnel under the World,” J. T. McIntosh’s “Hallucination Orbit,” Fritz Leiber’s “A Pail of Air” and George Lefferts’ “The Parade.”
Ernest Kinoy
The program opened with announcer Fred Collins delivering the countdown, leading into the following introduction (although later shows were partnered with Galaxy Science Fiction rather than Astounding Science Fiction):
Countdown for blastoff… X minus five, four, three, two, X minus one… Fire! [Rocket launch SFX] From the far horizons of the unknown come transcribed tales of new dimensions in time and space. These are stories of the future; adventures in which you’ll live in a million could-be years on a thousand may-be worlds.
The National Broadcasting Company, in cooperation with Street and Smith, publishers of Astounding Science Fiction presents… X Minus One.
George Lefferts with actress Kim Hunter.
The series was canceled after the 126th broadcast on January 9, 1958. However, the early 1970s brought a wave of nostalgia for old-time radio; a new experimental episode, “The Iron Chancellor” by Robert Silverberg, was created in 1973, but it failed to revive the series.
NBC also tried broadcasting the old recordings, but their irregular once-monthly scheduling kept even devoted listeners from following the broadcasts.
Episodes based on stories by famous writers
Philip K Dick – “The Defenders”, “Colony”
An Interview with Philip K. Dick (1976)
Ray Bradbury – “And The Moon Be Still As Bright”, “Mars is Heaven”, “The Veldt”, “Dwellers in Silence”, “Zero Hour”, “To the Future”, “Marionettes, Inc.”, “There Will Come Soft Rains”
X-Minus 1 – Mars is Heaven (1955-05-08)
Isaac Asimov – “Nightfall”, “C-Chute”, “Hostess”
Robert A. Heinlein – “Universe”, “The Green Hills of Earth”, “Requiem”, “The Roads Must Roll”
L. Sprague de Camp – “A Gun for a Dinosaur”
X-Minus 1 – A Gun for a Dinosaur (1956-03-07 )
http://archive.org/download/OTRR_X_Minus_One_Singles/XMinusOne56-03-07041AGunForDinosaur.mp3
This series has survived from its original airing in high quality to be enjoyed today on the Science Fiction and Supernatural Channel at the following times: Weekdays at 03:00, 14:30, 20:30 GMT – Saturdays at 10:00, 15:30 GMT and Sundays at 06:00 and 16:00 GMT
by oldtimeradio
Leslie Townes Hope
The facts surrounding the multi-decade, multi-generational success of Bob Hope are irrefutable. He was a resounding success — a true star — on the Broadway stage, in movies, on radio, and television, staying with NBC in the latter two ventures for over half-a-century. He appeared in over 70 movies in a film career that spanned four decades. He logged over six million miles entertaining troops in both war and peace time, becoming a goodwill ambassador to every country he traveled to. He became an American show business icon and perhaps one of the richest entertainers this country ever produced, the cable and video age notwithstanding.
Bob Hope, KBE, KCSG, KSS (born Leslie Townes Hope; May 29, 1903 – July 27, 2003) was a British-born American comedian and actor who appeared in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in radio, television and movies. He was also noted for his work with the US Armed Forces and his numerous USO shows entertaining American military personnel. Throughout his long career, he was honored for his humanitarian work. In 1996, the U.S. Congress honored Bob Hope by declaring him the “first and only honorary veteran of the U.S. armed forces.”
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Hope was born in Eltham, London, England, the fifth of seven sons. His English father, William Henry Hope, was a stonemason from Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, and his Welsh mother, Avis Townes, was a light opera singer from Barry, a small town outside Cardiff, Wales. The family emigrated to the United States aboard the SS Philadelphia, and passed inspection at Ellis Island on March 30, 1908. Hope became a U.S. citizen in 1920 at the age of 17.
A Young Bob Hope
From the age of 12, Hope worked at a variety of odd jobs at a local boardwalk. He would busk, doing dance and comedy patter to make extra money (frequently on the trolley to Luna Park). He entered many dancing and amateur talent contests (as Lester Hope), and won prizes for his impersonation of Charlie Chaplin. Hope also boxed briefly and unsuccessfully under the name Packy East (after the popular Packey McFarland), once making it to the semifinals of the Ohio novice championship.
Silent film comedian Fatty Arbuckle saw one of Hope’s performances with his first partner, Lloyd “Lefty” Durbin, and in 1925 got the pair steady work with Hurley’s Jolly Follies. Within a year, Hope had formed an act called the Dancemedians with George Byrne and the Hilton Sisters, conjoined twins who had a tap dancing routine. Hope and his partner, George Byrne, had an act as a pair of Siamese twins as well, and both danced and sang while wearing blackface, before friends advised Hope that he was funnier as himself. In 1929, he changed his first name to “Bob”. In one version of the story, he named himself after racecar driver Bob Burman. In another, he said he chose Bob because he wanted a name with a friendly “Hiya, Fellas!” sound to it.
The Big Broadcast 1938
Hope, like other stage performers, made his first films in New York. Educational Pictures employed him in 1934 for a short-subject comedy, Going Spanish. Hope sealed his fate with Educational when Walter Winchell asked him about the film. Hope cracked, “When they catch John Dillinger, they’re going to make him sit through it twice.” Educational fired him, but he was soon before the cameras at New York’s Vitaphone studio starring in 20-minute comedies and musicals from 1934 through 1936, beginning with Paree, Paree (1934).
Paramount Pictures signed Hope for the 1938 film The Big Broadcast of 1938, also starring W. C. Fields. During a duet with Shirley Ross as accompanied by Shep Fields and his orchestra, Hope introduced the song later to become his trademark, “Thanks for the Memory”, which became a major hit and was praised by critics.
Hope became one of Paramount’s biggest stars, and would remain with the studio through the 1950s. Hope’s regular appearances in Hollywood films and radio made him one of the best known entertainers in North America, and at the height of his career he was also making a large income from live concert performances. He was both a world-class singer and dancer, introducing many major songs during the course of his career, including the Oscar-winning “Buttons and Bows” in The Paleface (1948), his biggest hit song by far, and he matched James Cagney’s bravura dancing during the tabletop showdown sequence in The Seven Little Foys (1955).
Bob Hope and the Clark Sisters – Button & Bows (October 14, 1948)
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The Glamorous Dorothy Lamour
As a movie star, he was best known for comedies like My Favorite Brunette and the highly successful “Road” movies in which he starred with Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour. Hope had seen Lamour as a nightclub singer in New York, and invited her to work on his USO tours. Lamour is said to have arrived for filming prepared with her lines, only to be baffled by completely re-written scripts from Hope’s writers without studio permission. Hope and Lamour were lifelong friends, and she remains the actress most associated with his film career. The series consists of Road to Singapore (1940), Road to Zanzibar (1941), Road to Morocco (1942), Road to Utopia (1946), Road to Rio (1947), Road to Bali (1952), and The Road to Hong Kong (1962). Hope’s other leading ladies included Paulette Goddard, Katharine Hepburn, Hedy Lamarr, Lucille Ball, Jane Russell, Betty Grable, Betty Hutton, Arlene Dahl, Rosemary Clooney, Eva Marie Saint, Rhonda Fleming, Lana Turner, Anita Ekberg, and Elke Sommer.
** Click on the Poster to Watch the Film **
Hope’s informal teaming with Bing Crosby for the seven “Road” pictures from 1940 to 1962 and countless stage, radio, and television appearances together over the decades were critically important to Hope’s career. At the beginning of the “Road” series, Broadway star Hope was relatively little known nationally compared to Crosby, and was actually billed under Dorothy Lamour in the first film, while Crosby had already been a hugely popular singer and movie star for years. After the release of Road to Singapore (1940), Hope’s screen career immediately became white hot and stayed that way for over two decades, actually continuing until Cancel My Reservation (1972), his last theatrical starring role. Bing Crosby and Bob Hope became linked in public perception to the extent that it became difficult to think of one without the other even though they actually conducted predominately separate careers. They had planned one more movie together, The Road to the Fountain of Youth, until Crosby’s demise abruptly intervened.
Great Dance Routine: James Cagney and Bob Hope – Movie: The Seven Little Foys (1955)
Hope starred in fifty-two theatrical features altogether between 1938 and 1972, not to mention cameos and short films, and frequently stated that his movies were the most important part of his career. Some notable examples include College Swing (1938; with George Burns, Gracie Allen, and Betty Grable), Some Like It Hot (1939; with Shirley Ross and Gene Krupa), The Ghost Breakers (1940, with Paulette Goddard), The Paleface (1948; with Jane Russell), Sorrowful Jones (1949; with Lucille Ball), The Seven Little Foys (1955; with James Cagney as George M. Cohan), The Iron Petticoat (1956; with Katharine Hepburn), and Beau James (1957; with Hope as James J. Walker).
Bob Hope on NBC
Hope first appeared on television in 1932 during a test transmission from an experimental CBS studio in New York. In January 1947, Hope was master of ceremonies for the first telecast by California’s first television station, KTLA. His career in broadcasting spanned 64 years and included a long association with NBC.
Hope made his network radio debut in 1937 on NBC. His first regular series for NBC Radio was the Woodbury Soap Hour. A year later, The Pepsodent Show Starring Bob Hope began, continuing as The New Swan Show in 1948 (for the same sponsor, Lever Brothers). After 1950, the series was known simply as The Bob Hope Show, with Liggett & Myers (1950–52), General Foods (1953) and American Dairy Association (1953–55) as his sponsors, until it finally went off the air in April 1955.
The Bob Hope Show (Pepsodent) with guest Frank Sinatra (1945)
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In October 1996, Hope announced, via a press release, that he was ending his 60-year contract with NBC, joking that he “decided to become a free agent”. His final television special, Laughing with the Presidents, was broadcast in November 1996, with Tony Danza helping Hope present a personal retrospective of presidents of the United States known to the comedian. The special received mixed reviews, mostly due to the weakening appearance and speech of the 93-year old Hope. Bob Hope’s last TV appearance was in a 1997 K-Mart commercial directed by Penny Marshall.
RMS Queen Mary
Hope’s first wartime performance occurred at sea. Aboard the RMS Queen Mary when World War II began in September 1939, he went to the captain to volunteer to perform a special show for the panicked passengers, during which he sang “Thanks for the Memory” with rewritten lyrics. Hope performed his first United Service Organizations (USO) show on May 6, 1941, at March Field, California. He continued to travel and entertain troops for the rest of World War II and later during the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the third phase of the Lebanon Civil War, the latter years of the Iran–Iraq War, and the 1990–1991 Persian Gulf War. When overseas he almost always performed in Army fatigues as a show of support for his audience. Hope’s USO career lasted half a century, during which he headlined approximately 60 tours. For his service to his country through the USO, he was awarded the Sylvanus Thayer Award by the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1968.
Honorary Veteran Bob Hope
A 1997 act of Congress signed by President Clinton named Hope an “Honorary Veteran.” He remarked, “I’ve been given many awards in my lifetime — but to be numbered among the men and women I admire most — is the greatest honor I have ever received.”
Hope appeared in so many theaters of war over the decades that it was often cracked (in Bob Hope style) that “Where there’s death, there’s Hope”.
As Hope entered his ninth decade, he showed no signs of slowing down and continued appearing in numerous television specials. He was given an 80th birthday party in 1983 at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. which was attended by President Ronald Reagan. In 1985, he was presented with the Life Achievement Award at the Kennedy Center Honors. He was presented with the Ronald Reagan Freedom Award in 1997 by Nancy Reagan. The following year, Hope was appointed an honorary Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II. Upon accepting the appointment, Hope quipped, “I’m speechless. 70 years of ad lib material and I’m speechless.”
Bob Hope Gallery of American Entertainment at the Library of Congress
At the age of 95, Hope made an appearance at the 50th anniversary of the Primetime Emmy Awards with Milton Berle and Sid Caesar. Two years later, Hope was present at the opening of the Bob Hope Gallery of American Entertainment at the Library of Congress. The Library of Congress has immortalized Bob Hope’s life with two major exhibitions – “Hope for America: Performers, Politics and Pop Culture” and “Bob Hope and American Variety.” Hope celebrated his 100th birthday on May 29, 2003. He is among a small group of notable centenarians in the field of entertainment. To mark this event, the intersection of Hollywood and Vine in Los Angeles, California was named Bob Hope Square and his centennial was declared Bob Hope Day in 35 states. Even at 100, Hope was said to have maintained his self-deprecating sense of humor, quipping, “I’m so old, they’ve canceled my blood type.” He converted to Roman Catholicism.
Hope had premature obituaries on two separate occasions. In 1998, a prepared obituary by The Associated Press was inadvertently released on the Internet, prompting Hope’s death to be announced in the U.S. House of Representatives. In 2003 he was among several famous figures whose pre-written obituaries were published on CNN’s website because of a lapse in password protection.
Beginning in 2000, Hope’s health steadily declined and he was hospitalized several times before his death. In June 2000, he spent nearly a week in a California hospital after being hospitalized for gastrointestinal bleeding. In August 2001, he spent close to two weeks in the hospital recovering from pneumonia.
Bob Hopes Grave
On July 27, 2003, Bob Hope died at his home in Toluca Lake at 9:28 p.m. According to the Soledad O’Brien interview with Hope’s grandson Zach Hope, when asked on his deathbed where he wanted to be buried, Hope told his wife, “Surprise me.” He was interred in the Bob Hope Memorial Garden at San Fernando Mission Cemetery in Los Angeles, where his mother is also buried.
Your can hear the Bob Hope Show every Sunday at 09:30 GMT on the American Comedy Channel
by oldtimeradio
Les Dawson (On the Left) 🙂
Leslie “Les” Dawson was an extremely popular English comedian remembered for his deadpan style, curmudgeonly persona and jokes about his mother-in-law and wife.
His career as an entertainer began as a pianist in a Parisian brothel, that is if you are to believe his very entertaining but factually unreliable autobiography.
Even though he was an accomplished pianist, he found that he got laughs by playing wrong notes and complaining to the audience.
He made his television debut on the talent show Opportunity Knocks in 1967 and became a prominent comic on British television and radio for the rest of his life.
Before his fame, Les Dawson wrote poetry but kept it secret. It was not expected that someone of his working class background would harbour such literary ambitions. In a BBC TV documentary about his life, he spoke of his love for some canonical figures in English literature, in particular the 19th Century essayist Charles Lamb, whose somewhat florid style influenced Dawson’s own.
His love of language influenced many of his comedy routines – for example one otherwise fairly routine joke began with the line “I was vouchsafed this vision by a pockmarked Lascar in the arms of a frump in a Huddersfield bordello…” He was also a master of painting a beautiful word picture and then letting the audience down with a bump: “The other day I was gazing up at the night sky, a purple vault fretted with a myriad points of light twinkling in wondrous formation, while shooting stars streaked across the heavens, and I thought: I really must repair the roof on this toilet.”
Les with Roy Barraclough as Ada & Cissy
Dawson wrote many novels but was always regarded solely as an entertainer in the public imagination, and this saddened him. He told his second wife, Tracey, “Always remind them – I was a writer too”.
Having broken his jaw in a boxing match, Dawson was able to pull grotesque faces by pulling his jaw over his upper lip. This incident is described in the first volume of Dawson’s autobiography A Clown Too Many.
He was married to Margaret from 25 June 1960 until her death on 15 April 1986 from cancer. They had had three children: Julie, Pamela and Stuart. He married Tracy on 6 May 1989, despite worries that his show-business contemporaries and the public would object, as she was 17 years younger. They had a daughter, Charlotte, who was born on 3 October 1992.
Les & Tracy with baby Charlotte
Dawson starred in a radio sketch show Listen to Les, which was broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in the 1970s and 1980s. Television series in which he appeared included Sez Les for Yorkshire Television, The Dawson Watch for the BBC, written by Andy Hamilton and Terry Ravenscroft, The Les Dawson Show, written by Terry Ravenscroft, Dawson’s Weekly, Joker’s Wild (1969–73) and the quiz show Blankety Blank, which he presented for some years. His final TV appearance was on the LWT series Surprise, Surprise hosted by Cilla Black, when he sang a comical rendition of “I Got You Babe” with a woman from the audience who wanted to fulfil a wish to sing with him.
One of his last television appearances came on 23 December 1992, when he appeared as special guest in the TV guest show This Is Your Life – 21 years after previously appearing as the show’s special guest, making him one of the few people to appear on the show twice.
On 10 June 1993, during a check-up at a hospital in Whalley Range, Manchester, Les Dawson died suddenly after suffering a heart attack. Many comedians and other celebrities attended a memorial service for him at Westminster Abbey on 24 February 1994.
Bronze statue of Les Dawson by Graham Ibbeson
On 23 October 2008, 15 years after his death, a bronze statue of Dawson, by sculptor Graham Ibbeson, was unveiled by his widow Tracy and daughter Charlotte. The statue stands in the ornamental gardens next to the pier in St-Anne’s-on-Sea, Lancashire, where Dawson had lived for many years.
Classic Les Dawson Mother-in-Law Jokes
“I can always tell when the mother in law’s coming to stay… the mice throw themselves on the traps.”
“My mother-in-law said ‘one day I will dance on your grave’. I said ‘I hope you do, I will be buried at sea.”
“My mother-in-law has come round to our house at Christmas seven years running. This year we’re having a change. We’re going to let her in.”
A very funny, down to earth, lovely man missed by many. Listen to Les, the radio show can be heard on the British Comedy Channel each weekday at 18:00 GMT
Happy Listening 🙂
Arnova 7 G2 from Archos
Arnova 7 G2 from Archos
Just like to let you into a little secret and a great bargain to boot. If you are considering a Android pad or tablet and don’t want to spend a fortune, you could do allot worse than consider this sub £100 (160 USD) 7inch tablet. The G7 has a nifty little ARM Cortex A8 1GHz processor and runs under Android Gingerbread 2.3. It plays flash, streaming audio and video and has a very receptive display, a real bargain if you ask me! Tune-In Radio works great on this tab!
The real issue I had was that Google Apps and Android Market were missing from the offering (Arnova have installed a basically useless app called AppsLib) and I literally pulled out my hair trying to find a way to install Google Apps and Android Market on this tablet. But now I have cracked it and I have worked out how to install both app suites onto this discount tablet, so I thought I would share the knowledge as during my searches i have seen so many people searching for the same solution 🙂
Install Android Market and Gmail Apps on the Arnova 7 G2
I first upgraded my firmware to the latest version from the official site (this may not be necessary though) link to firmware page
I have zipped the required files here, they have been scanned using Avast and are virus free! [wpdm_file id=1]
If you do not want to register to download the files, just like this page (If you have Facebook) and the download link will apear.
[like-gate]
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FILES
[/like-gate]
Extract the .apk files, transfer the files to your Arnova using the USB cable and then install the apks using file manager in this exact order:
1.Google Services Framework
| Bob Hope |
What hard candy, with a hole in the middle, comes in a foil roll and features the 5 standard flavors of cherry, pineapple, raspberry, watermelon, and orange? | WorldStart Tech & Computer Help Forums - Today in history.
119th day of 2007 - 246 remaining.
Sunday, April 29, 2007
SIR DUKE DAY.
The man who became one of the twentieth century�s finest composers, Edward Kennedy Ellington, was born on this day in 1899 in Washington, D.C. Right from the git-go, the handsome, sharply dressed teenager (that�s where he got the nickname, Duke) was headed for success.
At first it was art. He won a poster-design contest and an art scholarship, left school and started a sign-painting business.
But it was his natural piano-playing ability that attracted the young women, so Duke Ellington headed in that direction. He played with Elmer Snowden�s band and took over leadership in 1925. They played and stayed at New York�s Cotton Club from 1927 through 1931, broadcasting shows live on the radio. From then on it was tours, recordings, and history in the making. Ellington would be one of the founders of big band jazz.
With the players in his band as his instruments, the Duke would create big band pieces, film scores, operas, ballets, Broadway shows, even gospel music. He would work with each section of his orchestra as an entity unto its own and then bring them together to create the unique sounds such as, Mood Indigo. Over 1,000 musical pieces are credited to the great Duke Ellington. James Lincoln Collier studied the Duke and his Orchestra, comparing Duke Ellington to a �master chef who plans the menus, trains the assistants, supervises them, tastes everything, adjusts the spices ... and in the end we credit him with the result.�
Andre Previn said, �Duke merely lifts his finger, three horns make a sound, and I don�t know what it is.�
According to Duke Ellington, who died in 1974, �There are only two kinds of music: good and bad.�
Events
1813 - A patent for rubber was given to J.F. Hummel of Philadelphia, PA.
1864 - Theta Xi, a professional fraternity, was founded -- in Troy, NY.
1879 - Electric arc lights were used for the first time -- in Cleveland, OH.
1941 - The Boston Bees agreed to rename the National League team the Braves, the name they used prior to 1935.
1945 - American soldiers liberated the Nazi concentration camp in Dachau, Germany, where tens of thousands of people had perished.
1953 - Coke Time with Eddie Fisher began its TV and radio run on NBC-TV and Mutual radio. Fisher, a popular performer, was seen and heard on more TV and radio stations in 1954 than any other entertainer. Oh, my! (Papa)
1954 - Ernest Borgnine made his network television debut in Night Visitor on Ford Theatre on NBC-TV. The versatile film (Marty) star would later become a sitcom sensation in McHale�s Navy with comedian Tim Conway on CBS and, later, as a helicopter owner in Airwolf.
1959 - UNIVAC, the electronic computer that was the size of a house, actually picked four out of six winners at Churchill Downs in Louisville, KY. The electronic brain set a record for right choices in horse races. Of course, the winners all paid 2-1 or even odds, so it didn�t win much. But, most of us don�t...
1960 - Dick Clark told a House of Representatives investigating committee looking into the payola scandal that he, the host of American Bandstand, never took payola for records featured on his daily TV show. Clark would, however, relinquish rights to music publishing that he owned. The value of those rights, Clark indicated 30 years later, amounted to about $80 million.
1961 - �Spanning the globe ... to bring you the constant variety of sport, the constant variety of human competition, the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. This is ABC�s Wide World of Sports.� A Saturday afternoon sports program began its long run on ABC-TV. The show, featuring Jim McKay as host, along with Howard Cosell, Frank Gifford, Al Michaels, Jack Whitaker, Heywood Hale Brun and others, was not an immediate hit. Although Roone Arledge�s vision of a worldwide window on televised sports got off to a slow start, ABC�s Wide World of Sports became one of TV�s most popular and enduring programs.
1968 - Hair made its way from Greenwich Village to to the Biltmore Theatre on Broadway. The show certainly opened eyes. It was the first time that actors appeared nude in a Broadway musical. Hair ran for 1,844 shows on and off Broadway. It was even more successful in its London run later. Big songs from the show: Hair (The Cowsills) and Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In (The 5th Dimension).
1969 - Sir Duke, Duke Ellington, celebrated his 70th birthday. He was honored with the presentation of the Medal of Freedom, the U.S. government�s highest civilian honor.
1974 - Phil Donahue�s TV show was on the move. Donahue was moving to Chicago, IL, where it would remain until 1985. The show was originally based in Dayton, OH. Following more than a decade in the Windy City, the show again moved, this time to New York City. During its stay in Chicago, Donahue earned nine Emmy Awards.
1981 - Steve Carlton, the Philadelphia Phillies pitcher, became the first left hander in the major leagues to get 3,000 career strikeouts. He fanned Montreal�s Tim Wallach in the first inning of a game that saw the Phillies beat the Expos 6-2. Carlton was only the sixth major leaguer to strikeout 3,000 batters.
1985 - George Steinbrenner, owner of the New York Yankees, fired manager Yogi Berra. Berra was canned after only 16 games into the young baseball season. In his place, Steinbrenner brought Billy Martin back ... for the fourth time.
1986 - Roger Clemens of the Boston Red Sox set a major-league baseball record by striking out 20 Seattle Mariner batters on the way to a 3-2 win. This record for the Bosox hurler surpassed the 19 strikeouts for a nine-inning game held by Nolan Ryan when he pitched for the California Angels. Tom Seaver of the New York Mets and Steve Carlton of the St. Louis Cardinals also held a piece of the previous 19-KO record.
2005 - (Thanks to Jill Brown [[email protected]]): JAG ended it�s ten-season TV run with a flip of a coin -- frozen in mid air -- that still leaves us wondering if it was Harm, or was it Mac (Sara), who gave up their career in order for the couple to be together.
Birthdays
Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court [3rd to be selected]; died Nov 26, 1807
1863 - William Randolph Hearst
publisher of U.S. newspapers and magazines; influenced the establishment of comic strips; built San Simeon estate; subject of biography, Citizen Kane; grandfather of Patricia Hearst; died Aug 14, 1951
1899 - Duke (Edward Kennedy) Ellington
musician, composer, bandleader; died May 24, 1974; see Sir Duke Day [above]
1901 - Hirohito
Japan�s longest-reigning emperor; died Jan 7, 1989
1907 - Fred Zinnemann
Academy Award-winning director: High Noon [1952], From Here to Eternity [1953], A Man for All Seasons [1966]; died Mar 14, 1997
1909 - Tom Ewell (Samuel Yewell Tompkins)
Tony Award-winning actor: The Seven Year Itch [1953]; The Tom Ewell Show, Easy Money; died Sep 12, 1994
1912 - Richard Carlson
actor: I Led Three Lives, MacKenzie�s Raiders, Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Doomsday Flight, Tormented; died Nov 24, 1977
1915 - Donald Mills
singer: group: The Mills Brothers: Tiger Rag, Nobody�s Sweetheart, Dinah, Paper Doll, Glow Worm, You Always Hurt the One You Love, Cab Driver; died Nov 13, 1999
1918 - George Allen
football: head coach: LA Rams, Washington Redskins [Super Bowl VII]: �Losing is like death.�; sportscaster; died Dec 31, 1990
1919 - Celeste Holm
Academy Award-winning actress: Gentlemen�s Agreement [1947]; All About Eve, High Society, The Tender Trap, Three Men and a Baby
1925 - Danny Davis (George Nowland)
Grammy Award-winning bandleader: group: Danny Davis and the Nashville Brass: Best Country Instrumental Performance [1969]; Country Music Awards Instrumental Group of the Year [1969 - 1974]
1928 - Carl Gardner
singer: group: The Coasters: Down in Mexico, Searchin�, Young Blood, Yakety Yak, Charlie Brown, Along Came Jones, Poison Ivy, Little Egypt
1929 - Mickey (Maurice Joseph �Maury�) McDermott
baseball: pitcher: Boston Red Sox, Washington Nationals, NY Yankees [World Series: 1956], KC Athletics, Detroit Tigers, SL Cardinals; died Aug 7, 2003
1931 - (Anthony James) Lonnie Donegan
folk singer, musician: guitar, banjo: Rock Island Line, Gambling Man, Cumberland Gap, Lost John, Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavour [On the Bedpost Overnight]; died Nov 3, 2002
1933 - Keith Baxter
actor: Berlin Blues, Ash Wednesday, Chimes at Midnight
1933 - Rod McKuen
singer: If You Go Away; poet-song writer
1934 - Luis Aparicio (Luis Ernesto Montiel)
Baseball Hall of Fame shortstop: Chicago White Sox [AL Rookie of the Year: 1956/all-star: 1958-1962, 1970/World Series: 1959], Baltimore Orioles [all-star: 1963, 1964, 1971, 1972/World Series: 1966], Boston Red Sox; shortstop records: most games [2,581], assists [8,016], chances [12,564], double plays [1,553]; stole over 50 bases three straight seasons leading league in steals 9 consecutive times
1936 - Zubin Mehta
conductor: Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra
1936 - April Stevens (Carol Lo Tempio)
singer: Deep Purple, Whispering, Stardust
1937 - Jean Gauthier
hockey: NHL: Montreal Canadiens, Philadelphia Flyers, Boston Bruins
1943 - Duane Allen
singer: group: Oak Ridge Boys: Talk About the Good Times, Where the Soul Never Dies, Cryin� Again, American Made, Love Song, I Guess It Never Hurts to Cry Sometimes, Everyday, Make My Life with You, Little Things, Touch a Hand Make a Friend, Elvira
1944 - Jim Hart
football [quarterback]: SL Cardinals [record: most yards passing, career: 34,639 yards: 1966-83]
1947 - Jim Ryun
runner; member U.S. House of Representative [from Kansas]
1947 - Tommy James (Jackson)
singer: group: Tommy James and The Shondells: I Think We�re Alone Now, Hanky Panky, Mony Mony, Crimson and Clover, Sweet Cherry Wine, Crystal Blue Persuasion; solo: Draggin� the Line, I�m Comin� Home, Three Times in Love
1947 - Johnny Miller
golf champion: U.S. Open [1973], British Open [1976]; shares record for lowest 18-hole total [63]
1949 - Francis Rossi
musician: guitar, singer: group: Status Quo: LPs: Picturesque Matchstickable, Piledriver, Hello, On the Level, Blue for You
1951 - Dale Earnhardt
NASCAR auto racer: champ: Winston Cup [7 times], Daytona [34 times], 76 career victories; killed in crash in Daytona 500 Feb 18, 2001
1954 - Jerry Seinfeld
Emmy Award-winning producer: Seinfeld [1992-1993]; comedian, actor
1955 - Kate Mulgrew
actress: Columbo, Ryan�s Hope, Roots, Daddy, Throw Momma from the Train
1957 - Daniel Day-Lewis
Academy Award-winning actor: My Left Foot [1989]; The Unbearable Lightness of Being, In the Name of the Father, Age of Innocence, Gandhi, A Room with a View
1958 - Michelle Pfeiffer
actress: Dangerous Liaisons, Batman Returns, The Fabulous Baker Boys, Grease 2, Ladyhawke, Scarface, The Witches of Eastwicke, The Age of Innocence
1958 - Eve Plumb
actress: The Brady Bunch, Little Women, ... And God Spoke, A Very Brady Christmas, Force of Evil
1968 - Carnie Wilson
singer; group: Wilson Phillips; daughter of The Beach Boys� Brian Wilson, sister of singer Wendy Wilson
1970 - Andre Agassi
tennis champion: Wimbledon [1992], U.S. Open [1994]
1970 - Uma (Karuna) Thurman
actress: The Truth about Cats and Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Mad Dog and Glory, Final Analysis, Robin Hood, Henry and June, Dangerous Liaisons, Kiss Daddy Goodnight.
Chart Toppers
Would I Love You - Patti Page
The Rhumba Boogie - Hank Snow
1959 Come Softly to Me - The Fleetwoods
(Now and Then There�s) A Fool Such as I - Elvis Presley
Guitar Boogie Shuffle - The Virtues
White Lightning - George Jones
1967 Somethin� Stupid - Nancy Sinatra & Frank Sinatra
A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You - The Monkees
Sweet Soul Music - Arthur Conley
Need You - Sonny James
1975 (Hey Won�t You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song
- B.J. Thomas
He Don�t Love You (Like I Love You) - Tony Orlando & Dawn
Supernatural Thing - Ben E. King
Blanket on the Ground - Billie Jo Spears
1983 Come on Eileen - Dexys Midnight Runners
Beat It - Michael Jackson
Der Kommissar - After the Fire
American Made - The Oak Ridge Boys
1991 Baby Baby - Amy Grant
Joyride - Roxette
I Like the Way (The Kissing Game) - Hi-Five
Down Home - Alabama
Those were the days, my friend. We thought they�d never end... ;)
For those who are reading this, be sure and stop in daily as I will keep this updated daily. I use to do a, Today in history article daily on my morning radio show.
All I ask of you, is to not to post in this thread, so that others that view this thread will not have to scroll down to view the contents.
You are however, welcomed to PM. me or even start a thread on comments about, Today in history.
Thanks for your kind, considerate understanding. :)
ShadowThomas
120th day of 2007 - 245 remaining.
Monday, April 30, 2007
WILLIE NELSON DAY. :)
Born in Abbott, Texas on this day in 1933, once just a singing cowboy, today a superstar whose major concern is the welfare of the American farmer. That�s pretty much the way Willie Nelson would describe himself.
His major love throughout his life has been to sing and play his guitar. He�s been through several wives and not had much time to spend with his children ... not that he didn�t want to ... but the call of the road has been all too powerful for the bandana-wearing, singing cowboy. Willie Nelson loves nothing better than to travel in his bus (you�d recognize it with its colorful, painted mural) across the United States, stopping at music theatres along the way to sing to his fans.
His other dedication is to the plight of the American farmer. Every year, Willie leads the Farm Aid benefit to raise money to help the poor farmers who have lost so much to major farm conglomerates and big government.
Willie Nelson is no stranger to big government. He�s probably the only American to have owed $32 million in back taxes and paid every penny he owed including penalties and interest. He almost lost his Texas ranch, his bus, and everything else he owned.
But, the recipient of the 1989 Grammy Living Legend Award prefers to sing. �I�m on the road again...�
Events
April 30th.
1812 - There aren�t many states that can boast an abundance of pelicans, but Louisiana, the 18th state to enter the United States of America, has plenty. That�s why it calls itself the Pelican State and the state bird is the eastern brown pelican. Named in honor of Louis XIV of France, Louisiana has several other nicknames: Sportsman�s Paradise, Sugar State (that�s beet sugar), and Creole State. The capital of Louisiana is Baton Rouge and the beautiful magnolia is its adopted flower while the state tree is the bald cypress. All together now, let�s sing You are My Sunshine, Louisiana�s state song. Give Me Louisiana is also considered a state song, and the state motto is: Union, justice and confidence. We�re not too confident in choosing which song to sing, though.
1889 - The first national holiday in the United States was celebrated. The citizens of the U.S. observed the centennial of George Washington�s inauguration. Although this is no longer a national holiday, you�ll be happy to know that there are now at least half a dozen holidays -- most on Mondays -- that give folks in the U.S. a day off from work and a reason to have a parade, picnic, or go shopping at the mall to take advantage of the holiday sales. These national holidays include: New Year�s Day, Martin Luther King�s Birthday, President�s Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Veteran�s Day and Thanksgiving Day.
1900 - Train engineer Casey Jones was killed when trying to save the Cannonball Express as it highballed its way through Vaughn, MS. The famous song about Jones is loosely relatable to the train accident which cost the railroad engineer his life.
1903 - Victor Records made its first Red Seal recording this day. The premiere disk featured Ada Crossley, an opera contralto.
1922 - Charlie Robertson of the Chicago White Sox pitched the major league�s fifth perfect game. The Chisox defeated the Detroit Tigers, 2-0.
1939 - The first railroad car equipped with fluorescent lights was put into service. The train car was known as the General Pershing Zephyr.
1939- Baseball�s �Iron Horse�, Lou Gehrig, played his last game with the New York Yankees on this day.
1939 - Public Television began. President Franklin D. Roosevelt became the first chief executive to appear on TV. Roosevelt spoke at the opening ceremonies of the New York World�s Fair in Flushing, NY on WNBT in New York.
1940 - Jimmy Dorsey and his band recorded the bandleader�s signature song, Contrasts, for Decca Records. The song went on to become one of the most familiar big band themes of the era.
1940 - Belle Martell was licensed in California by state boxing officials to be the first American woman prize-fight referee!
1944 - The New York Giants (of baseball) whipped the Brooklyn Dodgers 26-8. They also set a major-league record for runs driven in by a team in a single game.
1945 - �How would you like to be queen for a day!� That opening line, delivered by host, Jack Bailey, was first heard on Mutual radio on this day. The first Queen for a Day was Mrs. Evelyn Lane. Years later Bailey would take the show to TV for a long, popular run.
1945 - Arthur Godfrey began his CBS radio morning show. His theme was Seems Like Old Times. Arthur Godfrey Time ran until this very same day in 1972. Godfrey�s show was different in that he used live talent and not records. His popularity with listeners was the major reason that several sponsors gave Godfrey the freedom to ad-lib their commercials and, from time to time, joke about the products as well.
1947 - Maps had to be changed as Boulder Dam was changed back to its original name, Hoover Dam. Some people, mostly those who live in the community of Boulder, Nevada, still refer to the dam as Boulder Dam. Many of them think that changing the dam�s name was a damn shame.
1953 - Frank Sinatra and Nelson Riddle became a team this day at Capitol Records in Hollywood. Sinatra�s new musical style, under Riddle�s direction, brought the crooner to the top of the record world for the second time in his illustrious career.
1955 - A few University of Iowa men students released a little pent-up energy. What did they do? They conducted panty raids at women�s dorms. Some say the Hawkeyes were still celebrating their February 28th basketball win (72-70) over the Golden Gophers of the University of Minnesota. Others think the men were celebrating the fact that enough snow had melted after the long winter to make it possible to find the women�s dorms again. In any case, panty raids became the in thing to do at colleges everywhere. Now that colleges have coed dorms, the raids have become a part of collegiate history along with the swallowing of goldfish.
1964 - TV sets would be drastically different after a ruling by the FCC stating that all TV receivers should be equipped to receive both VHF (channels 2-13) and the new UHF (channels 14-83). As a result, TV dealers scrambled to unload their VHF-only models as fast as possible. Antenna manufacturers were kept busy, as the new UHF receivers required new antennas too.
1975 - Saigon -- and all of Vietnam -- fell into communist hands this day, the unofficial end of the Vietnam War. As the U.S. withdrew completely from Saigon, the old noncommunist capital fell to North Vietnamese tanks. Americans commemorate the fall of Saigon with memorial services for the 58,153 Americans who died in Southeast Asia during the war.
1985 - The National Basketball Association set an all-time season attendance record as 19,506,355 fans attended games in arenas around the league. Seven NBA cities -- Boston, Chicago, Houston, Dallas, Detroit, Los Angeles and Philadelphia -- drew over a million fans each in the 1984-85 basketball season.
1987 - Three more compact discs of music by The Beatles went on sale for the first time. The discs were Help!, Rubber Soul and Revolver. All became hits again for the Fab Four.
Birthdays
April 30th.
1898 - Cornelius Vanderbilt
reporter, columnist, author, lecturer; great, great grandson of Cornelius Vanderbilt, the railroad tycoon; died in 1974
1899 - Ellis Wilson
artist: Guggenheim Fellowship winner [1944]; The Open Market of Charleston, Haitian Funeral Procession; died Jan 1, 1977
1908 - Eve Arden (Eunice Quedens)
Emmy Award-winning actress: Our Miss Brooks [1953], Anatomy of a Murder, Grease, Stage Door, Tea for Two; died Nov 12, 1990
1910 - Al Lewis (Albert Meister)
actor: The Munsters, Car 54 Where are You?, My Grandpa is a Vampire, Married to the Mob; died Feb 3, 2006
1914 - Vermont Royster
Pulitzer Prize-winning writer, editor: The Wall Street Journal; columnist: Thinking Things Over; author: Journey through the Soviet Union, A Pride of Prejudices, My Own, My Country�s Time: A Journalist�s Journey; died July 22, 1996
1916 - Robert Shaw
conductor: Robert Shaw Chorale; music director of Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus; died Jan 25, 1999
1923 - Percy Heath
jazz musician: bass: founder of Modern Jazz Quartet; group: The Heath Brothers
1926 - Cloris Leachman
Academy Award-winning actress: The Last Picture Show [1971]; Emmy Award-winner: A Brand New Life [1972-73], The Mary Tyler Moore Show [1973-74], Cher [1974-75], Screen Actor�s Guild 50th Anniversary Celebration [1983-84]; Phyllis, Backstairs at the White House, The Facts of Life
1933 - Willie Nelson
singer: see Willie Nelson Day [above]
1938 - Gary Collins
actor: Born Free, The Iron Horse, Roots, The Sixth Sense, The Wackiest Ship in the Army
1940 - Burt Young
actor: Excessive Force, A Family Matter, Rocky series, Once Upon a Time in America, Convoy, Chinatown, Cinderella Liberty, Roomies
1941 - Johnny Farina
musician: rhythm guitar: group: Santo & Johnny: Sleepwalk, Tear Drop
1943 - Bobby Vee (Robert Velline)
singer: Devil or Angel, Rubber Ball, Take Good Care of My Baby, Run to Him, The Night Has a Thousand Eyes, Come Back when You Grow Up
1944 - Jill Clayburgh
actress: An Unmarried Woman, Luna, Portnoy�s Complaint, Semi-Tough, The Silver Streak, Terminal Man, Firestorm: 72 Hours in Oakland, Honor Thy Father and Mother
1944 - Richard Shoff
singer: group: The Sandpipers: Guantanamera, Come Saturday Morning
1946 - Don Schollander
Olympic Hall of Famer: 1st swimmer to win 4 gold medals in one Olympics [1964], also won two gold in 1968; International Swimming Hall of Famer: set 8 world records in the 400-meter freestyle and 9 in the 200-meter in his career; Sullivan Award (U.S. outstanding athlete [1964]
1948 - Perry King
actor: A Cry in the Night, Kaleidoscope, The Lord�s of Flatbush, Mandingo, Search and Destroy, Switch
1953 - Merrill Osmond
singer: [w/Jessica Boucher]: You�re Here to Remember, I�m Here to Forget; group: The Osmonds: Anytime; brother of Alan, Donny, Jay, Marie, Wayne, Jimmy
1967 - Turbo B (Durron Butler)
rap singer: group: Snap.
1944 I Love You - Bing Crosby
It�s Love, Love, Love - The Guy Lombardo Orchestra (vocal: Skip Nelson)
San Fernando Valley - Bing Crosby
Too Late to Worry, Too Blue to Cry - Al Dexter
1952 Wheel of Fortune - Kay Starr
Anytime - Eddie Fisher
Blacksmith Blues - Ella Mae Morse
(When You Feel like You�re in Love) Don�t Just Stand There - Carl Smith
1960 Stuck on You - Elvis Presley
Sink the Bismarck - Johnny Horton
Sixteen Reasons - Connie Stevens
He�ll Have to Go - Jim Reeves
1968 Honey - Bobby Goldsboro
Cry like a Baby - The Box Tops
Young Girl - The Union Gap
The Legend of Bonnie and Clyde - Merle Haggard
1976 Disco Lady - Johnnie Taylor
Let Your Love Flow - Bellamy Brothers
Right Back Where We Started From - Maxine Nightingale
Together Again - Emmylou Harris
1984 Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now) - Phil Collins
Hello - Lionel Richie
Hold Me Now - The Thompson Twins
Right or Wrong - George Strait
Those were the days, my friend. We thought they�d never end... ;)
For those who are reading this, be sure and stop in daily as I will keep this updated daily. I use to do a, Today in history article daily on my morning radio show.
All I ask of you, is to not to post in this thread, so that others that view this thread will not have to scroll down to view the contents.
You are however, welcomed to PM. me or even start a thread on comments about, Today in history.
Thanks for your kind, considerate understanding. :)
ShadowThomas
121st day of 2007 - 244 remaining.
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
MAY DAY.
Rally �round the Maypole, as we gather this information for you to start this, the merry merry month of May!
May Day has been a traditional holiday celebration since ancient times. On this day, spring festivals and Maypoles are common. The Maypole is a tall pole that is covered with streamers, flowers and other decorations of spring. People grab hold of a streamer and dance around the pole to ward off ol� man Winter for good. It is a way to shake the dreary winter blues once and for all.
Since the 1880s, May Day has been celebrated in some countries, particularly socialist nations, as a labor holiday.
In Hawaii, May Day is Lei Day. It�s a day when friends, lovers, bosses, relatives ... just about anyone and everyone ... gives the gift of a lei to another, putting it around the receiver�s neck and accompanying it with the traditional kiss. This custom of sharing the aloha spirit with a beautiful floral lei on Lei Day began in 1928. There are many celebrations throughout the Hawaiian islands; some complete with pageants, a Lei Queen and her court, Hawaiian music and hula dances.
Lei Day, May Day or any day, giving a lei is a beautiful way to say, �Aloha.�
Events
May 1st.
1751 - America�s first cricket tournament was held in New York City. Cricket is a popular European sport, played by teams of 11 players who use bats, balls and wickets.
1883 - Buffalo Bill (William F. Cody) staged his first Wild West Show.
1885 - The first skyscraper in America was under construction. No, it wasn�t in New York. It was a 10-story building located on the corner of LaSalle and Adams in Chicago, IL.
1920 - The longest baseball game (by innings) was played. The Boston Braves and the Brooklyn Dodgers played an incredible 26 innings -- with the same pitchers! Leon Cadore of Brooklyn and Boston�s Joe Oeschger went the distance and saw the game end in a 1-1 tie. Rumors that the groundskeeper had to roll up the poor pitchers� arms after play was stopped are probably not far off...
1931 - Singer Kate Smith began her long and illustrious radio career with CBS on this, her birthday. The 22-year-old Smith started out with no sponsors and a paycheck of just $10 a week for the nationally broadcast daily program. However, within 30 days, her salary increased to a more respectable $1,500 a week!
1939 - The two-part Sy Oliver arrangement of Lonesome Road was recorded by the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra. Listening carefully, one might note that the lead trombone is not that of Tommy Dorsey, but of Dave Jacobs, instead.
1955 - Jockey Willie Shoemaker rode the legendary Swaps to a win in the Kentucky Derby in Louisville. The Run for the Roses was worth $108,400. (Swap�s colt, Chateaugay, would win the 1963 Derby with the exact same time as his daddy�s: 2 minutes, 1-4/5 seconds.) This was Shoemaker�s first Derby win. He would win again in 1959 aboard Tommy Lee and in 1965 on Lucky Debonair.
1960 - An American U-2 plane invaded Soviet airspace. The Soviets reacted by shooting down the plane piloted by the C.I.A.�s Francis Gary Powers. It took five days for the Soviets to announce the occurrance to the rest of the world. At first the U.S. referred to the U-2 as a weather reconnaissance plane, denying that Powers was a spy. Later, the U.S. State Department admitted that the mission was to photograph Soviet military installations, and that the mission was justified. Powers was tried as a spy by the Soviet Union. He was sentenced to solitary confinement for 10 years in "Matrosskaya Tishina". In 17 months, he was exchanged for Russian spy Rudolf Abel who had been exposed by the CIA.
1967 - Elvis Presley got hitched to a girl he had dated since his army days in West Germany. Elvis and Priscilla Beaulieu married in Las Vegas, NV. The wedding cake, incidentally, cost $3,500. The marriage lasted until 1973.
1969 - Leonard Tose, a trucking executive from Philadelphia, PA, opened his wallet and pulled out $16,155,000 to buy himself the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League. It was the largest price paid to that date for a pro football franchise. It was over a decade [1981] before the Eagles made it to the Super Bowl (XV: Oakland Raiders 27, Eagles 10) and they haven�t been to another one since.
1970 - Elton John and lyricist Bernie Taupin combined for the first time on Elton�s first American album simply titled, Elton John. The LP contained Elton�s first hit, Your Song, which made it to the top ten on the music charts in December.
1971 - A new word was introduced into the American traveling lexicon this day -- Amtrak. The word soon became synonymous with passenger train travel. Amtrak operates under the National Railroad Passenger Corporation. Now, people don�t take the train. They take Amtrak.
1982 - I Love Rock �N Roll, by Joan Jett and The Blackhearts, appeared at the top of the pop music charts for the seventh, and final, week. The rocker stayed on the charts for 16 weeks. Jett from Philadelphia, PA played guitar and formed the all-female rock band, The Runaways in the mid-�70s. The Blackhearts were founded in 1980. Jett starred in the film, Light of Day, playing the role of leader of a rock band called The Barbusters. The movie also starred Michael J. Fox and Michael McKean. The title song, Light of Day, was written by Jett and Bruce Springsteen. Joan Jett and the Blackhearts had nine hits on the charts into 1990, but I Love Rock �N Roll was the group�s only million-plus selling record.
1986 - Race car driver Bill Elliott set a stock car speed record with his Ford Thunderbird in Talladega, AL. Elliott zipped around the track at 212.229 mph.
Birthdays
May 1st.
1672 - Joseph Addison
essayist: periodicals: The Spectator, The Tatler, The Guardian, The Freeholder; author: Cato; died June 17, 1719
1825 - George Inness
artist: Peace and Plenty, Delaware Valley, Spring Blossoms; died Aug 3, 1894
1830 - Mary �Mother� Jones
�The Miner�s Angel�: labor leader; died Nov 30, 1930
1895 - Leo Sowerby
Pulitzer Prize-winning composer: The Canticle of the Sun [1946]; died July 7, 1968
1907 - Kate Smith
singer: God Bless America, When the Moon Comes Over the Mountain; performer: The Kate Smith Show [see above, 1931]; died June 17, 1986
1915 - Archie Williams
Olympic Gold Medalist: 400 meters in 46.5 seconds [1936], disputing Hitler�s theory of Aryan superiority; died June 24, 1993
1916 - Glenn Ford (Gwyllyn Samuel Newton Ford)
actor: The Teahouse of the August Moon, Blackboard Jungle, Midway, Don�t Go Near the Water, Cimarron, Final Verdict; died Aug 30, 2006
1917 - John Beradino
actor: General Hospital, The New Breed, I Led Three Lives, Don�t Look Back: The Story of Leroy �Satchel� Paige, Moon of the Wolf; baseball player; died May 19, 1996
1918 - Jack Paar
TV host: The Tonight Show; died Jan 27, 2004
1919 - Dan O�Herlihy
actor: Fail-Safe, Halloween 3, RoboCop; died Feb 17, 2005
1922 - Julian Goodman
president, chairman: NBC
1923 - Joseph Heller
writer: God Knows, Sex and the Single Girl, Dirty Dingus Magee, Catch-22; died Dec 10, 1999
1929 - Sonny James (James Loden)
The Southern Gentleman; singer: Young Love, First Date, First Kiss, First Love; appeared in films: Second Fiddle to a Steel Guitar, Nashville Rebel, Las Vegas Hillbillies, Hillbilly in a Haunted House
1930 - Ollie Matson
Pro Football Hall of Famer: San Francisco Univ. All-American; U.S. Olympic medal winner [track: 1952]; Chicago Cardinals [#1 draft pick: 1952/Pro Bowl MVP: 1956], LA Rams, Detroit Lions, Philadelphia Eagles; 12,844 combined net yards, 5,173 yards rushing, 222 receptions, 438 points, record 9 TDs on punt, kickoff returns, played in 5 Pro Bowls
1939 - Judy Collins
singer: Both Sides Now, Amazing Grace, Send In the Clowns
1940 - Bobbie Ann Mason
author: In Country, Spence and Lila
1945 - Rita Coolidge
singer: Higher and Higher, We�re All Alone, You, All Time High
1946 - Nick Fortune (Fortuna)
musician: bass: The Buckinghams: Kind of a Drag
1947 - Jerry Heard
golf: struck by lightning [w/Lee Trevino, Bobby Nichols] during 1975 Western Open [forced new safety standards in weather preparedness at PGA events]; developed Jerry Heard Super Swing technique
1954 - Ray Parker Jr.
musician: guitar: group: Mr. Mister: Broken Wings, Kyrie, Is It love
1959 - Phil Smith
musician: saxophone: group: Haircut 100: Favourite Shirts [Boy Meets Girl], Love Plus One, Fantastic Day, Nobody�s Fool
1960 - Steve Cauthen
horse jockey: Triple Crown Winner [1978], riding Affirmed
1966 - Johnny Colt
musician: bass: group: The Black Crowes: LPs: Three Snakes & One Charm/Blackberry, Sho� Nuff, Amorica.
Chart Toppers
1945 Candy - Johnny Mercer & Jo Stafford
I�m Beginning to See the Light - The Harry James Orchestra (vocal: Kitty
Kallen)
My Dreams are Getting Better All the Time - The Les Brown Orchestra (vocal: Doris Day)
Smoke on the Water - Bob Wills
1953 Pretend - Nat King Cole
Till I Waltz Again with You - Teresa Brewer
I Believe - Frankie Laine
I�ve Told Every Little Star - Linda Scott
Don�t Worry - Marty Robbins
1969 Aquarius/Let the Sun Shine In - The 5th Dimension
It�s Your Thing - The Isley Brothers
Hair - The Cowsills
1977 Southern Nights - Glen Campbell
Hotel California - Eagles
When I Need You - Leo Sayer
She�s Pulling Me Back Again - Mickey Gilley
1985 We are the World - USA for Africa
Crazy for You - Madonna
Rhythm of the Night - DeBarge
Girls Night Out - The Judds
Those were the days, my friend. We thought they�d never end... ;)
For those who are reading this, be sure and stop in daily as I will keep this updated daily. I use to do a, Today in history article daily on my morning radio show.
All I ask of you, is to not to post in this thread, so that others that view this thread will not have to scroll down to view the contents.
You are however, welcomed to PM. me or even start a thread on comments about, Today in history.
Thanks for your kind, considerate understanding. :)
ShadowThomas
122nd day of 2007 - 243 remaining.
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
BA BA BA BOOO DAY. :D
No, it�s not Halloween. It was on this day in Tacoma, Washington, in 1904*, that Harry Lillis Crosby was born; better known to us as Bing.
Bing Crosby went on to sing well over 4,000 songs during his impressive show biz career which spanned not only hit recordings, but movies, radio and TV, too. Crosby�s most successful tune? White Christmas (written by Irving Berlin).
Bandleader Paul Whiteman hired Crosby in 1926, along with singing partner, Al Rinker. With the addition of Harry Barris, the trio became The Rhythm Boys and gained quite a following. After leaving the Whiteman organization in 1930, Crosby sang for a brief while with Gus Arnheim�s band. In 1931, �Der Bingle� recorded I Surrender, Dear. The popularity of that song landed Crosby on CBS radio and an unsurpassed solo career was underway. Over the next 30 years, Crosby�s baritone and easy manner sold more than 300,000,000 records.
The consummate golfer, Crosby was host of the annual Crosby Open held at Pebble Beach, Spyglass and, Cypress Point. With Crosby�s passing in 1977 -- on a golf course near Madrid, Spain -- the tournament changed names to the AT&T/Pebble Beach Open.
Bing was featured in over 60 movies, winning an Academy Award for Going My Way in 1944. Crosby won the Lifetime Achievement Grammy in 1962 and has been called the number one recording artist of all time.
Together, we can all croon in his honor: Ba Ba Ba Booo.
*According to Steven Lewis, in his WWW Bing Crosby page, �...During his lifetime, Bing claimed May 2, 1904 as his birthday. Bing had no birth certificate, and it was only after his death in 1977 that a Tacoma priest disclosed Roman Catholic Church baptismal records that revealed Bing�s actual birthdate as May 3, 1903.�
Events
May 2nd.
1853 - Franconi�s Hippodrome opened at Broadway and 23rd Street in New York City. The 4,000-seat facility opened in grand style for a hippodrome (an arena for a circus or games) with a chariot-and-ostrich race.
1885 - A new magazine for homemakers went on sale. You can still get it by mail or find it right next to the cash register at your favorite grocery store. The magazine is Good Housekeeping. It has our seal of approval.
1887 - Hannibal W. Goodwin of Newark, NJ applied for a patent for celluloid photographic film -- the stuff from which movies are shown.
1932 - NBC radio introduced an entertainer this night. The comic genius started working for a salary of $1,400 a week. His name: Jack Benny.
1938 - Ella Fitzgerald recorded one of her biggest hits, A-Tisket, A-Tasket, with Chick Webb�s band. Following Webb�s death, Fitzgerald took over the band for some three years.
1939 - Lou Gehrig established a new major-league baseball record as he played in his 2,130th game. �The Iron Horse� had played in every Yankee game since June 1, 1925. (It would be 57 years until Cal Ripken, Jr. of the Baltimore Orioles would shatter that record in the summer of 1995.)
1941 - The Federal Communications Commission agreed to let regular scheduling of TV broadcasts by commercial TV stations begin on July 1, 1941. It was the start of what would become network television.
1953 - Dark Star defeated the heavily favored Native Dancer to win the Kentucky Derby. A $2 wager to win on this dark horse would have put some change in your pocket. Dark Star was a 25-1 long shot.
1954 - Stan �The Man� Musial of the St. Louis Cardinals smacked five home runs in a twin bill against the New York Giants -- establishing a major-league record.
1960 - Harry Belafonte presented his second Carnegie Hall concert in New York City.
1964 - Northern Dancer, with jockey Bill Hartack, won the Kentucky Derby. Hartack had been on quite a win streak, completing four major victories in six months. The racing legend was atop Iron Liege, Venetian Way, Decidedly and Northern Dancer (not all at the same time, of course). Hartack then rode Northern Dancer to a win in the Preakness Stakes in Maryland. Interesting aside: In 1964 another jockey had ridden Northern Dancer three times then suddenly switched to Hill Rose for the Run for the Roses in Louisville. He was Willie Shoemaker.
1965 - Ed Sullivan had said he would not have this British rock group on his CBS-TV Sunday night show again. This night, however, Ed softened up -- and allowed Mick Jagger and The Rolling Stones to make a second appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. The Stones got satisfaction at last!
1970 - The �First Lady of Horse Racing� (first to ride at a major track, first to win a major feature), Diane Crump, rode Fathom and made history as the first woman jockey to ride in the Kentucky Derby. She finished in 12th place.
1974 - Filming got underway for the motion picture, Jaws, in Martha�s Vineyard, MA. What was to be a 58-day shooting schedule for the film inspired by the Peter Benchley novel soon gave way to 120 days. Costs soared from what was to be a $3.5 million project to $8 million. The director, Steven Spielberg, was able to explain away the rise in costs and the picture did very well at the box office and, later, on video cassette.
1981 - Scottish singer Sheena Easton made it to the top spot on the pop music charts for her first -- and only -- time. Morning Train (Nine to Five) knocked Kiss on My List, by Daryl Hall and John Oates, out of the top of the music charts. Morning Train pulled into the top spot for a two-week stay. Easton had been an actress, appearing as a singer in the 1980 BBC TV documentary, The Big Time; and this time she made it to the big time, winning the 1981 Best New Artist Grammy Award. On U.S. TV, she is remembered as Sonny Crockett�s wife in five episodes of Miami Vice in the 1980s and for singing the title song in the James Bond flick, For Your Eyes Only. Easton scored 14 hits on the charts between 1981 and 1991. Seven of those hits made it to the top ten. The Lover in Me in 1988 was the closest she ever came to having another number one hit. It stopped climbing at number two. Once again, the countdown continues...
1985 - The General Motors X-Cars rolled off the assembly line in Detroit, MI for the final time on this day. The cars were a dismal failure, despite being a hit in the beginning. The X-Cars were subject to massive recalls which cost G.M. many millions of dollars.
1986 - The photo essay, A Day in the Life of America, began this day as two hundred photojournalists covered the USA to take 350,000 pictures. For publication of the beautiful coffee table book, only 350 pictures were selected. Several spin-off books such as A Day in the Life of Hawaii, etc. have joined it on coffee tables throughout the world.
Birthdays
1729 - Catherine the Great (Catherine II) (Ekaterina Alekseevna)
Russian leader [1762-1796]; died in 1796
1837 - Henry M. (Martyn) Robert
U.S. Army General; author: Robert�s Rules of Order, the standard for parliamentary procedure; died May 11, 1923
1887 - Vernon Castle
dancer, actor: The Whirl of Life; died Feb 15, 1918
1895 - Lorenz Hart
composer, lyricist: half of famous team of (Richard) Rodgers & Hart: I Wish I Were in Love Again, Where or When, With a Song in My Heart, I Could Write a Book, Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered, There�s a Small Hotel, Little Girl Blue, The Lady is a Tramp, Blue Moon, My Funny Valentine; died Nov 22, 1943
1902 - Brian Aherne
actor: A Night to Remember, Titanic, The Best of Everything, The Waltz King; died Feb 10, 1986
1903 - Benjamin Spock
baby doctor, author: The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care; died Mar 15, 1998
1904 - Bing (Harry Lillis) Crosby
�der Bingle�: Grammy Award-winning [Lifetime Achievement Grammy: 1962] crooner: White Christmas, I Surrender, Dear, Where the Blue of the Night [Meets the Gold of the Day]; about 2600 records, 120 LPs sold estimated 400 million [by 1975]; Academy Award-winning actor: Going My Way [1944]; Big Broadcast of 1932; over 60 films; died Oct 14, 1977; see Ba Ba Ba Booo Day [above]
1907 - Pinky Lee (Pincus Leff)
entertainer: burlesque; The Pinky Lee Show [early �50s TV]; died Apr 3, 1993
1913 - Nigel Patrick (Wemyss)
actor: The Jack of Diamonds, Raintree County, Johnny Nobody, The Mackintosh Man; director: How to Murder a Rich Uncle, Johnny Nobody; writer: The Jack of Diamonds; died Sep 21, 1981
1921 - Satyajit Ray
Academy Award-winning [life-time achievement award] director: Pather Panchali, Aparajito, The World of Apu, Distant Thunder, The Adversary, Devi; died Apr 23, 1992
1924 - Theodore Bikel
singer, actor: Fiddler on the Roof, The Sound of Music, My Fair Lady, The African Queen, The Pride and the Passion, The Defiant Ones, The Russians are Coming, The Russians are Coming
1929 - Link Wray (Frederick Lincoln Wray Jr.)
musician: guitarist, composer: Link Wray and His Ray Men: Rumble, Raw Hide, Jack the Ripper; died Nov 5, 2005
1932 - Fran�oise Fabian (Michele Cortes De Leon y Fabianera)
actress: Reunion, The French Woman, Dressmaker, My Night at Maud�s
1936 - Engelbert Humperdinck (Arnold George Dorsey)
singer: After The Lovin�, Release Me, There Goes My Everything, The Last Waltz, A Man Without Love, Winter World of Love, Les Bicyclettes de Belsize
1937 - Lorenzo Music
actor: voice of Garfield, Carlton the Doorman [in Rhoda]; Emmy Award-winning producer: Carlton, Your Doorman [5/21/80]; died Aug 4, 2001
1939 - Gates (William James) Brown
baseball: Detroit Tigers [World Series: 1968]
1941 - Clay (Palmer) Carroll
�Hawk�: baseball: pitcher: Milwaukee Braves, Atlanta Braves, Cincinnati Reds [World Series: 1970, 1972, 1975/all-star: 1971, 1972], Chicago White Sox, SL Cardinals, Pittsburgh Pirates
1943 - Mickey (Lee Oddis) Bass III
jazz composer, musician: group: New York Powerhouse Ensemble
1945 - Bianca Jagger
actress, model; Mick Jagger�s ex
1945 - Goldy McJohn
musician: organ: group: Steppenwolf: Born to be Wild, The Pusher, Magic Carpet Ride, Rock Me
1946 - Leslie Gore
singer: It�s My Party, Judy�s Turn to Cry, She�s a Fool, You Don�t Own Me, Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows, California Nights; actress: Girls on the Beach, Ski Party, The T.A.M.I. Show
1947 - Gerald Irons
football: Oakland Raiders, Cleveland Browns
1948 - Larry Gatlin
musician, Grammy Award-winning country singer: Broken Lady [1976], I Don�t Wanna Cry, Houston (I�m Comin� to See You), Love is Just a Game, Take Somebody with Me When I Fall, Statues Without Hearts, All the Gold in California
1950 - Lou Gramm
singer: groups: Black Sheep, Foreigner: Feels like the First Time, Cold as Ice, Long Long Way from Home, Double Vision, Hot Blooded, Blue Morning Blue Day, Urgent, Waiting for a Girl like You, I Want to Know What Love Is, That was Yesterday.
Chart Toppers
1946 Oh, What It Seemed to Be - The Frankie Carle Orchestra (vocal: Marjorie
Hughes)
Day by Day - Frank Sinatra
All Through the Day - Perry Como
Guitar Polka - Al Dexter
Young at Heart - Frank Sinatra
Make Love to Me - Jo Stafford
Slowly - Webb Pierce
1962 Good Luck Charm - Elvis Presley
Soldier Boy - The Shirelles
Stranger on the Shore - Mr. Acker Bilk
Charlie�s Shoes - Billy Walker
1970 ABC - The Jackson 5
American Woman/No Sugar Tonight - The Guess Who
Love or Let Me Be Lonely - The Friends of Distinction
My Woman My Woman, My Wife - Marty Robbins
1978 Night Fever - Bee Gees
If I Can�t Have You - Yvonne Elliman
Can�t Smile Without You - Barry Manilow
Every Time Two Fools Collide - Kenny Rogers & Dottie West
1986 Kiss - Prince & The Revolution
Addicted to Love - Robert Palmer
West End Girls - Pet Shop Boys
Now and Forever (You and Me) - Anne Murray
Those were the days, my friend. We thought they�d never end... ;)
For those who are reading this, be sure and stop in daily as I will keep this updated daily. I use to do a, Today in history article daily on my morning radio show.
All I ask of you, is to not to post in this thread, so that others that view this thread will not have to scroll down to view the contents.
You are however, welcomed to PM. me or even start a thread on comments about, Today in history.
Thanks for your kind, considerate understanding. :)
ShadowThomas
123rd day of 2007 - 242 remaining.
Thursday, May 3, 2007
NPR DAY. :)
It was on this day in 1971 that National Public Radio, the U.S. national, non-commercial radio network, was born.
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting financed National Public Radio so we could, once again, have the thrill of live radio. Listeners turned to NPR for cultural programs, news, information and quality entertainment programming. Award-winning programming such as All Things Considered, NPR�s premier newsmagazine, presented uninterrupted, informative reports on business, economics and the world, in general -- and still does.
NPR�s most popular shows also include: Talk of the Nation, fascinating and thought-provoking discussions on the day�s issues and what�s behind the headlines; NPR�s Performance Today, a daily portrait of what�s happening in the world of classical music; and Car Talk, starring America�s funniest auto mechanics, the M.I.T. educated grease monkeys, Tom and Ray Magliozzi. NPR also produces and distributes some of America�s finest jazz programming.
National Public Radio was formed to educate, entertain and inform in ways that were not available elsewhere. It was and is the audience�s alternative to commercial radio. Today, NPR�s satellite-based radio network of almost 600 member stations broadcasts NPR-produced or acquired programs to 13-million listeners in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and Guam.
Events
May 3rd.
1810 - Lord Byron swam the Hellespont* this day. Pretty darn fast, too. It took just an hour and 10 minutes to do it, by Jove! *The Hellespont is now know as the Dardanelles. It is a 40 mi. (64 km) long, 1-5 mi. (1.6-8 km) wide strait between European and Asian Turkey, connecting the Aegean Sea with the Sea of Marmara.
1927 - Francis E.J. Wilde of Meadowmere Park, NY patented the electric sign flasher. It said , �Eat Here, Get Gas� -- Dunno, but probably close.
1933 - The United States Mint was under the direction of a woman for the first time. Mrs. Nellie Ross assumed command.
1938 - Viewers of W2XBS-TV (now WCBS-TV) watched the first book review show. No word as to how many remained awake through the whole thing...
1939 - Belly up to the bar for this one. Beer Barrel Polka, one of the standards of American music, was recorded by The Andrews Sisters for Decca Records. Patti, Maxine and LaVerne turned this song into a giant hit.
1941 - Jockey Eddie Arcaro rode Whirlaway to the winner�s circle in the Kentucky Derby. He was on his way to winning racing�s Triple Crown (the Kentucky Derby in Louisville, KY, the Preakness in Baltimore, MD and the Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park in New York).
1944 - Dr. Robert Woodward and Dr. William Doering produced the first synthetic quinine at Harvard University. Quinine -- like in quinine water. (Hiccup!)
1952 - The first airplane to land at the geographic location of the North Pole did so on this day. The crew may have missed the mark, as they saw no tall barber pole or little red house, no sign of elves and no Santa Claus. There was a report that there was loud, bellowing laughter from not far off and a few reindeer were seen frolicking about, however...
1956 - Most Happy Fella, a musical by Frank Loesser, opened at the Imperial Theatre in New York City. The show, an adaptation of They Knew What They Wanted by Sidney Howard, ran for 676 performances on Broadway. Critics called the show a masterpiece, thanks to the outstanding performances of Robert Weede and Jo Sullivan. One must not forget Loesser�s music, which included such classics as Standing on the Corner, I Like Everybody, Joey, Joey, Joey, Big Acquaintance and Don�t Cry.
1957 - Brooklyn Dodgers� owner, Walter O�Malley, agreed to move the team from Flatbush to sunny Los Angeles. Initially, only exhibition games were held at the L.A. Coliseum. O�Malley said that a new stadium would have to be constructed before the Dodgers would even consider a move to Southern California. He was right, so Dodger Stadium (in Chavez Ravine) was constructed with private investor money.
1960 - The play, The Fantasticks, opened at the Sullivan Playhouse in New York City. It would later become the longest-running off-Broadway play. Soon It�s Gonna Rain was one of the big hit tunes from the production. The show was the equivalent of London�s long-running play, The Mousetrap. Unfortunately, though the British were familiar with The Mousetrap and might have known of the similarities between the two plays, when The Fantasticks opened in London, it failed miserably and closed after only 44 performances.
1986 - Horse racing legend Bill Shoemaker became the oldest jockey to win the the Kentucky Derby. �The Shoe� was atop Ferdinand for the win. Shoemaker was 54 years old. It had been 32 years since Shoemaker�s first Derby victory back in 1955.
Birthdays
philosopher, writer: The Prince; died June 22, 1527
1907 - Earl Wilson
entertainment writer, columnist: �JFK is the sexiest, swingingest President of the century...�; died Jan 16, 1987
1910 - Norman Lewis Corwin
radio writer/director/producer: We Hold These Truths, On a Note of Triumph, Columbia Workshop, Twenty-Six by Corwin, An American in England, Columbia Presents Corwin; NPR series: More By Corwin; professor: Univ. of Southern California
1912 - Virgil Fox
organ virtuoso: credited for bringing the organ �to the forefront among classical concert instruments.�; died Oct 25, 1980
1919 - Pete Seeger
folk singer: groups: Almanac Singers, Weavers; solo: Little Boxes; songwriter: Where Have All the Flowers Gone?, Turn, Turn, Turn, co-wrote: If I Had a Hammer; social, civil and political activist
1919 - Betty Comden (Cohen)
screenwriter [w/Adolph Green]: It�s Always Fair Weather, On the Town, Singin� in the Rain; actress: Greenwich Village, That Was the Week That Was, Garbo Talks, Slaves of New York; died Nov 23, 2006
1921 - Joe Ames
singer: group: The Ames Brothers: Undecided, The Naughty Lady of Shady Lane, Ragmop, Tammy
1921 - Sugar Ray Robinson
International Boxing Hall of Fame middleweight champ: only boxer to win world title at one weight five times; died Apr 12, 1989
1926 - Jimmy Cleveland
composer, musician: trombone: group: Jay & Kai Octet, played with Quincy Jones, Thelonious Monk
1928 - Dave Dudley (Pedruska)
country singer: groups: The Dave Dudley Trio, The Country Gentlemen, The Roadrunners: Six Days On the Road, Mad, Truck Drivin� Sun of a Gun, Vietnam Blues; died Dec 22, 2003
1931 - Joe Layton (Lichtman)
choreographer: Thoroughly Modern Millie; director: Richard Pryor Live on the Sunset Strip, The Littlest Angel, Androcles and the Lion; died May 5, 1994
1933 - James Brown
The Godfather of Soul: singer: Papa�s Got a Brand New Bag, Please, Please, Please, I Got You (I Feel Good), It�s A Man�s Man�s Man�s World, Living in America; Rock and Roll Hall of Famer [1986]; died Dec 25, 2006
1937 - Frankie Valli (Francis Castellucio)
falsetto singer: group: The Four Seasons: Sherry, Big Girls Don�t Cry, Rag Doll, Let�s Hang On; solo: Can�t Take My Eyes Off You, My Eyes Adored You, Swearin� to God, December �63 [Oh What a Night], Grease
1944 - Pete Staples
musician: bass: group: The Troggs: Wild Thing, I Can�t Control Myself, With a Girl like You, Give It to Me, Any Way that You Want Me, Night of the Long Grass, Hi Hi Hazel, Love is All Around, Little Girl
1946 - Davey Lopes
baseball: LA Dodgers [World Series: 1974, 1977, 1978, 1981/all-star: 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981], Oakland Athletics, Chicago Cubs, Houston Astros
1947 - Doug Henning
magician/illusionist: The World of Magic [TV], The Magic Show [Broadway rock musical]; died Feb 8, 2000
1948 - Garfield Heard
basketball: Univ. of Oklahoma, Phoenix Suns; Asst Coach: Philadelphia 76ers
1950 - Mary Hopkin
singer: Those Were the Days, Goodbye, Temma Harbour, If You Love Me
1951 - Christopher Cross (Geppert)
Oscar-winning singer: Arthur�s Theme (Best that You can Do); 5 Grammy Awards [1981]; singer, songwriter: Sailing, Ride like the Wind, Say You�ll be Mine, Think of Laura
1953 - Bruce Hall
musician: bass: group: REO Speedwagon: Keep on Loving You, Take It on the Run, Keep the Fire Burnin�, Can�t Fight This Feeling
1959 - Dave Ball
musician: keyboards: group: Soft Cell: Tainted Love, Bed Sitter, Torch, What.
Chart Toppers
1947 Linda - Buddy Clark with the Ray Noble Orchestra
The Anniversary Song - Dinah Shore
Mam�selle - Art Lund
So Round, So Firm, So Fully Packed - Merle Travis
1955 Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White - Perez Prado
The Ballad of Davy Crockett - Tennessee Ernie Ford
Dance with Me Henry (Wallflower) - Georgia Gibbs
In the Jailhouse Now - Webb Pierce
1963 I Will Follow Him - Little Peggy March
Can�t Get Used to Losing You - Andy Williams
Puff the Magic Dragon - Peter, Paul & Mary
Lonesome 7-7203 - Hawkshaw Hawkins
1971 Joy to the World - Three Dog Night
Put Your Hand in the Hand - Ocean
Never Can Say Goodbye - The Jackson 5
Empty Arms - Sonny James
1979 Heart of Glass - Blondie
Reunited - Peaches & Herb
Stumblin� In - Suzi Quatro & Chris Norman
Where Do I Put Her Memory - Charley Pride
1987 (I Just) Died in Your Arms - Cutting Crew
Looking for a New Love - Jody Watley
La Isla Bonita - Madonna
Don�t Go to Strangers - T. Graham Brown
Those were the days, my friend. We thought they�d never end... ;)
For those who are reading this, be sure and stop in daily as I will keep this updated daily. I use to do a, Today in history article daily on my morning radio show.
All I ask of you, is to not to post in this thread, so that others that view this thread will not have to scroll down to view the contents.
You are however, welcomed to PM. me or even start a thread on comments about, Today in history.
Thanks for your kind, considerate understanding. :)
ShadowThomas
124th day of 2007 - 241 remaining.
Friday, May 4, 2007
FUNNY FACE DAY. :) :)
Edda Kathleen Hepburn van Heemstra was born on this day in Brussels, Belgium in the year 1929. This is quite a large name for the gamine-faced, petite charmer we knew as Audrey Hepburn. At the young age of thirteen, she had already developed the need to provide relief to the human suffering surrounding her and enlisted in the Dutch underground in their fight against the Nazi occupation of Holland.
Nine years later, performing on the Broadway stage, critics found her to be charming, honest and talented in the title role of Gigi. She achieved stardom a mere two years later with her Academy award-winning performance in Roman Holiday. Audrey married Mel Ferrer on September 25, 1954 and co-starred with him and Henry Fonda in War and Peace. A year later, Funny Face premiered with Fred Astaire as her co-star. (The title role stuck to her like glue.) Love in the Afternoon opened the same year with Gary Cooper sharing the spotlight.
The seemingly fragile actress -- she fainted at the premiere of Farewell to Arms when the scene showed a difficult childbirth; and fell off a horse, fracturing several vertebrae while filming The Unforgiven -- received four Oscar nominations for Best Actress and made no less than two dozen movies in her film career including Breakfast at Tiffany�s and The Children�s Hour in 1961, Charade [1963], My Fair Lady [1964] (Marni Nixon dubbed her singing), Two for the Road in 1967 and Robin and Marian with Sean Connery [1976]. Both stars received France�s Commander of Arts and Letters Award in 1987.
In later years, the diminutive star turned her attentions once more to affairs of the world, serving as spokesperson for the United Nations Children�s Fund.
The world lost a great benefactor and a beautiful funny face when Audrey Hepburn died January 20, 1993.
Events
May 4th.
1886 - The first practical phonograph, better known as the gramophone, was patented.
1899 - Manuel rushed to the finish line ahead of four others to win the Kentucky Derby.
1905 - Belmont Park race track opened on Long Island, New York. Race King and Sysonby finished in a dead heat in the day�s feature race.
1920 - The Symphony Society of New York presented a concert at the Paris Opera House. It was the first American orchestra to make a European tour.
1925 - The Terris-Dundee boxing match was the final event held at the old Madison Square Garden in New York City. Five different sites have been named Madison Square Garden over the years.
1932 - Public Enemy Number One, Al Capone, was jailed in the Atlanta Penitentiary for tax evasion.
1945 - June Christy sang with the Stan Kenton band on one of the most famous of all big band hits, Tampico. The tune was waxed as Capitol record number 202.
1956 - Gene Vincent and his group, The Blue Caps, recorded Be-Bop-A Lula for Capitol Records in Los Angeles. Interesting note: Vincent had written the tune only three days before he auditioned in a record company talent search that won him first place. The record was rush-released just two days later and became a rock and roll classic. Vincent recorded two other charted songs in 1957 and 1958: Lotta Lovin� and Dance to the Bop.
1957 - This was a tough day at the Kentucky Derby for Willie Shoemaker. He misjudged the finish line while aboard Gallant Man. In the winner�s circle at Churchill Downs was, instead, Iron Liege, ridden by jockey Bill Hartack. Gallant Man and Shoemaker did win the Belmont Stakes a few weeks later.
1964 - The Pulitzer Prize jury failed for the first time to award winners in the areas of fiction, drama and music. Hey some days are like that...
1964 - Another World premiered on NBC-TV. The soap opera dramatized the story of two families: the Randolphs and the Matthews.
1970 - This was a sad day in U.S. history and for human rights as four Kent State University students were shot down by National Guard members during an anti-Vietnam War demonstration. Memorial services are held annually for Allison Krause, Sandra Lee Scheuer, Jeffrey Glenn Miller and William K. Schroeder on the Kent, Ohio campus. They are not forgotten.
1977 - Former President Richard M. Nixon spoke with interviewer, David Frost in the first of four television interviews. Nixon had been in seclusion for the two previous months.
1985 - Spend A Buck posted the third fastest winning time in the Kentucky Derby by running the 1-1/4 mile track at Churchill Downs in 2 minutes and 1/8 second. Only Secretariat (1973) and Northern Dancer (1964) had been faster.
1985 - The famed Apollo Theatre, once the showcase for the nation�s top black performers, reopened after a renovation that cost $10.4 million. The landmark building on West 125th Street in New York was the first place The Beatles wanted to see on their initial visit to the United States. Ed Sullivan used to frequent the Apollo in search of new talent for his CBS show.
Birthdays
May 4th.
1796 - Horace Mann
educator: the father of public education in the U.S.; founder of Westfield, MA State College; author, editor: Common School Journal; died Aug 2, 1859
1820 - Julia Tyler (Gardiner)
wife of 10th U.S. President John Tyler; died July 10, 1889
1889 - Cardinal (Francis) Joseph Spellman
Roman Catholic clergy leader; died Dec 2, 1967
1909 - Howard Da Silva (Silverblatt)
actor: The Lost Weekend, The Great Gatsby, Mommie Dearest, Abe Lincoln in Illinois; died Feb 16, 1986
1923 - Ed �Cass� Cassidy
musician: drums: groups: New Jazz Trio, Taj Mahal, Spirit: I Got a Line on You, Nature�s Way
1928 - Maynard Ferguson
musician: trumpet, trombone, other horns; bandleader: LPs: Primal Scream, Conquistador, New Vintage, Carnival, Hot, It�s My Time, Hollywood, High Voltage
1928 - Betsy Rawls
golf champion: first of two players to win U.S. Open four times [1951, 1953, 1957, 1960]; also two-time LPGA Champion [1959, 1969]
1929 - Audrey Hepburn
actress; died Jan 20, 1993; see Funny Face Day [above]
1930 - Roberta Peters (Peterman)
opera soprano: Metropolitan Opera; Rigoletto [Gilda], Il Barbiere di Siviglia [Rosina]; films: City Hall, Tonight We Sing; Jewish Cultural Achievement Awards in Performing Arts [1997]
1932 - Harlon Hill
football: Florence State Teachers College [All-American], Chicago Bears, Pittsburgh Steelers, Detroit Lions; Harlon Hill Trophy [to player of the year in NCAA Div. II] named after him
1936 - Manuel Ben�tez P�rez
�El Cordobes�: Spanish bullfighter
1941 - George F. Will
Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist: syndicated in some 460 papers, Newsweek; Washington editor: National Review; contributing analyst: ABC-TV News: World News Tonight with Peter Jennings, This Week
1942 - Nickolas Ashford
producer, songwriter: duo: Ashford & Simpson: Let�s Go Get Stoned, I�m Every Woman, Ain�t No Mountain High Enough, Ain�t Nothing like the Real Thing, You�re All I Need to Get By, Reach Out and Touch Somebody�s Hand
1943 - Ronnie Bond (Ronald Bulls)
musician: drums: group: The Troggs: Wild Thing, With a Girl like You, I Can�t Control Myself, Any Way that You Want Me, Give It to Me, Night of the Long Grass, Hi Hi Hazel, Love is All Around, Little Girl
1944 - Fred (Frederic) Stanfield
hockey: NHL: Chicago Blackhawks, Boston Bruins, Minnesota North Stars, Buffalo Sabres
1951 - Jackie (Sigmund) Jackson
singer: group: The Jackson Five, The Jacksons: I Want You Back, ABC, The Love You Save, I�ll Be There, Enjoy Yourself, Shake Your Body, State of Shock
1954 - Pia Zadora
actress: Hairspray, Voyage of the Rock Aliens, Pajama Tops, The Lonely Lady, Fakeout, Butterfly, Naked Gun 33 1/3
1955 - Danny Brubeck
drummer: Two Generations of Brubeck, In Your Own Sweet Way, The Duke; Dave Brubeck�s son
1959 - Randy Travis (Randy Bruce Traywick)
singer: Forever and Ever Amen, On the Other Hand, Diggin� Up Bones, Always and Forever
1961 - Jay Aston
singer: group: Bucks Fizz: Making Your Mind Up, Land of Make Believe, My Camera Never Lies, Now Those Days are Gone, If You Can�t Stand the Heat
1979 - Lance Bass
singer: group: �N Sync: I Want You Back, Tearin� Up My Heart, Merry Christmas, Happy Holiday, God Must Have Spent A Little More Time On You, I Drive Myself Crazy, Music Of My Heart.
Chart Toppers
1948 Now is the Hour - Bing Crosby
The Dickey Bird Song - The Freddy Martin Orchestra (vocal: Glenn Hughes)
Manana - Peggy Lee
1956 Heartbreak Hotel/I Was the One - Elvis Presley
Moonglow and Theme from �Picnic� - Morris Stoloff
Standing on the Corner - The Four Lads
Blue Suede Shoes - Carl Perkins
1964 Can�t Buy Me Love - The Beatles
Hello Dolly! - Louis Armstrong
Bits and Pieces - The Dave Clark Five
My Heart Skips a Beat - Buck Owens
1972 The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face - Roberta Flack
I Gotcha - Joe Tex
Betcha By Golly, Wow - The Stylistics
Chantilly Lace - Jerry Lee Lewis
1980 Call Me - Blondie
Ride like the Wind - Christopher Cross
Lost in Love - Air Supply
Are You on the Road to Lovin� Me Again - Debby Boone
1988 Where Do Broken Hearts Go - Whitney Houston
Wishing Well - Terence Trent D�Arby
Angel - Aerosmith
It�s Such a Small World - Rodney Crowell & Rosanne Cash
Those were the days, my friend. We thought they�d never end... ;)
For those who are reading this, be sure and stop in daily as I will keep this updated daily. I use to do a, Today in history article daily on my morning radio show.
All I ask of you, is to not to post in this thread, so that others that view this thread will not have to scroll down to view the contents.
You are however, welcomed to PM. me or even start a thread on comments about, Today in history.
Thanks for your kind, considerate understanding. :)
ShadowThomas
125th day of 2007 - 240 remaining.
Saturday, May 5, 2007
CINCO DE MAYO DAY. :)
If you are Mexican or of Mexican descent or just like a party, today, Cinco de Mayo, is the day to celebrate the anniversary of the 1862 Battle of Puebla. General Ignacio Zaragoza�s troops were outnumbered three to one as they battled the invading French army. They may have been outnumbered but they had the will to win. The Mexican forces defeated Napoleon III�s army and Puebla stood.
Now stand up and join that Cinco de Mayo parade, attend the festival, enjoy the salsa music and the salsa dip with your Margarita. We all salute General Ignacio Zaragoza and his brave contingent.
Events
May 5th.
1809 - Who was the first woman to be issued a U.S. patent? It was Mary Kies of South Killingly, CT. She was granted a patent for the rights to a technique for weaving straw with silk and thread.
1847 - The American Medical Association was organized in Philadelphia, PA. Go sit in your doctor�s waiting room to celebrate...
1891 - New York City was the site of the dedication of a building called the Music Hall. It was quite a celebration. A festival was held for five days, featuring guest conductor Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky. The structure is not called the Music Hall anymore. It�s called Carnegie Hall, named in honor of Andrew Carnegie.
1893 - The worst economic crisis in U.S. history (to that time) happened on this day. Stock prices plummeted, major railroads went into receivership, 15,000 businesses went bankrupt and 15 to 20 percent of the work force was unemployed. Within seven months, over 600 banks had closed.
1900 - The Billboard, a magazine for the music and entertainment industries, began weekly publication after six years as a monthly. The name was later shortened to Billboard.
1904 - Cy Young of the Boston Red Sox tossed a perfect game against the Philadelphia Americans. The final score was 3-0. No player on the Philadelphia team reached first base. It was the third perfect game ever thrown in the big leagues.
1935 - The radio program, Rhythm at Eight, made its debut. The star of the show was 24-year-old Ethel Merman. Though Merman would become a legend years later, she didn�t fare so well on radio. Her show was taken off the air after 13 weeks and Miss Merman returned to her first love, Broadway.
1936 - Edward Ravenscroft of Glencoe, IL was sitting at his kitchen table, admiring the piece of mail he had just received from the U.S. Patent Office. It was a patent for the screw-on bottle cap with the pour lip. For those who have always wondered, but maybe were a little shy to ask, now you know...
1955 - The musical, Damn Yankees, opened in New York City for a successful run of 1,019 performances. The show at the 42nd Street Theatre mixed both baseball and ballet. It is an adaptation of the book, The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant. Gwen Verdon starred in the role of Lola. Whatever Lola wants Lola gets including the Tony for Best Actress in a musical for her performance.
1956 - The first runner to break the four-minute mile within the United States was Jim Bailey and he did it on this day. He was clocked at a speedy 3:58.6 in Los Angeles, CA.
1966 - Willie Mays hit home run number 512 of his career. The San Francisco Giants� superstar broke Mel Ott�s record and became the greatest home run hitter in the National League to that time.
1973 - 56,800 fans paid $309,000 to see Led Zeppelin at Tampa Stadium. This was the largest, paid crowd ever assembled in the U.S. to see a single musical act. The concert topped The Beatles 55,000-person audience at Shea Stadium in New York ($301,000).
1978 - Pete Rose of the Cincinnati Reds smacked his 3,000th major-league hit. Not many years later, �Charlie Hustle� would break Ty Cobb�s career record of 4,191 hits.
1985 - The first husband and wife team to win a major marathon, Ken and Lisa Maratin, won over $50,000 for their first-place finishes in the Pittsburgh Marathon. Interesting also, because they had never run in the same race before.
1988 - Eugene Antonio Marino became the first black Roman Catholic Bishop in the United States. He was installed as the archbishop of Atlanta, Georgia.
1994 - Four strokes with a cane on the buttocks was the punishment for Michael Fay. Fay, an American teenager, was charged along with eight others for vandalism in Singapore. He, Stephen Freehill, two Malaysian juveniles, and Shiu Chi Ho from Singapore went to trial. Freehill�s crime was reduced to mishief. He was not caned and served no jail term. Shiu served about four months in jail and received six cane strokes. Fay�s original sentence was four months in jail, a large fine and six caning strokes. With the enormous amount of media coverage in the United States and the intervention of U.S. President Clinton, this was reduced to approximately 3 months in jail, and four strokes. Although, in the U.S., this is considered unusual and harsh punishment for vandalism, U.S. public support for the whacking was overwhelming (running 90% in Fay�s home town of Dayton, Ohio).
Birthdays
socialist writer: Das Kapital, The Communist Manifesto; founder of communism; died Mar 14, 1883
1867 - Nelly Bly (Elizabeth Cochrane Seaman)
courageous journalist, writing about taboo subjects of her time: divorce, poverty, capital punishment, insanity; women�s rights advocate; died Jan 27, 1922
1890 - Christopher Morley
writer: New York Evening Post, Saturday Review; novelist: Kitty Foyle, Thunder on the Left; died March 28, 1957
1913 - Duane Carter
auto racer: Sprint Car Hall of Famer; died Mar 8, 1993
1914 - Tyrone Power (Tyrone Edmund Power Jr.)
actor: Tom Brown of Culver, The Mark of Zorro, Blood and Sand, This Above All, The Eddie Duchin Story, The Long Gray Line, Witness for the Prosecution; died Nov 15, 1958
1915 - Alice Faye (Alice Jeanne Leppert)
actress: In Old Chicago, Lillian Russell, Rose of Washington Square, Tin Pan Alley, State Fair; died May 9, 1998
1926 - Ann B. (Bradford) Davis
Emmy Award-winning actress: The Bob Cummings Show [1957, 1958-59]; The Brady Bunch, Lover Come Back, A Very Brady Christmas
1927 - Art Pollard
auto racer: killed during Indianapolis 500 time trials May 12, 1973
1927 - Pat Carroll
Emmy Award-winning comedienne, actress: Caesar�s Hour [1956], The Ted Knight Show, With Six You Get Eggroll, Brothers O�Toole
1934 - �Ace� Cannon (John Henry Cannon Jr.)
saxophonist: Tuff, Blues [Stay Away From Me]
1935 - Jose (Antonio Rodriguez) Pagan
baseball: SF Giants [World Series: 1967], Pittsburgh Pirates[World Series: 1971], Philadelphia Phillies
1937 - Sandy Baron (Sanford Beresofsky)
comedian, actor: Leprechaun 2, If It�s Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium, Motorama, Birdy; died Jan 21, 2001
1938 - Michael Murphy
actor: Clean Slate, Batman Returns, The Year of Living Dangerously, Salvador, Manhattan, An Unmarried Woman, Nashville, Two Marriages, Tanner �88, The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, McCabe & Mrs. Miller, Brewster McCloud, Countdown, Double Trouble, Hard Copy
1940 - Lance Henriksen
actor: Powder, Felony, Dead Man, Baja, Spitfire, Color of Night, The Criminal Mind, Delta Heat, Alien 3, The Last Samurai, Johnny Handsome, Near Dark, The Terminator, The Right Stuff, Prince of the City, Damien: Omen 2, Dog Day Afternoon
1941 - Tommy (Vann) Helms
baseball: Cincinnati Reds [all-star: 1967, 1968/World Series: 1970], Houston Astros, Pittsburgh Pirates, Boston Red Sox
1942 - Tammy Wynette (Virginia Wynette Pugh)
Grammy Award-winning country singer: I Don�t Wanna Play House [1967], Stand By Your Man [1969]; D-I-V-O-R-C-E, Near You, Apartment #9; died Apr 6, 1998
1943 - Michael Palin
comedian, actor: Monty Python�s Flying Circus, Life of Brian, Brazil, A Fish Called Wanda, American Friends
1944 - Jean-Pierre L�aud
actor: The 400 Blows, Stolen Kisses, Love on the Run, LA Vie de Boheme, 36 Fillete, Last Tango in Paris
1944 - Roger Rees
actor: M.A.N.T.I.S., Cheers, Robin Hood: Men in Tights, Charles & Diana: A Palace Divided, If Looks Could Kill, Mountains of the Moon, Star 80, The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby
1947 - Larry (Eugene) Hisle
baseball: Philadelphia Phillies, Minnesota Twins [all-star: 1977], Milwaukee Brewers [all-star: 1978]
1948 - John Hummer
basketball: Princeton Univ., LA Clippers
1948 - Bill Ward
musician: drums: group: Black Sabbath: Paranoid
1951 - Nick Bebout
football: Seattle Seahawks
1957 - Richard E. Grant
actor: Jack and Sarah, Cold Light of Day, Ready to Wear, L.A. Story, The Age of Innocence, Bram Stoker�s Dracula, Hudson Hawk, Henry and June
1959 - Ian McCulloch
singer, musician: guitar: group: Echo & The Bunnymen: The Cutter, Silver, Seven Seas, Killing Moon, Rescue, Bring on the Dancing Horses
1962 - Gary Daly
singer: group: China Crisis: Wishful Thinking
1962 - Kevin Mooney
musician: bass: group: Adam & The Ants: LPs: King�s of the Wild Frontier, Prince Charming
1973 - Tina Yothers
actress: Family Ties, Laker Girls, Spunk: The Tonya Harding Story.
Chart Toppers
1949 Cruising Down the River - The Blue Barron Orchestra (vocal: ensemble)
Forever and Ever - Perry Como
Again - Doris Day
1957 All Shook Up - Elvis Presley
School Day - Chuck Berry
A White Sport Coat (And a Pink Carnation) - Marty Robbins
Gone - Ferlin Husky
1965 Mrs. Brown You�ve Got a Lovely Daughter - Herman�s Hermits
I Know a Place - Petula Clark
I�ll Never Find Another You - The Seekers
This is It - Jim Reeves
1973 Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree - Dawn featuring Tony
Orlando
Behind Closed Doors - Charlie Rich
1981 Morning Train (Nine to Five) - Sheena Easton
Just the Two of Us - Grover Washington, Jr./Bill Withers
Being with You - Smokey Robinson
Rest Your Love on Me - Conway Twitty
1989 Like a Prayer - Madonna
I�ll Be There for You - Bon Jovi
She Drives Me Crazy - Fine Young Cannibals
Young Love - The Judds
Those were the days, my friend. We thought they�d never end... ;)
For those who are reading this, be sure and stop in daily as I will keep this updated daily. I use to do a, Today in history article daily on my morning radio show.
All I ask of you, is to not to post in this thread, so that others that view this thread will not have to scroll down to view the contents.
You are however, welcomed to PM. me or even start a thread on comments about, Today in history.
Thanks for your kind, considerate understanding. :)
ShadowThomas
126th day of 2007 - 239 remaining.
Sunday, May 6, 2007
VALENTINO DAY. :)
Rodolpho Alfonso Rafaello Pietro Filiberto Guglielmi Di Valentina D�Antonguolla was born this day in 1895. How he got past the name selection process is anyone�s guess!
Rudolph Valentino became a national phenomenon and a star of unprecedented sensual attraction to women, starring in these memorable movies: The Big Little Person (1918), The Delicious Little Devil (1919) for which he earned $100 per week, Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921), Blood and Sand (1922), and his most famous, Sheik (1921), which he said he hated.
He also disliked Paramount Studios, saying he was dissatisfied with the photography, management and direction; that they did not live up to his artistic ambitions. However, by 1924, Valentino was in the top ten of box office stars. Monsieur Beaucaire, starring Valentino, was released that same year. A year later he was at the very top of the box office star list.
The leading man was just 31 years old when a perforated ulcer took his life. Tens of thousands came to view their screen idol and movie studios closed during the funeral. On the anniversary of his death, the �Lady in Black� made her first of many annual appearances at his burial site. The mystery lady was never identified. Even in death, Rudolph Valentino was a superstar.
Events
1835 - James Gordon Bennett published the New York Herald for the first time.
1851 - Dr. John Gorrie of Apalachicola FL, patented the mechanical refrigerator.
1851 - Linus Yale of Newport, NY became well known for his patent of the clock-type lock. If the name Yale sounds familiar, it should. Yale locks are among the top brands of security devices sold today.
1889 - The Universal Exposition opened in Paris, France, marking the dedication of the recently constructed Eiffel Tower. The exposition also was known for the display of the first automobile in Paris. No, it wasn�t a French auto. It was a German Mercedes-Benz, one of the world�s most luxurious automobiles.
1915 - Babe Ruth hit his first major-league home run. He was playing for the Boston Red Sox at the time. �The Sultan of Swat� went on to smash 714 round-trippers before he retired, as a New York Yankee, in 1935.
1937 - A student of history, a broadcaster or anyone interested in news coverage, will remember this day and the words of NBC radio�s Herbert Morrison. �Oh, the humanity!� Morrison�s emotion-filled historic broadcast of the explosion of the dirigible, Hindenburg at Lakehurst, NJ, became the first recorded coast-to-coast broadcast as it was carried on both the NBC Red and NBC Blue networks from New York City.
1941 - Joseph Stalin became the premier of Russia.
1946 - The New York Yankees announced that they were to be the first major-league baseball team to travel by airplane during the entire 1946 season.
1954 - Roger Bannister broke the four-minute mile in Oxford, England. He was timed at 3:59.4 seconds. Bannister told reporters that a mile run of 3:30 would be run before 1999. His prediction did not come true although runners are definitely getting closer. The record time of 3:43.13 by Hicham El Guerrouj of Morocco stands as the world men�s outdoor mile record since July 7, 1999. Any challengers?
1957 - Senator John Fitzgerald Kennedy of Massachusetts was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his book Profiles in Courage.
1959 - The Pablo Picasso painting of a Dutch girl was sold for $154,000 in London. It was the highest price paid to that time for a painting by a living artist.
1980 - NBC came to terms with its superstar, Johnny Carson, on this day. Johnny signed a new three-year contract for approximately $5-million a year. Carson also reduced his Tonight Show to one hour from ninety minutes and cut his work week to four nights. Plus, he got billing in the show�s title, as it became The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson.
1982 - Gaylord Perry of the Seattle Mariners became the 15th pitcher in the major leagues to win 300 career victories. Perry, known for his spitball as well as a variety of other pitches, led the Mariners past the New York Yankees 7-3.
1986 - From the What an Ungrateful Thing to Do, Joan file: Comedienne, Joan Rivers, put her foot in her mouth by announcing to the world that she was leaving The Tonight Show as permanent guest host to begin her own late-night gabfest on the new FOX TV Network.
Birthdays
French revolutionary; executed [guillotine] July 28, 1794
1856 - Sigmund Freud
psychiatrist, originated psychoanalysis; died Sep 23, 1939
1856 - Robert E. Peary
explorer: discoverer of the North Pole, Greenland, and the Melville meteorite; died Jan 20, 1920
1895 - Rudolph Valentino (Rodolfo Pietro Filiberto Raffaello Guglielmi di Valentina)
actor; died Aug 23, 1926; see Valentino Day [above]
1903 - (Bernard) Toots Shor
restaurateur, barkeep; died Jan 23, 1977
1907 - (Wilbur Charles) Weeb Ewbank
Pro Football Hall of Famer: head coach: Baltimore Colts [2-time world champions: 1958-59], NY Jets [Super Bowl III]; coached 130 career wins; died Nov 17, 1998
1913 - Carmen Cavallaro
pianist: Chopin�s Polonaise; films: The Eddy Duchin Story, Hollywood Canteen, Out of this World, Diamond Horseshoe; died Oct 12, 1989
1915 - (George) Orson Welles
actor: War of the Worlds, Citizen Kane, The Mercury Radio Theatre of the Air, The Long Hot Summer, A Man for All Seasons, MacBeth, Moby Dick, Casino Royale, Catch-22; died Oct 10, 1985
1920 - Ross Hunter (Martin Fuss)
producer: Son of Ali Baba, Magnificent Obsession, My Man Godfrey, Tammy and the Bachelor, Pillow Talk, Midnight Lace, Flower Drum Song, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Airport; actor: Louisiana Hayride, Sweetheart of Sigma Chi, Reform School Girl; died Mar 10, 1996
1922 - Pat Harder
football: Univ of Wisconsin all-American; NFL: Detroit Lions, Chicago Cardinals: shared individual game record: points after touchdowns [9: Cardinals vs. NY Giants Oct 17, 1948]
1923 - Elizabeth Sellars
actress: A Voyage Round My Father, The Chalk Garden, Three Cases of Murder, Never Let Go, Desiree
1923 - Harry (Percival) Watson
Hockey Hall of Famer: NHL: Detroit Red Wings, Toronto Maple Leafs, Chicago Blackhawks
1926 - Marguerite Piazza (Luft)
soprano: regular on TV�s Your Show of Shows
1931 - Willie (Howard) Mays
Baseball Hall of Famer: �The Say Hey Kid�: NY Giants [World Series: 1951, 1954/all-star: 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957], SF Giants [World Series: 1962/all-star: 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971], NY Mets [World Series: 1973/all-star: 1972, 1973]
1940 - Bill (William Alfred) Hands
baseball: pitcher: SF Giants, Chicago Cubs, Minnesota Twins, Texas Rangers
1945 - Bob Seger
musician, singer: Night Moves, Travelin� Man, Ramblin� Gamblin� Man, Against the Wind, Fire Lake
1946 - Grier Jones
golf: Walt Disney World National Team Championship [1977 w/Gibby Gilbert]
1947 - Ben Masters
actor: Running Mates, Noble House, All that Jazz, Making Mr. Right, Dream Lover, Mandingo, Heartbeat
1949 - Dennis Havig
football: Univ. of Colorado; NFL: Atlanta Falcons
1951 - Davey Johnstone
musician: guitar, in trio backing Elton John: Rocket Man, Honky Cat, Crocodile Rock, Daniel, Bennie and the Jets, Island Girl, The ***** is Back, Don�t Let the Sun Go Down on Me, Someone Saved My Life Tonight
1952 - Fred McNeil
football: Minnesota Vikings linebacker: Super Bowl IX, XI
1961 - George (Timothy) Clooney
actor: The Facts of Life, E/R, Return of the Killer Tomatoes!, Roseanne, Sunset Beat, Red Surf, Sisters, Baby Talk, Bodies of Evidence, ER, From Dusk Till Dawn, Batman & Robin, The Peacemaker, The Thin Red Line, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, The Perfect Storm; son of broadcast journalist Nick Clooney; nephew of singer Rosemary Clooney.
Chart Toppers
1950 My Foolish Heart - The Gordon Jenkins Orchestra (vocal: Eileen Wilson)
Bewitched - The Bill Snyder Orchestra
The Third Man Theme - Alton Karas
Long Gone Lonesome Blues - Hank Williams
1958 Tequila - The Champs
The Witch Doctor - David Seville
Wear My Ring Around Your Neck - Elvis Presley
Oh Lonesome Me - Don Gibson
1966 Good Lovin� - The Young Rascals
Monday Monday - The Mamas & The Papas
Sloop John B - The Beach Boys
I Want to Go with You - Eddy Arnold
1974 The Loco-Motion - Grand Funk
Dancing Machine - The Jackson 5
The Streak - Ray Stevens
Things Aren�t Funny Anymore - Merle Haggard
1982 I Love Rock �N Roll - Joan Jett & The Blackhearts
Chariots of Fire - Titles - Vangelis
Ebony and Ivory - Paul McCartney with Stevie Wonder
Mountain Music - Alabama
1990 Nothing Compares 2 U - Sinead O�Connor
I Wanna Be Rich - Calloway
How Can We Be Lovers - Michael Bolton
Love on Arrival - Dan Seals
Those were the days, my friend. We thought they�d never end... ;)
For those who are reading this, be sure and stop in daily as I will keep this updated daily. I use to do a, Today in history article daily on my morning radio show.
All I ask of you, is to not to post in this thread, so that others that view this thread will not have to scroll down to view the contents.
You are however, welcomed to PM. me or even start a thread on comments about, Today in history.
Thanks for your kind, considerate understanding. :)
ShadowThomas
127th day of 2007 - 238 remaining.
Monday, May 7, 2007
CHATTANOOGA CHOO CHOO DAY. :D
Glenn Miller and his Orchestra recorded one of the great American music standards, Chattanooga Choo Choo, on this day in 1941. The song was recorded at the famous Victor Recording Studios in Hollywood, California. The record not only became a big hit, it is said to have been the first gold record -- for selling over one million copies. The claim, incidentally, was a promotion idea of RCA Victor. It was not until over a decade later that the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) was formed to designate and audit actual certification for gold, and later, platinum records, tapes, CDs, videos and even computer software.
Song of the Volga Boatman, Elmer�s Tune, A String of Pearls, Moonlight ****tai", That Old Black Magic and Kalamazoo were also Glenn Miller #1 recordings alongside Chattanooga Choo Choo. All aboard!
Events
May 7th.
1789 - The first Presidential Inaugural Ball was held in New York City. Each lady in attendance received as a gift a portrait of George Washington. Actually, the ball was the first such event held for the incoming President of the United States.
1912 - Columbia University approved final plans for awarding the Pulitzer Prize in several categories. The award was established by Joseph Pulitzer.
1912 - The first airplane equipped with a machine gun flew over College Park, MD. This is strange, as the University of Maryland takes up about all of College Park! Maybe the flyer was looking for Terrapins (the school mascot). YIKES!
1915 - On its return trip from New York to Liverpool, England, the British ocean liner, Lusitania, was torpedoed by a German U-boat off the coast of Ireland. The Lusitania was carrying a cargo of ammunition from the U.S. to Great Britain. This was Germany�s reason for the attack even though the ship was carrying over 2,000 civilian men, women and children. 1,198 lives were lost.
1945 - Baseball owner Branch Rickey announced the organization of the United States Negro Baseball League, consisting of six teams.
1945 - Nazi Colonel General Alfred Jodl, representing the German government, entered the headquarters of the Allied forces early this day. He was in a red school building in Reims, France for one purpose only ... signing the terms of unconditional surrender. Eisenhower�s Chief of Staff, Lt. General Walter B. Smith signed for the Allies.
1951 - Russia was admitted to participate in the 1952 Olympic Games by the International Olympic Committee.
1958 - Pianist Van Cliburn signed an artist�s contract with RCA Victor Records.
1959 - It was one of the most touching and memorable nights in all of baseball on this night. 93,103 fans packed the LA Coliseum for an exhibition game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the New York Yankees. Sandy Koufax pitched for the Dodgers and lost to the Yankees, 6-2. It was Roy Campanella Night. The star catcher for the Dodgers, paralyzed in an automobile accident, was honored for his contributions to the team for many years. �Campie� continued to serve in various capacities with the Dodger organization for many years.
1966 - The Mamas & The Papas made the climb to the top of the Billboard pop music chart with Monday, Monday. For three weeks Monday, Monday stayed at the top of the pop music world. The tune was the second hit by the group -- just two months after their first, California Dreamin�. These two songs would be the only number one hits for the group, though they made it to number two with Dedicated to the One I Love.
1985 - The Edmonton Oilers set a National Hockey League record for playoff wins (12). Edmonton won its second Stanley Cup with a 7-3 win over the Chicago Black Hawks.
1987 - Shelly Long made her last appearance as a regular on the popular TV show, Cheers. Long, who played ****tail server, Diane Chambers, to often hilarious results, left the hit comedy to pursue a movie career.
Birthdays
May 7th.
1812 - Robert Browning
poet: Pauline, Men and Women, The Ring and the Book, Pippa Passes: God�s in His Heaven - All�s Right with the World; married to poet, Elizabeth Barrett; died Dec 12, 1889
1833 - Johannes Brahms
composer: Requiem, Symphony #1 in C Minor, Symphony #4 in E Minor; died Apr 3, 1897
1840 - Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
composer: Marche Slave, 1812 Overture, Swan Lake, Nutcracker Suite, Romeo and Juliet; died Nov 6, 1893
1861 - Rabindranath Tagore
Nobel prize-winner: literature [1913]; Hindu poet, mystic, musical composer; died Aug 7, 1941
1885 - Gabby (George Francis) Hayes
actor: sidekick of both Hopalong Cassidy and Roy Rogers, appeared in over 100 films; vaudevillian, silent movie villain; died Feb 9, 1969
1892 - Archibald MacLeish
Pulitzer Prize-winning poet: Conquistador [1933], Collected Poems, 1917-1952 [1953]; U.S. Librarian of Congress; died Apr 20, 1982
1901 - Gary (Frank James) Cooper
Academy Award-winning actor: Sergeant York [1941], High Noon [1952]; Beau Geste, The Virginian, The Court Martial of Billy Mitchell, The Wreck of the Mary Deare; died May 13, 1961
1919 - Eva (Evita) Peron
Argentina�s spiritual leader and wife of Argentina�s President, Juan Peron; actress on stage, film and radio; autobiography: The Reason for My Life; founder and president of the union entity: Agrupacion Radial Argentina; subject of the Broadway musical and film Evita; died July 26, 1952
1921 - Gale Robbins
actress, singer: The Barkley�s of Broadway, The Fuller Brush Girl, Three Little Words, The Belle of New York; died Feb 12, 1980
1922 - Darren McGavin
actor: The Night Stalker, Airport �77, A Christmas Story, Billy Madison, Child in the Night, The Man with the Golden Arm, The Martian Chronicles, The Natural, Perfect Harmony, Dead Heat; died Feb 25, 2006
1923 - Anne Baxter
actress: The Ten Commandments, Walk on the Wild Side, All About Eve, Cimarron, East of Eden, Homecoming; died Dec 12, 1985
1927 - Jim Lowe
songwriter/singer: Green Door; songwriter: The Gambler�s Guitar, Close the Doors They�re Coming in the Windows; DJ: WCBS, WNBC, WNEW; syndicated host: Jim Lowe and Friends
1929 - Dick (Richard Hirschfeld) Williams
baseball: Brooklyn Dodgers [World Series: 1953], Baltimore Orioles, Cleveland Indians, Kansas City Athletics, Boston Red Sox; manager: Boston Red Sox, Oakland Athletics [winning 2 World Series], California Angels, Montreal Expos, San Diego Padres, Seattle Mariners
1930 - Totie Fields (Sophie Feldman)
entertainer, comedienne: �I�ve been on a diet for two weeks and all I�ve lost is two weeks.�; died August 2, 1978
1930 - Babe (Vito) Parilli
football: Univ of Kentucky: all-American; NHL: Green Bay Packers, Cleveland Browns, New England Patriots, Oakland Raiders, NY Jets [Super Bowl III]; offensive coach: Denver Broncos, New England Patriots
1931 - Teresa Brewer (Theresa Breuer)
singer: Music, Music, Music, Ricochet, Let Me Go Lover, A Sweet Old Fashioned Girl, �Til I Waltz Again with You; actress: Redheads from Seattle
1933 - Johnny Unitas
Pro Football Hall of Famer: Baltimore Colts, San Diego Chargers quarterback; holds consecutive records for game touchdown passes [47] from 1956-1960; died Sep 11, 2002
1939 - Jimmy Ruffin
singer: What Becomes of the Brokenhearted, Hold on to My Love, There Will Never be Another You
1942 - Lorrie (Lawrencine May) Collins
country singer: rockabilly group [w/Larry Collins]: The Collins Kids: Rock Away Rock, In My Teens, Rock Boppin� Baby, Hop Skip & Jump; featured on TV: Town Hall Party, Grand Ole Opry, Steve Allen Show
1943 - Ricky West
musician: guitar: group: Brian Poole & The Tremeloes: Twist & Shout, Do You Love Me, Someone Someone, Silence is Golden
1946 - Marv Hubbard
football: Colgate Univ., Oakland Raiders
1947 - Dave Hampton
football: Green Bay Packers: First 1,000-Yard Rusher [1,002 yards: 1975], Atlanta Falcons, Philadelphia Eagles
1949 - Kathy Ahern
golf champion: LPGA [1972]; died July 6, 1996
1950 - Tim Russert
TV host, moderator: NBC: Meet the Press, CNBC: Tim Russert
1951 - Janis Ian (Janis Eddy Fink)
Grammy Award-winning songwriter, singer: At Seventeen [1975]; Society�s Child
1953 - Terry Richardson
hockey: NHL: Detroit Red Wings, SL Blues
1954 - Amy Heckerling
director: Clueless, Look Who�s Talking series, National Lampoon�s European Vacation, Johnny Dangerously, Fast Times at Ridgemont High
1959 - Michael E. Knight
actor: All My Children, Hexed, Date with an Angel.
Chart Toppers
Sparrow in the Treetop - Bing Crosby
Cold, Cold Heart - Hank Williams
1959 Come Softly to Me - The Fleetwoods
The Happy Organ - Dave �Baby� Cortez
Sorry (I Ran All the Way Home) - The Impalas
White Lightning - George Jones
1967 Somethin� Stupid - Nancy Sinatra & Frank Sinatra
The Happening - The Supremes
Sweet Soul Music - Arthur Conley
Need You - Sonny James
1975 He Don�t Love You (Like I Love You) - Tony Orlando & Dawn
Before the Next Teardrop Falls - Freddy Fender
Chevy Van - Sammy Johns
Roll on Big Mama - Joe Stampley
1983 Beat It - Michael Jackson
Jeopardy - Greg Kihn Band
Let�s Dance - David Bowie
Jose Cuervo - Shelly West
1991 Baby Baby - Amy Grant
Joyride - Roxette
I Like the Way (The Kissing Game) - Hi-Five
Rockin� Years - Dolly Parton with Ricky Van Shelton
Those were the days, my friend. We thought they�d never end... ;)
For those who are reading this, be sure and stop in daily as I will keep this updated daily. I use to do a, Today in history article daily on my morning radio show.
All I ask of you, is to not to post in this thread, so that others that view this thread will not have to scroll down to view the contents.
You are however, welcomed to PM. me or even start a thread on comments about, Today in history.
Thanks for your kind, considerate understanding. :)
ShadowThomas
128th day of 2007 - 237 remaining.
Tuesday, May 8, 2007
COKE DAY. :)
Dr. John S. Pemberton first sold his secret elixir on this day in 1886. It was originally used for medicinal purposes. So Dr. Pemberton went to the right place to sell his new product: Jacob�s Pharmacy in Atlanta, GA.
Three years later, Dr. Pemberton figured that his secret formula had been enough of a success for him to sell out. He did just that, for $2,300. Even in 1889 dollars, $2,300 was a mere drop in the bucket for what the still very classified, secret formula would be worth. That formula is now used in a product that sells about 350 million cans and bottles a day in nearly 200 countries. That�s enough secret elixir for every man, woman and child on earth to consume -- 25 times a year.
Dr. Pemberton�s medicine was sold to make people feel better. It�s �the pause that refreshes.� It�s �the real thing.� It�s Coca-Cola. Have a Coke in honor of Dr. Pemberton, today.
Events
1847 - Robert W. Thomson of England patented the rubber tire on this day.
1879 - George Selden of Rochester, NY applied for the first automobile patent.
1915 - Regret captured the Kentucky Derby. The horse was the only filly to win the Run for the Roses in Louisville, KY.
1939 - Clay Puett invented a device that is still a common sight at thoroughbred race tracks around the world. The electric starting gate was used for the first time to start races at Hollywood Park in Inglewood, CA. The push of a button from a judges� stand at trackside automatically opened the gates. It was set on wheels so that it could be pulled off the race course quickly. A bell sounds... and �They�re off!�
1941 - Anita O�Day recorded Let Me Off Uptown on Okeh Records with Gene Krupa and his band.
1945 - This day was celebrated throughout the free world. It was V-E Day. The Allied Forces had achieved victory in Europe with the unconditional surrender of Germany. The surrender had been made official on May 7th at Reims, France.
1959 - The final broadcast of One Man�s Family was heard on NBC radio after being on the air 27 years. The show had completed 3,256 episodes since its beginning back in 1932.
1961 - Shore Patrol Revisited became one of the most memorable episodes of the CBS-TV series, Hennessey. The program marked the first time that Jackie Cooper and Mickey Rooney appeared together professionally since they had been teenagers -- some 25 years earlier.
1961 - The New York Metropolitan Baseball Club Inc. selected the Mets as the name for their National League baseball franchise that would begin play at the Polo Grounds in 1962.
1962 - Zero Mostel starred in one of his most famous roles, in the Broadway production of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. The comedy opened at the Alvin Theatre in New York City. Audiences laughed through the entertaining show for a total of 964 performances.
1965 - College sophomore Randy Matson broke his own pending world record in the shot put by breaking the 70-foot barrier. Matson put that shot 70 feet, 7 inches at a meet in College Station, TX.
1968 - Catfish Hunter was pitching for Oakland in an American League baseball game against Minnesota. By the end of the game, with a score of 4-0, Catfish made history. He pitched what turned out to be the ninth perfect game in major-league baseball history.
1981 - Fernando Valenzuela, the sensational crowd-pleasing pitcher of the Los Angeles Dodgers, won his fifth shutout of the young baseball season. Fernando went on to win eight games without a loss and posted an amazing ERA of just 0.50!
1984 - Joanie (Erin Moran) and Chachi (Scott Baio) got married on Happy Days! The comedy series, starring Henry Winkler, Tom Bosley and Marion Ross (Ron Howard and Anson Williams had already left the show), was winding down in its final season on ABC-TV. In the same episode, Fonzie (brilliantly portrayed by Winkler), filed papers to adopt a son.
1985 - Larry Bird scored a career-high 43 points to lead the Boston Celtics to a 130-123 win over the Detroit Pistons.
Birthdays
author; philanthropist: founder of Red Cross Society; died Oct 30, 1910
1848 - Oscar Hammerstein I
playwright, producer; died Aug 1, 1919
1884 - Harry S Truman
33rd U.S. President [1945-1953]; married to Bess Wallace [one daughter: Margaret]; nickname: Give �em Hell Harry; died Dec 26, 1972
1893 - Francis Ouimet
stockbroker; philanthropist; golfer: credited with establishing the popularity of golf in U.S.; died Sep 3, 1967
1895 - Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen
TV clergyman: Life is Worth Living; died Dec 9, 1979
1906 - Roberto Rossellini
director: Seven Deadly Sins, The Messiah; died June 3, 1977
1911 - Robert Johnson
Blues Hall of Famer: singer, songwriter, guitarist: Sweet Home Chicago, Cross Road Blues, Me and the Devil Blues; subject of film, Crossroads; inducted into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame [1986]; died Aug 16, 1938
1919 - Lex Barker (Alexander Crichlow Barker Jr.)
actor: A Place Called Glory, La Dolce Vita, Apaches Last Battle, Away All Boats, Executioner of Venice; died May 11, 1973
1926 - David Attenborough
naturalist, author: Life on Earth, Trials of Life
1926 - Don Rickles
comedian, actor: CPO Sharkey, Casino, Blazing Saddles, Kelly�s Heroes, Beach Blanket Bingo, The Rat Race
1928 - Theodore C. (Ted) Sorensen
Special Counsel to U.S. President John F. Kennedy; author: Kennedy; Leaders of Our Time, The Kennedy Legacy, Why I Am a Democrat, Watchmen in the night : Presidential accountability after Watergate
1932 - (Charles) Sonny Liston
International Boxing Hall of Famer, World Heavyweight Boxing Champion [1962, 1963]; International Boxing Hall of Famer; 54 bouts: won 50 [39 KOs], lost 4; died Dec 30, 1970
1937 - Mike (Miguel Angel Santana) Cuellar
baseball: pitcher: Cincinnati Reds, SL Cardinals, Houston Astros [all-star: 1967], Baltimore Orioles [Cy Young Award Winner: 1969/all-star: 1970, 1971, 1974/World Series: 1969, 1970, 1971], California Angels
1937 - Thomas Pynchon
writer: V., Slow Learner: Early Stories
1940 - Peter Benchley
author: Jaws, The Deep, The Island; died Feb 11, 2006
1940 - Ricky (Eric Hilliard) Nelson
actor: The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, Rio Bravo, Wackiest Ship in the Army, Love and Kisses; singer: I�m Walkin�, Be-Bop Baby, Poor Little Fool, Lonesome Town, Never Be Anyone Else But You, Travelin� Man, Garden Party; Rock and Roll Hall of Famer [1987]; killed in plane crash Dec 31, 1985
1940 - Toni Tennille
singer: Love Will Keep Us Together, The Way I Want to Touch You, Lonely Night [Angel Face], Muskrat Love
1941 - James Mitchum
actor: In Harm�s Way, Code Name: Zebra, Hollywood Cop, Marked for Murder, Ride the Wild Surf
1944 - Gary Glitter (Paul Gadd)
singer: Rock And Roll (Parts I & II), I�m the Leader of the Gang [I Am], I Love You Love Me Love, Hello Hello I�m Back Again, Do You Wanna Touch, Another Rock �n� Roll Christmas
1953 - Alex Van Halen
drummer: group: Van Halen: Jump, Why Can�t This Be Love, When It�s Love, Dance the Night Away; brother of Eddie and Michael
1954 - David Keith
actor: The Great Santini, Take This Job & Shove It, An Officer and a Gentleman; director: The Curse, The Further Adventures of Tennessee Buck
1959 - Ronnie (Ronald Mandel) Lott
football: All-American DB USC, SF 49ers, Oakland Raiders, NY Jets; Super Bowls XVI, XIX, XXIII, XXIV
1964 - Melissa Gilbert
actress: Little House on the Prairie, The Miracle Worker, Her Own Rules, Murder at 75 Birch.
Chart Toppers
1944 I Love You - Bing Crosby
I�ll Get By - The Harry James Orchestra (vocal: Dick Haymes)
Long Ago and Far Away - Helen Forrest & Dick Haymes
Too Late to Worry, Too Blue to Cry - Al Dexter
1952 Blue Tango - The Leroy Anderson Orchestra
Blacksmith Blues - Ella Mae Morse
Anytime - Eddie Fisher
Easy on the Eyes - Eddy Arnold
1960 Stuck on You - Elvis Presley
Sink the Bismarck - Johnny Horton
Sixteen Reasons - Connie Stevens
He�ll Have to Go - Jim Reeves
1968 Honey - Bobby Goldsboro
Tighten Up - Archie Bell & The Drells
Young Girl - The Union Gap
The Legend of Bonnie and Clyde - Merle Haggard
1976 Welcome Back - John Sebastian
Right Back Where We Started From - Maxine Nightingale
Boogie Fever - Sylvers
My Eyes Can Only See as Far as You - Charley Pride
1984 Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now) - Phil Collins
Hello - Lionel Richie
Hold Me Now - The Thompson Twins
I Guess It Never Hurts to Hurt Sometimes - The Oak Ridge Boys
Those were the days, my friend. We thought they�d never end... ;) )
For those who are reading this, be sure and stop in daily as I will keep this updated daily. I use to do a, Today in history article daily on my morning radio show.
All I ask of you, is to not to post in this thread, so that others that view this thread will not have to scroll down to view the contents.
You are however, welcomed to PM. me or even start a thread on comments about, Today in history.
Thanks for your kind, considerate understanding. :)
ShadowThomas
129th day of 2007 - 236 remaining.
Wednesday, May 9, 2007
THE BIGGEST LITTLE CITY IN THE WORLD DAY. :)
Happy Birthday to Reno, Nevada. It was on this day in 1868 that a little town in Northwestern Nevada was officially named, Reno (after General Jesse Lee Reno, a Union officer of the Civil War). Actually, the town that was just over the border from California, already existed before this date. It was first settled by the Washoe Indians who used the area for festivals and ceremonies. Then, as settlers moved in, it was known as Fuller�s Ferry, and later, as Lake�s Crossing.
In the mid 1800s, Reno was just another settlement of silver miners. When the Comstock Lode was discovered in the Virginia City area, intrigued fortune hunters throughout the world came to the area to strike it rich.
Today, they still come to strike it rich at Reno�s glitzy gambling casinos.
Reno, also a haven for quickie divorces (only a six-week residency is required), is known as the biggest little city in the world, the winning slogan from a contest held in 1929.
Events
May 9th.
1754 - The first cartoon appeared in The Pennsylvania Gazette, the newspaper published at the time in Philadelphia, PA, Benjamin Franklin�s hometown. The cartoon appeared as part of an editorial by Franklin commenting on �the present disunited state of the British Colonies.� The title of the featured cartoon is �JOIN, or DIE.� The drawing is of a snake, chopped into eight pieces. Each of the pieces are labeled with the abbreviation for one of the colonies. The message was that the colonies� continued failure to join together would result in their eventual doom.
1930 - For the first time, a starting gate was used to start a Triple Crown race. The gate was rolled into place at the Preakness at the Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, MD. Gallant Fox, the winner, had no problem with the new contraption. Prior to that time, this horse race began from a standing start at the start/finish line with the drop of a flag.
1936 - The first sheet of postage stamps of more than one variety went on sale -- in New York City.
1936 - Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy started their own radio show on NBC -- only months after they had debuted on Rudy Vallee�s radio program. W.C. Fields, Don Ameche and Dorothy Lamour were a few of the stars that helped Bergen and the little blockhead, McCarthy, jump to the top of radio�s hit parade.
1939 - Ray Eberle recorded Stairway to the Stars with the Glenn Miller Orchestra for Bluebird records.
1940 - Actress Vivien Leigh made her American theatre debut with Laurence Olivier in Romeo and Juliet in New York City.
1958 - Richard Burton made his network television debut in The Dupont Show of the Month presentation of Wuthering Heights on CBS-TV.
1961 - Jim Gentile of the Baltimore Orioles set a major-league baseball record by hitting grand slam home runs in two consecutive innings. The Orioles were playing the Minnesota Twins.
1962 - The Beatles inked their first recording contract. George Martin was hired to be the group�s producer and the band would record for EMI Parlophone.
1964 - Hello Dolly! became the top pop record in the U.S. The milestone put Louis Armstrong on the Billboard music chart in the top spot for the first time in his 41-year music career. Later, �Satchmo� was cast in the movie version of Hello Dolly!.
1965 - Vladimir Horowitz played his first public concert in 12 years at Carnegie Hall in New York City. The audience applauded the piano virtuoso with a standing ovation that lasted for 30 minutes.
1984 - Detroit beat Kansas City, 3-1, to tie the record for the best start of any major-league baseball team. The Tigers went 25-4 in their first 29 games -- a record matched only by the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1955.
1984 - It took the Chicago White Sox 25 innings, eight hours, six minutes -- and two days -- to finally defeat the Milwaukee Brewers, 7-6. It was the longest game (in elapsed time) in major-league history. Tom Seaver pitched one inning of relief in the suspended game to notch the win. The game tied the record for the longest game played to a decision.
Birthdays
abolitionist: led attack on Harper�s Ferry in 1859; executed [hanged] Dec 2, 1859
1843 - Belle Boyd
actress; lecturer; author: Belle Boyd in Camp and Prison; Confederate spy; died June 11, 1900
1860 - Sir James Barrie
author, dramatist: Peter Pan, The Little Minister, The Admirable Crichton, What Every Woman Knows, Dear Brutus; died June 19, 1937
1882 - Henry J. (John) Kaiser
industrialist: ship builder; auto manufacturer: Jeep; aviation, aluminum, steel, magnesium; founder of Hawaii Kai residential neighborhood in Honolulu; died Aug 24, 1967
1914 - Hank Snow (Clarence Eugene)
Country Music Hall of Famer: singer, songwriter: I�m Moving On [recorded in 36 languages], Golden Rocket, I Don�t Hurt Anymore, Rhumba Boogie, Hello Love, I�ve Been Everywhere; died Dec 20, 1999
1918 - Mike (Myron Leon) Wallace
reporter, interviewer: 60 Minutes, Mike Wallace at Large
1928 - (Richard) Pancho Gonzales
tennis: U.S. Open Champion [1948, 1949; died July 3, 1995
1935 - Nokie Edwards
musician: guitar: group: The Ventures: Walk Don�t Run, Perfidia, Hawaii Five-O Theme
1936 - Albert Finney
actor: Tom Jones, Shoot the Moon, Annie, The Dresser, Murder on the Orient Express, Scrooge
1936 - Glenda Jackson
Academy Award-winning actress: Women in Love [1970], A Touch of Class [1973]
1936 - Floyd (Andrew) Robinson
baseball: Chicago White Sox, Cincinnati Reds, Boston Red Sox, Oakland Athletics
1937 - Sonny Curtis
musician: guitar: group: Buddy Holly & The Crickets: My Little Girl; solo: A Beatle I Want to Be; songwriter: Rock Around with Ollie Vee, Walk Right Back, More Than I Can Say, I Fought the Law
1939 - Ralph Boston
National Track & Field Hall of Famer, Olympic Hall of Famer: gold medalist: long jump [1960], silver [1964], bronze [1968]; broke world long jump record 5 times, the last at 27 feet, 5 inches [1965]
1940 - James L. Brooks
Emmy Award-winning writer: The Mary Tyler Moore Show [1971, 1977]; Emmy Award-winning producer: The Mary Tyler Moore Show [1975, 1976, 1977], Taxi [1979, 1980, 1981], The Tracy Ullman Show [1989], The Simpsons [1990, 1991]; Academy Award-winning director: Terms of Endearment [1984], I�ll Do Anything, Broadcast News, Thursday�s Game; screenwriter: I�ll Do Anything, Broadcast News, Terms of Endearment, Starting Over, Thursday�s Game, Room 222
1941 - Pete Birrell
musician: bass: group: Freddie & The Dreamers: If You Gotta Make a Fool of Somebody, I�m Telling You Now, You Were Made for Me, I Understand, Do the Freddie
1942 - Tommy Roe
singer, songwriter: Sheila, Save Your Kisses; singer: Susie Darlin�, Everybody, The Folk Singer, Sweet Pea, Hooray for Hazel, Dizzy, Jam Up Jelly Tight
1944 - Richie Furay
musician: group: Poco, Buffalo Springfield: I Still Have Dreams, Call It Love
1945 - Steve Katz
record producer; musician: guitar, harmonica, singer: group: Blood, Sweat and Tears: And When I Die, You Make Me So Very Happy, Spinning Wheel
1946 - Candice Bergen
Emmy Award-winning actress: Murphy Brown [1989, 1990, 1992, 1993]; Starting Over, The Group, Boston Legal; daughter of ventriloquist Edgar Bergen
1948 - John Mahaffey
Basketball Hall of Famer: Houston Rockets
1949 - Billy Joel
Grammy Award-winning singer: Just the Way You Are [1979]; My Life, You May be Right, It�s Still Rock �n� Roll to Me, Allentown, Goodnight Saigon, Tell Her about It, Uptown Girl, Piano Man; inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame [3-15-99]
1950 - Tom Petersson
musician: bass, singer: group: Cheap Trick: I Want You to Want Me, Ain�t That a Shame, Dream Police, Voices
1962 - David Gahan
singer: group: Depeche Mode: Enjoy the Silence, Just Can't Get Enough, People are People, Personal Jesus
1962 - Paul Heaton
musician: guitar, singer: group: The Housemartins: Now That's What I Call Quite Good, The People Who Grinned Themselves to Death, London 0, Hul 4; group: The Beautiful South: Painting It Red, Quench, Blue is the Colour.
Chart Toppers
1945 Candy - Johnny Mercer & Jo Stafford
I�m Beginning to See the Light - The Harry James Orchestra (vocal: Kitty
Kallen)
He�s Home for a Little While - Dinah Shore
Smoke on the Water - Bob Wills
1953 Pretend - Nat King Cole
Song from Moulin Rouge - The Percy Faith Orchestra
I Believe - Frankie Laine
When I Need You - Leo Sayer
Sir Duke - Stevie Wonder
Play, Guitar Play - Conway Twitty
1985 We are the World - USA for Africa
Crazy for You - Madonna
Don�t You Forget About Me - Simple Minds
There�s No Way - Alabama
Those were the days, my friend. We thought they�d never end... ;)
For those who are reading this, be sure and stop in daily as I will keep this updated daily. I use to do a, Today in history article daily on my morning radio show.
All I ask of you, is to not to post in this thread, so that others that view this thread will not have to scroll down to view the contents.
You are however, welcomed to PM. me or even start a thread on comments about, Today in history.
Thanks for your kind, considerate understanding. :)
ShadowThomas
130th day of 2007 - 235 remaining
Thursday, May 10, 2007
GOLDEN SPIKE DAY. :)
The Union Pacific and the Central Pacific Railways met on this day in 1869.
There was a grand celebration at Promontory, Utah when, in honor of the linking of the two railways, a golden spike was driven into the railroad. The spike, valued at $400, was driven, along with bronze spikes into a laurelwood tie by the president of the Central Pacific, Leland Stanford. Some say Mr. Stanford missed on his first stroke.
Immediately after the celebration, the spikes and tie were removed and replaced with the standard pine tie and steel spikes.
Interestingly, the people involved in this historic moment were unaware of its significance in the great scheme of things; and no markings were left at the specific location of the meeting of the rails. It is possible that the point at Promontory is a little to the left or south or north or right of the true spot where the rails were joined. In other words, like Mr. Stanford, we may have missed the exact spot that marks the final link in the ocean-to-ocean railroad.
Events
May 10th.
1872 - The first woman nominated to be President of the United States was Victoria Claflin Woodhull. She was chosen for the ballot by the National Woman Suffrage Association in New York City. Ms. Woodhull was not elected; nor has any woman ever been elected to the office of U.S. President. The closest any woman has come to the top seat of the nation since Victoria Woodhull was Geraldine A. Ferraro who was on the Democratic party slate as the Vice-Presidential candidate in 1984.
1876 - Richard Wagner�s Centennial Inaugural March was heard for the first time at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, PA. Wagner did just fine for creating the magnificent work. He received a paycheck of $5,000. In 1876 bucks, that would put groceries on the table and in the pantry for quite a bit of time...
1905 - Three horses made up the field of the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville, KY. Agile was the winner. With only three horses -- win, place and show -- does that mean that everyone in attendance won something?
1913 - Donerail won the Kentucky Derby on this day, making a very, very few in attendance very, very happy. Donerail was a 91-to-1 long shot! Whoa! Nellie!
1927 - The Hotel Statler in Boston, MA. became the first hotel to install radio headsets in each of its 1,300 rooms. What a concept! Of course, radio was only seven years old and, since this was the first hotel equipped with headsets, we heard that they were all plugged into the heaters -- and when guests turned up the heat knob, they singed their ears -- a lot like some radio programming does today!
1930 - The Adler Planetarium opened to the public in Chicago, IL.
1940 - Jimmy Dorsey and his orchestra recorded the classic, Perfidia, for Decca Records. The song would later be a hit for The Ventures (1960).
1951 - Frank Sinatra teamed with Axel Stordahl�s orchestra and Mitch Miller on Columbia Records. He sang with Dagmar, It�s a Long Way (From Your House to My House), and the equally forgettable, Mama Will Bark. Yes, friends, Mama Will Bark, by Frank Sinatra with vocal impressions of a dog by Donald Bain! This sure wasn�t a session like the ones that produced In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning, That�s Life, My Way or hundreds of other great tunes from Ol� Blue Eyes.
1960 - Around the world in 80 days ... uh, make that 84 days. That�s how long it took the U.S. nuclear-powered submarine Triton to circumnavigate the globe. The Triton was the largest, most powerful submarine in the world when it made its record underwater trip. Captain Edward L. Beach led the 7,750-ton sub on a 41,500 mile voyage, following a similar route taken by explorer Ferdinand Magellan some three centuries earlier (obviously on the water�s surface, not below). The Triton�s conning tower reached above the waves off Delaware, completing the voyage that began February 16 at Groton, Connecticut with 183 aboard. One objective of the Triton�s trip was to test the physical and psychological effects on humans when deprived of sunlight and fresh air for an extended length of time. Captain Beach (author of "Run Silent, Run Deep") was thinking more of the sub�s test of power when he wrote in his log: �One can almost become lyrical thinking of the tremendous drive of the dual power plant of this great ship.�
1963 - The Rolling Stones produced their very first recordings this day. The session included Come On and I Wanna Be Loved. The Stones would make it to the American pop music charts in August, 1964.
1969 - The National and American Football Leagues announced plans to merge for the 1970-71 season. Two conferences of 13 teams each were formed ... and the rest is NFL history.
1970 - The Boston Bruins won their first Stanley Cup since the beginning of World War II by defeating St. Louis. The Bruins would repeat the feat and take home Lord Stanley�s Cup again in 1972.
1974 - Just Don�t Want to Be Lonely earned a gold record for the group, The Main Ingredient. The trio began as the Poets in 1964. Cuba Gooding is heard singing lead. (Gooding�s son, Cuba Jr., starred in the 1991 film Boyz N The Hood.) The Main Ingredient�s biggest hit, Everybody Plays the Fool, made it to number three on the pop charts (1972).
1982 - Elliott Gould made his dramatic television debut after 30 movies in 17 years. He starred in The Rules of Marriage which aired on CBS-TV. Elizabeth Montgomery, formerly of Bewitched, co-starred with Gould in the film about marriage and divorce.
1985 - Gordon John**** announced that he was retiring from auto racing. John****, a 30-year veteran and twice an Indianapolis 500 winner, said that racing was �not fun anymore.� In his career, John**** won 254 championship races.
1986 - Navy Lt. Commander Donnie Cochran became the first black pilot to fly with the celebrated Blue Angels precision aerial demonstration team.
Birthdays
May 10th.
1899 - Fred Astaire (Austerlitz)
dancer, actor: Funny Face, Silk Stockings, Finian�s Rainbow, Daddy Long Legs, Easter Parade, Let�s Dance, That�s Entertainment, The Towering Inferno; died June 22, 1987
1899 - Dimitri Tiomkin
conductor, composer: film scores: The Alamo, Dial �M� for Murder, Friendly Persuasion, High Noon, It�s a Wonderful Life, Lost Horizon, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington; died Nov 11, 1979
1902 - David O. (Oliver) Selznick
producer: King Kong, A Star Is Born, The Prisoner of Zenda, Gone with the Wind, Duel in the Sun, The Third Man, A Farewell to Arms; died June 22, 1965
1909 - Mother Maybelle Carter (Addington)
musician: played melody on bass strings of guitar, rhythm on treble, singer: group: The Carter Family: Keep on the Sunny Side, Foggy Mountain Top; member Grand Ole Opry: A Jilted Love, Don�t Wait; died Oct 23, 1978
1910 - Jimmy Demaret
golf champion: Masters [1940, 1947, 1950]; died Dec 28, 1983
1914 - Charles McGraw
actor: A Boy and His Dog, Cimarron, The Bridges at Toko-Ri, The Defiant Ones, The Horizontal Lieutenant, Spartacus; died July 30, 1980
1917 - Margo (Maria Marguerita Guadalupe Teresa Estela Bolado Castilla y O�Donnell)
actress: Viva Zapata!, Lost Horizon, I�ll Cry Tomorrow, Winterset; died July 17, 1985
1922 - Nancy Walker (Ann Myrtle Swoyer)
actress: McMillan and Wife; Bounty paper towel spots; Murder by Death, Broadway Rhythm, Forty Carats; died Mar 25, 1992
1927 - Mike Souchak
golf champion: PGA Tour record holder: lowest score in 9 holes [27] and 72 holes [257]: 1955 Texas Open
1930 - Pat Summerall
football: New York Giants kicker; TV sportscaster: football, golf
1935 - Larry Williams (Lawrence E. Williams)
singer: Short Fat Fannie, Bony Maronie, Dizzy Miss Lizzie; died Jan 2, 1980
1936 - Gary Owens
Radio Hall of Famer; TV announcer, actor: Rowan and Martin�s Laugh-in: �From beautiful Downtown Burbank...�, The Gong Show
1937 - Arthur L. Kopit
playwright: Hands of a Stranger, The Phantom of the Opera, Roswell: The U.F.O. Cover-up
1938 - Henry Fambrough
singer: group: Spinners: I�ll Be Around, Could It Be I�m Falling in Love, The Rubberband Man
1938 - Manuel Santana
tennis: International Tennis Hall of Famer
1941 - Ken (Allen Kent) Berry
baseball: Chicago White Sox [all-star: 1967], California Angels, Milwaukee Brewers, Cleveland Indians
1941 - Danny Rapp
singer: group: Danny & The Juniors: At the Hop, Rock and Roll is Here to Stay; passed Apr 5, 1983
1944 - Jim Abrahams
writer, director: Hot Shots! series, Big Business, Top Secret!, Police Squad, Help Wanted, Airplane!; writer: The Naked Gun; director: Ruthless People, Big Business
1944 - Judith Jamison
dancer: American Ballet Theatre [debut: 1964], Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre; starred in Broadway musical Sophisticated Ladies; choreographer: created works for many companies, Rift, Hymn, Riverside, Sweet Release; autobiography: Dancing Spirit
1944 - Marie-France Pisier
actress: Prize of the Peril, Miss Right, Chanel Solitaire, We Will Not Enter the Forest, Cousin Cousine, French Postcards, The Other Side of Midnight
1945 - Randy Rasmussen
football: Univ of Nebraska; NFL: New York Jets guard: Super Bowl III
1946 - Graham Gouldman
musician: guitar, singer, songwriter: For Your Love, Evil Hearted You; group: 10cc
1946 - Donovan (Leitch)
singer: Mellow Yellow, Sunshine Superman, Atlantis; composer: film: If It�s Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium, appeared in film: The Pied Piper of Hamlin, Brother Sun, Sister Moon
1946 - Dave Mason
songwriter, musician, singer: Alone Together, Hole in My Shoe, Just for You, Feelin� Alright, We Just Disagree, So High
1946 - Jimmy Ponder
jazz guitarist: Smokin�, Mama Roots, Infant Eyes
1947 - Jay (John) Ferguson
singer: group: Spirit: I Got a Line on You, Nature�s Way; group: Jo Jo Gunne
1948 - Meg Foster
actress: Undercover, Lady in Waiting, To Catch a Killer, They Live, The Emerald Forest, Carny, James Dean, Adam at 6 a.m., Cagney & Lacey, Sunshine, The Trials of Rosie O�Neill
1957 - Sid Vicious (John Simon Ritchie)
musician: bass guitarist: Sex Pistols; died Feb 2, 1979
1960 - Bono (Paul Hewson)
singer: group: U2: Sunday Bloody Sunday, Pride [In the Name of Love], With You or Without You
1966 - Jason Brooks
actor: Days of Our Lives, Baywatch.
Chart Toppers
1946 Oh, What It Seemed to Be - The Frankie Carle Orchestra (vocal: Marjorie
Hughes)
Shoo Fly Pie - The Stan Kenton Orchestra (vocal: June Christy)
One-zy, Two-zy - Phil Harris
New Spanish Two Step - Bob Wills
1954 Wanted - Perry Como
Young at Heart - Frank Sinatra
Little Things Mean a Lot - Kitty Kallen
Slowly - Webb Pierce
1962 Soldier Boy - The Shirelles
Mashed Potato Time - Dee Dee Sharp
Stranger on the Shore - Mr. Acker Bilk
Charlie�s Shoes - Billy Walker
1970 American Woman/No Sugar Tonight - The Guess Who
Vehicle - The Ides of March
Love or Let Me Be Lonely - The Friends of Distinction
The Pool Shark - Dave Dudley
1978 Night Fever - Bee Gees
If I Can�t Have You - Yvonne Elliman
The Closer I Get to You - Roberta Flack with Donny Hathaway
It�s All Wrong, But It�s All Right - Dolly Parton
1986 West End Girls - Pet Shop Boys
Greatest Love of All - Whitney Houston
Why Can�t This Be Love - Van Halen
Grandpa (Tell Me �bout the Good Old Days) - The Judds
Those were the days, my friend. We thought they�d never end... ;)
For those who are reading this, be sure and stop in daily as I will keep this updated daily. I use to do a, Today in history article daily on my morning radio show.
All I ask of you, is to not to post in this thread, so that others that view this thread will not have to scroll down to view the contents.
You are however, welcomed to PM. me or even start a thread on comments about, Today in history.
Thanks for your kind, considerate understanding. :)
ShadowThomas
131st day of 2007 - 234 remaining.
Friday, May 11, 2007
THERE�S NO BUSINESS LIKE SHOW BUSINESS DAY. :)
There never was show business like we know it until this day in 1888, when Israel Baline was born in Tyumen, Russia. Maybe you don�t recognize this name; but we�re sure you�ll recognize and be able to sing many of the tunes he composed when he grew up.
Little Israel came to the United States with his family at the age of four. His father died several years later, so Israel took to the streets of New York, singing on street corners and in saloons, and as a singing waiter, all to earn money to help support his family. It was the beginning of a wonderful career in song, stage and movies. A printer�s error on the music sheet for his composition, Marie from Sunny Italy, accidentally changed his name. The change became permanent.
Mr. American Music, better known to us as Irving Berlin, wrote more songs than we care to count including Alexander�s Ragtime Band, Always, Doin� What Comes Naturally, Puttin� on the Ritz, Blue Skies, Oh! How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning and Play a Simple Melody. This man, who could neither read nor write music, also composed a song titled, Smile and Show Your Dimple. You probably never heard of that one; but seventeen years later, when produced, it became a hit as Easter Parade.
Kate Smith was the voice he chose to sing God Bless America, which he wrote in 1917. It became her signature and a major contender to replace The Star-Spangled Banner as the U.S. national anthem.
Berlin wrote the scores for many Broadway shows (Annie Get Your Gun) and films (Top Hat). Winning an Oscar for his composition, White Christmas, Irving Berlin had the unique experience of opening the envelope that contained his name. He was the presenter at this segment of the Academy Awards for 1942 and upon opening the envelope, said, �This goes to a nice guy; I�ve known him all my life. The winner is ... me.�
The composer of There�s No Business Like Show Business truly knew the meaning of those words.
Events
May 11th.
1816 - The American Bible Society was formed in New York City.
1858 - Minnesota entered the United States of America this day as the Union�s 32nd state. Although its state bird is the common loon, there�s nothing common about Minnesota, whose Dakota-Sioux Indian name means sky-tinted water. The North Star State�s capital is St. Paul, which has a twin city, Minneapolis. The state flower is the lovely lady�s slipper.
1900 - In an effort to regain the heavyweight boxing title, James J. Corbett, known as Gentleman Jim, was knocked out cold by James J. Jeffries -- in the 23rd round. Maybe if he�d stopped at, say, 12 rounds...
1910 - Glacier National Park in Montana was created by an act of Congress. These days, it takes an act of Congress to do just about anything, including getting Congress to act! Thank you.
1927 - The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was founded; although the first Oscars were not presented for several years after its founding.
1928 - WGY-TV in Schenectady, NY began the first schedule of regular TV programs. A very short schedule, in fact. WGY offered programming to the upstate New York audience three times a week using the mechanical scanning method. And mechanical scanning was not to be the wave of the future. It was electrical scanning, developed by Philo Farnsworth, that would make television available to the masses.
1946 - Jack Barry, a familiar face on TV game shows, hosted Juvenile Jury on WOR radio in New York City. The show was such a hit after five weeks on the air that it debuted on the Mutual Broadcasting System coast to coast. Maybe Barry became a bit too familiar in 1959. It was Twenty One, the enormously popular show that Barry hosted, that led to the Quiz Show Scandal that rocked television and the U.S. Congress.
1946 - B.F. Goodrich announced the development of the tubeless tire. If you guessed that Mr. Goodrich was from Akron, OH, you win the T-shirt.
1956 - Former heavyweight boxing champion Rocky Marciano went into public relations for the Raynham Dog Racing Track in Massachusetts.
1957 - Monte Irvin retired from baseball at the age of 39, due to a back injury.
1965 - Liza Minnelli opened in Flora the Red Menace. The musical ran for only 87 performances at the Alvin Theatre.
1970 - The Chairmen of the Board received a gold record for the hit, Give Me Just a Little More Time. The Detroit group recorded three other songs in 1970, with moderate success.
1972 - The San Francisco Giants announced that they were trading Willie Mays to the New York Mets.
1981 - Heavyweight boxing challenger Gerry Cooney left former champ Ken Norton on the ropes and unconscious after 54 seconds of the first round at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
1984 - The Detroit Tigers defeated the California Angels 8-2 and set a major-league record for victories at the beginning of a baseball season. The Tigers, under Sparky Anderson, won 26 of their first 30 games.
1985 - Duane �Pancho� Carter grabbed the pole position for the Indianapolis 500. Carter entered the history books with a speed of 212.583 MPH for four qualifying laps around the 2.5 mile track at Indy.
1985 - Scott Brayton turned in the fastest lap ever at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Brayton was traveling at 214.199 MPH in the third lap of qualifying. He had already set records in the first two trips around the track. Brayton�s average speed of 212.354 broke the record previously set by Tom Sneva in the 1984 time trials.
Birthdays
May 11th.
1888 - Irving Berlin
composer; died Sep 22, 1989; see There�s No Business Like Show Business Day [above]
1894 - Martha Graham
modern dancer: Denishawn dance school and performing troupe, Graham company, established school of modern dance at Bennington College; choreographer: Cave of the Heart, Appalachian Spring; �The center of the stage is where I am.�; died Apr 1, 1991
1904 - Salvadore (Felipe Jacinto) Dal� (y Domenech)
surrealist artist: Accommodations of Desire, The Persistence of Memory, Visage of War; died Jan 23, 1989
1911 - Phil Silvers (Philip Silversmith)
Emmy Award-winning comedian: The Phil Silvers Show [Sgt. Bilko: 1955, 1956, 1957]; The Beverly Hillbillies, It�s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum; died Nov 1, 1985
1911 - Doodles (Winstead) Weaver
actor: Road to Nashville, The Errand Boy, The Ladies� Man, Way He Was; died Jan 17, 1983
1912 - Foster Brooks
comedian, actor: The Villain, Cracking Up, Oddballs, The New Bill Cosby Show, Mork & Mindy, The Dean Martin Show, The Bobby Vinton Show, The Book of Lists; died Dec 20, 2001
1920 - Denver Pyle
actor: The Dukes of Hazzard, The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp, Life & Times of Grizzly Adams, Bonnie & Clyde; died Dec 25, 1997
1927 - Mort Sahl
comedian: Broadway, night club acts, actor: Don�t Make Waves, Doctor You�ve Got to be Kidding
1930 - Stanley Elkin
author: Boswell, A Bad Man, The Dick Gibson Show, The Franchiser, The Living End, George Mills, Alex & the Gypsy; died in 1995; died May 31, 1995
1931 - Dick Garcia
guitarist: LPs: A Message from Garcia, Four Most Guitars [w/Jimmy Raney, Chuck Wayne, Joe Puma]; played w/George Shearing Quintet
1932 - Valentino (Garavani)
fashion designer: dedicated Collection Blanche to Jackie Kennedy [1967]; his ready-to-wear collections have been shown in Paris since 1969; founded Valentino Academy [1990]
1935 - Doug McClure
actor: The Gambler Returns, Omega Syndrome, The Unforgiven, The Virginian, Search, Roots, Out of this World, The Overland Trail, Checkmate, The Barbary Coast; died Feb 5, 1995
1939 - Milt (Miltiades Stergios Papastegios) Pappas
�Gimpy�: baseball [pitcher]: Baltimore Orioles: Baltimore Orioles [all-star: 1962, 1965], Cincinnati Reds, Atlanta Braves, Chicago Cubs
1939 - Frank (Francis Ralph) Quilici
�Guido�: baseball: Minnesota Twins [World Series: 1965]
1940 - Butch (Larry) Hartman
auto racer: USAC: four stock car crowns [1970s]
1941 - Eric Burdon
singer: groups: The Animals: When I was Young, Good Times, San Franciscan Nights, Sky Pilot, Ring of Fire, House of the Rising Sun; Eric Burdon and War: Spill the Wine; soundtrack for: Comeback
1943 - Les (John) Chadwick
musician: bass: group: Gerry & The Pacemakers: How Do You Do It?, I Like It, You�ll Never Walk Alone, I�m the One, Don�t Let the Sun Catch You Crying
1943 - Nancy Greene
skier: Olympic Medalist: Gold: giant slalom, Silver, slalom [1968]; Canadian Sports Hall of Famer
1946 - Robert Jarvik
physician: inventor of the Jarvik 7 artificial heart [implanted into Barney Clark in 1982: kept Clark alive 112 days]
1948 - Bobby Cole
golf: champ: Buick Open [1977]
1963 - Natasha Richardson
actress: Widow�s Peak, Nell, Hostages, Past Midnight, The Handmaid�s Tale, Patty Hearst, Gothic, On the Razzle, The Charge of the Light Brigade; daughter of actress Vanessa Redgrave and director Tony Richardson, sister of actress Joely Richardson, niece of actress Lynn Redgrave.
Chart Toppers
1947 Linda - Buddy Clark with the Ray Noble Orchestra
Heartaches - The Ted Weems Orchestra (whistler: Elmo Tanner)
The Anniversary Song - Dinah Shore
New Jolie Blonde (New Pretty Blonde) - Red Foley
1955 Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White - Perez Prado
Unchained Melody - Les Baxter
In the Jailhouse Now - Webb Pierce
1963 I Will Follow Him - Little Peggy March
Puff the Magic Dragon - Peter, Paul & Mary
If You Wanna Be Happy - Jimmy Soul
Lonesome 7-7203 - Hawkshaw Hawkins
1971 Joy to the World - Three Dog Night
Never Can Say Goodbye - The Jackson 5
I Am...I Said - Neil Diamond
How Much More Can She Stand - Conway Twitty
1979 Reunited - Peaches & Herb
Music Box Dancer - Frank Mills
Stumblin� In - Suzi Quatro & Chris Norman
Backside of Thirty - John Conlee
1987 (I Just) Died in Your Arms - Cutting Crew
Looking for a New Love - Jody Watley
With or Without You - U2
The Moon is Still Over Her Shoulder - Michael Johnson
Those were the days, my friend. We thought they�d never end... ;)
For those who are reading this, be sure and stop in daily as I will keep this updated daily. I use to do a, Today in history article daily on my morning radio show.
All I ask of you, is to not to post in this thread, so that others that view this thread will not have to scroll down to view the contents.
You are however, welcomed to PM. me or even start a thread on comments about, Today in history.
Thanks for your kind, considerate understanding. :)
ShadowThomas
132nd day of 2007 - 233 remaining.
Saturday, May 12, 2007
LIMERICK DAY. :)
Edward Lear was born on this day in 1812 in Highgate, England. Lear was a poet and a talented illustrator.
A big champion of the limerick (which dates back to the early 18th century), Lear wrote Edward Lear�s Book of Nonsense and other such amusing pieces. The Nonsense book especially helped the limerick to become very popular. The limerick is the only fixed-verse form indigenous to the English language.
So, what are you waiting for? Write a limerick today! Here�s one to get you started:
There once was a man named Nation,
Who worked for a radio station.
Although he was tall,
His hands were too small,
Wee paws for station identification.
Events
May 12th.
1831 - The first indicted bank robber in the U.S., Edward Smith, was sentenced to five years hard labor on the rock pile at Sing Sing Prison.
1847 - As you jog around the block today, think of Mormon pioneer William Clayton. It was on this day that he got tired of counting the revolutions of a rag tied to a spoke of a wagon wheel to figure out how many miles he had traveled. So, while he was crossing the plains in his covered wagon, he invented the odometer.
1917 - The first imported horse to win the Kentucky Derby was the English-bred colt, Omar Khayyam. He won $49,070 -- the top prize.
1950 - The American Bowling Congress abolished its white males-only membership restriction after 34 years.
1953 - The Boston Red Sox dropped Dom DiMaggio, Joe�s brother. As a result, Dom announced that he was retiring from baseball.
1955 - Sam Jones of the Chicago Cubs pitched a no-hitter against the Pittsburgh Pirates, winning 4-0. Jones became the first black pitcher to throw a major-league no-hitter.
1955 - Gisele MacKenzie played a singer on the NBC-TV program, Justice. She introduced her soon-to-be hit song, Hard to Get. The song went to number four on the Billboard pop music chart by September.
1955 - Passengers crowded in to ride the last run of the Third Avenue elevated, The El, in New York City. The way-above-ground train trip down memory lane went from Chinatown to the Bronx.
1957 - A.J. Foyt earned his first auto racing victory in Kansas City, Missouri. He went on to become a four-time winner of the Indianapolis 500 -- in 1961, 1964, 1967 and 1977.
1970 - Ernie Banks of the Chicago Cubs smacked home run number 500. He would get 12 more before his great career as first baseman (and shortstop) with the Cubbies came to a close in 1971.
1971 - The Rolling Stones� Mick Jagger married Bianca Perez Morena de Macias. Mick couldn�t remember her whole name very well, so she became known as Bianca the world over.
1976 - Sixteen-year-old, racing-jockey Steve Cauthen rode in his first race. He finished far back in the pack at Churchill Downs in Louisville, KY. However, Cauthen got his first winner just five days later.
1977 - The Eagles earned a gold record for the hit, Hotel California. The award was the second of three gold record singles for the group. The other million sellers were New Kid in Town and Heartache Tonight. Two number one songs by The Eagles -- Best of My Love and One of These Nights -- didn�t quite make the million-seller mark.
1978 - From the And You Thought We Had This Straightened Out By Now file: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced that it would alternate men�s and women�s names in the naming of hurricanes. It was seen as an attempt at fair play. Hurricanes had been named for women for years, until NOAA succumbed to pressure from women�s groups who were demanding that Atlantic storms be given unisex names. �It�s not fair that women should get all the attention for causing damage and destruction,� one women�s activist claimed. David, Allen, Hugo, Mitch and Andrew agreed.
1985 - Lionel Richie received an honorary Doctor of Music degree from Tuskegee Institute in Alabama (his alma mater). Richie had put 14 hits on the pop charts in the 1980s, including one platinum smash, Endless Love (with Diana Ross) and four gold records (Truly, All Night Long, Hello and Say You, Say Me). All but one song (Se La) of the 14 charted made it to the top ten.
Birthdays
illustrator, poet, champion of the limerick; died June 29, 1888; see Limerick Day [above]
1820 - Florence Nightingale
health activist, nurse: promoted the nursing profession, contributed to modern nursing procedures, founded Nightingale Training School for Nurses; author: Notes on Nursing; died Aug 13, 1910
1828 - Dante Rossetti
poet: The Blessed Damozel, Sister Helen, The House of Life; artist: The Annunciation; brother of poet Christina Rossetti; died Apr 9, 1882
1900 - Captain Mildred McAfee (Horton)
1st Director of U.S. Navy WAVES [Women Accepted for Voluntary Emergency Service); Wellesley College President; Distinguished Service Medalist [1945]; died Sep 2, 1994
1907 - Katharine Hepburn
Academy Award-winning Actress: Morning Glory [1932-33], Guess Who�s Coming to Dinner [1967], The Lion in Winter [1968], On Golden Pond [1981]; Adam�s Rib, Pat and Mike, The African Queen, The Rainmaker, Rooster Cogburn, Suddenly Last Summer, Mary of Scotland, Love Affair; died June 29, 2003
1914 - Howard K. (Kingsbury) Smith
journalist, TV anchorman: ABC News; died Feb 15, 2002
1921 - (Otis W.) Joe Maphis
country singer with wife, Rose Lee: entertainer: Hometown Jamboree, Town Hall Party, Hee Haw; songwriter: Dim Lights Thick Smoke and Loud, Loud Music; died June 27, 1986
1922 - Bob Goldham
hockey: NHL: Toronto Maple Leafs, Chicago Blackhawks, Detroit Red Wings
1925 - Yogi (Lawrence Peter) Berra
Baseball Hall of Famer: catcher: NY Yankees [World Series: 1947, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963/all-star: 1948, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962], NY Mets; manager: NY Yankees, NY Mets
1928 - Burt Bacharach
Oscar-winning composer [w/ Hal David]: Raindrops Keep Fallin� on My Head [1969]; Tony award for score for Promises, Promises; What the World Needs Now, Walk on By, Close to You, I Say a Little Prayer, Do You Know the Way to San Jose; Oscar-winning team w/wife, Carol Bayer Sager: Arthur�s Theme [1981]; That�s What Friends are For
1929 - Samuel Nujoma
President of Namibia [March 21, 1990-present]
1935 - Felipe (Felipe Rojas) Alou
baseball: SF Giants [World Series: 1962/all-star: 1962, 1966, 1968], Milwaukee Braves, Atlanta Braves, Oakland Athletics, NY Yankees, Montreal Expos, Milwaukee Brewers
1935 - John Bucyk
Hockey Hall of Famer: NHL: Detroit Red Wings, Boston Bruins [Lady Byng Trophy winner: 1971]
1936 - Tom Snyder
broadcast journalist: WNBC, KNBC; host: The Late Show with Tom Snyder, Tomorrow, Contact, The Tom Snyder Radio Show
1936 - Frank Stella
abstract artist, sculptor, painter: Empress of India, Guadalupe Island
1937 - George Carlin
comedian: The George Carlin Show, Award Theater, 1st host of Saturday Night Live, The Kraft Summer Music Hall, Wonderful W-I-N-O, Seven Dirty Words, actor: Prince of Tides, That Girl, Car Wash, Bill & Ted�s Excellent Adventure
1937 - Susan Hampshire
Emmy Award-winning actress: The Forsythe Saga [1969-70], The First Churchills [Masterpiece Theatre, 1970-71], Vanity Fair [Masterpiece Theatre, 1972-73]; The Story of David, Cry Terror, David Copperfield
1938 - Millie Perkins
actress: Wall Street, Ensign Pulver
1939 - Ronald L. Ziegler
journalist, Press Secretary for U.S. President Richard M. Nixon; died Feb 10, 2003
1942 - Ian Dury
singer: Rough Kids, Billy Bentley, Upminster Kid; songwriter: What a Waste, Hit Me with Your Rhythm Stick, Sink My Boats, This is What We Find, Reasons to be Cheerful, Delusions of Grandeur, Dance of the Crackpots, The Body Song, Spasticus Autisticus, Profoundly in Love with Pandora; group: Ian Dury & The Blockheads: Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll, Sweet Gene Vincent, Billericay Dickie, Paistow Patricia; actor: No. 1, Pirates, King of the Ghetto, Talk of the Devil, Rocinante, Hearts of Fire; died Mar 27, 2000
1942 - Ted (Theodore Rodger) Kubiak
baseball: KC Athletics, Oakland Athletics [World Series: 1972, 1973], Milwaukee Brewers, SL Cardinals, Texas Rangers, SD Padres
1943 - David Walker
musician: guitar: group: Gary Lewis & The Playboys: This Diamond Ring, Everybody Loves a Clown, She's Just My Style
1945 - Ian McLagan
musician: keyboards: solo LPs: Troublemaker, Bump in the Night; group: The Faces: Stay with Me, Debris, Cindy Incidentally, Pool Hall Richard, You Can Make Me Dance, Sing or Anything
1948 - Lindsay Crouse
actress: The Juror, The Arrival, Desperate Hours, Places in the Heart, The Verdict, Slap Shot, House of Games, Eleanor & Franklin, All the President�s Men, Traps
1948 - Steve Winwood
singer: groups: Blind Faith; Traffic; Spencer Davis Group: Gimme Some Lovin�; solo: While You See a Chance; Don�t You Know What the Night Can Do, Higher Love, The Finer Things, Roll with It
1950 - Bruce Boxleitner
actor: Scarecrow and Mrs. King, The Babe
1950 - Pat (Patrick Leonard) Darcy
baseball: pitcher: Cincinnati Reds [World Series: 1975]
1950 - Billy Squier
singer: Everybody Wants You; wrote and sang on soundtrack: Fast Times at Ridgemont High
1958 - Kim Greist
actress: Homeward Bound series, Throw Momma from the Train, Brazil, Chicago Hope
1961 - Billy Duffy
musician: guitar: group: The Cult: Spiritwalker, Resurrection Joe, She Sells Security
1962 - Emilio Estevez
actor: Breakfast Club, Repo Man, Young Guns, Stakeout, The Mighty Ducks, Men at Work, Freejack; Martin Sheen�s son, Charlie�s brother, Paula Abdul�s ex
1966 - Stephen Baldwin
actor: Fled, The Usual Suspects, Under the Hula Moon, Threesome, The Great American Sex Scandal, Born on the Fourth of July, Home Boy, The Young Riders, The Prodigious Hickey, The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas; brother of actors Alec, William and Daniel Baldwin
1969 - Kim Fields
actress: The Facts of Life, Living Single, Baby, I�m Back.
Chart Toppers
1948 Now is the Hour - Bing Crosby
Manana - Peggy Lee
The Dickey Bird Song - The Freddy Martin Orchestra (vocal: Glenn
Hughes)
1956 Heartbreak Hotel/I Was the One - Elvis Presley
Standing on the Corner - The Four Lads
The Wayward Wind - Gogi Grant
Blue Suede Shoes - Carl Perkins
1964 Hello Dolly! - Louis Armstrong
Do You Want to Know a Secret - The Beatles
My Guy - Mary Wells
My Heart Skips a Beat - Buck Owens
1972 The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face - Roberta Flack
I Gotcha - Joe Tex
Betcha By Golly, Wow - The Stylistics
Grandma Harp - Merle Haggard
Ride like the Wind - Christopher Cross
Lost in Love - Air Supply
Beneath Still Waters - Emmylou Harris
1988 Wishing Well - Terence Trent D�Arby
Anything for You - Gloria Estefan & Miami Sound Machine
Pink Cadillac - Natalie Cole
Cry, Cry, Cry - Highway 101
Those were the days, my friend. We thought they�d never end... ;)
For those who are reading this, be sure and stop in daily as I will keep this updated daily. I use to do a, Today in history article daily on my morning radio show.
All I ask of you, is to not to post in this thread, so that others that view this thread will not have to scroll down to view the contents.
You are however, welcomed to PM. me or even start a thread on comments about, Today in history.
Thanks for your kind, considerate understanding. :)
ShadowThomas
133rd day of 2007 - 232 remaining.
Sunday, May 13, 2007
LITTLE STEVIE WONDER DAY. ;)
Stevland Morris was born prematurely on this day in 1950. Too much oxygen in the incubator caused the baby to become permanently blind. However, this did not prove to be any kind of handicap to Stevland�s musical talents as a singer, songwriter and multiinstrumentalist.
At the tender age of ten, Little Stevie Wonder, as he was called by Berry Gordy at Motown, was discovered singing and playing the harmonica. The child prodigy got a little bigger and in his teen years recorded Fingertips (his first hit) and My Cherie Amour; co-wrote I was Made to Love Her, For Once in My Life and Tears of a Clown. If You Really Love Me was a #1 hit and Stevie was just 20 years old.
Stevie Wonder won an Oscar in 1984 (I Just Called to Say I Love You); induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989; and sixteen Grammy Awards. He has stood up for civil rights, campaigns against cancer, AIDS, drunk driving and the plight of Ethiopians.
As an adult, and no longer little, Stevie Wonder has been no less than wonderful.
Happy Birthday, Stevie!
Events
May 13th.
1821 - Samuel Rust of New York City patented the first practical printing press built in the U.S.
1854 - The first big American billiards match was held at Malcolm Hall in Syracuse, NY. Joseph White and George Smith participated in the event for a $200 prize. White pocketed the award as winner of the match.
1873 - Ludwig M. Wolf of Avon, CT patented the sewing machine lampholder. Up to that time, those who could afford it had hired pygmies from their local Lampholders-R-Us company to hold their sewing machine lamps. Those who could not afford that service had to sew with one hand while holding the lamp with the other. Certainly not convenient.
1918 - The first airmail postage stamps were issued in six, 16 and 24-cent denominations. Of course, airplanes weren�t that big a deal yet...
1938 - Louis Armstrong and his orchestra recorded the New Orleans jazz standard, When the Saints Go Marching In, on Decca Records.
1949 - The first gas turbine to pump natural gas was installed in Wilmar, AR. Please don�t forget. There will be a pop quiz later...
1954 - The Pajama Game made its debut on Broadway in New York City at the St. James Theatre. Harold Prince produced The Pajama Game, his first Broadway endeavor. The show ran for 1,063 performances. John Raitt and Janis Paige starred in the leading roles. Carol Haney came to national fame for her rendition of the song, Steam Heat. The movie version also starred Raitt -- along with Doris Day.
1967 - Mickey Mantle joined six other baseball legends as he hit home run number 500 -- in Yankee Stadium. He connected off of the �Junk Man�, Stu Miller.
1971 - Aretha Franklin, the �Queen of Soul�, received a gold record for her version of Bridge over Troubled Water, originally a Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel tune.
1973 - Tennis star Bobby Riggs defeated Margaret Court in a televised tennis match that was seen worldwide. The outrageous tennis hustler, however, didn�t fare so well against women�s tennis champion, Billy Jean King, in a much-hyped match at the Houston Astrodome. He lost, but helped bring women�s tennis to the forefront as a competitive sport with a growing legion of fans.
1982 - The Chicago Cubs became the first major-league baseball team to win 8,000 games. The Cubs beat the Houston Astros 5-0. Win number 8,000 came after playing 15,337 games in over 107 years. In the words of the Cubs� legendary announcer, Harry Caray, �Holy Cow!� Now, if the Cubbies could just get into the World Series...
1984 - The Fantasticks, playing at the Sullivan Theatre in Greenwich Village in New York City, became the longest-running musical in theatre history with performance number 10,000 on this night. The Fantasticks opened on May 3, 1960.
1985 - Tony Perez became the oldest major-league baseball player to hit a grand slam home run. Perez hit the grand slam for the Cincinnati Reds -- helping the Reds to a 7-3 win over the Houston Astros. Perez was just a month shy of his 43rd birthday when he connected for the big dinger...
1985 - �The Boss�, Bruce Springsteen, married actress/model Julianne Phillips in ceremonies in Lake Oswego, OR. The couple went their separate ways in 1989. Springsteen�s hit, I�m on Fire, was in the top ten when the couple tied the wedding knot. Springsteen remarried in June of 1991, this time to a member of his E Street Band, Patti Scialfa. Despite his popularity, Springsteen has never had a number one song. His closest to the top of the pop music charts was a four-week stay at number two with Dancing in the Dark (June/July, 1984). Springsteen has had 11 hits in the top ten.
Birthdays
May 13th.
1842 - Arthur (Seymour) Sullivan
operetta composer [w/Sir William Gilbert]: H.M.S. Pinafore, The Mikado, Pirates of Penzance; died Nov 22, 1900
1911 - Robert Middleton (Samuel Messer)
actor: Harrad Experiment, The Law and Jake Wade, Court Jester, Desperate Hours, Career; died June 14, 1977
1911 - Maxine Sullivan (Marietta Williams)
singer: Loch Lomand, ****les and Mussels, If I Had a Ribbon Bow; films & stage: Goin� Places, St. Louis Blues, Swingin� the Dream, Midsummer Night�s Dream [w/Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman]; died Apr 7, 1987
1914 - Johnny �Johnnie� Wright
country singer: duo: Johnnie and Jack: Poison Love, Crying Heart Blues; solo: Hello Vietnam; married to singer Kitty Wells since 1937
1914 - Joe Louis (Barrow)
�The Brown Bomber�: boxer: world heavyweight champion [1937-1949]; died Apr 12, 1981
1923 - Bea (Beatrice) Arthur (Bernice Frankel)
actress: The Golden Girls, Maude, Mame
1927 - Herbert Ross
director: True Colors, My Blue Heaven, Steel Magnolias, Dancers, Footloose, Pennies from Heaven, California Suite, The Turning Point, The Goodbye Girl, The Sunshine Boys, Funny Lady, The Owl and the Pussycat; actor, director: Play It Again, Sam, Goodbye, Mr. Chips; died Oct 9, 2001
1933 - Johnny (John Junior) Roseboro
baseball: catcher: Brooklyn Dodgers, LA Dodgers [all-star: 1958, 1961, 1962/World Series: 1959, 1963, 1965, 1966], Minnesota Twins [all-star: 1969], Washington Senators; died Aug 16, 2002
1937 - Zohra Lampert
actress: Alan & Naomi, Splendor in the Grass
1939 - Harvey Keitel
actor: Smoke, Pulp Fiction, Rising Sun, The Piano, Sister Act, Thelma and Louise, Bugsy, The Two Jakes, The Last Temptation of Christ, Death Watch, Blue Collar, Taxi Driver, Mother, Jugs and Speed, Shining Star, Alice Doesn�t Live Here Anymore, Mean Streets, Holy Smoke, U-571
1941 - Senta Berger
actress: The Victors, See How They Run, The Quiller Memorandum, If It�s Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium
1941 - Ritchie Valens (Richard Steven Valenzuela)
singer: Donna, La Bamba; film biography: La Bamba; killed in plane crash Feb 3, 1959
1943 - Mary Wells
singer: My Guy, Two Lovers, You Beat Me to the Punch, The One Who Really Loves You; died July 26, 1992
1946 - Mike Chernoff
hockey: NHL: Minnesota North Stars
1946 - Danny Klein
musician: bass: group: The J. Geils Band: Give It to Me, Must Have Got Lost, One Last Kiss, Freeze-Frame, Centerfold, Angel in Blue, Land of a 1000 Dances
1946 - Tim Pigott-Smith
actor: The Jewel in the Crown, Remains of the Day
1947 - (Pete) Overend Watts
musician: bass: group: Mott the Hoople: All the Young Dudes, Ballad of Mott, All the Way to Memphis, Saturday Gigs
1949 - Franklyn Ajaye
actor: The Wrong Guys, Fraternity Vacation, The Jazz Singer, Convoy, Car Wash, Keep on Truckin�
1950 - Stevie Wonder
singer: see Little Stevie Wonder Day [above]
1950 - Bobby Valentine
baseball: baseball: manager: Texas Rangers, NY Mets
1951 - Paul Thompson
musician: drums: group: Roxy Music: Virginia Plain, Pyjamarama, Do the Strand, Editions of You, In Every Dream a Heartache, Street Life, All I Want is You, Out of the Blue
1958 - Frances Barber
actress: A Zed & Two Noughts, We Think the World of You, Sammy and Rosie Get Laid, Home Sweet Home
1961 - Dennis Rodman
�The Worm�: basketball: Chicago Bulls; actor: Double Team, S.O.F. Special Ops Force, Simon Sez
1964 - Lorraine McIntosh
singer: group: Deacon Blue: Dignity, Real Gone Kid, Raintown, Twist And Shout, Your Town, Love And Regret.
Chart Toppers
1949 Cruising Down the River - The Russ Morgan Orchestra (vocal: The
Skyliners)
Forever and Ever - Perry Como
Careless Hands - Mel Torme
1957 School Day - Chuck Berry
A White Sport Coat (And a Pink Carnation) - Marty Robbins
So Rare - Jimmy Dorsey
All Shook Up - Elvis Presley
1965 Mrs. Brown You�ve Got a Lovely Daughter - Herman�s Hermits
Count Me In - Gary Lewis & The Playboys
Ticket to Ride - The Beatles
Girl on the Billboard - Del Reeves
1973 Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree - Dawn featuring Tony
Orlando
You are the Sunshine of My Life - Stevie Wonder
Little Willy - The Sweet
Come Live with Me - Roy Clark
1981 Morning Train (Nine to Five) - Sheena Easton
Just the Two of Us - Grover Washington, Jr./Bill Withers
Bette Davis Eyes - Kim Carnes
Am I Losing You - Ronnie Milsap
1989 I�ll Be There for You - Bon Jovi
Real Love - Jody Watley
Forever Your Girl - Paula Abdul
Is It Still Over? - Randy Travis
Those were the days, my friend. We thought they�d never end... ;)
For those who are reading this, be sure and stop in daily as I will keep this updated daily. I use to do a, Today in history article daily on my morning radio show.
All I ask of you, is to not to post in this thread, so that others that view this thread will not have to scroll down to view the contents.
You are however, welcomed to PM. me or even start a thread on comments about, Today in history.
Thanks for your kind, considerate understanding. :)
ShadowThomas
134th day of 2007 - 231 remaining.
Monday, May 14, 2007
JAMESTOWN DAY. :)
Three very small ships, Susan Constant, Godspeed and Discovery, sailed across the ocean blue from Plymouth, England to a place the ship�s crew and passengers called Jamestown on this day in 1607.
If you have ever been to today�s Jamestown and had the chance to climb aboard the restored ships, you would wonder how anyone could have survived that historic trip in such tiny, cramped quarters. We can only assume that some of us had ancestors who were very, very short.
This hearty group of Virginia Company settlers was chartered by England�s King James I, therefore, the name, Jamestown, Virginia. The group was led by Captain John Smith of Pocahontas fame and Christopher Newport.
Jamestown was the first permanent English settlement in what is now the United States. It became the capital of Virginia and remained so through 1699.
Events
May 14th.
1862 - Adolphe Nicole of Switzerland patented the chronograph -- a timepiece that allows for split-second timing of sporting events.
1874 - McGill University (of Canada) and Harvard University met on Jarvis Field, Cambridge, MA for the the first game of intercollegiate football in America.
1878 - The trademarked name Vaseline (for a brand of petroleum jelly) was registered by Robert A. Chesebrough. You have probably heard of his Chesebrough-Pond�s company.
1897 - A statue of George Washington was unveiled in Philadelphia, PA. To commemorate the occasion, John Philip Sousa�s march, The Stars and Stripes Forever, was performed. It was the first public performance for Sousa�s march and the President of the U.S., William McKinley, was in the audience.
1904 - The Olympic Games opened in St. Louis, MO. It marked the first time that the games were held in the United States.
1913 - John D. Rockefeller made the largest gift of money (to that time) by establishing the Rockefeller Foundation for $100,000,000. The foundation promotes �the well-being of mankind throughout the world.�
1937 - Duke Ellington and his band recorded the classic, Caravan, for Brunswick Records.
1945 - The Sparrow and the Hawk, a serial for kids, was first broadcast over CBS radio.
1945 - Tennessee Jed made his debut on ABC radio. Johnny Thomas played the part of Tennessee Jed Sloan.
1957 - The musical, New Girl in Town, opened at the 46th Street Theatre in New York City. Thelma Ritter and Gwen Verdon starred in the Broadway adaptation of Eugene O�Neill�s Anna Christie. New Girl in Town had a run of 431 performances.
1960 - Bally Ache, the winner of the Preakness Stakes in Baltimore, MD, was sold for $1,250,000. Wonder what he would have brought with a name change...
1969 - Jacqueline Susann�s second novel, The Love Machine, was published by Simon and Schuster. It went on to become a huge seller, and further established Susann as a writer of intense, erotic novels, several of which were turned into successful movies for TV.
1971 - The Honey Cone received a gold record for the single, Want Ads. The female soul trio was formed in Los Angeles in 1969 and scored two million-sellers, Want Ads and Stick Up. The trio had a total of four songs on the charts that were moderate hits. Only Want Ads, however, made it to the number one position. Hey, that�s the latest, I�m Casey Kasem...
1985 - The third most widely-used form of contraception in the U.S. celebrated its 25th birthday. The Pill became the leading form of contraception and continues to be the focus of controversy. Even country stars Loretta Lynn and Conway Twitty sang a duet that turned into a big, hit song titled, The Pill.
1985 - The first McDonald�s restaurant -- in Des Plaines, IL -- became the first museum of the fast-food business. McMannequins, McPosters and loads of McPhotos display years of hamburger McProgress!
Birthdays
artist: The Blue Boy, The Watering Place; died Aug 2, 1788
1900 - Billie Dove (Lilian Bohny)
actress: All the Brothers were Valiant, The Black Pirate; died Dec 31, 1997
1916 - Skip (Lloyd) Martin
bandleader, composer, arranger: Hammer Blow [from Mike Hammer], Singin� in the Rain, Guys and Dolls, April Love, Funny Face, Silk Stockings, Les Girls; died in Feb 1976
1917 - Norman Luboff
choral leader: The Norman Luboff Choir; died Sep 22, 1987
1921 - Richard Deacon
actor: The Dick Van Dyke Show, B.J. and the Bear, Leave It to Beaver, Carousel, Francis in the Haunted House, The Patsy, Bad Manners, Blackbeard�s Ghost; died Aug 8, 1984
1925 - Al Porcino
jazz musician: trumpet: played with Louis Prima, Tommy Dorsey, Georgie Auld, Gene Krupa, Woody Herman, Stan Kenton, Charlie Parker, Count Basie, Frank Sinatra, Don Costa, Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, Jerry Lewis, Judy Garland, Peggy Lee, Buddy Rich, Chuck Mangione, Mel Torme
1925 - Les (John Lester) Moss
baseball: catcher: SL Browns, Boston Red Sox, Baltimore Orioles, Chicago White Sox
1925 - Patrice Munsel
soprano: Metropolitan Opera diva [at age 17]; actress: The Great Waltz, Melba; radio performer: The Great Sopranos - Voices of Firestone Classic Performances; radio host: The Patrice Munsel Show
1929 - Gump (Lorne John) Worsley
Hockey Hall of Famer: goaltender: New York [Calder Trophy as NHL�s top rookie: 1953], Montreal Canadians [Stanley Cup: 1965, 1966, 1968, 1969/Vezina Trophy winner: 1964, 1966], Minnesota North Stars: consented to wear a mask during his last season in NHL; physical resemblance to a popular comic strip character earned him the nickname
1936 - Bobby Darin (Cassotto)
Grammy Award-winning singer: Mack the Knife [1959]; Splish Splash, Dream Lover, You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby, Things, If I Were a Carpenter; inducted into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame [1990]; actor: Captain Newman, M.D., If a Man Answers, Come September; died Dec 20, 1973
1936 - Dick (Richard Dalton) Howser
baseball: KC Athletics [all-star: 1961], Cleveland Indians, NY Yankees; manager: NY Yankees, KC Royals:: 404-365 record [.525], 2 division titles, World Championship [1985], uniform [#10] was 1st number retired by Royals retired by Royals; died June 17, 1987
1942 - Tony Perez (Atanasio P�rez Regal)
baseball: Cincinnati Reds [all-star: 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1974, 1975, 1976/World Series: 1970, 1972, 1975, 1976], Montreal Expos, Boston Red Sox, Philadelphia Phillies [World Series: 1983]; manager: Cincinnati Reds
1943 - Jack Bruce
musician: bass: group: Cream: Sunshine of Your Love, White Room, Crossroads; group: Graham Bond Organization; solo: Themes for an Imaginary Western
1943 - Derek Leckenby
musician: guitar: group: Herman�s Hermits: Mrs. Brown You�ve Got a Lovely Daughter, I�m Henry VIII I Am
1944 - George Lucas (George Walton Lucas Jr.)
film producer, director: Star Wars series, Indiana Jones series, American Graffiti
1944 - Troy Shondell
singer: This Time
1946 - Gene Cornish
musician: guitar: group: The Young Rascals/Rascals: Groovin�, How Can I Be Sure, A Beautiful Morning, People Got to Be Free
1947 - Dick (Richard William) Tidrow
baseball: pitcher: Cleveland Indians, NY Yankees [World Series: 1976, 1977, 1978], Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, NY Mets
1948 - Dave (David Eugene) LaRoche
baseball: pitcher: California Angels [all-star: 1977], Minnesota Twins, Chicago Cubs, Cleveland Indians [all-star: 1976], NY Yankees [World Series: 1981]
1948 - Tom Gilmore
hockey: WHA: LA Sharks, Edmonton Oilers
1951 - Pierre Plante
hockey: NHL: Philadelphia Flyers, SL Blues, Chicago Blackhawks, NY Rangers, Quebec Nordiques
1952 - David Byrne
singer: group: Talking Heads: Love Goes to Building on Fire; composer for film: True Stories
1952 - Robert Zemeckis
Academy Award-winning director: Forrest Gump [1994]; Death Becomes Her, Back to the Future trilogy, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Romancing the Stone, Used Cars, I Wanna Hold Your Hand; script writer [w/Bob Gale]: 1941; executive producer: Tales from the Crypt
1953 - Tom Cochrane
musician: guitar: group: Red Rider: White Hot, Lunatic Fringe, Young Thing, The Untouchable One, Good Times; solo: Life is a Highway, Sinking Like a Sunset, I Wish You Well
1962 - Ian Astbury
singer: group: The Cult: Spiritwalker, Resurrection Joe, She Sells Sanctuary
1966 - Fabrice Morvan
performer, lip-syncer: group: Milli Vanilli: Girl I�m Gonna Miss You, Baby Don't Forget My Number, Blame It on the Rain
1969 - Danny Wood
singer: group: New Kids On the Block: Step by Step, You Got It (The Right Stuff), I�ll Be Loving You (Forever), Cover Girl, Didn�t I (Blow Your Mind), Please Don�t Go Girl, Tonight, This One�s for the Children, Valentine Girl, Let�s Try It Again, Hangin� Tough, If You Go Away, Baby, I Believe in You, Call It What You Want.
Chart Toppers
1950 My Foolish Heart - The Gordon Jenkins Orchestra (vocal: Eileen Wilson)
It Isn�t Fair - The Sammy Kaye Orchestra (vocal: Don Cornell)
The Third Man Theme - Alton Karas
Long Gone Lonesome Blues - Hank Williams
1958 All I Have to Do is Dream - The Everly Brothers
Wear My Ring Around Your Neck - Elvis Presley
Return to Me - Dean Martin
Oh Lonesome Me - Don Gibson
1966 Monday Monday - The Mamas & The Papas
Rainy Day Women #12 & 35 - Bob Dylan
Kicks - Paul Revere & The Raiders
I Want to Go with You - Eddy Arnold
1974 The Loco-Motion - Grand Funk
The Streak - Ray Stevens
Dancing Machine - The Jackson 5
Is It Wrong (For Loving You) - Sonny James
1982 Chariots of Fire - Titles - Vangelis
Ebony and Ivory - Paul McCartney with Stevie Wonder
Don�t Talk to Strangers - Rick Springfield
Always on My Mind - Willie Nelson
1990 Nothing Compares 2 U - Sinead O�Connor
Vogue - Madonna
All I Wanna Do is Make Love to You - Heart
Help Me Hold On - Travis Tritt
Those were the days, my friend. We thought they�d never end... ;)
For those who are reading this, be sure and stop in daily as I will keep this updated daily. I use to do a, Today in history article daily on my morning radio show.
All I ask of you, is to not to post in this thread, so that others that view this thread will not have to scroll down to view the contents.
You are however, welcomed to PM. me or even start a thread on comments about, Today in history.
Thanks for your kind, considerate understanding. :)
ShadowThomas
135th day of 2007 - 230 remaining.
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
WIZ DAY. :D
Today is the anniversary of the birth of Lyman Frank Baum, who was born in 1856. Lyman grew up to become a newspaperman and the author of one of the most famous children�s stories in recent history. Lyman Baum wrote The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Baum wrote a series of Oz books, but this was the most famous.
He also adapted the story into a musical play. It then became the basis for the 1939 MGM musical, The Wizard of Oz, starring Judy Garland, Margaret Hamilton, Ray Bolger, Jack Haley, Bert Lahr, Frank Morgan, and Billy Burke among others. The film, a classic, was nominated for six Academy Awards but won only two (Best Song: Over the Rainbow and Best Score).
Lyman Frank Baum�s adaptation was adapted once again in 1978 as a Broadway show and film, The Wiz, featuring an all-black cast.
Events
May 15th.
1862 - The U.S. Department of Agriculture was established by President Abraham Lincoln on this day.
1918 - Regular airmail service between New York City, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. began under the direction of the Post Office Department, a forerunner of the United States Postal Service.
1926 - The New York Rangers became the newest franchise to be awarded by the National Hockey League. Two years later, the Rangers won their first Stanley Cup.
1930 - Ellen Church became the first stewardess for an airline. Church served passengers flying between San Francisco, California and Cheyenne, Wyoming on United Airlines. She also served chicken, fruit salad and rolls. The term �stewardess� has since been banished. The men and women who serve on airlines worldwide are known as flight attendants. Remember, the exits are clearly marked and life support cushions are located beneath the web site. We�ll begin beverage service in a few moments. Please stay in your seat with your belt securely fastened and your tray table in the upright, locked position...
1933 - Irna Phillips, an NBC Blue network program-features writer, starred in the role of Mother Moran in the radio program, Today�s Children, which was heard for the first time this day.
1938 - Guy Lombardo and his orchestra recorded Ride, Tenderfoot, Ride, the group�s last side for Victor Records. Lombardo took disc number 25861 and moved the Royal Canadians over to Decca Records to make �the sweetest sound this side of heaven.�
1940 - Nylon hose went on sale at stores throughout the United States.
1941 - Joe DiMaggio began his historic major-league hitting streak (56 games). The New York Yankees got Joltin� Joe off to a rather bad start, however, as they lost to the Chicago White Sox 13-1 at Yankee Stadium.
1953 - World heavyweight champion Rocky Marciano collected his 44th pro boxing victory on this night, knocking out former champ, Jersey Joe Walcott, at Chicago Stadium in 2 minutes, 25 seconds of the first round.
1962 - After five years on Wagon Train, Robert Horton let his performing contract expire and left the popular TV series. Robert Fuller replaced Horton as the trail scout who rode with wagon master Chris Hale, played by actor John McIntire.
1964 - The Smothers Brothers, Dick and Tom, gave their first concert in Carnegie Hall in New York City.
1970 - Close to You, the Carpenter�s second album and the one that launched them to meteoric fame, was released by A&M Records. The title song, (They Long to Be) Close to You, became a pop music standard and the first of six million-sellers in a row for Karen and Richard. In all, The Carpenters would have 10 gold records for singles and a dozen top ten hits to their credit. The duo won Best New Artist honors at the Grammy Awards in 1970.
1972 - Glen Campbell earned a gold record for his Greatest Hits album on this day.
1981 - Len Barker, the 25-year-old pitching sensation of the Cleveland Indians, became the tenth major-league hurler to toss a perfect game. Barker led the Indians past the Toronto Blue Jays, 3-0. Barker was absolutely perfect in this game: no runs, no hits, no walks, no visits to the mound by the manager and no stray hot-dog wrappers on the field.
1985 - Prince Michael of Moldavia and Amanda Carrington tied the knot in wedded bliss on the nighttime soap opera, Dynasty. The series was canceled shortly after the wedding and Joan Collins says she hasn�t gotten a letter or anything from the couple.
Birthdays
newspaperman, author: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz; died May 5, 1919; see Wiz Day [above]
1890 - Katherine Anne Porter
Pulitzer Prize-winning writer: Collected Short Stories [1965]; Ship of Fools; died Sep 18,1980
1902 - Richard Joseph Daley
�The Boss�: politician: former mayor of Chicago; died Dec 20, 1976
1905 - Joseph (Cheshire) Cotten
actor: Citizen Kane, The Third Man, Duel in the Sun, Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte, Tora Tora Tora, The Philadelphia Story, Once More with Feeling; died Feb 6, 1994
1909 - James (Neville) Mason
actor: A Star is Born, Georgy Girl, The Verdict, The Boys from Brazil, Charade, The Desert Fox, Island in the Sun, Jesus of Nazareth, North by Northwest, Lolita; died July 27, 1984
1910 - Constance Cummings (Halverstadt)
Tony Award-winning actress: Wings; Blithe Spirit, Busman�s Honeymoon; died Nov 23, 2005
1911 - Max (Rudolf) Frisch
author: Homo Faber, I�m Not Stiller, Juerg Reinhardt; playwright: The Firebugs, Andorra; died Apr 4, 1991
1914 - Walter �Turk� Broda
Hockey Hall of Famer: NHL Vezina Trophy [1941, 1948, 1951]: Toronto Maple Leafs, goaltender for five Stanley Cup wins; died Oct 17, 1972
1918 - Eddy (Richard Edward) Arnold
�The Tennessee Plowboy�: Country Music Hall of Famer: Make the World Go Away, Kentucky Waltz, The Last Word in Lonesome is Me, I Want to Go with You, I Wouldn�t Know Where to Begin, Bouquet of Roses; TV host
1923 - Richard Avedon
photographer: famous for his 1960s and �70s �up-against-the-wall� pictures of celebrities and politicians
1923 - Ellis Larkins
pianist: favorite accompanist of: Mildred Bailey, Ella Fitzgerald, Joe Williams; died Sep 29, 2002
1930 - Jasper Johns
sculptor, painter: Flag, Face with Watch, After Holbein, Grey Numbers
1931 - Ken Venturi
golf champion: U.S. Open [1964]
1936 - Anna Maria Alberghetti
singer, Tony Award-winning actress: Carnival [1962]; Cinderfella
1936 - Paul Zindel
writer: The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds; died Mar 27, 2003
1937 - Trini L�pez
singer: If I Had a Hammer, Lemon Tree, I�m Comin� Home Cindy; actor: The Dirty Dozen
1938 - Lenny Welch
singer: Since I Fell for You, Ebb Tide, Breaking Up is Hard to Do
1939 - Dudley Wysong
golf: two-time winer on PGA Tour; vice president: PGA of America; died Mar 29, 1998
1940 - Lainie Kazan
singer, actress: Beaches, My Favorite Year
1940 - Don Nelson
basketball: coach: Golden State Warriors
1943 - David Cronenberg
director: Crash, M Butterfly, Dead Ringers, The Fly, Dead Zone, Fast Company, They Came from Within
1945 - Jerry Quarry
boxing: heavyweight champ: record: 53-9-4, 33 KO�s
1947 - Graham Goble
musician: guitar: group: Little River Band: It�s a Long Way There, Help is on Its Way, Reminiscing, Lady, Lonesome Loser, Cool Change, The Night Owls, Take It Easy on Me
1948 - Brian Eno (Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno)
musician: synthesizer: Roxy Music [cofounder]; record producer: Seven Deadly Finns; songwriter [w/David Bowie]: Once in a Lifetime
1951 - Wally Chambers
football: Chicago Bears [Pro Bowl: 1974]
1953 - George (Howard) Brett
Baseball Hall of Famer:: Kansas City Royals [all-star: 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1988/World Series: 1980, 1985/Baseball Writer�s Award: 1980], 1980 batting average: .390
1953 - Pat Hickey
hockey: NHL: NY Rangers, Colorado Rockies, Toronto Maple Leafs, Quebec Nordiques, SL Blues
1953 - Mike Oldfield
composer, musician: Tubular Bells; film score: Killing Fields
1955 - Lee Horsley
actor: Unlawful Passage, French Silk, Danielle Steele�s Palomino, Sword & the Sorcerer, Nero Wolfe, Hawkeye, Paradise, North and South, Book II, Bodies of Evidence.
Chart Toppers
On Top of Old Smokey - The Weavers (vocal: Terry Gilkyson)
Cold, Cold Heart - Hank Williams
1959 The Happy Organ - Dave �Baby� Cortez
Sorry (I Ran All the Way Home) - The Impalas
Kookie, Kookie (Lend Me Your Comb) - Edward Byrnes & Connie
Stevens
1967 The Happening - The Supremes
Sweet Soul Music - Arthur Conley
Groovin� - The Young Rascals
Sam�s Place - Buck Owens
1975 He Don�t Love You (Like I Love You) - Tony Orlando & Dawn
Before the Next Teardrop Falls - Freddy Fender
Jackie Blue - Ozark Mountain Daredevils
She�s Actin� Single (I�m Drinkin� Doubles) - Gary Stewart
1983 Beat It - Michael Jackson
Let�s Dance - David Bowie
Overkill - Men at Work
Whatever Happened to Old Fashioned Love - B.J. Thomas
1991 Joyride - Roxette
I Like the Way (The Kissing Game) - Hi-Five
Here We Go - C + C Music Factory Presents Freedom Williams and Zelma
Davis
If I Know Me - George Strait
Those were the days, my friend. We thought they�d never end... ;)
For those who are reading this, be sure and stop in daily as I will keep this updated daily. I use to do a, Today in history article daily on my morning radio show.
All I ask of you, is to not to post in this thread, so that others that view this thread will not have to scroll down to view the contents.
You are however, welcomed to PM. me or even start a thread on comments about, Today in history.
Thanks for your kind, considerate understanding. :)
ShadowThomas
136th day of 2007 - 229 remaining.
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
FIRST NICKEL DAY . :)
The U.S. Treasury Department added another coin to American currency by authorizing the minting of the nickel, a five-cent coin, on this day in 1866. On its face was a shield, while on the
reverse was the number From 1883 until 1912, the head of Liberty was on the obverse while the Roman numeral 5 was on the reverse side. The current nickel is the Jefferson nickel, minted since 1938. The Jefferson nickel has a profile of none other than Thomas Jefferson on the face and a picture of his home, Monticello, on the flip side.
Today�s nickel is made of only 25 percent nickel and 75 percent copper. Its official name is the five-cent piece. And that�s the latest from the 440 numismatic department.
Events
May 16th.
1910 - The U.S. Bureau of Mines was authorized by the U.S. Congress.
1914 - The AHPA was formed in Kansas City, Kansas. Now, don�t throw a fit when we tell you that AHPA is the American Horseshoe Pitchers Association.
1929 - The first Academy Awards were presented on this night, hosted by Douglas Fairbanks and William C. de Mille. This first awards ceremony of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was held at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel in Los Angeles. It attracted an audience of 200 people. (The statuette we know so well as Oscar was not included in this first presentation for films made in 1927-1928. Oscar didn�t make an appearance until 1931.) Janet Gaynor was named Best Actress for her performance in Seventh Heaven, which also won the Best Director/Dramatic Picture for Frank Borzage, and the Best Writing/Adaptation for Benjamin Glazer. Lewis Milestone was named Best Director/Comedy Picture for Two Arabian Knights. Emil Jannings received two Best Actor awards, one for the 1927 flick, The Way of All Flesh, the other for The Last Command (1928) and Wings was selected as Best Film Production. A second Best Film award was presented to Sunrise for Unique and Artistic Production. It also won for Best Cinematography (Charles Rosher and Karl Struss). Other countries honor their film industry each year, too. In Germany, the Oscar is called the Bambi for outstanding motion pictures. In Finland, the award is called the Snosiki. Two thumbs up for the movies!
1929 - Paul Whiteman and his orchestra backed Bing Crosby for the tune, Sposin�, which �Der Bingle� recorded for Columbia Records.
1939 - The Philadelphia Athletics and the Cleveland Indians met at Shibe Park in Philadelphia for the first baseball game to be played under the lights in the American League. The Indians beat Philly 8-3 in 10 innings.
1946 - The Irving Berlin musical, Annie Get Your Gun, at New York�s Imperial Theatre. Once of the most successful shows presented on a Broadway stage, the show ran for 1,147 performances.
1953 - Bill Haley and His Comets made it to the Billboard music charts for the first time with Crazy Man Crazy. The tune went to number six and became the first rock �n� roll record to make the pop music chart.
1960 - A research study reported that TV commercials �in living color� were over three times more effective than black and white commercials.
1965 - The Roar of the Greasepaint, The Smell of the Crowd, a Broadway musical starring Anthony Newley, made its premiere at the Shubert Theatre in New York City. Cyril Ritchard appeared in the production which entertained audiences for 231 performances.
1971 - An ounce of first-class mail rocketed to eight cents for delivery -- two cents more than the previous stamp.
1981 - Bette Davis Eyes, by Kim Carnes, climbed to the top spot of the pop music chart and stayed there for five straight weeks, took a week off (replaced by Stars on 45 Medley by Stars on 45) and came back to number one for four more weeks! It was, obviously, a gold record winner and was played over and over and over for 20 weeks before becoming an instant oldie but goodie. Bette Davis Eyes, incidentally, was written in part by Jackie DeShannon, who had two top ten hits in the 1960s: What the World Needs Now is Love in 1965 and the million-seller, Put a Little Love in Your Heart, in 1969.
1985 - Michael �Air� Jordan was named Rookie of the Year in the National Basketball Association. Jordan of the Chicago Bulls was the number three draft choice. At the time, he was third in the league scoring with a 28.2 average and fourth in steals with 2.39 per game.
1987 - It was a grand day in New York Harbor. Bobro 400, a huge barge, set sail within eyesight of the Statue of Liberty with 3,200 tons of garbage that nobody wanted. The floating trash heap soon became America�s most well-traveled garbage can as it began an eight-week, 6,000 mile odyssey in search of a willing dumping site. Bobro 400 returned to New York Harbor after the lengthy journey -- and brought all that garbage back with it!
1990 - The entertainer who could do it all, Sammy Davis Jr., died this day, in Beverly Hills, California, USA. From vaudeville at age three (with his father and uncle) to the star of Broadway�s "Mr. Wonderful", from Las Vegas nightclubs to hit records, the actor, singer, dancer, impersonator, and musician performed his way into the hearts of young and old everywhere. The world mourned the passing of Sammy Davis, Jr. at age 64 of throat cancer.
Birthdays
May 16th.
1801 - William Seward
U.S. Secretary of State: negotiated purchase of Alaska from Russia for $7,200,000 [Seward�s Folly]; died Oct 10, 1872
1804 - Elizabeth Palmer Peabody
educator: established 1st kindergarten in U.S. [1860]; author, publisher: The Dial literary magazine, Kindergarten Messenger; sister-in-law of Nathaniel Hawthorne; died Jan 3, 1894
1905 - Henry (Jaynes) Fonda
Academy Award-winning actor: On Golden Pond [1981]; Grapes of Wrath, Advice and Consent, Mister Roberts, Young Mr. Lincoln; father of Jane & Peter Fonda; died Aug 12, 1982
1912 - Studs (Louis) Terkel
1913 - Woody (Woodrow Charles) Herman
bandleader: Woodchopper�s Ball, The Sheik of Araby, Chloe, Caldonia; died Oct 29, 1987
1919 - (Wladziu Valentino) Liberace
concert pianist & showman: The Liberace Show; Las Vegas entertainer; died Feb 4, 1987
1922 - Eddie Bert
1926 - Rube (Albert Bluford) Walker
baseball: catcher: Chicago Cubs, Brooklyn Dodgers [World Series: 1956], LA Dodgers; died Dec 12, 1992
1928 - Billy (Alfred Manuel) Martin
baseball: played and managed (5 times) the New York Yankees; also managed Minnesota Twins, Detroit Tigers, Texas Rangers and Oakland A�s; died Dec 25, 1989
1930 - Betty Carter (Lillie Mae Jones)
jazz singer: toured with Lionel Hampton & Miles Davis; died Sep 26, 1998
1937 - Yvonne Craig
actress, dancer: Batman [TV], Barbara Gordon/Batgirl [TV], Digging Up Business, It Happened at the World�s Fair, The Young Land, Mars Needs Women
1943 - Donny Anderson
football: Green Bay Packers: running back, punter: Super Bowls I & II
1947 - Barbara Lee (Jones)
singer: group: The Chiffons: He�s So Fine, One Fine Day, Sweet Talkin� Guy; died May 15, 1992
1947 - Bill Smitrovich
actor: Crime Story, Life Goes On, The Trigger Effect, Bodily Harm, Crazy People, Renegades, A Killing Affair, Splash, Manhunter, The Practice
1947 - Darrel Sweet
musician: drums, singer: group: Nazareth: LPs: Love Hurts, Snaz; died Apr 30, 1999
1948 - Jim Langer
Pro Football Hall of Famer: Miami Dolphins guard & center: Super Bowls VI, VII, VIII
1949 - Rick (Rickey Eugene) Reuschel
baseball: pitcher: Chicago Cubs [all-star: 1977], NY Yankees [World Series: 1981], Pittsburgh Pirates [all-star: 1987], SF Giants [all-star: 1989/World Series: 1989]
1953 - Pierce Brosnan
actor: Mrs. Doubtfire, Remington Steele, The Manions of America, Noble House, The Heist, Detonator, The Fourth Protocol, Don�t Talk to Strangers, The Thomas Crown Affair [1999], The Tailor of Panama; Bond ... James Bond: GoldenEye, Tomorrow Never Dies, The World is Not Enough
1953 - Rick (Richard Alan) Rhoden
baseball: pitcher: LA Dodgers [all-star: 1976/World Series: 1977], Pittsburgh Pirates [all-star: 1986], NY Yankees, Houston Astros
1955 - Olga Korbut
Olympic Gold [3] Medalist: gymnast [1972]
1955 - (Mary) Debra Winger
actress: Forget Paris, Shadowlands, A Dangerous Woman, Leap of Faith, Legal Eagles, Terms of Endearment, An Officer and a Gentleman, Urban Cowboy, French Postcards, Slumber Party �57, Wonder Woman
1958 - Glenn Gregory
singer: group: Heaven 17: We Don�t Need This Fascist Groove Thang, Temptation, Crushed by the Wheels of Industry, Soul Deep, The Foolish Thing to Do; on soundtrack of film: Insignificance
1959 - Mare Winningham
Emmy Award-winning [supporting] actress: Amber Waves [1979-1980], George Wallace [1997-1998]; The Boys Next Door, Wyatt Earp, Fatal Exposure, Turner and Hooch, St. Elmo�s Fire, The Thorn Birds
1966 - Janet Jackson
singer: Again, Control, Miss You Much, That�s the Way Love Goes, What Have You Done for Me Lately; LPs: Janet Jackson, Dream Street, Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814, janet, Design of a Decade, The Velvet Rope [has sold some 40-million albums worldwide]; actress: Good Times, Fame, Diff�rent Strokes; Michael�s sister
1968 - Ralph Tresvant
singer: group: New Edition: Candy Girl, Cool It Now, Mr. Telephone Man
1969 - Tracey Gold
actress: Shirley, Goodnight Beantown, Growing Pains; TV host: That�s Incredible
1970 - Gabriela Sabatini
tennis champion: U.S. Open [1990]
Chart Toppers
1944 Long Ago and Far Away - Helen Forrest & Dick Haymes
I�ll Get By - The Harry James Orchestra (vocal: Dick Haymes)
San Fernando Valley - Bing Crosby
Too Late to Worry, Too Blue to Cry - Al Dexter
1952 Blue Tango - The Leroy Anderson Orchestra
Kiss of Fire - Georgia Gibbs
Blacksmith Blues - Ella Mae Morse
The Wild Side of Life - Hank Thompson
1960 Stuck on You - Elvis Presley
Cathy�s Clown - The Everly Brothers
Night - Jackie Wilson
Please Help Me, I�m Falling - Hank Lockin
1968 Honey - Bobby Goldsboro
Tighten Up - Archie Bell & The Drells
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly - Hugo Montenegro
Have a Little Faith - David Houston
1976 Boogie Fever - Sylvers
Fooled Around and Fell in Love - Elvin Bishop
What Goes on When the Sun Goes Down - Ronnie Milsap
1984 Hello - Lionel Richie
Hold Me Now - The Thompson Twins
Let�s Hear It for the Boy - Deniece Williams
To All the Girls I�ve Loved Before - Julio Iglesias & Willie Nelson
Those were the days, my friend. We thought they�d never end... ;)
For those who are reading this, be sure and stop in daily as I will keep this updated daily. I use to do a, Today in history article daily on my morning radio show.
All I ask of you, is to not to post in this thread, so that others that view this thread will not have to scroll down to view the contents.
You are however, welcomed to PM. me or even start a thread on comments about, Today in history.
Thanks for your kind, considerate understanding. :)
ShadowThomas
137th day of 2007 - 228 remaining.
Thursday, May 17, 2007
STOCK EXCHANGE DAY. :)
On this day in 1792, twenty-four brokers sat down to fix rates for commissions on stocks and bonds. From that agreement came what has been known since as the New York Stock Exchange or Wall Street.
The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is located in the financial district, an area in lower Manhattan, on a street named after a defensive wall built around 1650. Wall Street became interchangeable with the Stock Exchange. The original brokers� meeting place was quite different from today�s noisy, crowded, high-energy floor. In bad weather, they met at a coffee house and when the day was sunny, the brokers sat under a buttonwood tree on Wall Street to conduct their business.
There are now over 51 million individual investors and 10,000 institutional investors who are represented on the floor of the NYSE by 480 member-trader firms. The NYSE is respected throughout the world and attracts investors from many countries.
Events
May 17th.
1875 - Oliver Lewis rode Aristides winning a purse of $2,850 in the first running of the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville, KY. Aristides won the one and a half mile Run for the Roses in a time of 2 minutes, 37-3/4 seconds.
1877 - Edwin T. Holmes of Boston, MA. installed the first telephone switchboard burglar alarm. We imagined that it was to keep burglars from starting their own phone companies...
1933 - Country singer Jimmie Rodgers began to record a series of 24 songs for RCA Victor Records on this day. Rodgers was in failing health at the beginning of the session, but persevered to complete the job at hand. The singing star died nine days later (he was 35). Jimmie Rodgers was born in 1897 and was known as the Blue Yodeler and the Singing Brakeman. Rodgers was the first member of the Country Music Hall of Fame, elected in 1961 (along with Fred Rose and Hank Williams). His recording career began in 1927. His yodel became a trademark of his music. Jimmie Rodgers recorded over 100 songs and sold millions of 78 RPM records. His songs were about the Depression and many were about trains. Brakeman�s Blues, Blue Yodel, Tuck Away My Lonesome Blues and his famous �T� for Texas are all classics. He died of tuberculosis.
1938 - The NBC Blue network presented Information Please for the first time. The radio quiz show was moderated by Clifton Fadiman.
1939 - The Glen Island Casino in New Rochelle, NY was the scene of a memorable dual-network radio broadcast of Glenn Miller and his orchestra. Both NBC and Mutual carried the event, which was attended by 1,800 people in the casino ballroom.
1956 - The first synthetic mica (synthamica) was offered for sale -- in Caldwell Township, NJ. Mica is a crystal-like substance used in electronic applications. It aids in resisting heat and electricity. You�ll find a wide variety of mica capacitors inside your radio, TV, computer, microwave, stereo, telephone and hundreds of other electronic gizmos.
1971 - The musical, Godspell, opened this night at the Cherry Lane Theatre in New York City. Godspell featured the song Day by Day (a top-15 hit in 1972). The rock musical that featured Robin Lamont played for 2,651 performances and was the third longest-running off-Broadway production at the time.
1975 - NBC-TV paid a whopping $5,000,000 for the rights to show Gone with the Wind just one time. It was the top price paid for a single opportunity to show a film on television.
1975 - Elton John�s Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy album was released and certified a platinum record on the very same day. It was the first album to be certified a million seller (in this case, a two-million seller) on the first day of release.
1976 - Race jockey Steve Cauthen began an enviable win streak. Cauthen, age 16, rode his first winner at River Downs, KY. He went on to win 94 races, becoming horse racing�s most-watched jockey.
1984 - Mario Soto of the Cincinnati Reds threw four strikeouts in one inning. Soto was only pitcher number 15 since 1900 to do so. How? The hit catcher dropped the ball on the third strikeout of a game against the Chicago Cubs. The runner took off to first base and was safe. The rules state that the catcher must hold on to the ball for a third strike call to take effect. This was the first four-strikeout inning since 1978. Soto joined the company of Mike Paxton, Phil Niekro, Bill Bonham and Mike Cuellar -- all pitchers in the 1970s -- who had the same thing happen to them.
1985 - Bobby Ewing died on the season finale of Dallas on CBS-TV. �Grief gushed faster than oil,� said the critics on this five-hanky episode. Bobby, played by actor Patrick Duffy, died in a violent car explosion, but came back to life the following season (he was seen taking a shower, of all things, just as Victoria Principal, his TV wife, was about to step into the shower stall).
1987 - Eric �Sleepy� Floyd of the Golden State Warriors set a playoff record for points in a single quarter. He poured in 29 points in the fourth period in a game against Pat Riley�s Los Angeles Lakers.
1998 - New York Yankees pitcher David Wells pitched a perfect game against the Minnesota Twins. The American League game had a final score of 4-0. And David Wells was a hero, having pitched only the 15th perfect game in the 118 years of major-league baseball.
Birthdays
May 17th.
1903 - James Bell
�Cool Papa�: Baseball Hall of Famer: Negro League [1922-1950]: St. Louis Stars, Pittsburgh Crawfords, Homestead Grays, Kansas City Stars; fastest man ever to play baseball: could round the bases in 13 seconds: �...so fast he could get out of bed, turn out the lights across the room, and be back under the covers before the lights went out...�; died Mar 7, 1991
1906 - Carl McIntire
clergyman, fire and brimstone fundamentalist minister; died Mar 19, 2002
1911 - Maureen (Paul) O�Sullivan
actress: Tarzan films: Jane; Hannah and Her Sisters, Peggy Sue Got Married, The River Pirates; died June 23, 1998
1914 - Stewart Alsop
syndicated columnist [w/brother Joseph]: Matter of Fact; journalist: New York Herald Tribune, Newsweek, Washington Editor of Saturday Evening Post; writer: The Center: The Anatomy of Power in Washington, Stay of Execution : A Sort of Memoir; died May 26, 1974
1915 - Carl Liscombe
hockey: Detroit Red Wings [most points record: (7) vs. Chicago: 11/5/42]
1921 - Bob Merrill
songwriter: If I Knew You Were Comin� I�d�ve Baked a Cake, Doggie in the Window, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Funny Girl [w/Jules Styne]; died Feb 17, 1998
1924 - Dick Hixson
jazz musician: alto sax; composer, playwright; educator: University of Hartford, CT
1933 - Ozzie (Osvaldo Jose Sr. Pichardo) Virgil
baseball: NY Giants, Detroit Tigers, KC Athletics, Baltimore Orioles, Pittsburgh Pirates, SF Giants
1934 - Earl Morrall
football: backup quarterback: San Francisco 49ers; Pittsburgh Steelers; Detroit Lions; NY Giants; Baltimore Colts: NFL Player of the Year [1968], Super Bowls III, V; Miami Dolphins: AFC Player of the Year [1971], Super Bowls VII, VIII
1936 - Dennis Hopper
actor: Easy Rider, Apocalypse Now, Rebel Without a Cause, Giant, Hoosiers, Flashback, Blue Velvet, Super Mario Brothers, True Romance, Speed, Waterworld, Space Truckers; director: Easy Rider, Colors, Chasers
1938 - Pervis Jackson
singer: group: The Spinners: I�ll Be Around, Could It Be I�m Falling In Love
1942 - Taj Mahal (Henry St. Claire Fredericks)
entertainer, songwriter: for film, Sounder; singer: urban folk-blues
1945 - Tony Roche
tennis champion: French Open [1966]
1948 - Carlos May
baseball: Chicago White Sox [all-star: 1969, 1972], NY Yankees [World Series: 1976], California Angels
1948 - Pat Toomay
football: Dallas Cowboys defensive end: Super Bowl V, VI
1949 - Bill Bruford
drummer: LPs: Feels Good to Me, One of a Kind, The Bruford Tapes, Gradually Going Tornado, Masterstrokes; [w/Patrick Moraz: Music for Piano and Drums, Flags; groups: Earthworks, Gong, Genesis, Yes: Owner of a Lonely Heart; UK: Danger Money, Night after Night
1955 - Bill Paxton
actor: Twister, True Lies, Aliens, Apollo 13, Future Shock, The Terminator
1956 - Sugar Ray Leonard
boxer: Olympic gold medalist: Junior Welterweight [1976]; World Welterweight [1979] and World Junior Middleweight Champion [1981], WBC Heavyweight and Super Middleweight [1988]
1956 - Bob Saget
actor: Full House; TV host: America�s Funniest Home Videos
1965 - Trent Reznor
Grammy Award-winning singer, musician: Wish [1992]; LP: Pretty Hate Machine; band: Nine Inch Nails
1970 - Jordan (Nathaniel Marcel) Knight
singer: group: New Kids on the Block [1984-1994]
Also, on this day in history. We have one of our very own WorldStart members celebrating a birthday. Happy birthday to our very own, Shanaya. Enjoy your special day, Shanaya. I hope it's a great one. ;)
Chart Toppers
1945 Candy - Johnny Mercer & Jo Stafford
I�m Beginning to See the Light - The Harry James Orchestra (vocal: Kitty
Kallen)
At Mail Call Today - Gene Autry
1953 I Believe - Frankie Laine
April in Portugal - The Les Baxter Orchestra
Song from Moulin Rouge - The Percy Faith Orchestra
Mexican Joe - Jim Reeves
A Hundred Pounds of Clay - Gene McDaniels
Hello Walls - Faron Young
1969 Aquarius/Let the Sun Shine In - The 5th Dimension
Hair - The Cowsills
My Life (Throw It Away if I Want To) - Bill Anderson
1977 When I Need You - Leo Sayer
Sir Duke - Stevie Wonder
Couldn�t Get It Right - Climax Blues Band
Some Broken Hearts Never Mend - Don Williams
1985 Don�t You Forget About Me - Simple Minds
One Night in Bangkok - Murray Head
Everything She Wants - Wham!
Somebody Should Leave - Reba McEntire
Those were the days, my friend. We thought they�d never end... ;)
For those who are reading this, be sure and stop in daily as I will keep this updated daily. I use to do a, Today in history article daily on my morning radio show.
All I ask of you, is to not to post in this thread, so that others that view this thread will not have to scroll down to view the contents.
You are however, welcomed to PM. me or even start a thread on comments about, Today in history.
Thanks for your kind, considerate understanding. :)
ShadowThomas
138th day of 2007 - 227 remaining.
Friday, May 18, 2007
BLOW YOUR TOP DAY. :D :D
When we get angry, it is said that we �blow our tops.� This saying obviously came from the angry gods that make volcanoes blow their tops.
On this day in 1980, the 9,677-foot Mt. St. Helens, quiet for 93 years, became extremely angry and blew its top. The volcanic blast was five hundred times more powerful than the atomic bomb that leveled Hiroshima.
Steam and ash erupted more than eleven miles into the atmosphere and darkened skies in a 160-mile radius. Forest fires erupted around the volcano and burned out of control. The eruption, and those that followed, left some sixty dead and caused damage amounting to nearly three billion dollars.
Geologists said that the blast, which was felt over one hundred miles away, was probably triggered by two earthquakes. Scientists had been watching the long-dormant volcano since it first emitted some steam and ash on March 26. Eruptions occurred again on May 25 and June 12. Now that�s a long time to stay angry!
Events
May 18th.
1798 - The first Secretary of the U.S. Navy was appointed. He was Benjamin Stoddert.
1860 - Abraham Lincoln of Springfield, IL was nominated for the U.S. Presidency by Republican party leaders at a meeting in Chicago.
1912 - Since baseball great Ty Cobb had been suspended from playing the game, Hugh Jennings, manager of the Detroit Tigers, gave way to Cobb�s teammates who said they wouldn�t play unless Cobb was allowed to suit up and play, too. So, with the Tigers off the field for the day, Jennings hired the baseball team from nearby St. Joseph�s College to play in place of the Tigers! It was not, to say the least, a good day for the Tigers. St. Joseph�s pitcher, Aloysius Travers, was pounded by the Philadelphia Athletics 24-2. Travers gave up all 24 runs -- a single-game record.
1931 - Race jockey Eddie Arcaro rode his first race -- at Bainbridge, OH. He finished sixth. Later, Arcaro would become a racing legend, finishing first in over 4,100 races, including four Kentucky Derby wins. Arcaro won the Derby in 1941, 1945, 1948 and again in 1952. He rode Hill Gail, Hoop, Jr., Whirl-A-Way and Citation. Arcaro won the Triple Crown with Whirl-A-Way and Citation.
1942 - David Harding, Counterspy Counterspy was heard on the NBC Blue network for the first time. The program enjoyed a long run on radio, lasting for 15 years.
1953 - The first woman to fly faster than the speed of sound, Jacqueline Cochran, piloted an F-86 Sabrejet over California at an average speed of 652.337 miles-per-hour.
1954 - Former heavyweight boxing titleholder Max Schmeling came back to the U.S. after 15 years. He returned to referee a boxing match in Milwaukee, WI. He stayed for the beer and bratwurst, no doubt...
1957 - Jockey Eddie Arcaro rode Bold Ruler to the winner�s circle in the Preakness Stakes in Maryland.
1968 - Tiny Tim�s warbly Tiptoe through the Tulips was released. An eventual top twenty hit, Tiptoe was a remake of a number one hit for Nick Lucas in 1929. Grab your banjo and sing along. �Ohhhhh, Tiptoe through the Tuuuuulips....�
1970 - Opening this night in New York City was The Me Nobody Knows at the Orpheum Theatre. The musical had a run of 586 performances.
1974 - The Streak started a 3-week run at number one on the Billboard pop music chart. The novelty tune, by Ray Stevens, was about people running nekkid where they shouldn�t be nekkid, like, in public. It was the second number one hit for the comedian who made numerous appearances on Andy Williams� TV show in the late 1960s, as well as his own show in the summer of 1970. His first number one hit, just prior to The Streak, was Everything is Beautiful. Both songs won gold records, as did his comedic Gitarzan, a top ten hit in 1969. �Booga-da, booga, da!�
1992 - The season finale of Murphy Brown aired on CBS with Murphy Brown, played by Candice Bergen, giving birth to an illegitimate son (Avery Brown). The following day, U.S. V.P. Dan Quayle publicly lambasted the comedy, saying that the program �glorified� single-parenthood. Quayle also complained that the TV situation made a mockery of families with fathers.
Birthdays
May 18th.
1897 - Frank Capra
Academy Award-winning director: It Happened One Night [1934], Mr. Deeds Goes to Town [1936], You Can�t Take It with You [1938]; It�s a Wonderful Life, Lost Horizon, Pocketful of Miracles; died Sep 3, 1991
1902 - Meredith Willson (Reiniger)
composer: The Music Man, The Unsinkable Molly Brown; died June 15, 1984
1911 - Big Joe (Joseph Vernon) Turner
rhythm & blues singer: Corrine Corrina, Cherry Red, Still in the Dark, Chains of Love, Sweet Sixteen; died Nov 24, 1985
1912 - Perry (Pierino) Como
Grammy Award-winning singer: Catch a Falling Star [1958, his first Grammy], Round and Round, Ko Ko Mo [I Love You So], Hot Diggity, It�s Impossible, Temptation, Dream along with Me [I�m on My Way to a Star], And I Love You So, Till the End of Time, Because, Prisoner of Love, Wanted, Don�t Let the Stars Get in Your Eyes, Papa Loves Mambo; 15 gold records; Emmy Award-winning TV show: The Perry Como Show [1954, 1955, 1956, 1958-9]; TV host: The Chesterfield Supper Club, The Kraft Music Hall; Christopher Award-winner [1956]; Variety Club�s Personality of the Year [1956]; Kennedy Center Honors [1987]; films: Something for the Boys, Doll Face, If I�m Lucky, Words and Music; former barber; died May 12, 2001
1914 - Pierre Balmain
fashion designer; died June 29, 1982
1919 - Dame Margot Fonteyn
ballet dancer: Sadler Wells Company; danced with Rudolph Nureyev; died Feb 21, 1991
1920 - Pope John Paul II (Karol Wojtyla)
264th pope of the Roman Catholic Church: the first Polish pope; died April 2, 2005
1922 - Kai Winding
jazz musician: trombone: More [theme from Mondo Cane]; died May 6, 1983
1924 - Jack Whitaker
Broadcasters Hall of Famer: CBS Sports, ABC Sports, WCAU-TV, Philadelphia
1928 - Pernell Roberts
actor: Bonanza, Trapper John, M.D., Ride Lonesome
1931 - Robert Morse
Tony Award-winning actor: Tru [1990], How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Secret Storm, Wild Palms, Where Were You When the Lights Went Out
1934 - Dwayne Hickman
actor: The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, Cat Ballou
1937 - Brooks (Calbert) Robinson
Baseball Hall of Famer: third baseman: Baltimore Orioles [all-star: 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974/Baseball Writer�s Award: 1964/World Series: 1966, 1969, 1970, 1971]
1946 - Reggie (Reginald Martinez) Jackson
�Mr. October�: Baseball Hall of Famer: Kansas City Athletics, Oakland Athletics [all-star: 1969, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975/World Series: 1973, 1974/American League MVP: 1973], Baltimore Orioles, NY Yankees [World Series: 1977, 1978, 1981/all-star: 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981], California Angels [all-star: 1982, 1983, 1984]; World Series record: 10 home runs including 4 in a row, 24 RBI�s and a .357 batting average in 27 games; 563 career home runs [only Aaron, Ruth, Mays, Frank Robinson and Killebrew have hit more]
1948 - Joe Bonsall
singer: The Oak Ridge Boys: Talk about the Good Times, Where the Soul Never Dies, Cryin� Again, American Made, Love Song, I Guess It Never Hurts to Cry Sometimes, Everyday, Make My Life with You, Little Things, Touch a Hand Make a Friend
1949 - Dave Atkins
football: Univ. of Texas-El Paso, San Francisco 49ers, Honolulu Hawaiians [WFL], San Diego Chargers; coach: Univ. of Texas-El Paso, San Diego State, Philadelphia Eagles, New England Patriots, Arizona Cardinals, New Orleans Saints, Minnesota Vikings
1949 - Rick Wakeman
songwriter, musician: keyboards: groups: The Strawbs; Yes: Roundabout; solo LPs: Journey to the Center of the Earth, The Myths and Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table; composer: films scores: The Phantom of the Opera [1990], Playing for Keeps, Creepshow 2, Bullet to Beijing, Midnight in St. Petersburg
1950 - Rodney Milburn Jr.
Olympic Gold Medalist: 110-meter hurdles [1972]: set a world record of 13.1 seconds [1973]; died in Nov 1997 after falling into a tank of scalding bleach at his workplace
1951 - James Stephens
actor: The Paper Chase, Father Dowling Mysteries, Pancho Barnes, Mysterious Two, First Monday in October.
Chart Toppers
1946 All Through the Day - Perry Como
The Gypsy - The Ink Spots
Shoo Fly Pie - The Stan Kenton Orchestra (vocal: June Christy)
New Spanish Two Step - Bob Wills
1954 Wanted - Perry Como
Little Things Mean a Lot - Kitty Kallen
If You Love Me (Really Love Me) - Kay Starr
I Really Don�t Want to Know - Eddy Arnold
1962 Soldier Boy - The Shirelles
Stranger on the Shore - Mr. Acker Bilk
She Cried - Jay & The Americans
She Thinks I Still Care - George Jones
1970 American Woman/No Sugar Tonight - The Guess Who
Vehicle - The Ides of March
Cecilia - Simon & Garfunkel
1978 If I Can�t Have You - Yvonne Elliman
The Closer I Get to You - Roberta Flack with Donny Hathaway
With a Little Luck - Wings
It�s All Wrong, But It�s All Right - Dolly Parton
1986 Greatest Love of All - Whitney Houston
Why Can�t This Be Love - Van Halen
What Have You Done for Me Lateley - Janet Jackson
Ain�t Misbehavin� - Hank Williams, Jr.
Those were the days, my friend. We thought they�d never end... ;)
For those who are reading this, be sure and stop in daily as I will keep this updated daily. I use to do a, Today in history article daily on my morning radio show.
All I ask of you, is to not to post in this thread, so that others that view this thread will not have to scroll down to view the contents.
You are however, welcomed to PM. me or even start a thread on comments about, Today in history.
Thanks for your kind, considerate understanding. :)
ShadowThomas
139th day of 2007 - 226 remaining.
Saturday, May 19, 2007
RIB-IT DAY. :D :D
The Pride of San Joaquin Valley was declared the winner of the first frog-jumping jubilee held in Calaveras County, CA on this day in 1928. The froggy jumped three feet, four inches, higher than 49 other frogs entered in the contest. The true beginnings of the frog jubilee date back to gold rush days, an event instigated by none other than Mark Twain.
The frogs are still hoppin� each May at the Calaveras County Fair & Jumping Frog Jubilee. Frogs come from all over the world to compete in this, the road to top frog. Incidentally, frogs jump a lot more than three feet today, and for a fair amount of money, prizes and media exposure. The current record is held by Rosie the Ribiter from Santa Clara, CA. Rosie made the record-setting 21 feet, 5 3/4 inch jump in May of 1986.
Four legs, two eyes, in the water, ker-plunk! Rib-it! :D
Events
May 19th.
1847 - The first English-style railroad coach was placed in service on the Fall River Line in Massachusetts.
1857 - William F. Channing and Moses G. Farmer patented the electric fire alarm system in Boston, MA: the first city to adopt the system.
1911 - The first person to commit a crime and be convicted through the use of fingerprints turned out to be Caesar Cella. He had been �thumbed� in New York City.
1912 - The Associated Advertising Clubs of America held its first convention -- in Dallas, TX. The organization is a truth and fair practices group.
1921 - The first opera presented in its entirety over the radio was broadcast by 9ZAF in Denver, CO. The opera, "Martha", aired from the Denver Auditorium.
1926 - Thomas Edison spoke at a dinner for the National Electric Light Association in Atlantic City, NJ. When asked to speak into the microphone, he said, �I don�t know what to say. This is the first time I ever spoke into one of these things ... Good night.�
1941 - The Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra backed the popular singing duo of Bob Eberly and Helen O�Connell as Decca record number 3859 turned out to be Time Was -- a classic.
1952 - Yoshio Shirai defeated flyweight champion Dado Marino in Tokyo to become Japan�s first world-boxing champ.
1958 - Bobby Darin�s single, Splish Splash, was released as the first eight-track master recording pressed to a plastic 45 RPM disc.
1965 - Roger Miller received a gold record for the hit, King of the Road. The song was Miller�s biggest hit record. It got to number four (3/20/65) on the pop charts and stayed on for 12 weeks. It was a number one country music hit (3/27/65) as well. Miller, a country singer, humorist, guitarist and composer from Fort Worth, TX and raised in Oklahoma, went to Nashville, TN in the mid-1950s to begin a songwriting career. He wrote songs and played drums for Faron Young in 1962, then won what was an unprecedented six Grammy Awards in 1965, had his own TV show in 1966; wrote Little Green Apples, a huge hit for O.C. Smith and had five tunes in the top ten in 1968. To top it off, he composed the music for the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical, Big River in 1985. (Miller died Oct 25, 1992 of throat cancer.)
1966 - Country music came to New York�s Carnegie Hall this night. Eddy Arnold debuted with an array of popular country artists in the Big Apple.
1968 - Piano stylist and vocalist Bobby Short gained national attention as he presented a concert with Mabel Mercer at New York�s Town Hall. He had been the featured artist at the intimate Hotel Carlisle for years.
1973 - Secretariat won the second jewel of horse racing�s Triple Crown by capturing the Preakness Stakes in Baltimore, MD. The famed horse later went on to win the Belmont Stakes in New York to earn the Triple Crown with jockey Ron Turcotte as the rider.
1973 - Stevie Wonder moved to the number one position on the Billboard pop music chart with You are the Sunshine of My Life. It was the third number one song for Wonder, following earlier successes with Fingertips - Pt 2 (8/10/63) and Superstition (1/27/73). He would have seven more number one hits between 1973 and 1987: You Haven�t Done Nothin�, I Wish, Sir Duke, Ebony & Ivory (with Paul McCartney), I Just Called to Say I Love You, Part-Time Lover and That�s What Friends are For.
1984 - The Edmonton Oilers defeated the New York Islanders by a 5-2 score to win the Stanley Cup. The win by the Oilers ended the Islanders� domination of the National Hockey League the previous four seasons.
Birthdays
portrait artist; died Feb 4, 1885
1890 - Ho Chi Mihn (Nguyen That Thanh)
North Vietnamese leader: trail and city named after him; died Sep 2, 1969
1901 - Dorothy Buffum Chandler
Los Angeles cultural patron; widow of LA Times publisher Norman Chandler; mother of publisher Otis Chandler; Dorothy Chandler Pavillion named for her; died July 6, 1997
1906 - Bruce Bennett (Herman Brix)
actor: The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Dark Passage, Angels in the Outfield
1919 - Georgie Auld (John Altwerger)
musician: saxophones: bandleader; actor: The Rat Race, dubbed soundtrack for Robert DeNero in New York, New York; died Jan 8, 1990
1925 - Malcolm X (Malcolm Little)
black nationalist and civil rights activist; assassinated Feb 21, 1965
1928 - Gil (Gilbert James) McDougald
baseball: NY Yankees [AL Rookie of the Year: 1951/World Series: 1951, 1952, 1953, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1960/all-star: 1952, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959
1928 - Dolph Schayes
Basketball Hall of Famer: Syracuse Nationals, Philadelphia Warriors; coach: Philadelphia �76ers, Buffalo Braves, NBA Coach of the Year [1966]; NBA�s Silver Anniversary Team [1971]
1929 - Curt (Curtis Thomas) Simmons
baseball: pitcher: Philadelphia Phillies [all-star: 1952, 1953, 1957], SL Cardinals [World Series: 1964], Chicago Cubs, California Angels
1930 - Lorraine Hansberry
playwright: A Raisin in the Sun, To be Young, Gifted and Black; died Jan 12, 1965
1931 - Stephen Young (Levy)
actor: Judd for the Defense, Patton, Scorned, Who�s Harry Crumb?, Deadline, Lifeguard, When Husbands Cheat, Strange Justice
1934 - James Lehrer
PBS: journalist: anchor: The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer; co-anchor: The MacNeil-Lehrer Newshour; novelist: Blue Hearts
1935 - David Hartman
Emmy Award-winning TV host: Good Morning America; actor: Hello Dolly, Lucas Tanner, The Bold Ones
1939 - James Fox
actor: Patriot Games, The Russia House, A Passage to India
1939 - Nancy Kwan
actress: The World of Suzie Wong, Flower Drum Song, Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story
1939 - Francis R. (Dick) Scobee
Commander of the ill-fated U.S. space shuttle, Challenger; killed in Challenger explosion Jan 28, 1986
1941 - Nora Ephron
author: Heartburn, Sleepless in Seattle
1945 - Peter Townshend
musician: group: The Who [Rock and Roll Hall of Famers (1990)]: My Generation, Happy Jack, I Can See for Miles, Magic Bus, Won�t Get Fooled Again; composed rock-opera: Tommy, See Me, Feel Me, Pinball Wizard; solo: Rough Boys, Let My Love Open the Door, Uniforms, Exquisitely Bored, The Sea Refuses No River
1949 - Dusty Hill
musician: bass, singer: group: ZZ Top: Jesus Just Left Chicago, LA Grange, Tush, Gimme All Your Lovin�, Legs, Sharp Dressed Man, Sleeping Bag
1949 - Archie Manning
football [quarterback]: Univ of Mississippi; NFL: New Orleans Saints [NFC Player of the Year [1978]; Houston Oilers; Minnesota Vikings
1951 - Joey Ramone (Jeffrey Hyman)
singer: group: The Ramones: Beat on the Brat, Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue, Do You Remember Rock �n� Roll Radio, Baby I Love You, We Want the Airwaves, The KKK Took My Baby, Howling at the Moon; died Apr 15, 2001
1952 - Grace Jones (Mendoza)
singer: Slave to the Rhythm; actress: A View to a Kill, Conan the Destroyer, Deadly Vengeance
1952 - Mike Nott
football: BC Lions [CFL]
1954 - Rick (Richard Aldo) Cerone
baseball: Cleveland Indians, Toronto Blue Jays, NY Yankees [World Series: 1981], Atlanta Braves, Milwaukee Brewers, Boston Red Sox, NY Mets, Montreal Expos
1954 - Phil Rudd
musician: drums: group: AC/DC: LPs: Let There Be Rock, Powerage, Highway to Hell, Dirty Deeds Done Cheap, For Those About to Rock
1956 - Steven (Meigs) Ford
actor: When Harry Met Sally, Body Count, Eraser, Contact, Armageddon; son of former U.S. President Gerald R. and Betty Ford
1956 - Martyn Ware
musician: synthesizer: groups: The Human League: LP: Reproduction; Heaven 17: We Don�t Need This Fascist Groove Thang, Temptation, Crushed by the Wheels of Industry.
Chart Toppers
1947 Mam�selle - Art Lund
Linda - Buddy Clark with the Ray Noble Orchestra
My Adobe Hacienda - Eddy Howard
New Jolie Blonde (New Pretty Blonde) - Red Foley
1955 Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White - Perez Prado
Unchained Melody - Les Baxter
A Blossom Fell - Nat King Cole
In the Jailhouse Now - Webb Pierce
1963 If You Wanna Be Happy - Jimmy Soul
Surfin� USA - The Beach Boys
Foolish Little Girl - The Shirelles
Lonesome 7-7203 - Hawkshaw Hawkins
1971 Joy to the World - Three Dog Night
Never Can Say Goodbye - The Jackson 5
Brown Sugar - The Rolling Stones
I Won�t Mention It Again - Ray Price
1979 Reunited - Peaches & Herb
In the Navy - Village People
If I Said You Had a Beautiful Body Would You Hold It Against Me -
Bellamy Brothers
1987 With or Without You - U2
The Lady in Red - Chris DeBurgh
Heat of the Night - Bryan Adams
To Know Him is to Love Him - Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt, Emmylou
Harris
Those were the days, my friend. We thought they�d never end... ;)
For those who are reading this, be sure and stop in daily as I will keep this updated daily. I use to do a, Today in history article daily on my morning radio show.
All I ask of you, is to not to post in this thread, so that others that view this thread will not have to scroll down to view the contents.
You are however, welcomed to PM. me or even start a thread on comments about, Today in history.
Thanks for your kind, considerate understanding. :)
ShadowThomas
140th day of 2007 - 225 remaining.
Sunday, May 20, 2007
SLICE OF LIFE DAY. :)
The most famous magazine illustrator of the twentieth century drew it like it was. This was the day, in 1916, when Norman Rockwell�s first cover on The Saturday Evening Post appeared. The illustration was of a young boy having to care for his baby sibling while his little buddies left him and went off to play ball. The forlorn child pushing a baby carriage tugged at the heart strings of all who saw it.
Norman Rockwell drew over 300 covers for The Saturday Evening Post plus covers for Collier�s, American Boy, The Literary Digest, LIFE and others. He also painted the Boy Scouts of America calendar pictorials for 45 years. Four of his famous paintings are The Four Freedoms, used as patriotic posters during WWII.
All of his illustrations, including those used in advertising campaigns pictured nostalgic scenes of small-town America (many of Rockwell�s models were his New England neighbors) ... true slices of life captured from a time gone by.
Those were the days...
Events
May 20th.
1830 - The first timetables of the Baltimore and Ohio (B&O) Railroad were published in the Baltimore American newspaper. All aboard!
1830 - H.D. Hyde of Reading, Pennsylvania patented the fountain pen. And a messy contraption it was.
1875 - The International Bureau of Weights and Measures was established.
1899 - Jacob German of New York City became the first driver to be arrested for speeding. Mr. German was whipping his taxicab all over Lexington Avenue and being a pain in the neck by going over the posted 12 mile-per-hour speed limit!
1927 - �Lucky� Lindbergh took off from Roosevelt Field in New York aboard the small airplane Spirit of St. Louis, en route to Paris, France. Thirty-three and one-half hours later, Charles A. Lindbergh arrived at his destination -- and flew into history.
1933 - Charlie Chan was heard for the final time on the NBC Blue radio network after only six months on the air. Not to worry. Several revivals of the Chinese detective were on the air years later ... and in the movies and seen on TV.
1939 - The first telecast over telephone wires was sent from Madison Square Garden to the NBC-TV studios at 30 Rockefeller Center in midtown Manhattan. A bicycle race was the event broadcast to a breathless audience.
1939 - The Yankee Clipper took off from Port Washington, NY, bound for Europe. The plane, the flagship of Pan American Airways, established the first regular air-passenger service across the Atlantic Ocean.
1941 - Harry James and his orchestra recorded the classic You Made Me Love You for Columbia Records.
1973 - Ken Moore beat 4,030 competitors to win the 63rd Bay-to-Breakers footrace in San Francisco, CA. Moore stepped his way to the finish line in 37 minutes, 15 seconds over a course measured at 7.8 miles.
1978 - Mavis Hutchinson, 53, made it to New York City to become the first woman to run across America. The 3,000-mile trek took her 69 days. She ran an average of 45 miles each day. Now that�s what we call a daily workout.
1982 - TV�s Barney Miller was seen for the last time in its original network run on ABC-TV. Hal Linden as Barney, Abe Vigoda as Fish and a talented cast continue to bring the fictional 12th Precinct to TV screens through syndication.
1985 - The Dow Jones industrial average broke the 1300 mark for the first time. The Dow gained 19.54 points to close at 1304.88.
1985 - Larry Holmes retained the heavyweight boxing title of the International Boxing Federation at Reno, NV by defeating Carl Wilson in 15 rounds. The fight marked the first, heavyweight title fight in Reno since Jack Johnson and Jim Jeffries duked it out in 1910.
1987 - The Milwaukee Brewers ended a 12-game losing streak by beating the Chicago White Sox by a 5-1 score. The Brew Crew had opened the season winning 13 games in a row.
Birthdays
U.S. First Lady, wife of 4th U.S. President James Madison; died July 12, 1849
1799 - Honore de Balzac
novelist: The Human Comedy, Droll Stories, The Chouans; died Aug 18,1850
1806 - John Stuart Mill
leader of the utilitarian movement: editor: Westminster Review; philosopher: System of Logic, Principles of Political Economy, Utilitarianism, On Liberty, The Subjection of Women; died May 8, 1873
1908 - (Jimmy) James (Maitland) Stewart
Academy Award-winning actor: Philadelphia Story [1940]; The Glenn Miller Story, It�s a Wonderful Life, Harvey, Rear Window, Anatomy of a Murder, Bell, Book and Candle, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Vertigo, The Man from Laramie; died July 2, 1997
1916 - Patricia Ellis (Leftwich)
actress: Three on a Match, Back Door to Heaven, The Case of the Lucky Legs, Postal Inspector; died Mar 26, 1970
1919 - �Lonesome� George Gobel
Emmy Award winning personality [1954], comedian: �Well I�ll be a dirty bird.�: The George Gobel Show, The Eddie Fisher Show, Hollywood Squares; actor: Better Late than Never, The Fantastic World of D.C. Collins, Harper Valley P.T.A.; died Feb 24, 1991
1920 - Vic Ames (Urick)
singer: group: The Ames Brothers: You, You, You are the One, Rag Mop, Sentimental Me, Undecided, You, You, You, The Man with the Banjo, The Naughty Lady of Shady Lane, Tammy, Melodie d�Amour; killed in car crash Jan 23, 1978
1923 - Edith Fellows
actress: The Grace Kelly Story, In the Mood
1926 - Bob Sweikert
auto racer: Indianapolis 500 winner [1955]; killed in race at Salem IN June 17, 1956
1927 - Bud (Henry) Grant
Pro Football Hall of Famer: Philadelphia Eagles; player & coach: Winnipeg Blue Bombers; Minnesota Vikings coach; basketball: Minneapolis Lakers: forward
1927 - David Hedison (Ara David Heditsian)
actor: Licence to Kill, Live and Let Die
1930 - James McEachin
actor: The Dead Don�t Die, Double Exposure
1931 - Ken (Kenton Lloyd) Boyer
baseball: St. Louis Cardinals [all-star: 1956, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964/World Series: 1964/Baseball Writer�s Award: 1964]; NY Mets, Chicago White Sox, LA Dodgers; died Sep 7, 1982
1933 - Constance Towers
actress: Naked Kiss, On Wings of Eagles
1936 - Anthony Zerbe
Emmy Award-winning actor: Harry-O [1975-76]; The Young Riders, North and South, Book II, Centennial; Licence to Kill, Onassis, Opposing Force, Dead Zone, Rooster Cogburn, The Parallax View, Papillon, Omega Man, They Call Me Mr. Tibbs, Cool Hand Luke, Harry-O
1937 - Dave Hill
golf: SPGA tour: champ: 1987 Fairfield Barnett Senior Classic [1987], MONY Senior Tournament of Champions [1987], MONY Syracuse Senior Classic [1987], Paine Webber Invitational [1987]; �The golf swing is like sex. You can�t be thinking about the mechanics of the act while you are performing.�
1937 - Teddy Randazzo
songwriter/producer: Goin� Out of My Head, Hurt So Bad, I�m on the Outside [Looking In]; singer: Way of a Clown; actor: Rock, Rock, Rock, Mister Rock and Roll, Hey, Let�s Twist; died Nov 21, 2003
1940 - Stan Mikita
hockey: NHL: Chicago Blackhawks: Hart Memorial Trophy Winner [1967, 1968]
1944 - Joe (John Robert) ****er
singer, songwriter: With a Little Help from My Friends, She Came in through the Bathroom Window, The Letter, Up Where We Belong [w/Jennifer Warnes], You are So Beautiful, When the Night Comes, Cry Me a River
1946 - Cher (Cherilyn Sarkisian LaPierre)
singer: group: Sonny [Bono] & Cher: I Got You Babe, The Beat Goes On, All I Really Want to Do; solo: Bang Bang, Gypsys, Tramps and Thieves, The Way of Love, Dark Lady; Academy Award-winning actress: Moonstruck [1987]; The Witches of Eastwick, Silkwood, Mask
1946 - Bobby (Ray) Murcer
baseball: NY Yankees [all-star: 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974/World Series: 1981], SF Giants [all-star: 1975], Chicago Cubs
1951 - Cullen Bryant
football: Los Angeles Rams: running back: Super Bowl XIV
1952 - Warren Cann
musician: drums: group: Ultravox: Vienna, All Stood Still, The Thin Wall, The Voice, Reap the Wild Wind, Hymn, Visions in Blue
1958 - Ronald Prescott Reagan
dancer; talk show host; son of former U.S. President Ronald Reagan
1959 - Bronson Pinchot
actor: Courage Under Fire, Beverly Hills Cop series, The Flamingo Kid, Risky Business, Perfect Strangers, Sara, Stephen King�s The Langoliers
1960 - Susan Cowsill
singer: At the End of the Day, groups: Continental Drifters, Psycho Sisters, The Cowsills: We Can Fly, Ask the Children, Heather Says, Yellow Pills, Vol I
1960 - Tony Goldwyn
actor: The Boys Next Door, Truman, Pocahontas: The Legend, Nixon, The Pelican Brief, Ghost, Gaby: A True Story
1961 - Nick Heyward
musician: guitar, singer, songwriter: Favourite Shirts [Boy Meets Girl], Love Plus One, Fantastic Day, The Day It Rained Forever, Whistle Down the Wind, Take That Situation; group: Haircut 100
1963 - Brian �Nasher� Nash
musician: guitar: group: Frankie Goes to Hollywood: Relax!, Two Tribes, The Power of Love, Welcome to the Pleasure Dome.
Chart Toppers
1948 Now is the Hour - Bing Crosby
Baby Face - The Art Mooney Orchestra
The Dickey Bird Song - The Freddy Martin Orchestra (vocal: Glenn
Hughes)
1956 Heartbreak Hotel/I Was the One - Elvis Presley
The Wayward Wind - Gogi Grant
I�m in Love Again - Fats Domino
Blue Suede Shoes - Carl Perkins
1964 My Guy - Mary Wells
Love Me Do - The Beatles
Ronnie - The 4 Seasons
My Heart Skips a Beat - Buck Owens
1972 The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face - Roberta Flack
Oh Girl - Chi-Lites
I�ll Take You There - The Staple Singers
Grandma Harp - Merle Haggard
Ride like the Wind - Christopher Cross
Lost in Love - Air Supply
Gone Too Far - Eddie Rabbitt
1988 Anything for You - Gloria Estefan & Miami Sound Machine
Shattered Dreams - Johnny Hates Jazz
One More Try - George Michael
I�m Gonna Get You - Eddy Raven
Those were the days, my friend. We thought they�d never end... ;)
For those who are reading this, be sure and stop in daily as I will keep this updated daily. I use to do a, Today in history article daily on my morning radio show.
All I ask of you, is to not to post in this thread, so that others that view this thread will not have to scroll down to view the contents.
You are however, welcomed to PM. me or even start a thread on comments about, Today in history.
Thanks for your kind, considerate understanding. :)
ShadowThomas
141st day of 2007 - 224 remaining.
Monday, May 21, 2007
MAYBELLENE DAY. ;)
No, this day has nothing to do with face make-up -- but it does have to do with the make-up of the pop music charts of mid-1950s. With the dawn of rock and roll upon us, Chuck Berry started his climb to stardom.
Berry, born in San Jose, California but raised in St. Louis, Missouri, was introduced to record executive Leonard Chess (of Chess Records in Chicago) by bluesman Muddy Waters. Berry, who had learned to play the guitar in St. Louis, and had led a trio there, played his demo tape for Chess. One of the songs on the tape was a country song performed in rhythm and blues style. It was titled, Ida Red.
On this day in 1955, Berry went into a recording session for Chess, performing a restyled version of Ida Red. What came out of that hot session was Ida Red�s new name and Chuck Berry�s first hit, Maybellene. Maybellene topped the R & B charts at #1, and the pop charts at #5.
And Beethoven rolled over...
Events
May 21st.
1819 - The first bicycles in the United States were called swift walkers and were seen for the first time on the streets of New York City on this day.
1881 - The United States National Lawn Tennis Association was formed in New York City.
1891 - From the You Won�t Believe Your Eyes department: Peter Jackson and Jim Corbett fought to a draw in San Francisco, CA. Nothing wrong with that except the boxing match went an unprecedented 61 rounds! No wonder it was a draw. The boxers couldn�t raise their arms anymore! What did they do, holler at each other? And was there a dinner break? How about other necessities of nature? Was the crowd enthusiastic the entire time? How many times did the fighters just stand around and stare at each other for an entire round? Inquiring sports minds want to know!
1906 - Louis H. Perlman of New York City received his patent for the demountable tire-carrying rim -- similar to the ones we use on our cars, only wider.
1922 - The cartoon, On the Road to Moscow, by Rollin Kirby, won a Pulitzer Prize. It was the first cartoon awarded the Pulitzer.
1927 - Charles A. Lindbergh arrived to a hero�s welcome in Paris, in his spindly monoplane, The Spirit of St. Louis (the famous plane is now displayed in the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, DC). Lindbergh�s flight marked the first time that a person had flown across the Atlantic Ocean. The event got more press coverage than any other single even in history to that time. In American newspapers alone, it was estimated that some 27,000 columns of words were used to describe Lindbergh�s epic journey. A depiction of that famous flight was portrayed by one of America�s great motion picture actors, Jimmy Stewart, in the film, The Spirit of St. Louis. Upon his return to American soil, Lucky Lindy was given another hero�s welcome.
1929 - The first automatic electric stock quotation board was put into operation by Sutro and Company of New York City.
1934 - The first city in the United States to fingerprint each of its citizens was:
a) New York
c) Oskaloosa
d) Bakersfield
If you said Oskaloosa and, better yet, added that the city is located in the corn fields of Iowa; you should get a free fingerprinting for knowing the correct answer.
1940 - Will Bradley and his orchestra recorded one of the best of the Big Band era. Ray McKinley played drums and did the vocal for the boogie-woogie tune, Beat Me Daddy, Eight to the Bar. The song, on Columbia Records, was so long it took up both sides of the 78 rpm platter.
1945 - Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart were married. Legend has it that the couple fell in love in 1943 during making of the film, To Have and Have Not. Theirs would become one of Hollywood�s most enduring marriages.
1947 - Joe DiMaggio and five of his New York Yankees teammates were slapped with $100 fines. Why? They had not fulfilled contract requirements to do promotional duties for the team.
1959 - Gypsy, a musical based on the life of stripper Gypsy Rose Lee, opened on Broadway. Ethel Merman played Gypsy�s mother, Rose, who pushed her two daughters into burlesque. With music by Jule Styne and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, Gypsy closed on March 25, 1961 after 702 performances.
1973 - The sensual Pillow Talk, by Sylvia (Sylvia Vanderpool), earned a gold record. The artist first recorded with Hot Lips Page for Columbia Records back in 1950 and was known as Little Sylvia. She was half of the singing duo Mickey & Sylvia, who recorded Love is Strange in 1957. Pillow Talk was her only major solo hit and made it to number three on the pop music charts.
1985 - Marvin Gaye�s last album was released. Dream of a Lifetime featured songs that critics considered too offensive, such as the controversial, pop version of The Lord�s Prayer. Three of the songs from the album were completed after Gaye�s death. Marvin Gaye was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987.
1991 - The prime minister of India from 1984 until 1989, Rajiv Gandhi was in the midst of a campaign rally for reelection when a bomb exploded in his hand. Like his mother, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated. The bomb was hidden in a bouquet of flowers handed to Rajiv by a so-called admirer.
Birthdays
May 21 st.
1471 - Albrecht Durer
artist: Martyrdom of the Ten Thousand, Adoration of the Magi, Young Hare; engraver: Knight, Death and the Devil, The Smaller Passion; died Apr 6, 1528
1688 - Alexander Pope
poet: the Pastorals, An Essay on Criticism, The Rape of the Lock, The Art of Sinking in Poetry, The Dunciad, An Essay on Man; died May 30, 1744
1844 - Henri Rousseau
artist: The Sleeping Gypsy; died Sep 2, 1910
1898 - Armand Hammer
industrialist: Occidental Petroleum Co.; physician: donated millions to aid cancer research; died Dec 10, 1990
1901 - Horace Heidt
bandleader: Horace Heidt and His Musical Knights; radio show host: Pot O� Gold; talent show host: Youth Opportunity; died Dec 1, 1986
1904 - Robert Montgomery (Henry Montgomery Jr.)
actor: Private Lives, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Here Comes Mr. Jordan; director: Eye Witness, Lady in the Lake, The Gallant Hours; host: Robert Montgomery Presents; father of actress, Elizabeth Montgomery; died Sep 27, 1981
1904 - Fats (Thomas Wright) Waller
blues musician: piano, organ, song writer: Ain�t Misbehavin�, Honeysuckle Rose; led sextet: It�s a Sin to Tell a Lie, Smarty, All My Life, Two Sleepy People; actor: King of Burlesque, Hooray for Love, Ain�t Misbehavin�, Stormy Weather; died Dec 15, 1943
1909 - Sister Maria Innocentia Hummel
kindergarten art teacher: her work was inspiration for the famous Hummel figurines; died Nov 6, 1946
1916 - Harold Robbins (Francis Kane)
writer: The Carpetbaggers, The Piranhas, Stiletto, The Dream Merchants, The Betsy; died Oct 14, 1997
1917 - Raymond (William Stacy) Burr
actor: Perry Mason, Ironside, Rear Window, A Place in the Sun, The Defense Never Rests, Godzilla; died Sep 12, 1993
1918 - Dennis Day (Eugene Denis McNulty)
singer: Mam�selle, Danny Boy, Clancy Lowered the Boom; actor: The Jack Benny Show, The RCA Victor Show, The Dennis Day Show, The Powers Girl, I�ll Get By, Golden Girl; died June 22, 1988
1920 - Anthony (Maitland) Steel
actor: Wooden Horse, Malta Story, Perfect Crime; married to actress Anita Ekberg; died Mar 21, 2001
1921 - Andrei Sakharov
physicist: produced first Soviet atomic bomb, also hydrogen bomb; human rights activist: formulated concepts of perestroika and glasnost; died Dec 14, 1989
1923 - Ara Parseghian
College Football Hall of Famer: head coach: Notre Dame, Northwestern, Miami; TV sports commentator; chairman of Ara Parseghian Medical Research Foundation
1924 - Peggy (Mary Margaret) Cass
comedienne: To Tell the Truth; actress: The Hathaways, Women in Prison, Aunty Mame, Paddy, Gidget Goes Hawaiian, Cheaters; radio serial: The Doctors; died Mar 8, 1999
1924 - Ed (Edward Raymond) Fitz Gerald
baseball: catcher: Pittsburgh Pirates, Washington Nationals, Washington Senators, Cleveland Indians
1926 - Robert Creeley
author: Have a Heart; poet: Windows
1930 - Tommy Bryant
jazz/studio musician: bassist: played w/Dizzy Gillespie, Jo Jones, Sonny Rollins, Benny Golson; [brother of Ray Bryant]
1939 - Heinz Holliger
musician: oboe virtuoso, composer, conductor: Siebensgesang for oboe voices and orchestra
1941 - David Groh
actor: General Hospital, Rhoda, Hot Shot, Broken Vows, Illegal in Blue
1941 - Ronald Isley
singer: group: The Isley Brothers: Shout, Twist and Shout, This Old Heart of Mine [Is Weak for You], It�s Your Thing, That Lady, Fight the Power
1944 - Marcie Blane
singer: Bobby�s Girl
1944 - Janet Dailey
novelist: The Glory Game, Silver Wings, Santiago Blue, The Pride of Hanna Wade, Calder Saga, Notorious, The Rogue, Rivals, Tangled Vines, The Keeper
1945 - Richard Hatch
actor: Battlestar Galactica, Ghetto Blaster, Party Line, Delta Force, Commando 2; radio host: Love on the Edge
1948 - Carol Potter
actress; Beverly Hills 90210, Today�s F.B.I.
1948 - Leo Sayer (Gerard Hugh Sayer)
singer: Long Tall Glasses, You Make Me Feel like Dancing, When I Need You, More Than I Can Say
1952 - Mr. T (Lawrence Tureaud)
actor: The A-Team, Rocky III, The Magic of the Golden Bear: Goldy 3, Spy Hard, Inspector Gadget
1955 - Stan Lynch
musician: drums: group: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers: American Girl, Don�t Do Me like That, Don�t Come Around Here No More, Jammin� Me
1957 - Judge Reinhold (Edward Ernest Reinhold Jr.)
actor: The Wharf Rat, The Right to Remain Silent, Beverly Hills Cop series, Baby on Board, Ruthless People, Gremlins, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Stripes
1960 - Kent (Alan) Hrbek
baseball: Minnesota Twins [all-star: 1982/World Series: 1987, 1991]
1972 - The Notorious B.I.G. (Christopher Wallace)
rapper: LPs: Ready to Die, Life After Death, Born Again; shot and killed in Los Angeles Mar 9, 1997 [his killer has not been identified]
Chart Toppers
1949 Riders in the Sky - Vaughn Monroe
Again - Gordon Jenkins
Forever and Ever - The Russ Morgan Orchestra (vocal: The Skylarks)
Lovesick Blues - Hank Williams
1957 All Shook Up - Elvis Presley
School Day - Chuck Berry
Love Letters in the Sand - Pat Boone
A White Sport Coat (And a Pink Carnation) - Marty Robbins
1965 Ticket to Ride - The Beatles
Help Me, Rhonda - The Beach Boys
Back in My Arms Again - The Supremes
Girl on the Billboard - Del Reeves
1973 You are the Sunshine of My Life - Stevie Wonder
Little Willy - The Sweet
Frankenstein - The Edgar Winter Group
What�s Your Mama�s Name - Tanya Tucker
1981 Bette Davis Eyes - Kim Carnes
Just the Two of Us - Grover Washington, Jr./Bill Withers
Being with You - Smokey Robinson
I Loved �Em Every One - T.G. Sheppard
1989 Forever Your Girl - Paula Abdul
Real Love - Jody Watley
Soldier of Love - Donny Osmond
If I Had You - Alabama
Those were the days, my friend. We thought they�d never end... ;)
For those who are reading this, be sure and stop in daily as I will keep this updated daily. I use to do a, Today in history article daily on my morning radio show.
All I ask of you, is to not to post in this thread, so that others that view this thread will not have to scroll down to view the contents.
You are however, welcomed to PM. me or even start a thread on comments about, Today in history.
Thanks for your kind, considerate understanding. :)
ShadowThomas
142nd day of 2007 - 223 remaining.
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
DOYLE DAY. :)
He was a doctor without any patients. That�s how Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, born on this day in 1859 at Edinburgh Scotland, began to write. You see, while he was waiting for patients, of which there were hardly any, he was so bored that he started writing short stories. The stories earned him some, but not much money; then Dr. Doyle wrote his first novel centering around the character who became the world�s best-known detective, Sherlock Holmes.
It was 1887 and the novel was titled, A Study in Scarlet. Arthur Conan Doyle (he wasn�t a Sir, yet) was on his way to success. In fact, he eventually became one of the highest-paid short-story writers of the times.
Doyle�s tales of Sherlock Holmes solving crimes with his amazing ability to use reason and observation have delighted millions of readers for over one hundred years. Holmes appeared in 56 short stories and three more novels, The Sign of Four, The Hound of the Baskervilles and The Valley of Fear.
Critic Christopher Morley once said, �Perhaps no fiction character ever created has become so charmingly real to his readers (as Sherlock Holmes).�
Put that in your meerschaum and smoke it!
Events
May 22nd.
1761 - The first life insurance policy issued in the United States was issued on this day. Can you think which company it was? Nope. Don�t even try. You�ll never guess. It was the Corporation for the Relief of Poor and Distressed Presbyterian Ministers and of the Poor and Distressed Widows and Children of Presbyterian Ministers. WOW-Zers! Can you image what size their letterhead must have been? It was the CftRoPaDPMaoftPaDWaCoPM ... for short. We wonder how long the policy must have been...
1819 - The steamship Savannah was the first to cross the Atlantic. It sailed from Savannah, Georgia to Liverpool, England. This day is now celebrated in the United States as National Maritime Day.
1841 - Henry Kennedy of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania was lounging around the house when the mailman rang his doorbell (or cranked it, since electricity wasn�t even available, yet ... or, heck, maybe he just knocked on the door. There were doors back then, you know...) In any case, a patent had arrived for Mr. Kennedy for the first reclining chair. So, sit back (er, recline), relax, and enjoy the rest of today�s show...
1849 - Abraham Lincoln received patent number 6469 for his floating dry dock.
1868 - The masked Reno Gang pulled off the great train robbery at Marshfield, IN. They hauled in $98,000 in loot.
1900 - A. DeVilbiss, Jr. of Toledo, OH patented his pendulum-type computing scale. Many are still around. Check out your nearest produce stand at the market.
1900 - Edwin S. Votey of Detroit, MI patented his pianola: a pneumatic piano player. The device could be attached to any piano. Batteries not included.
1931 - From the Mmmm, Good! file: The Floridian Products Corporation of Arcadia offered its product for sale. Was it orange juice, rattlesnake meat, sectioned grapefruit or alligator purses? If you said rattlesnake meat, you were looking a line ahead and were cheating, but that is the correct answer!
1950 - Scotland�s James Wilson defeated Bing Crosby in the opening round of the British Amateur golf championship played at St. Andrew�s Scotland.
1955 - Jack Benny signed off his last live network radio broadcast after a run of 23 years. Mr. Benny was devoting his time fully to TV. His program brought many of his old cronies to TV as well: announcer Don Wilson; bandleader Phil Harris; Eddie �Rochester� Anderson; singer Dennis Day; and Benny�s wife, Mary Livingstone.
1961 - Ernie K-Doe, aka Ernest Kador Jr., joined the growing list of one hit wonders (recording artists who had only one hit song). Mother-In-Law was Ernie�s one hit, and a number one tune on U.S. pop music charts.
1965 - The Beatles got their eighth consecutive number one hit as Ticket to Ride rode to the top of the singles list. The song topped the charts for one week.
1966 - Bruce Springsteen recorded his very first song, along with his band, The Castilles. It was titled, That�s What You Get. The song was never released. Bruce was just practicing. He was just sixteen...
1967 - What was to become the Public Broadcasting System�s longest-running children�s program, Mister Rogers� Neighborhood, debuted on this day.
1967 - The final To Tell the Truth program was seen on CBS-TV. It had been on the air for over 10 years. The show began syndication sometime later, in a slightly different format.
1970 - The Guess Who from the Winnipeg, Canada area earned a gold record for both the album and single, American Woman. It would be one of three million-seller awards for the group. Their other hits included, These Eyes, Laughing and No Sugar Tonight. The group, which dates back to 1963, disbanded in 1975, with several reunions since then. From the Additional Information You Probably Didn�t Need To Know department: Randy Bachman played lead guitar before leaving the group in August, 1970 to form Bachman-Turner Overdrive. Burton Cummings was lead singer starting in 1966.
1972 - The first U.S. president to visit Moscow did so on this day. President Richard Nixon met with Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev.
1985 - GTE Corporation (General Telephone and Electronics) was named by Fortune magazine as the largest utility in the U.S. In the same issue of Fortune, Sears was named as the nation�s largest retailer for the 21st year in a row.
1986 - Sylvester Stallone agreed to a 10-picture, six-year deal with United Artists. He signed for a reported $15 million for each film . The deal made him the richest actor in Hollywood.
1992 - Johnny Carson hosted The Tonight Show for the last time. It was the end of three decades of late nights spent with Carson and his sidekick, Ed McMahon and bandleader, Doc Severinsen. Comedian Jay Leno replaced Carson.
Birthdays
composer: Tristan, Isolde, Lohengrin; died Feb 13, 1883
1844 - Mary Cassatt
artist: The Bath; died June 14, 1926
1859 - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
physician; writer; died July 7, 1930; see Doyle Day [above]
1907 - Sir Laurence (Kerr) Olivier
Academy Award-winning actor: Hamlet [1948]; War Requiem, The Boys from Brazil, Brideshead Revisited, Carrie, The Jazz Singer, Peter the Great, Richard III, Spartacus, The Merchant of Venice, Marathon Man, Khartoum; Emmy Award-winning actor: The Moon and Sixpence [1960], A Long Day�s Journey into Night [1973], Love Among the Ruins [1975], Brideshead Revisited, King Lear [1984]; died July 11, 1989
1914 - Vance Packard
writer: The Hidden Persuaders; died Dec 12, 1996
1914 - Sun Ra (Herman Blount)
jazz musician: piano, organ, synthesizer; died May 30, 1993
1922 - Judith Crist (Klein)
TV critic: TV Guide, Saturday Review, Today Show
1924 - Charles Aznavour (Shahnour Varenagh Aznavurjian)
actor: Edith & Marcel, The Tin Drum, Twist, Ten Little Indians, Candy, Shoot the Piano Player; singer, songwriter
1926 - Elaine Leighton
1927 - Michael Constantine (Constantine Joanides)
Emmy Award-winning actor: Room 222 [1969-70]; Sirota�s Court, Hey Landlord, The Hustler
1928 - Jackie (Jacqueline) Cain
singer: duo: Jackie & Roy [Kral]: Flamingo, Over the Rainbow, Euphoria, I�m Forever Blowing Bubbles
1931 - Kenny Ball
musician: trumpet: bandleader: Midnight In Moscow
1934 - Al Brown
entertainer: group: Al Brown & The Tunetoppers: LP: The Madison Dance Party
1934 - Peter Nero (Nierow)
pianist: Theme from the Summer of �42
1938 - Richard Benjamin
actor: Goodbye Columbus, Diary of a Mad Housewife, He and She, Portnoy�s Complaint, Love at First Bite, The Sunshine Boys, Westworld; director: The Money Pit, Little Nikita, Made in America, Milk Money
1938 - Frank Converse
actor: Brother Future, Tales of the Unexpected, Home at Last, Cruise into Terror, N.Y.P.D., Movin� On, The Family Tree, Coronet Blue, Dolphin Cove
1938 - Susan Strasberg
actress: The Marriage, Toma, Picnic, Rollercoaster, Delta Force; died Jan 21, 1999
1939 - Larry Siegfried
basketball: Boston Celtics
1939 - Paul Winfield
actor: Tyson, Breathing Lessons, Carbon Copy, Cliffhanger, Dennis the Menace, Presumed Innocent, Sounder, The Terminator, Star Trek 2; died Mar 7, 2004
1940 - Michael Sarrazin
actor: Lena�s Holiday, They Shoot Horses Don�t They, The Reincarnation of Peter Proud, The Flim Flam Man, For Pete�s Sake, Mascara, The Seduction
1940 - Mick Tingelhoff
football: Minnesota Vikings center: All-Pro team [1964, 65, 66, 67, 68, 68]
1942 - Barbara Parkins
actress: Peyton Place, Captains and the Kings, Valley of the Dolls, Calendar Girl Murders, The Deadly Trap
1943 - Tommy (Thomas Edward) John
baseball: pitcher: Cleveland Indians, Chicago White Sox [all-star: 1968], LA Dodgers [World Series: 1977, 1978/all-star: 1978], NY Yankees [all-star: 1979, 1980/World Series: 1981], California Angels, Oakland Athletics
1950 - Bernie Taupin
lyricist: Your Song, Friends, Rocket Man, Honkey Cat, Crocodile Rock, Daniel, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Don�t Let the Sun Go Down on Me; Elton John�s lyricist
1955 - Iva Davies
musician: guitar, singer: group: Icehouse
1959 - Morrissey (Stephen Morrissey)
singer: group: The Smiths: Hand in Glove, This Charming Man, What Difference Does It Make, Heaven Knows I�m Miserable Now, William It Was Really Nothing, Reel Around the Fountain, Suffer Little Children, Bigmouth Strikes Again, That Joke isn�t Funny Anymore, Shakespeare�s Sister, Boy with the Thorn in His Side, The Queen is Dead, Frankly Mr. Shankly, Cemetry Gates
1970 - Naomi Campbell
model; writer: Swan; actress: Miami Rhapsody.
Chart Toppers
1950 My Foolish Heart - The Gordon Jenkins Orchestra (vocal: Eileen Wilson)
Bewitched - The Bill Snyder Orchestra
If I Knew You Were Comin� I�d�ve Baked a Cake - Eileen Barton
Birmingham Bounce - Red Foley
1958 All I Have to Do is Dream - The Everly Brothers
Return to Me - Dean Martin
Johnny B. Goode - Chuck Berry
Just Married - Marty Robbins
1966 Monday Monday - The Mamas & The Papas
Rainy Day Women #12 & 35 - Bob Dylan
When a Man Loves a Woman - Percy Sledge
Distant Drums - Jim Reeves
1974 The Streak - Ray Stevens
Dancing Machine - The Jackson 5
The Entertainer - Marvin Hamlisch
1982 Ebony and Ivory - Paul McCartney with Stevie Wonder
Don�t Talk to Strangers - Rick Springfield
I�ve Never Been to Me - Charlene
Just to Satisfy You - Waylon & Willie
1990 Vogue - Madonna
All I Wanna Do is Make Love to You - Heart
Hold On - Wilson Phillips
Walkin� Away - Clint Black
Those were the days, my friend. We thought they�d never end... ;)
For those who are reading this, be sure and stop in daily as I will keep this updated daily. I use to do a, Today in history article daily on my morning radio show.
All I ask of you, is to not to post in this thread, so that others that view this thread will not have to scroll down to view the contents.
You are however, welcomed to PM. me or even start a thread on comments about, Today in history.
Thanks for your kind, considerate understanding. :)
ShadowThomas
143rd day of 2007 - 222 remaining.
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
MS. ATTORNEY DAY. :)
Believe it or not, women weren�t always allowed to become attorneys in the United States. The gavel was pounded for the first time when Belle Aurelia Babb was born on this day in 1846.
It took some 23 years, but Belle, who later changed her name to Arabella Mansfield, became the first woman admitted to the legal profession in the U.S. A teacher at Ohio Wesleyan college, Mansfield took the bar exam and passed. The legal beagles who tested her gave Arabella a passing grade saying, �...she gave the very best rebuke possible to the imputation that ladies cannot qualify for the practice of law.�
Ms. Mansfield took her law degree and put it away somewhere. You see, she never did practice law. Instead she became one of the first female college professors and administrators in the U.S. as the dean of the schools of art and music at DePauw University. She also helped found the Iowa Woman Suffrage Society.
Just knowing that she could become an attorney was enough for Ms. Mansfield. Women attorneys throughout the U.S. - all rise.
Events
May 23rd.
1788 - South Carolina, the colony originally named in honor of Charles I of England, became one of the United States on this day. The eighth state also has the dubious honor of being the first state to secede at the start of the Civil War in 1861. Its capital city is Columbia. The state bird is, appropriately, the Carolina wren. When a state has so many palmetto palms and beautiful jasmine flowers, what do you do? You choose the yellow jessamine (jasmine) as the state flower and call South Carolina the Palmetto State. Equal opportunity for the plants.
1827 - The first nursery school in the United States was established in New York City. The school was developed �to relieve parents of the laboring classes from the care of their children ... offering the children protection from weather, from idleness and contamination of evil example.� Yes, it actually meant that mommies and daddies who worked could drop the kiddies off for a truly fun, educational experience with little to fear. Plus, the youngsters got milk and cookies too!
1879 - Iowa State College, located in Ames, IA, established the first veterinary school in the U.S.
1922 - Abie�s Irish Rose opened at the the Fulton Theatre in New York City. The play continued for 2,327 performances and numerous revivals as well. It is estimated that some 50,000,000 people have seen the play performed somewhere in the world.
1922 - The first debate to be heard on radio was broadcast on WJH in Washington, DC. The two debaters argued about the topic of Daylight Saving Time with the audience acting as the judge.
1938 - LIFE magazine�s cover pictured the actor Errol Flynn as a glamour boy.
1938 - Singer Ray Eberle signed on as vocalist with the Glenn Miller Orchestra for $35 a week. Eberle�s first session with Miller included, Don�t Wake Up My Heart, for Brunswick Records.
1940 - Frank Sinatra, The Pied Pipers (with Jo Stafford) and the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra recorded the sentimental classic, I�ll Never Smile Again, for Victor Records. The tune remains one of Sinatra�s best-remembered performances.
1941 - Buddy Baer was disqualified at the beginning of the seventh round as Joe Louis defended his heavyweight boxing title for the 17th time. Baer�s manager refused to leave the ring when the round was ready to begin. Poor Buddy Baer...
1944 - Chicago University called it quits to sports when it announced plans to withdraw from the Big 10 Conference of the NCAA and all other athletic competition.
1949 - Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin lifted the Berlin Blockade. It had taken 10 months and 18 days of a continuous airlift of goods by the United States to foil Stalin�s attempt at isolating Berlin from the outside world. The U.S. kept more than 2.5 million Berliners in the Western sector of the German city from starvation and freezing ... supplying food, medicine, machinery, clothing and other necessities -- up to 13,000 tons per day. The airlift transormed West Berlin into a symbol of resistance to communism. During the blockade, the U.S. and its allies delivered 2,325,809 tons of supplies, including 23 tons of oranges. Two thirds of the tonage was coal to provide heat during the brutally-cold 1948-49 winter. The round-the-clock airlift, registered 277,804 flights, and a loss of 78 airmen, killed in crashes and other accidents.
1960 - Don and Phil, the Everly Brothers, enjoyed the day as their recording of Cathy�s Clown made it to number one on the hit music charts. The song stayed at number one for 5 weeks -- a big hit for the duo.
1962 - The National Basketball Association agreed to plans to transfer the Philadelphia Warriors to San Francisco, CA. The team became the San Francisco Warriors (now the Golden State Warriors).
1962 - Joe Pepitone of the New York Yankees set a major-league baseball record by hitting two home runs in one inning. The rare feat lifted the Yankees past the Kansas City Athletics by a score of 13-7.
1975 - Singer B.J. Thomas received a gold record for the single with the extremely long title, (Hey, Won�t You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song.
Birthdays
physician: used hypnotism and magnetism in treatments; Mesmerism named after him; died March 15, 1815
1810 - Margaret Fuller
journalist: The Dial, The New York Tribune; author: Women in the Nineteenth Century; feminist; killed [w/husband and two-year-old son] in shipwreck [off Long Island NY] July 19, 1850
1846 - Arabella Mansfield (Belle Aurelia Babb)
first woman admitted to legal profession in U.S.; died Aug 2, 1911; see Ms. Attorney Day [above]
1883 - Douglas Fairbanks (Douglas Elton Ulman)
actor: The Americano, He Comes Up Smiling, The Mollycoddle, The Mark of Zorro, The Three Musketeers, Robin Hood, The Thief of Bagdad, The Black Pirate, The Gaucho; formed United Artists with D.W. Griffith & Charlie Chaplin; died Dec 12, 1939
1890 - Herbert Marshall
actor: The Little Foxes, The Painted Veil, The Razor�s Edge, The Underworld Story, The Virgin Queen; radio serial: A Man Called X; died Jan 22, 1966
1910 - Scatman (Benjamin Sherman) Crothers
entertainer, actor: Petrocelli, Alfred Hitch**** Presents, Charlie�s Angels, Hill Street Blues, The Sins of Rachel Cade, Hello, Dolly!, One Flew Over the Cuckoo�s Nest, Silver Streak, Bronco Billy, Twilight Zone: The Movie; died Nov 22, 1986
1910 - Artie Shaw (Arthur Arschawsky)
musician: clarinet: bandleader: Begin The Beguine, Indian Love Call, Frenesi, Summit Ridge Drive, My Little Nest of Heavenly Blue, Back Bay Shuffle, Traffic Jam, Nightmare, The Blues, They Say, Thanks for Ev�rything, Stardust, Dancing in the Dark, Concerto for Clarinet, I�m Forever Blowing Bubbles, Any Old Time; died Dec 30, 2004
1912 - John Payne
actor: Miracle on 34th Street, The Razor�s Edge, Springtime in the Rockies, Tin Pan Alley, To the Shores of Tripoli; died Dec 6, 1989
1919 - Betty Garrett
actress: All in the Family, LaVerne & Shirley, My Sister Eileen, On the Town, Take Me Out to the Ball Game
1920 - Helen O�Connell
singer: Green Eyes, Amapola, Tangerine; married to bandleader, Frank DeVol; died Sep 9, 1993
1928 - Jeannie Carson (Jean Shufflebottom)
comedienne: Red Buttons Show; actress: Hey, Jeannie! [1956 TV Series: as Jeannie MacLennan], Rockets Galore!, Little Women [1958 TV], Search for Tomorrow [1951 TV soap: as Marcy Vincente]
1928 - Rosemary Clooney
singer: Hey There, Come On-A My House, This Ole House, Bye Bye Blackbird; actress: White Christmas, Deep in My Heart, Red Garters, Mangos, The Rosemary Clooney Show; aunt of actor George Clooney; sister of Nick Clooney, TV news anchor; died June 29, 2002
1928 - Nigel Davenport
actor: A Man for All Seasons, Chariots of Fire, Nighthawks, Picture of Dorian Gray
1929 - Julian Euell
Australia�s golf champion: U.S. Open [1981], PGA [1979]
1948 - Reggie (Reginald Leslie) Cleveland
baseball: pitcher: St. Louis Cardinals, Boston Red Sox [World Series: 1975], Texas Rangers, Milwaukee Brewers
1951 - Anatoly Karpov
world chess champion: International Grandmaster
1952 - Butch (Clarence Edward) Metzger
baseball: pitcher: SF Giants [NL Rookie of the Year (w/Pat Zachry): 1976], SD Padres, SL Cardinals, NY Mets
1954 - Marvelous Marvin Hagler
International Boxing Hall of Famer: middleweight champion [1980-1987]; bouts: 67, won 62, lost 3, drew 2, KOs: 52; changed his legal name to Marvelous Marvin Hagler
1958 - Drew Carey
comedian, actor, producer, writer: The Drew Carey Show, Whose Line Is It Anyway?
Chart Toppers
1951 Mockingbird Hill -Patti Page
On Top of Old Smokey - The Weavers (vocal: Terry Gilkyson)
Too Young - Nat King Cole
Kentucky Waltz - Eddy Arnold
1959 The Happy Organ - Dave �Baby� Cortez
A Teenager in Love - Dion & The Belmonts
Dream Lover - Bobby Darin
The Battle of New Orleans - Johnny Horton
1967 Groovin� - The Young Rascals
Respect - Aretha Franklin
I Got Rhythm - The Happenings
Sam�s Place - Buck Owens
1975 Shining Star - Earth, Wind & Fire
Before the Next Teardrop Falls - Freddy Fender
Jackie Blue - Ozark Mountain Daredevils
I�m Not Lisa - Jessi Colter
1983 Let�s Dance - David Bowie
Flashdance...What a Feeling - Irene Cara
Little Red Corvette - Prince
1991 I Like the Way (The Kissing Game) - Hi-Five
Touch Me (All Night Long) - Cathy Dennis
Here We Go - C + C Music Factory Presents Freedom Williams and Zelma
Davis
If I Know Me - George Strait
Those were the days, my friend. We thought they�d never end... ;)
For those who are reading this, be sure and stop in daily as I will keep this updated daily. I use to do a, Today in history article daily on my morning radio show.
All I ask of you, is to not to post in this thread, so that others that view this thread will not have to scroll down to view the contents.
You are however, welcomed to PM. me or even start a thread on comments about, Today in history.
Thanks for your kind, considerate understanding. :)
ShadowThomas
144th day of 2007 - 221 remaining.
Thursday, May 24, 2007
BOBBY ZIMMERMAN DAY. :)
You know the songs, Like a Rolling Stone; Lay Lady Lay; Positively 4th Street; Rainy Day Women #12 & 35; Hurricane [Part 1], (the latter dedicated to imprisoned boxer Rubin Hurricane Carter, a convicted murderer); and you�re familiar with the nasal tones of Bob Dylan, the voice that made his words famous. Bob Dylan was born Robert Zimmerman on this day in 1941. One of Zimmerman�s many stories as to why the name change says he borrowed it from poet Dylan Thomas. Bobby Zimmerman legally changed his name to Bob Dylan in 1962.
One story (some doubt its validity) is that Bobby Zimmerman was a piano player for a 1960s singer who had him fired for �not having a future in the music business.� That singer was Bobby Vee. Luckily, Dylan didn�t listen and moved from the Iron Range of Minnesota, near Duluth, to New York City where he played folk clubs in Greenwich Village. It was there, in 1961, that his talents were recognized and he was signed to CBS Records. His electric folk/rock sound soon became a trademark and put him miles ahead of his contemporaries. Yet folk purists booed him off the stage at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1965.
Dylan retired for a short time following a 1966 motorcycle accident; received an honorary doctorate degree from Princeton University in 1970; then performed for George Harrison�s Concert for Bangla Desh in 1971. Two years later, he made his acting debut in the film, Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid; then made the four-hour film, Renaldo and Clara with Joan Baez in 1978. That same year, Dylan announced that he had become a born-again Christian; his newly-found faith apparent in his recordings of that time: Precious Angel, When He Returns and Gotta Serve Somebody, which won him his first Grammy in 1980.
Bob Dylan was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988 and earned the Lifetime Achievement Grammy in 1991. Ten years later he added a Golden Globe and an Academy Award to his collection for the song, Things Have Changed from the 2000 film, Wonder Boys. Little Bobby Zimmerman definitely made a name for himself in the history books of rock �n� roll. If you want to know what it�s like to ride the waves of success and defeat, ask Bob Dylan. He knows how it feels...
Events
May 24th.
1844 - Samuel F.B. Morse tapped out the message �What hath God wrought� in Morse Code. The development inaugurated America�s telegraph industry. The message was sent from Washington, DC to Baltimore, MD.
1859 - Madame Caroline Miolan-Carvalho sang Charles Gounod�s Ave Maria in its first public performance.
1883 - The Brooklyn Bridge, linking Manhattan and Brooklyn in New York City, officially opened. At the time, it was the world�s longest suspension bridge. It is held together with 5,296 bound-steel cables. The Brooklyn Bridge, designed by John A. Roebling, took 14 years to build. The span is 1,595 feet long, cost $16 million to construct and no, it�s not for sale!
1899 - W. T. McCullough of Boston, MA opened the first public garage. One could rent space for selling, storing and repairing vehicles.
1913 - The U.S. Department of Labor entered into its first strike mediation. The dispute of the Railroad Clerks of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad was settled nine days later.
1931 - The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) began service on the Columbian run between New York City and Washington, DC. The passenger train was the first train with air conditioning throughout.
1935 - The first major-league baseball game to be played under the lights saw the Cincinnati Reds defeat Philadelphia 2-1 at Crosley Field.
1938 - Art Kassel�s orchestra recorded a song for Bluebird Records that may not have been a smash hit, but had a title to die for: So You Left Me for the Leader of a Swing Band.
1950 - �Sweetwater� (Nat) Clifton�s contract was purchased by the New York Knicks. Sweetwater played for the Harlem Globetrotters and was the first black player in the NBA.
1953 - A previously unknown actor, Rod Steiger, starred in Marty on the Goodyear Playhouse. Paddy Chayefsky wrote the original TV play and then adapted it for the Oscar-winning film.
1954 - The first traveling sidewalk in a railroad station was moving right along on this, its first day of operation, in Jersey City, NJ.
1969 - The Beatles hit number one with Get Back. The song stayed parked at the top of the hit heap for five weeks.
1974 - After nine years on TV, the last Dean Martin Show was seen on NBC. Dean�s lovely group, The Golddiggers, returned to bid farewell in the show that had been seen in a variety of formats on Thursday and, later, on Friday evenings.
1981 - Bobby Unser was first to the checkered flag for his third major victory since 1968. He won the �Greatest Spectacle in Racing,� the Indianapolis 500. The victory, however, was short lived, as race stewards took the win away from Unser the next day and awarded it to Mario Andretti. It was the first time a driver had been stripped of the championship. Race officials, looking at videotape, said that Unser had violated the caution light rule and penalized him one lap. Oooops.
1983 - The Brooklyn Bridge celebrated its 100th birthday with a huge fireworks display. Ooh, ah... Oh, it�s still not for sale!
1984 - Ralph Sampson, one of the twin towers of the NBA�s Houston Rockets, became the first unanimous choice for Rookie of the Year since Lew Alcindor (Kareem Abdul-Jabar) of the Milwaukee Bucks in 1970.
1986 - Montreal skated past Calgary 4-3 to capture its 23rd National Hockey League Stanley Cup championship. No other major North American pro sports franchise had earned as many titles.
1986 - Whitney Houston�s Greatest Love of All was starting week number two of a three-week stay at number one ... one ... one...
2000 - Anthony Landini sold his pair of ruby slippers at Christie�s East, New York. Landini had purchased the slippers in 1988 for $165,000. The pair was one of several worn by Dorothy (Judy Garland) in the movie, The Wizzard of Oz. Landini had grabbed the slippers at an auction at Christie�s. He sold them at that same auction house 12 years later to movie memorabilia collector David Elkouby, who paid $600,000, plus a $66,000 commission. After the auction, Landini was quoted as saying, �There�s no place like Christie�s.� �There�s no place like Christie�s.�
Birthdays
May 24th.
1686 - Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit
physicist: developed system for cleaning mercury to keep it from sticking to glass; inventor: alcohol thermometer [1709], mercury thermometer [1714]; created measure of temperature which bears his name [1724]; died Sep 16, 1736
1816 - Emanuel Leutze
artist: Washington Crossing the Delaware, Washington Rallying the Troops at Monmouth, Columbus Before the Queen; died July 18, 1868
1883 - Elsa Maxwell
gossip columnist, actress: Our Betters, Elsa Maxwell�s Hotel for Women, The Lady and the Lug; died Nov 1, 1963
1887 - Mick (Edward) Mannock
WWI flying ace [Great Britain]: 73 hits; killed when his plane was shot down July 26, 1918
1895 - Samuel I. (Irving) Newhouse
billionaire in communications and publishing industry: newspapers, magazines, TV, cable TV, radio stations; died Aug 29, 1979
1914 - Lilli Palmer (Lillie Marie Peiser)
actress: Chamber of Horrors, Murders in the Rue Morgue, The Boys from Brazil; died Jan 27, 1986
1937 - Tim Brown
football: Baltimore Colts running back: Super Bowl III
1938 - Tommy Chong
comedian: half of comedy team: Cheech and Chong
1941 - Bob Dylan (Robert Allen Zimmerman)
singer, songwriter: see Bobby Zimmerman Day [above]
1942 - Derek Quinn
musician: guitar: group: Freddie and the Dreamers: If You Gotta Make a Fool of Somebody, I�m Telling You Now, You Were Made for Me, I Understand, Do the Freddie
1943 - Gary Burghoff
Emmy Award-winning actor: M*A*S*H; Casino, Small Kill
1944 - Patti LaBelle (Patricia Louise Holte)
singer: Down the Aisle, Lady Marmalade, On My Own, New Attitude
1945 - Priscilla Beaulieu Presley (Priscilla Ann Wagner)
actress: Dallas, Naked Gun series; mother of Lisa Marie Presley, was married to Elvis Presley; coexecutor of the Elvis Presley estate, Priscilla transformed Graceland into a $50-million business
1946 - Ellie (Eliseo Delgado) Rodriguez
baseball: catcher: NY Yankees, KC Royals [all-star: 1969], Milwaukee Brewers [all-star: 1972], California Angels, LA Dodgers
1948 - Judith Kahan
actress: Mary, The Hogan Family, Ferris Bueller, Doc, All�s Fair
1950 - Jo Ann Washam
golf: champ: Portland LPGA [1975]
1951 - Dwight McDonald
football: San Diego State Univ.
1953 - Alfred Molina
actor: Dead Man, Letter to Brezhnev, Ladyhawke, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Ladies Man, Chocolat, Murder on the Orient Express [TV: 2001]
1955 - Roseanne Cash
singer: LPs: Right Or Wrong, King�s Record Shop, Interiors, 10 Song Demo; writer: Bodies of Water; daughter of Johnny Cash
1969 - Rich Robinson
musician: guitar: group: The Black Crowes: LPs: Shake Your Money Maker, The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion, Amorica, Three Snakes and One Charm.
Chart Toppers
1944 Long Ago and Far Away - Helen Forrest & Dick Haymes
San Fernando Valley - Bing Crosby
I�ll Get By - The Harry James Orchestra (vocal: Dick Haymes)
Straighten Up and Fly Right - King Cole Trio
1952 Kiss of Fire - Georgia Gibbs
Blue Tango - The Leroy Anderson Orchestra
Be Anything - Eddy Howard
The Wild Side of Life - Hank Thompson
1960 Cathy�s Clown - The Everly Brothers
Good Timin� - Jimmy Jones
Cradle of Love - Johnny Preston
Please Help Me, I�m Falling - Hank Lockin
1968 Tighten Up - Archie Bell & The Drells
Mrs. Robinson - Simon & Garfunkel
A Beautiful Morning - The Rascals
I Wanna Live - Glen Campbell
1976 Silly Love Songs - Wings
Love Hangover - Diana Ross
Fooled Around and Fell in Love - Elvin Bishop
After All the Good is Gone - Conway Twitty
1984 Hello - Lionel Richie
Let�s Hear It for the Boy - Deniece Williams
Time After Time - Cyndi Lauper
To All the Girls I�ve Loved Before - Julio Iglesias & Willie Nelson
Those were the days, my friend. We thought they�d never end... ;)
For those who are reading this, be sure and stop in daily as I will keep this updated daily. I use to do a, Today in history article daily on my morning radio show.
All I ask of you, is to not to post in this thread, so that others that view this thread will not have to scroll down to view the contents.
You are however, welcomed to PM. me or even start a thread on comments about, Today in history.
Thanks for your kind, considerate understanding. :)
ShadowThomas
145th day of 2007 - 220 remaining.
Friday, May 25, 2007
BOJANGLES DAY. :)
Sammy Davis, Jr. and Shirley Temple�s tap-dancing coach, Luther �Bill� Robinson, was born in 1878 on this day in Richmond, Virginia. By 1935, he was dancing up a storm with the curly-haired child-star in such movies as The Little Colonel and The Littlest Rebel. These two, along with Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm and Just Around the Corner in 1938, catapulted Mr. Robinson to fame ... international fame.
Robinson spent most of his childhood dancing in vaudeville. In 1928 he debuted on Broadway in Lew Leslie�s Blackbirds of 1928 and danced in Ain�t Misbehavin� in 1929. 1932 was a year of firsts for the tap-dancing Robinson. First, his tap dancing was recorded on Doin� the New Low Down, with Don Redman, the first time anyone�s dancing was recorded. Then he starred in the first all-black talkie film, Harlems Heaven.
Bill Robinson, more recognized by his nickname, Mr. Bojangles, than by his birth name, and known to many as the Mayor of Harlem, was personified in music. First Duke Ellington recorded Bojangles, a musical portrait of the man, in 1940. Then The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band recorded Mr. Bojangles, a top-ten hit record in 1971.
Fame, however, didn�t bring him fortune. Robinson died penniless in 1949.
We can still hear his tapping and can see his fast-moving feet. Mr. Bojangles, dance ...
Events
May 25th.
1927 - The Ford Motor Company announced that its popular automobile model, the Model T, known as the Tin Lizzie, would not be rolling off assembly lines anymore. Instead, the discontinued car would be replaced by the more modern Model A. The first Model T was manufactured in 1908, designed, the Ford Motor Company stated, �as an inexpensive vehicle for the great multitude.� It was also the first item produced on an assembly line (Henry Ford�s new production system). By 1918, half of all motor cars in the entire world were Tin Lizzies.
1927 - The Movietone News was shown for the first time at the Sam Harris Theatre in New York City. Charles Lindbergh�s epic flight aboard the Spirit of St. Louis was featured. These newsreels were produced for showing in theatres until 1967 when competition from TV news forced them into extinction.
1935 - Babe Ruth, then of the Boston Braves, hit home runs 713 and 714 on this day at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh -- home of the Pirates. These would be the last round-trippers for the �Sultan of Swat�. The Bucs, however, still beat the Braves, 11-7. Guy Bush is credited with serving up the historic home runs to Ruth.
1935 - This was �the greatest day in the history of track,� according to The New York Times. Jesse Owens of Ohio State University broke two world sprint records, tied a third, and broke a long-jump world record in a meet at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
1939 - An audience of 18,000 people waited patiently at Madison Square Garden in New York City to hear the piano virtuoso Ignace Jan Paderewski begin a much-anticipated piano recital. However, the 78-year-old former premier of Poland was unable to perform for the enormous crowd. Paderewski suffered from �chilled fingers�, a severe arthritic condition that made it impossible for him to play the piano.
1965 - From the Look But Don�t Blink file: A very short, heavyweight title fight happened in Lewiston, ME. Cassius Clay knocked out challenger Sonny Liston in one minute and 56 seconds of the first round. Liston never saw the punch coming. Neither did an unbelieving crowd at ringside, nor those in theatres all over the world watching the fight on closed-circuit TV. The phantom punch was never explained, but Liston was knocked cold from whatever Clay threw at him.
1981 - From the Don�t Try This at Home, Kids file: Twenty-five year old Dan Goodwin was looking to have some fun. So, with nothing but three suction cups and a Spiderman cartoon costume, Goodwin began to scale the world�s tallest building -- the Sears Tower in Chicago, IL. Goodwin climbed for six hours, with Chicago�s boys in blue doing their best to safely stop him from the perilous climb. When Goodwin reached the 50th floor of the skyscraper, he stopped for a few minutes, talked with the police and, assuring them of his safety, made the rest of the climb in about an hour. The police had agreed not to bother him until he got to the top where he was arrested for trespassing. Goodwin was released after paying a fine.
1983 - Return of the Jedi, topped all previous opening day box office records with a gross of $6,219,629. It opened on 1,002 movie screens around the U.S.
1984 - The Detroit Tigers tied the 1916 New York Giants as they won their 17th road game in a row, beating the California Angels 5-1. That game broke the American League mark of 16 that was previously held by the Washington Senators -- dating back to 1912. The Seattle Mariners put a stop to that streak the following night, defeating Detroit 7-3.
1985 - CBS radio began network baseball coverage for the first time in 25 years as Brent Musburger called the play-by-play for the Los Angeles Dodgers-New York Mets game. The Mutual Broadcasting System was the last radio network to have offered regular coverage of baseball back in 1960.
1985 - The pop/rock group, Wham!, featuring George Michael, became the first group since the Bee Gees in 1979 to place three consecutive singles in the number one spot on the music charts. Everything She Wants started a 2-week run at number one on this day. The other Wham! number one-ers were Careless Whisper (2/16/85 - 3 weeks) and Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go (11/17/84 - 3 weeks).
1998 - St. Louis Cardinals slugger Mark McGwire made baseball history this day. The major-league player hit his 25th home run before June 1. Until this home run in the first inning of a game against the Colorado Rockies, McGwire was tied with Ken Griffey Jr., the only players in major-league history to hit 24 home runs before June 1 in a baseball season. McGwire finished out the month with a total of 27 home runs, the 26th on May 29th, and the 27th HR the next day, both against the San Diego Padres. These homers also gave McGwire the distinction of breaking the record for most home runs hit in one month (17) for the St. Louis ball club, a record he previously held with 15.
Birthdays
writer: Essays, Representative Men, Nature; poet: Days; editor: The Dial; died Apr 27, 1882
1878 - Bill �Bojangles� (Luther) Robinson
vaudeville dancer; died Nov 25, 1949; see Bojangles Day [above]
1886 - Philip Murray
labor leader: founded Congress of Industrial Organizations [CIO]: �Unions are created to make living conditions just a little better than they were before they were created, and the union that does not manifest that kind of interest in human beings cannot endure.�; died in 1952
1889 - Igor Sikorsky
engineer: developed 1st successful helicopter; died Oct 26, 1972
1898 - Gene (James Joseph) Tunney
World Heavyweight Boxing Champion [1926]; died July 11, 1978
1915 - Ginny Simms
singer, actress: That�s Right You�re Wrong [1939], Seven Days� Leave [1942], Broadway Rhythm [1944], Disc Jockey [1951]; died Apr 4, 1994
1918 - Claude Akins
actor: The Caine Mutiny, From Here to Eternity, Rio Bravo, Battle for the Planet of the Apes, Inherit the Wind, B.J. and the Bear, Austin City Limits; died Jan 27, 1994
1919 - Lindsay Nelson
sportscaster: CBS Sports, Cotton Bowl Football, NCAA College Football, New York Mets, San Francisco Giants; author: Hello Everybody, I�m Lindsay Nelson; died June 15, 1995
1921 - Hal David
Oscar-winning songwriter [w/Burt Bacharach (music)]: Raindrops Keep Fallin� on My Head [1969]; The Four Winds and the Seven Seas, American Beauty Rose, Broken-Hearted Melody; w/Burt Bacharach: The Story of My Life, Magic Moments; president of ASCAP
1923 - John Weitz
fashion designer: �Underwhelm them.�
1925 - Jeanne Crain
actress: Pinky, State Fair, People Will Talk; died Dec 14, 2003
1926 - Bill Sharman
Basketball Hall of Famer: Boston Celtics NBA Champion teams [1957, 1959, 1960, 1961]; coach: NBA Coach of the Year: LA Lakers, Lakers General Manager & President
1926 - Kitty Kallen (Genevieve Agostinello)
singer: Little Things Mean a Lot, Go on with the Wedding [w/George Shaw], If I Give My Heart to You, My Coloring Book
1926 - Miles (Dewey) Davis III
jazz trumpet/flugelhorn musician: combined be-bop, modal chord progressions and rock rhythms to create �cool jazz�; died: Sep 28, 1991
1927 - Robert Ludlum
novelist: The Gemini Contenders, The Rhinemann Exchange; died Mar 12, 2001
1929 - Beverly Sills (Belle Silverman)
opera soprano; chairperson of Lincoln Center; National Chair of March of Dimes� Mothers� March on Birth Defects
1932 - K.C. Jones
Basketball Hall of Famer: Boston Celtics; Olympic Gold Medalist [1956]; head coach: Boston Celtics, Capitol Bullets, San Diego Conquistadors, Brandeis University
1934 - Ron Nessen
newsman: NBC; White House Press Secretary: Ford administration; president Mutual News
1935 - Cookie Gilchrist
football: Buffalo Bills [shares record of 5 touchdowns in a game (Dec. 8, 1963) w/Jim Brown, Ernie Nevers and James Stewart]
1936 - Tom T. Hall
singer: P.S. I Love You; songwriter: Harper Valley P.T.A.; syndicated host: Pop Goes the Country, The Nashville Network
1938 - Raymond Carver
poet: A New Path to the Waterfall; died Aug 2, 1988
1939 - Dixie Carter
actress: Family Law, Designing Women, Diff�rent Strokes, Gambler V: Playing for Keeps, Ladies Man
1939 - Sir Ian McKellen
Tony Award-winning actor: Amadeus [1981]; Jack and Sarah, Richard III, The Shadow, Six Degrees of Separation, And the Band Played On, Windmills of the Gods, The Scarlet Pimpernel, Last Action Hero
1943 - John �Poli� Palmer
musician: sax, flute, keyboard: group: Family: No Mule�s Fool, Weaver�s Answer, In My Own Time, Burlesque
1943 - Leslie Uggams
singer: Sing Along with Mitch, The Leslie Uggams Show; actress: Skyjacked, Roots, Backstairs at the White House, All My Children
1944 - Frank Oz (Richard Frank Oznowicz)
puppeteer: voice of Miss Piggy
1947 - Jessi Colter (Mirian Johnson)
country singer: I�m Not Lisa; widow of singer Waylon Jennings
1947 - Mitch Margo
singer: groups: Cross Country: In the Midnight Hour; The Tokens: Tonight I Fell in Love, The Lion Sleeps Tonight
1947 - Karen Valentine
actress: Room 222, Karen, The Love Boat, Children in the Crossfire
1948 - Klaus Meine
singer: group: Scorpions: LPs: Animal Magnetism, Love at First Sting, World Wide Live
1950 - John (Joseph) Montefusco
�The Count of Montefusco�: baseball [pitcher]: SF Giants [all-star: 1976], Atlanta Braves, SD Padres, NY Yankees
1955 - Connie Sellecca
actress: Hotel, The Great American Hero, The Brotherhood of the Rose
1971 - Justin Henry
actor: Andersonville, Sixteen Candles, Kramer vs. Kramer.
Chart Toppers
1945 Dream - The Pied Pipers
Candy - Johnny Mercer & Jo Stafford
Sentimental Journey - The Les Brown Orchestra (vocal: Doris Day)
At Mail Call Today - Gene Autry
1953 Song from Moulin Rouge - The Percy Faith Orchestra
I Believe - Frankie Laine
April in Portugal - The Les Baxter Orchestra
Mexican Joe - Jim Reeves
Daddy�s Home - Shep & The Limelites
Travelin� Man - Ricky Nelson
Hello Walls - Faron Young
1969 Get Back - The Beatles
Love (Can Make You Happy) - Mercy
Oh Happy Day - The Edwin Hawkins� Singers
My Life (Throw It Away if I Want To) - Bill Anderson
1977 Sir Duke - Stevie Wonder
Couldn�t Get It Right - Climax Blues Band
I�m Your Boogie Man - KC & The Sunshine Band
Luckenbach, Texas (Back to the Basics of Love) - Waylon Jennings
1985 Everything She Wants - Wham!
Everybody Wants to Rule the World - Tears for Fears
Axel F - Harold Faltermeyer
Radio Heart - Charly McClain
Those were the days, my friend. We thought they�d never end... ;)
For those who are reading this, be sure and stop in daily as I will keep this updated daily. I use to do a, Today in history article daily on my morning radio show.
All I ask of you, is to not to post in this thread, so that others that view this thread will not have to scroll down to view the contents.
You are however, welcomed to PM. me or even start a thread on comments about, Today in history.
Thanks for your kind, considerate understanding. :)
ShadowThomas
146th day of 2007 - 219 remaining.
Saturday, May 26, 2007
THE DUKE DAY. :)
Born Marion Morrison on this day in 1907 in Winterset, Iowa, John �Duke� Wayne became the archetypical image of the American hero. His fifty-year film career began in the 1930s in low-budget Westerns.
The Duke�s first major role was in Stagecoach where he played the part of the Ringo Kid. It was while he was working on this film that John Wayne began his long-term association with director John Ford. The two worked so well together that Wayne was cast in Ford�s top pictures, Fort Apache, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, The Searchers, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, They Were Expendable, and The Quiet Man.
Wayne was most often cast in Westerns and war movies, winning an Academy Award for his performance in True Grit in 1969, and directing and starring in the 1960 epic western, The Alamo, and the 1968 war film, The Green Berets (prompted by his superpatriotism).
Critics panned him, audiences loved him. The big, slow-talking actor was not only a superpatriot, but a super hero. And he played that role in his personal life, too. Battling cancer, and surviving his first cancer operation, he said that he had �licked the Big C.� His final role (1976) was in another western, The Shootist. He played the part of a gunfighter who had cancer. The Duke died in 1979. This was one fight he couldn�t win.
John �Duke� Wayne once gave some advice to would-be actors: �Talk low, talk slow and don�t say too much.� It was good advice for all.
Events
May 26th.
1913 - Actors� Equity Association was organized in New York City.
1928 - Andrew Payne ran 3,422 miles in 84 days in a time of 573 hours, 4 minutes and 34 seconds to win the Bunion Derby that ended at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Upon reaching the finish line of the grueling run, Mr. Payne was heard to exclaim, �Yeeeeeowwwwww! My dawgs� are on fire!�
1937 - Lionel Hampton and his band recorded the classic, Flying Home, for Decca Records.
1940 - Invitation to Learning was first heard on CBS radio. The educational radio program ran for 15 years on the network.
1954 - Liberace presented a three-hour, one-man concert at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Look at the official attendance: 13,000 women and 3,000 men! The performance nearly broke the box office mark of 18,000 set by pianist Ignace Jan Paderewski.
1956 - The first trailer bank opened for business in Locust Grove, Long Island, NY. The 46-foot-long trailer took in $100,000 in deposits its very first day.
1959 - Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher, Harvey Haddix, threw a no-hitter for 12 innings; but lost to the Milwaukee Braves 1-0 in the 13th inning. That�s when Braves slugger Joe Ad**** whacked a home run to win the game.
1961 - Dave Garroway told the NBC-TV brass that he was ready to retire. �I want to give up the Today show,� he said, �to stop talking awhile and start looking, thinking and listening to people.� Garroway voiced his trademark, �Peace,� with palm facing the camera, for the last time, after 10 years of early morning informing and entertaining.
1969 - Dick Cavett began a prime time summer TV series three nights a week on ABC. The critics said, �It�s two nights and three quarters of one too much for Cavett.� Within two years, ABC decided that Cavett would be the star of its late night offering five nights a week against Johnny Carson. Guess who kept his job?
1973 - Kathy Schmidt set an American women�s javelin record with a toss of 207 feet, 10 inches in Modesto, CA.
1977 - The man called The Human Fly, George Willig, did the impossible. He scaled the World Trade Center in New York City, by fixing himself up to the window washer mechanism and walking straight up until falling into police custody when he reached the top! It took Willig three and a half hours to make the climb, and $1.10 in fines - a penny per floor.
1985 - A.J. Foyt made it to his 30th Indianapolis 500 as he got his sluggish Indy-car to start. In addition to winning four Indianapolis 500s as a driver, A.J. Foyt won the 1972 Daytona 500 and the 24 Hours of LeMans, making him the only man to have won the crown jewels of Indy car, NASCAR Winston Cup and international sports car racing.
1986 - Sylvester Stallone set a sales record for a non-sequel film with the release of Cobra. Ticket sales for the opening day premiere were $12.4 million.
Birthdays
May 26th.
1799 - Alexander Pushkin
poet: Eugene Onegin, The Bronze Horseman, Ruslan and Lyudmila, Southern Verse Tales; playwright: Boris Godunov; novelist: Tales of Belkin, The Captain�s Daughter; died Jan 29, 1837 [mortally wounded in a duel Jan 27]
1886 - Al Jolson (Asa Yoelson)
singer: Sonny Boy; actor: The Jazz Singer, Rhapsody in Blue, Rose of Washington Square; died Oct 23, 1950
1893 - Norma Talmadge
actress: The Forbidden City, The Social Secretary, Dubarry; died Dec 24, 1957
1907 - John Wayne (Marion Morrison)
Academy Award-winning actor: True Grit [1969]; died June 11, 1979; see The Duke Day [above]
1908 - Robert Morley (Adolph Milton)
actor: Marie Antoinette, Around the World in 80 Days, The African Queen, War and Remembrance, Of Human Bondage, Istanbul; producer; died June 3, 1992
1910 - Laurance S. Rockefeller
conservationist: donated 92 acres on the top of Sage Mountain for British Virgin Islands�s first national park [1964]; died July 11, 2004
1911 - Ben Alexander (Nicholas Benton Alexander)
actor: All Quiet on the Western Front, Dragnet; died July 5, 1969
1913 - Peter Cushing
actor: Star Wars, Tales from the Crypt, The Evil of Frankenstein, The Horror of Dracula, The House That Dripped Blood; died Aug 11, 1994
1920 - Peggy Lee (Norma Delores Egstrom)
singer: Fever, It�s a Good Day, I Hear Music, The Folks Who Live on the Hill, I�m Just Wild About Harry, I�ve Got the World on a String, Mr. Wonderful; actress: Mister Music, The Jazz Singer, Pete Kelley�s Blues, Is That All There Is?; sang for: Lady and the Tramp; died Jan 21, 2002
1923 - James Arness (Aurness)
actor: Gunsmoke, How the West was Won, Hondo, The Alamo: Thirteen Days to Glory; Minneapolis, MN radio newscaster; brother of Peter Graves
1927 - Jacques Bergerac
actor: Twist of Fate, Les Girls, Gigi, A Global Affair, Missione speciale Lady Chaplin
1939 - Brent Musburger
sportscaster: ABC Sports, CBS Sports
1940 - Levon Helm
musician: drums, singer: groups: The Band, Hawks, Levon and the Hawks, Crackers, Canadian Squires
1941 - Cliff Drysdale
tennis: first president of the Association of Tennis Professionals [ATP: 1972-74]; ESPN commentator
1942 - Ray Ennis
musician: guitar, singer: group: The Swinging Blue Jeans: Hippy Hippy Shake
1942 - Chuck (Charles Oscar) Hartenstein
�Twiggy�: baseball: pitcher: Chicago Cubs, Pittsburgh Pirates, Boston Red Sox, SL Cardinals, Toronto Blue Jays
1944 - Verden Allen
musician: keyboards: group: Mott the Hoople: All the Young Dudes, Ballad of Mott, All the Way to Memphis
1944 - Sam Posey
auto racer; radio/TV race commentator
1945 - Garry Peterson
musician: drums: The Guess Who: These Eyes, Laughing, No Time, American Woman, Share the Land, Clap for the Wolfman
1947 - Darrell (Wayne) Evans
baseball: Atlanta Braves [all-star: 1973], SF Giants [all-star: 1983], Detroit Tigers [World Series: 1984]
1948 - Stevie (Stephanie) Nicks
songwriter: Edge of Seventeen; singer: group: Fleetwood Mac: Dreams, Don�t Stop; solo: Stop Draggin� My Heart Around [w/Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers], Leather & Lace [w/Don Henley], Stand Back, Talk to Me
1949 - Dan Pastorini
football: Houston Oilers; football handicapper
1949 - Philip Michael Thomas
actor: Miami Vice, Hair, False Witness, A Fight for Jenny, Homeboy
1949 - Hank Williams Jr.
singer: All My Rowdy Friends Have Gone and Settled Down, Whiskey Bent and Hell-Bound, Family Tradition, Raining in My Heart, I�ve Got a Right to Cry, I�d Rather Be Gone, I Fought the Law, Are You Ready? [ABC Monday Night Football intro]; movie soundtrack: Your Cheatin� Heart
1951 - Sally Ride
astronaut: first American woman in space: Challenger shuttle [1983]
1959 - Wayne Hussey
musician: guitar, singer: group: The Mission: LPs Gods Own Medicine, The First Chapter, Salad Daze, Neverland, Ever After
1962 - Genie Francis
actress: General Hospital, North and South, Book I & II, Bare Essence
1962 - Bob(cat) Goldthwait
actor: Out There, Destiny Turns on the Radio, Scrooged, Police Academy series, One Crazy Summer, voice of Muggle in Capitol Critters, voice of Mr. Floppy in Unhappily Ever After
1964 - Lenny Kravitz
singer, songwriter: Are You Gonna Go My Way?
1966 - Helena Bonham Carter
actress: Mighty Aphrodite, Mary Shelley�s Frankenstein, Howard�s End, Where Angels Fear to Tread, Hamlet, A Room with a View, Lady Jane.
Chart Toppers
1946 The Gypsy - The Ink Spots
All Through the Day - Perry Como
Laughing on the Outside - The Sammy Kaye Orchestra (vocal: Billy
Williams)
New Spanish Two Step - Bob Wills
1954 Wanted - Perry Como
Little Things Mean a Lot - Kitty Kallen
Man Upstairs - Kay Starr
I Really Don�t Want to Know - Eddy Arnold
1962 Stranger on the Shore - Mr. Acker Bilk
I Can�t Stop Loving You - Ray Charles
Old Rivers - Walter Brennan
She Thinks I Still Care - George Jones
1970 American Woman/No Sugar Tonight - The Guess Who
Turn Back the Hands of Time - Tyrone Davis
Everything is Beautiful - Ray Stevens
My Love - Sonny James
1978 With a Little Luck - Wings
Too Much, Too Little, Too Late - Johnny Mathis/Deniece Williams
You�re the One that I Want - John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John
She Can Put Her Shoes Under My Bed (Anytime) - Johnny Duncan
1986 Greatest Love of All - Whitney Houston
Live to Tell - Madonna
On My Own - Patti LaBelle & Michael McDonald
Tomb of the Unknown Love -Kenny Rogers
Those were the days, my friend. We thought they�d never end... ;)
For those who are reading this, be sure and stop in daily as I will keep this updated daily. I use to do a, Today in history article daily on my morning radio show.
All I ask of you, is to not to post in this thread, so that others that view this thread will not have to scroll down to view the contents.
You are however, welcomed to PM. me or even start a thread on comments about, Today in history.
Thanks for your kind, considerate understanding. :)
ShadowThomas
147th day of 2007 - 218 remaining.
Sunday, May 27, 2007
BLOOMER DAY. :D
Amelia Jenks Bloomer was born on this day in 1818. Amelia was a women�s rights advocate (you didn�t know the folks back in the mid 1800s even knew about women�s rights, did you?). She was also a social reformer; and yes, bloomer panties were named after her.
You see, she worked for more sensible dress for women ... and recommended what was called the Bloomer Costume in 1849. Actually Elizabeth Smith Miller introduced the costume but �bloomers� sounded more interesting than �millers�.
Today, those ruffled little pants aren�t worn much by adult women but they often cover baby bottoms. Babies don�t seem to mind wearing those sensible bloomers.
Events
May 27th.
1823 - American Eclipse won two out of three heats to beat Henry at Union Course in New York. The race was called the most famous horse race of the 19th century.
1873 - Survivor won the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico race track in Baltimore, MD. It was the first �Run for the Black-Eyed Susans�. The race continues as the second jewel in horse racing�s Triple Crown. It comes two weeks after the Kentucky Derby and prior to the Belmont Stakes in New York.
1926 - The people of Hannibal, MO erected the first statue of literary characters. The bronze figures of Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer were hoisted above a red granite base.
1936 - The maiden voyage of the ship RMS Queen Mary began. The huge vessel set sail from Southampton, England headed for the New York Harbor in the U.S.
1937 - Ceremonies marking the opening of the Golden Gate Bridge were held in San Francisco, CA. The bridge has been called one of the greatest engineering marvels in the world.
1950 - Frank Sinatra made his TV debut as he appeared on NBC�s Star-Spangled Review with show biz legend, Bob Hope.
1955 - The census clock at the Department of Commerce Building in Washington, DC recorded a U.S. population of 165,000,000 at 8:51 a.m. Those clever people at the DOC figured out that this meant that a baby was being born every eight seconds in the USA.
1957 - Senator Theodore F. Green of Rhode Island became the oldest person to serve in the U.S. Congress. At the time, Sen. Green was 89 years, 7 months and 26 days young.
1957 - That�ll be the Day, by The Crickets and featuring Buddy Holly, was released by Brunswick Records. On September 14th, the tune became the most popular record in the U.S. It was the first hit for Holly and his group after two previous releases went nowhere on Decca Records in 1956.
1961 - Singer, Johnny Cash turned TV actor. He appeared on the NBC drama, The Deputy.
1968 - George Halas retired as head coach of the Chicago Bears. Halas spent 48 years as coach of the Bears and led them to six National Football League titles.
1985 - Spend-A-Buck won the Jersey Derby by a neck and earned a record $2.6 million. The thoroughbred won an extra $2 million dollars for sweeping the Jersey Derby, the Garden State Stakes, the Cherry Hill Mile and the Kentucky Derby. Career earnings for the horse were $3,009,509.
1985 - The Boston Celtics defeated the Los Angeles Lakers, 148-114, in the first game of the NBA championship series, setting a new record for total points by a team.
1986 - Mel Fisher found a jar on this day. The jar contained 2,300 emeralds and was recovered from the Spanish ship Atocha, which sank in the 17th century. The value of the emeralds was said to be �mutli, multimillions� of dollars. However, we did recently see some similarities in cubic zerconia-emeralds on the Home Shopping Network for $29.95 each. Plus, a free mop if you could call in before the clock wound down...
Birthdays
May 27th.
1794 - Cornelius Vanderbilt
capitalist: established ferry service between Manhattan & Staten Islands; turned a NY railroad into $$$; died Jan 4, 1877
1818 - Amelia Jenks Bloomer
women�s rights advocate; newspaper publisher: The Lily; social reformer; led cause for more sensible dress for women: bloomer panties named after her; died Dec 30, 1894; see Bloomer Day [above]
1837 - Wild Bill (James Butler) Hickok
U.S. Marshall, frontiersman, army scout, gambler, legendary marksman; shot [from behind] and killed Aug 2, 1876 while playing poker holding a pair of aces and a pair of eights [known since as the �dead man�s hand�]
1867 - Arnold Bennett
novelist: The Old Wives� Tale, How to Live on Twenty-Four Hours a Day; died Mar 27, 1931
1878 - Isadora Duncan
dancer: revolutionized the concept of dance: changing ballet into interpretive dance; killed in freak accident Sep 15, 1927 [strangled when her scarf became entangled in a wheel of the car she was riding in]
1894 - Dashiell Hammett
author: The Maltese Falcon, The Thin Man, The Glass Key, Red Harvest, The Dain Curse; died Jan 10, 1961
1907 - Rachel Carson
author: Silent Spring, The Sea Around Us; died Apr 14, 1964
1911 - Hubert Horatio Humphrey
38th vice president of the U.S.; died Jan 13, 1978
1911 - Vincent (Leonard) Price
actor: Edward Scissorhands, House of Wax, The Raven, Laura, The Three Musketeers, Twice-told Tales; recording: Thriller [w/Michael Jackson]; author: cookbooks; artist; died Oct 25, 1993
1912 - �Slammin� Sammy Snead (Samuel Jackson Snead)
golf: champ: Masters [1949, 1952, 1954; British Open [1946]; PGA [1942, 1949, 1951]; died May 23, 2002
1915 - Herman Wouk
writer: The Winds of War, Marjorie Morningstar
1917 - Yasuhiro Nakasone
Prime Minister of Japan [1982-1987]: �Politics can�t be changed by a dog howling in the distance. Politics means getting within a sword�s reach.�
1922 - Christopher (Frank Carandini) Lee
actor: Dracula, The Mummy, The Far Pavilions
1923 - Henry (Alfred) Kissinger
Nobel Peace Prize-winner [1973]; U.S. Secretary of State: Nixon Administration; political consultant: NBC News
1930 - John Barth
author: Last Voyage of Somebody the Sailor, Letters
1932 - Zora Foley
boxer: KO�d by Cassius Clay at Madison Square Garden [March 22, 1967]
1935 - Ramsey Lewis
musician: group: Ramsey Lewis Trio: The In Crowd, Hang on Sloopy, Wade in the Water
1935 - Lee Ann Meriwether
Miss America [1955]; actress: Barnaby Jones, Batman
1936 - Lou Gossett Jr.
Academy Award-winning actor: An Officer and a Gentleman [1982]; Emmy Award winner: Roots-Part Two [1977]; Sadat, Enemy Mine, Iron Eagle series
1939 - Don Williams
country singer: I Believe in You; leader of Pozo- seco Singers; actor: Smokey and the Bandit II
1943 - Cilla Black (Priscilla Maria Veronica White)
singer: You�re My World
1943 - Bruce Weitz
actor: Hill Street Blues, Death of a Centerfold, The Liar�s Club, The O.J. Simpson Story, Molly and Gina
1948 - Gary (Lynn) Nolan
baseball: pitcher: Cincinnati Reds [World Series: 1970, 1972, 1975, 1976/all-star: 1972], California Angels
1954 - Catherine Carr
Olympic Gold-medalist: U.S. swimmer: women�s 100-meter breaststroke, women�s 4-by-100 and 4-by-200 meter medley relays w/Melissa Belote, Deena Dearduff, Sandra Neilson [1972 Munich Olympics]
1957 - Siouxsie Sioux (Janet Susan Ballion)
singer: group: Siouxsie and the Banshees: Helter Skelter, Israel, Lord�s Prayer, Christine, Happy House
1961 - Cathy Silvers
actress: Happy Days; Phil Silvers� daughter
1965 - Todd Bridges
actor: Diff�rent Strokes, Fish, Home Boys, Twice Dead.
Chart Toppers
1947 Linda - Buddy Clark with the Ray Noble Orchestra
My Adobe Hacienda - Eddy Howard
Heartaches - The Ted Weems Orchestra (whistler: Elmo Tanner)
What is Life Without Love - Eddy Arnold
1955 Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White - Perez Prado
Unchained Melody - Les Baxter
Learnin� the Blues - Frank Sinatra
In the Jailhouse Now - Webb Pierce
1963 If You Wanna Be Happy - Jimmy Soul
Surfin� USA - The Beach Boys
Foolish Little Girl - The Shirelles
Lonesome 7-7203 - Hawkshaw Hawkins
1971 Joy to the World - Three Dog Night
Brown Sugar - The Rolling Stones
Me and You and a Dog Named Boo - Lobo
I Won�t Mention It Again - Ray Price
1979 Reunited - Peaches & Herb
Love You Inside Out - Bee Gees
If I Said You Had a Beautiful Body Would You Hold It Against Me -
Bellamy Brothers
1987 With or Without You - U2
The Lady in Red - Chris DeBurgh
You Keep Me Hangin� On - Kim Wilde
Can�t Stop My Heart from Loving You - The O�Kanes
Those were the days, my friend. We thought they�d never end... ;)
For those who are reading this, be sure and stop in daily as I will keep this updated daily. I use to do a, Today in history article daily on my morning radio show.
All I ask of you, is to not to post in this thread, so that others that view this thread will not have to scroll down to view the contents.
You are however, welcomed to PM. me or even start a thread on comments about, Today in history.
Thanks for your kind, considerate understanding. :)
ShadowThomas
148th day of 2007 - 217 remaining.
Monday, May 28, 2007
CHRYSLER DAY. :)
Walter P. Chrysler was a poor boy growing up in Kansas; but on this day in 1928 he worked out a deal that made automotive history and took him from rags to riches. He merged his Chrysler Corporation with Dodge Brothers, Inc.
The Dodge Motor Car Company had been purchased several years earlier from the widows of John and Horace Dodge, the two founders, by Clarence Dillon�s banking firm for $148 million.
The merger of Chrysler and Dodge, the largest automobile industry merger in history at the time, placed the newly consolidated firm third in production and sales, just behind General Motors and Ford Motor Company.
Twenty years later to the day, Chrysler Corporation granted its employees a 13 cents an hour wage increase, ending a 17-day strike. The increase was two-cents higher than the raise given to General Motors� employees three days earlier. GM workers� base pay was increased to $1.61 per hour and was tied to a cost-of-living formula. Chrysler workers received a flat $1.63 per hour with no ties. $1.61 or $1.63 per hour with or without cost-of-living ties was a lot of money in 1948.
Walter Chrysler had died eight years earlier. We�re pretty sure he would have been amazed at what it cost to make a car then ... and what Chryslers and other cars are selling for today. We are.
Events
May 28th.
1892 - Comedienne Marie Dressler made her New York City singing debut in the comic opera, The Robber of the Rhine.
1922 - Otto Krueger conducted the Detroit News Orchestra, the first known radio orchestra, which was heard on WWJ Radio in Detroit, MI. The Detroit News owned the radio station at the time.
1929 - Warner Brothers debuted the first all-color talking picture. The film debuted at the Winter Garden Theatre in New York City. Ethel Waters, Joe E. Brown and Arthur Lake starred in On With the Show.
1931 - WOR radio in New York City premiered The Witch�s Tale. The program was broadcast on the Mutual Broadcasting System (of which WOR was the flagship station) where it aired until 1938.
1934 - The Dionne quintuplets were born near Callender, Ontario to Oliva and Elzire Dionne. They were the first quints (that�s five babies, for those who may have forgotten) to survive infancy. This increase in Canada�s population became known as Marie, Cecile, Yvonne, Emilie and Annette.
1941 - Frank Sinatra joined Tommy Dorsey�s orchestra in recording This Love of Mine for Victor Records.
1953 - The first 3-D (three-dimensional) cartoon premiered at the Paramount Theatre in Hollywood, California. The production, a Walt Disney creation/RKO picture, was titled, Melody.
1957 - National League club owners voted to allow the Brooklyn Dodgers to move to sunny Southern California and said that the New York Giants baseball team could move with the Horace Stoneham family to Northern California. The teams went on to establish themselves in Los Angeles and San Francisco.
1957 - The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS) was established. This is the organization that brings us the Grammy Awards for all forms of musical entertainment each year.
1959 - Able and Baker were two monkeys who survived a trip into space from a launch at Cape Canaveral, FL.
1966 - Percy Sledge hit number one with his first -- and what turned out to be his biggest -- hit. When a Man Loves a Woman would stay at the top of the pop music charts for two weeks. It was the singer�s only hit to make the top ten and was a million seller.
1975 - The Doobie Brothers went gold with the album, Stampede. The group, formed in San Jose, CA, recorded 16 charted hits. Two made it to number one, becoming million-selling, gold record winners: Black Water [March, 1975] and What a Fool Believes [April, 1979].
1982 - The legendary train, Orient Express, made popular through Agatha Christie�s thrilling mystery novel, Murder on the Orient Express, was reborn. The 26-hour train trip resumed across the European continent after a long respite.
1985 - Gay Mullins, a retiree from Seattle, WA, founded Old Cola Drinkers of America. This was an effort to bring back the original Coca-Cola, instead of the New Coke that the Atlanta-based company had foisted on the American cola-drinking market. By July of 1985, with arms firmly twisted behind their backs, Coca-Cola Company executives relented and returned the old formula to colaholics and with a new name: Classic Coke.
1985 - Vanity Fair magazine, with a picture of President Ronald Reagan and First Lady Nancy smooching on the cover, went on sale.
Birthdays
May 28th.
1779 - Thomas Moore
poet, lyricist: Believe Me If All Those Endearing Young Charms, The Last Rose of Summer, Oft in the Stilly Night; died Feb 25, 1852
1888 - Jim Thorpe
Olympic gold medalist: decathlon, pentathlon, [Stockholm: 1912]; baseball: NY Giants, Boston Braves; football: All-American; president of what became the NFL; died Mar 28, 1953
1900 - Clarence �Taffy� Abel
U.S. Hockey Hall of Famer: 1st American to carry the flag in opening Winter Olympics ceremonies; one of 1st U.S. born NHL players: NY Rangers; Chicago Black Hawks; died Aug 1, 1964
1908 - Ian Fleming
author: creator of Bond ... James Bond; died Aug 12, 1964
1925 - Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
auto racer: Daytona 500 winner [1961]
1931 - Carroll Baker
actress: The Carpetbaggers, Giant, Baby Doll, Harlow, Kindergarten Cop
1936 - Betty Shabazz
civil rights leader; wife of Malcom X; died June 23, 1997
1938 - Jerry West
Basketball Hall of Famer: Olympic gold medalist [1960]; LA Lakers all-star guard: individual record for season free throws [840] and NBA playoff career free-throws [1,213]; Lakers coach & general manager
1944 - Rudolph Giuliani (Rudolph William Louis Giuliani III)
politician: Mayor of New York City
1944 - Gladys (Maria) Knight
singer: w/The Pips: Midnight Train to Georgia, If I Were Your Woman, I Heard It Through the Grapevine, Neither One of Us, Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me, Every Beat of My Heart
1945 - John Fogerty
songwriter; singer: group: Creedence Clearwater: Proud Mary, Have You Ever Seen the Rain, Bad Moon Rising, Lookin� Out My Back Door; group: The Blue Ridge Rangers: Jambalaya, Hearts of Stone, The Old Man Down the Road, Centerfield
1945 - Gary Stewart
country singer: She�s Acting Single [I�m Drinkin� Doubles], Drinkin� Thing, Out of Hand
1946 - Ted Snell
hockey: NHL: Pittsburgh Penguins, Kansas City Scouts, Detroit Red Wings
1947 - Sondra Locke
actress: The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, Bronco Billy, Every Which Way But Loose, The Gauntlet, The Outlaw Josey Wales, Willard, Sudden Impact; director: Ratboy, Impulse
1947 - Kevin O�Shea
hockey: NHL: Buffalo Sabres, St. Louis Blues
1948 - Bruce Taylor
College Football Hall of Famer: Boston Univ.
1949 - Shelley Hamlin
golf: Stanford University Hall of Famer; champion: Japan Classic [1975], Phar-Mor at Inverrary [1992], Shoprite LPGA Classic [record: -9, 204: 1993]; William and Mousie Powell Award [1992]; LPGA President [1980, 1981]
1950 - Errol Thompson
hockey: NHL: Toronto Maple Leafs, Detroit Red Wings, Pittsburgh Penguins
1952 - Terry Schmidt
football: Chicago Bears
1955 - Mark Howe
hockey: Olympic silver medalist [1972]; World Hockey Assoc. Rookie of the Year [1973]: Houston Aeros: played with brother Marty and Hockey Hall of Famer Dad, Gordie Howe; NHL: New England/Hartford Whalers, Philadelphia Flyers, Detroit Red Wings
1962 - Roland Gift
singer: group: Fine Young Cannibals: Johnny Come Home
1968 - Kylie Minogue
actress: Bio-Dome, Street Fighter, Moulin Rouge [2001]
Chart Toppers
1948 Nature Boy - Nat King Cole
Now is the Hour - Bing Crosby
Baby Face - The Art Mooney Orchestra
Texarkana Baby - Eddy Arnold
1956 Heartbreak Hotel/I Was the One - Elvis Presley
The Wayward Wind - Gogi Grant
The Happy Whistler - Don Robertson
Blue Suede Shoes - Carl Perkins
1964 My Guy - Mary Wells
Love Me Do - The Beatles
Chapel of Love - The Dixie Cups
My Heart Skips a Beat - Buck Owens
1972 Oh Girl - Chi-Lites
I�ll Take You There - The Staple Singers
Look What You Done for Me - Al Green
(Lost Her Love) On Our Last Date - Conway Twitty
1980 Call Me - Blondie
Don�t Fall in Love with a Dreamer - Kenny Rogers with Kim Carnes
Starting Over Again - Dolly Parton
1988 One More Try - George Michael
Shattered Dreams - Johnny Hates Jazz
Naughty Girls (Need Love Too) - Samantha Fox
Eighteen Wheels and a Dozen Roses - Kathy Mattea
Those were the days, my friend. We thought they�d never end... ;)
For those who are reading this, be sure and stop in daily as I will keep this updated daily. I use to do a, Today in history article daily on my morning radio show.
All I ask of you, is to not to post in this thread, so that others that view this thread will not have to scroll down to view the contents.
You are however, welcomed to PM. me or even start a thread on comments about, Today in history.
Thanks for your kind, considerate understanding. :)
ShadowThomas
149th day of 2007 - 216 remaining.
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
HOPE DAY. :)
England�s Leslie Townes Hope was born on this day in 1903, and he was probably smiling instead of crying when he entered the world. You see, Leslie, better known to us as Bob, kept the world smiling for seven decades.
In his autobiography, �Ski Nose� gave us an insight into his sense of humor and comedic timing, �In Russia, I had no trouble with the language -- nobody talked.�
With a career that began with appearances in comedy short films in the 1930s, he made his first feature film appearance in The Big Broadcast of 1938 singing Thanks for the Memory, which became his theme song. Bob Hope hit it big, however, in 1940 with his first �road� picture, The Road to Singapore. Co-starring with Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour, he hit the road to Zanzibar, Morroco, Utopia, Rio, Bali (the first in color), and the last, Hong Kong in 1962.
The consummate entertainer, Bob Hope appeared in a multitude of films other than the roadies. Millions caught his act on nightclub stages, and on countless TV specials, including 17 years as host of The Academy Awards. Yet he was still best known for his USO tours and entertaining of troops overseas and on the front lines during World War II, the Korean War, the Viet Nam War and during Desert Storm in the early 1990s.
How could one human being have done so much, always seeming to have one more hour to give to entertain the world? Hope, who died July 27, 2003 at age 100, said it best in one of his quips, �If I could live my life over, I wouldn�t have time!�
Thank you for the memories, Mr. Hope, and for giving others hope.
Events
May 29th.
1790 - The smallest of the United States joined the first 12 states as number 13. Rhode Island, the Ocean State, probably got its name when discoverer Verrazano noted that, the area we know as Rhode Island, looked about the size of the tiny Greek Isle of Rhodes. Rhode Island�s capital city is Providence, and the tiny violet is appropriate as the state flower. Probably the most famous variety of chicken, the Rhode Island Red, is the state bird.
1827 - The first nautical school opened in Nantucket, MA. Admiral Sir Isaac Coffin�s Lancastrian School was the name. Learning to set sail was the game...
1844 - The first dark horse candidate was born at the Democratic Convention in Baltimore, Maryland. With the political rush of support for James K. Polk, after just seven ballots, Mr. Polk�s name appeared to break the deadlock. Polk won the nomination on the ninth ballot and, eventually, the U.S. Presidency.
1848 - The land of lakes and large expanses of green gave name to Wisconsin, the 30th state to enter the United States of America. (Wisconsin, is thought to be the Chippewa Indian word for "grassy place".) The wood violet is the state flower, the robin is the state bird and Madison is the capital city. All this is quite elementary. However, Wisconsin�s nickname is the Badger State, but it is not named after the little animal, as you might have thought. It seems that the many lead miners in the Wisconsin grass lands in the 1830s were called -- badgers.
1910 - An airplane raced a train -- and won! The race, from Albany, New York to New York City was worth a $10,000 prize for aviator Glenn Curtiss. It was sponsored by those promotion wizards at New York�s World newspaper.
1912 - Fifteen women were dismissed from their jobs at the Curtis Publishing Company in Philadelphia, PA -- for dancing the Turkey Trot while on the job!
1916 - The U.S. President�s flag was adopted by executive order.
1939 - When a Girl Marries was first heard on CBS. The serial continued for eighteen years on radio.
1942 - The biggest selling record of all time was recorded. A little out of season, perhaps, but White Christmas, the Irving Berlin classic, was recorded by Bing Crosby for Decca Records. The song was written for the film Holiday Inn. More than 30-million copies of Crosby�s most famous hit song have been sold and a total of nearly 70-million copies, including all versions of the standard, have been sold.
1943 - The Million Dollar Band was heard for the first time on NBC radio. Charlie Spivak was the first leader of the band that featured Barry Wood as vocalist. The unusual feature of the show was the awarding each week of five diamond rings!
1951 - Baseball pitcher Billy Joe Davidson of Marion, NC signed with the Cleveland Indians for a record bonus that was said to be $120,000.
1953 - Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, his Sherpa guide, became the first humans to reach the top of Mount Everest.
1961 - Ricky Nelson reached the top spot on the Billboard singles chart with Travelin� Man. It was was Nelson�s second chart-topping hit. Poor Little Fool made it to the top in August of 1958.
1962 - Buck (John) O�Neil became the first black coach in major-league baseball. He accepted the job with the Chicago Cubs. O�Neil had previously been a scout with the Cubs organization.
1965 - Ralph Boston set a world record in the broad jump at 27-feet, 4-3/4 inches, at a meet held in Modesto, CA.
1970 - Mike Cuellar of Baltimore became one of just 11 major-league hurlers since 1900 to strike out four batters in one inning -- because the catcher dropped the third strike of the third out.
1972 - The Osmonds received a gold record for the album, Phase III.
1978 - The 13-cent postage stamp became the 15-cent postage stamp when new U.S. rates to mail letters went into effect.
1985 - The Philadelphia Phillies moved Golden Glove third baseman Mike Schmidt to first base. He was replaced at third base with rookie Rick Schu.
1985 - Death and hundreds of injuries resulted from a riot at a soccer match in Brussels, Belgium. The European Cup Final at Heysel stadium between Liverpool and Juventus of Turin was televised throughout Europe. Just before the match was to begin, soccer fans rioted killing 39 and injuring 400 or more. 26 British soccer fans identified from the video tapes were extradited to Belgium to stand trial. The riot prompted increased security at later British soccer games.
Birthdays
British monarch: King of England, Scotland, Ireland [1660-1685]; died Feb 6, 1685
1736 - Patrick Henry
American revolutionary patriot: �...give me liberty, or give me death!�; died June 6, 1799
1874 - Gilbert Keith Chesterton
author: created Father Brown crime-fiction series; The Man Who was Thursday, English Men of Letters; died June 14, 1936
1880 - Oswald Spengler
historical author: The Decline of the West; died May 8, 1936
1894 - Beatrice Lillie (Gladys Lillie)
actress: On Approval, Thoroughly Modern Millie; died Jan 20, 1989
1903 - Bob Hope (Leslie Townes Hope)
comedian, entertainer, actor; died July 27, 2003; see Hope Day [above]
1914 - (Walter) Stacy Keach Sr.
actor: The Parallax View, High Velocity, Fighting Back, Armed and Dangerous, The Rockford Files, Bonanza, Longstreet, Maverick; father of actors Stacy and James Keach; died Feb 13, 2003
1917 - John Fitzgerald Kennedy
35th U.S. President [1961-1963]; married to Jaqueline Bouvier [two sons, one daughter]; nickname: JFK, Jack; youngest, first Roman Catholic, first to win Purple Heart, first to serve in U.S. Navy, first to win Pulitzer Prize [book: Profiles in Courage], fourth U.S. President to be assassinated, secondnd buried at Arlington National Cemetery; assassinated Nov 22, 1963
1921 - Clifton James
actor: Lone Star, The Bonfire of the Vanities, The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training, The Man with the Golden Gun, Live and Let Die, David and Lisa, Cool Hand Luke, Lewis & Clark, City of Angels
1922 - Joe Weatherly
NASCAR Hall of Famer: championship [1953]; Grand National Champion [1962, 63]; killed in crash at Riverside International Raceway Jan 19, 1964; The Joe Weatherly Museum at Darlington International Raceway is named for him
1923 - Eugene Wright
jazz musician: bass: led 16-piece band: Dukes of Swing; played w/Dave Brubeck, Gene Ammons, Count Basie, Arnett Cobb, Buddy DeFranco, Red Norvo
1932 - Richie Guerin
basketball: NY Knicks [in 8 years w/Knicks he scored 10,392 points and averaged 20.1 points; St. Louis Hawks; player/coach: St. Louis/Atlanta Hawks; lifetime stats: 14,676 points [17.3 ppg], 4,278 rebounds [5.1 rpg], 4,211 assists [5.0 apg] over 848 games [in 42 playoff contests he averaged 15.6 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 5.1 assists]; broadcaster: NY Knicks; Wall Street stockbroker
1932 - Paul Ehrlich
biologist, writer: The Population Bomb; helped form group: Zero Population Growth, advocating a limit of 2 children per family
1938 - Francis �Fay� Vincent Jr.
baseball: commissioner
1939 - Al Unser Sr.
auto racer: Indy 500 winner [1970, 1971, 1978, 1987]) retired [1994]; younger brother of Bobby and father of Al Jr. [first father/son to race each other at Indy [1983]
1941 - Roy Crewsdon
musician: guitar: group: Freddie and The Dreamers: I�m Telling You Now, Do the Freddie
1942 - Kevin Conway
actor: Prince Brat and the Whipping Boy, The Quick and the Dead, Gettysburg, One Good Cop, Home Boy, Rage of Angels, Paradise Alley, Johnny We Hardly Knew Ye, Other People�s Money, Of Mice and Men, When You Comin� Back - Red Ryder?
1942 - Larry Mavety
hockey: Port-Huron Flags, LA Sharks, Chicago Cougars, Indianapolis Racers; Coach/GM: Kingston Frontenacs
1944 - Helmut Berger
actor: The Damned, Dorian Gray, The Godfather, Part 3
1945 - Gary Brooker
musician: keyboards, singer: solo: Say It Ain�t So Joe, Switchboard Susan, LPs: No More Fear of Flying, Lead Me to the Water, Echoes in the Night; groups: Procol Harum: Whiter Shade of Pale; The Paramounts
1947 - Anthony Geary
actor: General Hospital, High Desert Kill, Scorchers, Night of the Warrior, Crack House, UHF
1950 - Rebbie (Maureen Reilette) Jackson
singer: LPs: Centipede [written by brother, Michael], Reactions; oldest member of the Jackson family
1952 - Fred (Fredrick William) Holdsworth
baseball: pitcher: Detroit Tigers, Baltimore Orioles, Montreal Expos, Milwaukee Brewers
1953 - Mike (Michael Dennis) Dupree
baseball: pitcher: SD Padres
1953 - Danny Elfman
singer: group: Oingo Boingo; composer: soundtracks: Batman, Beetlejuice, The Simpsons; film composer: Mission: Impossible, Mars Attacks!, Men in Black, Good Will Hunting, Scream 2
1956 - Larry Blackmon
musician: drums, singer: group: Cameo: Word Up!
1956 - LaToya (Yvonne) Jackson
singer: The Jacksons; solo: Playboy photo spread
1958 - Annette Bening
actress: Richard III, The American President, Love Affair, Bugsy, Postcards from the Edge, The Grifters, Valmont, The Great Outdoors, Mars Attacks!, American Beauty
1961 - Melissa Etheridge
Grammy Award-winning singer: Come to My Window [1994], Ain�t It Heavy [1992]
1963 - Lisa Whelchel
actress: The Facts of Life, Where the Red Fern Grows: Part 2, Twirl, The Double McGuffin.
Chart Toppers
1949 Riders in the Sky - Vaughn Monroe
Again - Doris Day
Some Enchanted Evening - Perry Como
Lovesick Blues - Hank Williams
1957 All Shook Up - Elvis Presley
Love Letters in the Sand - Pat Boone
A White Sport Coat (And a Pink Carnation) - Marty Robbins
Four Walls - Jim Reeves
1965 Help Me, Rhonda - The Beach Boys
Back in My Arms Again - The Supremes
Wooly Bully - Sam The Sham and The Pharoahs
Girl on the Billboard - Del Reeves
1973 Frankenstein - The Edgar Winter Group
My Love - Paul McCartney & Wings
Daniel - Elton John
1981 Bette Davis Eyes - Kim Carnes
Being with You - Smokey Robinson
Stars on 45 medley - Stars on 45
Seven Year Ache - Rosanne Cash
1989 Forever Your Girl - Paula Abdul
Rock On - Michael Damian
Soldier of Love - Donny Osmond
After All This Time - Rodney Crowell
Those were the days, my friend. We thought they�d never end... ;)
For those who are reading this, be sure and stop in daily as I will keep this updated daily. I use to do a, Today in history article daily on my morning radio show.
All I ask of you, is to not to post in this thread, so that others that view this thread will not have to scroll down to view the contents.
You are however, welcomed to PM. me or even start a thread on comments about, Today in history.
Thanks for your kind, considerate understanding. :)
ShadowThomas
150th day of 2007 - 215 remaining.
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
SEATED LINCOLN DAY. :)
Daniel Chester French created the famous sculpture of Abraham Lincoln, titled Seated Lincoln. Lincoln is in meditation, seated in a large armchair. Both French and the Piccirilli brothers completed the sculpture. On this day in 1922 the memorial in which the statue is permanently seated was dedicated, although the cornerstone was laid in 1915.
The Lincoln Memorial, with Doric columns on the exterior and Ionic columns on the interior, was designed by architect Henry Bacon. Marble was brought from Colorado and Tennessee, and limestone from Indiana to complete the stately memorial to one of the United States� most revered presidents. Bronze ceiling beams picture murals and ornamentation created by Jules Guerin. An engraved stone tablet in the south chamber bears Lincoln�s Gettysburg Address; his second inaugural speech, also engraved on a stone tablet, is in the north chamber.
The Lincoln Memorial stands opposite the Washington Monument, in Washington, D.C.�s West Potomac Park on 109.63 acres of land. Today, it also stands prominently among new memorials, the World War II Memorial, and one to honor another president, Franklin D. Roosevelt.
We wonder if Lincoln would sit down in front of all the falderal going on in Washington today.
Events
May 30th.
1783 - The Pennsylvania Evening Post, first published by Benjamin Towne in Philadelphia, PA this day, was the first daily paper in the U.S.
1848 - W.G. Young of Baltimore, MD patented the ice-cream freezer -- just in time for spring and summer treats! Nice timing, Mr. Young!
1868 - Memorial Day was observed for the first time in the United States -- at the request of General John A. Logan, the national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic. It was first called Decoration Day because the General had seen women decorating graves of Civil War heroes.
1879 - William Vanderbilt renamed Gilmore�s Garden to Madison Square Garden. There have been five different venues named Madison Square Garden since -- all in New York City.
1896 - The first documented auto accident occurred -- in New York City. A Duryea Motor Wagon, driven by Henry Wells from Springfield, MA collided with a bicycle ridden by Evylyn Thomas of NYC.
1911 - Ray Harroun won the first 500-mile auto race at the Brickyard, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Harroun won the race with an average speed of 74.59 MPH. It took him six hours and 42 minutes to complete the race. He won $14,000 for his effort.
1922 - Max Flack and Clifton Heathcote became the first major-league baseball players to play on two teams in the same day! Here�s how it went down: Between games of a doubleheader, the Chicago Cubs and the St. Louis Cardinals made the switcheroo, with Flack putting on a Cubs uniform and Heathcote trading his Cubs uniform for that of the Cardinals. The outfielders both played in the nightcap of the twin-bill.
1922 - �Smilin� Ed McConnell debuted on radio, smiling and playing his banjo. McConnell quickly became a legend in the medium.
1933 - Sally Rand made a name for herself as she introduced her exotic and erotic fan dance to audiences at Chicago�s Century of Progress Exposition. Twisting and turning behind two huge fans, one might wonder just how exciting the fan dance could possibly be. It is important to realize that Ms. Rand was, um, naked during the performance.
1935 - America�s Town Meeting was heard on radio for the first time. The NBC program continued for 21 years, with a name change to America�s Town Meeting of the Air.
1937 - Carl Hubbell pitched his 24th consecutive baseball victory in a two-year period. �King Carl� (he was also called �The Mealticket�) went 26-6 for the 1936 season and 22-8 in 1937. The New York Giants hurler went one-for-two in the World Series both of those years.
1938 - Joyce Jordan, Girl Intern was first heard interning on CBS radio. The serial later evolved into The Brighter Day (1948).
1962 - The King of Swing, Benny Goodman, turned 53 and led the first American jazz band to play in the Soviet Union. Goodman and his band played six concerts in the U.S.S.R.
1967 - Daredevil Evel Knievel jumped 16 automobiles in a row in a motorcycle stunt at Ascot Speedway in Gardena, CA.
1975 - Alice Cooper received a gold record for the romantic album, Welcome to My Nightmare. Alice�s real name was Vincent Furnier. He changed his name to Alice Cooper in 1966 and was known primarily for his bizarre stage antics. He appeared in the film Prince of Darkness in 1987 and had 11 hits on the pop/rock charts in the 1970s and 1980s, including a pair of million-selling singles: I Never Cry and Poison. Romantic, indeed...
1985 - ABC-TV announced that every game of the Octoberfest known as the World Series would be played under the lights for the biggest baseball audience possible.
Birthdays
May 30th.
1672 - Peter the Great (Piotr Alekseevich Romanov)
Peter I: Russian Czar [1682-1721], Emperor of Russia [1721-1725]; died Jan 28, 1725; note: these dates are based on the Julian calendar -- see June 9 for Gregorian calendar dates
1896 - Howard Hawks
producer, director: Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Monkey Business, Hatari, Rio Bravo, Rio Lobo, Sergeant York, A Song is Born, The Thing; died Dec 26, 1977
1901 - Cornelia Otis Skinner
author: Our Hearts were Young and Gay; died July 9, 1979
1902 - Stepin Fetchit (Lincoln Theodore Monroe Andrew Perry)
actor: Amazing Grace, The Sun Shines Bright, Miracle in Harlem, Judge Priest; died Nov 19, 1985
1908 - Mel Blanc
�the man of a thousand voices�: cartoon voice: Barney Rubble, Dino the Dinosaur, Bugs Bunny, Tweety Bird, Daffy Duck, Yosemite Sam, Quick Draw McGraw; actor: Jack Benny Show [radio]; died July 10, 1989
1909 - Benny Goodman
clarinetist, bandleader: Jersey Bounce, Taking a Chance on Love, Let�s Dance, Sing, Sing, Sing, Stompin� at the Savoy, Alexander�s Ragtime Band, St. Louis Blues, Goodnight My Love, One O�Clock Jump, Perfidia; died June 13, 1986
1912 - Joseph Stein
playwright: Fiddler on the Roof, Enter Laughing, Mrs. Gibbons� Boys; producer: Enter Laughing
1913 - Pee Wee (George) Erwin
musician: trumpet: Tommy Dorsey Band, Isham Jones Band; died June 20, 1981
1915 - Frank Blair
newscaster: The Today Show; moderator: Georgetown University Forum; host: Heritage; died Mar 14, 1995
1920 - George London
baritone singer: group: Bel canto Trio [w/Frances Yeend and Mario Lanza]; member: Vienna State Opera, Metropolitan Opera; Artistic Dir: Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts; Director: National Opera Institute; head: Washington Opera; established George London Foundation for Singers [1971]; died in 1977
1920 - Franklin Schaffner
Academy Award-winning director: Patton [1970]; The Boys from Brazil, Papillon, Planet of the Apes, The Stripper, Islands in the Stream, Lionheart; died July 2, 1989
1927 - Clint Walker
actor: Cheyenne, The Ten Commandments, Yellowstone Kelly, The Dirty Dozen, None But the Brave, Cheyenne
1936 - Keir Dullea
actor: 2001: A Space Odyssey, Oh, What a Night, Blind Date, The Hostage Tower, Paperback Hero
1939 - Michael J. Pollard
actor: Bonnie and Clyde, Leo & Liz in Beverly Hills, Dick Tracy, American Gothic, The Arrival, Roxanne, Tango and Cash, Skeeter
1942 - Jack Stanfield
hockey: CHPL: St. Louis Braves, Dallas Black Hawks; WHL: Los Angeles Blades, San Diego Gulls, Houston Aeros
1943 - Gayle Sayers
College & Pro Football Hall of Famer: Chicago Bears: NFL Rookie of the Year [1965]; NFL Individual game record for touchdowns scored [6]
1944 - Lenny Davidson
musician: group: The Dave Clark Five: Do You Love Me, Glad All Over, Bits and Pieces, Everybody Knows, Red Balloon, Good Old Rock & Roll, Everybody Get Together; film: Catch Us if You Can
1945 - Meredith MacRae
actress: Petticoat Junction, My Three Sons, Bikini Beach, Sketches of a Strangler, Vultures; daughter of Gordon and Sheila MacRae; died July 14, 2000
1946 - Mike (Michael George) Sadek
baseball: catcher: SF Giants
golf champion: DuMaurier Classic [1973]
1949 - Lydell Mitchell
football: Penn State Univ. [single-season rushing record: 1,567 yards in 1971]; NFL: Baltimore Colts, SD Chargers, LA Rams
1951 - Stephen Tobolowsky
actor: Murder in the First, Radioland Murders, Groundhog Day, Sneakers, Basic Instinct, Thelma and Louise, Bird on a Wire, Mississippi Burning, Spaceballs, Keep My Grave Open, The Grifters, A Whole New Ballgame, Against the Grain
1955 - (Nicky) Topper Headon
musician: drums: group: The Clash: White Man, English Civil War, Stay Free, I Fought the Law, Brand New Cadillac, London Calling, Death or Glory, Jimmy Jazz; songwriter: Rock the Casbah
1958 - Marie Fredriksson
singer: duo: Roxette: The Look, Dressed for Success, Listen to Your Heart , Dangerous, It Must Have Been Love, Joyride, Fading Like A Flower [Every Time You Leave], Almost Unreal, Wish I Could Fly
1964 - Wynonna Judd (Christina Claire Ciminella)
Grammy Award-winning singer: with her mother, Naomi: The Judds: Mama He�s Crazy [1984], Why Not Me [1985], Grandpa [Tell Me �Bout the Good Old Days] [1986], Give a Little Love [1988], Love Can Build a Bridge [1991]; solo: She is His Only Need, I Saw the Light, No One Else on Earth, A Bad Goodbye [w/Clint Black], Only Love; sister of singer, actress Ashley Judd
1981 - Blake Bashoff
actor: Bushwacked, Big Bully, The New Swiss Family Robinson, Deuces Wild.
Chart Toppers
1950 My Foolish Heart - The Gordon Jenkins Orchestra (vocal: Eileen Wilson)
Bewitched - The Bill Snyder Orchestra
It Isn�t Fair - The Sammy Kaye Orchestra (vocal: Don Cornell)
Birmingham Bounce - Red Foley
1958 All I Have to Do is Dream - The Everly Brothers
Return to Me - Dean Martin
Do You Want to Dance - Bobby Freeman
Just Married - Marty Robbins
1966 When a Man Loves a Woman - Percy Sledge
A Groovy Kind of Love - The Mindbenders
Paint It, Black - The Rolling Stones
Distant Drums - Jim Reeves
1974 The Streak - Ray Stevens
Dancing Machine - The Jackson 5
The Show Must Go On - Three Dog Night
No Charge - Melba Montgomery
1982 Ebony and Ivory - Paul McCartney with Stevie Wonder
Don�t Talk to Strangers - Rick Springfield
I�ve Never Been to Me - Charlene
Just to Satisfy You - Waylon & Willie
1990 Vogue - Madonna
All I Wanna Do is Make Love to You - Heart
Hold On - Wilson Phillips
Walkin� Away - Clint Black
Those were the days, my friend. We thought they�d never end... ;)
For those who are reading this, be sure and stop in daily as I will keep this updated daily. I use to do a, Today in history article daily on my morning radio show.
All I ask of you, is to not to post in this thread, so that others that view this thread will not have to scroll down to view the contents.
You are however, welcomed to PM. me or even start a thread on comments about, Today in history.
Thanks for your kind, considerate understanding. :)
ShadowThomas
151st day of 2007 - 214 remaining.
Thursday, May 31, 2007
MAKE MY DAY DAY. :D :D
Men relate to him, women�s hearts skip a beat. He�s the strong, silent type. He�s Clint Eastwood (Jr.), born, probably complete with leathered face, on this day in San Francisco in 1930.
Critics panned the 6'4" tall actor. Most thought he couldn�t deliver a line. He would have agreed with them back in 1954 when he took his first screen test. But instead, he ended up laughing all the way to the bank.
As movies changed, Clint matured with them. He learned his art and became an accomplished, Academy Award-winning director and producer (Unforgiven in 1992). Eastwood actually made his directing debut with the 1971 film, Play Misty for Me. His work ethic, developed when he was just a young boy, helped him finish the movie on time and in budget; a habit he continued as director of High Plains Drifter, The Eiger Sanction, The Outlaw Josey Wales and Bronco Billy among others.
Whether actor, director, producer (made his producer debut in the 1982 film, Firefox), stunt man (does his own stunts), or politician (was the mayor of Carmel, California), Clint Eastwood, as Vincent Canby wrote in The New York Times, �...absorbed the years and turned them into guts and grit.� Canby was writing about Eastwood�s performance in Heartbreak Ridge, but it could have been a comment on his life�s work.
Whether you picture him as the young cattle driver, Rowdy, in the seven-year-long television series, Rawhide; the silent, man with no name in Sergio Leone�s spaghetti westerns (A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly); the fatally attractive DJ in Play Misty for Me; the death-defying rock-hard cop, Dirty Harry; or the sexy, mature photographer who stole the heart of an Iowa farm-wife in The Bridges of Madison County, Clint Eastwood has somewhere, sometime, made your day.
Events
May 31st.
1859 - What was the sport of baseball originally called? This is not a trick question. On this day in 1859 the Philadelphia Athletics were formally organized to play the game of Town Ball. Baseball didn�t come into being until almost 20 years later.
1870 - As we get ready for the lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer (a great Nat King Cole tune...) we also add �sticky�. Edward J. de Smedt of New York City patented the stuff that sticks to car tires and shoes when it gets sticky under the hot sun beginning at this time of year. Mr. DeSemdt came up with the idea of the asphalt pavement, you see.
1880 - The League of American Wheelmen was formed in Newport, RI. It was the first national bicycle society to be organized in the United States.
1889 - 2,300 people died and thousands lost their homes on this unfortunate day in Johnstown, PA. Heavy rains throughout the month caused the Connemaugh River Dam to break, flooding Johnstown. Some 800 unidentified victims were buried in a common grave. The flood was such a tragedy that the phrase, �Johnstown Flood,� became synonymous with a disaster.
1929 - The first reindeer to be born in the United States were born on this day in North Beverly, MA. And you thought reindeer were only born at the North Pole...
1930 - Golfing great Bobby Jones captured the first leg of the golfing grand slam by winning the British Amateur golf title.
1937 - The first quadruplets to complete college courses of study were awarded Bachelor of Arts degrees, individually. Mary, Mona, Roberta and Leota Keys received their degrees from Baylor University in Waco, TX.
1938 - Henry Armstrong defeated Barney Ross in New York City to win the welterweight boxing title.
1941 - The very first issue of Parade: The Weekly Picture Newspaper went on sale. Some 125,000 copies were sold for a nickel each. Parade became the most-read publication in the U.S. with a circulation of over 22-million readers in 132 newspapers.
1943 - A comic strip came to radio, as Archie Andrews was heard on the Mutual Broadcasting System for the first time. Archie, Veronica and the gang stayed on radio for about five years.
1949 - A crowd of 35,000 people paid tribute to radio personality Mary Margaret McBride at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, (one of the five boroughs that make up New York City). McBride was celebrating her 15th year in radio.
1964 - The longest major-league baseball doubleheader (to the time) ended in 19 hours, 16 minutes. The New York Mets and the San Francisco Giants battled it out at Shea Stadium in New York. The first game of the doubleheader set a major-league mark for the longest game (by time) as the Giants beat the Mets 8-6. The game lasted 23 innings and was played in 7 hours and 23 minutes.
1969 - Stevie Wonder�s My Cherie Amour was released by Tamla Records. The song made it to number four on the pop music charts on July 26 and stayed on the nation�s radios for eleven weeks. Trivia: My Cherie Amour was not the original title of the song. Wonder had named the song, Oh My Marcia, for a former girlfriend. Of course, singing it back with the original tune, one could see that Oh My Marcia doesn�t quite fit as well as My Cherie Amour. This is Casey in Hollywood. Now back to the countdown...
1974 - William DeVaughn, a soul singer, songwriter and guitarist from Washington, DC, received a gold record for his only hit, Be Thankful for What You Got. The tune made it to number four on the pop music charts (6/29/74). Ever hear the phrase, �Don�t give up the day job?� This was quite applicable to DeVaughn, who was never heard musically again. His day job was working for the federal government.
1976 - Ear doctors didn�t have to drum up business this day. There were plenty of walk-ins as The Who put out a total of 76,000 watts of power at 120 decibels. They played the loudest concert anyone had ever heard, making it into The Guinness Book of World Records.
1984 - Lightweight boxing champion Ray �Boom Boom� Mancini boomed no more. He was defeated in the 14th round of a scheduled 15-round World Boxing Association title fight in Buffalo, NY. Livingstone Bramble is the boxer who did the deed. Never heard from him, again, either...
1990 - A little summer replacement TV show named Seinfeld debuted. It ran only through July, but the �show about nothing� returned in January 1991 to become a full-blown smash, running through May 14, 1998. The sitcom�s original cast, Jason Alexander as George, Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Elaine, Michael Richards as (Cosmo) Kramer and, of course, Jerry Seinfeld as himself, became part of Americana, with millions of viewers discussing the show at work, and quoting the funny lines. Seinfeld stills lives in rerun form, with classics such as: The Contest (about �you know�), The Pick (Elaine and her revealing Christmas card), The Junior Mint (Jerry and the woman whose name rhymes with a female body part & Kramer�s operating-room accident), The Puffy Shirt, The Soup Nazi and the trip to India, where the show�s sequence runs backwards (The Betrayal), yadda yadda yadda. Not that there�s anything wrong with that.
Birthdays
May 31st.
1819 - Walt Whitman
poet: Leaves of Grass, When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom�d, Passage to India, O Captain! My Captain!; died Mar 26, 1892
1857 - Pope Pius XI (Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti)
259th pope of the Roman Catholic Church [1922-1939]; died Feb 10, 1939
1894 - Fred Allen (John Florence Sullivan)
comedian: radio star: Allen�s Alley, The Fred Allen Show, The Linit Bath Club Revue; died Mar 17, 1956
1898 - Dr. Norman Vincent Peale
clergyman: radio ministry; author and syndicated newspaper column: The Power of Positive Thinking; died Dec 24, 1993
1908 - Don Ameche (Dominic Felix Amici)
Academy Award-winning actor: Cocoon [1985]; Trading Places, Corinna Corinna; inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame [1992]; died Dec 6, 1993
1912 - Henry �Scoop� Jackson
U.S. Senator from Washington; died Sep 1, 1983
1920 - Edward Bennett Williams
attorney; owner: Baltimore Orioles; died Aug 13, 1988
1922 - Denholm Elliott
actor: A Room with a View, The Bourne Identity, The Boys from Brazil, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Voyage of the Damned, Trading Places, Scorchers; died Oct 6, 1992
1923 - Ellsworth Kelly
American hard-edge [Abstract Geometric] painter: Seine, Green Red Yellow Blue, Blue Yellow Red III, Orange Red Relief
1923 - Prince Rainer III
head of state: Monaco; married American film star, Grace Kelly; died Apr 6, 2005
1930 - Clint Eastwood
actor: see Make My Day Day [above]
1933 - Shirley Verrett
opera singer: soprano: New York Met
1935 - Ronald Laird
National Track & Field Hall of Famer: race walker: Pan-American Games gold medalist [1967]
1938 - Peter Yarrow
singer: group: Peter, Paul and Mary: Leaving on a Jet Plane, Puff the Magic Dragon, If I Had a Hammer, Blowin� in the Wind, I Dig Rock �n� Roll Music; songwriter: Torn Between Two Lovers
1939 - Terry Waite
envoy; hostage: Lebanon [1987-1991]
1940 - Augie Meyers
musician: keyboards: groups: Sir Douglas Quintet: She�s About a Mover; Texas Tornados: It was Fun While It Lasted; operates his studio north of San Antonio TX
1941 - Johnny Paycheck (Donald Eugene Lytle)
country singer: Take This Job and Shove It, The Lovin� Machine, [Don�t Take Her] She�s All I Got, Someone to Give My Love To, Mr. Lovemaker, Song and Dance Man, For a Minute There, Slide Off Your Satin Sheets, Friend, Lover, Wife, Heartbreak Tennessee, Motel Time Again, Jukebox Charlie, The Cave; songwriter: Apartment No. 9, Touch My Heart; died Feb 18, 2003
1942 - �Happy� (Harold) Hairston
basketball: Sacramento Kings, LA Lakers; died May 1, 2001
1943 - Sharon Gless
Emmy Award-winning actress: Cagney & Lacey [1985-1986, 1986-1987]; Revenge of the Stepford Wives, Tales of the Unexpected
1943 - Joe Namath
�Broadway Joe�: Pro Football Hall of Famer: quarterback: New York Jets: AFL�s Rookie of the Year [1965], Player of the Year [1968], Super Bowl III MVP; pantyhose and ointment spokesperson
1945 - Rainer Werner Fassbinder
director: Chinese Roulette, Querelle, Veronika Voss, Berlin Alexanderplatz, Beware of a Holy Whore; died June 10, 1982
1948 - John �Bonzo� Bonham
musician: drums: group: Led Zeppelin: Whole Lotta Love, Stairway to Heaven, Immigrant Song; died Sep 25, 1980
1949 - Tom Berenger (Thomas Michael Moore)
actor: One Life to Live, If Tomorrow Comes, Platoon, Sliver, The Big Chill, Eddie and the Cruisers, Gettysburg, Looking for Mr. Goodbar, A Murder of Crows, In the Company of Spies, Turbulence II: Fear of Flying
1950 - Gregory Harrison
actor: Logan�s Run, Trapper John, M.D., Family Man, Cadillac Girls, Caught in the Act
1952 - Jean Lemieux
hockey: NHL: Atlanta Flames, Washington Capitals
1955 - Laura Baugh
golf: U.S. Women�s Amateur champ [1971]
1961 - Lea Thompson
actress: The Right to Remain Silent, Dennis the Menace, The Beverly Hillbillies, Howard the Duck, Back to the Future series, Jaws 3, All the Right Moves, Caroline in the City
1965 - Brooke Shields
model: Ivory Snow baby; actress: The Blue Lagoon, Pretty Baby, Brenda Starr, The Seventh Floor, Backstreet Dreams, Stalking Laura, Suddenly Susan
1967 - Kenny Lofton
baseball: Houston Astros [AL rookie-season record: most stolen bases [66: 1992], Atlanta Braves, Cleveland Indians [record: most stolen bases]
Chart Toppers
1951 On Top of Old Smokey - The Weavers (vocal: Terry Gilkyson)
Too Young - Nat King Cole
Mockingbird Hill -Patti Page
I Want to Be with You Always - Lefty Frizzell
1959 Kansas City - Wilbert Harrison
Dream Lover - Bobby Darin
The Battle of New Orleans - Johnny Horton
1967 Groovin� - The Young Rascals
Respect - Aretha Franklin
I Got Rhythm - The Happenings
Sam�s Place - Buck Owens
1975 Before the Next Teardrop Falls - Freddy Fender
How Long - Ace
Thank God I�m a Country Boy - John Denver
1983 Flashdance...What a Feeling - Irene Cara
Overkill - Men At Work
Time (Clock of the Heart) - Culture Club
You Take Me for Granted - Merle Haggard
1991 I Don�t Wanna Cry - Mariah Carey
More Than Words - Extreme
I Wanna Sex You Up - Color Me Badd
In a Different Light - Doug Stone
Those were the days, my friend. We thought they�d never end... ;)
For those who are reading this, be sure and stop in daily as I will keep this updated daily. I use to do a, Today in history article daily on my morning radio show.
All I ask of you, is to not to post in this thread, so that others that view this thread will not have to scroll down to view the contents.
You are however, welcomed to PM. me or even start a thread on comments about, Today in history.
Thanks for your kind, considerate understanding. :)
ShadowThomas
152nd day of 2007 - 213 remaining.
Friday, June 1, 2007
SUPERMAN DAY. :)
The first issue of Action Comics was published on this day in 1938. In its pages was the world�s first super hero, Superman.
Jerry Siegel had a dream about the baby, Moses, who was abandoned by his parents in order that his life be saved. This dream prompted Siegel�s creation of the �Man of Steel�. Artist Joe Shuster made the comic book hero come alive. The first story, in this first issue, took place on the planet, Krypton, where baby Kal-El was born. The infant was shot to Earth in a rocket just before Krypton exploded.
We all know the rest of the story: the baby landed in Smalltown, U.S.A., was adopted by the Kent family and named, Clark. On Earth, Clark Kent had superhuman powers, �faster than a speeding bullet ... more powerful than a locomotive ... able to leap tall buildings at a single bound.� The only thing that could render him powerless was kryptonite, a green rock from the planet Krypton. Disguised as a timid, bespectacled reporter for Metropolis� Daily Planet (with coworkers Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen and boss Perry White), Superman was determined to fight the �never-ending battle for truth, justice and the American way.�
Superman was born in a comic strip in 1938; but he continues to live in TV reruns, films starring Christopher Reeve and in the recent TV series, Lois and Clark.
Events
June 1st.
1638 - An earthquake was reported in the unlikely locale of Plymouth, MA.
1792 - Kentucky entered the United States of America as the 15th state. Since its name is an American Indian word for "great meadow", it is fitting that Kentucky�s nickname is the Bluegrass State, and its flower is the goldenrod. The official state bird is the cardinal. The capital of Kentucky is the city of Frankfort.
1796 - Tennessee joined the United States of America on this day. Long before it officially became the 16th state, Tennessee had already begun to earn its nickname, the Volunteer State, as it sent large numbers of volunteers to fight in the American Revolution. The tradition continued for the War of 1812, the Mexican War and the Civil War. The country-music capital of the world, Nashville, is also the governmental capital of Tennessee. The state�s official flower is the iris, its bird, the mockingbird.
1831 - Sir James Clark Ross, an English navigator and explorer, discovered the magnetic North Pole while on his Arctic exploration.
1869 - Thomas Edison of Boston, MA received a patent for his electric voting machine. Ol� Tom would soon have a filing cabinet full of patents.
1911 - The folks in Bradford and Leeds in Great Britain didn�t need wheelbarrows to get around ... they were the first in England to have trolleys. The trolleys started running on this day.
1925 - Lou Gehrig of the New York Yankees played the first of what would become 2,130 consecutive baseball games (Gehrig played in every Yankee game until May 2, 1939), setting a major-league record not to be broken until Cal Ripken, Jr. of Baltimore did so in the summer of 1995. Gehrig wasn�t even a starter on this day. He was inserted in the lineup for Wally Pipp.
1936 - The Lux Radio Theater moved from New York City to Hollywood. Cecil B. DeMille, the program�s host on the NBC Blue network, introduced Clark Gable and Marlene Dietrich in The Legionnaire and the Lady.
1949 - Microfilm copies of Newsweek magazine were offered to subscribers for the first time. The weekly publication cost $15 a year.
1953 - The Mask of Medusa, on ABC-TV�s Twilight Theater, featured the network-TV acting debut of Raymond Burr. He later became the star of Perry Mason and Ironside.
1957 - The first American to break the four-minute mile was Don Bowden, who was timed at 3 minutes, 58.7 seconds.
1959 - Celebrating a solid year at the top of the album charts was Johnny�s Greatest Hits on Columbia Records. The LP stayed for several more years at or near the top of the album charts. It became the all-time album leader at 490 weeks.
1961 - There was a new sound in the air this day. FM multiplex stereo broadcasting was enjoyed for the first time by listeners to FM radio in Schenectady, NY, Los Angeles and Chicago. The FCC adopted the standard a year later.
1967 - The Beatles� Sgt. Pepper�s Lonely Hearts Club Band was released. One of the first critically-acclaimed rock albums, Sgt. Pepper�s became the number one album in the world and was at the top of the U.S. album list for 15 weeks. (See June 2 TWtD for more on Sgt. Pepper�s.)
1975 - Nolan Ryan of the California Angels tied the no-hit record in major-league baseball. Ryan tossed his fourth career no-hitter with a 1-0 win over the Baltimore Orioles. The future Hall of Famer told reporters, �Gee, and to think I did this exactly five years after Al Kaline swallowed his tongue in the outfield in Detroit. Skeiciw adkehhf gdvrb ewix ke. I love this game!�
1985 - According to a study released on this day, Southerners (those from the southern U.S.) did more hugging than their counterparts from up north. It was also reported that women were more willing than men to hug.
1987 - Knuckleballer Phil Niekro won game number 314 by leading the Cleveland Indians to a 9-6 win over the Detroit Tigers. The victory also brought Phil and his brother, Joe, to a total of 531 career wins, breaking the record set by the Perry brothers.
Birthdays
1796 - Sadi Nicolas L�onard Carnot
physicist: pioneer in thermodynamics: discovered the 2nd law of thermodynamics; died Aug 24, 1832
1801 - Brigham Young
Mormon church leader: led thousands across the wilderness to settle in over 300 U.S. western towns; survived by 17 wives and 47 children; died Aug 28, 1877
1878 - John Masefield
poet: Sea Fever, A Wanderer�s Song, Cargoes, The Wanderer, A Consecration, To-Morrow, Spanish Waters, Christmas Eve At Sea; died May 12, 1967
1890 - Frank Morgan (Francis Wuppermann)
actor: The Wizard of Oz, The Stratton Story, The Three Musketeers, Tortilla Flat, The White Cliffs of Dover, Naughty Marietta, The Great Ziegfeld, Key to the City; died Sep 18, 1949
1898 - Molly Picon (Pyekoon)
actress: Fiddler on the Roof, Come Blow Your Horn, For Pete�s Sake, Murder on Flight 502, Cannonball Run; star of the Yiddish stage; died Apr 6, 1992
1921 - Nelson Riddle
Grammy Award-winning orchestra leader: Cross Country Suite; Lisbon Antigua; arranger: for Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole; died Oct 6, 1985
1922 - (Beatrice) Joan Caulfield
actress: Pony Express Rider, Daring Dobermans, Welcome Stranger, Blue Skies, The Lady Says No; died June 18, 1991
1925 - Richard Erdman
actor: Tomboy, Stalag 17, Namu, the Killer Whale, Cry Danger; director: Brothers O�Toole
1926 - Darel Dieringer
auto racer: champ: NASCAR California 500 [1963], Southern 500 [1966]
1926 - Andy Griffith
actor: The Andy Griffith Show, Matlock, A Face in the Crowd, No Time for Sergeants, From Here to Eternity; comedian: comedy record: Make Yourself Comfortable
1926 - Marilyn Monroe (Norma Jean Baker Mortenson)
actress: Gentleman Prefer Blondes, The Seven-Year Itch, Some Like It Hot, Bus Stop, The Asphalt Jungle, Diamonds are a Girl�s Best Friend, The Misfits, Scudda-Hoo!Scudda-Hay!; famous centerfold: Playboy [1952]; died Aug 5, 1962
1930 - Pat Corley
actor: Bay City Blues, Murphy Brown, Of Mice and Men, Silent Witness
1930 - Edward Woodward
actor: The Equalizer, Code Name Kyril, Uncle Tom�s Cabin, Champions, The Final Option, The Appointment, The Wicker Man, �Breaker� Morant
1933 - Alan Ameche
football: Wisconsin: Heisman Trophy winner [1954]
1934 - Pat Boone (Charles Eugene Boone)
singer: Love Letters in the Sand, April Love, Moody River, Ain�t That a Shame, I Almost Lost My Mind, Friendly Persuasion, Don�t Forbid Me, gospel LPs; actor: State Fair, Journey to the Center of the Earth; host: The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom; descendant: frontiersman, Daniel Boone; married to Red Foley�s daughter, Shirley
1934 - Peter Masterson (Carlos Bee Masterson)
actor: The Exorcist; director: Arctic Blue, Night Game, Full Moon in Blue Water, Blood Red, The Trip to Bountiful; father of actress Mary Stuart Masterson
1937 - Morgan Freeman
actor: Driving Miss Daisy, Glory, Unforgiven, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Queen, Another World, Outbreak, Amistad, Deep Impact; director: Bopha
1939 - Cleavon (Jake) Little
Tony Award-winning actor: Purlie [1970]; Emmy Award: Dear John [1988-1989]; Blazing Saddles, Vanishing Point, Fletch Lives, Perfect Harmony, Separate But Equal, Murder by Numbers; died Oct 22, 1992
1940 - Rene Auberjonois
Tony Award-winning actor: Coco [1970]; The Ballad of Little Jo, Gore Vidal�s Billy the Kid, Police Academy 5, Pete �n� Tillie, McCabe and Mrs. Miller, Brewster McCloud, Petulia, Benson, M*A*S*H, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
1941 - Dean (Wilmer) Chance
baseball: pitcher: LA Angels: Cy Young Award [1964]
1942 - Randy (Cecil Randolph) Hundley
baseball: catcher: SF Giants, Chicago Cubs [all-star: 1969], Minnesota Twins, SD Padres
1945 - Linda Scott
singer: I�ve Told Every Little Star, Don�t Bet Money Honey, I Don�t Know Why; TV host: Where the Action Is
1947 - Jonathan Pryce
Tony Award-winning actor: Miss Saigon [1991], Comedians [1977]; Hamlet, Julius Caesar, Macbeth, Carrington, Barbarians at the Gate, The Age of Innocence, Glengarry Glen Ross, Jumpin� Jack Flash, Brazil, Breaking Glass
1947 - Ron Wood
musician: guitarist: group: Rolling Stones [after 1975]
1948 - Tom Sneva
auto racer: Indianapolis 500 winner [1983]
1949 - Powers Boothe
Emmy Award-winning actor: Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones [1980]; Skag, Sudden Death, Nixon, Extreme Prejudice, The Emerald Forest, Cruising
1950 - Graham Russell
singer: group: Air Supply: Lost in Love, All Out of Love, The One that You Love
1951 - Henry Boucha
hockey: U.S. National Team [1970-71], U.S. Olympic Ice Hockey Team [silver medal: 1972]; NHL: Detroit Red Wings, Minnesota North Stars, Kansas City Scouts, Colorado Rockies
1953 - Diana Canova (Rivero)
actress: Soap, I�m a Big Girl Now, Throb, Home Free, Night Partners, daughter of actress, Judy Canova
1953 - Ronnie Dunn
country singer: duo: Brooks & Dunn: LPs: Brand New Man, Hard Workin� Man, Waitin� on Sundown, Borderline, If You See Her, Tight Rope, Steers & Stripes; songwriter: Boot Scootin� Boogie
1956 - Lisa Hartman
actress: Knots Landing, Tabitha, Bare Essentials, Deadly Blessing, Red Wind, Where the Boys Are
1959 - Alan Wilder
musician: keyboards, singer: group: Depeche Mode: Shake the Disease, LPs: Black Celebration, Music for the Masses
1963 - Mike Joyce
musician: drums: group: The Smiths: Hand in Glove, The Charming Man, What Difference Does It Make, Heaven Knows I�m Miserable Now, William, It Was Really Nothing, Reel Around the Fountain, Suffer Little Children, Panic
1968 - Jason Donovan
singer: popular in Australia & Great Britain; actor: Neighbours, Rough Diamonds, The Sun, the Moon and the Stars; son of actor, Terence Donovan.
Chart Toppers
1944 Long Ago and Far Away - Helen Forrest & Dick Haymes
I�ll Get By - The Harry James Orchestra (vocal: Dick Haymes)
I�ll Be Seing You - The Tommy Dorsey Orchestra (vocal: Frank Sinatra)
Straighten Up and Fly Right - King Cole Trio
1952 Kiss of Fire - Georgia Gibbs
Blue Tango - The Leroy Anderson Orchestra
Be Anything - Eddy Howard
The Wild Side of Life - Hank Thompson
1960 Cathy�s Clown - The Everly Brothers
He�ll Have to Stay - Jeanne Black
Paper Roses - Anita Bryant
Please Help Me, I�m Falling - Hank Lockin
1968 Mrs. Robinson - Simon & Garfunkel
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly - Hugo Montenegro
Yummy Yummy Yummy - Ohio Express
Honey - Bobby Goldsboro
1976 Love Hangover - Diana Ross
Get Up and Boogie (That�s Right) - Silver Convention
Misty Blue - Dorthy Moore
One Piece at a Time - Johnny Cash
1984 Let�s Hear It for the Boy - Deniece Williams
Time After Time - Cyndi Lauper
Oh Sherrie - Steve Perry
As Long as I�m Rockin� with You - John Conlee
Those were the days, my friend. We thought they�d never end... ;)
For those who are reading this, be sure and stop in daily as I will keep this updated daily. I use to do a, Today in history article daily on my morning radio show.
All I ask of you, is to not to post in this thread, so that others that view this thread will not have to scroll down to view the contents.
You are however, welcomed to PM. me or even start a thread on comments about, Today in history.
Thanks for your kind, considerate understanding. :)
ShadowThomas
153rd day of 2007 - 212 remaining.
Saturday, June 2, 2007
TARZAN DAY. :D
He was born on this day in 1904 in Freidorf, near Timisoara, Romania. From the age of three, he was raised in the asphalt jungle of Chicago, but reached the pinnacle of his fame in a tropical jungle. Johnny Weissmuller played the role of Tarzan more than any other actor in a decade of Tarzan films.
Weissmuller was a star athlete, however, way before he became a Hollywood star. An Olympic Gold Medalist, Johnny Weissmuller won a total of five gold medals in swimming in the 1924 and 1928 Olympics. He also collected 52 U.S. and 67 world swimming records.
Without much competition in the swimming pool or in the Tarzan movies, we could say that Weismuller�s only competition was his co-star, Maureen O�Sullivan. Their first [1932] Tarzan movie was Tarzan the Ape Man; the last together was in 1942, titled, Tarzan�s New York Adventure.
�Me Tarzan, you Jane.�
Events
June 2nd.
1886 - Grover Cleveland became the first U.S. President to get married in the White House. He exchanged vows with his bride, Florence Folsom.
1933 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt accepted the first swimming pool to be built inside the White House. Roosevelt got plenty of use out of the pool, considering that he was the only President to be elected four times. He won election over Herbert Hoover, Alf Landon, Wendell Wilkie and Thomas E. Dewey.
1937 - The Fabulous Dr. Tweedy was broadcast on NBC radio for the first time. Frank Morgan starred as the absent-minded Dr. Tweedy.
1937 - CBS presented the first broadcast of Second Husband. The show continued on the air until 1946.
1953 - The coronation of 27-year-old Queen Elizabeth II was broadcast. The crowning of the new Queen of England became one of the first international news events to be given complete coverage on television. All three American TV networks plus the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) provided colorful descriptions of the pomp and circumstance. Most viewers saw the coronation in black and white because color TV was not yet the standard of the industry. Quality of the pictures, in fact, was lacking compared to today�s international and often instantaneous broadcasts. There was no satellite TV transmission at the time. The �live� pictures were relayed by shortwave radio.
1957 - Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev was interviewed by CBS-TV. News correspondent Daniel Schorr was first to interview the Soviet leader.
1960 - For the first time in 41 years, the entire Broadway theatre district in New York City was forced to close. The Actors Equity Association and theatre owners came to a showdown with a total blackout of theatres.
1964 - The original cast album of Hello Dolly! went gold -- having sold a million copies. It was quite a feat for a Broadway musical.
1967 - The Beatles� album, Sgt. Pepper�s Lonely Hearts Club Band, was released in the U.S. (on Capitol) this day -- one day after its release in the U.K. (on Parlophone). The world is still humming and singing along and tapping fingers and toes to the likes of A Day in the Life, Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, With a Little Help From My Friends, When I'm Sixty-Four, She�s Leaving Home, the title song and several others. It had taken the Fab Four only 12 hours to record their first album, Please, Please Me. It took the supergroup 700 hours to complete Sgt. Pepper�s.
1975 - Baseball�s Billy Martin appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated, 19 years after his April 23, 1956 cover debut in the same publication. It set the record for length of time between covers on the same subject.
1985 - The R.J. Reynolds Company proposed a major merger with Nabisco (National Biscuit Company) that would create a $4.9 billion conglomerate of food distribution and other popular products, including tobacco.
1985 - Tommy Sandt had one of those days. Sandt, a major-league baseball player, became one of the few people to be told, �Yer, outta here!� by a home plate umpire -- before the national anthem was played! Sandt got the heave-ho while turning in his team�s lineup card and taking just a moment to complain about an umpire�s call against his team the night before.
1985 - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar became the all-time leading point scorer in the National Basketball Association playoffs. He rang up a total of 4,458 points, smashing the previous record held by Jerry West, also of the Los Angeles Lakers.
1985 - The Huck Finn-based musical Big River earned seven Tony Awards in New York City at the 39th annual awards presentation.
Birthdays
1740 - Marquis de Sade (Comte Donatien Alphonse Francois de Sade)
author: Justine; died Dec 2, 1814
1773 - John Randolph
Virginia statesman and early advocate of the states� rights: U.S. representative and senator; died May 24, 1833
1835 - Saint Pius X (Giuseppe Melchiorre Sato)
257th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church; died Aug 20, 1914
1840 - Thomas Hardy
writer, poet: related the �...tragedy of 19th-century humanity.�; died Jan 11th 1928
1857 - Sir Edward Elgar
composer: Pomp and Circumstance; died Feb 23, 1934
1890 - Hedda Hopper (Elda Furry)
celebrity columnist; show biz gossip; radio commentator: The Hedda Hopper Show; hat collector; actress: Tarzan�s Revenge, Maid�s Night Out, Breakfast in Hollywood, Dracula�s Daughter; died Feb 1, 1966
1904 - Johnny (Peter John) Weissmuller
swimmer, actor; died Jan 20, 1984; see Tarzan Day [above]
1908 - Ben Grauer
radio actor, announcer: NBC radio: Ben Grauer�s Americana; died May 31, 1977
1917 - Max Showalter
actor: With a Song in My Heart, Bus Stop, It Happened to Jane, The Music Man, Sixteen Candles, Racing with the Moon; died July 30, 2000
1926 - Milo O�Shea
actor: The Playboys, Only the Lonely, Broken Vows, The Purple Rose of Cairo, The Verdict, Sacco & Vanzetti, Paddy, Barbarella, Ulysses
1927 - Carl Butler
country entertainer, songwriter: Don�t Let Me Cross Over, I Never Got Over You, Loving Arms, Just Thought I�d Let You Know; died Sep 4, 1992
1930 - Charles �Pete� Conrad Jr.
NASA astronaut: piloted Gemini 5, commanded Gemini 11, walked on moon [Apollo 12], commanded Skylab 2 space station mission; died July 8, 1999
1932 - Sammy Turner (Samuel Black)
singer: Lavender-Blue [Dilly Dilly], Always, Paradise; LPs: Lavender Blue Moods, Soul of Jesus Christ Superstar
1933 - Jerry (Dean) Lumpe
baseball: NY Yankees [World Series: 1957, 1958], KC Athletics, Detroit Tigers [all-star: 1964]
1937 - Sally Kellerman
actress: M*A*S*H, The Boston Strangler, Brewster McCloud, Fatal Attraction, Meatballs III, Murder Among Friends, Boris and Natasha, Columbo: Ashes to Ashes
1939 - Charles Miller
musician: saxophone, clarinet: group: War: LPs: All Day Music, The World is a Ghetto, Why Can�t We be Friends?
1940 - Jim (James William) Maloney
baseball: pitcher: Cincinnati Reds [World Series: 1961/all-star: 1965], California Angels
1941 - (Walter) Stacy Keach Jr.
actor: Mickey Spillane�s Mike Hammer, Conduct Unbecoming, Sunset Grill, Texas, Road Games, The Long Riders, Brewster McCloud; narrator: Plague Fighters, Olympic Glory, Savage Seas, World�s Most Amazing Videos; host: Missing Reward, Case Closed
1941 - William Guest
singer: group: Gladys Knight & The Pips: Every Beat of My Heart, Letter Full of Tears, Everybody Needs Love, I Heard It Through the Grapevine, If I Were Your Woman, Neither One of Us [Wants to be the First to Say Goodbye], Where Peaceful Waters Flow, Midnight train to Georgia, Best Thing that Ever Happened to Me, I�ve Got to Use My Imagination, On and On, The Way We Were, Try to Remember
1941 - Charlie Watts
musician: drummer: groups: Rolling Stones: [I Can�t Get No] Satisfaction, Honky Tonk Women; solo: LPs: Live at Fulham Town Hall; Charlie Watts Quintet: From One Charlie, A tribute to Charlie Parker with Strings, Warm and Tender, Long Ago & Far Away
1943 - Charles Haid
actor: Hill Street Blues, Delvecchio, Altered States, The Fire Next Time, Children in the Crossfire
1944 - Marvin Hamlisch
Academy Award-winning pianist, composer: for adapted score: The Sting [1973]; original score and song: The Way We Were [1973]; Grammy Award-winner: The Way We Were & Best New Artist; Tony Award-winner: A Chorus Line [1976]
1944 - Garo Yepremian
football: Miami Dolphins kicker: Super Bowl VI, VII, VIII
1948 - Jerry Mathers
actor: Leave It to Beaver, The Trouble with Harry, Back to the Beach
1950 - Joanna Gleason
actress: For Richer for Poorer, F/X 2: The Deadly Art of Illusion, Crimes & Misdemeanors, Heartburn, Into the Woods, Love & War, Hello Larry, Mr. Holland�s Opus, Boogie Nights, Bette; daughter of TV quiz show host Monty Hall
1950 - Lawrence McCutcheon
football: LA Rams running back: Super Bowl XIV
1950 - Nate Williams
basketball: Utah State Univ., Sacramento Kings
1955 - Dana Carvey
actor, comedian, impersonator: Saturday Night Live, Clean Slate, It Happened in Paradise, Wayne�s World
1955 - Gary Grimes
actor: Summer of �42, Class of �44, Culpepper Cattle Co.
1959 - Tony Hadley
singer: group: Spandau Ballet: To Cut a Long Story Short, The Freeze, Musclebound, Chant No. 1, Instinction, True, Gold, Only When You Leave
1978 - Nikki Cox
actress: Terminator 2: Judgment Day, General Hospital, Pearl, Sub Down, The Nanny, The Norm Show, Nutty Professor II: The Klumps.
Chart Toppers
1945 Laura - The Woody Herman Orchestra
Dream - The Pied Pipers
Sentimental Journey - The Les Brown Orchestra (vocal: Doris Day)
At Mail Call Today - Gene Autry
1953 Song from Moulin Rouge - The Percy Faith Orchestra
I Believe - Frankie Laine
April in Portugal - The Les Baxter Orchestra
Take These Chains from My Heart - Hank Williams
1961 Travelin� Man - Ricky Nelson
Daddy�s Home - Shep & The Limelites
Running Scared - Roy Orbison
1969 Get Back - The Beatles
Love (Can Make You Happy) - Mercy
Oh Happy Day - The Edwin Hawkins� Singers
Singing My Song - Tammy Wynette
1977 Sir Duke - Stevie Wonder
I�m Your Boogie Man - KC & The Sunshine Band
Dreams - Fleetwood Mac
Luckenbach, Texas (Back to the Basics of Love) - Waylon Jennings
1985 Everything She Wants - Wham!
Everybody Wants to Rule the World - Tears for Fears
Axel F - Harold Faltermeyer
Don�t Call Him a Cowboy - Conway Twitty
Those were the days, my friend. We thought they�d never end... ;)
For those who are reading this, be sure and stop in daily as I will keep this updated daily. I use to do a, Today in history article daily on my morning radio show.
All I ask of you, is to not to post in this thread, so that others that view this thread will not have to scroll down to view the contents.
You are however, welcomed to PM. me or even start a thread on comments about, Today in history.
Thanks for your kind, considerate understanding. :)
ShadowThomas
154th day of 2007 - 211 remaining.
Sunday, June 3, 2007
MIGHTY CASEY DAY. :)
There was no joy in Mudville this day in 1888, as Casey at the Bat was first published in The San Francisco Examiner. The author was not given a byline in the paper, but he was given $5. Ernest Thayer wrote a series of comic ballads for the San Francisco paper. Casey at the Bat was the last, and the only one to live on through the years.
William DeWolf Hopper, the well-known actor, first recited the poem at Wallach�s Theatre in New York City this same year. That five minutes and 40 seconds became part of DeWolf Hopper�s repertoire. It is said that he had told the tale of Mudville some 10,000 plus times.
In 1986, the U.S. Library of Congress reissued the poem in both written and recorded formats.
Another interesting fact attached to this famous rhyme is that nationally-known, former DJ Casey Kasem once worked in Oakland, a stone�s throw across the bay from San Francisco. His show was titled Mighty Casey at the Mike when he worked at KEWB Radio.
Events
June 3rd.
1800 - John Adams moved to Washington DC. He was the first President to live in what became the capital of the United States. It would be November before he would move into the People�s House, or the Executive Mansion, later known as the White House. Where did President Adams live until he moved into that big house? Holiday Inn, of course.
1849 - The New York Knickerbockers became the first baseball team to wear uniforms. The ball players wore blue trousers, white shirts and straw hats. Sharp!
1856 - Cullen Whipple of Providence, RI patented the screw machine.
1871 - The Ocobock Brothers� Bank in Corydon, IA was relieved of the sum of $6,000 in cash by 24-year-old Jesse James and his gang of outlaws.
1931 - The Band Wagon, a Broadway musical, opened in New York City. The show ran for 260 performances.
1932 - Lou Gehrig connected for four consecutive home runs -- setting a major-league baseball record.
1932 - John J. McGraw retired as manager of the New York Giants. McGraw had led the Giants to ten National League pennants and three World Series championships.
1937 - Mrs. Wallis Warfield Simpson of Baltimore, MD, the woman who was the cause of King Edward VIII�s abdication of the British throne, was married this day to the former King (The Duke of Windsor). This was the storybook romance; the king in love with the commoner gives up his throne to spend the rest of his life with the woman he loves. They lived happily ever after ... in France.
1946 - Mutual Radio debuted The Casebook of Gregory Hood. The show was the summer replacement series for Sherlock Holmes. The mystery series became a regular weekly program in the fall of 1946.
1952 - Frank Sinatra recorded the classic Birth of the Blues for Columbia Records.
1959 - The first class to graduate from the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, CO did so on this day.
1964 - The Hollywood Palace on ABC-TV hosted the first appearance of the first U.S. concert tour of The Rolling Stones. Dean Martin emceed the show. One critic called the Stones �dirtier and streakier and more disheveled than The Beatles.�
1978 - Johnny Mathis and Deniece Williams combined their singing talents to reach the number one spot on the nation�s pop music charts with Too Much, Too Little, Too Late.
1985 - After five years, the characters of Nancy and Chris Hughes returned to As the World Turns. CBS-TV brought the couple back to the daytime serial to add more �homespun values� to the show.
1987 - George Michael�s I Want Your Sex was banned by the BBC (for daytime play). Michael had tried to explain that the song was about love, not lust.
Birthdays
June 3rd.
1780 - William Hone
author: [The Every-Day Book] Everlasting Calendar of Popular Amusements; �A good lather is half the shave.�; died Nov 6, 1842
1808 - Jefferson Davis
President of the Confederate States of America [1861-1865]; U.S. Senator and Secretary of War; died Dec 5, 1889
1878 - Barney Oldfield
Indianapolis Speedway Hall of Famer: the first American to drive a mile in a minute [1903]; testimonial for Firestone tires: �My only life insurance.�
1901 - Maurice Evans
actor: Macbeth, Planet of the Apes, Batman, Bewitched; died Mar 12, 1989
1904 - Jan Peerce (Jacob Pincus Perlemuth)
opera singer: tenor; actor: Goodbye, Columbus; died Dec 15, 1984
1910 - Paulette Goddard (Pauline Marion Levy)
actress: So Proudly We Hail!, Time of Indifference, Sins of Jezebel, Reap the Wild Wind, The Women; died Apr 23, 1990
1917 - Leo Gorcey
actor: Dead End Kids/Bowery Boys series: Bowery Buckaroos, Here Come the Marines, �Neath Brooklyn Bridge, Smuggler�s Cove; died June 2, 1969
1918 - Lili St. Cyr (Willis Marie Van Schaak)
actress: The Naked and the Dead, Son of Sinbad; died Jan 29, 1999
1922 - Alain Resnais
director: Last Year at Marienbad, Stavisky, Providence, On conna�t la chanson
1924 - Colleen Dewhurst
Tony Award-winning actress: All the Way Home [1960], A Moon for the Misbegotten [1974]; Desire Under the Elms, Long Day�s Journey into Night, Mourning Becomes Electra, Ah, Wilderness; Emmy Award-winner: Between Two Women [1986], Those She Left Behind [1989], Murphy Brown: Bon and Murphy and Ted and Avery [1991]; died Aug 22, 1991
1925 - Tony Curtis (Bernard Schwartz)
actor: Some Like It Hot, The Great Impostor, The Defiant Ones, Houdini, Trapeze, The Boston Strangler, Christmas in Connecticut, The Count of Monte Cristo
1926 - (Irwin) Allen Ginsberg
Beat Generation poet: Howl, and Other Poems, Kaddish and Other Poems, Reality Sandwiches, The Fall of America: Poems of These States; died Apr 5, 1997
1929 - Chuck Barris
producer: Dating Game, Newlywed Game, Three�s a Crowd; producer/host: The Gong Show; songwriter: Palisades Park; novelist: You and Me, Babe
1932 - Dakota Staton (Aliyah Rabia)
jazz singer: No Man is Going to Change Me, The Late Late Show, Dynamic!, Crazy He Calls Me, Time to Swing; died Apr 10, 2007
1934 - Jim (James Edward) Gentile
�Diamond Jim�: baseball: Brooklyn Dodgers, LA Dodgers, Baltimore Orioles [2 grand slams in same game: 1961/record shared with 8 others], KC Athletics, Houston Astros, Cleveland Indians
1939 - Ian Hunter (Patterson)
guitar, singer, songwriter: group: Mott the Hoople: All the Young Dudes, Ballad of Mott, All the Way to Memphis, The Golden Age of Rock �n� Roll, Saturday Gigs; book: Diary of a Rock Star
1942 - Curtis Mayfield
songwriter; Grammy Award-winning singer: Superfly, Freddie�s Dead; group: The Impressions; inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame [3-15-99]; died Dec 26, 1999
1943 - Billy Cunningham
�Kangaroo Kid�: Basketball Hall of Famer: basketball: Philadelphia 76ers; Carolina Cougars: ABA player of the year [1972]; coach of Philadelphia �76ers
1944 - Mike Clarke (Michael Dick)
musician: drummer: group: The Byrds: Mr. Tambourine Man, Turn! Turn! Turn!; died Dec 19, 1993
1945 - Hale Irwin
golf champion: U.S. Open [1974, 1979, 1990]: the majors� oldest winner [45 years]
1946 - Eddie Holman
singer: Hey There Lonely Girl; made first singing appearance at age of two at Metropolitan AME Zion church, Norfolk, VA; ordained Baptist minister since the early 1980s
1947 - Michael Burton
Olympic Gold medalist: 1,500-meter freestyle [1968, 1972], 400-meter freestyle [1968] - the only swimmer to win this event twice; founded Des Moines, Iowa Aquatic Club
1950 - Suzi Quatro (Susan Kay Quatro)
singer: Stumblin� In [w/Chris Norman]; actress: Happy Days
1950 - Deniece Williams
singer: Let�s Hear It for the Boy, Too Much, Too Little, Too Late [w/Johnny Mathis], Free, It�s Gonna Take a Miracle
1952 - Billy Powell
musician: keyboards: group: Lynryd Skynyrd: Sweet Home Alabama
1954 - Dan Hill
singer: Sometimes When We Touch
1958 - Scott Valentine
actor: Family Ties, Midnight Caller, Object of Obsession, Out of Annie�s Past, To Sleep with a Vampire, Write to Kill, Dangerous Pursuit, Deadtime Stories
1961 - Charles Hart
Broadway lyricist: Phantom of the Opera, Aspects of Love.
Chart Toppers
1946 The Gypsy - The Ink Spots
All Through the Day - Perry Como
They Say It�s Wonderful - Frank Sinatra
New Spanish Two Step - Bob Wills
1954 Little Things Mean a Lot - Kitty Kallen
Three Coins in the Fountain - The Four Aces
The Happy Wanderer - Frank Weir
I Really Don�t Want to Know - Eddy Arnold
1962 I Can�t Stop Loving You - Ray Charles
Lovers Who Wander - Dion
Shout! Shout! (Knock Yourself Out) - Ernie Maresca
She Thinks I Still Care - George Jones
1970 Everything is Beautiful - Ray Stevens
Love on a Two-Way Street - The Moments
Cecilia - Simon & Garfunkel
1978 Too Much, Too Little, Too Late - Johnny Mathis/Deniece Williams
You�re the One that I Want - John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John
Shadow Dancing - Andy Gibb
Do You Know You are My Sunshine - The Statler Brothers
1986 Greatest Love of All - Whitney Houston
Live to Tell - Madonna
On My Own - Patti LaBelle & Michael McDonald
Whoever�s in New England - Reba McEntire
Those were the days, my friend. We thought they�d never end... ;)
For those who are reading this, be sure and stop in daily as I will keep this updated daily. I use to do a, Today in history article daily on my morning radio show.
All I ask of you, is to not to post in this thread, so that others that view this thread will not have to scroll down to view the contents.
You are however, welcomed to PM. me or even start a thread on comments about, Today in history.
Thanks for your kind, considerate understanding. :)
ShadowThomas
155th day of 2007 - 210 remaining.
Monday, June 4, 2007
UP, UP AND AWAY DAY. :D
Although the first flight of any significant length, in any object, was achieved by a man on November 21, 1783; a woman did it higher, and longer on this day in 1784. Elisabeth Thible of Lyon, France was the first woman to fly in a hot-air balloon. Her flight lasted 45 minutes, that�s 20 minutes longer than the flying trip her male counterparts (Dr. Pil�tre de Rozier and his faithful courtier, the Marquis d�Arlandes) took some 6 months earlier.
Mme. Thible�s balloon, named Le Gustave (after Sweden�s King Gustav III, who viewed the ascent), rose 8,500 feet (2,591 meters). The guys only made it to 2,953 feet (900 meters).
Elisabeth (in France) -- or Elizabeth (in England and the U.S.) or Marie (in those places where she has been confused with a man named Marie) -- was guided in her quest by pilot (and artist) Monsieur Fleurant, who told reporters that the opera singer �sang like a bird� while she drifted across Lyon. We suppose she sang, �Up, up and away in my beautiful balloon...�
Events
June 4th.
1674 - Horse racing became a nag to the good people of Plymouth, Massachusetts, and the sport was prohibited in the colony.
1816 - The Washington, the first stately double-decker steamboat, was launched at Wheeling, WV.
1831 - The independent constitutional monarchy of Belgium named Prince Leopold as its first king. 109 years later, less one week, King Leopold�s descendant, Leopold III, surrendered to Germany.
1896 - Henry Ford took a trial run in his Ford automobile around the streets of Detroit, MI.
1917 - Laura E. Richards and Maude H. Elliott, along with their assistant, Florence Hall, received the first Pulitzer Prize for a biography. The title of their work was Julia Ward Howe. With Americans of Past and Present Days, by Jean Jules Jusserand, received the first prize for history; while Herbert B. Swope picked up the first reporter�s Pulitzer. He wrote for the New York World. Altogether, these were the very first Pulitzer Prizes ever awarded.
1924 - In memory of all the soldiers from the state of New York who died in the first World War, an eternal light was dedicated at Madison Square in New York City.
1931 - The first rocket-glider flight was made by William Swan in Atlantic City, NJ.
1934 - The Dorsey Brothers, Tommy and Jimmy, recorded Annie�s Cousin Fanny on the Brunswick label. The track featured trombonist Glenn Miller, who also vocalized on the tune.
1939 - Sylvan Goldman introduced the first grocery-store shopping cart in Oklahoma City, OK. The original shopping cart was actually a folding chair mounted on wheels.
1942 - Glenn Wallichs did what was called �promotion� for Capitol Records in Hollywood. He came up with the idea that he could send copies of Capitol�s new records to influential radio announcers all around the U.S. and, maybe, add to the chances that stations would play the records. The practice would soon become common among most record labels.
1944 - Leonidas Witherall was first broadcast on the Mutual Broadcasting System. Witherall was a detective who looked just like William Shakespeare.
1949 - Jack Kramer defeated Bobby Riggs and won the men�s pro-tennis title.
1962 - The legendary sportscaster Clem McCarthy died. McCarthy was the first to announce the running of the Kentucky Derby back in 1928.
1964 - Sandy Koufax of the Los Angeles Dodgers tied Bob Feller�s 1951 record by pitching a third career no-hit baseball game. Koufax blanked the Philadelphia Phillies 3-0. He struck out a dozen Phillies� batters.
1974 - Cleveland Indians public relations experts thought that �Ten Cent Beer Night� would bring out the fans and otherwise help the slumping Indians -- a team no one cared to watch. The promotion was a disaster. Oh, sure, there was plenty of dime brew sold at Municipal Stadium that night. But there were soon plenty of drunken, surly, unruly fans, too, which made it possible for the Indians to forfeit the ball game to the Texas Rangers. Municipal Stadium could seat some 60,000 fans and only 22,000 showed up for the frolic and merriment.
1984 - For the first time in 32 years, golfing-great Arnold Palmer failed to make the cut for the U.S. Open golf tournament. Palmer missed making the tourney by two strokes.
1987 - Edwin Moses, who had won a total of 122 consecutive victories in the 400-meter hurdles, was defeated by Danny Harris in Madrid, Spain. It had been ten years since Moses had lost the event.
1989 - Democracy took a hard blow this day in Peking as the People�s Army of China opened fire on crowds of demonstrators. What began as a student demonstration on behalf of democracy a month and a half earlier, had become a demonstration of hundreds of thousands of people from all walks of life defying the government ban on the students� action. Armored tanks of the People�s Army literally rolled over demonstrators as the world watched in horror as the tragedy unfolded on live TV. The government issued statements claiming that only a few had died. Other estimates of the deaths in Tiananmen Square ranged from hundreds to several thousand. There is no contradiction of the fact that thousands of demonstrators were later jailed.
Birthdays
June 4th.
1738 - King George III
King of Great Britain and Ireland [1760-1811] during time of the American Revolutionary War against the British; died Jan 29, 1820
1907 - Rosalind Russell
actress: My Sister Eileen, Sister Kenny, Auntie Mame, Mourning Becomes Electra, China Seas, Picnic, Gypsy; died Nov 28, 1976
1910 - Sir Christopher ****erell
inventor: the Hovercraft; died June 1, 1999
1917 - Charles Collingwood
journalist: CBS news correspondent from WWII thru Viet Nam; died Oct 3, 1985
1917 - Robert Merrill (Moishe Miller)
Metropolitan Opera singing star; died Oct 23, 2004
1920 - Russell Train
environmentalist: US Environmental Protection Agency Administrator, head of World Wildlife Fund
1921 - Bobby Wanzer
Basketball Hall of Famer: player/coach: Rochester Royals, Cincinnati Royals
1924 - (Billy) Dennis Weaver
actor: Gunsmoke, McCloud, Gentle Ben, Disaster at Silo 7, Lonesome Dove: The Series; died Feb 24, 2006
1928 - Dr. Ruth Westheimer (Karola Ruth Siegel)
sex therapist; author; TV celebrity
1930 - Morgana King
jazz singer, actress: The Godfather, The Godfather Part 2, A Time to Remember
1936 - Bruce Dern
actor: Black Sunday, Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte, Coming Home, The �Burbs, They Shoot Horses Don�t They?, Middle Age Crazy
1937 - Freddy Fender (Baldemar Huerta)
singer: Wasted Days and Wasted Nights, Before the Next Teardrop Falls; died Oct 14, 2006
1937 - Robert Fulghum
author: It Was on Fire When I Lay Down on It, All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten
1938 - Pat Studstill
golf champion: U.S. Open [1974, 1975], Du Maurier Classic [1982], LPGA [1974]
1944 - Roger Ball
musician: saxophone, keyboards: group: Average White Band: Pick Up the Pieces, Work to Do, Let�s Go Around Again
1944 - Michelle Phillips (Holly Michelle Gilliam)
singer: group: The Mamas and the Papas: California Dreamin�, Monday, Monday, I Saw Her Again, Words of Love, Dedicated to the One I Love, Creeque Alley; actress: The Last Movie, Dillinger, Knot�s Landing
1945 - Gordon Waller
singer: duo: Peter and Gordon: World Without Love, Nobody I Know, I Don�t Want to See You Again, I Go to Pieces, Lady Godiva; actor: Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
1946 - Bettina Gregory
international broadcast journalist: ranging from White House and Pentagon coverage to environmental orientations such as Love Canal and Three Mile Island
1951 - Ron Mabra
football: Miami Dolphins guard: Super Bowls VIII, XIX
1952 - Parker Stevenson
actor: The Hardy Boys Mysteries, Baywatch, Melrose Place, Falcon Crest
1953 - Larry (Lawrence Calvin) Demery
baseball: pitcher: Pittsburgh Pirates
1956 - Keith David
actor: Dead Presidents, The Quick and the Dead, The Last Outlaw, Final Analysis, Men at Work, Always, Bird, Platoon, The Thing, Crash, Agent Cody Banks, Hollywood Homicide, Barbershop, Novocaine, Semper Fi, The Replacements
1958 - Eddie Velez
actor: Extremities, Bitter Vengeance, Rooftops, Romero, Split Decisions, Women�s Club, Doin� Time, True Blue, Trial and Error, Charlie & Co., Berrenger�s, The A-Team, Traffic
1961 - El (Eldra) DeBarge
singer: group: DeBarge: I Like It, All This Love, Time Will Reveal, Rhythm of the Night
1965 - Andrea Jaeger
tennis: U.S. Open semifinals [1980 at age 15]; U.S. Olympic women�s team [1984]
1966 - Cecilia Bartoli
(mezzo-soprano: Rossina [Il barbiere di Siviglia], title role of La Cenerentola, Zerlina [Don Giovanni], Despina and Dorabella [Cosi fan tutte], Susanna and Cherubino [Le nozze fi Figaro], Euridice and Genio in Haydn's Orfeo ed Euridice; in films: Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Mozart: Requiem, La Cenerentola, Cos� fan tutte)
1968 - Scott Wolf
actor: Party of Five, The Evening Star, The Naked Dead
1971 - Noah Wyle
actor: ER, Can�t Stop Dancing, Pirates of Silicon Valley, Scenes of the Crime
1975 - Angelina Jolie (Voight)
Academy Award-winning supporting actress: Girl, Interrupted; Gia, George Wallace, Cyborg 2, Foxfire, Playing by Heart, Tomb Raider, Original Sin; daughter of actor Jon Voight)
Chart Toppers
1947 Mam�selle - Art Lund
Linda - Buddy Clark with the Ray Noble Orchestra
My Adobe Hacienda - Eddy Howard
What is Life Without Love - Eddy Arnold
1955 Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White - Perez Prado
A Blossom Fell - Nat King Cole
Rock Around the Clock - Bill Haley & His Comets
In the Jailhouse Now - Webb Pierce
1963 It�s My Party - Lesley Gore
I Love You Because - Al Martino
Da Doo Ron Ron - The Crystals
Lonesome 7-7203 - Hawkshaw Hawkins
1971 Brown Sugar - The Rolling Stones
Want Ads - The Honey Cone
It Don�t Come Easy - Ringo Starr
I Won�t Mention It Again - Ray Price
1979 Hot Stuff - Donna Summer
Love You Inside Out - Bee Gees
We are Family - Sister Sledge
If I Said You Had a Beautiful Body Would You Hold It Against Me -
Bellamy Brothers
1987 With or Without You - U2
You Keep Me Hangin� On - Kim Wilde
Always - Atlantic Starr
It Takes a Little Rain (To Make Love Grow) - The Oak Ridge Boys
Those were the days, my friend. We thought they�d never end... ;)
For those who are reading this, be sure and stop in daily as I will keep this updated daily. I use to do a, Today in history article daily on my morning radio show.
All I ask of you, is to not to post in this thread, so that others that view this thread will not have to scroll down to view the contents.
You are however, welcomed to PM. me or even start a thread on comments about, Today in history.
Thanks for your kind, considerate understanding. :)
ShadowThomas
06-04-2007 12:04 AM
Just a note to my daily readers. I have to put up June 5th Today in history on count of having Oral surgery at 9:00 AM. Not to sure I would be up to posting at my usual time.
I hope to be back for 6/6/07 Today in history. ;)
Enjoy.
156th day of 2007 - 209 remaining.
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
HOPALONG CASSIDY DAY. :)
Today is the anniversary of the birth of William Boyd, born in Cambridge, Ohio in 1895.
Boyd is better known to movie-goers and TV audiences throughout the world as Hopalong Cassidy. He first played the role of the cowboy hero in the 1935 movie, Hop-a-long Cassidy.
What most of us don�t know is that Clarence E. Mulford, the author and creator of the original Hopalong, described him as a rather unsavory character rather than the straight-thinking, straight-shooting cowboy that William Boyd portrayed.
Boyd was Hopalong Cassidy in 66 films through 1948 (he bought the rights to the character in 1945), and then he starred as Hopalong in the successful TV series in the 1950s. For over twenty years, children and adults, alike, thrilled to the adventures of Hopalong Cassidy, his horse Topper, and his sidekick played by George �Gabby� Hayes, and later, by Andy Clyde.
Although William Boyd starred in Cecil B. DeMille�s Volga Boatman; and in many silent movies and a slew of westerns other than the Hopalong Cassidy series; he will always be remembered as �Hoppy�.
Events
June 5th.
1783 - Joseph and Jacques Montgolfier were brothers. They made their first balloon ascension on this day. This means that their balloon went up, successfully, we might add, to 1,500 feet for about ten minutes.
1865 - Rev. Sabine Baring-Gould listened quietly and with pride as his composition, Onward Christian Soldiers, was presented for the first time in Horbury, England.
1876 - For one thin dime, visitors to Philadelphia�s Centennial Exposition were able to buy foil-wrapped bananas, a popular taste treat in the United States. We tried one as an experiment for lunch today -- and heartily agree! It is especially interesting how the aluminum foil creates a kind of buzzing feeling on your teeth as the banana gets chewed up!
1927 - Johnny Weissmuller set a pair of world records in swimming events. Weissmuller, who would soon become Tarzan in the movies, set marks in the 100-yard, and 220-yard, free-style swimming competition.
1941 - Roy Eldridge was featured on trumpet and vocal as drummer Gene Krupa and his band recorded After You�ve Gone for Okeh Records.
1942 - Sammy Kaye and his orchestra recorded the classic I Left My Heart at the Stage Door Canteen for Victor Records.
1952 - �Jersey� Joe Walcott defended his heavyweight-boxing title by out-pointing Ezzard Charles in Philadelphia, PA. Jersey Joe would lose the heavyweight crown four months later to Rocky Marciano.
1956 - Elvis Presley made his second appearance on Milton Berle�s Texaco Star Theatre. Presley sang Heartbreak Hotel, his number one hit. The TV critics were not kind to Elvis� appearance on the show. They panned him, saying his performance looked �like the mating dance of an aborigine.�
1959 - Bob Zimmerman graduated from high school in Hibbing, MN. Zimmerman was known as a greaser to classmates in the remote rural community, because of his long sideburns and leather jacket. Soon, Zimmerman would be performing at coffee houses at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, and later, in Greenwich Village in New York City. He would also change his name to Bob Dylan (after poet Dylan Thomas, so the story goes).
1964 - David Jones and The King Bees had their first record, Liza Jane, released by Vocalion Records of Great Britain. Less than a decade later, we came to know Jones better as David Bowie.
1967 - Ongoing political problems (control and reunification of Jerusalem, access through the strait of Tiran, control of the West Bank of the Jordan River, etc.) came to a head, causing a major outbreak of hostilities (later referred to as the Six Day War) between Israel and Egypt. The Israelis, who had at first met strong Egyptian resistance, destroyed 50 of Egypt�s tanks and stormed through Gaza, and this was only Day One; the beginning of a quick and ferocious victory for the Israeli ground and air forces, led by Defense Minister Moshe Dayan; and a humiliating defeat for Egypt�s Gamal Abdel Nasser. Both sides are still blaming the other for firing the first shot.
1967 - New franchises in the National Hockey League were awarded to the Minnesota North Stars, the California Golden Seals and the Los Angeles Kings. The North Stars moved to Dallas in the mid-1990s and the Golden Seals are now nonexistent.
1968 - While celebrating his victory in the California Democratic presidential primary in Los Angeles, Senator Robert F. Kennedy (brother of assassinated U.S. President John F. Kennedy) was shot in the head. He died the following day. The gunman, Sirhan Sirhan, was later convicted of the murder.
1972 - Maureen McGovern quit her job as a full-time secretary for a new career as a full-time singer. Maureen was part of a trio before recording as a solo artist in July, 1973. Her first song, The Morning After, from the movie, The Poseidon Adventure, was a million-seller. She also sang the theme, Different Worlds, from ABC-TV�s Angie, and Can You Read My Mind from the movie, Superman. Ms. McGovern starred in Pirates of Penzance for 14 months on Broadway.
1973 - The first hole-in-one in the British Amateur golf championship was made this day -- by Jim Crowford of Winston-Salem, NC.
1985 - Steve Cauthen rode Slip Anchor to the winner�s circle. He was the first American jockey in 79 years to win the Epsom Derby, Great Britain�s premier flat racing event.
1987 - Ted Koppel and guests discussed the topic of AIDS for four hours on ABC-TV�s Nightline. It is believed that this was a record for the longest live-TV broadcast, other than of space coverage and political conventions.
2004 - Former U.S. President Ronald Reagan died at his home in Los Angeles, CA. He was 93 years old and had suffered from Alzheimer�s disease since at least late 1994. Reagan won the Republican Presidential nomination in 1980. Voters troubled by inflation and by the year-long confinement of Americans in Iran swept the Republican ticket into office -- and the Democratic ticket out (Reagan won 489 electoral votes to 49 for President Jimmy Carter).
Birthdays
June 5th.
1723 - Adam Smith
philosopher and author: An Enquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations; died July 17, 1790
1819 - John Couch Adams
mathematician, astronomer: determined the existence of the planet Neptune [Sep 23, 1846]; died Jan 21, 1892
1895 - William Boyd
actor; died Sep 12, 1972; see Hopalong Cassidy Day [above]
1916 - Eddie (Edwin David) Joost
baseball: Cincinnati Reds [World Series: 1940], Boston Braves, Philadelphia Athletics [all-star: 1949, 1952], Boston Red Sox
1919 - Richard Scarry
author & illustrator: children�s books: Richard Scarry�s Best Word Book Ever, Richard Scarry�s Please & Thank You; died Apr 30, 1994
1922 - Gordon �Specs� Powell
musician: bongos: LP: Movin� In; CBS staff musician
1925 - Art Donovan
Pro Football Hall of Famer: Baltimore Colts [defensive tackle], New York Yanks, Dallas Texans
1925 - Bill Hayes
singer, entertainer: The Ballad of Davy Crockett, Wringle, Wrangle; actor: Days of Our Lives
1928 - Tony Richardson
Academy Award-winning director: Tom Jones [1963]; A Taste of Honey, The Phantom of the Opera, Charge of the Light Brigade, The Entertainer, The Hotel New Hampshire; died Nov 14, 1991
1929 - Robert Lansing (Brown)
actor: Kung Fu: The Legend Continues, The Equalizer, 87th Precinct, Twelve O�Clock High, Under the Yum Yum Tree, The Man Who Never Was, The Grissom Gang, Namu the Killer Whale; died Oct 23, 1994
1931 - Jacques Demy
playwright: The Umbrellas of Cherbourg; died Oct 27, 1990
1932 - Pete Jolly (Cragioli)
musician: pianist: in films: I Want to Live!, The Wild Party, This World, Then the Fireworks; group: Pete Jolly Trio; died Nov 6, 2004
1934 - Bill Moyers
Emmy Award-winning journalist: CBS News, PBS: Bill Moyers Journal; author: Healing and the Mind
1939 - Charles �Joe� Clark
16th Prime Minister of Canada [1979-1980]: the youngest to hold that post
1941 - Floyd Butler
singer: groups: The Hi-Fis, Fifth Dimension, Friends of Distinction: Grazing in the Grass; died in 1990
1941 - Spalding Gray
actor: Diabolique, Beyond Rangoon, Bad Company, King of the Hill, Our Town, Beaches, Swimming to Cambodia, True Stories, The Killing Fields, Hard Choices; screenwriter, actor: Monster in a Box; died Jan 10, 2004
1941 - Duke (Duane B) Sims
baseball: catcher: Cleveland Indians, LA Dodgers, Detroit Tigers, NY Yankees, Texas Rangers
1945 - Don Reid
singer: Grammy Award-winning group: The Statler Brothers: Flowers on the Wall, Bed of Roses, Class of �57; CMA Vocal Group of the Year [1972-1980]
1946 - Freddie Stone
singer: group: Sly and the Family Stone: Everyday People, Thank You [Falettinme be Mice Elf Agin]
1947 - Laurie (Laura) Anderson
singer: O Superman, Language is a Virus from Outer Space, LPs: Big Science, Mr. Heartbreak, United States, Home of the Brave
1947 - Don Herrmann
hockey: WHL: Vancouver Blazers, Calgary Cowboys, Toronto Toros, Birmingham Bulls
1956 - Richard �Butler Rep� Butler
singer, songwriter: group: Psychedelic Furs: We Love You, Love My Way, Heaven, Pretty in Pink
1971 - Mark Wahlberg
musician: guitar, singer: group: Marky Mark and The Funky Bunch: Good Vibrations; actor: Renaissance Man, Calvin Klein commercials
1974 - Chad Allen
actor: St. Elsewhere, Webster, Dr. Quinn, Medicin Woman.
Chart Toppers
1948 Nature Boy - Nat King Cole
Toolie Oolie Doolie - The Andrews Sisters
Baby Face - The Art Mooney Orchestra
Texarkana Baby - Eddy Arnold
1956 The Wayward Wind - Gogi Grant
Standing on the Corner - The Four Lads
I�m in Love Again - Fats Domino
Blue Suede Shoes - Carl Perkins
1964 Love Me Do - The Beatles
Chapel of Love - The Dixie Cups
Love Me with All Your Heart - The Ray Charles Singers
My Heart Skips a Beat - Buck Owens
1972 I�ll Take You There - The Staple Singers
The Candy Man - Sammy Davis, Jr.
Sylvia�s Mother - Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show
The Happiest Girl in the Whole U.S.A. - Donna Fargo
1980 Funkytown - Lipps, Inc.
Coming Up - Paul McCartney & Wings
Don�t Fall in Love with a Dreamer - Kenny Rogers with Kim Carnes
My Heart - Ronnie Milsap
1988 One More Try - George Michael
Shattered Dreams - Johnny Hates Jazz
Naughty Girls (Need Love Too) - Samantha Fox
What She Is (Is a Woman in Love) - Earl Thomas Conley
Those were the days, my friend. We thought they�d never end... ;)
For those who are reading this, be sure and stop in daily as I will keep this updated daily. I use to do a, Today in history article daily on my morning radio show.
All I ask of you, is to not to post in this thread, so that others that view this thread will not have to scroll down to view the contents.
You are however, welcomed to PM. me or even start a thread on comments about, Today in history.
Thanks for your kind, considerate understanding. :)
ShadowThomas
157th day of 2007 - 208 remaining.
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
PASSION PIT DAY. :)
The first U.S. drive-in to show movies was opened in Camden, New Jersey, on Crescent Boulevard, this night in 1933. Those first drive-in moviegoers got to see Wife Beware, a flick not destined to be a classic. The screen measured a huge 40 feet by 50 feet and was easily seen by everyone in the first cars in the front to the 500th car in the back row. Everyone (including the whole town) could hear the sound, too ... with a slight delay for the folks in the back row because the sound emanated from speakers mounted next to the screen. Admission was 25 cents per person plus 25 cents for the car, maximum $1.00.
As drive-in movies became popular throughout the country, families would regularly park their cars in the front rows so the kids in their PJs could play on the swings and monkey bars before the movie started. The rest parked wherever, since a good number of those moviegoers weren�t there to see the movie anyway!
The passion pits that dotted the country, some with in-car heaters and through-your-radio sound have all but disappeared, as TV, video cassettes and DVDs have made movie viewing more convenient. Those drive-ins that do remain, however, offer more than just all-day swap shops in their huge lots. Some have four or five, even six screens, showing first run films at about $7.00 per carload. (Those stowing away in the trunk will be tossed out of the theatre immediately.)
Be sure to visit the snack bar at intermission for the pizza with the mushroomy-rooms ... and try not to spill your drinks and popcorn while searching for your car ... and remember to remove the speaker from your side window before you drive off. The breaking glass kinda puts a damper on the passion...
Events
June 6th.
1816 - Ten inches of wonderful wet, white snow fell this day in New England. It was one of the latest snowfalls ever (or maybe one of the earliest!) Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!
1833 - The first U.S. President to ride in a railroad car was Andrew Jackson. President Jackson boarded a B&O (Baltimore & Ohio) passenger train in Baltimore, MD.
1844 - The first YMCA was founded in London by George Williams, a young draper�s assistant who had come to London to learn the drapery trade. At that time, wholesale drapery houses employed large numbers of young men, who were given room and board at their work places. They worked long hours and had poor living conditions. Williams sought permission to hold prayer meetings in his bedroom with other young men who, like himself, shared the Christian faith. Soon, the group expanded, drawing to it young men who were alone and lonely in the City of London.
1882 - The first electric flatiron, or what we call the electric iron, was patented by Henry W. Seely of New York City. We bet he probably had the nicest pressed shirts in the neighborhood.
1904 - The National Tuberculosis Association was formed in Atlantic City, NJ.
1932 - The first U.S. federal tax on gasoline was enacted. The rate was a penny per gallon. Ride a bike. Save some money.
1938 - Stella Dallas was presented for the first time on the NBC Red radio network. The serial was �the true to life story of mother love and sacrifice.� Stella Dallas continued to do this and so much more until 1955.
1942 - Adeline Gray made the first nylon-parachute jump in Hartford, CT. It proved, no doubt, better and much more comfortable than the first cinder block-parachute jump...
1944 - CBS radio saluted America�s war doctors with The Doctor Fights, presented for the first time this day.
1944 - This was D-Day, the day thousands of Allied troops invaded the beaches of Normandy, France. Their objective: to open a second major European front in the battle against the Nazis. General Dwight D. Eisenhower, commander of these united forces (and, who later became President of the United States) said, �This landing is but the opening phase of the campaign in Western Europe. Great battles lie ahead. I call upon all who love freedom to stand with us.�
1946 - New York City was the site of the formation of the Basketball Association of America.
1956 - Gogi Grant (born Audrey Brown) reached the top spot on the Billboard singles chart for the first and only time in her career. Her hit, The Wayward Wind, stayed at the top of the top-tune tabulation for eight weeks and on the music charts for 22 weeks. It was her second record release. The first, in October, 1955, was Suddenly There�s a Valley which climbed to number nine.
1962 - The Beatles auditioned for producer George Martin of EMI Records. After listening to a playback of the audition tapes, Martin said, �They�re pretty awful.� He changed his mind after meeting the group, however. The rest, of course, is rock-music history.
1971 - For the last time, we saw Polish dancing bears, a little mouse named Topo Gigio, remembered The Beatles, The Dave Clark Five, the comedy of Jackie Mason, John Byner, Rich Little, Richard Pryor and so many more, as The Ed Sullivan Show left CBS-TV. Gladys Knight and The Pips and singer Jerry Vale appeared on the final show. The Ed Sullivan Show had been a showcase for more than 20 years for artists who ranged from Ethel Merman to Ella Fitzgerald, from Steve and Eydie to the Beatles. The Ed Sullivan Show was the longest running variety show on TV -- a �rillly big sheeeew.�
1973 - Barry White was awarded a gold record for I�m Gonna Love You Just a Little More Baby. It was his first hit and his first of five number one million-sellers. White began recording in 1960. He formed the group, Love Unlimited, in 1969 and married one of the group�s singers, Glodean James. He also formed the 40-piece Love Unlimited Orchestra which had the number-one hit, Love�s Theme in 1973. I�m Casey Kasem. Now back to the count down...
1978 - Proposition 13 passed in California. Voters joined Senator Howard Jarvis in cutting property taxes by 57 percent. This was seen as the birth of a taxpayer�s revolt against high taxes and excessive government spending.
1978 - The ABC-TV newsmagazine 20/20 debuted. Producer Bob Shanks, realizing that the first show was a disaster, fired the co-hosts, magazine editor Harold Hayes and Australian art critic Robert Hughes. The next week, Shanks tapped former Today and Concentration host Hugh Downs, formerly of NBC, to take over the show.
1987 - Steffi Graf beat Martina Navratilova and won her first Grand Slam title at the French Open in Paris. She is the only player in tennis history to win each of the four Grand Slam titles at least four times [Wimbledon: 7, French Open: 6, U.S. Open: 5, Australian Open: 4].
1994 - U.S. President Bill Clinton and other dignitaries from around the world visited Normandy, France. Many D-Day veterans joined them to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Operation Overlord and to pay respect to the thousands who died there in World War II.
1998 - The Boy is Mine, by Brandy and Monica, zoomed to number 1 on the Billboard pop chart. It ruled the Hot 100 roost for 13 weeks -- putting it in the top ten of longest-running #1 singles in the modern rock era.
Birthdays
playwright: Cinna, Le Cid, L�illusion Comique; died Oct 1, 1684
1755 - Nathan Hale
American patriot & Revolutionary War military officer: �I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.�; arrested [Sep 20, 1776] by British troups while spying for General George Washington; executed Sep 22, 1776 at age 21 [by order of British General William Howe]
1756 - John Trumbull
artist: painter of the Revolution: The Battle of Bunker Hill, The Surrender of Cornwallis, The Declaration of Independence; son of colonial Connecticut�s governor; died Nov 10, 1843
1799 - Aleksandr Pushkin
poet: Boris Gudunov, Eugene Onegin; died Feb 10, 1837
1875 - Thomas Mann
author: Little Herr Friedemann, Royal Highness, Confessions of Felix Krull, Confidence Man, Death in Venice, Reflections of an Unpolitical Man, Order of fhe Day, Disorder and Early Sorrow, Mario and the Magician; died Aug 12, 1955
1891 - Ted Lewis (Theodore Leopold Friedman)
clarinettist, singer, bandleader: Ted Lewis & His Band: Somebody Stole My Gal, Alexander�s Ragtime Band; died Aug 25, 1971
1898 - Walter Abel
actor: Raintree County, Mirage, Quick Let�s Get Married, 13 Rue Madeleine, Wake Island, Silent Night Bloody Night, Kid from Brooklyn, Holiday Inn, The Indian Fighter; died Mar 26, 1987
1903 - Aram (Ilyich) Khachaturyan
musician, composer: Sabre Dance, Spartacus; died May 1, 1978
1907 - Bill (William Malcolm) Dickey
Baseball Hall of Famer: catcher: NY Yankees catcher [1928-1946: played in 38 World Series games: 1932, 1936, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1941, 1942, 1943/all-star: 1933, 1934, 1936, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1943, 1946/record: caught 100 or more games 13 years in a row]; died Nov 12, 1993
1909 - Isaiah Berlin
philosopher, historian; died Nov 5, 1997
1926 - Tom Ryan
cartoonist: Tumbleweeds
1932 - David R. Scott
NASA astronaut: flew on Gemini 8, Command Module pilot [Apollo 9], walked and drove first Lunar Rover on the moon as commander of Apollo 15
1932 - Billie Whitelaw
actress: Frenzy, The Dressmaker, The Secret Garden, The Omen, Masterpiece Theatre productions
1934 - Roy Innes
civil rights leader: National Chairman of Congress of Racial Equality [CORE]
1935 - Jon Henricks
swimmer: Univ of Southern California, Olympic Gold Medalist: Melbourne: 2 gold [1956], Rome: 2 gold [1960]
1935 - Bobby Mitchell
Pro Football Hall of Famer: Cleveland Browns running back; Washington Redskins wide receiver: 1st black player for Washington; All Pro [1962, 1964]; four Pro Bowls
1936 - Levi Stubbs (Stubbles)
lead singer: group: The Four Tops: Baby I Need Your Loving, I Can�t Help Myself, Reach Out I�ll be There, Standing in the Shadows of Love, Seven Rooms of Gloom, Bernadette
1939 - Gary U.S. Bonds (Anderson)
singer: Quarter to Three, New Orleans, Rendezvous, Come on Let�s Go
1939 - Ed (Edward) Giacomin
Hockey Hall of Fame goalie: NHL: NY Rangers [Vezina Trophy winner: 1970-71], Detroit Red Wings
1941 - Marshall Johnston
hockey: Univ. of Denver [NCAA Championship team: 1961], Canadian Olympic Team [1964, 1968]; NHL: Minnesota North Stars, California Golden Seals; coach: California Golden Seals, Denver Univ., Colorado Rockies, NJ Devils, NY Islanders, Ottawa Senators
1943 - Merv (Mervin Weldon) Rettenmund
baseball: Baltimore Orioles [World Series: 1969, 1970, 1971], Cincinnati Reds [World Series: 1975], SD Padres, California Angels
1943 - Joe Stampley
country singer: Soul Song, There�s Another Woman, Whiskey Chasin�, Back Slidin�, Double Shot of My Baby�s Love
1944 - Peter Albin
musician: bass, guitar & vocals: group: Big Brother and The Holding Company: Piece of My Heart
1944 - Monty Alexander
jazz musician: piano: So What?
1944 - Bud (Derrel McKinley) Harrelson
baseball: NY Mets [World Series: 1969, 1973/all-star: 1970, 1971], Philadelphia Phillies, Texas Rangers
1945 - David Dukes
actor: War & Remembrance, The Winds of War, Sisters, The Men�s Club, Snow Kill, The Triangle Factory Fire Scandal, The Josephine Baker Story, Held Hostage; died Oct 9, 2000
1947 - Ada Kok
swimmer: Netherlands Olympic silver medalist Tokyo [1964]
1949 - Robert Englund
actor: A Nightmare on Elm Street [1-5], Hustle, A Star is Born, The Adventures of Ford Fairlane
1954 - Harvey Fierstein
Tony Award-winning actor: Torch Song Trilogy [1983]; Mrs. Doubtfire, Bullets Over Broadway; and playwright: Torch Song Trilogy [1983]; La Cage aux Folles, Tidy Endings; actor: Mrs. Doubtfire, Independence Day
1955 - Sandra Bernhard
comedienne, actress: Roseanne, The Richard Pryor Show, Comedy Central: The A-List, The Late Shift, Hudson Hawk, King of Comedy
1956 - Bjorn Borg
tennis champ: French Open [1974-1975, 1978-1981], Wimbledon [1976-1980]
1959 - Amanda Pays
actress: Exposure, Dead on the Money, Leviathan, Off Limits, The Kindred, Oxford Blues, Mad Headroom, The Flash
1960 - Steve Vai
musician: guitar: group: David Lee Roth Band: California Girls.
Chart Toppers
1949 Riders in the Sky - Vaughn Monroe
Again - Doris Day
Some Enchanted Evening - Perry Como
Lovesick Blues - Hank Williams
1957 Love Letters in the Sand - Pat Boone
A Teenagers Romance/I�m Walkin� - Ricky Nelson
A White Sport Coat (And a Pink Carnation) - Marty Robbins
Four Walls - Jim Reeves
1965 Help Me, Rhonda - The Beach Boys
Wooly Bully - Sam The Sham and The Pharoahs
Crying in the Chapel - Elvis Presley
What�s He Doing in My World - Eddy Arnold
1973 My Love - Paul McCartney & Wings
Daniel - Elton John
1981 Bette Davis Eyes - Kim Carnes
Being with You - Smokey Robinson
Stars on 45 medley - Stars on 45
Friends - Razzy Bailey
1989 Rock On - Michael Damian
Soldier of Love - Donny Osmond
Wind Beneath My Wings - Bette Midler
Where Did I Go Wrong - Steve Wariner
Those were the days, my friend. We thought they�d never end... ;)
For those who are reading this, be sure and stop in daily as I will keep this updated daily. I use to do a, Today in history article daily on my morning radio show.
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Waylon Smithers is the personal assistant to what well known fictional character? | Waylon Smithers, Jr. | Simpsons Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia
“Mr. Burns isn't just my heartless boss, he's also my best friend.”
―Waylon Smithers on Mr. Burns
Waylon Joseph Smithers, Jr. (better known as "Mr. Smithers" or simply "Smithers") is Mr. Burns ' personal assistant, executive, and self-proclaimed best friend. He has lived with Burns since he was an infant, and though partly raised by him, Burns has never seen Smithers as a stepson or an heir; nonetheless, his loyalty to his evil boss is sincere.
Smithers is a gay man; he officially came out in The Burns Cage . Although most people in Springfield were aware he was gay before this. He is allergic to bee stings and has hypothyroidism, both of which can kill him. He is also lactose-intolerant.
Contents
Waylon kisses Mr. Burns.
Sexuality
Smithers frequents Springfield's gay section. He is arrested for trying to obtain opium for Mr. Burns . Burns says to Homer "I've never seen someone take to a Turkish prison so quickly." [14] Smithers once went on vacation to a male-only resort. [9] He is passionate about Mr. Burns and has at least occasional fantasies about the older man. In one, Burns appears flying through Smithers' bedroom window as a large predatory bird, or jumping out of a birthday cake and singing "Happy birthday, Mr. Smithers". [15] When Smithers powers up his computer, the screensaver is clearly a de facto nude Mr. Burns saying "Hello Smithers. You're quite good at turning me on".
On one occasion, Smithers is forced to go to Dr. Nick's "no questions asked clinic", having apparently put something in his butt which was now stuck there. [16] Smithers has declared his love for Burns on some occasions, such as kissing Mr. Burns on the lips after saying "Oh, what the hell!", believing the world was ending, later explaining it to him as "merely a sign of my respect". [17] Smithers once said; "I think women and seamen (semen) don't mix". [18]
Burns himself has been involved with several women, much to Smithers's frustration, such as Marge Simpson's mother, Jacqueline Bouvier , Marge herself, and Gloria . He was disgusted by strippers who danced in front of him in a strip club. Smithers was noticeably disgusted when Burns started looking for a female companion. [19] Burns, for his part, views (and refers to) Smithers as a lackey, albeit a highly valued one for his competence and toadying. He has "rewarded" Smithers's devotion with the future "honor" of being buried alive with him after he dies. [20] Smithers has been shown to be somewhat dependent on his relationship with Burns, like the occasion when Burns orders Smithers to take a vacation and Homer is hired as a temporary replacement. When Homer loses his temper and punches Burns in the face, Mr. Burns learns to become self-reliant and this results in Smithers being fired. Smithers decides that he needs to be Burns' assistant and eventually gets his job back. [9] For all his sycophantic devotion to Mr. Burns, Smithers has been willing to challenge him on some occasions. When he opposed his employer's various evil schemes, Burns fired him. As a result of his firing, Smithers became a "hideous drunken wreck" [21] and when Mr. Burns was shot later, Smithers thought he might have done it while he was drunk. When it was proven that he had not, Smithers seemingly forgave Burns and demanded that the culprit be brought to justice, offering a reward for the capture of the perpetrator. [8] A lesser demonstration of this challenging him was when he aided the Simpson children in giving a vital clue towards how Sideshow Bob won the mayoral race, with his reasonings behind this being implied to be disagreement with Sideshow Bob about restricting those of his "sexual lifestyle."
The contents of this article or section are considered to be non-canon and therefore may not have actually happened/existed.
In Squeam, Smithers plans to ditch his own "gay ways", and is the main guy who dresses up like ghostface along with Lovejoy every 15 seconds. It reveals he loves Fox shows and hates that they got canceled and kills Lovejoy by accident. He is later killed by the real killer and falls on Lovejoy as if kissing.
As seen on Professor Frink 's future machine, at age 58, Smithers has to inject himself with some concoction every 10 minutes with a syringe to be heterosexual (upon taking the injection he waves his arms in the air and shouts "I loves boobies!"). [22] At age 65, he thawed out Mr. Burns and had his seventeen stab wounds to the back cured. He attended Lisa Simpson's wedding with him. [23] At age 1050, Smithers' head is on a robotic dog body and follows Mr. Burns' head everywhere. [24]
Smithers appears in The Simpsons Arcade Game as the first boss of the final level, as well as one of the main antagonists. Smithers, presumably under Mr. Burns' command, broke into a jewelry store to steal a diamond. As he and his fellow henchmen were making their escape, he (quite literally) bumped into the Simpson's family, causing him to lose the diamond, and for Maggie to catch it. Due to this setback, Smithers ends up kidnapping Maggie, and, after a few misadventures, he makes it back to the Nuclear Power Plant, although not without the Simpsons family following him. He then fights the family, remarking "Welcome to my world!" He lobbed several explosives at the family. When sensing that he would soon lose, he opened his cape, revealed to be filled with explosives, cackling maniacally only to react in shock as he discovers that the explosives had activated, causing him to be caught in the explosions. For unknown reasons, Smithers in this game actually sounds much higher pitched than in the regular series (most of the other characters usually have more or less the same voices in the game).
In The Simpsons Game , level " Lisa the Tree Hugger ", Smithers was involved in Mr. Burns' plan of trying to cut down the entirety of Springfield Forest, and is comforting him about doing better next time when the plan fails due to Lisa and Bart's interference, as well as phoning some goons to beat up Al Gore. In Mob Rules , he appears as one of the people Marge can use to protest the sales of the Grand Theft Scratchy videogame to minors. In Medal of Homer , a squad of sailors resembling Smithers protects Private Burns on board his personal naval carrier where he protects the stolen paintings from the village of St. Capitulons. According to Abe Simpson during the briefing for the level, the sailors in question fight neither for country nor for God, solely for love.
Smithers with black skin and blue hair, as seen in " Homer's Odyssey "
Waylon Smithers was partly based on how numerous Fox executives and staff members acted towards Barry Diller. [25] The idea for Smithers's orientation came from Sam Simon , who proposed that Smithers should be gay, but the writers should never draw too much attention to it and should try to keep it in the back of their heads. [26] The script for " Blood Feud " originally featured Smithers saying "Just leave me enough to get home to my wife and kids," but the line had to be cut for time. [25] Smithers is voiced by Harry Shearer , who is also the voice of Mr. Burns. [27] Shearer is often able to perform dialogue between the two characters in one take. [28] Dan Castellaneta occasionally fills in for Shearer at table reads and voices Smithers. [28]
Smithers made his first appearance in " Homer's Odyssey ," which was the third episode of the first season , although he can be heard over a speaker in The Simpsons series premiere " Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire ". [29] In his first visual appearance in "Homer's Odyssey", Smithers was mistakenly animated with the wrong color and was made African American by Gyorgi Peluci, the color stylist. David Silverman has claimed that Smithers was always intended to be "Mr Burns' white sycophant," [30] and the staff thought it "would be a bad idea to have a black sub-servient character" and so switched him to his intended color for his next episode. [25] The first appearance of yellow Smithers was " There's No Disgrace Like Home ", the fourth episode of the first season.
Smithers dreams about Mr. Burns in " Marge Gets a Job ." The censors had issues with the "lump in his bed." [31]
Smithers's relationship with Mr. Burns has long been a running joke on The Simpsons. Smithers is an obedient and sycophant assistant to Mr. Burns. There have often been strong hints about Smithers's true feelings for his boss, with one of the earliest references being in the season one episode " The Telltale Head ". [26] Smithers's sexual orientation has often come into question, with some fans claiming he is a "Burns-sexual" and only attracted to his boss, while others maintain that he is obviously gay. During the Bill Oakley / Josh Weinstein era, they still tried to keep his sexuality difficult to pigeon-hole. There was debate among the writers about his orientation. Al Jean , who thinks of Smithers as being a "Burns-sexual", [28] felt that had Mr. Burns been a woman, then Smithers would not be gay. [32] David Silverman , a former supervising director has said, "[Smithers] seems to be focused on one particular human, as opposed to anything beyond that. [Rather than being gay], he's sort of 'Burns-sexual'".
"Waylon Smithers" is actually an anagram of "Wants him sorely". In a 2006 study conducted by the "Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation", it was determined that nine of the 679 lead and supporting characters on scripted broadcast television were gay or lesbian. Smithers was not included among these nine characters, and it caused a mild online controversy. Patty Bouvier , Marge Simpson 's lesbian sister, was included on the list. [33] The debate is referenced in " The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular ", when the episode host, Troy McClure is answering viewer questions, and one that is asked is "What is the real deal with Mr. Burns' assistant Smithers? You know what I'm talking about." A montage of various clips that shows Smithers' lust for Mr. Burns follows, and in the end, McClure says "as you can see, the real deal with Waylon Smithers is that he's Mr. Burns' assistant. He's in his early forties, is unmarried, and currently resides in Springfield. Thanks for asking!" [34]
Several of the allusions to Smithers's sexuality have turned into battles with the censors. For example, in Smithers' fantasy of a naked Mr. Burns popping out of a birthday cake in " Rosebud ", the censors had not wanted Mr. Burns to be naked. Another example is " Marge Gets a Job ", which has a dream sequence where Smithers is sleeping and Burns flies through a window. The sequence shows Burns flying towards him and Smithers looking happy, but originally it went on for a few seconds longer. It had to be trimmed down due to scenes that showed "Mr. Burns land[ing] on a particular position on Smithers's anatomy". [32] There were also issues with "the lump in his bed", which the animators had been drawn as his knee, but the censors had misinterpreted. [31]
In the early seasons, Smithers has an occasional catchphrase, which comes from a recurring joke that Mr. Burns never remembers who Homer is. In some scenes, Smithers and Burns would watch Homer over a security camera Burns will ask, "Who is that man?", to which Smithers would reply, "That's Homer Simpson, sir, one of your [insert drones, organ banks, carbon blobs, etc.] from sector 7G."
In the second season, the writers started to enjoy writing about Smithers and Burns's relationship, and the writers often pitched episodes with them as the focus, but many never came to fruition. [35]
In 2004, Simpsons producers announced that one of the characters was going to come out of the closet. [36] Speculation on who it would be was printed in newspapers throughout the United States and Canada (even claiming Smithers's "sexual orientation was about the worst-kept secret in Springfield,") [37] as well as in Australia , [38] New Zealand, [39] Ireland , (the Irish Independent called Smithers "too obvious" a choice) [40] and the United Kingdom. [41] Despite Matt Groening joking that it would be Homer, The Boston Herald calculated the odds of several characters being gay with Smithers at a million to one. [42] PlanetOut hosted an online poll in the weeks prior to the episode to determine based on "cartoon gaydar" who was gay on the Simpsons, with 97% of the respondents choosing Smithers. Jenny Stewart, the entertainment editor at the site said of the poll, "We've never had such an avalanche of people voting in any of our polls as we did on The Simpsons." [43] After the guessing, it was Patty Bouvier who came out. [44]
Reception
In a 2007 article, Entertainment Weekly named Smithers the sixteenth greatest sidekick of all time. [45] They have also described Smithers and Mr. Burns as being "TV's most functional dysfunctional couple". [46] Star News Online named "Smithers' fey way" as one of the four hundred reasons why they loved The Simpsons. [47] In a 2003 article, Entertainment Weekly named the Who Shot Mr. Burns? duo of episodes , in which Smithers was prominently featured, 25th best episode. [46]
Smithers was made into an action figure, and four different versions were included as part of the World of Springfield toy line. The first shows Smithers in his normal attire with a picture of Mr. Burns at his feet and was released in 2000 as part of "wave two". [48] The second, released in 2002 as part of "wave ten", is called "resort Smithers" and shows him dressed as he was at the resort in the episode "Homer the Smithers". [49]
In 2003, a series of figures exclusive to Electronics Boutique was released, and a set of one Mr. Burns figure and two different Smithers toys based on the episode " Rosebud " were included. One, called "Bobo Smithers" shows Smithers dressed as Mr. Burns' teddy bear Bobo; [50] and the other, known as "future Smithers", shows him as a robotic dog. [51] A "future Burns" was included in the set as a companion to "future Smithers" and depicts Burns as how he appeared as a robot at the end of the episode. [52]
Trivia
Marge once disguised herself as Smithers in the episode " At Long Last Leave "; later in the same episode, Mr. Teeny did the same.
Slithers is a parody and a pun on Smithers; he appears in " Treehouse of Horror XII ".
He co-owned Moe's Tavern in its gay version 'Mo's in " Flaming Moe ".
He has a superhero alter ego Kid Sourpuss .
Gallery
| Mr. Burns |
Which Latin phrase, which translates as 'this for that', is taken to mean a more-or-less equal exchange or substitution of goods or services? | Smithers to finally come out as gay on 'The Simpsons'
Smithers to finally come out as gay on 'The Simpsons'
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Simpsons characters welcome guests at the Fox Studios in Los Angeles, California, on May 7, 2009 (AFP Photo/Gabriel Bouys)
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Los Angeles (AFP) - It has been an open secret for a while but Waylon Smithers Jr., of the long-running cartoon comedy "The Simpsons," is finally coming out as gay.
According to the show's producer, Smithers, who has unsuccessfully hidden his sexuality for years, will come out to his tyrannical boss 'Mr. Burns' during two episodes of this year's season which began Sunday.
"In Springfield now, most people know he's gay, but obviously Burns doesn't," producer Al Jean told TVLine.
"We deal with that in two episodes," he added.
"We actually do a lot with Smithers this year. He gets fed up with Burns not appreciating him and considers his options."
Smithers's infatuation with his billionaire boss has been hinted at in many episodes of the iconic show which began airing in 1989 and is the longest running prime-time sitcom in the US.
The show follows the trials and tribulations of the Simpsons, a dysfunctional family that lives in the fictional town of Springfield.
"Mr. Burns", the owner of a nuclear plant, is the town's richest citizen and Smithers is his personal assistant and self-proclaimed best friend.
Smithers's coming out is in line with changes in recent years in the US television and movie industries, which have reflected more tolerance in society toward gays, lesbians and transgender people.
"The idea of a show that has an openly gay character has ceased to be remarkable," said Robert Thompson, director of Syracuse University's Center for the Study of Popular Television.
Nonetheless, he added, Smithers's coming out reinforces acceptance of the LGBT community.
"Before the 1970s, we had virtually no gays or lesbians or transgender people on television at all," he said. "They were virtually invisible.
"And I guess the Smithers story is one more character that demonstrates that is not the case anymore."
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Won by Ray Harroun at the amazing speed of 74.602mph, the first Indianapolis 500 race was held in what year? | IndyCar Results - 2013 Indy 500: Race results
2013 Indy 500: Race results
2013 Indy 500: Race results
26 May 2013
Results and top facts and figures from the 97th running of the Indianapolis 500 race on Sunday May 26 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
2013 Indy 500: Race results
It was the 97th running of the greatest spectacle of motorsport at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, 102 years after the first time that the 500-mile race was staged at the 2.5-mile superpeedway on May 30, 1911 and won by Ray Harroun after a six hour, 43 minute marathon at an average speed of 74.602mph
The 2013 Indy 500 took only two hours and 40 minutes and Tony Kanaan's victory came with an average speed of 187.433mph, which broke Arie Luyendyk previous 1990 record of 185.981mph - and that was just the first of several new records to be shattered by this year's event.
There were 68 lead changes at the line - double the previous record set just last year of 34 - split between 14 different drivers, breaking the previous high of 12 set back in 1993. And with 27 cars making it to the chequered flag, it beat the previous high of 26 which had stood since the very first race in 1911.
Ed Carpenter led the most laps in this year's race (37) and Simon Pagenaud gained the most positions compared with his starting grid position (13, finishing in eighth place.) The fastest lap of the race was 226.940mph set by Justin Wilson on lap 185.
Race results
1. #11 Tony Kanaan KV Racing Chevrolet 2hrs 40mins 3.4181secs after 200 laps/500 miles
On lead lap under caution:
2. #26 Carlos Munoz * Andretti Autosport Chevrolet
3. #1 Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti Autosport Chevrolet
4. #25 Marco Andretti Andretti Autosport Chevrolet
5. #19 Justin Wilson Dale Coyne Racing Honda
6. #3 Helio Castroneves Team Penske Chevrolet
7. #2 AJ Allmendinger Team Penske Chevrolet
8. #77 Simon Pagenaud Schmidt-Hamilton Honda
9. #83 Charlie Kimball Ganassi Honda
10. #20 Ed Carpenter Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet
11. #22 Oriol Servià Panther/DRR Chevrolet
12. #8 Ryan Briscoe Ganassi Honda
13. #14 Takuma Sato AJ Foyt Racing Honda
14. #9 Scott Dixon Ganassi Honda
15. #18 Ana Beatriz Dale Coyne Racing Honda
16. #55 Tristan Vautier Schmidt-Peterson Honda
17. #78 Simona de Silvestro KV Racing Chevrolet
18. #5 EJ Viso Andretti Autosport-HVM Chevrolet
19. #12 Will Power Penske Chevrolet
Off lead lap/retirements:
20. #16 James Jakes Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda + 1 lap
21. #27 James Hinchcliffe Andretti Autosport Chevrolet + 1 lap
22. #41 Conor Daly * AJ Foyt Racing Honda + 2 laps
23. #10 Dario Franchitti Ganassi Honda + 3 laps Accident
24. #98 Alex Tagliani Bryan Herta Autosport Honda + 4 laps
25. #15 Graham Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda + 7 laps Accident
26. #81 Katherine Legge Schmidt-Peterseon Honda + 7 laps
27. #60 Townsend Bell Panther Racing Chevrolet + 8 laps
28. #67 Josef Newgarden Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing Honda + 9 laps
29. #7 Sebastien Bourdais Dragon Racing Chevrolet + 21 laps Accident
30. #63 Pippa Mann Dale Coyne Racing Honda + 154 laps Contact damage
31. #91 Buddy Lazier Lazier Partners Chevrolet + 156 laps Mechanical
32. #6 Sebastian Saavedra Dragon Racing Chevrolet + 166 laps Accident
33. #4 JR Hildebrand Panther Racing Chevrolet + 197 laps Accident
Fastest lap:
| 1911 |
What is the halo around an eclipse called? | Jim Nabors performs at Indianapolis 500 one last time
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Jim Nabors performs at Indianapolis 500 one last time
The first time Jim Nabors sang "Back Home Again in Indiana," he thought he was supposed to be singing the national anthem.
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Jim Nabors performs at Indianapolis 500 one last time The first time Jim Nabors sang "Back Home Again in Indiana," he thought he was supposed to be singing the national anthem. Check out this story on USATODAY.com: http://usat.ly/1h2CtdP
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Jim Nabors performs at Indianapolis 500 one last time
Jeff Olson, Special for USA TODAY Sports Published 12:38 p.m. ET May 25, 2014 | Updated 1:09 p.m. ET May 25, 2014
Jim Nabors attends the drivers meeting for the 2014 Indianapolis 500 on Saturday.
(Photo: Brian Spurlock, USA TODAY Sports)
INDIANAPOLIS — The first time Jim Nabors sang Back Home Again in Indiana, he thought he was supposed to be singing the national anthem.
"When I got over there to meet the conductor of the Purdue band, I said, 'What key do you do this in?' He looked at me and said, 'We only got one key.' I said, 'No, Star-Spangled Banner's got two keys.' He said, 'You're not singing that.' I said, 'What the hell am I singing?'"
The year was 1972. It was five minutes before the start of the Indianapolis 500 when Nabors discovered he was singing about new mown hay and moonlight on the Wabash.
GLAMPING: Indy 500 fans revel in camping with perks
"I had never seen that many in all my life," Nabors said. "He said, 'You're singing the traditional song that opens the race, Back Home Again in Indiana. And I looked at him kind of funny and said, 'I'm from Alabama. You still want me to do it?' He said, 'Well, do you know it?' I said, 'I know the melody, but I don't know the words.' This is a true story. I'm writing on my hand the words in this five minutes."
WATCH: Nabors performs at 2014 Indy 500
Since then, Nabors has sung the song 35 more times. He announced his retirement earlier this year.
"You know, there's a time in life when you have to move on," he said. "I'll be 84 this year. I just figured it was time. … This is really the highlight of my year to come here. It's very sad for me, but nevertheless there's something inside of me that tells me when it's time to go."
Follow Olson on Twitter @jeffolson77
PHOTOS: History of the Indianapolis 500
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Coined "The Greatest Spectacle in Racing," the Indianapolis 500 has been held annually every year since 1911 except for 1917-18 (World War I) and 1942-45 (World War II).
Brian Spurlock, USA TODAY Sports
Fullscreen
Thirty-three cars driven to victory in the Indianapolis 500 form the staring grid on the main straight during a photo shoot for the 100th anniversary of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Oct. 12, 2010. The front row, from right to left, included the 1911 Marmon "Wasp, driven by Ray Harroun, the 2010 car driven by Dario Franchitti, and the 1961 roadster driven by A.J. Foyt for his first of four Indianapolis 500 wins.
Michael Conroy, AP
Fullscreen
Drivers speed into the first turn on the Brickyard during the first Indianapolis 500 on May 30, 1911. The drivers, from left, are Will Jones (9) driving a Case; Joe Jagersberger (8) in a Case; and Louis Disbrow (5) in a Pope-Hartford.
AP
Ray Harroun won the first Indianapolis 500 in 1911 driving a Marmon Wasp. Harroun finished with an average speed of 74.602 miles per hour.
The Indianapolis Star
A view of the famous pagoda at Indianapolis Motor Speedway from the 1913 Indianapolis 500.
Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Fullscreen
With a crippled engine, Ralph DePalma crosses the finish line to win the 1915 Indy 500 as the checkered flag waves. Another engine failure had stopped him near the end of the 1912 race when DePalma led by at least 10 miles.
AP
Tommy Milton pilots over the finish line in his H.C.S. Special in 1923 to win his second Indy 500 with an average speed of 90.950 miles per hour. Milton also won the 1921 race.
AP
Louis Meyer, shown in his Tydol car in 1933, was the first three-time winner of the Indianapolis 500. Meyer won in 1928, '33 and '36.
AP
Kelly Petillo, shown with mechanic Jimmie Dunham, won the 1935 race driving a Gilmore Speedway Special.
Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Three-time winner Wilbur Shaw poses before the 1936 race. Shaw, who designed his own car, a streamlined comet, won his first Indy 500 in 1937 and won back-to-back races in 1939-40.
AP
The Indianapolis Motor Speedway Pagoda, shown here during the 1929 race, had already been expanded and upgraded since its debut 20 years ago.
The Indianapolis Star
Fullscreen
After earning his first Indy 500 win in 1941, Mauri Rose won the 1947 race in this Blue Crown Spark Plug Special with an average speed of 116.338 miles per hour. Rose followed his 1947 victory with another win in 1948.
AP
A view of the straightaway near the first turn from the stands during the 1946 Indianapolis 500.
The Indianapolis Star
Italy's Luigi Chinetti enters the track from the pits for a test run in his Don Lee Alfa-Romeo on May 16, 1948.
Gene Herrick, AP
Tragedy struck two-time winner Bill Vukovich, who burned to death in a five car pile-up in the 1955 race. Vukovich, shown here with an unidentified man, was aiming for this third consecutive win after driving to victory in 1953-54.
AP
Fullscreen
Rodger Ward, holding the family dog, gets a kiss from his wife in victory lane after winning the 1959 race. Ward, who set a new Indy 500 record with an average speed of 135.857 in his Leader Card 500 Roadster, also holds a bottle of milk, a tradition for Indy winners since 1933.
AP
Jack McGrath, driving a Hinkle Special, leads a pack of 33 competitors to the first curve during the 1952 race.
AP
Pat Flaherty waves from the winner's circle after winning the 1956 race. Flaherty won while wearing a lucky shamrock decal on his helmet.
AP
A.J. Foyt smiles in the garage area after winning his first Indy 500 in 1961. Foyt was the first four-time winner of the race, driving to victory in 1961, '64, '67 and '77.
AP
Fullscreen
Smoke boils up from burning cars after a fatal pileup at the north end of the main stretch during the 1964 race. On Lap 1, Dave MacDonald skidded into the northwest inside retaining wall and Eddie Sachs crashed into him as both cars exploded. Sachs was killed on the track and MacDonald later died as well. The race was stopped for 1 hour and 42 minutes as other drivers were injured and burned.
The Indianapolis Star
Defending champion Parnelli Jones dives sideways out of his flaming car when it caught fire in the pits, eliminating him from the 1964 race. Jones, who won in 1963, was hospitalized with burns but was not seriously hurt.
AP
Crowds stand near the exit to "Gasoline Alley," the garage area at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, to view activities as cars are readied for the 1962 race.
AP
Scotland's Jackie Stewart (43) passes his countryman Jimmy Clark (19) and temporarily takes the lead during the 1966 race. However, with only eight laps to go, Stewart dropped out of the race with car trouble.
AP
Bobby Unser celebrates after winning the 1968 Indianapolis 500. Unser won the Indy 500 in three different decades, also scoring wins in 1975, and '81. Bobby was the first of three Unsers to win at the Brickyard.
AP
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Mario Andretti (1) leads the field at the start of the 1967 race. Andretti would go on to win the Indy 500 in 1969 and was the patriarch of the Andretti IndyCar dynasty with sons Michael and Jeff, nephew John and grandson Marco.
AP
Al Unser , younger brother of Bobby, salutes the crowd as he takes the checkered flag in his Johnny Lightning Special to win the 1971. Unser would join Foyt as a four-time winner, with victories in 1970, '71, '78 and '87.
AP
Johnny Rutherford waves from his Mc Laren-Offy-T after winning the 1974 race, his first of three victories at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Rutherford also won in 1976 and '80.
AP
Janet Guthrie, the first woman to qualify for the Indianapolis 500 in 1977, poses with a toy race car at a news conference in New York City in 1978.
Marty Lederhandler, AP
Gordon Johncock, who won the Indy 500 in 1973 and 1982, prepares to take Janet Guthrie's Wildcat racer for a test drive in 1978.
AP
Indy 500 champs (from left) A.J. Foyt, Rick Mears, Danny Sullivan and Al Unser joke with the crowd as they stand along the pit wall at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1988.
AP
Rick Mears holds up two fingers to signal his second Indy 500 victory after the 1984 race. Mears won the race four times in total: 1979, '84, '88 and '91.
Charlie Bennett, AP
Tom Sneva hits the wall on turn 1 after his right front tire blew out during practice for the 1980 Indy 500. Sneva went on to win the Indianapolis 500 in 1983.
Don Larson, AP
Danny Ongais hits the wall in turn 3 on the 64th lap of the 1981 Indianapolis 500. Ongais was hospitalized with multiple fractures.
AP
The race car of three-time Indy 500 champion Johnny Rutherford disintegrates as it flies along the wall on turn 3 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1990. Rutherford suffered a concussion in the incident.
Steve Weaver, AP
Emerson Fittipaldi's crew members jump from the pit wall after Fittipaldi drove to victory in the 1993 Indianapolis 500. The former Formula One champion won his first Indy 500 in 1989.
Tom Strickland, AP
Al Unser Jr., right, celebrates with car owner Roger Penske after winning the 1994 race. Two years earlier, Unser Jr. became the third member of the Unser family to capture an Indy 500 title.
Al Behrman, AP
Arie Luyendyk leads Robbie Buhl and the rest of the field into turn 1 on his way to his second Indy 500 victory in 1997. Luyendyk won his first Indy 500 race in 1990.
Tom Strattman, AP
Canada's Jacques Villeneuve raises his fist while holding the winner's bottle of milk in victory lane after winning the 1995 Indianapolis 500.
Al Behrman, AP
Tony Stewart leads the field during the restart of the 1997 Indy 500. The race was resumed on lap 16 after two days of rain allowed only 15 laps to be completed on Memorial Day. Arie Luyendyk is running second.
Tom Strattman, AP
Eddie Cheever crosses the finish line to win the 82nd running of the Indianapolis 500 in 1998.
Chuck Robinson, AP
Lyn St. James jokes with fans after practicing for the 1996 Indianapolis 500. In 1992, St. James became the first woman to win the Indy 500 Rookie of the Year award.
Tom Strattman, AP
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Stan Fox, his legs exposed, sits in his airborne car after the front end was torn off while slamming into the first turn wall on the opening lap of the 1995 Indianapolis 500. Fox's legs were uninjured, but he was hospitalized with serious head injuries.
Martin Seppala, AP
Juan Pablo Montoya, of Colombia, hoists a bottle of milk in victory lane while standing in front of the Borg-Warner Trophy as crew members help celebrate his win in the 2000 Indy 500.
Al Behrman, AP
Helio Castroneves climbs the front stretch of fence with his teammates after winning the 2009 Indianapolis 500. Castroneves, a three-time winner, also won back-to-back races in 2001-02.
Robert Laberge, Getty Images
Actress Ashley Judd congratulates her husband Dario Franchitti after he won the 2007 Indy 500. Franchitti won the race again in 2010 and 2012.
Tom Russo, AP
An aerial view of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Handout
Danica Patrick talks with her father, T.J. Patrick, after she finished third in the 2009 Indianapolis 500. In 2005, Patrick became the first woman to lead a lap during the Indy 500.
Tom Strickland, AP
Mike Conway's car goes airborne and crashes into a wall between the third and fourth turn in the last lap of the 2010 Indianapolis 500. The English driver sustained leg, ankle, foot and back injuries.
Kerry Keating, The Indianapolis Star
The gold centennial brick stands on the row of bricks at the start-finish line as Scott Dixon passes by on pit lane during practice for the 2011 race. Dixon won the Indy 500 in 2008.
Greg Griffo, The Indianapolis Star
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Dan Wheldon dumps the traditional bottle of milk over his head after winning his second Indianapolis 500 in 2011. Wheldon, who won his first Indy 500 in 2005, died after a crash in the 2011 IndyCar season finale in Las Vegas.
Darron Cummings, AP
The U.S. Postal Service honored the Indianapolis 500 with this stamp, a design which is included in the 2011 U.S. postage stamps collection.
US Postal Service handout via AP
Takuma Sato, right, spins in Turn 1 of the final lap while Dario Franchitti safely drives by en route to winning the 2012 Indy 500.
Bill Friel, AP
Dario Franchitti, center, celebrates with wife Ashley Judd and his crew after winning his third Indy 500 on May 27, 2012.
Darron Cummings, AP
The Borg-Warner Trophy, on display at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on May 19, 2012, is given to the winner of the Indianapolis 500.
Michael Hickey, USA TODAY Sports
After 12 starts and three top-3 finishes, Tony Kanaan finally won the Indianapolis 500 in 2013.
Brian Spurlock, USA TODAY Sports
A day after his 2014 win, Ryan Hunter-Reay poses for photos as his son Ryden waves a flag.
Brian Spurlock, USA TODAY Sports
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